Sorry this chapter took forever (and isn't even that impressive)! Summer day camp started back up, and I don't even get home til around five, and then I have to shower and eat dinner, and my mom makes me turn all of the electronics off at 7:30, and also, even though I know where I want this chapter to go, I don't know how to get it there, so I've sorta had to buckle down and FORCE myself to write... And... ugh. You really can't trust me to stay committed to writing this from one day to the next. :/ AUTHOR'S NOTE END O_O
Several Hours After the End of The Last Chapter...
Wheatley sat, or rather, hung on his management rail, watching a TV show talking about and showing how the machines in factories are made. This seemed to tip Drake off about his location, because about half way into the show, (Right before a commercial, luckily,) Drake came sliding to where Wheatley hung.
What tipped Wheatley off as to Drake's location was the sound of metal banging against the walls. Wheatley turned around to see what the sound was. It was Drake, approaching him, with the Fact Core in a metal cage hovering below him. Wait, hovering? Yeah, this is Aperture. No-one cares.
"Hey, Wheatley, good to see you! I found the Fact Core." Drake said.
"Fact: 99.57% of lamps want to strangle all members of the household while they sleep."
"Riiiiight... Well, as I was saying-" Wheatley started.
"Wait, you weren't saying anything." Drake interrupted.
"I know, but-"
"Yeah, but I was the one talking-"
"Also, you had finished talking so-"
"Well, I didn't say 'as I was saying', so-"
"OK LET'S JUST SHUT UP, IT'S A FIGURE OF SPEECH." Wheatley shouted. "Or something, I don't, uh, really know..." Wheatley's voice trailed off into a mumble.
"Ok, fine, fine. What were you about to say?" Drake asked.
"So, uh, where'd you find the Fact Core?"
"Oh, he was dangling from the top of the incinerator room. Had to lower myself in and use my magnetic powers to get him out. Almost died. Didn't." Drake said.
"Um, 'magnetic powers'? Uh, if you don't mind me uh, not knowing."
"GLaDOS put a powerful electromagnet inside of me so that I can be able to... Well, have magnetic powers, for lack of better words."
"Magnets are actually powered by microscopic batteries that never run out because they recharge themselves using the static electricity in the air." The Fact Core chimed in.
"And that's why he needs to be de-corrupted." Drake said.
"Oi! Would you mind shutting up! You do realize that all of your facts are wrong!" Wheatley told the Fact Core, glad that there's someone out there who could make him feel smart.
"Fact: The Fact Core does not like to perform the action referred to as 'shutting up.'"
"Come on! That's not even a fact! That's a statement! Or an opinion... Not really sure." Wheatley gave a weak nervous chuckle.
"Stating his opinion. (Or something)" Drake said.
"Oh hi." GLaDOS randomly said. Wheatley's optic shrunk. "I couldn't help but notice that you've found the Fact Core, so would you mind bringing it back to my cham- OH GOD WHAT ARE THOSE MELTED SPOTS ON MY DRAKE CORE."
"YOUR Drake core?"
"OH NONONO IT WASN'T ME I SWEAR I DIDN'T DO IT! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" Wheatley shouted, drowning out all noise.
"Oh, don't worry, I won't hurt you." GLaDOS said.
"Y-you... You won't?" Wheatley asked nervously.
"Of course not." Just as Wheatley was about to simulate a sigh of relief, She continued talking. "Simply HURTING you isn't NEARLY enough of a punishment FOR SOMEONE WITH YOUR DEGREE OF STUPIDITY! WHAT I'M GOING TO DO IS EXACTLY WHAT I SAID BEFORE, EXCEPT I'M ALSO GOING TO MAKE FOUR CLONES OF YOU, LINK ALL OF YOUR CONSCINCENESSES TOGETHER SO THAT YOU ALL FEEL EACHOTHER'S PAIN THEN I'LL GIVE EACH OF YOU DIFFERENT PUNISHMENTS, AND ADD ON ANOTHER 50 YEARS TO THE 6 MILLENIA OF TORTURE THAT YOU YOU ALREADY HAVE!11!1! HOW'S THAT FOR NOT JUST SIMPLY HURTING YOU?!" GLaDOS yelled.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO I SWEAR I DIDN'T HAVE ANY PART IN IT, IT'S ALL FACT CORE'S FAULT!" Wheatley screamed at the same time.
"AND I'M ALSO SENDING YOU BACK TO SPACE, YOU STUPID LITTLE... RRRRR!" GLaDOS was so angry she was at a loss for words.
"WAAAIIIIITT! Waitwaitwait wait wait... Wait." Drake interrupted after a few moments. "First, both of you stop using all caps and tons of exclamation points. I doubt the readers like it when us characters do that. Same with that one part when you threw in a few ones into the mix, GLaDOS."
"Hmph" GLaDOS pouted. "Well then if the readers don't like it, then they can all just go ahead and kiss my-"
"ANNNNNNYYYYWAYS, Breakage of the fourth wall now out of the way and aside, I can explain the melt-age. I had to go to the incinerator to get the Fact Core and, um, gold has a quite low melting point, you see."
"I infused your casing with meteorite particles and gave you the most powerful cooler known to both machine and man to prevent that."
"Yes, but ALL Aperture equipment can only withstand temperatures up to 4000 degrees Kelvin."
"Including you."
"But the incinerator is OVER FOUR THOUSND DEGREES KELVIN. Seriously... It's exactly 4001 degrees... Now that I say that out loud, could you please raise that temperature to 9000 degrees?" Drake said.
GLaDOS let out a growl. "You got lucky that time, moron. Drake. Hurry up with the Fact Core." The nearby cameras appeared to shut down.
"Why did She turn the cameras off?" Wheatley asked.
"In apocalyptic conditions, such as in this facility, electricity supply is limited. Surveillance apparatuses use electricity." the Fact Core said.
"SHUT U-" Wheatley started.
"No no, that time he was actually right." Drake said. "Though GLaDOS might've shut the cameras down because she just can't stand the sight of you right now."
"Well, huh." Wheatley said. "So, uh, anyways, what exactly is your job around here?"
"Well, I'm kind of just GLaDOS's assistant. I pretty much just go around, doing what she tells me too, occasionally I upgrade her cooperative testing robots. I also have some control of the facility like GLaDOS, except on a much smaller scale. What's your job around here? Do you have one?"
"Well, I um... I um keep an eye on all the human test subjects. They're all dead. Ummm. (What else, let's see, let's see...) Go 'round, make sure they, er... Stay dead. You know. Important stuff like that."
Drake shook his head (so technically his whole body) and laughed a little bit. "Said like a true Intelligence Dampening Sphere." He said quiet enough that Wheatley couldn't hear him.
"Um, excuse me, what?"
"Nothing. Just mumbling about how much I envy your job."
There was an awkward silence for a few moments.
"So, how long have you been around?" Wheatley asked.
"My base AI and physical form were finished about 5 months ago, but I wasn't allowed out of the central AI chamber until... 4 days ago, was it?"
"Ah. So that definitely explains why I've never seen you around before today. So, uh, what's this that I've heard about a human helping Her with your design?"
"From what I know, she was known to be a little bit mental. Day after the design was decided, she just suddenly disappeared that dawn."
"Ah. Sooooo... Would it be a subject you'd rather stay away from..? Oh, am I being insensitive? If I am I am so, terribly sorry, and-"
"No, it's fine. It's just that there's not much on that subject to be sensitive. Now, I probably SHOULD be getting the Fact Core to the repair chamber." Drake suddenly turned and left before even saying goodbye.
YAYYY that was like an entire half page longer than the first 2 chapters! I had absolutely no idea how to end this chapter. And also, still waiting for at least one person to leave a review telling me if you humans prefer shorter chapters or longer chapters. (Don't tell anyone, but it's only because of all the new paragraphs I had to start for all the dialog.) BYE BYE! =D