Authors Note: Yes, you do deserve an apology. I apologize. My life just got pretty busy for a while. I played with some original stories and a bunch of drama started happening too. Well, here you go. It had been a long time before I had checked my reviews when I found a rather lengthy one left for me some time ago by Lynx Claw. I loved reading her analysis of the story and hearing some of her views brought sparks of inspiration to me, coaxing me to write more.

Needless to say, now that Chell has legs, things are going to get interesting...

She was testing again. Her little lunatic was testing. Oh, it was a wonder to see her test again. Granted, she lacked a portal gun and currently GLaDOS was having to rely on Orange and Blue to help her, but it was still a wonder. Three-person testing was quite a new experience, especially when one was a cube that could move at will. Mostly they involved aerial faith plating her into places where portals couldn't be reached to sit on a button. Those were the first tests. Others required buttons on the ceiling being pressed, which Chell could do as her legs had been built to climb walls without the aid of the excursion funnel. GLaDOS was also creating ceiling levels with metal walls unable to hold portals that Chell must navigate and solve by crawling through a series of tunnels.

The tests were simple and mostly non-lethal, but the sheer act of seeing her favorite test subject doing something, anything to solve tests sent waves of ecstasy similar to the built in euphoric response to testing that had long worn off on her system. Chell had that effect on her though.

SHe was crawling around on the ground at the moment when it happened, a sudden quiet that left the AI feeling chilled. From behind a gap in one of her walls appeared a rocket turret, firing into the room and smashing against one of her walls. No!

"Orange! Blue! You two, go disarm that thing."

SMASH! A rocket destroyed her camera and Chells. SMASH!

"NO!" the AI cried out in a high pitched, electronic screech of panic.

Her precious test subject was caught up in the very heart of the explosion, sending her crashing back against a far wall as her little one screeched. Sparks flew from the charred cube as it fell to the floor, two legs snapped as it sparked once, twice. The front two legs were broken, dangling uselessly on their snapped joints. Still, the girl managed to lift herself up, if a bit unsteady.

"Oh thank goodness."

GLaDOS immediately grabbed control of the nearest wall panels, wrapping them around her cube and creating something of a shield. ust in time too as the next rocket beamed straight at the walls, damaging them and forcing them to splinter at the edges.

"I'LL HAVE HER DIE BEFORE YOU CORRUPT HER, BEAST!" shrieked the voice of a madman.

Him. The rat. The nuisance. That ever lasting pain in GLaDOS's nerves. Blue tackled the rocket turret then, forcing it to the ground, but that didn't stop the explosions. Orange cowered until Blue let out a distressed beep, stressing for help. Orange reluctantly made the way over to Blues side and together, they pushed the rocket turret into a pit of acid.

Good. Now for the rat. GLaDOS focused her cameras, seeking him out. Where had he gone? Her walls tightened even further around Chell. It appeared that Rattman was still armed when she found another turret being dropped from the ceiling as it fired at her walls. Most of the bullets were harmless, but a couple bullets hit one of holding one of the wall panels around Chell and that particular one spasmed. That was all it took for a gateway to be opened and GLaDOS found herself losing her cube... again!

"Come back. Where are you going? There's a lunatic out here," GLaDOS cried, "Now you may be confused. I've called you a lunatic many times before, yes, but this is different. He's certified insane. Schitzophrenic. He's paranoid and hears voices in his head. This man will harm you."

She pulled back wall panel after wall panel as she darted behind them, trying to catch her. Chell always jumped just out of reach on her remaining four legs and GLaDOS found herself cursing the bright idea to give legs to the mute music box. The arachnid cube managed to find a staircase that led into places GLaDOS couldn't reach and she felt herself fume.

"Orange! Blue! Return her at once."

The robots jumped into action, darting after the girl. Rattman appeared then behind an open door.

"This way!" he beckoned.

The cube darted through the door and just in time, the man slammed the door shut and locked it to keep out the robots chasing her. Doug took a moment to pause, leaning against the now closed door before laughing.

"I did it!"

Chell, however, was not amused. She backed up and charged him, ramming him with her charred body and promptly knocking the wind out of him. With the pain that proceeded, it was likely that a rib had been broken in the process.

"Stop! What are you? AAH!"

Rattman dropped to his knees and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the next attack. Chell stood on her back four legs, twitching her broken ones at him in something of a threat as she lowered herself, ready to charge again.

"I meant you no harm. NONE!" Rattman yelled to her as he ran up a staircase to escape her wrath, "I wanted only to save you, stupid thing."

The cube sparked in response before crawling onto the wall, scurrying to the ceiling and through a series of complex gel transportation tubes. She was not to be distracted. Chell had to run, escape or confront this man. For a man with a companion cube harnessed to his back, he moved surprisingly fast. Even worse, he knew this place better than she. He would disappear behind a door, leaving the cube feeling as though the chase was finally over only to see that he'd taken a short cut to gain on her. Just like that, with another open door he was in front of her, blocking her. Chells gray optic narrowed as it focused on Rattman in determination before rushing to charge. Rattman did the best thing he could and turned his back to her. Clumsily in this not yet graceful form, Chell crashed into the cube on Rattmans back, sending him flying, tumbling, but the impact knocked her as well, swiping her off her feet and making her land hard, crushing two more legs on that side. Now only two limbs remained working, twitching in the air, worthless as they were at helping her move without any on the other side to help balance her. Rattman recovered quickly, getting to his feet and approaching her, calm now.

"Listen, I saved you. Yes, I did. SHE would have destroyed you, knocked you down like a dead bird and picked at your insides."

Though immobilized, Chell was far from defenseless as her determined legs swiped at her hunter, clawing and stabbing at the air near him with restless determination. Rattman dodged the legs and went to her back, pushing with a heave as he flipped her optic down, forcing her to become blind as he assessed the damage of her mangled, twitching legs. A long sigh left his lips as he crossed his arms.

"This will take some work."

He left before coming back with tools which he used to remove her back plate, exposing her insides. Mangled legs twitched before swinging at him, trying to stop him. Rattman reached inside and flipped a switch inside of her, powering her down. Immediately, the legs fell limp.

"This is a bad idea. She's already lost trust in you. If you help her now, she will attack you when she awakes."

"No. She will come to her senses instead," Rattman argued, "Even thank me. That she might do. Attack? No. Now, she's only confused. I did throw bombs at her."

"You can't throw bombs at someone and expect them to just forgive you. Leave her be. The power is off. She'll never even know. It might even be best for her."

Rattman only shook his head before continuing his work to fix the damage done to his friend, trying to shake off the guilt of it coming from his own hand. No, he had to do it. How else could he have even pulled this off? This was better. With him, the modified cube had a chance. With Her, she would perish without a doubt in the most painful way possible. Yes, yes. This was best. Here, with him.

Reviews are cherished and loved. Thank you all. :)