[A/N]

So, some of you might be confused about GLaDOS' digital DNA matching up with Chell's, here's the explanation: Caroline and Cave are confirmed to be Chell's biological parents (Well, in this story, at least. No confirmation from Valve yet!). Caroline later got downloaded onto GLaDOS, hence her synthetic DNA being (close to) Caroline's.

The craziest part? In a sense, both Chell and GLaDOS are both conceived by Caroline. Scary thought, huh?

Hope this makes sense!

Anyway, reviews are greatly appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!

"I guess we don't have a choice, then."

Silence, yet again.

"Hold on."

"What?"

"Why are you being so… helpful, all of the sudden?"

"You made me do this in the first place."

"No, well, yes, I did, but, you still had a choice."

"You're not making sense, as usual."

"Oh, yes I am! You could've just killed me and used the coop bots!"

"The Cooperative Testing Inititia-"

"I know what they're called, but, tell me; are you lonely?"

The AI didn't speak for a while, presumably calculating her chances.

"…Yes."

At this, the test subject cracked a sympathetic smile.

"So that's why you're doing this for me! Normally you wouldn't care if my… offspring, would be… deformed… but you do now!"

"I guess so."

The android too, now sat down upon a helpfully raised panel. Quickly refocusing on the task at hand, the girl stood up and spoke.

"So how are we going to retrieve him?"

"The moron?"

"Sure, call him a moron…"

"He almost blew you up."

"He was nice! Until you're beloved mainframe turned him evil!"

"Sure. Blame it on the mainframe."

"It doesn't matter now! If we get him out of space, and he still wants to kill me, we leave him there. Okay?"

There weren't many times in which the AI stayed silent. Sure, when she didn't speak, but she always had her words ready when needed. Almost never was she left without words, speechless.

It made no sense. Either she was truly prepared to leave the moron in space, obliterating her chance of repopulating planet earth, or… she was completely sure of the outcome.

Considering the chances, the AI guessed the latter; the girl knew for sure that the moron hadn't stayed against her. It was a big risk to take, but she was known to make big risks anyway.

"Well. I suppose we should check on him.", The android spoke, mildly disgusted.

"Alright! How, exactly?"

"We'll use the Aperture Science Military Grade Tactical Satellites, he should be near one of them."

"How do you know, without being connected to the mainframe?"

"…I kept track of him."

"What? Why?"

"Simple, really. I wanted to know when he got knocked further into space, so I knew when I could start the party."

"Seriously?"

"When have I not been serious?"

"Potato…" The test subject said, under her breath.

"I heard that." The AI snapped back, a frown on her features.

"Okay, okay. Now, can we retrieve him?"

"Easily. The satellites come equipped with thruster rockets. We can boost over to him."

"Alright, does it have a camera, too?"

The giant monitor switched to a fuzzy video feed, showing nothing but black. The girl watched as the satellite slowly turned to reveal to metal objects in the distance. One emitting a faint blue light, a yellow light emitting from the other, this one much brighter.

"There he is!" The test subject said, pointing to the blue dot on the screen.

"I see him. I'll upon a communication link."

It was dark. Immensely dark. Everywhere you looked, the true definition of darkness surrounded you, with only little spots of lights shining with not barely enough light to illuminate it.

Some starts were brighter than others, some twinkled heavily, others stayed steady. Some were closer, some were far away. The closes one he could see? The sun.

He often wondered what it was like, the sun. What it would feel like to stand there, on the planet below, and feel the light rays of the sun touch his hull. Not that it mattered, of course.

No, tiny little Wheatley got what he deserved; floating indefinitely, in space. Miles away from where he wanted and could've been. Never did he dare to think to return; it would only make him feel more sad. More miserable. More pathetic.

He was given two options; near omnipotent power for the rest of his digital life, or to be free with the only one who ever listened to him. Silently, sure, but listening. She never ignored him. Never told him to stop. And always, truly, listened.

She didn't care he was such a chatterbox, or chatter-sphere, or whatever you could call him. She trusted him. Even cared for him, when the time came. Sure, she didn't catch him, but she'd tried. And that's what matters.

Even all the processing power in that body couldn't recognise the fact that fighting her, simply wasn't an option; it went against his own morals, and besides; when did she die?

Not even her the so-called most advanced being in the known universe, and she couldn't beat her. And if she couldn't, how could he ever do more? He was, well, let's face it: a moron.

All those times he'd denied it, all those times he simply said "Not a moron!", and went on, not giving it a second thought, he never considered the possible truth laid deep inside that message.

'Intelligence Dampening' was really just a fancy way of saying 'Moron'. At first he didn't even know what it actually meant, and upon finding out for himself, he still tried to deny it. Pathetic, as she'd said. Well, even the lady would've said it by now. If she could.

Maybe that's how it went this way. She couldn't express to him that she, possibly, hated him. Maybe she didn't even want his advice, and only took it as last resort.

So many questions, so many promises, so many… apologies. But it didn't matter now.

He was stranded.

And for a while, he didn't think anything. Again. No thinking, nothing to interrupt it with, now that he'd disabled communication with that silly, yellow-eyed space fanatic.

But then, his non-thinking was interrupted, for whatever that was worth. A faint, radio signal, bursting out static. He tried to ignore it, whatever it was, he didn't even care to disable it.

Until.

"Hello, moron."

He instantly recognised her. Every wire, every component that made up every ounce of his being shuddered in fear as he remembered the icy, monotone being he was so scared of he wouldn't even dare to say her name.

The metal queen, the mad ruler, the near-omnipotent being to rule them all. However you pronounced it, she would spread fear and hatred among every system she would land on.

And she was speaking. From within his own mind.

His single, stratospheric blue eye snapped open in the first time for hours after he'd shut it.

"Wha- What's happening?"

Was it a dream? He always wondered what dreaming felt like, and-

"It's your lucky day."