Since testing was out of the question, Chell started going on runs. Yes, granted, with the situation upstairs, GLaDOS wouldn't even think about letting her up on the surface, but Chell would not continue testing if she had to do it with that moron. So she ran. There wasn't much to do involving exercise down here, because having a gym was probably not on the scientist's top priorities, so the only thing that could keep Chell fit was performing tests.

But no, GLaDOS had firmly stated that if either one of them had to test, they would do it with the other, or not at all, despite the other's wishes. Now powerless in the sphere body, Wheatley had caught on that Chell did not in fact want to test, and would have been frankly too scared about her reaction if she was forced to just because of his wishes.

So Chell had decided to start going on runs. Not long marathons or anything of the kind, but just one or two quick runs a day to keep her on the healthy side. After being released from Aperture the first time, (the one where GLaDOS willingly let her go) Chell's fitness had decreased greatly since she had stopped testing, and it had almost cost her greatly when she had wanted to return. Being unfit. Chell could not say she enjoyed the feeling. And so the runs helped her keep on top of it, because being unfit was not something Chell would like to experience again.

Then running helped clear out her mind. Despite having no responsibilities down there in Aperture and Chell was literally free to do whatever she pleased, Chell was often troubled by thoughts and worries about nothing in particular scrabbling for dear life at the corners of her mind. It was even worse that she didn't know what they were or what she was worrying for, because that way she couldn't think of a logical solution to sort them out. Instead she spent her time worrying about nothing with no way to solve it and trying to work out what on earth it was that she was worrying about.

So runs helped her think. When she wasn't worrying while staring at the ceiling of the Relaxation Chamber in bed, she was worrying while she ran because it was the only other time she was alone to her thoughts with no-one else to bother her. Then she began to gather speed every day, until she could run for far greater distance, be in less pain while doing it, and recover quicker by the end of it. She was pleased with her progress, and happy now that the faster she could run the more she grew used to the metal walkways of Aperture with all the twists and turns. Chell began to grow addicted to the sound of the metal clanging and clanking beneath her feet with every heavy footstep. The more she could hear the wind from her momentum whistling past her ears the more she could think, and she was even able to tell where every corner and turn was, so it came naturally to her. She could concentrate fully on not concentrating on Wheatley-hating thoughts now she didn't need to keep thinking about where she was headed so she wasn't banging into walls all the time. Besides, if she didn't concentrate on where she was headed, she would probably fall off the edge after running over the safety rail.

But, every once in a while, she would run into Wheatley on his Management Rail. She would do her best to ignore him, but he would be blown back slightly as she thundered past, and most days when this happened he would confusedly call back after her retreating figure, "You're running very fast, aren't you? Yeah, very fast. Maybe watch where you're going next time, love?" but it would only be a distant jumble of sounds that sounded remotely like a human voice on the other side of a glass wall, as she was never there long enough to hear exactly what he was saying. She didn't really want to, anyway.

They were no longer trying to kill each other, yes, and although Chell could tell Wheatley wasn't particularly fond of their predicament, he was finding it hard to ask for forgiveness and she wasn't going to forgive him if he did. She could try, and pretend that she does, but Chell knew for certain that it was rather hard to forgive someone after they tried to kill you.

She would have tried to persuade herself that it was only the corruption of the mainframe that had... well, corrupted him, but to be honest, part of her didn't want to. Every time the thought sneaked it's way into her almost unbreakable mind, she would quickly shut it out, perfectly happy to continue hating him for trying to kill her, on purpose, completely of his own accord.

But Chell hadn't realised that GLaDOS had been taking track of her running. Every time she left, thinking that she was alone to do what she pleases, she hadn't realised that GLaDOS had sent a camera to follow her and was monitoring her fitness progress and her heart rate. Of course, it was a lot more scientific and complicated than that, but when GLaDOS had actually informed Chell on what she was doing, her exact words had been; "I've been watching you; yes, watching you. While you were running. I had performed very complex observations on you, but I will make it less complicated for your small, moronic brain to handle."

And then when Chell had inquired on why, GLaDOS had not given her a proper answer. She had merely stated; "I have my reasons. Why should they be of interest to you?" leaving Chell confused and befuddled. She knew from experience that GLaDOS would not just test her on a whim, and that if she had reasons they would be completely and entirely justified and reasonable. It was the reasons that Chell was curious about.

But GLaDOS had still not told her, and Chell forgot about it almost entirely after a while. She lost track of how long she had been down here, but estimated it would be around two months, and whenever she asked GLaDOS about the state of the attacks upstairs and whether it was okay for her to go back, GLaDOS had responded every time with the fact that Chell would be staying down here a little longer. She began to wonder if the remains of the human race or something catastrophic and apocalyptic had happened and she would never be able to return, but soon shrugged the though away. It was too dire to think about.

Yet Chell only saw Wheatley around five times in the duration she was there, when she 'ran into him' on her runs.Otherwise, the only company she ever received during the 'time' she had spent here, whatever amount that may be, were the brief, neutral talks with GLaDOS. They never talked for the mere sake of talking though; every time Chell was summoned to have a little 'chat' with GLaDOS, it was to discuss the current status of the outside and for Chell to relay on all the information she had gathered on the Combine and their ruthless ways. Every single, last little detail. It was definitely a challenge for Chell to rack her brains on all the facts and figures she had ever recalled, as despite the great intellect she has that's required to complete the trickier of tests, Chell was more or less more of a physical person than a mental. Yes, she was clever, but after spending 'nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine... unknown amounts of time' in statis, her 'brain damage' rendered her mind not as well developed as her body.

But she knew how incredibly important it was that she try to remember as many details as possible; without them, GLaDOS wouldn't have the necessities that she required in order to put together a successful... actually, Chell didn't know why GLaDOS needed them. All she knew was that they were important, and that something big relied on Chell to memorize everything. That was a lot of pressure, as before Chell was pressurised into keeping herself alive, but now it was her responsibility to do something important, what it was she didn't know, but she knew that a lot of lives would probably be saved if she did do it.

That was why she loved her daily runs so much. They distracted her from all the things she didn't want to think about; the horrible, unknown worry she still didn't quite understand, and the excruciating dependency on her and her unpromising memory. GLaDOS had made it quite clear that a simple human's memory was about literally 2% the worth of that of an AI, albeit she exaggerated most of the time. Fine, all the time. But it made Chell realize just how small and scrawny the human race were compared to the powerful, invulnerable robots and computers, lost to mankind in the basements of Aperture.

And then that thought led to another, crazy idea that struck Chell like a dagger slash across the face, and it was so damn obvious it made her wonder why she hadn't thought of it before. The nagging doubt and ceaseless worrying at the back of her mind had been for the state of the surface, and she had constantly been subconsciously fretting about mankind, her own species. And all this while she had thought it had something to do with Wheatley and their 'predicament', but all along it had been for her fellow humans, being tortured up on the surface by the Combine. Then while on her run, the idea that had been staring at her in the face all along finally became visible and Chell nearly stumbled from the shock. She skidded to a halt, trying to process the fantastic, brilliant idea that she had just brewed up, before racing all the way to the AI Chamber so fast she couldn't stand once she had reached it.

She slumped down against the wall next to the door, hugging her knees to her chest while she regained her breath. Chell was just about to stand up, brushing down her trousers to make herself presentable for GLaDOS, when her ears picked up the fine, faint whirring of mechanics growing all the more close from somewhere to her right. She whipped her head round, too focused on her fantastic idea to have mercy on whatever it was that was interrupting her, and soon tensed when she saw who it was. Or what it was in her eyes. She refused to see him as a person. He was artificial, emotionless, incapable of feeling any guilt or any positive emotion towards her. That's why she refused to forgive him. She refused to forgive him when he wouldn't feel sorry. At least that's what she told herself. Any doubts were ignored and shoved to the back of her mind, where she locked the door and tossed away the key.

Wheatley slowly came into view, hanging by the Management Rail, his blue optic lowered glumly to the floor. The usual bright, cerulean colour was dull and unfocused, like the sea on a particularly bleak day. His whole spherical frame drooped and even the usually shiny white panelling was grey and dreary. Though it wasn't like she felt sorry for him or anything. He was nothing more than a robot in her eyes, and if he was depressed, or as depressed as he was capable of feeling, then good for him. Good for him was all she was going to say to that.

But she stood up abruptly anyway, causing the metal walkway to swing slightly and bang against the wall, jerking Wheatley out of his misery with a loud yelp followed by a frantic, panicky, "What was that? What was that? What wa- oh. It's only you."

Without thinking, Chell strode towards him with her fists clenched in defiance, feeling his gaze watching her with an unwanted curiosity. Then before he could say anything and protest, she had grabbed his bar and was yanking him from the rail; she knew he wouldn't die, and if GLaDOS agreed to go through with Chell's plan, Wheatley would need to be there too, no matter how much Chell hated him.

He was protesting loudly as her legs lifted off the metal flooring trying to pull him from the Management Rail, the walkway beneath them groaning now her weight had been lifted. "What are you doing? No, no, no, no, no! I wouldn't do that luv, if you just let go- ARRGGHH! Oh god, that hurt! What do you think you're bloody doing? It's hurting, it's hurting, it's hurting, owww, god, that cannot be good for me. You know, GLaDOS wasn't lying when she said you were heav- ARRGGHHH!"

Wheatley had been flung off the Management Rail with such a force it knocked them both back, sending Chell tumbling back to the ground of the metal walkway, Wheatley clutched in her arms. When realizing with disgust that she was probably doing him a favour, she tossed him to the side before impact, trying to make it as painful an experience for him as possible.

He groaned loudly, but she wasn't one to care as she rubbed her own sore backside and straightened her back with a groan. "Ohhhhh, that hurts," he moaned, facing the floor. Chell stood and waited until he fully realized his situation. "Wait- wha- what? Oh, god, oh god, oh god! This is bad, this is very, very bad! GLaDOS is going to kill me, GLaDOS is going to kill me- wait. No, this is good news! She'll kill you! Ha ha!"

Chell just watched as he remained on the floor, folding her arms over her chest and listening impatiently to his delight at GLaDOS's plans on 'killing' her. When she figured he had had long enough, she bent down to gather him up in her arms.

"No, no, no, no, no, no! Hands off! Nope, you're not going to be carrying me anywhere."

Chell sighed and dropped him onto the floor again, relishing in the satisfying sound of his crash. "Fine then. I'll just leave you here on the floor for you to make your own way."

Then she turned on her heel and made her way to the round, Aperture doors that opened automatically at her presence with a zip. Just before she stepped through the doors, Wheatley spoke again, not to her surprise. "Heh," he started eloquently. "You know, carrying me wouldn't be such a bad idea, if you know what I mean."

When she didn't move he sighed and reluctantly added a, "Please?"

Chell grumbled something incoherent under her breath and picked him up by the rail, not aiming to make it a comfortable ride. He was heavier now she didn't have the portal gun, and she leaned towards her left a little from his straining weight.

When entering the bright, sterile dome-shaped chamber of the Central AI, GLaDOS turned around to face them after sensing their presence.

"Oh. Hello," she said dryly. Her gaze averted to Wheatley, dangling at Chell's side uncomfortably. He squeaked under the glare from her patronising optic. "Oh look. You brought the moron with you."

Chell nodded slightly and dropped Wheatley to the ground, before striding across the white tiled floor and sitting cross-legged in front of GLaDOS, who looked at her expectantly.

She had a plan to tell.

{O}

GLaDOS could not say she particularly liked Chell's plan. To her, it was a nuisance, getting in the way of things that were far more important in her list of priorities. She had no wish to get involved with it, it was none of her business, and it certainly wasn't her problem. If they had a problem, then they should solve it themselves. GLaDOS felt like she was giving out her soul to these people, and that she deserved a nice long rest watching ATLAS and P-Body test afterwards as a reward to her generosity.

To be honest, she didn't know she agreed to go through with it in the first place. It wasn't even a very good plan; countless flaws, illogical, far-fetched and with an estimated 80% chance of complete failure, and maybe even certain death. She did tell Chell this of course, but the woman was persistent. Plus, she was desperate. Going forwards with her crazy idea might be the only thing that could save her species.

Wheatley didn't like it much either. He was spineless, both literally and metaphorically, and the plan involved him going through the immense pain of the Core Transfer Receptacle and actually doing something, and he wasn't all for it after GLaDOS and Chell told him he would have to go through a lot of pain, stress, pressure, and a bunch of other negative emotions cruel scientists thought would be a bright idea to give to robots. They were sadistic and inhumane, the whole lot of them.

But after some shouting and grumbling and banging and thrashing, and a whole lot of other bad things that shan't be written down, he reluctantly agreed, and GLaDOS was left alone to her thoughts. She kept running through Chell's words in her Thought Processor, thinking things through and trying to understand what Chell had been thinking. What had Chell been thinking?

GLaDOS sighed sadly, the gears and cogs in her artificial brain tired from thinking. She needed to rest. Lifting her gaze off of the floor, her optic was met with the emotionless stare of the Rocket Launcher, that was still conveniently sat there like it had a purpose. It's blank, blue glare seemed to be taunting her. She glowered at it.

"I don't know what you're looking at."

The Rocket Launcher did not respond. She knew it would only fire at her command, but the way it was poised, so alert, like it could shoot any second, unnerved her slightly.

"It's not like you would understand."

As she was expecting, the Rocket Launcher was unresponsive. "Maybe I should attach a Construct to you," she voiced her thoughts aloud, glad that no-one was here to see her resort to talking to machines, and worse, machines who could not hear, nor talk back. "I'm sure it would be great for science to see what personality a Rocket Launcher was able to come up with."

She sighed again. "Sometimes it seems like you're the only one who really understands me."

If Rocket Launcher was able of thinking for itself, it would have felt pity for her. It understood. It understood what it was like to be controlled. It was a slave to GLaDOS's will, as was she to the Itch. And now Chell no longer needed disposing of, Rocket Launcher had no purpose. GLaDOS wondered why it was still there, to be honest. It was as useless as she was. So purposeless she had been reduced to saving humans, for heaven's sake, just to fill in time. A tiny voice that sounded similar to Morality squeaked in the back of her database, 'Isn't it to help Chell?' but she banished it away before it could finish it's sentence, mentally cursing her under-development conscience.

Conscience. Con-science. What it had to do with science, she did not know. How could one concentrate fully on science when a conscience was clouding their judgement?

She sighed again, and replayed Chell's plan.

Unless we do something, the Combine will take over and my species will be wiped out. I'm not suggesting we bring them all down here, no, the Combine will find us, but think on this; if Black Mesa East had the help from all the technology down here, would they have stood a better chance against the Combine? I'm not suggesting we pair up, I know you guys still have your pride to think of, but if we do something, we might just be able to save mankind.

"Just the three of us?" Wheatley had asked. "What exactly do you have in mind? Because the look you're giving me is not exactly comforting..."

Then GLaDOS had looked at Chell expectantly, expecting to hear a long, detailed plan-

"I don't know."

"Well. Isn't that a helpful plan? It's hard to get more detailed than that. Well done Chell. We can tell you spent a long time thinking about that."

"Well, I do know some parts. I didn't really think it through, because I thought I would forget it if I didn't tell you straight away, but I know that it would be a good start if we went up, armed with rocket launchers, disencouragement beams, conversion gel, and any other stuff Aperture has stacked away down here, and we'd probably stand a pretty good chance."

A pretty good chance.

GLaDOS wished it was that simple.

Because the truth was, unknown to Chell and Wheatley, GLaDOS had been studying the Combine's movements for a few weeks now. The human population had been growing smaller and smaller every day, and the Combine's forces had been spreading like wildfire. Unfortunately, their control on mankind was very secure and strict, and so they would notice when one went missing without them killing them first, which meant that they knew someone called Chell had mysteriously disappeared and they needed to know where.

Not only that, but GLaDOS bugged their Radio Transmission and picked up on a conversation that relayed important information, and it quite surprised her. Apparently, one of the Black Mesa East scientists was captured and tortured for information, and eventually spilled the beans that an underground facility called Aperture existed somewhere, and that if the Combine found it they would have supplies and ammo beyond their wildest fantasies. It was like a science-fictional Cave Of Wonders.

Even worse, the Black Mesa group had been tracking down the Borealis for weeks, and if they found it they would be able to trace it back to Aperture. Turns out they had the same idea as Chell, and thought it would be a miracle if they were to find Aperture and all the wonders it had hidden.

Unfortunately, the idiot of a scientist was so weak-willed he gave away that information too, and now the Combine was searching for the Borealis as well, just to put the cherry on the cake.

Oh, cake. GLaDOS would kill for a cake right now.

Well, she would kill anyway, but a cake was really what she needed.

Because the truth was, there was a pretty big chance the Combine would reach the Borealis first, what with all their high-technology and mass supply of weapons and control. GLaDOS would rather have Black Mesa morons get their fat fingers on her work than those malicious, blood-thirsty beasts of a species Combine forces. If they found the Borealis, which GLaDOS had a sneaking suspicion they already had done, it would only be a matter of time before they found Aperture and life as GLaDOS knew it would be flushed down the drain.

She needed something to get her mind off it.

Testing.

Testing always helped... usually.

Oh well. It was worth a try.

She flicked the camera feed to the internal test chamber cameras and watched with disgust as ATLAS and P-Body, now back in their original bodies, were playing something that looked suspiciously like 'A sailor went to sea-sea-sea.'

Then ATLAS accidently hit P-Body in the eye, and she fell back to the floor, jittering and twitching in a manner that could pass off as laughter. GLaDOS internally groaned at their incompetence. After a while, when they seemed to have gotten over the eye-poking incident, they began to test again, but slowly, and GLaDOS lost count of the amount of times they died due to lack of focus and just general stupidity.

When they still hadn't completed the test chamber three hours later, GLaDOS gave up and admitted the fact that it would be a while before they got anywhere near finishing, despite all her sarcastic, patronising comments and orders, so it was fruitless to try and continue watching when there would be no help to science if she did.

Her brain needed a rest. She had been working it too hard recently, and although she had no physical need to charge, her mental state was near-breakdown from all the stress, even though she acted calm and collected on the surface.

Stress was not something she enjoyed experiencing, and she wanted to lessen the risk of it happening again. Wheatley would be put in the android body the next day, and they were going to start preparing. There was no chance of them ever making up, and they were both in their separate rooms, sleeping. She could sleep peacefully, without worry.

So GLaDOS locked the doors and shut her optic, her frame going limp and the room going dark other than the faint glow of the Rocket Launcher.

{O}

Ever since the 'news', as Wheatley liked to call it, he had been a bundle of nerves. Well, more than he was normally. That night, while he was secure in his 'box' in the ceiling, he spent his time chatting into the darkness like it was an old friend, relaying all his worries, (which was a lot) and generally trying to get things off his metaphorical chest. Tomorrow, he would be going through something that would be the start of a long line of pain – yes, scientists were sadistic enough to give robots the ability to feel pain, even spherical ones.

He hated the Core Transfer Receptacle. Almost as much as he 'hated' Chell, or at least he told himself that. Wheatley had been through that thing four times, and none of them were particularly enjoyable. In fact, they were quite the opposite. The pain... oh, the pain! It haunted his waking moments and sent twitches – the robotic equivalent of shudders – through his body.

And then he wasn't looking forward to being back in the android body, either. It was so damn confusing! It had taken him a long time to get used to the last time, but again? Wheatley didn't know how he would manage it. Then there was Chell. Given hands and the ability to wring someone's neck with a 200kg grip only androids held, he didn't know how he would be able to resist. When back in the sphere, he acted more or less civil to her, and never mentioned the hatred he felt with a burning passion. In fact, he only spoke when absolutely necessary, although Wheatley's idea of 'only speaking when necessary' might be a little bit different to most people.

And then after the Core Transfer Receptacle, Chell continued to place herself further down on the 'How much Wheatley likes this person' scale in his database, although there were hardly any people on it anyway, by forcing him to go through a lot of pain and stress and effort just to save her revolting species. It wasn't his problem, and he didn't see why he should care.

But no, she and GLaDOS had dragged him into it, and when in the android body he wouldn't be able to do nearly as much as he was able to do when in complete control of the facility, and would be rendered useless to the 'team.' They probably thought he was useless anyway, because after all, he was only a moron. He was designed to be a moron. He was born a moron, and he would die a moron. If he did die, that is. Yet if they went up to that hazardous place, if he went up, and they faced the Combine full on, the chances of that happening were beginning to grow a frightening amount. It was not something Wheatley was looking forward to.

Then, as far as his general lack of intelligence would allow him, Wheatley had developed a somewhat suspicion that there was more to it than that. GLaDOS would shut herself away, hunched uncomfortable over a screen, and whenever he, (or Chell, he figured) approached, she would violently snap at them to leave. He guessed that Chell would probably inquire further, but Wheatley being Wheatley, he just squeaked and hurried away, the retractable Management Rail following him as he left.

But GLaDOS was doing something, and if GLaDOS was doing something it meant she knew something that he didn't. Actually, she knew an awful lot of things he didn't, but he guessed that Chell didn't know either, and that it was something to do with their 'plan' on overthrowing the Combine. Of course, it was only a guess, and a moron's guess is not the most reliable source of information in the universe. Wheatley still wanted to know, though.

Oh well. Sleeping on it wouldn't help, as if he were able to go to sleep anyway. His Thought Processor was far too busy concentrating on more important matters, like his prominent torture and probable death, so he would continue worrying rather than trying to work out GLaDOS's motives. He would probably come up with a load of crazy ideas anyway, and GLaDOS's motives were often very complicated and complex. Wheatley knew it was utterly pointless to try and work it out, because he would never reach a satisfactory conclusion and the more he thought about it the more he became desperate to know about it. So he focused on his fretting and anxious thoughts, as if he could actually concentrate on anything else when he was to be forced to be put through the Core Transfer Receptacle tomorrow.

Wheatley sighed to himself and closed his optic, physically unable to stay awake for much longer without charging. Even on the Management Rail, both the android and the sphere were incapable of staying awake without charging for more than a day. Then, with a final panicked thought, he brought himself to sliding into the plug and feeling himself shut down, unconscious until morning.

When he awoke, the first thought that raced through his mind was, 'God, oh god, oh god, oh god! Today's the day of the Core Transfer Receptacle, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die! Someone, kill me now please! I don't care what you think, I'm going to die.'

But then the realization that no-one was going to kill him and he would have to do this dawned on him, and he slid out from the box in the ceiling to be momentarily blinded by the bright, artificial glares of the Repair Chamber. It would be past 10am due to his going to 'sleep' late the previous night, so the doors would be open and GLaDOS will have hopefully put the finishing touches on the plan. It also meant that the time was more than ready for him to be put on the Core Transfer Receptacle as soon as he left the safety of his room, quickly followed by the having to restrain from killing Chell when presented with the ability to do so.

He would probably stay there for a bit for some mental preparation.

Eventually, he gathered the will-power to move, and set off on the slow journey of the Management Rail. He stared down at the ground, muttering incoherently to himself and trying his best to ignore the long, distant drop beneath him. All he could see was darkness that seemed to stretch on forever, and he wouldn't like to be the one to find out how long it takes to reach the bottom.

Thoughts raced through his Thought Processor faster than he could make sense of them, all about how he could escape from the dreaded Core Transfer Receptacle that, whether he liked it or not, awaited him. Is it going to hurt? Well, of course it's going to hurt, Wheatley, it's the bloody Core Transfer Receptacle! Oh, but I don't want it to hurt! Stupid, stupid humans. Stupid Chell. Why do I have to do this just for them? When I clearly have more important things to do? If Chell wants her stupid, fat species to be saved, then she should do it herself.

But his rants on hating Chell were only to mask up and take his mind off the thoughts that sounded more like; I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die. Damn Core Transfer Receptacle... what kind of scientist would be sadistic enough to allow robots to feel pain? Or invent the Core Transfer Receptacle, for that matter! Ah! What's that? Okay, it's alright, it was nothing. Just have to think about something else, don't think about the Core Transfer Recepta- you see? It's impossible not to think about it!

Wheatley didn't register how long he had been 'wandering' the facility like this, but he knew that no matter how much he put it off, he would be back in the android body by the end of the day. So, even Wheatley realized there wasn't much point holding it off for longer, and eventually decided he should get it over and done with.

Of course, this took about another hour of not moving in mental battle with himself, but when he realized he didn't have much time left and if he didn't get to the Central AI Chamber by the end of the day, GLaDOS would kill him, and that GLaDOS's methods would hurt a lot more than the Core Transfer Receptacle. In fact, the Core Transfer Receptacle was as painless as sleeping compared to the sick techniques GLaDOS had stacked away in the macabre programming of hers. So this thought sent Wheatley off with a tremble as fast as the Management Rail would allow him towards the Central AI Chamber.

He spoke to himself along the way, just quiet murmurings. Whatever happened to being going on through his Thought Processor. It was hard to keep focused, and so he lost his way many times. But eventually, as an unpleasant surprise, he managed to find his way. He paused in front of the doors, hanging on the Management Rail in complete suspense as he braced himself. Then, with a deep artificial breath, the doors whizzed open and beckoned him in dangerously with the all too bright, sterile white walls. His whole frame shook anxiously, and about half a meter in he backed away, saying, "I can't do that, I'm not doing that, I'm leaving now, don't expect me to go through that horrible thing. Much too painful, that."

But the doors had shut behind him, and had he been human, he would have gulped. GLaDOS had turned, her yellow optic glinting dangerously. She looked shaken, as did Chell stood beneath GLaDOS. Wheatley saw the fear that flashed momentarily across her intense, grey eyes, and part of him knew it wasn't anything to do with his part.

"You certainly won't be leaving any time soon. It seems we are in what a simple mind such as yours would call a hurry, so you'll be in that Core Transfer Receptacle sooner than you thought," GLaDOS drawled in her usual monotone voice.

"Wh-why? Has anything happened?" he stammered, worst-case scenarios already flashing through his Thought Processor.

There was a long, horrible pause as GLaDOS and Chell looked at him, Chell's face a mixture of negative emotions and GLaDOS's optic displaying what she was trying so hard to mask; worry.

"What is it? What's happened?" He was right. Nobody ever told him anything.

Then, with a final glance at Chell, GLaDOS said, "They've come."

A/N. Okay, first things first, I'm very, very sorry for not getting this up sooner. I had to go to my grandmother's house for Easter and couldn't write it when there, and then it was the Easter Holidays as soon as we got back, so we were busy with family stuff and I had homework. Then as soon as we went back to school, I had to do even more homework and revising for some tests that are coming up. So I was so tired by the time I came back from school, I couldn't even think about writing more, so I let my brain rest and just read Portal fanfics instead of writing them. Eventually, after all the reading, I began to get sick of Portal and couldn't even think about it, let alone writing it, so when I had less work, I began writing other things. My mum also wanted me to write a short story we came up with together, so I've been writing that, other fanfictions and an original story since. I still have to do revision, and when updated this I shall probably still not update as regularly as I said I would have. Also, after submitting one of the different fanfics, people requested I do another one from that fandom, so I'll be doing that before working on the next chapter for this. Maybe when the tests have come and gone this will be updated quicker, but I'll be working on other stuff to get my mind off too much of the Portal.

Also, they are probably out of character in this, as they have been for the last ones, and my writing has been decreasing in quality since the end of the holidays because of tiring days at school. You don't have to carry on reading this, and I will not continue writing it if no-one wants me to, because I have other stuff to work on and there's not much point in me writing it when no-one wants to read it. So if you want me to carry on writing it, tell me in a review and I shall, as fast as my poor mind is capable of! (Although I can't guarantee anything!)

Anyway, reviews and feedback are well appreciated!

Disclaimer: All copyrights belong to ValvE, not me.

Thank you!

~Franki