The atmosphere was tense. The previous statement was an understatement of the truth. The atmospheric tension was, in fact, so thick that it could be cut with a knife.

Wheatley was the first one to break the silence. "So…Hey, um…Long time no see, wow, you look great. Love what you've done with your…um, wires, very hang-y today. So, uh listen…Terribly sorry about putting you into a potato, and taking control of the lab, and subsequently destroying it, and truly, truly I am," Wheatley rattled on, oblivious to the annoyance of the highest lethal kind was plastered on GLaDOS's face-core. "But, it's been great, it really has been great, uh, catching up, but I have to leave now. Y'know, don't wanna make waves or anything. Oh, and I'll be taking these two with me; I don't exactly have legs to use now do I? So yeah, leaving now, taking these two, and goodbye."

GLaDOS ignored him. "You know, I'm glad you came back. I had thought about it for a while, and it just didn't seem fair to let you live alone in space for all this time."

"R-really?" Wheatley piped.

Atlas and P-body exchanged quick glances. Was Wheatley really this ignorant? They honestly hoped not, because they were going to need him.

"Yes." Came GLaDOS's eerily quiet reply. She was looking right at him. "At first, I thought to myself that I would let you spend a year in the incinerator, the next year in the cryogenic refrigeration wing, and then ten years in the room where the robots scream at you. And then I would kill you."

Wheatley began to shake. "O-oh. Well what-"

He was abruptly cut off by a panel on the wall next to the trio slamming down, only inches away from P-body's arm. "But that seems too good. Too simple. You're here now though, so I'm sure I can concoct something a little more…fitting." She added the last part with as much emphasis as possible.

Wheatley began to babble incoherently. Atlas looked to P-body. Well this was great. Now they were screwed.

GLaDOS turned to Atlas and P-body. They both gave a start and appeared frightened. "Yes. You two. You've been most…helpful…"She strained trying to get the last word out. "But I'm afraid it's back to testing for you both. Drop the idiot and prepare to be forcibly dismantled and transported."

Atlas looked to P-body as she did the same. This was it. They hadn't even gotten the chance to have their adventure, or escape. And now they would spend the rest of an eternity testing again and again. Didn't GLaDOS ever notice how proficient they were getting, and that each test they took was solved quicker and quicker with less deaths each time? They had no time to object or think any further; GLaDOS initiated their "dismantling" with a soft BEEP.

They closed their optics, waiting for each body to be blown apart.

Silence.

BEEP.

More silence.

BEEP BEEP.

Atlas and P-body eased their optics open. Wheatley looked up at them in confusion. Where was the explosion?

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

And still nothing.

"Hmm…that's odd. You two haven't explode-been dismantled." Came GLaDOS's reply. She herself was terribly confused and attempted to hide said confusion. "Well good. That will save the maintenance robots a task. So, Listen. Just leave the moron on the floor, and lie down while I try to fix this."

P-body glanced at Atlas. Yeah right. As if they were Wheatley.

The floor panel behind them began to shake.

"Uh…" Wheatley pointed out.

With expert agility neither bot knew they had, they dodged the blow of the panel, which came down with such force that it cracked the panel below it.

"Augh!" Wheatley screamed in shock. "We could've-oh wait. That's the point, isn't it?"

P-body smacked her forehead(?) with her hand in frustration, effectively dropping Wheatley.

"Ah! Pickmeup! Pickmeup!" Came Wheatley's scream from the floor.

GLaDOS glanced down. A robotic arm descended from the ceiling to procure the shouting core.

Atlas sprung into action and slid across the floor, picking up Wheatley inches away from the dangling arm.

"Blue has been deducted 2,000 Science collaboration points. See what you're doing to yourselves?" GLaDOS stated, frustration evident.

P-body beeped loudly at Atlas and motioned to an open door. They needed to escape before they were maimed, or killed. Or anything worse, for that matter, this WAS GLaDOS they were beeping about, after all.

Atlas scrambled to his feet and followed P-body through the door just as it slammed shut.

GLaDOS was speechless. With fury. She couldn't even put a scratch on the damn things the entire time they were here. (with exceptions) that was unheard of! First, they leave the facility while not accomplishing any science, they bring back that moronic piece of trash tumor, she can't destroy them for some strange reason, and now the insolent things were running around her facility. Somehow Blue and Orange had gotten a lot more coordinated and skilled. Not to mention quicker, smarter, and somehow more…human. How would they have been able to do such things? The test chambers wouldn't have influenced such a growth in skill unless…This would not do. GLaDOS logged herself onto the internet and tried to look up a word in any language that described how much anger she felt.

There was none.

"Hey you two, I have an idea that might get us out of here." Wheatley whispered to the two as they ran down the corridor.

P-body looked down at the small sphere. Wasn't he a moron built for the express purpose of making bad decisions? She turned to Atlas, who shrugged, suggesting the same thing.

"I'm right here mates…" Wheatley pointed out, rather hurt.

P-body and Atlas dodged another smasher and a row of well-placed turrets, who bid them a 'hello' before attempting to rip them full of more holes than swiss cheese. P-body urged him to finish his idea, while portaling the turrets through the air ("Ahhhhhh!" "I don't hate you…" "Whyyyy?").

"Right, well, it's bloody dangerous, and it could—oh! Nice evasion—k ill you, so you might want to shut off your…ears…." Wheatley finished.

Atlas rolled under a row of lasers and sidestepped yet another smasher. He looked at P-body. What were ears?

P-body looked as lost as Atlas.

"Um…. How about this: whatever you use to hear what I say, turn that off. And keep them off until I give the signal that it's ok." Wheatley confirmed.

Atlas and P-body immediately complied, much to Wheatley's surprise; he thought it would have taken longer. He pushed the thought aside, and called to GLaDOS.

"Hey lady! I got something I wanna say!" Wheatley called as P-body passed him to Atlas. "It's bloody important, and you should really listen to it."

"Nothing you have to say is important, moron." Came the cold reply as another panel smashed in front of Atlas and Wheatley.

"I AM NOT A-Ahhh!" Was Wheatley's protest as Atlas passed him back to P-body, who had spun over the panel. "Anyway! I have something to tell you!" Wheatley started up again, watching nervously as Atlas shot a portal in front of them, sending both P-body and Wheatley hurdling through the air and over a vast pool of death-liquid. They landed in one of the test chambers, with Atlas following closely behind and taking care of the last of the turrets.

"THIS. STATEMENT. IS. FALSE!" Wheatley cried, desperately hoping his idea would work.

The lights flickered in the facility, followed by a blood-curdling scream that shook the PA system. GLaDOS was in monumental pain from the sound of it, and Wheatley was surprised that his idea worked.

Atlas and P-body stood in the confusion and looked around. They reenabled their hearing at this point, and wondered what had just transpired.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" was GLaDOS's final words as the facility came to a screeching halt, evident by the extinguished lights and the primal screams of pain.

There was a moment of silence before Wheatley piped up. "I…I did it!" He cheered from P-body's hands. "She's gone! Yes!" If he was able to later, he would do a twirl from his exuberance.

Suddenly, the lights flickered back on. The noises of the facility started up again, much to Wheatley's horror.

"Just kidding." Came GLaDOS's cold response. "I tried that on you, remember? I know that you're a moron, so it wouldn't affect you. But how would a weak little paradox like that affect me?" A sinister chuckle came out of the PA system, clearly indicating to all that Wheatley's idea, had in fact, not worked.

Atlas and P-body wasted no time in scurrying out of the room before it was locked up.

"You DO realize you're not going the right way, correct?" GLaDOS continued. "Also, Blue, Orange, even though I cannot force you to explo-be dismantled anymore, there are worse ways I can dismantle you. I suggest before you make me angrier than I already am, you drop the moron and wait right there."

Atlas and P-body ignored her and jumped into one of the pneumatic tubes above an elevator. They were sucked upwards and onwards, as Wheatley began to protest rather loudly that he wasn't a moron.

Their situation was not good, P-body rationalized. They had only ever been inside the test chambers, and they had no other way of navigating Aperature Science by themselves. She reasoned further that even though Wheatley had traveled the place for more than 200 years, he was still kind of a dumbass. She recalculated their chances of survival. She did not like that number. She followed Atlas, who was leading the way though the tube, pushing random junk out of their path, and noticed a fork ahead of them.

Atlas saw it first. He let out an alarmed robotic cry and grasped the sides of the tube, catching them on an indention where the different pieces were connected. He stopped, and felt P-body collide into him. She protested, and Wheatley was nearly knocked out of her grasp in the resulting bickering.

The trio stared into the tunnel of the tube. The fork let to two different places. Up, and down.

"We should go up! Up!" Wheatley suggested.

Atlas leaned toward P-body while keeping his grip on the sides. He made it plain that the tube leading upwards could very well be a trap, and if they were going to decide, then they had better do it fast because a vast amount of crap was being sucked toward them.

P-body and Wheatley glanced behind them and screamed. A rather large mass of turrets and weighted cubes were getting dangerously close to them. If a collision occurred, they would most likely not be able to survive from the resulting carnage. Panicking, the She and Wheatley began to scream at Atlas which path he should take.

Atlas ignored them both, rather inclined to make his own path. He quickly placed his feet in the indentions and held himself there. With strength he never knew he had, he slammed his fist into the side of the tube, effectively shattering it. Glass and plastics rained over him and he looked back to P-body and Wheatley, who were frozen mid-yell with shock. He raised his "eyebrow." Problem?

The hole was big enough for P-body to fit through, and as the pile of turrets and cubes came ever so closer, she climbed out and pulled Atlas with her. The mass shot through the tube right where they had been as soon as Atlas had gotten his last leg out. That was close.

They were safe from that for the moment, but now they were stuck on top, and there was not a whole lot to work with at this point.

There were no portal-capable surfaces that they could see, and the distance to the bottom was quite startling. There were wires that hung from a platform above them some distance away, but unless they could jump far, there was no way to progress. The Pneumatic tube took a sharp up and a down turn, so they couldn't easily climb it. Atlas glanced at P-body and Wheatley. What next?

"Hmm… Blue was not programmed for enough strength to break the pneumatic tubes. Fascinating." Came GLaDOS's indifferent voice, echoing throughout the vastness of the facility. "I'll have to take you apart later and see what caused it. In any case, I hope you know that all you've managed to accomplish is get even farther into the facility. If you're trying to escape, you're not doing a very good job."

P-body felt a sudden wave of aggression hit her. GLaDOS wanted to dismantle Atlas? She always said that, true, but the way she said it this time…P-body had never felt a stronger emotion than what she was feeling now. She shook with whatever emotion and narrowed her optic upwards. She had never been too fond of the supercomputer, but they way She spoke made her want to rip off Her central head/core.

"What's wrong, Orange? You appear to be angry with me for something. You know, I wasn't the one who started this. You are the ones who brought this on yourselves. However, that anger you feel, I wonder if I can restimulate it later when you've been taken apart and studied. For science." GLaDOS's mocking voice sang out.

It was Atlas's turn to be angry. He didn't mind so much GLaDOS's comment on his dismantling, but bringing P-body into it made him feel the same way she did. Angry.

He glanced around, avoiding eye contact, and noticed a way up. There was a small portal surface above them that he had somehow missed. He shot at it, and looked for another surface he could use. He saw it below them, very small and almost invisible, something he also evidently missed. He shot another portal at it, and looked to P-body, who was still eying the facility with rage. Wheatley looked around nervously, just hoping P-body could keep it together and not use him as an outlet for her anger.

Just as Atlas was about to motion to his portals, there was a loud scraping noise, followed by the familiar sounds of an aerial faith plate. Everyone wheeled around to see a large ball of garbage hurdle towards them. They screamed.

Atlas rushed into action, picked up P-body bridal-style, and jumped. He certainly hoped they would land in his portals, or they would have a very unpleasant landing.

Fortunately, they did, and were sent shooting out the other side, flying blindly through the air.

Hmm… Atlas had not thought this part out very well. But GLaDOS had.

A cylinder of blue light, the Excursion Funnel, caught them, suspending them in air for a brief second before moving them. All noticed that if they had been thrown a little farther, they would have made it to the other ledge. Now they were stuck, floating under the mercy of GLaDOS.

"That was fun." She told them. "But your constant obstinacies have gone far enough."

"Oh no… this is it…" Wheatley said weakly. "Now I'll never be able to…" He trailed off, and thought sadly of Chell, her pretty eyes, her determination, the way she could handle a portal gun like none other—wait, what? Why would he think those things? He became flustered. No, all he wanted to do was apologize! Because he had been terrible and she had been stunning, and amazing, and tall, and… By this point, the threat of death was completely out of his processor as he struggled to reassemble his thoughts.

Atlas let P-body go, and they both began to struggle to find some way to get out of the funnel.

GLaDOS laughed darkly. "You really don't know anything, do you?"

Suddenly Wheatley burst out. "I KNOW THAT I KNOW NOTHING AT ALL! BUT AT LEAST I'M TRYING!"

The excursion funnel flickered weakly. Atlas and P-body looked to each other. It was time to not die.

"What… You said…" GLaDOS began. Something sounded wrong with her. "You said…you know nothing…but…that's still knowing-GAHHHHH!" She let out a scream. "A Socratic paradox!"

Atlas and P-body were too busy trying to figure out a way off the beam to pay any attention. If they hadn't, their reaction would have mirrored GLaDOS's.

Wheatley, upon realizing for all the wrong reasons the impact of his statement, tried to defend himself. "No, Wait! I'm Lying! I do know something! Not nothing! So I'm lying!"

More screams were head as GLaDOS tried futilely to reason out his statement. "NOOOO….That's a Liar Paradox!" She felt her circuits begin to fry; there were so many things wrong but right with Wheatley's little idiotic outbursts.

P-body, meanwhile, found their way of escape. They passed by the loose wires that hung from above. She reached out to grab them, with Atlas holding onto her arm that held Wheatley. She signaled to Atlas, and he began climbing up. However, P-body couldn't move from her spot. Between holding onto Wheatley and the portal gun, she didn't have a free hand. She looked longingly up at Atlas who noticed this and stopped. He looked down at her and suggested very politely that she could easily drop Wheatley and be done with it. She glared back up at him, indicating that she was not going to do that. She had a better idea. Lodging Wheatley between her knees, she began to follow after Atlas, surprised that the core had little acknowledgement for their predicament. She ignored GLaDOS's pained screams and with Atlas's help, climbed up to the ledge.

"Ok, Ok. This next statement is true!" Wheatley continued his absurd little protest, unaware of the impact it truly had. "No wait, that statement was false!" His thoughts reeled once again, muddled by the image of Chell. He struggled to repress whatever strange attraction—no, it was merely a strong feeling of guilt—that Chell had imposed on him.

Another scream filled the air. "YOU MORON! SHUT UP!" GLaDOS shrieked.

"Well, unless it's opposite day today…" Wheatley reasoned, and then shook his optic frantically. No no no no no. He would be done with this right now.

With one last cry, GLaDOS shut down.

"Well, whatever. In any case, I am not moron." Wheatley stated, sure of himself, after finally sealing up any non-apologetic emotions he felt about…human…. He looked around. Where were they now? And why did he get the feeling that there was a lot less hate in the atmosphere than five minutes ago?

Atlas and P-body glanced around the room, which had become eerily quiet and still. Did something happen to GLaDOS?

Suddenly, a blip sounded on the loudspeaker, and a masculine pre-recorded voice spoke to them.

"Main system temporarily shut down. Seeking operational replacement now…"

Wheatley suddenly realized everything he had said. "Oooooh… I see those were all paradoxes…ah, silly me, I must've not noticed."

P-body looked to Atlas. So GLaDOS was offline? For how long? Did Wheatley seriously just shut her down? They needed to escape now, before anything else weird and illogical happened.

Atlas was about to agree, when suddenly the floor opened up beneath his feet, revealing a portal, which he promptly fell through.

"Operational Replacement core found." The voice said.

Panicking, P-body lunged forward into the portal, and landed on Atlas.

They were back in GLaDOS's control room. They spent so much time wandering around, only to be brought back to the very place they had started. Now what?

P-body got off of Atlas and looked around. GLaDOS was still suspended from the ceiling, only this time, she wasn't moving. Or yelling at her. Or dropping turrets on P-body. That was a first.

"Operational replacement core, are you ready?" came the voice.

"No!" came Wheatley's loud protest. "Not again…"

The voice ignored Wheatley's outburst and asked again. "Are you ready, replacement core?"

P-body turned to Atlas. He was the only other core in the room. Was he the replacement?

Atlas beeped in confusion.

"Vague answer interpreted as 'Yes'. Beginning replacement protocol."

Atlas looked in confusion to P-body. She shrugged, and looked to Wheatley for an explanation.

Wheatley was too busy remembering his shame to notice the situation. P-body rolled her optic. Great.

The floor under GLaDOS opened up and the robotic arms immediately began working on dismantling her. Both bots watched in extreme curiosity as Her main core/head was taken off.

Before Atlas had the time to crack a witty pun about losing one's head, the robotic arms turned on him, catching him by the legs and dragging him over to the same opening. He gave out a shout of protest and dropped his portal gun.

P-body immediately dropped Wheatley on the floor ("Ow! Hey!") and rushed over to Atlas. She grabbed his arms and struggled to keep him from being abducted by the strange arms.

The arms had other ideas, and attached to Atlas's core, ripping him out of his body-frame and sending P-body across the floor as they let go of Atlas's legs.

Atlas gave out a scream of pain as the robotic arms proceeded to attach him into GLaDOS's body.

P-body dropped Atlas's frame and rushed to him, forgetting her portal gun and Wheatley on the floor. She tried to fight off the arms and grab at Altas, but was thrown aside as the procedure came to an end.

There was a small Ding! And the process was complete.

Atlas groaned and rolled his optic in his head. That hurt more than he could have ever imagined anything to hurt. More than the time P-body tripped him off one of the edges that overlooked the liquid-death vats.

For once, he understood the vastness of the facility. He felt a rush, power, knowledge, leadership, all at his fingertips, if he could've had any. Boring. Too easy. Where was the challenge? He looked over at P-body, who stood stunned in his presence. That was a nice feeling.

"What happened?" Wheatley called. "I can't see! Pick me up please!" He called.

P-body snapped out of her trance and walked over to Wheatley to pick him up.

"Well, what—oh." Wheatley noticed Atlas is GLaDOS's position. "Uh…How does it feel?" He cringed, hoping Atlas wouldn't be contaminated by Her body.

Atlas shrugged, if it was possible. He felt fine. Powerful, but fine. He looked down at Wheatley. What were they to do now?

"Oh! I know, quick, call a service elevator to the surface down here for us!" Wheatley advised.

Atlas, with some difficulty, called one down, and opened it for them. He looked at them, and motioned to himself. What now?

"Hm...I don't suppose you'd want to stay there, do you?" Wheatley asked nervously, well aware that Atlas could be corrupted at any moment.

Atlas shook his optic. He beeped at P-body, telling her to try to disengage him as soon as he could set the autopilot option on the elevator. P-body complied, and set Wheatley and the two portal devices in the elevator. She strode over to Atlas and was about to disconnect him when Wheatley spoke up.

"Wait… Before we leave, could you access the Aperature Science test subject locator?"

Atlas and P-body questioned the nature of this question.

"Well, Che—the lady left the facility. Right?"

Both bots nodded slowly.

"So we should locate the lady before we leave, that way we'll know right where she is."

P-body and Atlas shared the same thought. Wheatley suggested a good idea. This was unexpected… Atlas fumbled with the inner workings of his new mind and with some difficulty managed to boot up the program, find Chell's test subject number, enter it in, and find her without blowing anything up.

A small display lit up on the upper part of GLaDOS's body. It showed a map and had a small blinking dot in the center.

"Where is that?" called Wheatley from the lift. "I can't see it from here!"

Atlas was hesitant to reply. P-body looked on with a sense of astonishment. The human who took down the facility and left GLaDOS forever embittered (not to mention murdering her), and was allowed to leave unharmed was THERE?

Atlas motioned for P-body to pick up Wheatley and show him. She did so, and brought him within range of the monitor.

Wheatley could not think for a moment. He didn't know how to take it. Emotions ran through his system. Sadness and regret being in the top 2. Chell did not deserve where she was. Not after all the bad things she had to go through because of himself and GLaDOS.

"Why is Chell there?" came Wheatley's quiet reply.

Atlas and P-body said nothing, but noted Wheatley's seriousness and shock.

Now more than ever Wheatley was convinced to see Chell, and redeem himself by saving her.

A/N: Well, it took me a bit. So I hope Yall like. I tried to keep my author note off the top of the page, and shorter this time, as some dissent was expressed with them before. (I did try to make it neater!) anyway! Where in the world could Chell be? Pfft. I know. Next chapter I will be introducing Chell, which I'm excited about. I'm probably gonna piss off a lot of people when they learn where I stuck her. Oh well.

Also, just wanna say thank you to all those who reviewed, favorited, alerted, etc. I was not expecting that kind of reception when I wrote this fic, so thank yall so very much. I hope everyone looks forward to the next chapter.