Chapter 1:Wakeup Call

A chime filled Grayson's ears,as he leans up. He gently wiped his eyes,looking around the room..

"Hello,you have been asleep for -50- Days. We have resurrected you for a brief physical and mental wellness evaluation."

"When you hear the buzzer, look up at the ceiling."

A buzzer sounded,and Grayson rolls his eyes and looks up.

"Good,when you hear the buzzer, look down at the floor."A buzzer sounds and Grayson looks down.

"There is a painting on the wall, please go to it." Grayson gets up,to walk around his bed and past the entertainment center. he looks at a frame of art;a cabin near a sparkling lake.

"This is art. when you hear the buzzer, stare at the art."

A Buzzer sounded,and Grayson stared at it, listening to the ticking. The buzzer sounded again.

"This completes your gymnastic and mental fitness evaluation. if you think you're not mentally fit,reflect briefly on this classical music."

A classic music chop played breifly, Grayson swayed to it before being interrupted by the buzzer.

"Please return to your bed." Grayson plops on the memory foam bed and falls asleep.

-Skip, Unknown amount of time-

A garbled alarm went off,waking Grayson.

"Good morning you have been in animation suspension for -9999999....9999999-"

The information was interrupted by an urgent knock,"Uh! hello? is anyone alive?" Asked an English voice. Grayson stumbled,displeased by the urgency. After a brief moment Grayson opens the door to see a metalic ball,who screamed and backed up on his rail,"Oh you look terrib-". The sphere went back over his words,"I mean good. You look great! very healthy." He said,nodding his entire body like how a human would nod their head. Grayson regarded the core with weary eyes,and stumbled backwards as the Core barged in. "Oh yeah uhm...Im Wheatley. You might want to hold onto something. Word of advice. Up to You."

Wheatley slipped up into a compartment,and the entire room began to tremble violently. It stopped after a couple of minutes,and Wheatley comes down again. "So most Augmented subjects encounter come cognative and battery deterioration. Now you've been under for quite a while. No need to panic,because you might have a very minor case of serious Battery damage." Wheatley said,bringing panic to the silver haired male.

"But dont worry! well..you can be worried as that is the proper reaction to having been told you've got serious battery damage." Wheatley said,nodding some more. "Do you understand what I'm saying? At all? Does any of this make any sense? Just tell me, 'Yes'." He said. Grayson opened his mouth to speak,to find that he was voiceless. "Okay. What you're doing there is Mouthing. You just... you just mouthed. But nevermind. Say 'Apple'. 'Aaaapple." Wheatley said,lengthening it like Grayson was a moron. "Simple word. 'Apple'." Wheatley rants softly. "Just say 'Apple'. Classic. Very simple." He said,earning a death glare from Grayson

"Okay, you know what? That's close enough. Just hold tight." Wheatley said as he went back up into the compartment,and the room began to tremble violently once more.

"All reactor core safeguards are now non-functional. Please prepare for reactor core meltdown."

"Alright, I wasn't going to mention this to you, but I am in PRETTY HOT WATER here." Wheatley said,driving the container along. The container rumbled softly,as the walls cracked from all the movement. "How you doing down there? You still holding on?" Wheatley shouted over all the noise. The walls began to fall apart,revealing many other containers like Grayson's.

"The reserve power ran out, so of course the whole relaxation center stops waking up the bloody test subjects." Wheatley said,starting to sound a bit angry. They stop at a small collecion of containers with a hole that would barely fit the current one. "Hold on! This is a bit tricky!" Wheatley said.

"And of course nobody tells ME anything. Noooo. Why should they tell me anything?" He rants a little more,as they rounded a corner,and stopped at a wall. "Okay, almost there. On the other side of that wall is one of the old testing tracks. There's a piece of equipment in there we're gonna need to get out of here. I think this is a docking station. Get ready..." The container wound back,and Grayson ran toward the closet,holding for dear life as the container made rough contact with a wall.

"Good news: that is NOT a docking station. So there's one mystery solved. I'm going to attempt a manual override on this wall. Could get a bit technical! Hold on!" The container wound up again,and rams the wall harder. "Almost there! Remember: you're looking for a gun that makes holes. Not bullet holes, but-- well, you'll figure it out. Really do hold on this time!" The container wound back really far,and finally broke the wall.

The container's engine slowly rumbled to a stop,and Wheatley came down from the operation hatch.

"Whew. There we go! Now I'll be honest, you are probably in no fit state to run this particular type of cognitive gauntlet. But... um... at least you're a good mouther. So... you've got that. You've got the mouthing on your side. Just do your best, and I'll meet you up ahead." Wheatley said.

Grayson gestured at the hole,and looked at Wheatley. "Yeah, it's alright. Go ahead." He assured. Grayson shook his head and jumped into the chamber,breaking the glass roof. "Thats the spirit! Good luck!"

*A few tests later*

"Hey hey! You made it!" Wheatley cheers as Grayson walks through the door. Grayson waved as casually as possible. "There should be a portal device on that podium over there." Wheatley said,squinting at it. "I can't see it though... Maybe it fell off. Do you want to go and have a quick look?" He asked. Grayson rolls his eyes and nervously steps forward,peering around. He took a step closer to see if it was under a tile,to have the floor end up falling underneath him.

Grayson falls into a pool of water. As he came up for air,various sediments and slimes in the water clung to his testing unitard.

"Can you see the portal gun?" Wheatley shouts distantly after Grayson.

"Also, are you alive? That's important, should have asked that first." Wheatley said,as Grayson was getting grime off of his clothes. He looks up,hoping that Wheatley was there. "I'm--do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to work on the assumption that you're still alive and I'm just going to wait for you up ahead." He said.

Grayson shook his head and proceeded into a clearing,with what looked like a staircase leading the Portal Gun. It was surrounded by all sorts of paintings that would seem to belong to a madman.

He picks it up and places a blue portal,connecting to the corresponding Orange Portal.

another 3 tests later...*

Grayson finally reached the test that Grayson hoped he would be in. "Hey! Oi oi! I'm up here!" Wheatley said. Grayson smiles and looks up at him. "Oh, brilliant. You DID find a portal gun! You know what? It just goes to show: people with battery damage are the real heroes in the end aren't they? At the end of the day. Brave." Wheatley said,trying to instill confidence into the male,which ultimately worked,as Grayson now had a warm,beaming smile.

"Pop a portal on that wall behind me there, and I'll meet you on the other side of the room." Grayson did so,and hopped through. Wheatley looked worried,"Okay, listen, let me lay something on you here. It's pretty heavy. They told me NEVER NEVER EVER to disengage myself from my Management Rail. Or I would DIE. But we're out of options here. So... get ready to catch me, alright, on the off chance that I'm not dead the moment I pop off this thing." he said.

Grayson nods,waiting under him to support Wheatley,and help him make sure he gets off safely. "On three. Ready? One... Two..." Wheatley was about to pop off,when he reels back in fear,his optic shrinking,"THREE! That's high. It's TOO high, isn't it, really, that--" He yelps,trying to regain his composure. "Alright, going on three just gives you too much time to think about it. Let's, uh, go on one this time. Okay, ready?" He asked. Grayson nods.

"ONE! Catchmecatchmecatchmecatchmecatchme-" Wheatley screams.

Grayson dove out of the way to avoid being crushed by the falling orb. "OW! OW... I. Am. Not. Dead! I'm not dead!" Wheatley laughs triumphantly. "I can't move, though. That's the problem now." He said.

"Are you still there? Can you pick me up, do you think? If you are there?" Wheatley asked. Grayson dusts himself off and picks up the portal gun,then he uses it to pick Wheatley up,"Oh! Brilliant, thank you, great."

"Plug me into that stick on the wall over there. Yeah? And I'll show you something. You'll be impressed by this." Wheatley requested. Grayson gave a slightly worried look at the Core,"It DOES sound rude. I'm not going to lie to you. It's not. Put me right on it. Stick me in."

Grayson rolls his eyes and puts him in.

"Ummmm. Yeah, I can't do it if you're watching." Wheatley chuckled nervously. Grayson looked at the core,raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Seriously, I'm not joking. Could you just turn around for a second?" Wheatley asked.

Grayson rolls his eyes and turns his back. a few beeps occoured,"Alright, you can turn around now!" Wheatley said. Grayson turns around,to be surprised to see the secret door thar opened.

After a moment Wheatley popped off,and Grayson picked him up. "And off we go." He said,as if it were routine.

"Look at this! No rail to tell us where to go! OH, this is brilliant. We can go where ever we want! Hold on, though, where are we going? Seriously. Hang on, let me just get my bearings. Hm. Just follow the rail, actually." Wheatley said. Grason chuckled silently and started to follow the rail.

"Probably ought to bring you up to speed on something right now." Whetley started,as they walked down the hall. "In order to escape, we're going to have to go through HER chamber." Wheatley said. Grayson was trying to remeber who this 'her' was. All of a sudden the though of a big,yellow,singular optic enters his mind. Grayson nods at Wheatley. "And she will probably kill us if, um, she's awake." Wheatley said.

Grayson walks down a ransacked glass hall looking ready to collapse at any given moment. The door to the chamber slowly rose,"Okay, I'm gonna lay my cards on the table: I don't wanna do it. I don't want to go in there. Don't... Don't go in there - She's off. She's off! Panic over! She's off. All fine! On we go." Grayson started into the chamber,stepping over parts of the large body. "There she is...What a nasty piece of work she was, honestly. Like a proper maniac." Wheatley said.

"Do you know who ended up taking her down in the end? You're not going to believe this. A human." Wheatley said. Grayson averts his eyes for a moment,"I know! I know, I wouldn't have believed it either." Wheatley said. "Apparently this human escaped and nobody's seen him since.." Wheatley said. "Then there was a sort of long chunk of time where absolutely nothing happened and then there's us escaping now. So that's pretty much the whole story, you're up to speed. Don't touch anything." He said.

They walk down some stairs toward a direct drop,"Jump! Actually, looking at it, that is quite a distance, isn't it?" Wheatley asked. Grayson drops down,Wheatley yells all the way down. Grayson lands on his build in leg braces. "Still held! Still bein' held. That's a great job. You've applied the grip. We're all fine. That's tremendous." Wheatley compliments as they had to a catwalk,Whetley looked down,"AH! I- Sorry, I just looked down. I do not recommend it." He said,lookingdown again,"AH! I've just done it again."Wheatley yelps.

They walk into a room full of levers. Grayson nearly fell trying to see them all. "Look for a switch that says ESCAPE POD. Alright? Don't touch ANYTHING else." Wheatley said. The room was far too dim to see up further than a few feet. "Not interested in anything else. Don't even LOOK at anything else, just--well, obviously you've got to look at everything else to find ESCAPE POD, but as soon as you've looked at something and it doesn't say ESCAPE POD, look at something else, look at the next thing. Alright? But don't touch anything else or look at any--well, look at other things, but don't... you understand." Grayson looks at Wheatley,"Can you see it anywhere? I can't see it anywhere. Uh. Tell you what, plug me in and I'll turn the lights on."

Grayson plugs Wheatley into the operation booth. Really bright spotlights turn on,"'Let there be light.' That's, uh... God. I was quoting God." Wheatley said. Grayson grimaces softly,clearly signing that he wasnt happy with that.

The receptacle closes,and rotates...

"Oh! Look at that. It's turning. Ominous. But probably fine. Long as it doesn't start moving up..." Wheatley he said,resuming his search. "Now, escape pod... escape pod..." Wheatley mutters. It started moving up. "It's... It's moving up." He said,"Okay! No, don't worry! Don't worry! I've got it I've got it I've got it! THIS should slow it down!" Wheatley said. the booth stopped,and moved a lot faster. "No. Makes it go faster." He said. They turn up in the destroyed chamber. "Uh oh."

Backup downloading.."

"Okay don't panic! Alright? Stop panicking! I can still stop this. Ahh. Oh there's a password. It's fine. I'll just hack it. Not a problem... umm..." Wheatley said. Grayson could only stare at the massive body as something happened. The heap of metal and wires shifted,but never rose. "A...A...A...A...A... Umm... A." Wheatley said,only to get a buzzer. "Nope. Okay. A... A... A... A... A... C." He tries again,to get a buzzer. More machinery began to get functioning.

"No. Wait, did I do B? Do you have a pen? Start writing these down."

Power up complete"

A hand reached out fom the wires as a body pulled itself from the wreckage. The form was lifted,and a few robot arms salvage parts from the older body,welding it to the new one.

"Okay. Okay. Okay listen: New plan. Act natural act natural. We've done nothing wrong." Wheatley said,as the large female opened her eyes. "Hello!" Wheatley said in a cheerful tone.

"Oh... It's you." Glados said in a cold tone. "You KNOW her?" Wheatley asked quietly. Grayson felt himself stripped by her gaze,as she glared at him.

"How have you been?" She asked. "I've been really busy being dead." Glados began in a casual,lazy drawl,before her voice turned cold as ice,"You know, after you MURDERED ME?" Glados snarls. "You did what?!" Whealey yelps as a manipulation claw came down and plucked Grayson and Wheatley from the recepticule.. "Oh no no no... No! Nooo!" Wheatley cried,before Glados squeezed him to shut him up. She studied the core in slight annoyance.

"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster." Glados said.

"And since you went through all of this trouble to wake me up,you must REALLY love to test. I do too,we just need to take care of something first." She said,as she drops Grayson down the incinerator tube.