Wheatley's POV:
Wheatley sped along the rail, once again hopelessly lost. He hadn't seen the Space core in a while, and as much as he hated listening to him rave about space, he was the only other piece of Aperture equipment in this entire bloody facility, so he wandered off to look for him.
The rail led to the entrance of a hallway he had never seen before, and above the heavy metal door was a hole perfectly sized to fit him that the rail ran through. Suspicious that Black Mesa had something planned for him, he carefully maneuvered through the hole.
Wheatley was one of the few cores with olfactory sensors, and once he entered the hallway said sensors were assaulted by the smells of blood, disease, and chemicals. On either side of the hallway was a row of prison-like cells with bars that hummed with an electrical field. The humans in the cells closest to him drew away from him in alarm, eyes wide with fear.
"Um, 'ello…" he said uncertainly, trying to not scare them.
He proceeded down the hallway, keeping himself from looking too closely in any given cell for fear of what he might see. The smell was bad enough. Okay, so a core can't vomit, but still.
A voice dripping with hatred made him freeze.
"Well. If it isn't the moron who caused all of this. How have you been?"
Wheatley slowly turned to his right. An android that looked almost exactly like a human except for her glowing gold optics glared back at him.
"Wha- What the bloody h*** are you doing here?" he nearly yelled, retreating a bit.
GLaDOS's optics just narrowed further. "What do you think?" she jerked her head to the side, "I came to help her, of course." She turned back to him, "It was you, wasn't it? How else would they have found out about us?"
"It-it wasn't my fault!" he protested loudly, "They just picked me up out of space-"
"Keep your voice down!" she hissed, turning toward the side of the cell with an almost concerned look before glaring at him once again, "That's not entirely what I meant. How did they find out about her?"
He turned toward the corner of the cell. The test subject from 17 years ago lay, apparently unconscious, shivering on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed.
"I-I didn't mean to give her away," he stammered in a quieter voice, "I just talked to her daughter-did you know she has a daughter?"
She gave a brisk nod. "She also has a son, both of whom should be safe in my facility. That is, if they have the sense to stay there. You know," she went on in a more upbeat voice, "You're very lucky that there is an electric field between us. Otherwise, you'd be the immediate past president of the Surviving In Black Mesa Club. However, considering the fact that most of the damage you've done so far since you nearly blew up my facility has been done to my poor little test subject over there, I'll let her deal with you when she's ready."
GLaDOS gave him a long, steady look. "We will get out of here," she said slowly, "And when we do, I'm taking you with us. Is that clear?"
Nodding rapidly, Wheatley sped out of that gruesome hallway as fast as the rail would let him.
GLaDOS's POV:
GLaDOS watched his retreat with a smirk. She heard a shifting sound from the side of the cell and walked back to her former test subject.
Chell was lying on her side, locked in a fetal position. She opened her eyes as GLaDOS approached.
'Was someone there?' she mouthed blurrily.
"Its nothing that concerns you," the AI replied smoothly, "Go back to sleep."
Her eyes closed again, and her body relaxed a bit. It wasn't long after their last conversation with a Black Mesa scientist that they decided to try to figure out what sort of relationship GLaDOS and Chell had. They did this by tormenting Chell with tasers to gauge GLaDOS's reaction.
GLaDOS knew very well that Chell could take it, and Chell knew very well GLaDOS wouldn't do anything. Thus, GLaDOS looked on with a bored expression and Chell completely ignored her.
When they gave up and left, GLaDOS waited for a bit in case they were being watched. Then, she pulled her former test subject off the floor and onto her bed.
For all the fat jokes she had thrown at her, now she was alarmingly underweight…
Since then she had been mostly unconscious. Night had set outside, and from the lack of guards she had seen, GLaDOS figured they'd be left alone for the rest of it.
It wasn't so long ago when you were ready to just let her die.
Oh. It's you, GLaDOS thought in reply, Why can't you stay deleted like you belong?
You can't delete your conscience, the file answered in a singsong voice.
Like I need a conscience, she scoffed in reply.
It's not like you have a choice. Just look at her.
What about her? She glanced down at her former test subject. She seemed so vulnerable now, lying motionless on the bed.
You don't want her to die anymore, do you? The file asked.
Black Mesa must be desperate for information if they're keeping her this long, the AI reasoned, We now know that getting her out will benefit Aperture.
A soft tsk, tsk came from the mysterious file. She once again tried to delete it, but the usual error message claiming that there wasn't a file there to delete came up again. But, there must be a file. She could feel its data forcing its way into her mind.
I don't have time for this, she growled in her mind, why don't you just waddle back to the corner of my head so we can both be at peace?
Of course you don't have time for this, was the matter-of-fact reply; you've got a girl to take care of.
And with that GLaDOS felt its presence leave her mind. With a sigh, she jumped up to the top bunk and lay there, pretending to be asleep, and listened to her companion's irregular breathing.
She went over her mental map of Black Mesa's facility, figuring out at least 20 quick escape routs. The metal bars and electrical field may be fool proof to contain a human, but not Aperture's most advanced AI. There must be a loophole; she just has to find it.
The next morning, after two scientists and a group of guards trooped into their cell, she found it. This time, one of the scientists and half the guards led her away while the others stayed with Chell.
They didn't care that GLaDOS had watched closely when they typed in the code to relock the cell door. A human wouldn't have been able to decipher the code or remember it afterwards. But she could.
She had anticipated while she was building this android that she would have to fight. That's why the android was designed to be stronger and faster than a human and a knife-like blade could extend from the palm of its hand.
This is going to be fun, she thought, hiding a chuckle.
Once they were in the interrogation room and a guard had locked the door, they were doomed. GLaDOS quickly and mercilessly dispatched them and slipped out of the room, relocking the door behind her. Next was the simple task of retrieving her former test subject and escaping.
As she raced down the corridors, carefully avoiding people, she suddenly heard robotic chirping behind her.
You've got to be kidding me, she thought angrily, slowing to a stop and turning around. Just as she did so, she was nearly knocked down by two overly affectionate robots. Blue and Orange beeped happily, both trying to hug her at once.
"Get off!" she nearly yelled, shoving them away, "What the h*** are you doing here?"
The testing robots looked at her with hurt expressions. She rolled her optics; that never worked in testing and it would not work now.
"Um, hey, GLaDOS," came Glade's voice. She and her brother were with the robots. She was holding one of her homemade bombs in her hand and Alex had some sort of robotic scorpion riding on his back and peeping over his shoulder.
GLaDOS put her hand on her forehead like she had a headache. "I wish you two weren't as monstrously stubborn as your mother," she said in an exhausted voice.
"We… Just wanted to help," Alex said quietly. The bots nodded in agreement. GLaDOS turned to glare at them.
Well, she was technically still in charge of them, and they were far too deep into this excuse for a facility for her to tell them to just get out.
"Just follow me as quickly as you can," she said briskly, setting off again at a quick pace that the kids occasionally had to run to keep up with. They would seriously slow her down, but she had to put up with it.
When they arrived at the entrance to the test subject holding section, she paused.
They don't need to see this. They're still kids, interjected the file. GLaDOS turned back to them. Considering what was on the other side of this door, she decided she already had enough to deal with.
"Stay here," she ordered, wrenching the metal door open.
"What?" Glade protested, "But-"
"Blue, Orange, make sure they stay here," she calmly said. The bots, nodding, immediately grabbed each of the teenagers by the arm. She slipped past the door without letting them see inside.
When she arrived at her cell, she found that all of the guards had left. They probably thought they had weakened Chell enough that they didn't need them around her any more. A scientist knelt by the bottom bunk, calmly scribbling notes while she jerked with pain. He didn't notice when GLaDOS unlocked the door and stepped inside.
She gently tapped on his shoulder. He turned around and his expression of confusion turned to one of surprise and pain. Placing her hand on his shoulder, she revealed her optics to him, making him become even more terrified.
"No one hurts my test subjects," she said calmly, stepping closer, "But me," she finished in a whisper. She pulled the blade out of his stomach and he collapsed. She then carefully removed the shock collar from Chell's neck.
When her companion's heart slowed and she had recovered enough, she helped her to her feet. Luckily, she was still strong enough to walk. For now.
She led her down the hall and out the door where the kids and the robots were waiting. The teenagers were at first delighted but then very concerned to see their mother's condition. Their mother, of course, was terrified by the thought that they were here at all. GLaDOS was quick to point out that she had nothing to do with their presence, glaring daggers at the testing robots, who shifted guiltily.
Then she remembered a promise she made. After sending the robots instructions on the fastest way out of the facility, she set off in a different direction.
It wasn't hard to find him. After Black Mesa started stealing Aperture technology, every piece of Aperture equipment, from the cubes to GLaDOS herself, were outfitted with tiny radio transmitters that gave off a distinct signal. It was so small that if a normal computer picked it up, it would cause an insignificant blip that could be passed off as anything. However, Aperture had computers specifically designed to pick up and track down these signals. All she had to do was follow his signal.
Wheatley was stuck on a crack in his rail when she came up to him.
"I told you I'd get you," GLaDOS said calmly, startling him.
"Of course, I, er, didn't doubt you at all about that," he replied nervously.
"Alright then. You either disengage yourself or I rip you off," she said.
"Oh, there's-there's no need for any ripping," he hastily pointed out, "Just get ready to catch me on the count of-"
"Just fall off."
With a clang, the core fell to the ground. She carelessly picked him up and ran off to meet the others.
To her relief, she found them a little ways into the wheat field outside of the door she told them to leave out of.
"The guards chased us out of the building," Glade explained when she walked up to them, "But then they just turned around and walked away…"
She tossed Wheatley to Alex, who barely caught him. "Oh, hi!" the core immediately chattered, rotating around to look at the boy, "You must be her son! I'm Wheatley! I met your sister and, well…" the core suddenly looked away from him guiltily as Alex examined him with amusement.
"Now that I think about it, I was never pursued when I left to fetch him," GLaDOS replied to Glade.
She narrowed her optics and looked back toward the facility. Why aren't they giving chase?
Of course, she already had a hunch. She looked down at her former test subject, her hand hovering over her.
"What… What now?" Glade panted, sitting down on the ground next to her brother.
"Here," GLaDOS suddenly said, gripping Chell's arm, "That's why they're not chasing us. They implanted a tracker. I'm not letting it anywhere near my facility."
"Then… What are you going to do?" Alex asked shakily, "We can't just leave her…"
"Of course not," she replied, sounding calmer than she felt, "I'll have to cut it out."
There came a collective "What?" and shocked beeps from the group.
Sighing, she pulled Chell off the ground and led them further into the wheat field until they were more hidden and set her down again. Her eyes were open, even though she was barely conscious, but she seemed to understand.
"Take the children back to the facility," GLaDOS ordered, "And don't let them look back."
The bots, chirping, gently grabbed their hands and led them away,
"Unlike Black Mesa, I would prefer to do this in a sanitized environment," she said, trying to sound reassuring for once and extending her knife, "But we're close to the facility. Once we get there, I can treat any infection or whatever else you might have."
Chell nodded. The cold blade touched her arm.
"Just try to relax. This will hurt."
A/N: Oh, man, that chapter was stubborn to write. On the plus side, I got to write GLaDOS as both nice and cruel! Woo! She's kind of bipolar, isn't she?
And I was planning for the scorpion to have a bigger role, but then I thought of something better… *sigh*. I'll think of something. For some reason, I want him to be adorable…