"And then for some reason he got the bright idea to have me hurt him so we could escape. It seemed a little stupid at the time, but it worked."
Chell nodded. So he got himself hurt on purpose, just to get us out of there.
She was proud of Wheatley. One, because he was thinking of somebody else's needs and putting them before his own. Two, because he cast aside his pride and worked with someone he was fighting with moments ago. Three, because he was fighting to stay awake right now and somehow winning. He was slung over Chell's shoulder, being dragged forward while Rick walked behind and apologized several times.
"Again, I want you to know I'm real sorry about that nasty hit. That's a real brave thing you did back there. Almost as great as that one time I-"
He trailed off when Chell gave an annoyed fake cough to interrupt. Wheatley gave a light chuckle.
"Huh, well thank you I guess."
Chell was able to understand his words, although they sounded fuzzy on the ends, and sometimes his voice would crack with what sounded much like microphone feedback. How hard did Rick hit him? Please don't tell me I have to repair him again. Chell thought.
They finally found a small maintenance closet and stopped just outside of it. Chell set him down, and opened the closet.
"Alright, what do I need to do with you this time?"
"I'm not sure here luv. It doesn't feel too serious. I'm just a bit shaken up, that's all. Give me a minute to reset and I'll be right as rain."
She shut the closet and set a hand on his shoulder.
"You're sure you'll be okay?"
"Sure as I'll get." he said with a tired smile.
Chell stepped back and let him do his thing.
"Space adventure? Where next?" Space questioned.
"Did I hear adventure? Are you going on some kind of quest here lady?"
"Yes." Chell sighed. "Unfortunately we keep running into setbacks."
"Well then you're in luck."
Rick stepped forward and made an exaggerated gesture to himself.
"Rick the adventure core, at your service, angel. What's the situation then? You got a plan of some kind?"
"Five reactors, scattered through the facility. We need to shut all of them down at once if we want to get out in one piece. The only problem is, we need more hands if we're gonna pull this off."
"Well then count me in. I won't let you down lil' lady, bet on that."
Chell nodded. At least he's going about it in a somewhat respectful manner. She looked back down at Wheatley, wondering how he'd managed to make it this far without giving into the pressures of the facility. It's a miracle he didn't completely lose it when he came face to face with Chell for the first time in seven years. Though, the same could be said for her. She would've kicked him in the face if not for his vivid expression of both fear and guilt. In that split second he'd looked up at her from the floor, he'd somehow managed to make years of mourning, hatred, and regret melt away from between them. Chell wanted to say something, but she couldn't. Not then, while she was watching. Ever since that moment, Chell searched for just the right words to deliver. The very words that would make everything better. But how could she when she didn't even know how she felt towards him? Every time she saw his face, she wasn't sure if she should be seething with rage, or relieved to have him back. Sometimes she even felt like she should cry and hug him, and she had no clue as to why. All these feelings. They were things she never felt towards Wheatley. Yes, she'd been upset with him, and proud of him, and annoyed, but those were always mild, and common feelings. This was different. Ugh, Wheatley's lucky he'll never have to experience emotion to these extremes. If emotions made Chell feel confused and hopeless, then they'd completely demolish Wheatley. Of course, he had to deal with other things she wouldn't understand, but he seemed to be handling it pretty well. Chell figured if he needed to express those things then he would, one way or another.
Chell watched as he laid there, giving an occasional twitch that let her know he was still alive. She thought back to all those pieces that allowed him to keep up with her this whole time. What were they doing behind there anyway? It was kind of weird to think that her (yet to be determined) closest friend wasn't even human, but an imitation instead. Even as a core he replicated human personality perfectly. And again, he didn't have strong emotions like Chell, but what emotions he did have seemed real enough to convince everyone else. Each idea he had, thought he possessed, or movement he made was his own. Every comment, every word, every sound. Yet, he was still only a construct. One that Chell may or may not have found herself attached to. Just as their questionable friendship was still up in the air, so was her possible attachment to him. She'd figure it out after their escape. For now, her main goal was to get Wheatley back on his feet so he could help her achieve that escape.
Chell heard a grunt, and a bit of shuffling behind her. About time.
"Alright then luv, let's get on with it."
Rick nodded in agreement, then paused. He narrowed his eyes and counted, pointing to everyone in the hallway.
"Uh, in case you haven't noticed angel- um, we're a little short."
Chell rolled her eyes.
"I know that."
"No." he sighed. "As in I'm only seeing three of us."
"What?"
She counted and found that he was right. Only Chell, Wheatley, and Rick stood in a circle in the middle of the hall. She searched frantically for Space.
Wheatley heard the little kid's familiar laughter echo from down the hallway. How did he get so far away without Chell noticing?
"Down that way!"
No sooner than Wheatley pointed in the direction the noise came from, Chell took off, like a protective mother who'd just seen her child heading towards traffic. Rick and Wheatley tripped and stumbled after her, finding it nearly impossible to keep up with her. Wheatley had seen Chell run before, but he had no idea she could run this fast.
"Target acquired."
The shower of bullets didn't even come close to Chell, but scared the living hell out of the other two. While she pressed forward without breaking her stride, they both hopped and dove to get out of range. Chell skid around a corner, and came face to face with the small white and red shape. She was prepared to kick it to the ground when a small, panicked voice cried out.
"It's me!"
Wheatley and Rick came around the corner and ran into Chell, nearly knocking her over.
"Turret!" Wheatley shouted.
"I'm different."
Hold on. Chell thought. This turret wasn't firing. She crouched down and got a better look at it. It was indeed different. GLaDOS had apparently gotten bored (even more than she already was) and resorted to using turrets for her experiments. Of course, it proved successful. It wore a white trenchcoat, and short white hair. It looked at Chell with sad, innocent eyes. She determined that it hadn't shot at her for one of two reasons. It either wasn't armed, or this was the 'different ' turret that she met during her last escape attempt. It reached out to her, and she took the small hand into her larger one.
"I know you, Shakti."
Shakti, it rung a weird bell in her head. Chell thought she'd heard something about the goddess, although she wasn't sure why the turret had referred to her that way, but it had it's reasons. Whatever those reasons were, it didn't seem to mean any harm.
"What in the name of- what do you think you're doing there lady?" Rick asked, dumbfounded.
Chell looked back at him and gave the turret a gentle pat on the head.
"She's more brain damaged than I thought." Wheatley muttered to Rick before they exchanged a worried glance.
Obviously Chell saw this, but she didn't care enough to waste the time required to glare at them.
"Have you seen a little kid run by here?" she asked.
"Real short, blonde hair?" Rick added.
"Rambling something about space?" Wheatley said.
The turret pointed down the hall, to another corner.
"They have him in there. Be careful. The ones who guard him are prepared to strike."
Wheatley tilted his head, confused.
"Prepared to strike? Who's in there?"
The turret gave no other warning. It only stared blankly at Wheatley, making him uncomfortable.
"You can come with us if you want." Chell offered. "We need another teammate."
Rick frowned.
"Are you crazy? We're working to escape death and you're making friends with a damn turret?"
"There's nothing wrong with it. If it wanted to kill us, it would've already done so."
"Fair point." said Wheatley. "Plus Rick, you said yourself we need more allies. Your words, not mine."
"Alright, fine. Only 'cause you used my words against me."
Wheatley smiled with the satisfaction of defeating Rick's opinion. Even though they agreed on working together, he still enjoyed feeling superior to him in small ways.
"Thank you." the turret chirped.
Chell nodded and started towards the corner the turret pointed to, leading the others to where Space was being held captive. She had no clue what was in there, but she'd make sure that Space would come back out alive.