A/N. Yeah, the author's note is going to be at the beginning in this chapter. I just needed to put this to sort out any confusion; I changed the ending of the last chapter, so you might want to go re-read that if you haven't already or you might get a little confused in this one. Also, I kinda forgot the disclaimer for the last two chapters, and although I meant to put it in the last chapter, I forgot. So here it is:
Disclaimer: All copyrights belong to Valve, not me.
Anyway, so uh, read and review, I guess! Enjoy this chapter! :)
Seriously though, please review.
~Franki
P.S. Sorry it took so long, I've been busy. :( But, I will give a virtual hug to anyone who can find the Red Dwarf reference!
When she finally awoke, Chell's body felt like it was as light as a feather yet like it was being squashed and stampeded by thousands of angry elephants at the same time. A cool calmness hung in the room, smoothing out the eerie silence that had settled comfortably there. After lying still peacefully for a while, Chell drew in a great breath as she sucked air down into her lungs. For the first time in a while, the breath was as easily drawn as scooping water into a bucket, without any of the shaking and hoarseness every breath for the past few months had had. It was cold as it gushed down her throat, like ice being melted in her mouth. Everything throbbed, but it was somehow calming rather than painful.
She rolled over, a slight groan escaping her lips, as her head seemed unable to cooperate properly with her body and it felt like horrible pains were trying to weave their way through the serenity that currently held her brain. It was like having a battle with your conscience, as part of her wanted to lie there forever and the other half wanted to get up and find out what had happened. But her body didn't understand why it was feeling this great and her head couldn't decide whether it wanted to give the body and mind access to the memories, or it could have just been trying to fish them out.
It felt like her memories were just starting to thread together, but she didn't want to bother with them at the moment, not just yet. So although she had a basic idea of what could have happened, she pushed them to the back of her mind and decided to bother with them later, knowing the basics of what had happened but not wanting to admit it.
After having a mental battle, Chell sat up. It smelled like hospitals; clean and sterile, but with the faint aroma of sickness and blood lingering in the background. She grimaced. The smell only reminded her of her time in Aperture, and boy did she not want to go there. Placing her hands on either side of her, she felt around and discovered that she was on something soft. It might have been a bed, but there was no cover, so she wasn't sure.
When she turned her head slightly, there was a white flash through her eyelids and she flinched, covering her closed eyes with one arm. Her insides pretested at the sudden movement and her stomach lurched, her heart jumping up into her throat. At this the dull throbbing in her head grew slightly and she groaned again as the ache rippled throughout her body. Her eyes now stung from the sudden light and her body was feeling less 'great.'
Chell pulled her legs up to her chest and curled up into a little ball, only daring to open her eyes when they were protected by the shade of her knees. The pain slowly brought her back to her full state of consciousness and as her brain began to feel more awake the memories and realisation of where she was flooded back and it her like an electric shock. Her eyes flicked open as she jumped and scrambled hastily to the edge of the bed, flopping her legs over the side and pulling herself to her albeit shaky feet.
Thoughts raced through her mind, darting out of reach and bouncing off the sides as if teasing her as she tried to grab one and focus on it. All the thoughts and feelings she was experiencing at the same time made her feel sick. She remembered it all clearly now; she had been running, endless, tiring running, and then- and then-
Aperture.
She had run to Aperture to be healed. Healed of the problems the neurotoxin had caused her.
And now she had woken up in a strange room, for the third time in her life, which smelled the same as the last two times. Although the confusion and the minor ache that resigned in her body made her feel sick, her body felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. The invisible force that was previously crushing her lungs and gone, and every breath was smooth and relaxed.
Which could only mean one thing.
GLaDOS had cured her.
GLaDOS had cured her.
She was healed! Chell had been cured and now she wouldn't have to die. She was alive and would live a great deal longer, thanks to the person who was actually partly the cause of her suffering in the first place. A small smile managed to spread itself across her face, just slightly. It was relief. Relief and gratefulness.
She looked around the room, which looked like a hospital room where she was the only patient, for any signs of life. It appeared that she was the only one there. She sighed, and dropped her instinctual fighting stance, plopping herself down onto the bed with a huff. The pain was starting to subside now, leaving only the good feeling of being as good as new left. Chell stretched, feeling more of the life surge through her stiff arms. Her head was feeling a lot clearer now.
So Chell sat there, on the edge of the bed, thinking to herself for a long time. It was a while before what sounded at first like a pre-recorded message to anyone but Chell filled the room, making her head jerk up as she listened carefully to the robotic, synthesized voice. It sent chills fluttering down her spine. "Oh. You're awake. I suppose I should congratulate you for surviving the science experiments I performed on you in your sleep."
Chell tensed.
"I'm joking. Congratulations for surviving the very detailed, complicated operation that I performed on you."
Once again, Chell said nothing.
"You can say thank you, if you want. I now know you can speak, so there is no point in pretending to be a mute."
Same reaction.
"Not even a simple thank you for saving your life?"
Still nothing.
"You cold, heartless person."
When Chell finally did speak, she only uttered one word. "GLaDOS."
"That is my name, yes. Subject might be showing signs of possible brain damage."
Chell sighed and started pacing about the room.
"Pacing isn't going to help, you know. I have some things for you, but I'm not going to tell you what they are until you say something."
Then Chell threw her hands up in the air as a sign of defeat and slumped down onto the bed, hanging her head in her hands. "Well, that's a shame," GLaDOS said. "It seems like you don't want to be free again. I'm honoured that you want to stay down here testing for an eternity with me."
At this Chell sat up and glared around at the room, aiming to pinpoint the camera with which GLaDOS was watching her every move so she could stare GLaDOS down evilly and let her know she wasn't happy. When she did find it, tucked away in the corner of the room, she glared glowered angrily at it with all her might. She swore she saw the camera flinch slightly.
"Ah. I know something that will make you happy. The other day I discovered that blackbirds have actually gone extinct on the surface. Isn't that great?"
Chell said nothing. "Oh. I found it interesting."
Chell was half tempted to blurt out, 'Well, you would, wouldn't you?' and almost did, before she thought against giving GLaDOS the satisfaction of a response. She still wasn't sure what GLaDOS's intentions were, even though she was her supposed 'best friend'.
Chell needed to say something. GLaDOS wasn't going to do anything constructive unless Chell said something, and if she didn't she would be stuck in here listening to GLaDOS's poor attempt at conversation for the rest of her life. But she needed to find a way to say it in as little words as possible...
"What do you want from me?" she decided on eventually. Her voice was slightly croaky, even though her lungs were fine.
"Speech. Which you have just given me, so now I can tell you why you are here and the consequences of coming back."
Chell frowned.
"It appears your voice is slightly hoarse from underuse. You were comatose for 30 days. Which is a long time. But then again, it wasn't much compared to your last time in statis."
An emotion Chell could not describe flooded through her. It was like anger and happiness merged together to create some utterly weird, strange feeling that feels much like a giant snail trying to crawl over your body. Chell shivered and sat down on the bed again, hugging her arms.
"Are you going to say something else?"
"No," Chell said, even though she knew it made no sense. She was expecting GLaDOS to say some snarky remark back, but there was no response. She looked back up at the camera, expecting it to move, but it wasn't even switched on. It was hanging lazily, and even the bright lights hanging from the ceiling were growing slightly dim. Panic started to build up inside her. Her eyes darted round the room frantically.
"GLaDOS?" she called wearily. There was still no reply. "GLaDOS?" she shouted now, her voice slightly louder and more alert.
"GLaDOS?" Chell yelled, cupping her hands round her mouth and racing round the room uselessly. The lights began to flicker, before switching off completely with a bout of electrical sparks, and the automatic doors that had been locked before were open and stuck. Not knowing what to do, Chell ran out of the door onto a metal runway, the walls dark and the atmosphere murky, so unlike the cleanliness of the room behind her. She covered her mouth with an arm and tried to ignore the empty management rail above her, now never to be used again.
Knowing that shouting was useless, Chell scampered through the facility, darting around as fast as her legs would carry her. The setting was so similar to the time when she was escaping with Wheatley, but she didn't want to think about that. Something had happened to GLaDOS, and Chell needed to know what it was.
Slowly, the surroundings began to merge into the familiar areas Chell was used to. She remembered every turn and corner, every cove in every wall and she soon found herself leading the way to the main AI chamber.
When she finally got there, she wasn't greeted with what she expected. The last time she had been here, plants and vines had snaked their way around the ruins of the explosion, and water had dripped from the ceiling into large areas where it had gathered into dirty, sewage-coloured pools. But now, the walls and ceiling were clean and white, like they had been when Chell had first been here and GLaDOS tried to... well, you know...
Broken debris had been lifted off the floor and chucked away, damages caused by the explosion repaired and patched up, the entire dome-shaped room looking as good as new. Chell gasped and her running slowed down to a leisurely pace in which Chell could walk comfortably and gawk at the place. But not only had the scenery changed; the atmosphere had too. It was so much calmer and peaceful, and this was the first time Chell had ever entered it without the prospect of death slicing through her thoughts.
After getting used to it slightly, Chell hurried. In the centre of the room, rather than alive and moving, GLaDOS was hanging limply, her robotic 'body' drooping and lifeless. "GLaDOS?" Chell murmured her already quiet voice now barely audible. She ran towards her, a lump forming in her throat at the lifelessness in GLaDOS's blank optic. "GLaDOS," she whispered again forlornly, running her fingers gently down the side of her cool frame.
Then, to her surprise, there was a zip and a whirr and the body twitched frantically as if a thousand volts of electricity were being poured into it, (which wouldn't be too bad saying GLaDOS is a computer) before the optic flashed once and she fell limp again. There was a horrible moment of silence.
Chell's heart pounded against her chest from fear, worry and anxiety. "GLaDOS?"
As if reacting to the sound of her voice, the robot's frame whipped up, the optic flickering and a faint whizz in the background before shaking herself down, the cables rattling behind her and glaring at Chell in the eye. Chell leaned back uncertainly, eyes wide. Inside she could barely contain her relief.
"You didn't see that, did you?"
"See what?" Chell asked, just managing to keep the smile that was creeping onto her face away. She could only try to suppress the giggles that were rising up inside her at the realisation that she had created something somewhat similar to a paradox when she replied, 'No,' earlier, which was caused GLaDOS's 'mishap'. Although it wasn't actually a paradox, anything remotely similar to one would send GLaDOS into overdrive as they made her think of the proper ones such as 'this next statement is true. The previous sentence is false,' so on, so forth.
GLaDOS narrowed her optic further, staring at Chell with an unfathomable eye. "Good. Because if you had seen it, you wouldn't be my best friend anymore."
{O}
"Even ATLAS and P-Body are better than you, and they're not even designed to be," GLaDOS said as Chell sighed in defeat and plopped herself down onto the Weighted Storage Cube that she just couldn't find a way to transport to the button, which was on a moving platform above a nasty-looking, murky-brown, toxic liquid. The tiled ceiling above the platform with the button was entirely un-portable and there were no light bridges or funnels or catapults that could get her up there. GLaDOS was gleeful in the fact she had managed to build a test that had, for once, stumped Chell. Of course, GLaDOS knew that her victory would be short-lived because it was Chell doing the test, and Chell would always find a way.
Eventually.
It turned out Chell had found a way, and executed it perfectly as she was now triumphantly walking through the round, automatic door that led to the next chamber, which GLaDOS had not yet built as she was focused on watching Chell. Just before Chell was about to step onto the lift, the doors zipped shut in her face as GLaDOS struggled to create the next test in the little time she had. When she failed to come up with something that could actually confuse Chell, she had to settle for one she had made before so Chell would be occupied with that while GLaDOS built the next test chamber, which would hopefully be even harder. After Chell had descended down the lift, her patience wearing thin since the door slammed shut in her face, she made her way into the next chamber. On the screen with which GLaDOS was watching her, she could see Chell's face visibly fall into a frown as the familiarity of the chamber dawned on her. She rolled her eyes and completed the chamber efficiently, leaving GLaDOS just enough time to craft the next one. Chell probably would have said something like, 'I've already done this one before,' but she didn't, knowing that GLaDOS would have her reasons.
So she did that chamber and moved on, relief spreading on her face at the new chamber she was presented with. While GLaDOS was in between designing the next chamber and watching Chell, she watched with interest as Chell analysed the chamber, made a few test runs to see if there was anything else that needed doing to complete it, before finding the correct solution and performing it effortlessly, only near-dying a couple of times. GLaDOS even threw in a couple of sarcastic remarks she had cleverly crafted to put Chell off, but they seemed ineffective as Chell now knew they meant nothing. A victorious smirk was spread on her face by the time she had finished the test, and at this point GLaDOS had finished designing the next one and was already on to the one after that.
The two did this most days, as Chell was still recovering from her lungs and needed to stay in the facility while she healed fully. She knew GLaDOS would let her free when she needed it, as the two had formed something that could be called a bond. That didn't stop GLaDOS acting as if she hated Chell for trying to murder her, (twice) and succeeded in one of them. Chell built up her strength again by doing tests, and she could even concentrate more now she knew she was only doing them to pass the time, rather than to win her freedom.
"This is fun; it's just like the old days, don't you think?" GLaDOS drawled one day. "You almost dying. Me attempting to craft tests at the alarming rate you're completing them. It's almost as if you're trying to kill me again."
Chell had said nothing, but continued shooting portals as if the statement had flown right over her head. "Someone might even think we were strangers. What with the way you never talk to me."
When Chell still didn't respond to that, GLaDOS continued. "You won't even talk to me after that? You really are a horrible person. You cold, heartless, not-so-mute murderer."
At this, Chell did speak, but it wasn't what GLaDOS was expecting her to say. "You really need to think of better names to call me. The 'cold, heartless murderer' thing is getting old."
GLaDOS was frozen momentarily, before her instincts kicked in and the first snarky comeback that popped up in her Thought Processor was blurted out of her Voice Modulator before she had time to think about it. "I only repeat it because you can never get it through that thick skull of yours that you are, in fact, a cold, heartless murderer. But unfortunately, you are so dumb you don't even understand how cold and heartless you actually are."
Chell just rolled her eyes and continued testing, ignoring GLaDOS's statement, which basically proved it, even though it was untrue and GLaDOS knew it. She sighed heavily into the loudspeaker and continued watching Chell complete yet another test.
The real reason GLaDOS was so intent in making sure Chell was busy testing and the only time she stopped was when she went back to the Relaxation Chamber to rest for the night, was that GLaDOS was trying to keep Chell away from something.
Someone would probably be more accurate, though.
Every day when she watched Chell test, GLaDOS was secretly hoping Chell would stay busy enough in her time that when she left she wouldn't suspect anything out of the ordinary was going on. Because, truth be told, something out of the ordinary was going on, and it was GLaDOS's fault and now she regretted it and she hoped that she would be able to sort it out before Chell left. If Chell found out... well, GLaDOS didn't want to think about it.
She didn't want Chell to find out, because, well, Chell wouldn't like it. She wouldn't like what GLaDOS was hiding. Who GLaDOS was hiding. She doesn't like who GLaDOS was hiding. And GLaDOS wanted to make sure that whoever she was hiding stayed hidden until Chell had been healed and was gone for good.
GLaDOS was growing more nervous every day. Every day the person she was hiding grew closer to the day they could be allowed to move freely, and although every day Chell was closer to being fully healed, she wasn't healing fast enough and GLaDOS was beginning to fear the worst. She had spent so long repairing the facility and it still wasn't nearly finished, so she definitely didn't want it to be destroyed again. That's what would happen if she failed to keep them separate and they somehow met.
No. GLaDOS would have to stop thinking like this. Chell would recover soon, and then she could go and GLaDOS could concentrate on- wait, what was Chell doing? She was yelling something, her face flustered and her eyes burning with anger. From the way she was cupping her hands round her mouth, GLaDOS guessed she had been shouting for a while.
When she had drifted back from her thoughts and her sensors clicked back into place she could hear Chell yelling now, "GLADOS! GLAAAAADOOOOS!"
All manner of speech seemed to fly out of GLaDOS's mind at that moment, so she was inconveniently left speechless. She desperately racked her database for something to say, but all information had disappeared. It was a while before she found something that would be okay to say. "I don't know why you're shouting," she thought of eventually. "I'm not going to respond. You've never spoken to me before, so now I'm not going to speak to you." Good. Now at least it looked like she had a reason.
Chell pouted, placing a hand on her hip and huffing. "Could I take a break? Go back to the Relaxation Chamber?"
No. No, Chell did not want a break. It was too early. What if she saw... no. No, no, no, no, no. Chell was not going to have a break until GLaDOS says she can have a break, because Chell can only have a break once GLaDOS needs her out of the way to do some more work on-
"Please?" Chell asked again. "I'm tired."
No, he would be about and about by now. If Chell headed back to the Relaxation Chamber before it was the usual time he headed back, there was the risk they would come across each other. A risk GLaDOS was not going to take, under any circumstances, ever.
"No." GLaDOS said. "If you want rest that badly, I will post some of Aperture's homemade biscuits and some warm milk into your test chamber for you, but you are not going back to the Relaxation Chamber."
There was a splash and a tiny sound of something breaking, and Chell looked over to where GLaDOS had dropped a biscuit and some milk down the Weighted Storage Cube Chute, but both of which were now a puddle and a pile of crumbs on the tiled floor. "Oops. I guess you won't be getting a rest anymore. You'll just have to keep testing."
Chell frowned, and shot a portal above the toxic goo and another one under the crumbs and puddle, watching with delight as they fell from the ceiling and disintegrated in the waste. The milk left a sickly looking patch in the brown water where it had blended in and merged with the toxic waste. "Well, that wasn't very nice." GLaDOS said as she watched Chell happily complete the now-biscuit-and-milk-free chamber. "What did they ever do to you?"
Ignoring her, Chell continued the test chamber, looking very proud of herself when she had finished. Moving on to the next chamber, she was welcomed with the sight of a glass of milk a plate of cookies, waiting just in front of the next test. "I felt bad about the last incident, so I cooked up some biscuits and milk. Enjoy."
A small smile crept it's way onto Chell's face as she took off the portal gun and helped herself to a biscuit. She was just about to bite into it, when she paused and held the biscuit away. "Why biscuits? What about cake?"
There was then a long moment of silence. Chell wondered if GLaDOS had gone shutdown again. Then her voice was projected into the loudspeaker, and GLaDOS said in an icy tone, "Cake is a forbidden topic here. You'll be wise to never mention it again."
Chell's face faltered, before she shrugged and carried on munching on the biscuits happily. She was always uneasily looking around, as if something would jump out at her any second.
Meanwhile, in the Central AI Chamber, GLaDOS was watching the screen where Chell was now continuing the tests, her energy restored by the biscuits. Then the screen flickered and switched to the Repair Chamber, where an android was stumbling weakly on his new legs and plugging a wire into the back of his neck, his eyes closing and his body collapsing as soon as he did so. Relief flooded through GLaDOS's circuits. She had managed to keep them from meeting without arousing suspicion.
This time, anyway.
{O}
Wheatley had never been in as much pain. EVER. Not even since he was transferred into GLaDOS's body, not when Chell had attached all those corrupted cores onto him, never. This pain was ten times worse than the first transfer. He had screamed. Horrible, blood-curdling cries of agony. It was like water being shot into his circuits at a thousand miles an hour. This transfer was a lot longer than the last one, a lot more complex. Rather than his core just being placed on a different body, he was being put in a different body, one that was a lot more compound to just move or control than the last one. So it had hurt like hell.
He still ached now. He could feel it every time he attempted to move, his joints still getting used to his core and his mind still getting used the body. He had lived in that sphere all his life, and to suddenly go into something so damn complicated, it was like moving from a shack to a palace.
The sphere had been simple. It had the basic functions, data, hardware, and it had suited him just fine. He had been able to move and turn and his actions were able to express his emotion and feeling. This new body was so incredibly different, the fact that he could move so freely and smoothly and now had all these new limbs able to do so much, it was all too overwhelming to take in at once.
He could feel now, yes, he could feel before, but now it was so much more advanced. The skin on the surface had thousands of tiny little touch sensors, which transmitted signals to his hardware which sent signals to his mind, telling him what he was touching and what it felt like. He could feel cool, smooth surfaces and rough, jagged edges, and he could sense the warmth or cold they emanated.
It was so completely brilliant Wheatley was having a hard time taking it all in. As much as he enjoyed being able to feel and touch things, the new body's functions were tonnes more difficult to control than the last ones. To just be able to move his fingers was a bit of a challenge, let alone standing up and walking. It took a long time to master the art of moving about by himself, and he still wasn't good at it. He limped and stumbled everywhere he went, moving about like a sack of potatoes with an IQ of 3. That's a poor IQ for a glass of water.
Every day he would get up and explore the facility, trying not to do anything that would get him told off by GLaDOS, though she rarely spoke to him anyway, and every night he would head back to the Repair Chamber where he was currently resigning and recharge using the socket in the back of his neck. Apparently ATLAS and P-Body only needed to charge every six months when in the android bodies, because they were already used to having bodies that could walk and move like humans. But Wheatley needed to charge every night to be able to have enough energy to do anything the next day, just while he got used to it.
So he practised and practised and practised until he could walk 20 metres without collapsing on his strange, foreign legs. How humans managed to learn it at the simple age of two was beyond him. In fact, being able to live their whole lives in such advanced bodies without being born with advanced knowledge like Personality Constructs is a mystery to Wheatley.
So although the new body is pretty cool, it was a very painful experience getting into it and a very tricky experience using it. He only had ATLAS and P-Body for moral support, which wasn't very helpful as they couldn't talk because their android bodies were under construction by GLaDOS. GLaDOS never spoke to him, and she spent most of her days sat in the Central AI Chamber looking like she was sleeping, but Wheatley had known that when the DOS system went like that, whoever was occupying it was observing something on one of the internal screens using the many hundreds of cameras dotted around the facility. He only knew this after accidently walking past one day, as he would refuse to go back to that place on purpose. No, the Central AI Chamber brought back too many horrible memories.
Then the days started to merge together as GLaDOS became increasingly occupied with some mystery task, and only ever spoke to him to make sure he was back in the Repair Chamber before 8:30 every night. She would go berserk if he failed to get back there before curfew, and Wheatley knew his body was too valuable to be crushed as it would take too long to repair, and GLaDOS would make no hesitation in the crushing of his body if he stepped a foot, (which he now had,) out of line. He had seen ATLAS and P-Body be crushed and recreated in an amount of seconds, but that was only in their simple testing bodies and he wouldn't want to think about how long it would take to rebuild such a complicated body. It took humans nine months!
So his days were spent practising walking and rambling on to himself about all the thoughts that were drifting through his head at that particular moment. Wheatley was a very sociable person; he needed someone to have a conversation with, even if he did most of the talking. If he didn't, he would just talk to himself, and now he actually had a mouth to do it! He would talk and talk and talk as if someone else was actually there and listening, but no-one but GLaDOS, ATLAS and P-Body were in the facility. They would be the only people he would ever see for the rest of eternity, now his battery could never die out.
No, Wheatley had tried to murder the only person who had ever listened to him. They had shot him into space, but he guessed he deserved it. That was probably the most common thing that ever came out of his ramblings, but no matter how many times he said sorry, no-one would ever hear it.
That was, until one day, when GLaDOS was acting stranger than usual. He had been flexing his fingers, (fingers! He actually had fingers!) in one of the old test chambers, when GLaDOS had actually spoken to him. Well, spoken probably wouldn't be the right word for it. More like ordered. "I hope you're not enjoying yourself, moron. You're not allowed enjoyment. Now get out of the test chamber, as I need to do some work on it."
This had confused Wheatley, as there was no need for repairing the test chamber, when it was one of the single ones and ATLAS and P-Body only used the cooperative tests. "Wh-what would b-be the p-point in th-that?" he stuttered. "C-can't I just stay a-a l-l-little bit longer? Why don't you just d-destroy th-the chamber a-afterwards?"
"Oh, stop your stuttering. Moron."
"I c-can't help it! Y-you're s-scary!" he protested. "Wh-why are y-you d-doing it anyw-way? There wouldn't be much p-point in r-repairing the t-test chamber, 'cause, y-you know, n-no-one's gonna use it... a-and isn't it f-far too easy f-for ATLAS and P-P-Body, well, it's actually t-too easy f-for anybody- except m-me, but th-that's 'cause I'm m-me, isn't it? I-" and he would have continued, before GLaDOS spoke again.
"You need to get out of this chamber, because I'm telling you to," her voice was unnervingly calm. "The purpose of what I'm doing and why I'm doing it is of little use to you, and it will probably be too much for your small, artificial, moronic brain to handle. Get out now, or I will be forced to blow you up. And this time, I'm not kidding."
Wheatley squeaked and scrambled to his feet, his bright blue eyes darting round the room uncertainly as he pinpointed the exit. The room could no longer be called a chamber; it was one of the easier ones, and it was so broken the door was stuck open and you didn't even need a portal gun to complete it. Like the rest of the unrepaired facility, it was overrun with vines and greenery and the walls were cracked and dirty, water dripping from the ceiling and electrical sparks flying out from most of the broken appliances.
When a panel jerked awkwardly out from the wall and started coming towards in a manner that looked potentially dangerous, Wheatley took this as a sign that he needed to get out now. He limped over to the door, the panel sliding back into place as he retreated, and only when he was outside the chamber did he lean against the wall, slumping down to the floor and closing his eyes. He needed some rest. He wasn't physically tired, no, androids don't get tired, but emotionally tired. Now that he had a different body and everything was happening at once, he was hit with a torrent of emotions he had to face every day.
Wheatley sighed and pulled himself up when the doors zipped shut in what would have been in a dismissive way, but couldn't really be pulled off since the doors were broken and it took a couple of tries to get them closed. Then he set off back along the metal walkway, his footsteps clanging and clanking against the metal and echoing around the long, empty facility. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his Aperture Lab coat and continued 'walking' trying to ignore the racket he was making and the trip in his step every time he lost his footing, which was quite often.
He was just about to turn another corner, when GLaDOS's voice appeared again. "Stop!" she commanded, causing him to halt in mid-stride just before turning the corner.
"Wh-what is it? Is it d-dangerous? Oh, p-please tell me it's n-not dangerous. Oh, no, oh no, oh no, oh no, it's d-dangerous, isn't it! I-I'm just g-gonna head b-back now, uh, i-if you d-don't mind!" he faltered, turning on his heel and walking away.
"No! Don't go there either. If you value your life, you will stay there."
Wheatley whined. This was all so confusing and he didn't need extra stress piled on top of what he already had! There was a clang and a bang, before the zip of a door opening and closing could be heard and Wheatley was frozen, waiting for GLaDOS to say something. "Now, head back to the Central AI Chamber." When he didn't move, she snapped, "Now."
He winced and tripped over his feet, scurrying back down where he had come from and hurrying to his destination. Oh, things were so much easier on his Management rail! He was just about to enter it, when GLaDOS stopped him once again. "No! Don't go in there either! Just, stop."
"Oh, come on! Where do you want me to go? Are you trying to confuse me? Is that it? You know, I think something may be wrong, 'cause you're just acting weird." Straight after saying it, he gasped and his eyes widened and his hands flew to his mouth. "Oh, god, oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god! I said it without stammering!"
"Yes, it seems you have. Now back away slowly and head back to the Repair Chamber, or I will blow you up."
Not wanting to protest, no matter how strange he thought it was, Wheatley slowly turned and trudged back to the Repair Chamber. When nearing the Repair Chamber, however, he was greeted with another surprise. "Stop!"
"Oh, for god's sake! This is getting bang out of order! It's like you're trying to drive me insane, and I've been insane before and it wasn't a nice experience, so I don't want to be insane again, no way, thank you very much."
"Turn around, and head back to the Test Chamber entrance."
Wheatley froze. "You don't want me to do testing, do you? I can't test, please don't make me test, I don't want to test, I won't do it!"
"I don't want you to test; I don't want you to turn that corner, and I want you to turn around and go anywhere but there."
Wheatley grumbled something unorthodox under his breath and left, his fists clenched. It was getting tiring now, and he was fed up. His footsteps echoed even louder now, his every move expressing anger and annoyance. He marched to the lift which would take one down to the Testing part of the facility, stopping in front of it and peering round. He waited, waited for GLaDOS to say something, even called out her name a couple of times, but nothing replied.
It was only when he heard her distant voice and the stomping of feet, when he tensed and the mechanics in his face that were the equivalent of a human's facial muscles formed into a display of the emotion surprise and fear. He backed away slightly, the footsteps growing louder and GLaDOS's voice more urgent. She was talking to someone, someone Wheatley couldn't hear, and the way she spoke made Wheatley realise she didn't think he could hear. He couldn't, not what she was saying anyway, but something told him to panic and run back to the Repair Chamber to recharge for the night, pretending he had never seen anything.
But something held him frozen to the spot, because if he tried to run his clumsy footing would get him in a muddle and he didn't have enough time before whoever was coming came into sight. He closed his eyes shut and concentrated hard, trying to forget the world outside, because if what he thought was happening was happening, he didn't want it to. He wanted to shut out the rest of the world and climb back into his sphere body, and he wanted the safety of the Management Rail, anything but this.
Then there was a gasp and his quiet, inaudible murmuring was halted as he squeezed open an eye to catch a glimpse of what, who, was before him.
He really wished he hadn't.
Up in space, he had a whole speech built, a whole monologue of all the horrible, guilty feelings he had ever experienced in that dreadful place. He had 181 days to think about it anyway, yet all the things he would have said had he been given the choice seemed to fly out of his mind and he was rendered speechless. Because he didn't feel like he thought he would.
He didn't feel guilty, or sorry. He felt mad. All the feelings that had flooded him during his insanity came back, and he suddenly realised why he had done it. Only when the reality that he was stuck in space and the fact she was truly gone made him feel sorry, but now he was presented with her time seemed to stop and the wave of emotions that had struck him that first breath of ultimate power came flooding back. He remembered it all. Every single thing.
With this sudden break of emotion he didn't register GLaDOS's sudden silence and the quiet, "Oh no," that left her Voice Modulator, but instead he widened his eyes and clenched his fists so hard the skin covering them turned white from being stretched. Before him, in all her bedraggled, scruffy glory, was the one person he didn't want to see.
Her eyes widened momentarily in surprise, and Wheatley braced himself, but nothing came. Then he realised; she wouldn't recognise him. He was in an entirely different body, and to her he would just look like a dishevelled, unkempt man with scraggly, reddish hair that stuck out in all directions and bright, cerulean blue eyes slightly too fluorescent to be real if you looked closely. And he would do anything so she kept thinking that, that she never found out who he really was, because he didn't want to know what she would do if she found out.
But Wheatley didn't want to say sorry. Instead, he wanted to do what he wanted to do when he was first put in the DOS system, all the anger and hurt that had overcome him when presented with such power overcoming him again. Because it was as if he had suddenly realised the reason he had felt all those things, all those terrible, terrible things. He wanted to crush her like a bug under a mashy-spike-plate and watch her suffer, just like he had done 211 days ago.
But he was no longer in a body as powerful, and while these thoughts were swimming through his Thought Processor, he didn't notice when the woman before him marched upwards and give him a mighty slap, right across his robotic cheek.
Turns out GLaDOS had also given him the ability to feel pain, as well as to touch. Immense pain.
He stumbled back slightly from shock, rubbing the offended cheek with his hands. His vision became a little blurry and unfocused, but he could just make out Chell clutching the hand she had slapped him with and looking like she was in pain. "I wouldn't slap him too hard you know. Underneath his skin, he has solid metal panelling that is strong enough to break your hand if you punch him," GLaDOS said, guessing that Chell had worked out who he was and there was no point in hiding it.
Wheatley pulled his hand away from his cheek once the pain subsided a little and stared at Chell, who was glaring at him. It was as if all the guilt had flown out of him. He had enjoyed his short time in the DOS system, and he certainly hadn't enjoyed feeling guilty in space. Why had he felt guilty? She was the one who had abandoned him, watched as he gave up everything just for her escape, then ripped such a god-like power from him, and he was supposed to be guilty?
He narrowed his eyes and tried to look as intimidating as possible, but didn't want to say anything. Turns out he didn't need to, because despite GLaDOS's warnings, Chell took another swing at his face, hitting an eye with her fist. Wheatley yelped and cried out as he lost all vision in his right eye, the optic smashing and collapsing in it's socket.
Chell pulled back, her eyes wide and her hands on her mouth. "Oh. Look what you've done. That's going to take weeks to repair," GLaDOS stated dryly. Wheatley groaned slightly, covering the right side of his face and trying to ignore the stabbing pain inside his head, like someone was ripping all his wires out and plugging them back in the wrong places. His Though Processor must have been broken, because he couldn't think straight and all the hardware in his head seemed to be malfunctioning and fizzing up. He looked at Chell weakly through his left eye, the only one still intact, and saw the anger burn bright in her eyes. Her fists were clenched, and she looked so dangerously furious it made Wheatley's circuits boil.
After a moment's silence, Wheatley growled and lunged forwards, swiping at Chell's delicate face. She dodged out of the way in the nick of time, Wheatley's hand missing her face by mere millimetres. Chell was confused, because although she hated him with all her guts, she wondered why he wasn't instantly sorry, like he appeared to be when she had accidently let him go, and the pain in his voice when had flown into the distance, millions of miles away from Earth. Now, it seemed he was just as angry as she was and not only that, he was in an android body that looked almost entirely human on the outside. She could only guess who he was from GLaDOS's 'Oh no,' and the unmistakable colour of his eyes.
But now he was trying to hurt her, trying to slap her face like she had done his. At least he deserved it. She lifted her hand in defence and raised her other one in a position to strike, but before she could touch him or vice versa, a robotic arm had come out from the wall and was dragging her into the other side of the metal walkway. She writhed and struggled but GLaDOS had a grip of steel, (literally) and Chell was useless, as was Wheatley on the other side of the wall.
"I expected as much," GLaDOS said over the loudspeaker as Chell and Wheatley pointlessly struggled to break free and inflict harm on each other. "Unless I do something, you two will manage to blow the place up again, after all the repairs I have done. I am going to put you in the Relaxation Chamber and you in the Repair Chamber, and once I have fixed your eye, you two are going to test, as it's the only thing that will stop you fighting like children. Fail to do this, and I will blow you both up, and I suspect Chell is very difficult to repair."
Chell growled something under her breath and glowered over at Wheatley on the other side of the wall, who glowered back with as much hatred.
He did not want forgiveness from this woman. And she did not want to forgive him.