Chapter... 8? Yes, 8

Also, thanks for the favs and follows, this fanfic is getting more attention than I ever thought it would.

Wheatley stumbled through the field. He'd been getting worried, as his internal battery read 2%.

What would happen if I ran out of battery? Would I die? Do I have a backup power supply? The crows had long since returned to the facility, leaving him to wander in field after field in the dark. He had activated a very convenient and usefully placed 'night vision' program. It helped him see, but it drained his battery alarmingly fast. He looked around, hoping he'd been going in the right direction. There were some lights in the distance. Yes! He headed towards them. A light broke over the horizon. Then sun was coming up. He deactivated the night vision, stumbling towards the lights in the dark. The grass caught against the blades of his long fall boots. Picking up his pace, he ran towards the lights as the sun rose higher in the sky. Battery 1%. Wheatley could feel programs shutting down inside him. He overbalanced and fell, before pushing himself up again and carrying on. The pain in his lower back intensified again. A shape suddenly reared out of the grass in front of him.

"Whoa!"

"Arrrgh?" Wheatley fell, and a crack came from his back. He tried to get up again, but for some reason he couldn't support himself anymore.

"Oh, hey, you alright fella?" the figure leaned over him as he lay, groaning, in the grass. He tried to push himself up again, but his arms gave out and he flopped back down. The figure reached down to him, then pulled back.

"Are those Aperture boots you're wearing?" Wheatley froze.

"Ah, yes. Just like the lady who stumbled out from here about a year ago. Thought Aperture was a dead place before that happened. Now we've got two people from there with a year of each other. What happened to keep you in there? Oh yes, there are a few mentions of a mass murder there, if I remember correctly, but it was sorta overshadowed by the whole alien invasion thing that happened-"

"Lady?" Wheatley asked. He wasn't sure, but something told him it was. "T-take me to h-h-her-"

Battery at 0%. Shutting down all core functions. The world went dark.

"Hey, guys, come over and help me, this guy's heavier than he looks!" two more men raced over to help him with the long-limbed body in the grass.

"what happened?"

"Dunno, he just blacked out on me. Oh God, is he breathing?"

"Doesn't look like it." they dragged Wheatley slowly over the grass towards the town.

"He told me to take him to that woman that came out from here a year ago. What as her name again? Shell?"

"Chell. Why though?"

"He has the same boots, probably from the same place."

Eve backed towards the door, but it had slammed shut. Terry was beating his fist against it uselessly.

"Stop that, you're giving me a headache." The Android was sat in the machine, still staring at them. No doubt, that voice sounded horrifyingly familiar.

"Ugh, I feel so disconnected from the facility..." she stretched an arm out and looked over it.

"This was a bad idea, but it was the only thing I could do... if that virus hadn't of..." the muttering trailed off, and she snapped back to stare at Eve once again.

"Virus? It forced you out of your body into...?" Eve gulped.

"Yes, I was forced into this unfinished pile of scrap." She sighed and stood up. Eve tried to back away more, but it was impossible as her back was already pressed hard against the door.

"How did you even know about the virus?"

"Being a programmer, I have a natural urge to plug myself into the system as often as possible to maintain this facility."

"Core: Identity / Primary_Function." GLaDOS suddenly shouted out at her.

Eve felt herself jerk into a straight position at the core command.

"Core: [Identity-no:177]. Primary_function: To create and maintain computer coding and programs around Aperture Science Laboratories."

GLaDOS raised an eyebrow.

"Programmer core. That's interesting." Eve shook the automatic stiffness off. She observed GLaDOS's android closely. It seemed very well-made, despite what GLaDOS said about it. of course, she didn't except anything less from her.

"So, you escaped from my testing chambers earlier. Question- how did you do that?" GLaDOS tipped her head to one side slightly with the question. Eve shrugged.

"Simple, hack a panel, mess with its programming, make it malfunction and open, walk out."

"Hacker. Hm, it makes sense for a programmer core to get corrupted to start hacking. I'm surprised you're not in the incinerator."

Eve tried once again to back away. This time, the door opened, making her fall backwards onto the catwalk. GLaDOS loomed over her. She squeaked a bit and shuffled back.

"Hey, I've been trying to get rid of that virus! I can help you with that! Well, I could of, but you-" She caught a glimpse of Terry frantically shaking his head at her.

"Uh... took over the job?" Terry facepalmed. Eve cringed.

"I should not have said anything. Shit, I said something." To her surprise, GLaDOS just looked down.

"Hm..." Eve slowly stood up. The pathway to run away was clear, but GLaDOS would probably crush her with a catwalk or something. Unless... Eve thought back to what GLaDOS had said.

Ugh, I feel so disconnected from the facility...

Wait, she isn't controlling the facility anymore? Oh God, last time that happened, the whole place nearly blew up-

"Yes, which is why I need to get rid of this virus and get back in my body."

"You can read my thoughts?"

"When you say them out loud, yes."

"Oh."

Battery at 3%. Rebooting Android_Intelligence_

Wheatley gradually felt his systems rebooting. His optics came back online, and he blinked around the room. He was lying on a table in what looked like a hastily-thrown together workshop. He sat up, noticing that the pain in his lower back was finally gone. He felt around the area, and noticed that the top half of his jumpsuit had been peeled off.

What?

"It's rebooted." Wheatley looked around. There were two men in the room. One was looking at something that was glowing, the other at him. He waved at them.

"Hello!" they stared at him.

"It spoke?"

"Yes, Greg did say it spoke to him." Wheatley huffed at them.

"I am not an 'it'. Well, if you call a robot 'it' I guess I am, but, My name is Wheatley, and I'm looking for someone. Can you help me?" they still stared at him. Oh for goodness sake- Wheatley turned and slid off the table. His boots had been removed, much to his annoyance. He stood up and realised he was plugged into the glowing Mmnitor. He felt around the lead going into the back of his neck. finally, after an awkward moment of scilence, one of the men spoke.

"A sentient robot? Whoa, that'll be worth a lot of money." Wheatley waved at them.

"Hello, talking to you here! I need you to help me find someone. She's a lady, about average height, I guess? I don't really know what average height is.. Uh, dark brown hair, grey eyes, wearing an orange jumpsuit and boots like-" he lifted a leg, then remembered that his boots had been removed.

"Uh, like the ones that have been taken off me." He looked around for them, but couldn't see them. "Where are they anyway?"

"What are you?"

"Oh, you're finally speaking to me." Wheatley huffed. "I'm Wheatley. Nice to meet you, uh... what's your name?" They had gone back to the glowing screen. "Oh for goodness sake-" He went over to them and slammed the lid of the monitor shut. They jumped and stared at him.

"I'm talking here, stop ignoring me!"

"Can you understand me?" one of them asked.

"Of course I can! Can you understand me? I've been speaking for the last five minutes but all you've done is ignore me!"

"What do you mean you're looking for a lady?" one of them butted in. "In boots like the ones you had on and an orange jumpsuit? Sounds like Chell."

"Okay, if it had anything to do with Aperture, then yes, it must be her. Can I see her?" Wheatley started towards the door, but the lead tugged at him. He turned around and stared at it in annoyance. He couldn't move from the room until he had recharged. Well, he could, but he'd rather make it back to the facility in one trip. He sat down on the table and resigned himself to a few hours of doing nothing.

A knock came from the door.

Wheatley watched one of the men go over and open the door. Behind was a woman. With brown hair in a ponytail, grey eyes and-

Oh God.

The lady stepped forward and said something to the man. He mumbled back and gestured at Wheatley. He was sure he heard his name in there somewhere. The woman, whose name was apparently Chell, stared at him. He looked down uncertainly, and gave a throat-clearing sound.

"Ahem. Uh... uhm... Hello!" Dammit. He'd rehearsed this so many times in space until it was perfect, now he had come to it, didn't know what to say. He raised a hand and gave a small wave and an awkward grin, by let them drop when he saw the way Chell was glaring at him. He sighed.

"Are we disturbing something here? Sorry, we'll leave now." The two men walked out the door.

Wheatley watched them leave. He sat on the table, not knowing what to do. They both stared at each other for a while. Finally:

"Rob told me your name is Wheatley. And that you're from Aperture." Wheatley nodded slowly.

"Y-y-yes... I..." he gulped. "What do I say what do I say what do I say..." Chell tipped her head to one side, as if waiting for something.

"I... uh... I'm sorry? Oh God, this sounded so much better in my head..." he dug deep through his memory files, searching for a way to apologise. He looked down.

"I... I wish I could take it all back. I do, really, I do. Not because I got stranded in space for God knows how long, but... uh... yeah... uh... I truly am really sorry, that I was so bossy, monstrous... that I tried to kill you... uh... yeah... And that's all I really have to say. I'm sorry." He flicked his optics up at Chell. Her expression hadn't changed. Well, that was it, right? He had finally apologised, what he had wanted to do ever since he was freed from the corruption of the mainframe. So why did he still feel like he had a burden on his shoulders. His optics contracted.

But on one condition: you bring her back to this facility. That was what he was out here to do. Kidnap Chell from her new life here and pull her back into the place she probably never wanted to go near again. He gulped. How can I do this? Do I have to? He noticed he had finished recharging. He unplugged himself and ran past her out of the room. The two men in the corridor outside were talking, and stopped to watch in confusion as Wheatley fled out of the building. He didn't stop until he was just outside the town. He sat on a rock and stared into the distance. What do I do? I can't take her away, she'll never forgive me. Some footsteps sounded behind him.

"You forgot these." The long fall boots and lab coat were thrown to the ground behind him. He looked behind at Chell. She still stared at him.

"You're not here to apologise, are you?" Wheatley stiffened. How could she know? She stood in front of him, arms crossed. He frowned.

Might as well get it over with.

"Please, Chell, forgive me for this. I don't want to do this." He brought one of the boots up and whacked her over the head with it. She flopped to the ground, unconscious.

Oh God oh God oh God did I kill her- no, she's still breathing, good.

Pulling on the jumpsuit, lab coat and boots, he slung Chell's listless form over his shoulder and broke into a run back to the facility.

Chell slowly regained consciousness. Her head throbbed, and she swore she could feel a bit of blood running down from her forehead. The world around her jerked unsteadily. She opened one eye and watched the ground below go by alarmingly fast.

I knew he wasn't there to apologise.

Wheatley stopped suddenly, and banged on something. Chell cringed at the noise.

"H-hello? Let me in! quick, before she- urk!" Chell twisted up as best as she could and grabbed him around the neck. her time in the facility may had adapted her to take advantage of just about any situation, but she sure as hell was not going back in there. Using his weight and tall stature against him, she pulled him to the ground and held him there. He stared up at her, his optics tiny dots of light. Chell didn't know what she was doing, trying to choke a robot, but it scared him either way. She got up to run, but the door suddenly slammed open. Both of them were grabbed by claws that reached out of the elevator, and pulled in. Chell gasped as she saw the door slam shut and plunge them into darkness. Wheatley whimpered. Chell turned to glare at him, but did not speak. She'd vowed to herself to never speak in the facility, and she'll uphold it to the day she died. The claws came down into the central AI chamber. Was something different?

The chassis hung limp in the room. All of the panels were malfunctioning, and turrets were being bounced around on aerial faith plates. The giant robot's head twitched slightly, following the movement of the turrets and they screamed and fired bullets everywhere. It swung upwards suddenly, staring at both of them. Chell frowned. Something was different. The amber glow of the eye wasn't the same. It was... colder... somehow. If that was even possible. Wheatley seemed to have picked up on this as well, as he fell silent and stared. The final evidence of 'something was different' came from the cheery male voice that came over the speakers.

Oh, hello there! Was not expecting visitors from the outside, thought there wasn't anybody out there anymore. How are you, darling? You do look great. Myself? Ooh, never been better. It's fun being an AI over a virus, you know? I can actually do things. Like-

The announcer suddenly broke in.

Warning. Reactor Core Meltdown Imminent. Prepare To Evacuate Facility.

What? Ooh, did I do something wrong? Sorry babe, gotta go and sort some things out. Be right back~. The robot fell silent.

Virus? What is going on here? She looked over a Wheatley. The look of shock and confusion on his face told her he hadn't been expected this at all.

"Wait, she had a virus? Why didn't she tell me anything? I could have gotten back faster. Oh god, did I inadvertently destroy the facility? Again? No, this is not good! Not good in the slightest!" he started struggling against the claw. "Hello? Where is she? Where did you put her? I need to find her. Don't know why, but-"

Ah, fixed. There, no exploding. If somebody had told me that this place will explode if not maintained properly I would of got to that straight away! But nooo, nobody tells a virus anything, all we're here for is to annoy people. Well, I'm going to change that. Tell people that viruses are more than that! People will rue the day they think a virus is an annoyance to be removed- oh! Sorry, got lost in my thoughts there, girl. What's your name? I bet it's a pretty one, just like you. The head drew close to Chell. She glared and remained silent.

Stubborn aren't you? Well, I like people like that. Stubborn, tough, hard to break. You get so much fun out of them... The voice grew dark on the last few lines. There was a scream as Wheatley was tossed away through some open panels, and Chell was taken to the other side of the room. A panel dragged itself away, and she was dropped down the hole. Wait.

"I DON'T HAVE LONG FALL BOOTS ON!"

Whoops. A panel shot out, and she slammed into it painfully. Groaning, she looked up as a pair of long fall boots fell down beside her, then hesitantly pulled them on. As soon as she tightened that last strap-

There. Not falling to you death now, huh? The panel pulled away, and Chell was falling once again.

"You detected the virus before me? If you're so good at programming why didn't you get rid of it?"

"I tired, but nothing worked. Now it's an obvious AI, it should be easier. I have coding to delete AIs-"

"Um. Why?" GLaDOS stared at Eve, a bit worried.

"Uh. I mean, I can make some coding to delete AIs..." she looked down. Why did she have coding to delete AIs again? Um.

Before she knew what was going on, GLaDOS had connected one of her extension leads into a port on her arm and was copying them over to her.

"Wait, what are you doing-" GLaDOS had already run off. Eve ran after her, stumbling as the blades of her long-fall-boots caught on loose pieces of catwalk. She ran faster until she was back in the room that GLaDOS first woke in. GLaDOS had already plugged herself into a receptacle. Eve pulled out an extension cord and plugged herself in. her body went limp as she dived into the code of Aperture. She quickly picked up GLaDOS's trail. She's not even trying to conceal herself. This is bad, this is really bad. she followed after her. The trail led straight to the files of the central AI chamber.

She better not be taking on that virus with that piece of crap code.. She is, isn't she. Okay, I get being forced out of your body is rather distressing but this is ridiculous. She should know better than this. She floated around the coding, looking for a way to get in. she broke through the firewalls, looking around for any sign of GLaDOS. Attacking the virus head on. Great! She navigated through some programs, closer, until she was as close as she could get without being detected.

You're fighting a losing battle there... it was true. Eve watched as the virus smothered GLaDOS until she almost couldn't see her. She dove forward and grabbed what she could see, and pulled out again.

What? Who are you? Leave me to my own business, whoever you are. Wait? Where you taking her? Stop it. where've you gone? I can't see you-

Shutting out the virus, Eve dragged GLaDOS back to the room her android was in. she set one of the machines to work to re transfer her back into the android, before going and transferring herself back into the body she had. She stood up and unplugged herself, and prepared to give GLaDOS a ten page essay on everything wrong with what she just did. She marched up to the android that was still connected, and prodded it.

It didn't move.

"Hey, GLaDOS?" still no answer.

"GLaDOS? Are you there?" the android was silent, then suddenly sprung to life.

"What just happened? Where am I? Is the virus gone? I hope it's gone. NO, no no no no no what are you doing? I know you, you're the tumour. I'm a potato! No no no no, Can you murder this bird for me? Ow, stop!" Eve poked GLaDOS again.

"Ow!"

What the hell-

"Terry, what is-" she looked around. There was no one else in the room.

"Terry?"

"There will be cake!" Eve sighed. Terry had gone off and abandoned her with whatever the hell GLaDOS was now.

"All Aperture science equipment remains safely operation in temperatures up to 4000 degrees Kelvin."

There was silence for a while, then GLaDOS shook herself.

"What's going on?"

"You made the terrible mistake of trying to fight a virus with a piece of crap."

"Virus!" Eve sighed and buried her face in one of her hands. This was going to be a nightmare.

I made GLaDOS a mess. And I'm proud of it :)