"Gah! I'm keeping up, keeping up, don't you worry about me. I am worried about you, you are going very fa- CHELL! Why, what do I even...It's not like I don't trust you skidding on the panels, through portals at great speed over an abyss, but seriously. Try putting yourself in my shoes. Though I don't have shoes, so that could be a minor complication right there so, uh. Hmm, mainframe I guess. Wait, whoa, quick question; are you actually going to try and jump over there?! You can't, you're not- CHELL!"

She flew over the gap, hair whipping wildly behind her, adrenal vapour pounding through her body at lightning pace. The familiar airborne-panic began to spread, the butterflies in her stomach transforming into frenzied black birds that violently sped round. I haven't undershot, have I? She thought in the brief seconds she was suspended above the bottomless pit, daring herself to look down. The area beneath eerily glowed, and her legs trembled; her snowy boots flecked with fresh propulsion gel. But, as per usual, her nerves were short lived. Wheatley flinched as Chell smacked down on the walkway and sent a tremor that felt like it shook through the whole facility, he paused before sliding down the rest of his rail to meet her. She remained crouched and clinging to the metals for a scant ten seconds before springing up to meet Wheatleys optic. He studied the eager gleam in her eyes, the infectious grin.

Five months. Five months life had been like this, in Aperture. Things terrible here, and the knowledge that things weren't any better on the outside had left her existence somewhat... pointless? No, wrong word, more like aimless. An aimlessness that made Chell mess with the few test subjects, smash various pieces of equipment, run through the catwalks, fling herself through to new parts of the facility...had she changed? Wheatley felt her soft fingers curl round his handle and begin towing him to where he supposed another den was. He activated his light. She may not have changed, but many of the constructs had.

Rick had given up trying to corner her after a couple of weeks, and grew a strange admiration for her instead. Labelling her as a 'Seasoned Adventurer for Science' and leaving out occasional provisions (Most often green with the letter 'R' printed on the packaging.) was his way of letting her know he thought of her as an equal. She accepted the gifts once Wheatley had scanned them and made sure that they weren't death traps in themselves. The turrets were the second to alter, saving into their files that this specific combination of orange, white and peach was not to be shot at. It seemed that it was world renowned that Chell was the new Queen of Aperture.

Meanwhile, said Queen was collecting supplies from a particularly barren nest that wasn't their own (but no doubt would become theirs soon enough) and was humming to herself the same jazzy tune that was omnipresent in the test chambers. She still couldn't speak properly; fighting a losing battle that was both parts physical and mental could be tedious at times, but she enjoyed music all the same. Pulling the top off an ever-drying marker, she quickly scratched on a welcome sign to the Enrichment Centre on one of the most cracked and most decrepit panels, and then placed two portals parallel to each other to check her hair and how stained the jumpsuit was.

"...and I'm fairly certain there are 27 now, if my calculations are correct. Which they most likely are, if I'm honest, because you know. I am a core. Very mathematical. By the way, is this where we are going to stay whilst you recharge? Because, I think that it's not, like, particularly-"
"Wheatley." Chell interrupted in the most polite way possible, putting down her gun in the corner and reaching to disengage the core from his management rail. He quivered in the delight of her voice trilling his name, buzzing as the ritual of being wrapped in her arms and going into sleep mode started, despite him being mobile now. The boots were undone, and huddled in the corner Chell slept.
Peacefully, for once.
Forever.
Times had changed after all.