Author's Note: Hello everyone! I first wanted to thank everyone for the positive reviews on the first chapter! I really wanted to be sure this chapter was worked out well, which is why it took a little longer than I meant for it to. I also forgot to credit my beta-reader last chapter! I feel so bad! Thanks so much to PixelsShattered for their help on my first chapter! Unfortunately I didn't hear back from them over the weekend (which is fine, life gets busy) and I've read it through many times myself, so I've decided to go ahead and upload this chapter.

Please understand that this is my take on the Portal universe and things may vary from how you believe they will go. That being said, I am doing my best to stick to everything we do know for a fact in the cannon. I've never worked with characters like GLaDOS or Wheatley before, so it may be tough. I've never wrote with a character that doesn't speak under certain circumstances. (That's proven to be very tough in expressing her emotions...)

That being said, constructive criticism is always welcome. And, with that, enjoy!

I almost crashed forward when I heard her voice. I leaned against the wall as my chest heaved air in and out. I could feel myself tremble, and I knew it wasn't from the fall. Those were a dime-a-dozen around here, and the weight didn't wind me that badly. Wheatley had continued to chatter on about how wonderful Ashton's grip on him had been, but he quickly shut down his rambling when he saw me behind Ashton's arm, "Miss Miss C?"

I shook my head and shifted back on my feet. I started to walk and went to walk past them. Ashton put his arm out, incidentally taking Wheatley with it. I grabbed him and continued, shoving past Ashton's arm, "Well alright, Miss Attitude. I was just trying to make you take a break."

I shook my head and waved for him to follow for him to follow. He sighed, "You really don't like to address your personal problems, do you, Chell?"

I shook my head again. Wheatley spoke instead, which I was glad for since it meant time I didn't have to communicate through head movements and hand signals any further , "Miss C, Che, Chell, what is her name?"

Ashton snorted, "You're her friend and don't even know her name?"

"Ah- We're friends?" I could hear his voice cheer up. I sighed and shook my head as we walked.

"Uh- Well… She told me you two were but she… just said no?"

I could hear the airless sigh from the robot, "Oh. Well, I can't blame her… Right! Right, about that. Um- What I was saying earlier- Um… Would you mind turnin' me so I can see you, luv?"

I considered ignoring him and continuing to walk. Honestly though, I didn't want to hear his response to me ignoring him. It'd either be self-pity or begging, neither of which I was in the mood for. I turned the core so my hand hooked into one handle and my palm held the opposite side of his core, "Thanks, um- Oh, please, don't be miffed at me. Oh… but if you are, you probably should be. Yeah… probably should be. But- But what I wanted to say was-"

"There you are," I shoved Ashton into one of the rooms and waited for bullets to fire as I ducked in after him. But there was nothing. I turned around and looked through the glass, and all I could see was an empty hallway. I pulled Wheatley away from my torso to see if he seemed as confused as I did, and he did.

Just not at the right thing, "What was that about?"

Ashton sat up as he rubbed the back of his head, which hit the chair as he fell, "That's what I'd like to know. That's the second time she's done that to me. Never any warning, no signal just, boom. Ashton, in a chair. Or a catwalk."

I kept my eyes locked on the hallway. I backed up and handed Wheatley to Ashton, before I slowly creeped into the hallway. I looked up and down the hall, but there was nothing. No turrets. No bullets. No 'I see you' or 'Target acquired'. It was silent, besides the two boys' grumbling. I sighed and walked back in the room and shot Ashton an apologetic look, "Oh come on. At least say you're sorry."

I nodded to try and simulate the same effect, but he just looked angrier, "Why won't you speak to me all of the sudden! What happened between us getting here and us finding that guy?"

"Uh… Er… She's mute- Or, at least, that's what I noticed. Never once spoke a word to me. Just jumped… Occasionally nodded. Usually just followed directions from me… or-"

"She isn't mute! She speaks to me all the time! She spoke to me right up until we found you! I don't get it, and I want an explanation! And I'm not playing charades!"

"She spoke to you?" Wheatley's pupil went wide as he looked up at me, "You can talk?"

I gritted my teeth together and looked away from both of them. I was just going to nod, but I knew that that would only tick Ashton off more. I sat down and took Wheatley from him, I turned him to face Ashton so I didn't feel so watched. I considered speaking, I even opened my mouth to do so. Then, though, I saw the dead-on glare from Ashton, and I averted my eyes from him. I had no reason to speak to him.

"Seriously? You're not- Ugh!" Ashton stood up and kicked a trashcan before he let out a rough sigh, "I just want to know why you don't want to speak. Haven't- Haven't I been pretty tolerant? I brought you here, I helped you find this guy. I didn't press on questions when you broke us out of the elevator or when you pushed me the first time- I didn't even question why you know this place or why you care so much about a dumb machine!"

Wheatley's optic flickered down, "C'mon, mate, I didn't insult you-"

"And now you won't even tell me why you won't speak now that he's here! We could step into the hallway if you don't want him to hear-"

I aggressively pointed towards the ceiling. I motioned towards the hallways. He clearly didn't get it, "Seriously! Come on-"

I stood up and held onto Wheatley's handle with one hand. I started down the hall, and could hear Ashton's heavy feet behind me, "Chell! Now where are you going?"

"Ay- Um- Miss Miss C? Um- Do you- Do you have a moment to listen? See- I was just- I was wondering where we're going and um- If he's supposed to be following. 'Cause see, he's stomping behind us, fuming mad. And uh… I don't feel so secure being held by one hand- Ah!" I squeezed the handle as tight as I could. "Ow- Okay, okay, got it, nevermind, sorry. Forgot, your grip is magnificent. My bad."

"So you're just going to walk away?"

I kept my eyes set ahead of me. I knew GLaDOS was watching my every move, so I had come up with a plan quickly. This was getting progressively harder by each moment that Ashton was yelling behind me. As I got to a catwalk, I looked up above us. The facility stretched up towards the sky, and I wasn't sure how I was going to get out there. I knew that even the ceiling that loomed so far above me wasn't near the surface of the earth at all. I had no good way to get higher up though. Again, I felt myself ache for the portal gun that used to help me in these situations.

I didn't realize my pace slowed down until something hit my shoulder. My hand flew to Wheatley's other handle and I swung him into whatever it was. All I could think was, "You're not taking me this time, GLaDOS." In unison, both Wheatley and the assailant cried out 'ows'. Wheatley screamed as I let go with one hand, and I allowed his momentum to swing my arm out. His little core body went out over the edge of the railing before it lost momentum and went back down with my hand. I stopped him just in time to keep him from hitting my leg.

Ashton held his arm tight, curled onto his side. I slowly sat Wheatley down and walked to him. I hesitated before I crouched down next to him. Ashton looked like he was going to shove me away, but he held on hard to his shoulder. I noticed there was a cut on his side from what I had to assume was the handle when Wheatley turned on the return, and blood was seeping through the grate of the catwalk to down below. I felt my stomach curl as I tried to push him onto his back. Of all the scientifically-designed hells I saw here, I never had to deal with an injured human.

He pushed hard against me as I tried to force him onto his back. I grit my teeth together as he struggled to stay in his current position, "Get off me!"

I pushed harder. I felt myself start to sweat as I watched the blood drops turn to a subtle stream down to whatever what was below us. I could imagine the back of a panel as drops of blood splattered like the gels across the top. I finally brought my hand up and smacked him as hard as I could across the face. He looked even angrier for a moment, before he finally rolled onto his back. He groaned and I saw him lace his fingers into the catwalk.

His arm had a pretty ragged spot. I must've caught him with the back of Wheatley's core, there was a black port hat plugged him into the various connectors around Aperture. It looked like his skin had got caught in it and went on with it. I wanted to release all the food from the gas station into the chasm below, but I held my jaw shut tight and pulled the first aid kid out of my backpack. Wheatley piped up as I searched for the correct supplies, "What's going on? Keep me up to date, alright? Um… What was that all about, luv?"

I started to clean at his arm. He'd jerk his feet back when I hit a particularly sensitive, deep piece of the damage. His fingers were so tight around the grating that his knuckles were turning white. I finally wrapped bandages around it before I began to work on his side. It was a much simpler cut, but it definitely looked like it was going to need stitches. At least it wasn't like the other one, which practically looked like it was going to need a skin graph. I got to my feet and offered him my hand. He gave me an apprehensive look as his fingers slowly eased off the grating, probably sore from the temporary groves it wore into his skin.

I tried to smile at him as I bit my lip a little. I knit my eyebrows together and tried to look apologetic as he took my hand. I got him to his feet before I grabbed onto Wheatley's handle and stared on again, "You wouldn't be much fun at surprise parties, huh?"

His voice was rough and only half-hearted, but I knew he was honestly trying to mend the awkwardness between the two of us. I nodded and headed into the next hallway. I decided that all the rooms were likely offices. If only Aperture used staircases more often. They were so focused on lifts, I felt like they forgot to put more than one staircase per massive level. I glanced around as I looked for any kind of sign that might indicate stairs. However, it probably wasn't likely they had navigational signs in such a ever-changing place.

"Oh, there you are. You almost lost me, back there." My chest felt heavy, and I pulled Wheatley tight to my chest before the both of us bolted down the hallway. A wall closed me off from continuing suddenly, nearly taking the toe of my boot with it. I started a cold sweat as Ashton took the lead on our way back. However, a wall stopped us there too. We were trapped. There was a door to either side, but all of the offices ended in a dead end. I had little reason to believe these two were any different.

"Ah! Don't panic- Don't panic- Um- Er- I mean, she probably won't kill you- right? She- I bet she won't kill you, or him. So don't panic, okay, luv?"

But I was panicking. I didn't have a portal gun. I didn't have a way out of the box. There was no button or switch. There wasn't a gel or a puzzle to solve. I reminded myself there was always a way out, but all I had was four flat walls, a floor, a ceiling, a metal ball with handles, and an equal human being. I glanced around quietly as I tried to think of something.

Ashton ran to the office door to our right and threw it open before he realized himself that it was a dead end. I could tell by his paling face that he knew the other would be the same, but he ran for it anyways. When he threw it open, I could see tears sprouting in the corner of his eyes as the realization that we were caught set in. I wanted to scream out of frustration that GLados hadn't even given us a solution - she always did, she loved to test after all -, but I kept my composure. I held steady in my stance and slowly lowered Wheatley to one hand at my side. GLaDOS was nothing if not a lover of puzzles. It wasn't like her to not have a way out.

She really loved to test.

I pressed along the walls, but they were all sturdy and steady in their progression towards one another. I reached Wheatley above me and pressed his handle against the ceiling to see if all of the tiles were sturdy. They didn't budge easily, but I could feel them give a little. Wheatley quietly complained about being used as a tool, but we both knew we didn't have time to argue. I looked at Ashton and nodded my head upwards, "What?"

I walked to him and sat Wheatley carefully at his feet. I looked at him and motioned up again. I could tell he wanted to hesitate, but he and I both knew there wasn't time. He lifted me up, and as he lifted me higher I pushed the tiles out of the way above me. Once I could hook my hands around the metal bars that lined the ceiling from above, I hoisted myself up into it. It was a small crawlspace, but it was better than nothing. I pointed to Wheatley and motioned up.

As Ashton lifted Wheatley up, I heard a loud noise that sounded similar to metal making a hard impact, "Hello?"

I fell through the ceiling and landed on my stomach. I pushed myself up with my hands as I tried to get my bearings while I looked around desperately for the turret. This was it, I was going to die here. I had dragged Ashton into this, and now he was going to die with me as a result. Ashton and Wheatley were speaking frantically and trying to get me onto my feet, but I wasn't sure why. We were done.

Except there was no turret. I glanced around, and saw the room was just as blank as before, "W-What fell…?"

"You did," Ashton was trying not to laugh.

"Quite a hard fall, too. Are you okay, luv?"

I pulled away from Ashton and glanced around one more time. What had I heard? I glanced up into the moved tile. It hadn't been up there, had it? I would've noticed if there had been a turret. Ashton pulled on my sleeve, "C'mon, we've gotta move!"

"You're not going anywhere," I watched in horror as a large wall of white panels slid above the others to block us from the ceiling. I almost yelled as I desperately ran under the tile we'd brought loose. I tried to pull myself up on Ashton's shoulders, but he wasn't prepared and we fell back as the ceiling closed over it, "I see you were using your minute little brain while I was preparing your transport. Even I didn't think you would attempt to use the ceiling as a means of escape. Congratulations. I think it's time we introduce your friend to Aperture Science's Testing Facility. Don't you?"

I hooked my arm tight around one of Ashton's. My other hand wrapped tight around one of Wheatley's handles. I felt the floor drop out from beneath us. I did my best to lift Ashton a little, and pulled my feet beneath me. We landed in a lift, which had an open top. It closed, and we started racing down. I watched helplessly as we passed several floors, drawing us further and further away from the surface.

"Chell… What's going to happen to us now?" Ashton sounded almost numb with terror as he watched the brief images of the rooms we passed. I had dragged this poor high school kid out away from his home, and brought him here. Now she had another test subject. Now he was never going to get to go back and get the title to his car fixed. He was never going to make it back to Matty for work in three days. I would never be able to thank him properly for all he did.

Because now we were stuck in Hell.

The lift finally stopped. When it opened, we were sucked into a gaping tube. The air pressure carried us along, and it was hard to hold on to them. Ashton was behind me, and Wheatley was in front. I watched as we traveled so far above any sort of bottom to the pit that it was out of sight, hazed over by fog created by human minds due to the distance. I saw dozens of rooms built up of panels, and I knew what they held. I felt my stomach curl as it all really set in. I was trapped by GLaDOS again.

I felt my heart sink when the air pressure sucked Wheatley away from me to a path to my right, "Grab me!"

I tried to stop myself from moving, but it only resulted in the loss of a few layers of skin from how fast we were moving when I touched the glass of the tube. He was the entire reason we came here, and she had to rip him away from me too. I watched as he became a small speck in the distance as he was transported to a room I could only imagine would kill him. I didn't figure she'd be playing pinball with him anymore.

Ashton's grip got tighter, and I could see why before me. There was a fork in the tube, leading to two different directions. Regardless, I held on tighter too. Maybe she wouldn't separate us. Maybe she would keep us together so she could remind as both at the same time that we failed. I looked at Ashton. I tried to say sorry, but the air swallowed it and nearly choked me for trying. I was sort of thankful for that, because it meant I hadn't really spoken, but Ashton did deserve an apology. He smiled knowingly at me and looked ahead.

The split in the tube tore us apart. We let go at the very last second as we were cast away from one another, as opposed to letting the tube break every bone in our hands. The tubes seemed to go along one another for a little while, which probably meant GLaDOS chose this specifically to separate us as early on as possible. She could've let us stay together longer, but it would be more fun for her this way. I looked over into Ashton's tube, and he faced forward with a his eyebrows knit together and a hard frown. He tried to stop his movement like I did but with his feet, but he didn't gain much result. His shoes came off and he managed to get flipped so he was racing along head-first.

The last thing I saw before our tubes went exact opposite directions was his grin. He turned to me and grinned before the tubes jerked us in opposite directions. Even in this chaos, he was trying to stay positive. How could I blame him? He had nothing to fear yet. He didn't know about the turrets and lasers. He didn't know about the deadly liquid they used as an obstacle. He didn't know about the puzzles that leave you thinking for an hour sometimes, and how impatient that made GLaDOS. He had no idea, and I didn't prepare him. I should've prepared him.

I finally landed next to a lift. I could see the door ahead with the familiar blue figure on it. I considered standing there to see her response, but instead I walked through the door. On a pedestal of sorts sat a black and white device with a small Aperture Science logo in the form of a split up circle. I stared at it a long moment and glanced around, "Once you have the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, we can get started."

GLaDOS' voice almost sounded like it didn't care whether or not I grabbed it. I knew she cared. She told me what felt much closer to an hour ago than three years ago that there was a constant need to test built into her mainframe. It drove Wheatley insane, he'd referred to it as an 'itch' that grew to unbearable heights unless a test was completed. Even then, it usually ached on.

I knew that if I stood here, she would likely do something to make me have to grab the portal gun. She probably would deploy turrets so I would have to take care of them, or make the floor start to disappear so I'd have to use the gun to travel to safety. I slowly slipped my hand into the familiar shape with a wave of nostalgia similar to the one I felt when I saw the shack what felt both felt like merely moments ago, and like a lifetime ago. Lifted it off the pedestal and used my other hand to support the weight of the device while the one inside held onto the trigger of sorts.

I made my way to the door, and it opened. I walked down the set of stairs that led to the lift and watched as the outer and inner layer doors opened. Once I made my way in, GLaDOS decided to talk to me again, "I would like to congratulate you on deciding to devote your life to science. I mean, you did devote your life this time. You're the one who came back. How generous of you to bring a friend."

I kept my eyes locked on the bars outside of my lift that passed as I went down. Soon, the lift slowed to a halt and I made my way into the next testing room.

When the doors opened, I heard a series of 'target acquired.' I threw myself back, but my back hit the door as the emancipation grill flittered about around halfway through me. Upon analyzing the room, I realized there were no turrets in range of seeing me. There was a lifted platform with glass around it that turrets awaited in, and I could tell by the tube above it that cubes came out there.

I mentally huffed as I thought how I really didn't need imaginary turrets - especially in a room full of real ones - and started my way around the room. As I expected, a button released the cube perfectly behind the group of turrets. I shot a portal on the wall and the other above them before I dropped onto the cube. I tossed each one into the portal above me and the gravity of the other dimension pulled them to the ground. Below me, they fired out all their bullets and shut down. I hopped up and grabbed the cube from beneath me so I had enough height to get through the portal. I landed on my feet and nudged a deactivated turret along the floor as I did.

I put the cube on the button, which activated a laser. I shot a portal where it aimed and one across from the receiver. The panels on the floor created a staircase so I could get up to the door, and I exited, "I see your brain is still intact. Well, as intact as someone with severe brain damage's brain can be anyways."

I walked slowly into the lift and heard the two doors - one to the lift and one to the outer casing - close behind me. I took my time turning around. I mostly kept my eyes focused on the floor, because the last thing I wanted to see was the walls around the lift as they showed me just how much farther from the surface completing that test had put me, "I'm sure you'll be glad to know that your friend completed his first test as well. He only was grazed by one bullet before he caught on."

I imagined Ashton bleeding in the cameras of an uncaring AI. I imagined him glancing at his already wounded arm, and the new wound, wondering if he was going to bleed out by the end of this. I realized about then that I was missing my backpack. I glanced at my shoulders and made the assumption that it must've come off in the lift without me noticing. I wondered if it had popped out behind me, waiting for me to pick it up, just for me not to notice and continue on into the test chambers.

I hoped she had been serious when she said "graze." In GLaDOS terms, that could mean it went right through the bone in his arm. I was certain things like that was of her own masochism, and not her lack of knowledge. She was too smart to mistake a vital wound for a 'graze.' She sure loved to talk like she wasn't though.

"Perhaps that will stand as a lesson for him from now on. Who knows. Even you get grazed by bullets sometimes."

My lift came to a halt, and I watched the 'safety' animatic on the panels around me as I walked out. Something about retrieving the portal gun from dead test subjects. I headed into my next chamber.

I was ten chambers in. I was drenched in sweat, and catching my breath was starting to get difficult. It wasn't exactly like I was over exerting myself, but based on what my therapist had previously told me, it was stress. I had a fresh graze on my leg from a turret I didn't see in the vents - and what was it doing there anyway? It didn't contribute to the chamber at all other than hindering me blindly - which was starting to cause a nice stain around the fresh hole in the leg of my jumpsuit.

As the door to chamber ten opened, I was met with a very casual looking test. It looked simple, like the kind I had started out with when first started all those years ago. There as a glass wall with a big button on either side, as well as two pressable buttons with distributors that looked like where I'd gain a cube. However, there was something even odder about it. There were two emancipation grills, one on either side of the glass wall, inches from it I would say. There was also another door aside from the one I entered through and what looked like the exit.

As I took notice of this, that very door opened. Through it walked another person in an orange jumpsuit. Someone with a huge volume of reddish hair, with their hand held somewhat protectively inside of the shell of the portal gun as they walked into the room, "Well done you two. Or, at least that's what I'd say if you hadn't taken twice the calculated amount of time to get here. Welcome to the Aperture Science Co-Operative Program portion of your testing."

That was it. There was no further explanation. He looked up at me and his eyes went from a dull sort of look to a much more awake one. I could her him call 'Miss Che?' through the glass, and I quickly glanced around. I went to my button and pressed it, then stepped aside in anticipation of the cube. However, his dispenser opened, and the cube dropped down by his side. I nodded to myself then looked at Ashton. I motioned to the button, and he made his way to it and pressed it.

I caught the cube and put it on my button. He watched me a moment, and followed suit. The glass opened, and only the material emancipation grill remained. I calmly walked through it, "Good work. Except it seems one of you were certainly leading that test. However, most subjects fail this test, so I suppose I should congratulate you. 30% of test subjects won't press the button for their partner, ending in a stalemate until and Aperture associate gives up on them. 40% don't both make it through when the test subject on the side with the exit realizes putting their cube on the button opens the exit. They leave without helping their partner. The other 10% that fail do so by miscellaneous mistakes, such as believing they need to get to the other side by portals."

I guess since I put my cube on the button first, we didn't encounter the same situation as the 40%. Ashton walked alongside me to the exit. Through the door was a pair of elevators rather than just one. One had a blue and orange aperture symbol, while the other had a red and green. Ashton glanced at me, then stepped into the oddly colored one.

I stepped into my respective one, and our lifts moved us downward in unison. Walls stood between us as we went down, and I realized that we may've just lost our chance to communicate. It was probable that we were going to do our own separate tests again. I felt a rush of disappointment lay over me as this dawned on me. If we had a chance to escape, that last test was it. I bet somehow, GLaDOS knew it. She had expected us to try to escape.

However, our lifts stopped in the same place, and we both walked off into the next room.

When we entered, Ashton grabbed onto my arm with his free hand. I noticed the portal gun was on his left hand. I never realized he was a lefty. He spoke quietly, "Has she mentioned Wheatley?"

I shook my head and he sighed. As he looked at the puzzle around us, he looked completely lost. It was hard for me to keep a grasp on the fact that he was completely out of his element. While I wouldn't exactly call this mine, I was certainly used to it. He seemed to barely grasp what I guided him to do.

When we got the lifts this time, he looked anxious, "I don't like being separated… It… I don't want to go back to being alone here. There's… There's nobody else here..."

I nodded, and we stood in silence for a moment. I contemplated the fact that Ashton had probably never been in a space of this size - or a size close to this for that matter- with as few as two humans. I knew thanks to my therapist that humans have a sort of programmed-in desire for human connections, so he mind was probably in some sort of state of panic in all of the emptiness Aperture Science held. I wondered how he would react if I explained to him just how big Aperture Science is.

GLaDOS piped in with what almost sounded like an automated response, "Please proceed into your respective lifts to continue testing."

Ashton was trembling so bad that I wondered if a simple poke would knock him over. I put my hand on his back between his shoulders and eased him into the lift. I glared hard at the camera that watched us as I made my way to my own lift. Ashton gave me a weary smile as we plummeted down again.

Ashton slowly caught on with the ways of Aperture. As he slowly seemed to accept our situation, I could see the realization on his face when I helped him with puzzles. He started to understand the concept of what would and wouldn't protect you from turrets, and the two different ways to redirect lasers. He started to understand he could follow the dots to see what buttons connected to what.

The hard light bridges made him nervous. He didn't trust them when he saw them, so I switched our places in my plan for the puzzle. Through a portal I had placed off to the side, I could see his shock that it held me up. He gingerly set a foot on it the light bridge as I placed a portal to extend the light bridge across the room. He seemed even more mystified when I went through it and continued on my way towards the button across from the panel I placed the portal on.

It released a cube which landed by Ashton's side. As I returned through the portal and back to him, he set it on the button. From there on out it was basic discouragement redirection cubes, but they seemed to frighten Ashton. Apparently he'd almost burnt himself while he had still been testing alone because he hadn't held the cube the right way. So, I opted to aim it at the wall and let him place the portal to direct it to the receiver. Then we just had to portal to the door and we were on our way once again.

As we walked, Ashton put a hand on my shoulder. I paused to look at him as he leaned closer so I could hear his whispers, "We have to get out of here, Chell."

I nodded and glanced at the cameras carefully that were watching us. I could heard Ashton almost growl as he followed my gaze, "Please proceed into your respective lifts to continue testing."

I started to walk, but Ashton's hand stayed firm and did budge. I turned to look at him, and saw his eyebrows were knitted together, "That's it? You- You just thought about it and are gonna continue on?"

I put a hand on his hand and raised my eyebrows to him. I would've loved to hear his plan. He kept his eyes locked on mine for a long moment as I guessed he finally got the message, "Please proceed into your respective lifts to continue testing."

We finally listened to what she said. As we got in the elevators, I waved to Ashton before we headed down. I had to raise his spirits or else he was going to succumb to this place soon enough. He had to understand, escaping took time. A lot of time. And time passed very slowly here.

We came to a halt at the bottom. Ashton paused, "GLaDOS?"

Silence.

"GLaDOS? I know you're there- I just have a question… Not about getting out or anything. I just have a question- How long have we been down here?"

I guessed a day, though it was likely it'd been a couple of days. It sure felt like it. I didn't expect GLaDOS to respond, but the two of us stood there for what had to have been a couple of minutes in silence, "Please proceed to the testing area."

"I will- I will. Just tell me that first. Please?"

I shook my head and started to walk past him. However, Ashton grabbed on hard to my hand and held me there. I glanced at him and tugged on my arm, but his grip was tight. He had no plans to let go. He shook his head and fixated his eyes back on a camera, "It's just a span of time I want to know. That's all."

"Please proceed to the testing area."

GLaDOS didn't have any sort of human compassion under typical circumstances. I had only once seen her show any, and that was when she saved me from flying out into space with Wheatley. She didn't care if it wouldn't help us to know, she wanted us to know she was in charge and we had no leeway. She didn't want us to think that we could convince her to do anything. I shook my head again and pulled my arm out of his grasp.

The door didn't open when I got to it. I guessed I had to have Ashton with me, so I waved to him to come on. He crossed his arms and shook his head. I stomped my foot and motioned at the door, but he stayed still. One of the lifts began to move, and a box tumbled out. Ashton glanced over his shoulder at it. I lurched for him and seized his wrist before I bolted into the chamber.

The door closed behind us and the pangs of gunfire were easily audible behind us, but it seemed the bullets weren't strong enough to dent any of the metal on our side, "Not even the date, huh…"

"I can't keep going," Ashton heaved breaths in and out as we exited the test chamber. He fell on his knees as his portal gun clattered in front of him and slid a little. He couldn't seem to catch his breath, and his chest seemed labored with each breath he managed. I stopped and crouched down next to him,then scanned what little I could see of his face.

"Please proceed to your respective lifts to continue testing."

"Can't you see I can't! Can't you see I'm exhausted?" Except that the air in Aperture gives you energy. This wasn't physical exhaustion with muscles that ached and too many calories burnt. This was his mind as it caved in to the fact that he had to keep going, that there was no end in sight to work towards. I could relate to the feeling. I reached for his portal gun with my unarmed hand. I tried to hand it to him but his hand knocked it hard across the floor. It skidded almost all the way to the lifts, "I don't want that thing! I-"

"Please proceed to your respective lifts to continue testing."

"can't keep going!" His voice just got louder to drown out hers. His elbows gave and his face hit the floor, and he seemed to opt just to lay there.

I tapped on his shoulder, but he wouldn't look at me. I tried to move his face, but he pulled against me. I finally stood up and went to his gun and hit it with the toe of my boot. The power behind the kick was only strong enough to bump his head but not so much to hurt him, so I didn't worry to much about it, "Please do not play soccer with the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device."

This tempted me to kick it again, but I didn't want to prompt her to do anything quite yet. I returned to Ashton and nudged him with my boot again. About that time, the floor fell out from under us and we landed in some sort of mechanical claws. The two pieces closed tight around our hips, "If you need a break, then you should come see the show."

"Ow… Ow… Ow! Would ya mind stoppin' that?" My heart started to pound as the small blue ball's voice came over the intercom. A couple of panels folded away to reveal GLaDOS herself, and a claw that held onto the small, metal core. His blue optic was frantically flickering around, and focused in on us, "Oh… Hello!"

The claws released us and I just barely landed on my feet. Ashton wasn't so lucky and landed on his back, but he seemed to be okay. It was only a few feet of a fall anyways. GLaDOS swerved to look at us, and the black pieces that formed a pseudo-eyelid narrowed the yellow glow, "Your friend here hasn't shut up since I retrieved him."

Ashton was extremely pale as he stared at Her. I knew what it was like to see Her for the first time. Hell, it wasn't much better the second, third, fourth, or now fifth time. She was gigantic in and of herself, but every piece of Her design alluded to the fact that She was in control of the facility. The wires and attachments, the white panels that matched the white of most floors and walls. It was easy to tell just by looking at Her that She was in control here.

I glanced at Wheatley to see a thin, significantly smaller claw proceed to slip into the hole on his side and pluck metal pieces out. Each piece pulled resulted in a different level of 'ow' from Wheatley. I contemplated trying to go for him, but I knew I couldn't. GLaDOS would never let me get that far. There wasn't an exit in this room by any means. And i didn't quite expect her to call a lift either, "Until your friend is ready to cooperate, you both can sit here and listen to this moron with me."

I glanced at Ashton but he immediately avoided my gaze. I started to walk, but by the way the claw behind me whirred, I made the decision to stay still. I watched as Wheatley's optic repeatedly snapped shut every time a new piece made it's way out of him. I didn't want to cover my ears - that would show her this bothered me. I instead I decided to make myself busy and moved towards Ashton. I put a hand on his shoulder, "I can't help it okay! I can't help it I'm not used to this place like you are!"

Like you are. I opted to sit down and stare at the floor instead while Wheatley squeaked with each removal. Ashton stood and seemed not to be able to look at any of us. I felt seconds tick on like hours, as if I were the one in Wheatley's position. It hurt so bad. We were all right here in the same room together, but there was no way to escape together. There wasn't an entrance or an exit. There wasn't a button or a laser. This wasn't a puzzle or a test. She didn't expect us to solve anything here. This was a punishment for not cooperating. For stepping out of line. This was blackmail to make us continue testing the way she wanted.

Wheatley whined, "Can't you stop now? I-I think this is quite enough-" He was silenced by a grunt he made when a slightly larger piece of metal was pulled out of his side. About that time, I heard a portal gun-fire. Before I had the chance to look at him, Ashton bolted into a portal and emerged through the top of the room. He put one under GLaDos and landed in the other.

The claws didn't catch him in time. He grabbed on hard to her face plate. He snarled and hit his head against her optic before he climbed up onto her mass of wires. He dug his hands deep into the winding black cords. GLaDOS swung around similar to a mechanical bull, but Ashton held on tight. I could only assume he was making progress on her layers of wires the way he was able to hook his arm into her so that throwing him off would mean ripping them out, which I found pretty clever in spur-of-the-moment thinking.

"Look out, luv!" I had been so captivated by his performance that I had forgotten there was a huge claw behind me and that I was absolutely vulnerable. I ducked and slid myself down. I grabbed my portal gun on the way. I placed a portal above Wheatley and ran into the orange one I placed on the wall.

I landed on Wheatley with enough force to knock him loose. With a good kick, he snapped out of the claw's grip completely. As we fell, I grabbed onto him and set a portal beneath us. I flipped myself so that I would land on my feet. About that time there was some rumbling throughout the facility. I assumed it was due to the wires that were being severed from what was basically it's life source. Panels around the room opened and closed like crazy as GLaDOS attempted to knock Ashton off, but he had tangled himself too well in her wires for that, "I wouldn't do that you know. A shock as powerful as the ones that would come from my wires would likely be enough to kill several elephants."

"Then consider me a dinosaur. I bet they took a lot more electricity than that. They probably got hit loads of times with lightning due to how hulking they were. Bet that's not what killed them."

"Oh, but something did. And when I find out what that is, I'll use that to kill you. Just for fun."

I tapped on Wheatley and pointed to Ashton. I mimicked calling to him by putting my hand to the right of my mouth an exaggerating movements with my lips. He slowly caught on, "Uh- Er- Hey Mister! Never quite caught your name… Hey, uh, Che- Ms. C- Uh- She wants you!"

Ashton glanced up and I pointed at a panel that rhythmically closed and opened.. I fired a portal on a wall out beyond it. and one a little to the left of GLaDOS. With a loud tearing sound and a huge array of sparks, Ashton lurched down from GLaDOS and went headfirst into the portal. I changed it's position to be beneath myself and prayed for a floor.

We landed on a catwalk. It seemed Ashton had still turned himself enough to land on his chest and not his head. I shot another portal up the wall so that GLaDOS didn't have direct access to us. I grinned at him and took off as I ran down the catwalk. I heard Ashton get to his feet and follow behind me, "Where are our backpacks?"

I shook my head. She had probably disposed of them. He sighed as we progressed onward. I felt like every panel I passed was a chance to get knocked clean off the sidewalk. I turned a sharp corner into an office layout. I threw doors open as we passed to see if there was anything useful at glance, but there wasn't. We emerged into a hallway connected to what seemed to be higher-ups' offices. Labels like "doctor" and "director" were plastered on signs above those doors. I tried to open them, but they were locked with key codes. I was surprised they weren't protected with fingerprint analyzers and a blood test in a place like this.

I started going again, as the adrenaline carried me rather well. It seemed like Ashton had gotten a second wind from the breakdown back in the chambers, so that certainly was helpful. I wasn't sure what I would do if he got exhausted in our escape. I saw some panels move up ahead and stopped. I threw my arm out to make sure Ashton didn't keep going, "Christ. What do we do, Che?"

I looked down below into the empty chasm. However, there were catwalks along some of the walls. If we dropped ourselves at an angle, we should be able to make it in. If only all walls were portal-conductive. I tapped on Ashton's shoulder and pointed at it, but he didn't look so sure. However, I handed him Wheatley and jumped. I landed on the very edge, and my ribs slammed into the railing. It knocked the breath out of me, but I had enough wits about me to lean forward and climb over the rail.

I looked back at him and motioned towards me, then put my arms up. At first he stared at me like his knowledge he was missing was somewhere on my face, but then he looked down at Wheatley and realized what I meant. I vaguely heard Wheatley start to say something before Ashton launched him through the air at me like an oddly shaped football.

I grabbed on tight to him and nearly toppled backwards with the impact. I set him down on the ground alongside my portal gun and motioned for Ashton to jump. He looked very cautious for a moment, but with a glance down the catwalk where the panels had been moving, he finally pulled himself over the railing and jumped off the edge. I reached my hands out for him with mild success. His feet slipped off the ledge and I had to hold on tight, "Shit- Chell! Help me!"

I nodded hurriedly and started to pull. He wasn't too heavy, but it was still a challenge to pull 120 or so pounds up against the unending bounds of gravity. I got his hands to the railing and had him hold on while I pulled him up by his shoulders. I got him on the edge and helped him climb over onto the safe side. He gave a weary smile to me, "You're crazy."

"Absolutely mad, isn't she?" I picked up my portal gun and used it to lift Wheatley before we started down the hallway. Ashton tapped my shoulder, "I'll carry him. You have better reflexes than me."

So, we traded him over before we continued. Wheatley seemed fine with this change, and seemed to enjoy his ability to move his optic around now that human skin wasn't in the way.. Though he mentioned that he was still in pain from circuits and gears and 'some other parts' being tugged out. I slowly started to pick up the pace as the reality of the situation dawned on me. GLaDOS was probably pissed now, and even though she had a bunch of wires tore out, she probably could mend them. She probably still had a good bit of control over the facility.

"Hey, Che. Any clue where we're going?"

I shook my head as I looked around, then pointed up. He laughed, "Yeah, I know that. I mean… I don't remember seeing a single staircase since we got here."

I put up one finger, "We encountered one?"

I pointed to Wheatley, "Oh, right. There were some stairs when we found him. And some in the chambers, if you count those… But… I'd like to see more of them. Not so much lifts- She controls all of those right?"

Wheatley gave an exaggerated sigh, "She controls everything.

I nodded and turned the corner. Another catwalk led out over quite a massive distance. I glanced at Ashton and considered not taking the chance, but he nodded and motioned for me to keep going. I doubled my pace as I ran down the catwalk while I notedcatwalks down below in case of a needed escape. He managed to keep up fairly well; he only just a couple of feet behind me over time. I was fairly proud of him, considering how well he was doing. He used to make jokes all the time when he'd go off for lunch about how he was never going to stay in shape with the food he ate. Sometimes I could tell he wasn't. But right now, he was kept up just as well as I needed him to. He was falling into place in this hell much better than I did at first up above.

There was a loud noise to my left. I glanced over and saw a panel above us had come out of the wall. It crashed down onto the catwalk, and the shaking knocked me over. The panel crushed back towards the wall, and that was when I realized that it had caught Ashton between itself and the wall. It was angled so he wouldn't fall, which was my sign that it was fully intentional and not GLaDOS still bugging out from the wires. He slung Wheatley out of the trap, and I just barely caught him with my gun. Then it pressed so flat against the panel under it that I couldn't even see any blood from Ashton. I thought I was going to puke. I hadn't even noticed when I caught Wheatley with the portal gun, "L-Luv? P-Perhaps we should get going-"

I almost said his name. I almost yelled for him. I trembled as I got to my feet. I ran so fast I was nearly jumping paces down the walk. At the last moment, I hopped down to a catwalk below. I saw when I looked up that another panel had been waiting for me, and I had gotten out just in the nick of time. I kept traveling down catwalks. I knew it was the opposite direction I wanted to go, but that was all I could do. I kept going until I saw a lift-tube in one of the hallways. The doors were broken in the open position, and sparks continuously flew from it.

I ran to it and hesitated, because I hated the idea. Then, I jumped into the hole the liftless-tube provided. Wheatley obviously saw an error in this, "Um, luv? Isn't the point to go up?"

There wasn't a way up right now. GLaDOS knew where we were, and would absolutely prevent us from getting to any sort of way up. I figured there was probably a staircase or something at the end of the catwalk she'd cut us off from. I caught myself very quickly in the tube, I could even still see the light from the hallway. I pressed my feet against the wall of the tube on one side while I pressed my shoulders against the wall on the other. I held Wheatley just above me with the Portal gun just below me. I scooted my feet up a few inches, then managed to shove my shoulders up a few inches. I kept this up for quite a while, and the inside of my stomach felt like there was a tight ball inside of it that pulsed. I felt extremely hot from the exertion, and I started to get shaky.

"While I do believe this is a brilliant idea- and it is, I don't just believe it, it is- aren't two humans supposed to do this? Used to be involved in an old test of ours… Anyway- Also- I don't think your body has the energy to keep this up right now- You did just have quite a bit of adrenaline and did experience… quite a tragedy-"

Ashton. I guessed that the look I gave Wheatley conveyed the message I wanted, which was 'shut up'. He didn't shut up entirely- I didn't think he's fully capable of that, he seemed to have an unending need to fill the silence - but he did change topics, so it was at least a little more tolerable as I passed the door to my right, "Right… um… Like I've been trying to tell you - Um… I… I know that what I did… back there… Well, not just now or anything but… A while back. Before I went to space and you went to the surface- How was that by the way- Well anyway. I know it was wrong… And I-"

My feet slipped and we crashed down. I held the grip on Wheatley tight as he yelled an exaggerated 'Ahhh!" that he must not've thought of the first time. I was too exhausted to catch myself again. We were headed down to wherever this lift ended, and I couldn't stop us. That was my original idea, but after I had had the idea to get us up some, this didn't feel so good.

However, the air that rushed past us felt kind of nice. It smelt foul, but at least it cooled me off after the sweat that had worked up. I knocked Wheatley on his side a little with my free hand to get him to shut up, and tightened my grip on my portal gun - and in extention, him - as I fell. I wondered if this would really go all the way down to the same older-Aperture I had seen when Wheatley had sent me and potato-GLaDOS down here - accidentally - in a fit of rage.

I realized I had been glaring at Wheatley, so I averted my gaze, "What is it?"

I didn't grant a response and instead glanced down to see if there was anything to see yet. Then I looked at him, and I could tell by the way his optic looked down and his eyelids were squint a little bit that he had figured it out, "This is what it was like, wasn' it? Falling down a huge dark hole… Not knowing where you're going, or if it'll be too far for you to make it?"

I thought about not responding to spare his feelings, but by time I had that thought I had already honestly nodded. He sighed, "Oh… I… I'm sorry. That… That I didn't trust you when you told me we shared the work… and that you didn't believe what She had said."

I shook my head frantically, almost pleadingly, as I watched my huge friend grow angrier and angrier. GLaDOS taunted him and ran on and on with it; he had snapped. I tried to convince him she was lied- I couldn't have made it to here without him. I didn't know the things he did. Sure, he got a lot of stuff wrong. But he still got more right than I could've guessed. He got me to that portal gun, and to what should've been our escape had he not messed it up-

But we all make mistakes right? I mean, I locked myself in a test chamber by accident once and could only get out by GLaDOS fixing it-

"Che- Chell? Is that another thing he called you?" I glanced to Wheatley. I hadn't heard a thing he said, but I could recall him rambling. He looked at me and did a motion similar to a nod, "Ah, you didn't hear me, did you?"

I shook my head and looked around. Upon looking down, I could see a tiny light towards the bottom. We crashed through a few planks that were here - I guessed to stop the lift from coming down too far- and the light grew larger and larger. Soon, we were cast out into open air. The smell nearly choked me, and now I knew why the shaft had smelt so bad. However, that wasn't my biggest problem. The ground was rapidly raising closer, and I had no clue how far we fell. I put my feet directly down and tried to keep my knees a little bent.

When I woke up, my muscles were aching. The ground beneath me was rough, and something had cut my cheek. I slowly sat up against the will of the pain and glanced around. There were broken down rooms all around me. I stood up and glanced around for a portal surface. I spotted one up above and aimed-

My portal gun was gone. I looked around desperately, but expected to see it in bits somewhere around me. I could see a faint blue glow a few feet away, the source hidden by debris between me and it. As I walked to it, I realized Wheatley was missing as well and picked up the pace. Once I made it over, I located the gun and put it back on my arm. The only damaged seemed to be some scratches in the paint and a desperate need for a cleaning. I fired into the air just to be sure the trigger worked, then progressed in search of Wheatley.

Turns out, he wasn't that far away. The problem was, he was face-down in some water about halfway up his body. I nearly screamed and ran to him. I lifted him up and hI shook him hard, both in an attempt to wake him and in an attempt to shake the water out. However, his optic didn't open. I bit down hard on my lip to avoid screaming or sobbing. I held him close to me and sat down just outside the water as I I trembled. I shook him again, but he didn't respond. I tapped on him, tried to pry his 'eyelids' open, but he didn't respond. I glanced around cautiously, then leaned close to him, "Wheatley?"

However, my whisper didn't reach the bot. I quickly got to my feet, and shot a portal up to the surface I saw before, then one on the wall next to me. I then picked him up with the gun and ran through the portals onto a catwalk. I bolted into the offices and looked around desperately, but there was nothing of any use to me. Not even so much as a screwdriver, the office only had papers and pens scattered all over the place with a couple of chairs, one overturned. I exited the offices the way I came, took Wheatley into my other arm, then shot a portal across the massive room to another surface just barely within my range.

I bolted through my previous portal and into another room of desks and chairs. It resembled the other one almost exactly, it even had a similarly overturned chair. However, this one included a door to another hallway. I headed into another set of offices, but another hallway. It felt similar to the mazes upstairs, and as I headed through them I wondered if they matched up.

I stopped a brief moment to glance at a poster. It was some sort of message about being okay with your android bosses. I wondered just how long robots had been a part of Aperture Science. Was this the base floor? How much had it changed since the initial build? None of that mattered right now.

I passed so many doors that I started to worry my one chance at help was far behind me. I paused when I passed a door and reread the sign which read 'assembly line.' I tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. I set Wheatley and the portal gun down - and boy did water still soak the carpet - and slammed my shoulder into the door. However, this did as much good as throwing a pen at it. I ran back and found an unlocked office. I searched for something that would help.

I picked up a huge paperweight that looked like a globe and rushed back to the door. I held the paperweight tightly by the handle of the 'globe.' I swung my hand hard and let the globe hit it. No breakthroughs, but I made a small dent. After a good dozen or so swings like that, I was overwhelmed by how slowly progress was going. I dropped the paperweight on my foot at one point, but the long fall boots took a lot of the impact thankfully.

I glanced over at Wheatley's robotic carcass and felt my stomach churn. I couldn't save Ashton. I have to save Wheatley. As I made this realization, I started to feel weaker. I ended up on my knees, and as I looked at Wheatley, my vision started to become blurry.

I will save you.