"Lady! Lady! Watch this!" the freckly red-haired kid sped across the room and did the worst cartwheel Chell had ever seen. He flopped straight onto his back and giggled to himself. "I'm gonna fly to space this way."

"You sure are, kid," Wheatley muttered. "Flippin' Space Core, of all things. This is madness. Utterly mad."

Chell had to agree. They had been stuck in the large empty 'waiting room', as AEGIS had called it, for what seemed like hours with the humanized Space Core. And Lord, he talked jabbered more than Wheatley did.

"I have excellent news," AEGIS suddenly announced. "Testing of the chambers is complete and they are 99.999999% escape-proof."

The other two former cores entered the waiting room and the one who had introduced himself as 'Rick' grinned. "Make that one hundred percent! I checked every nook and cranny of each of them chambers myself!"

Wheatley rolled his eyes, "Thanks for that."

Rick gave them two thumbs up, "You're so welcome, partner!"

Wheatley looked at Chell and muttered, "Didn't pick up on my sarcasm."

Chell smiled, but inside her stomach flipped uncomfortably. The test chambers were ready. She was about to become a test subject once more, something she promised herself would never happen again. GLaDOS had promised her it wouldn't come to that.

But GLaDOS wasn't here.

Chell wanted to believe the Central Core would come to the rescue. She was smart enough to figure it out without a portal gun, after all, and she knew Aperture better than anyone. But GLaDOS hadn't been there when AEGIS had nabbed them. For all she knew, Wheatley and Chell had abandoned her. It's possible the former core was losing her mind altogether.

Chell decided she wouldn't wait around for a rescue. They would find that 0.000001% and escape, no matter what it took to do so. Screw Aperture and screw finding information about her past. It wasn't worth it. She had to get out.

Wheatley squeezed her hand and Chell blinked in surprise. He gave her a reassuring smile, "Don't be scared. We made it out before, we can do it again. I promise."

She didn't know what to say, but it meant all the difference in the world. She squeezed his hand back and stood up.

Chell controlled her breathing and looked toward the doorway as it slid open. "Alright, let's do this."

MEANWHILE: LOWER APERTURE-

GLaDOS was stunned. They had left her.

She had awoken to the sound of silence, her portal gun missing, and no sign of her two companions anywhere. They were simply gone.

They had abandoned her.

To be honest, she felt empty. She wanted to be angry about it, but her mind had drawn a blank. She had used up so much emotional energy screaming at Caroline, that she wondered if she had used it all up. That was good though, wasn't it? At least Caroline had finally shut up.

But at the same time, everything hurt. Her head hurt. Her hand hurt. She was sore everywhere and still so tired even after getting sleep. There was nothing good about being a human.

She looked up toward the cavernous ceiling, squinting so as to get a glimpse of upper Aperture. Would she be able to escape without the portal gun? She wasn't sure.

It hurt.

GLaDOS decided it wasn't productive to sit around feeling sorry for herself, so she forced herself to keep walking. Eventually, she'd find an exit if she wandered enough. Surely, it wouldn't be that hard for her. Just keep walking. Ignore Mister Johnson's voice and keep walking.

After what felt like hours, she wandered into an open hall filled with antique Aperture technology. She glanced at the plaques apathetically and decided that reading with the eyes was a horrible form of taking in information. What a waste of time.

"Oi, hello!"

GLaDOS swirled around on one foot and found herself face-to-face with an unfamiliar personality core. It was brown, covered in floral stickers, and its eye resembled ancient Aperture's logo. She was irked that she didn't recognize the core and made a mental note to keep track of what her personality cores were doing at all times once she regained control of her mainframe. They couldn't just do whatever they wanted willy-nilly. This was a ridiculous use of Aperture assets and she was ready to tell him so.

"Haven't seen a human in a long time! My name is Virgil, I'm a-"

"-Aperture Science personality construct. I am aware," GLaDOS said.

"So you already know a bit about the place," Virgil seemed amused. "Well, then, Miss Smarty-Pants. What's your name?"

GLaDOS hesitated. Did she want to reveal her identity to this core? He might be more willing to help her if she told him who she was. Then again, maybe not.

Virgil caught on to her hesitation, "Guess you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm a maintenance core, by the way. I don't do humans, but I can show you a place where you can, uh, tidy up. If you want." He seemed embarrassed.

"Are you saying I'm dirty?" The audacity of this core.

"I'm saying you're dirty and injured," he gestured to her bandages. "I think logic dictates you clean up and replace those bandages before you become infected and die."

The last thing GLaDOS wanted to waste time on was getting this temporary body cleaned up, but she couldn't deny that she would feel a lot better if she did. She folded her arms, "Fine, show me the way."

"Please?" Virgil waved his handles at her and she narrowed her eyes.

"Please, before I rip you from your chassis and throw you into the abyss."

He simply let out a robotic laugh and swiveled around. "Follow me, then, your Majesty.

Author's Note: Hey all! I am so super sorry about the delay *crying face*. Stuff kind went awry in my life over the past month and I actually had to quit that job I had started and return to my home country :*) I'm still writing when I can, lol. Please enjoy and I'll be back soon :)