Wheatley stumbled down the catwalk after Chell, who still had a firm grip on his arm and a determined look set dead ahead. With how she'd been treating him in the past hour since their reunion, he wasn't sure if she was still mad at him or not. One minute she would be dragging him along like this and getting frustrated whenever he tripped on nothing. The next, she would smile and set him down on the floor so she could rest. Human emotions were always a confusing thing for Wheatley. Despite thinking he knew Chell pretty well, it was becoming more and more apparent that he didn't. He was gonna have to try harder than he thought to make it up to her, and being a clumsy fool without a plan wasn't helping.
"Okay, seriously where are we going? I know you have a plan and I said I would follow it, but uh... we've been walking around for bloody ages."
Chell didn't bother looking in his direction. Instead, she snapped her fingers and pointed up at a sign above a distant doorway.
"Isn't that the turret redemption line?" Wheatley asked.
She gave him a sly grin and nodded. Chell was about to break something important. Wheatley caught on.
"Oh I know what that look means. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. It worked before. But she's got eyes everywhere. Won't she catch on?"
Chell knew GLaDOS would catch on, and that's exactly what she wanted. She propped Wheatley against a wall and entered the control room. All the previous chaos they caused here during their last escape attempt was erased. A perfectly normal and functional turret stood in the template scanner while the line in front of it was doing its intended job. She recalled how they'd screwed with it the first time, and went right to work.
The window that Wheatley had done a 'manual override ' on was fixed and reinforced with a wire mesh. Since Wheatley was still terrible at controlling his new limbs, Chell was gonna have to break it this time. But with what? If she had her portal gun, she could've just put it through the window, but she didn't. She glanced around the room and then at the turret line. She darted past Wheatley, down the catwalk, and stood in front of the incinerator, prepared to catch. When it came time for a defective turret to be tossed, it was instead picked up by a claw, and carried above her head. It was too high up fer her to reach, and her plan was seemingly foiled. However, Chell had a knack for solving difficult situations. She stomped her foot, causing a loud Clang! that gave her Wheatley's attention.
"What's wrong luv? You need some help over there?"
Chell nodded and pointed up at her dilemma with the turrets.
"Oh, you can't reach it? Hmmm, she must've done that on purpose."
She pointed at Wheatley, then at the spot next to her. He pointed at himself and tilted his head in confusion.
"Me? You want me to do it?"
Chell marched over, grabbed Wheatley, and yanked him back over to where she was standing. He sat there on the floor and watched as she moved his limbs into place for him. Once he was on his hands and knees, Chell used him as a step ladder to get closer to where the claw carried the defective turrets.
"Ow. I'm sorry luv but ah, ow. I'm not- I'm not really made for that."
Chell ignored him and prepared to jump for the next turret. The claw zoomed by and she grabbed it, fighting to get it to release her treasure. The defective turret panicked as the woman and the machine battled for him.
Suddenly, Chell was jerked forward and upward, towards the incinerator. She let out a gasp as something grabbed her leg. She looked down to find Wheatley attempting to pull her back down, and surprisingly, winning. The claw finally let go and dropped both Chell and the defective turret on top of Wheatley.
"OW! Get it off!" Wheatley shouted, struggling to get the turret off of him.
Chell got to her feet and lifted the turret, allowing a very shaken Wheatley to scramble out from underneath it. She helped him up and back over to where he was sitting.
"Thanks luv. She almost had you incinerated back there huh?" he panted.
She ran back to claim her prize, grabbed it, and passed by Wheatley again.
"Aww, no thank you? Really- well I guess I deserve that don't I? Point taken. Carry on then."
Chell smiled and rolled her eyes at his self degradation. Though it was a bit sad, at least he was learning his lesson. Just slowly. She lifted the turret and threw it through the window, sending glass all over.
"Hello? Is someone there?" said the template turret in it's soft, sweet voice.
Chell grabbed it and threw it behind her, replacing it with the defective turret. Wheatley ducked while bullets flew all over the room. The turret ceased fire and gave a small "I don't hate you." before giving up and shutting down.
"Well done."
GLaDOS' sarcastic voice echoed over the intercom.
"I leave you to your own devices for just a few hours and what do you do? You stab me in the back. And to think, I was about finished preparing another gift for you. Clearly you're bent on trying to betray me again."
Panels unfolded below Wheatley, dropping him underneath the floor. GLaDOS chuckled.
"You must be really stupid if you think I'll just overlook this. So, how about we take care of your punishment right now and get that out of the way? Then we can pretend that none of this happened. For the better."
More panels moved underneath Chell's feet, and the floor opened up to drop her into a dark room.
