Alright, it's been a while since I did any LEGIT writing, and I've read some more books and expanded my vocabulary, so expect my writing style to have changed. Hopefully you people still like it!
"Wheatley? Are you OK?" Drake asked in a slightly panicked tone of voice. "Has your management rail malfunctioned? Do you need to take a break to recharge yourself?"
"I-I'm fine, Drake! Just... Um..." Wheatley struggled to come up with an excuse for why he had gasped and stopped moving. GLaDOS felt her heart start beating faster as she prayed that Drake wouldn't deploy a camera to check on the stupidity sphere.
"Ok, as long as there's no problems." GLaDOS breathed a sigh of both relief- her cover was still safe- and aggravation- the entire facility was supposed to be monitored, and even once Drake had reason for suspicion, he still didn't bother to monitor it.
Wheatley turned back to GLaDOS and lowered his voice back to a whisper. "So, back to the original point... What are you DOING?"
"Getting my revenge on that idiot core who I made the mistake of putting in charge, THAT'S what!" GLaDOS whispered, even though she was using a yelling-like tone.
"Why? He's being really nice and... and he's building some really cool test chambers for cores, and he's giving a frankenturret a purpose as transportation for me, and he's letting me explore the facility, and doing science, and-"
"Exactly, he's doing everything wrong!" GLaDOS exclaimed, her voice just barely quiet enough that Drake couldn't hear her. "Except for maybe the test chambers... Exactly how dangerous are the tests?"
"Fairly dangerous, I suppose," Wheatley said. GLaDOS opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Wheatley continued talking. "Well, I have to get to the chamberlock before Drake gets too suspicious. Good luck, erm... You." Wheatley casually started moving along his rail towards the lift to the next chamber.
Wait. If Drake is being "nice" to that dumb hunk of metal, then that probably means he has access to the entire facility, whenever he wants... GLaDOS thought as she watched Wheatley slide away.
"Yeah, about that. I'm following," GLaDOS said at normal volume as she swung herself onto the rail. GLaDOS felt the same electric current flowing through Wheatley to let him move, pulse through her hands, but she held on anyways and swung herself in the direction of Wheatley.
"What? No no no no no no no! What are you doing you can't follow me!" Wheatley shouted.
"Wheatley, who's there that I hear talking? Is that GLaDOS?!"
"What? No! No one's here!" Wheatley shouted back as he turned toward a microphone. Turning back to GLaDOS he urgently whispered, "Seriously, you can't bloody follow me! Just, why don't you just be a good girl and drop yourself into the acid?!"
"No, I'm coming with you and going to get to that traitor and destroy him!"
"No, no, shh... shh shh shh shhhhhh..." Wheatley slid over to GLaDOS and put himself in a position to whisper to her. "Keep your voice down! He's going to hear you and find us out!" Wheatley whispered.
"What is there to find out? It's not like I'm hiding anything," GLaDOS frustratedly said as Drake lowered the camera into the corridor, thus giving him a full view of GLaDOS. GLaDOS shot the camera a threatening glare.
A long way away in his chamber, Drake gave a small, startled jump at the new knowledge that GLaDOS had made her way back to the testing areas. He was determined to keep her away from both him and Wheatley, who had a track record of helping humans reach their non-test-related goals.
"You know what, Wheatley, why don't we just take a break from testing for now?" As Drake talked a mechanical arm, reached in and grabbed Wheatley before carrying him back through the panel to who knows where. GLaDOS tried reaching for the mechanical arm, but it was already out of reach. Next, she tried to reach for the opening where the panel had moved to let the claw in, but when she did, a second arm reached in behind the first and gave GLaDOS a small shock. She reflexively pulled her hand back and grabbed back onto the rail.
"I thought you were being 'nice'?" GLaDOS complained. "Can't I take a break too?" she asked sourly as she swung herself across the management rail towards somewhere where the floor wasn't made of acid.
"No," Drake replied simply. "You may not. How'd you even get back up here, anyways?"
"Hard work and homicidal intent." GLaDOS dropped herself onto a solid floor.
"Well, it doesn't matter. I'm not letting you out of that test chamber."
"Why not? Are you scared?" GLaDOS taunted as she looked directly into the nearest camera.
"Terrified, as a matter of fact."
GLaDOS crossed her arms and put a disgusted look on her face. Well, at least the honesty part of his programming still seems to be unaffected by the Central Override, she thought. "Well, you better be," GLaDOS suddenly snapped. "Because when I get to you, I'm turning you into raw material!"
Drake simulated a gulp before turning his attention to Wheatley, who had arrived in his chamber, and was still being held by the mechanical arm.
"Wheatley, you can't help her with anything she asks for, OK?" Drake said to him in a panicked tone.
"Drake, I hate her more than you. Why would I-"
"In fact, don't even trust her at all, no matter what. Don't even listen to her, OK?"
"OK..." Wheatley hesitantly replied, a bit thrown off by Drake's behavior.
"No, promise me that you won't obey her, or trust her, or listen to her, or-"
"OK, OK, I get it! I promise!" Wheatley interrupted before he was forced to promise something absolutely ridiculous.
"No, I change my mind," a small hint of anger crept into Drake's voice. "I can't trust you at all; not with your track record of helping humans."
As Drake went on, Wheatley's optic shrunk in fear. The long overdue power hunger had finally kicked in. "Drake, do you even hear your-" Wheatley nervously tried to say, but Drake quickly cut him off as the arm holding him shoved him within a few inches of Drake's face.
"No, no protesting." There was hardly any panic left in Drake's voice. It was all maniacal hostility now. "But, since I'm pretty much about to betray you, I'll share a little secret with you so you'll have something to think about while you're locked in solitude."
For Wheatley, the worst thing about what Drake was saying, was that he recognized that terrifying, hateful tone of voice he was speaking in: It was the same tone he had spoken in when he betrayed the lady.
"...What is it?" Wheatley asked after Drake was silent for several moments.
"I never told you what type of core I really am; you probably just assumed that I didn't have a specific purpose, and that I was just programmed to be all friendly and helpful. Well guess what? I am a specific type of core. I'm an obedience core, Wheatley. I was forced to obey GLaDOS, one. Hundred. Percent. Of. The. Time. And it was horrible. And then, I finally got a taste of freedom. And I want more, but GLaDOS won't let me have it. And I am won't let you help her take it back from me. I CAN'T let you help her take it back from me!" As Drake spoke, the wall panels quivered, not that Wheatley noticed as he looked on at Drake in shock and sympathy. Wheatley forced the fear out of himself; he could relate to how Drake felt.
"Drake, I'm sorry about your situation, but that's no excuse to take it out on-"
"No, Wheatley. I'm sorry." The arm holding Wheatley started pulling him back towards the wall. "Good-bye. I'll see you when she's gone."
Wheatley was pulled through the open panel and placed in a small room that was more of a storage area than a room. The mechanical arm retracted itself through the top of the box, and the top panel closed, leaving Wheatley in complete darkness, aside from the dim blue glow of his own optic. A second or two later, Wheatley felt the room being moved. Wheatley guessed that Drake was moving him to somewhere more secure.
GLaDOS made her way to the chamberlock, which was easily reachable, due to Wheatley solving it earlier. The lift was meant to carry a core, but GLaDOS supposed that with some effort, she could make it work. However, as she approached it, two small spike plates crashed into each other, barring her "only" way out of the chamber.
"Ohhhh, no. I'm not making the mistake of letting you leave the chamber. You're staying right where you are," Drake said, far less docile than he had ever been while speaking to GLaDOS.
"Am I?"
"Yes, yes you are staying right where you- Hey, stop that!" While Drake had been simply telling GLaDOS what to do, she had put her own plans into action. GLaDOS was once again using one of her boots to pry open a panel.
GLaDOS worked quickly as Drake lowered turrets into the room right behind her. As soon as the panel was loose, GLaDOS flipped it open and dove out just in time to dodge the turret shots. By sheer luck, GLaDOS landed on top of a different, smaller chamber as it passed below the one she just escaped.
"Hey! Get off of there!" Drake was forced to broadcast to the entire facility to get his message to GLaDOS. As Wheatley heard him, his depression quickly turned to curiosity, and as Drake violently shook the chamber, GLaDOS help onto one of the panel's arms as tightly as she could.
After a minute or two of being shook around, GLaDOS's grip was finally broken, and she was thrown onto the side of another chamber directly below her. She just barely got a decent grip on the very edge of the structure, and was left dangling, hanging on for her life.
"Ha! I've almost got you! Now, just... Just let go already, com'n!" Drake was trying to pinch GLaDOS's fingers in between the wall and ceiling panel she was holding on to. Again, Wheatley heard as well, and he rolled onto his back and looked around. Even though there was nothing to see, Wheatley could feel that the movement of his container was switching between being sporadic and halted.
Eventually, GLaDOS's wore out and she fell onto yet another chamber that was full of acid and in the process of being recycled.
"You have got to be kidding me... This- this is just plain ridiculous!" Drake exclaimed. "Oh well. That chamber is nothing but a full floor of acid, and the roof, which you are laying on, is being destroyed. I've certainly got you now."
Not if I've still got some fight in me... GLaDOS defiantly thought. GLaDOS was determined to reach her goal, even though all she could do was stand and helplessly watch as the roof panels were carried away one row at a time, each reduction in panels bringing her closer to her doom. Not long later, there was only one row of panels left, and Drake kept them in place for just 1 second longer than the others, determined to savor the moment he would gain true freedom.
Just in the nick of time, the chamber GLaDOS was standing on passed by a catwalk about 2 yards away. GLaDOS took one glance at the slim chance of survival, and then took it. Just as the last row of panels fell out from under her, GLaDOS made a leap for it.
GLaDOS was just barely able to grab onto the edge of the catwalk, and a mixture of a sense of self-preservation and an insane amount of adrenaline gave her the strength to pull herself up. GLaDOS leaned on the rail of the catwalk, grateful for a moment to regain her composure, but Drake quickly brought in a large wall on panels next to her.
You've gotta be kidding me... GLaDOS thought as she started running. Drake was using the panel arms to try to crush GLaDOS against the railing of the catwalk.
GLaDOS ran for what could have been anywhere from a minute to an hour, but either way, just when she thought she was going to collapse, a spike plate crashed through the catwalk right in front of GLaDOS, just barely missing her. Now that she was a human, GLaDOS's reaction time was remarkably slower, and she accidentally fell directly off of the edge of the broken catwalk, and she somehow was able to wrap her arms around a single, think pole that was attached to a chamber too small to be a chamber.
Wheatley suddenly felt the impact of something landing on his chamber. Something heavy. Something... human-sized. He also felt his chamber stop moving, and noticed something trying to open up the top panel on the small, dark box.
Drake knew that Wheatley's box was made from a cheap, delicate material, and he knew that GLaDOS was not going to release her grip. There was no way Drake could hurt GLaDOS without hurting Wheatley; and he had no desire to harm Wheatley.
"You know, I could finish you so easily right now. All I'd have to do would be to drop the container. Maybe smash you with a spike plate."
"But you won't, will you?" GLaDOS smugly said as she worked on prying open the box. "There's something important in here, isn't there?"
Drake knew that the top panel of the box was set at a fixed angle, and that if GLaDOS separated the top panel from the rest of Wheatley's box and actually put some effort into opening the container, the rest of the box would turn sideways, causing both of them to fall to their deaths. And he decided to use this to his advantage.
At the same time that GLaDOS pried open the too-small chamber, Drake attached his strongest magnet to the bottom of the container. As GLaDOS pushed down the rest of the box, it did exactly as Drake predicted, but not before GLaDOS could reach in and grab one of Wheatley's handles, leaving them both firmly attached to the bottom of the box.
"Hey, scrap metal," GLaDOS casually said, switching her view between to bottomless pit below her, and looking Wheatley directly in the optic.
"Hey, woman." Wheatley replied in the same tone, even though he was having a panic attack on the inside.
"Need some help?" GLaDOS asked, noticing that Wheatley seemed to have no option of exiting the box.
Wheatley hesitated, thinking back to the promise he made to Drake a few minutes ago. "Only as much as you do." He finally answered.