Chapter 3:Betrayed

Grayson notices a panel at the bottom of the elevator,and rams his heel into it,revealing an emergency brake that was pressed and broken. The lift came to a searing halt,sending Grayson and Glados into the ceiling and down to the floor.

Grayson's world quickly went black. Glados groans slightly,brushing broken glass out of her hair. She prys open the doors and drags Grayson out. He had busted his lip,leaking a thick red substance.

Damn humans,they always have something coming out of them some way or another.

Glados dragged her finder along his lip,catching the droplet,and carrying it on her finger. She anylized the sample she had. The blood was synthetic,really only found in Augmentees and Androids like herself.

Glados hums,"he isnt fully human..." She said softly.

When Grayson woke,he was met with Glados preforming a procedure,involving his chest. She was holding an electrical point welder to his core. Grayson grabs her arm,thinking she was going to harm him,to find he couldn't even lean up to engage her.

"Hold still,idiot. Youre still hurt." Glados said,pulling her arm free as she held him still.

She pulls a cord from under her hair that seemed to go on forever as she links into Grayson's neck.

A code fills Grayson's vision.

Arperture Science Field Analysis Cord (ASFAC) detected

Running Diagnostics....

>>Scanning Lower Left Hemisphere

(Life Support)...Optimal

>>Scanning Lower Right Hemisphere

(Personality Engram Support)...Stable

>>Scanning Upper Left Hemisphere

(Intelligence Support).....Stable

>>Scanning Upper Right Hemisphere

(*UNKNOWN*)...75% Stable

>>WARNING:High speed Impact injuries detected. Seek Medical Attention.

>>WARNING;Severe Hull Damage detected in the Upper Torso.

[Finalizing details...]

[Closing program...]

Glados disconnects once she pulls the information she needs.

Grayson leans up,and looks at Glados.

"I know what you're thinking,and you're correct. I will say if we don't get moving now,there won't be a facility to return to." She said. Glados picks Grayson up by his unitard,only to have his face turn a very unhealthy shade of green,as he fell to his knees,vomiting. Glados reels back some in disgust,"Try not to vomit on me." She said.

As soon as Grayson got up,an explosion sounds distantly.

They traded glances of worry,and start into Old Aperture.

They hear the Recordings of Cave Johnson. He was nothing short of fucking crazy,and all the while they performed the tests in frankly dangerous conditions,forced to cooperate..

They reach a brief intermission,as another one of Cave's rants played over the intercom.

"All right, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons...Don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! 'I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these?'"

"Yeah." Glados said,starting to get a fire in her eyes.

"Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's going to burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm going to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down! " Cave shouts,coughing in a loud,sickly tone to match his proclamation.

"Burning people! He's saying what we're all thinking!" Glados cheers

The tone eventually dies down,"The point is: If we can store music on a compact disc, why can't we store a man's intelligence and personality on one? So I have the engineers figuring that out now." He said,suppressing a sickly cough.

"Brain Mapping. Artificial Intelligence. Cybernetics. We should have been working on it thirty years ago. I will say this - and I'm gonna say it on tape so everybody hears it a hundred times a day: If I die before you people can pour me into a computer brain, I want Caroline to run this place." He said,sounding a bit sad.

"Now she'll argue. She'll say she can't. She's modest like that. But you make her." He said,coughing some more.

"Hell, put her in my computer. I don't care."

A shifting of cloth fills the the room,"All right, test's over. You can head on back to your desk."

Grayson looks at Glados,who looked at the small camera photo of him in her hand,"Goodbye, sir." She said.

She sets the photo on the control panel nearby,and summons the elevator to ride back to New Aperture.

Glados puts her hand on Grayson's shoulder,"I know things look bleak, but that crazy man down there was right. Let's not take these lemons! We are going to march right back upstairs and MAKE him put me back in my body!"

Grayson looks at her like she was crazy,"And he'll probably kill us, because he's incredibly powerful and I have no plan. I'm not going to lie to you, the odds are a million to one. And that's with some generous rounding." She said.

The elevator stops at an approval station,as they get off,there was a poster on the back wall.

"That poster! Go grab it, would you?" Glados requested. Grayson runs over to the small room and grabs the Paradox poster,and soon returns.

"Paradoxes. No A.I. can resist thinking about them." She said,already glitching some from just looking at the poster.

"I know how we can beat him. If you can get me in front of him, I'll fry every circuit in that little idiot's head. As long as I don't listen to what I'm saying, I should be okay." She said,nodding softly. Right now,the only thing on Grayson's mind is why Glados' act suddenly cleaned up,when she was taken from the safety of her mainframe.

"Okay, so it's not the most watertight plan to go confront an omnipotent power-mad A.I. with,but It's a better plan than exploding. Marginally."

The elevator stops at a catwalk leading to an office. "Try to get us down there. I'll hit him with a paradox." Glados said,earning a look of "What the hell is wrong with you" From Grayson.

A conversation emits from the room,"For god's sake, you're BOXES with LEGS! It is literally your only purpose! Walking onto buttons! How can you not do the one thing you were designed for?" Wheatley screams at a pair of turrets,which were aphazardly jammed into the cube. Grayson and Glados both doubt that those things could hear at all.

"Warmer. Warrrrmer. Boiling hot. Boiling-okay, colder. Ice cold. Arctic. Very very very cold LOOK JUST GET ON THE BUTTON!" He shouts.

"Oh, that's funny, is it? Oh it's funny? Because we've been at this for twelve hours and you haven't solved it either, so I don't know why you're laughing." Wheatley said,taking the laughing and giggling emitting from the office to be coming from the Frankenturrets.

You've got one hour! Solve it!" He said,as the monitor turns off.

Grayson gave a pitiful look at the little bots.

Solve his puzzle for him. When he comes back, I'll hit him with a paradox." She said,ushering him through the window and following.

Grayson picks a Frankenturret up,and places it on the button.

Ha ha, YES! I knew you'd solve it-Oh." He said.

Hello."

"Hey! Moron!" Glados shouts

He looks at Glados,shuttering his eyelid to imitate raising a brow.

"Alright. Paradox time. This. Sentence. Is. FALSE don't think about it don't think about it..." She said,closing her eyes.

"Um. 'TRUE'. I'll go 'true'." Wheatley responds.

It's a paradox! There IS no answer."

"Hey, it is GREAT seeing you guys again. Seriously. It turns out I'm a little short on test subjects right now. So this works out PERFECT." Wheatley said,avoiding that conversation.

"Hey im not done talking to you you-"

"MOVE." Wheatley barks.

Grayson gently pushes Glados to the elevator,"Alright. So my paradox idea didn't work,And it almost killed me."

Luckily, by the looks of things he knows as much about test building as he does about logical contradictions." She said.

They arrive in a chamber,with a "Moat". Well a pit. Either way it was very pitiful. "Designed this test myself. It's a little bit difficult." Wheatley said. Grayson and Glados share a grimace,and Glados pushed Grayson to perform the test.

Grayson walks over to the button,and pressed it,dropping a Frankenturret on a weighted button.

The proceeding moans were so lewd you'd swear his face was twisted. The sound of it put Grayson AND Glados into the same emotion,regret.

"Ohhhhh, yes. Ohhhh. Well done. Ohhhhhhh, that's tremendous." Wheatley said,panting.

Before they could leave,he stopped them,a grate slamming down in front of them

"Actually,why do I have to make different tests? Why cant we just do the same one?" He asked

After repeating the test,but no moan,which was fortunate for Grayson and Glados,they were allowed through to an elevator.

"I know what you're thinking. And yes it's true. Just remember that anti-paradox sentence and you'll be fine."

They eventually escape,and avoided certain death at the hands of Spike plates,and fell for another trap just to get closer.

They finally had a chance to rest,when Glados saw the extent of the damage,which made her distraught. The agony in her voice was evident.

"Oh my god. What has he done to this place?" She asked softly. Grayson was still walking,when Glados grabs his shoulder. "You know, I'm not stupid. I realize you don't want to put me back in charge."

"You think I'll betray you. And on any other day, you'd be right."

"The scientists were always hanging cores on me to regulate my behavior. I've heard voices all my life. But now I hear the voice of a conscience, and it's terrifying, because for the first time it's my voice." Glados said,hugging herself.

Grayson rolls his eyes in annoyance,and resumes walking. Glados interrupts his path,"I'm being serious, I think there's something really wrong with me."

'You think I didnt notice that already?' He thought.

Before long they found themselves at a storage room,full of cores,four of which were active. Each had a greatly differing personality,one of which was rolled off into the corner,siezing out about space or some weird crap like that,"Corrupted cores! We're in luck." Glados said. Grayson gestures to them as if saying,'Lucky? More like fucked. What the hell are we supposed to do with these?'

Almost as if Glados had read the implied movements,she answered,"remember when i said that cores were hung on me?" Glados asked. Grayson nods. "We will corrupt him that way,and steal back my body."

A look of 'oh' struck his face.

"You find a way to stun him, I'll send you a core, and then you attach it to him. If we do it a few times, he might become corrupt enough for another core transfer. Or if i can get them mobile...well youll figure it out."

Grayson nods,and runs up ahead.

A lift brought him into the chamber

Wheatley's body had been modified more,slightly heavier armor,with numerous shields surrounding him,along with a slab shield on his right arm,and what looked like a grenade launcher mounted to his left arm.

"Well, well, well. Welcome, to MY LAIR! Lemme just flag something up: According to the control panel light up there, the entire building's going to self destruct in about six minutes. I'm pretty sure it's a problem with the light. I think the light's on the blink. But just in case it isn't, I'm actually going to have to kill you, as discussed earlier." Wheatley said as six shields surround his newer massive body. He was physically imposing.

"So, let's call that three minutes, and then a minute break, which should leave a leisurely two minutes to figure out how to shut down whatever's starting all the fires. So anyway, that's the itinerary." He said.

Grayson quickly advanced on him,only to get smacked aside. Grayson wasnt heavily hurt,but it still hurt like a bitch to be hit by the mass of metal head on. Grayson gets up,narrowly avoiding another swing from the AI. Grayson yelps and runs as a bomb suddenly deploys from Wheatley.

Grayson's movements were too fast,causing Wheatley to miss on more than one occasion,and hit conversion paste pipes,spewing it onto the floor,causing it to pool under Wheatley.

"Stay still damn it!" Wheatley snarls.

Grayson portals up onto a catwalk to tempt him to shoot another section of the pipe.

"Remember when I first told you how to find that little portal thing you love so much? Well, I thought you'd die on the way, if I'm honest. All the others did."

Grayson growls,and tricks him into deploying the bomb. It flew through a newly portaled surface, With odd success it worked,and Wheatley was hit by one of his own bombs,breaking the launcher they relied on. Glados finally turns up,with the Cores behind her,all with spindly arms and legs. "Get him!" Glados barks.

"Will there be space?" Asked Space Core

Glados rolls her eyes,"Sure,why not. Itll give me a reason to build a simulation room."

With that,Space core charged with a mighty yell,alongside his other core brothers. They all hopped onto Wheatley,beating on him and distracting him. Unfortunately the fight was short lived as the large machine threw off his assailants.

Grayson rushed to the stalemate button,but right when he reached it,it exploded. Pain returned to Grayson's senses,his breath gone for a moment.

He rolls onto his back,and gasps for air.

"What!? Are you still alive? You are joking. You have got be kidding me. Well, I'm still in control, AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO FIX THIS PLACE."

Grayson looks at the sky,at least he would get a last look at- The moon!

Grayson crawls to his portal gun,and fires at the moon.

The resulting catalyst was so violent,the room was getting sucked in. Grayson flew into Wheatley,while he was still trying to fight. After a poorly thrown punch,Wheatley was grabbed by the handles by Grayson,and dragged into the singularity. Wheatley's head snaps loose from its body,dangling only by a wire. Wheatley yelps,as his body dangled uselessly. Grayson pants,as the air burnt his skin with cold,and even with air blasting at him,he couldn't breathe.

"Let go! Let go! I'm still connected. I can pull myself in! I can still fix this!" Wheatley screams

"I already fixed it. And you are NOT coming back!" Glados snarls,with her newly attached wires she reached through the portal,reaching For Grayson,and using a manipulation claw,as it wound back to hit Wheatley.

"Oh no. Change of plans. Hold onto me. Tighter!" Wheatley yelps.

He was cut short as he was knocked into space,screaming. Grayson,was grabbed by a soft hand,and was brought back to Earth.

Grayson looks around,to find Glados collapsed next to him,as a claw delicately drags her back to the Mainframe.

He grew weak,and passed out shortly after,the gentle rain of fire suppression systems being the last thing he felt and heard as he fell deep into a comatose state.