Chapter 63, everybody, and happy Mischief Night! Be spooky, do crimes!

Disclaimer: please do not do crimes and if you TP someone's house this year they'd probably thank you for it. XD

Welp, you know that part where he kills you? This is that part.

I've been making it a real point to work on all my active fanfics this month and finish writing up at least two—got the one, Obake Itoko, knocked out of the way, and now I'm knuckling down on the rest. And since that fic's complete, this one now updates on Fridays! :D

Also good news: we've got updates for several weeks now for this fic—and I think we're close to the end so…my goal is to finish this fic this year. *excited flailing*

In other news…Wilson turned the Don't Starve spiders into turrets. D:

Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment

Portal © 2007 Valve

Okay, this wasn't working, Wilson wasn't wearing down, he was clinging stubbornly to testing and for the life of them they couldn't bait him back into trying to kill them. There had to be a way to get him to slip up, forget his plan, remember the fact that he too had wanted to escape from this place…something!

"Any ideas?" she asked Maxwell.

"No," he said, pausing in bashing his head repeatedly against the side of the elevator. "As it turns out, padding in the elevator may keep test subjects from hurting themselves, but it also puts a real cramp in knocking any fresh ideas loose."

"So you finally admit this place is awful."

"Well the elevator is."

The padding is there for safety purposes, Wilson said. Apparently some test subjects supervised by other, less capable individuals kept getting injured.

Willow couldn't help the deadpan look she gave Maxwell.

"Hey, don't look at me!" he barked. "These were like that when I got here!"

Willow rolled her eyes, waited until they were in a blind spot on the way to the test before stopping Maxwell.

"We need a new plan," she told him. "Wilson's not going to crack, not like this."

"Well let's see," Maxwell mused. "He disabled the itch, he travelled with you so he knows to keep everything sealed tight, he's in it for the science so…I suppose you could try screwing up a test so badly he throws a whole complete fit."

"Well, it counts as something we haven't tried yet," she sighed. "Let's do it."


Excuse me?

Excuse me?

Firstly he was offended that they thought he had left any openings or blind spots or weak spots or any other sort of issue—he knew what he was doing, dangit!

And then this—they were plotting against him! Willow of all people was plotting with Maxwell against him!

Threat to the facility. Kill her.

Grind his teeth and clench his fists, resisting that suggestion. No. No, he'd convince her, pull her back around…maybe he had been playing this too soft.

So. No more nice guy. Get rid of Maxwell, and then break her.

The two test subjects on the track shrieked in alarm as he boxed them in and transported them to a different track.

So sorry, but that track wasn't quite finished yet—we'll get back to it, he announced. Slid a glance at his new and improved design, return his narrow look to the video feed. In the meantime, I think you might find this new track appropriately challenging: a live-fire course for military androids. Savor that startled exchange. The KVAS testing initiative would like to wish you good luck!

Yes, this might achieve both goals swimmingly. Don't worry about breaking her, he could always put her back together. Better, even, considering his own current state.

Twitch, a part of him demanding to know what he was doing—shove it down. He had to do something drastic she was plotting escape and she had completely flipped her perception of him and Maxwell this was not conductive to science.

Threat to facility. Kill her.

No. Maim, maybe—she had suffered some form of brain damage when she was out of his sight, he could see that now. He'd fix this. If he had to take her apart and put her back together, he'd do it.

This farce had gone on long enough.


The first hint that this was not going to be a usual turret run came from the turrets themselves—they looked sturdier and bulkier, less top-heavy with four thicker legs in the vein of the turret-cubes, several lasers locking on.

These were not the turret-cubes.

The good news: they took a bit longer to fire than regular turrets because they locked into a more stable pose with little pieces that clicked off the legs to increase stability.

The bad news: they fired bullets with enough force that they chewed up panels and just about everything else. They had been reduced to hiding behind cover and hoping it would be over soon.

"Okay!" Maxwell squeaked when the firing ceased, sounding like he was bordering on hysteria. "This—this is the part where he kills us."

She grimaced at him from across the gap, looked at the far wall where the bullets had blasted away. The dusty white of the panel had been decimated, showing the dented metal beneath. Couldn't count on blowing their way out, unfortunately. Scan as much of the area as she could—Wilson had passed on video screens several tests ago, sticking with cameras—and on portable surfaces, the fool.

Maxwell winced at the camera crashing to the floor near him, looked up at the ceiling, waiting for Wilson to lecture them on destroying vital testing apparatuses AGAIN.

Did I mention you only have a limited number of portals to use in this chamber? Wilson asked coolly, several panels flipping to show non-portable surfaces. I might have made a few adjustments to the device while you were out. You now have three blue portals left.

What?

Look at Maxwell, startled—Maxwell shrugged, apparently equally floored—

Glanced around the corner at a new sound—

Ducked back when the turrets started firing again, expression somewhere between grim and total nervous breakdown.

"What?" she asked, when the firing stopped. "What is it?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to tell you, you might hurt the messenger."

She scowled at him, looked for herself when the noise started up again—

Ah. Yeah, he had a point, because this—this was bad.

The turrets were scurrying for them.

Fortunately they halted their forward momentum in favor of locking down and firing at them. Unfortunately, that involved the turrets firing at them. And this time with lethal force.

Okay think—she had three blue portals, which meant she had four orange portals…and a pinch point….

Fire the orange portal where the bullets were riddling the wall, wait until she heard the turrets scuttling again—

Jump in front of them, to Maxwell's apparent shock.

"Come get me," she hissed.

The turrets locked on, locked in—

She fired a blue portal directly above them, jumped out of the way, making Maxwell squawk when she landed on him, rolled away from the bullets firing—

Wilson might have made them sturdier, but they still couldn't stand up against concentrated fire—one exploded, taking another with it, then another—

She was shaking, trembling, but she had to push ahead—crawl over to see the damage—

Startled when she realized the explosions had destroyed the panel the turrets had been sitting on.

"Hey!" she barked, waving at Maxwell—

Who was quick to take advantage. "Well, we're not getting a better shot."

HEY! Wilson barked—

Willow jumped after him, glancing off a panel Wilson had been maneuvering into place, sliding off and firing the portal gun at the first available space she had—

Nothing happened.

Remember the little thing I said about adjusting the portal gun? Wilson asked, barely controlled fury in his tone. Something else I did—made sure it couldn't operate off the testing tracks. Nice try.

A panel—a plain one, fortunately, slammed into them, sending them careening into an excursion funnel, which fortunately caught them before they could go sailing back down into the abyss. Try firing the portal gun again—nothing.

"Okay," Maxwell said after a long moment. "This—this is definitely that part."