Hello all! This came a lot faster than you were probably expecting, but it was already written up in my notebook so it was just a matter of transferring it.

Wanted to update before going on vacation again. Hopefully I'll be able to write more and have it ready to post by the time I get back, not just on this fic, but on some others too.

Reviews and Faves are appreciated!

- PhiSat

The funnel cut out.

Chell landed perfectly, thanks to her Long-Fall Boots. Didn't even need to crouch to absorb the impact. She silently thanked whoever had gotten rid of her knee replacements and given her these boots instead for her latest trip into hell.

She checked the room she'd been dropped in. A single closed door on the far side of the room. Grey walls. No portal surfaces, of course. Wait… That wall, maybe… But was there enough room on it for a portal…

Chell barely had time to take stock of it before the door opened, flooding the room with artificial, pure white light.

Instinctively, Chell fired a portal into the light before shielding her eyes from the intense glare.

"Trying to kill me already, luv?"

And suddenly, he was there.

The light disappeared, leaving Chell to adjust again. The door was already closed. Chell scanned the room, searching for some passageway, or maybe a monitor… But she couldn't see shit.

She waited, tense and ready for a fight, however short it might be.

A soft laugh. Chell immediately turned towards the sound.

"Yep, I'm over here. Here, let me help you out, luv. Let there be light."

The light returned, not as bright as before.

Chell couldn't help but stare.

Instead of the cheery, blue-optic core she… liked… and remembered, a man stood in front of her. Tall, unusually, tall, and even more abnormally thin, with orange-strawberry blond hair. Sporting rectangular glasses, an Aperture-issue white labcoat, a blue shirt, and white pants.

And then he opened his eyes.

There was no point in speculating anymore. Chell knew. This was Wheatley.

"Surprise, luv."

Yes, he'd told her about Aperture's human experimentation. In more than passing. And there was a lot he hadn't explained, like how he'd gotten a new core body (or flat out survived) after GLaDOS had reduced him to scrap metal… But having a theory and seeing it confirmed firsthand…

"Wireless uploading." She remembered him saying. "One thing this place became really, really good at. How do you think She controls this entire facility? Pretty brilliant, really. Gotta congratulate them."

And then there was that time, when he said he needed to find something…

Wait. He'd moved.

He was right beside her.

Chell tried to move back, get out of his range, but quicker than she'd expected, Wheatley had his hands on her shoulders. Pinned her against a wall. When had she gotten so close to one?

"Hush. Just hush."

His lips pressed against hers.

Chell squirmed, lashed, trying to force him away. He just pulled her closer, running his tongue along her lips, demanding to be let in…

She kneed him.

He cried in pain, letting go of her waist (How had his hands gotten there?). Chell bolted, shooting an orange portal towards the surface she'd noticed before, sprinting even faster as she saw it open a path away from this madness.

An Emancipation Grille appeared in front of her.

She couldn't stop. She was moving too quickly. Chell sped through the Grille and slammed against the blank white wall.

I

A cry of pain echoed through the room as she fell to her knees.

He walked towards her, deliberately slowly. Another brilliant idea, to leave just one portal surface. His Chell certainly didn't disappoint. But he hadn't expected her to deal him that much pain in one hit… That had hurt more than anything he'd been through trying to remember how to move right.

Wheatley's memories from before his life as a core were quite… Incomplete, probably having something to do with being a core for a very, very long time. It was irritating, to say the least. But he remembered enough for this.

"You think I'd just let you leave? I care more than that, luv. I'd miss you if you… Disappeared."

Chell had let go of the Portal Gun after her attempted escape. That was not an opportunity to be missed. Before she had the time to pick it up again, he grabbed the device off the floor.

"Ah, here She is." Wheatley ripped the AI-Potato from the gun, grinning as he did so. Again at his mercy… And he didn't have any.

Sudden movement. He twisted, just barely avoiding Chell's fist.

This persistence was getting old. Her file hadn't lied.

"Does not give up. Ever."

That sounded like a challenge to Wheatley.

She swung at him again. He let go of the Portal Gun and caught her fist. Chell tried to escape his grasp but he pulled her closer with a faint laugh.

"We're to have none of the fighting business, luv. We used to be such friends! I don't want to have to hurt you."

She laughed. Cold, bitter. Obviously she didn't think he could, did she? Well, that could be changed. He adjusted his grip on her shoulders and slammed her into the white wall, biting her left earlobe.

Chell cried in pain, earning a nasty smile from Wheatley. He licked some blood from the marks he just made, slowly, not letting her go.

"Or perhaps," He whispered between licks, "You'd like that potato of yours to gown down the incinerator? Easily arranged, luv." He moved to see her face. Her reaction.

Chell tensed.

It was true then. She'd found herself a new best friend. Wheatley grit his teeth despite himself. That… that… that bitch. Why?

Sure, he'd sent her down that elevator shaft and all, but that was an accident. Couldn't blame him for that… Right? Of course not. Whereas She'd tried to kill them both! It wasn't fair. Why could Chell forgive Her, but not him? She'd abandoned him just when he needed her most! All because of a small accident!

"I have Her right here, luv. And I will do it… Unless you do exactly as I say."

She shook her head. Almost no hesitation… Still determined. Still fighting."

He sighed. "Wrong answer, luv."