Hey all ^_^ NaNo is over and i won! Yays! lol

Sorry this is so late...and short at that, but on top of NaNo i ran into writer's block for this story. Well... i've got fresh new ideas and I'm ready to take this up again!

Enjoy this and I'll start the next chappy lol

Chapter five: Paradoxes...

Echoes of water, or gel (it didn't matter), fell into the background. The sound sent shivers down Chell's spine. Her eyes darted around nervously. She knew these test chambers pretty well. They had been the last few she had done before making her way to the surface. The only problem was now Wheatley was with them and he had no boots. The chamber was pretty easy, but only when you had them.

"Too bad I didn't get a pair of those things..." Wheatley muttered. He looked down. Chell frowned, knowing he felt bad once again about being dead weight. With the hand not holding her new baby bird, she grabbed his. He smiled weakly.

This sphere had to be one of the worst with out boots. And it was only the second one since they'd found the baby bird. The first room, Wheatley was able to just climb through the portals linking the two sides while Mel completed the test and both girls just jumped across. This room was the one with the massive jump on blue gel to get to the catwalk. A ton of jumping and skiing through portals just to get the cube.

There had to be another way... Mel had already coated everything with the proper gels, but the cube was still on it's dangling platform, reading to be used to turn the square panel. Maybe... if either girl was strong enough... they could put Wheatley on their back or... no...

Chell groaned. It wasn't really possible and the man could fall to a very painful acid involved test. But if he carried one of the girls... was he strong enough? She stepped close to him and he backed away, staring down a the bird.

"You won't be coming anywhere near me that... that... fluffy beast, love!" the blue-eyed man muttered, "No bloody way!"

The test subject glared and handed Mr. Chubby Beak over to Mel before she walked back up to Wheatley. The man raised his brow, confused. Chell made a motion of lifting.

"What?" she smacked her forehead and acted like she was picking someone or something up. He still looked confused.

"She wants you to pick her up," Mel said in a sing-song voice while smirking.

"W-why?" the British man shoot a glance at Mel, who shrugged. Chell huffed, impatiently, so Wheatley frowned and picked up Chell in his arms. It was weird, to say the least. The girl began to wriggle and move, making it slightly more difficult to hold her, but Wheatley managed, since she seemed to be onto something.

She jumped out of his arms and bent down to unstrap her boots. It suddenly dawned on the man. He was going to wear the long-falls while carrying her, so that they would go together! That way they would both make it, with neither getting injured. It was brilliant!

Wheatley put the boots on and frowned, "A bit snug, but I'm sure I can manage for now... do they make me loo girly? I think I look girly, if I'm honest..." Chell smiled warmly and took the bird from Mel, who was going to grab the cube and place it on the weight button.

"I hope you don't expect me carry it either... do you?" he bit his lip staring at the bird. Chell huffed and placed a hand on her hip. He sighed.

The girl walked around for a minute while waiting and she had to say, well think, that not having those boots on was a pretty good feeling. They no longer were able to pinch at her calves, nor were they keeping her on her toes, literally, at all times. It felt good to relax them for the first time in what seemed like weeks. It might have been, for all she knew. She'd been tossed and kept in testing chambers left and right, never being told for how long.

"Done, I'm going to head over now." Mel went about getting to the catwalk, which was a piece of cake for her. Once she got there, the blue clad subject re-aimed the portals so that Chell and Wheatley were able to cross just fine. They walked through the portal onto the runway and Mel closed the blue one by re-opening it to the ramp tip of the runway.

Chell frowned at the feel of the gel beneath her feet. It was slightly sticky and made the bottoms of her feet slick. She shuddered and Wheatley reluctantly picked her and the baby bird up. He warned he to keep the bird away, so she frowned covering the little thing up. Chell wondered what kind of bird it was and if she should keep it once they escaped. If. If they escaped.

Wheatley began to run against the runway and Chell prayed he didn't stop for any reason what-so-ever. She squeezed her eyes shut and felt her stomach lurch as they flew the air.

"Oh god. Oh god. Oh man. Oh bloody hell!" Wheatley screamed as they hit the repulsion gel. She opened her eyes and saw they were headed straight to the catwalk. The man's grip tightened on her before they made impact. He set her down and moved to the edge of the catwalk and groaned, "OH! Ahahahahaha!" he laughed, "We made it! We really made it! Oh man alive, that was amazing! Absolutely terrifying, but amazing!"

Chell couldn't help but laugh silently at the way he'd reacted. He was adorable when he was excited like this. But under her laughter and joy at seeing him smiling, she felt dread. Not about themselves, no. Now that she knew Wheatley would be able to help her across, things should become a slight bit easier. She couldn't tell why she felt this strange overwhelming fear about continuing. It scared her. Would she really have to face GLaDOS all over again? This time the computer was ready for everything. There was no possible was to destroy her...at least none that she knew. There were no more cores, no buttons, no anything to help. Hell, even the portal device is useless in her chambers now.

The subject sighed and stepped into the elevator, ready to face whatever was making her insides twist.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

GLaDOS glared through her camera. Here she was actually trying to help the little [redacted] and the fat thing won't listen to her. Giving her freedom was more or less for selfish reasons. It seems that no matter where she is or what she'd doing, [redacted] always manages to destroy everything in her wake. It was likely that the lard would resort to using barbaric ways now, since most logical choices were no longer optional. Being torn apart, wire by wire, just didn't seem like a very fun time.

The supercomputer left those thoughts behind as the destructive trio and that little feathery beast climbed into the elevator. Oh how she loathed that bird. She was sure that [redacted] only took the bird to annoy her.

Blue and Orange were busy cleaning test chambers and she had yet to decide what sort of testing to throw their human counterparts. The two humans were cuddled up in that small room she'd put them in, afraid of what she would do to them. They were right to fear her. Honestly, she wasn't sure they were worth keeping. There weren't many tests that she'd planned and the two of them weren't suitable for the ones she did have. Although...

GLaDOS pulled up a file on an old test Aperture had long since abandoned. It was a liquid that was supposed to increase vision and hearing and other senses as well. It had been discontinued on account of it killing the senses instead. The supercomputer nodded to herself, deciding that this was what she wanted to test until the silent lunatic decided to accept help.

Her peace of mind did not last long. A loud crack sounded from behind her and she whipped her chassis to see the oddly colored portal had opened up on the wall. When would that crazy woman learn? The A.I. prepared the incinerator to take a new addition to it's flames, but something caught her mic.

"You know, I was wondering if we could just talk this out," Glados grinned, holding her device. She had a few more of her guards behind her, now equipped with what appeared to be bullet proof shields. Apparently turrets were useless against them now. GLaDOS narrowed her optic.

"I thought it was in bad tasted for us to fight like this...especially since I know that I know nothing at all about you or this Aperture..."

GLaDOS thought about her sentence, 'Paradoxes?' she focused her mind away from the woman's feeble attempts to shut her down.

"But of course, We should be working together, like a set." the woman continued, "Do you know the funny thing about sets? I've always wondered if the set of all other sets, that do not contain themselves, contain itself?"

GLaDOS growled trying to force the mixed logic away, but it began eating at her. Does the set contain itself? But that means that all the sets are within the set within the sets...or is it...NO!

The computer shook it away, "I'm smarter than you think, pathetic human." she stated calmly. She would not be outdone in such a way.

She took control over the panels and for a split second made the mistake of not focusing on ignoring what the woman said.

"Are you very strict on rules... I am... but if there is an exception to every rule, then every rule must have at least one exception; the exception to this one being that it has no exception." GLaDOS froze. Her mind becoming completely enthralled in figuring out why there were always exceptions to rules except the rule about having exceptions to rules. But if every rule has an exception, shouldn't that rule have an exception, but if it had an exception, that meant that some rules wouldn't have exceptions...

It became too much and GLaDOS shut down to keep herself from frying her circuits. Glados grinned, "Well, it seemed it worked..." she chuckled darkly walking over to the computer, "Go get one of the engineers...we've got work to do before this thing awakens..."

XxXxXxXxXxX

Chell frowned. Something was really wrong. It wasn't that GLaDOS hadn't spoken to them in awhile... but a mixture of that and the fact that it seemed none of the cameras were even following them anymore. Not only that, but she seemed oddly quiet. Usually, anything Chell, Wheatley, or Mel did was met with a torrent of insults or laughter.

It could be that they were finally being left to die in this forsaken Aperture. It was a frightening thought. Chell received shivers down her spine as she walked down the cat walk with Wheatley and Mel. The test subject just couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly off.

"You okay there, love?" She jumped at the sound of Wheatley's voice. Chell nodded lightly and frowned, running a finger over Mr. Chubby Beak's head. The small bird made a small peeping noise. The woman was worried for the baby bird. She didn't know how long it would last without proper... everything birds needed. It barely ate anything... mostly because none of them had anything to eat in the first place.

She sighed, but was ripped from her thoughts as a voice echoed through the building that she recognized and dreaded hearing.

"I finally found you two..." Glados growled. Fear shot through the three like never before. How had the woman even gotten into the facility without being incinerated by GLaDOS?

"Blue, Orange, I'm pulling you two from that room. We have a lot to do and I'm glad that I don't have to break in new assistants..." A mixture of relief and dread ran through the trio. How was this possible? How were they even going to get out now? Did Glados know they were still there?

It would be to their advantage if she didn't, which would make escaping much easier. Glados would need the supercomputer's control over the building to be able to lock down the facility since GLaDOS was directly linked to cameras and microphones, doors and everything else.

Mel seemed to think the same thing. A smile crossed her face, "She's the crazy lady from a few days ago... If GLaDOS really is shut off..." her voice seemed slightly sad as she trailed off.

Wheatley was distraught with this information. He was probably the most torn up about all of this. It seemed the British man would never escape Glados, as Chell would never escape GLaDOS. It was becoming an endless circle of crushed hopes.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Glados watched as the engineer worked on the currently shut off GLaDOS. She was in the midst of turning over the controls to Glados. The computer would have no say in what she did. It would all be left to her human counterpart.

The head scientist was still high from her victory and she was glad that metal beast hadn't killed her loyal assistants. They were now standing, pathetically, in the room. Oddly silent, the two stood close and didn't look anywhere in particular. They awkwardly looked around the room.

Penny smiled softly and gripped Atlas' hand. He remained stone faced. He seemed happy that they were safe, but at what cost? They were now stuck under Glados again, and she was slowly losing her mind and could very well toss them under the bus, so to speak. If she needed them gone, she'd probably kill them both instantly. Atlas was determined to keep them out of that situation. No distractions! He had to keep Penny safe.

Glados smiled wickedly when the engineer sat back and wiped sweat from her forehead, "There, ma'am," the woman muttered quietly, "Voice commands as well as a manual override switch."

"Brilliant! GLaDOS, start."

A loud males voice boomed overhead, "Initiating starting process."

This was it. Glados was finally going to have control over the all powerful, omnipotent A.I.

"Start up at 25%, scanning new software."

XxXxXxXxXxX

"What was that?" Mel frowned as the voice echoed, "Start up?"

"Does that mean GLaDOS is back online?" the blue eyed man looked to Chell. Chell shrugged. It certainly sounded that way, but why would Glados turn the computer back on, knowing she would just try to kill her?

It didn't make any sense what so ever, and thinking about it would more than likely just give the test subject a headache.

"This is just terrible..." Wheatley frowned. She couldn't blame him. All three of them were being thrown for a loop by this whole mess. Not to mention the figuring out how to escape without Glados even knowing they were here.

It could be assumed that the scientist would figure that they were dead because the last she should have seen was GLaDOS opening the floor. For all the woman knew, they were sent to the incinerator.

"75%" the voice spoke again.

Down to the final few moments. Hopefully, GLaDOS would incinerate the vile woman. At this point, Chell was sure that accepting GLaDOS' offer of helping them was much better than remaining trapped in the Old Aperture halls.

They were almost out, of course, but it was still scary having no food for several days. Not even the potatoes grew this far down.

"100% Start up complete." finally!

However, none of the cameras moved. GLaDOS said nothing. It was almost like she wasn't there again. Maybe she was taking her time?

XxXxXxXxXxX

"100% Start up complete."

"Very good... GLaDOS, bring me a portal device."

"Nng! Y-y-y-y-" the core shook before straightening up, "Yes, ma'am." a panel opened, revealing a claw that brought forth an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. Glados picked it up, "Good."

The woman trained her golden eyes on Atlas, "You, go back home and find a few guards or something, I'm going to need as much help as possible..."

He nodded, but glared at the thought of leaving Penny behind. The orange haired girl insisted that she would be just fine on her own, yet it wasn't enough to calm him. He left any way.

Crossing the portal left him in a state of confusion. Not only were there people everywhere, running about in chaos, but no one seemed to be doing their proper job. Mora was missing. He learned a little bit later that she had vanished, as well as several prisoners. This is apparently what was causing the chaos. Many people believed that they were planning to over throw Glados, or worse, destroy the facility in a bought of rage fueled revenge.

Atlas rolled his eyes and walked straight to the guard quarters, where he hoped to find the people Glados wanted. It seemed Penny's life rested on his success.

The men and women were not the happiest to see Glados' lackey come walking through their door.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you helped cause all of his shit," the first man glared, "So why the hell should we help you?"

"Direct orders from Glados herself..." Atlas glared back at the man. Honestly, the blue haired boy wasn't too interested in fighting with the man. Other, more important things were on his mind.

The guards groaned and prepped their weapons for the cross over.

Atlas watched them slowly make their way out of the room and he slipped to a back door. Maybe, if he was quick enough, he could find a way of offing Glados before she hurt Penny. He ran down the halls towards the containment cells, hoping the rumors were false and he could find Mora or Aaron, or even Rick, the only three he knew who would openly run in or figure out a possible way to defeat her.

No luck. They really were gone. He slammed his fist into the wall and slid down to the floor. Was fate really on that psycho's side? The blue haired teen leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. Why did this have to be so difficult?

XxXxXxXxXxX

Mora paced the small room. Aaron and Curi were sitting on the small sofa while Rick was talking to Coryn and Alex across the room.

"Babe, you're making me dizzy, why don't you take a break from all that walking and sit down?" Mora's head turned and she saw Aaron pat his lap. Her gaze softened from the nervous one and she made her way into his arms.

"I think I've got it!" Coryn smiled, standing up, "The whole place is in chaos. No one is going to notice if we slip into Glados' lab and take over. From there, we can have Mora pose as Glados and get every one under control. We'll handle any one trying to break in or see 'Glados'."

"B-but why me?" Mora asked. Aaron tightened his grip around her waist.

"Because, you're the oldest female in the group, not to mention you've spent enough time around Glados to know how she sounds, how she speaks and what kind of things she would say." Coryn explained, "Besides, it's not permanent, just long enough for us to get every one under control... and maybe find out the code for unlocking the doors. We could give everyone freedom..."

Freedom? That word weighed heavily on all of us. Flynn looked up from one of his books. Even Curi and Alex seemed to fall quiet upon hearing that word.

"I... I'll do it then..." Mora sighed. This was for Curi and Alex, for Aaron and her, for Flynn and Rick and every one else who had been denied going to the surface, "but... we'll need to prepare people or something... imagine this chaos on the surface..."

Coryn nodded and began working out smaller details of moving himself Aaron, Rick and Flynn to the lab, as well as Mora. It was going to be quite an adventure...

Lady Pyrien