As they trekked through the countryside through the rain, water soaking through their boots, Chell thought that the two AIs were abnormally quiet. As much as she enjoyed the silence, she had to wonder what was on their minds.

Probably sadistic methods of torture or betrayal.

She brushed her rain-soaked bangs from her face and enjoyed the feeling of the rain droplets on her bare skin. Every time it rained, it was a reminder that she was above ground, so she would often stand outside and take it in while the rest of the townsfolk hunkered down in their homes instead. The rain always calmed her.

And now she was going back underground willingly.

Chell looked at the two cores-turned-human and admitted to herself that she took perverse satisfaction in their current discomfort. Wheatley huffed as he wiped down his glasses again, glaring up at the sky as the rain continually impeded his vision. GLaDOS held her sleeve up to her head, attempting to keep the rain from ruining the bandages on her face to little avail. The rain never let up.

She wondered what it would be like to be in the body of a core, so different from that of her own. Her emotions would be ruled by programming and numbers, rather than neural inputs. But then again, that was a tricky area when it came to the cores because she knew that GLaDOS too had once been human, her brain patterns mapped into a computer system centuries before. But the process had corrupted the human inside, the AI turning vengeful instead. Murderous.

GLaDOS had even taken pride in deleting Caroline right before she had let Chell go. The entire encounter still haunted her.

And Wheatley was... Wheatley.

He had rescued her, helped her escape and take down GLaDOS, then betrayed her. And for what? A part of her still wanted to think he hadn't meant any of it, that GLaDOS's mainframe had corrupted him as it had Caroline, but the memories of him trying to crush Chell to pieces were difficult to forget. She could still feel the explosions rocketing around her, GLaDOS screaming for Chell to get up, Wheatley taunting her for daring to live. Shooting a portal at the moon.

She had vivid nightmares of being shot into space, but in every single one of them, GLaDOS didn't pull her back in. She woke up every night suffocating.

Three years of this had made it easy for her to hate the both of them and no matter what, she was determined to hold onto those feelings.

Wheatley was making it difficult, constantly giving Chell hurt puppy-dog eyes whenever he tried to chat and she shut him down. It was going to take a lot more than one half-hearted apology about being too bossy for her to even consider forgiving him for anything he had done. He didn't seem to understand that and probably never would.

At least GLaDOS was taking things with a little more grace, keeping a respectful distance from Chell and addressing her as a person rather than some decrepit test subject. She didn't even make one remark about the former test subject's weight. Chell was starting to wonder if the AI had truly been sincere during Chell's send-off from Aperture. Maybe it hadn't been a joke after all.

"Was the song planned?" Chell blurted.

GLaDOS looked back at her and Chell immediately regretted asking the question. Too late to take it back now.

"Huh? What song?" Wheatley looked around, befuddled.

GLaDOS ignored him, "It was a planned rehearsal. While I was first stuck as a potato, I didn't think I would ever see anyone again. All I could do was sing and pray the birds didn't peck me to death," she shivered, "I remember thinking that if I was back in my mainframe, I would put together a turret opera. They have beautiful voices, after all."

"So it wasn't for me?"

GLaDOS gave her a half-smile, a strange look in her eye, "No, it wasn't for you. But I'm pleased you enjoyed the performance."

"Never said I did," Chell mumbled.

'Not for her', please. GLaDOS wasn't fooling anyone.

But neither was Chell.

"Wait, you sang a song for her? Why did I get blasted into space and the bloody test subject who shut you down for centuries got serenaded to freedom? Hello? What am I, chopped liver? What makes you think-" Wheatley went off.

So much for silence.

"I'm sorry, we're going to do what?"

GLaDOS had no patience for Wheatley's stupidity right now. Granted, she never had the patience for it, but that was beside the point.

"We're going to infiltrate Aperture from below. There are supposed to be some abandoned mineshafts around here that should connect to the underground," she repeated herself.

"But..." Wheatley frowned, his brain thinking too hard. GLaDOS imagined smoke was coming out of his ears and she bit her lip to keep from smiling. He continued his thought, "If there are openings underground, wouldn't humans have found us by now?"

GLaDOS shrugged, "Have you seen the state of humanity? This area has been all but abandoned for decades. Centuries even."

Chell nodded, "Most people like to keep to themselves around here. They want to get rich and move to the coasts. No one is interested in exploring abandoned mine systems, trust me."

Wheatley rubbed his chin, "Hidden in plain sight, huh? Doesn't mean I'm all that thrilled about going back down there again. I don't know if you realize this, but it's not a pretty place. Super dangerous. Lots of sharp objects that could scratch up our soft, human skin."

GLaDOS took exception to his obliviousness and she noticed Chell imperceptively stiffen as well.

"I don't know, Wheatley, last time we were down there it was a magical wonderland filled with gardens, puppies, and rainbows," Chell said, her face deadpan serious.

GLaDOS resisted the urge to grin as Wheatley's eyes widened in realization of his own stupidity. Either that or he actually believed her.

"Right, right. The thing... That thing that happened, " he adjusted his glasses and looked away. "I really am sorry."

"Save it," GLaDOS snapped, done with him.

He snapped back, "I wasn't apologizing to you. You threw me down there too!"

"Because you deserved it! I could have thrown you in the incinerator if that's what you would have preferred," she rounded on him. How dare he.

"Wasn't three years in space enough for you? If that maintenance core hadn't been down there, I'd still be lying there as scrap metal," the moron said.

"Good. And then you wouldn't have woken up that fossil of an AI and wouldn't have ripped me from my mainframe again and-"

"Enough!"

The two former cores looked at Chell, the woman glaring at them both. What a familiar sight.

"We aren't going to argue about this right now," she said, "And I am not accepting apologies. End of story."

"But how am I supposed to make things right then?" the moron looked frustrated.

Chell shrugged and turned away, clearly done with the conversation.

And the trio continued on.

Author's Note: Flying back home tomorrow, but wanted to squeeze in one more chapter before I go :3 See y'all soon!