A/N: This is where it get's interesting, guys! Keep reading!
GLaDOS's POV:
GLaDOS looked up at the girl as she stepped slowly down the hallway, knowing that she was afraid. She really was a lot like Chell, but so much easier to manipulate.
"So where do we go from here?" Glade asked.
GLaDOS thought for a moment. It was certain that Chell would follow them here eventually, but it could take hours for her to arrive. They might as well try to do something useful until she gets here.
"We should take down the turret production line," she finally answered, "Your mother did that before confronting me the second time. Clever, really."
Glade nodded, and the core began to direct her. After a short time, they were able to plug GLaDOS onto a management rail, which made things easier. Luckily, Red never noticed them as they progressed through the facility, which probably meant that GLaDOS's theory on him being unable to focus on multiple things as correct.
Finally, they made it to the turret production line.
"All you have to do is take out the template turret, and replace it with a defective one," GLaDOS explained, opening the door to the template turret.
Glade pulled it out, and shortly afterwards it exploded.
"Template turret missing. Continuing from memory," an announcer announced.
Knowing this would happen, Glade walked down to the catwalk and caught one of the defective turrets that were being thrown away. She placed it in the template turrets spot, just as she was told.
"T-t-template turret c-classified as defective," Red's voice came over the speakers. The defective turret exploded. "Corrupted test s-subject detected. Capturing."
Glade froze in place.
"Don't just stand there! Look for a way out!" GLaDOS urged.
Glade snapped out of it and ran out of the control room and back onto the catwalk, only to be grabbed by a mechanical arm. It pulled her away from the line.
The core followed as best she could on a management rail, and watched as the girl was dropped into a test chamber. It was damaged, so there were enough holes in it for GLaDOS to see that it was one of the advanced ones that Wheatley made Chell go through. Glade wouldn't make it through many of those! GLaDOS had watched her make mistakes in easier chambers that could easily result in death here. Even Chell had problems in them.
Glade's POV:
After at least three hours Glade had managed to go through the first chamber, and the second, and was now halfway through the third. Red was constantly nagging her to move faster and to stop taking breaks, even though she was really just examining the chamber.
She was exhausted. These tests were the hardest she had ever gone through, and not even being allowed to stand still for a second made it worse. Not caring what Red said, she leaned up against the wall and slid to the floor.
"Gladys!" she heard someone call. She looked up to see GLaDOS staring at her through one of the holes in the walls. "You'll have to get up," the AI urged, "I can get you out of there soon." After Glade struggled to a stand, she heard the core mutter, "Your mother went through much worse without collapsing…"
"What?" Glade asked, crossing her arms, "Didn't you say that I was better than her?" She meant it in a slightly joking way, but GLaDOS rolled her optic.
"I was flattering you," the AI said bluntly, "You're not at her skill level yet, even now when she's a little… less."
"So you lied to me?" Glade accused furiously, "Why did you even want me to come, then?"
"Like I said," GLaDOS replied calmly, "She's lost a bit of her touch; she can't do this on her own. The only way that I could be sure I had your help as well was if we snuck out first and waited on her to follow."
Glade's hands gripped the portal gun tightly in anger.
"T-test subject. Please c-c-cease communication with the c-corrupted core," Red ordered.
"Listen," GLaDOS said evenly, ignoring him, "You can't just decide to not help me now. I'm your only chance of getting out of here alive. Or, would you prefer that I give your mother a dead body to drag out?"
Glade's hands unclenched, though she refused to meet the core's stare.
"Stay here and pretend to test," GLaDOS ordered, sliding away on the management rail, "I'll hack a way out."
After she was out of sight, Glade wandered about the test chamber, shooting random portals and kicking cubes around, mostly out of frustration. How could she let herself get lied to this easily so many times by that AI?
"The Red Sphere b-believes the test subject would be in-interested to know that a younger male t-test subject has b-been captured," Red suddenly announced.
Glade halted in mid-kick. He had Alex? What was he doing here?
Suddenly, a panel on the wall slid out of place, and GLaDOS was on the other side.
She jerked her optic to the side to urge her over. "Quickly, before he overrides the hack!"
Although she was still angry with the AI, Glade had no choice but to follow. The panel slammed shut behind them as they raced down the catwalk.
"GLaDOS," Glade panted as they continued their escape, "He's got Alex!"
GLaDOS remained impassive. "Great, now we have one more thing to worry about."
Alex's POV:
Alex was lying in the middle of a test chamber, not wanting to move. He had followed his sister here, but lost track of her pretty quickly. He had wandered aimlessly around the facility for about an hour before being caught by an AI who called himself the Red Sphere.
He had been forced to go through very complicated test chambers, and had been burned pretty bad by a laser. He was entering the test chamber while it was still getting itself together, and a laser had turned on right in front of him, burning him across his stomach.
The pain had been too much for him, and he collapsed, burning himself again on the laser, but less severely. Red had badgered him for a while to get up and keep testing, but seemed to just be ignoring him now. He had been lying here since.
Alex had been half asleep. However, now someone was shaking him awake. He looked up to see his mother's concerned face leaning over him.
"Mom?" he muttered, allowing himself to be helped up. However, at the slightest movement of his abdomen, burning pain shot through him, and he went down again.
Chell's POV:
Alex cried out in pain and fell back down on the floor. Chell knew that she couldn't move him, but if she just left him there, who knows what would get to him. Besides, even if nothing got to him the chances of her being able to find her way back here were slim.
Then again, if GLaDOS gets back onto her mainframe she would be able to find him, and Chell was here to help her anyway. It was her only chance. Slowly, she lifted Alex up again, trying to ignore his cries of protest, until she managed to get him upright. He managed to walk a bit, and she half-dragged him to the wall so he could lean against it.
'I'll be back,' she mouthed, 'When all this is over, I promise I'll be back. Stay here.'
He nodded, and she headed away again.
Glade's POV:
Glade and GLaDOS kept up their pace until they were well away from the test chamber and stopped hearing Red's voice. They finally stopped, and Glade was once again sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, breathing heavily.
"Shouldn't we look for Alex?" Glade asked, looking up at the core on the management rail.
"We should probably track your mother down first," GLaDOS replied calmly.
With that, they kept moving.