Oh... Hi there.

So I'm not dead, and neither is this story. As I said before, I do not often abandon my stories, especially one that's this far in.

I hit a massive writer's block, and time went on quickly. Days turned into weeks, then months, and so on. I got caught up in some other things, like writing my other stories and Book. Add life things on to that, and you tend to forget about things. Either way, here it is.

Chapter 8: Captured

The AI examined me, head to toe. I hope I wasn't showing the fear that I felt. "It's been a long time… How have you two been? I've been really busy being dead. You know, after you MURDERED ME." Wheatley's optic widened.

"YOU WEREN'T LYING?!" I heard the sound of machinery moving above us, and looked up to see a mechanical grabber coming right towards me. My eyes widened, as I jumped to the side, somehow managing to keep a grip on the Oracle Turret. It missed me by an inch or two. "NO! Nononononono!" I turned around to see Chell and Wheatley being lifted in the air. It took GLaDOS lees than a second to realize she hadn't gotten me.

"Do you honestly think you can escape me? In my own chamber?" I heard more clicking from up above, and saw an absurd amount of grabbers aiming at me. My eyes widened again. They started lunging at me, one by one. I got up and started running for the door that led out of her chamber. I could hear the arms hit the ground behind me. "Stop Moving!" Fat chance, you homicidal computer. The door was closing quickly, and I thought I was going to make it. How could I be so naive? Do doubt thanks to Murphy's Law, I tripped over one of the overgrown tree roots sticking out of the ground. The Oracle Turret flew off my shoulders, and I fell right on my face. I struggled to get up, but it was futile. One of the arms wrapped around my waist, bringing me back over where Chell and Wheatley were suspended, struggling to escape. I glared angrily at the AI.

"We only killed you out of self-defense! You tried to BBQ us in a pit of fire! What other choice did we have?!" She rolled her eyes… or rather her optic.

"Look, we both did and said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we should put our differences behind us. For science. You monsters." She used the claw that held Wheatley to toss him off into the distance.

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!" GLaDOS ignored his screaming. She started to move the two of us, until we were right over the incinerator doors.

"I will say, though, that since you went to all the trouble of waking me up, you must really, really love to test." As the two of us had gotten closer, we struggled to grab each other's hands, but we were just out of reach. "I love it too. There's just one small thing we need to take care of first." I gasped as she released us from the claws, sending us plummeting down into the incinerator shaft.

We both grabbed a hold of the other, trying to avoid smacking into any of the pipes on the way down. The boots we were wearing DO negate damage from falling, but that was on a mostly flat surface, not curved pipes. I nearly screamed as we flew through the spiked smashers, narrowly missing getting crushed. After a bit more dodging, we landed on a broken down metal platform. The impact made my knees a little wobbly, so I held on to Chell to regain my balance. GLaDOS took the opportunity to start talking again. "Here we are. The Incinerator Room. Be careful not to trip over any parts of me that didn't get completely burned when you threw them down here. The dual portal device should be around here somewhere. Once you find it, we can start testing. Just like old times." I sighed. I wanted to yell some kind of defiant remark at her, but it wouldn't really change the situation we're in. As I regained feeling in my legs, I looked at Chell. She seemed angry, but she took a deep breath, she started making her way across the large fiery pit that stood before us. I followed behind her, making sure to be careful. There were numerous shafts that lead right into the pit. Various objects slid down them, things like broken turrets and leftover garbage. I guess GLaDOS had already started to clean up. Just as we had made it across, I saw a Companion Cube slide down into the fire. The sight of it made me shiver a little bit, even though it probably shouldn't have. I shook the thought out of my head and continued on.

After a bit more walking, we found it. The Dual Portal Device, stuck under a mound of rubble and debris. "There it is." Chell walked over to it and tried to pull it out, but to no avail. "Hold on." The AI activated one of the panels that was on top of the gun, lifting the wreckage off of it just enough to grab it. "There. Good, you now have a Dual Portal Device. There should be a way back to the testing area up ahead." Chell turned to me, holding out the device. I shook my head.

"No, it's alright. You should keep it. You're much better at using it than I am." While I was decent with using the gun, my portaling skills weren't even on the same level as hers. She nodded, and looked up ahead, using it to create a path for us. We walked through the portal.

"Once testing starts, I'm required by protocol to keep interaction with you to a minimum. Luckily, we haven't started testing yet. This will be our only chance to talk." I smirked.

"Good. We won't have to listen to your annoying voice for much longer." I didn't get a response to my comment, but I wasn't really expecting one. We continued on, GLaDOS going on about things that I'd already heard the numerous times I've played through the game. As we finally made it back to the testing track, I cringed as I walked through the emancipation grid near the elevator. Unfortunately, GLaDOS had noticed the pain I felt walking through it.

"How odd. It seems that your body is having a strange interaction with the Emancipation Grid you just walked through. I'll have to lower the strength of the ones you will encounter in testing." Considering that she wants to make our lives a living hell at the moment, she'll probably up the strength of the future grids. Sighing, I walked into the small elevator with Chell, and the lift slowly descended, taking my hopes of escape with it.

Well, I'm having a bit of trouble getting back into this, but hopefully updates should be coming out more often than every four months... -.-

Reviews are Appreciated.