Back To You

9.

Metal on metal sounded as your boots followed where the catwalk led. Wheatley was quite hefty, you carried him by his handles alternating whenever one of your hands got a bit strained. He was trying his best not to look down at the abyss below him even after he warned you not to do it, only to do it himself. Twice. The metal ball couldn't help himself even if he really wanted to.

The thought of just a long, thin piece of suspended metal was what kept you from hurtling down to a distance you surely won't survive made your knees weaken, heart beating a bit faster. Even with this great distraction, you still felt sour from when you had to leave the little malfunctioning turret in the tubes, you felt like you could've done something but Wheatley was dismissive towards the polite turret and was constantly going on about how we didn't have much time left before the place blew up.

Which was true and you knew it. The distant rumbling of concrete and metal reminded you every once in a while that this place is nearly at its limit.

Still, that didn't stop you from feeling really bad about it. It wouldn't matter anyway if we all die here.

"...and that's about it. Long story short, She was a nasty piece of work. Pretty homicidal, in fact, she'd probably kill us if we go sauntering into the main chamber—at least back when she was still alive," Wheatley finished the most convoluted story you've heard in all the eight hours that you've been alive for and surprisingly, you were all for it. You never would have guessed that many events took place in an area as quiet as you knew it now. It was almost unbelievable that it all happened here at the facility. I mean, a human took out the most powerful robot in this facility with nothing but a portal gun, how cool is that?

Human beings are so fragile and yet, they are determined—so determined to live on. They'd cross every boundary that they've ever put on themselves and walk beyond that again and again. It was amazing to hear the lengths that this being would go through just to get a chance of freedom—of life. The thought of this made you want freedom. Maybe living is worth risking your life for. Someone took down what was essentially the entire facility just to get that freedom back even if there was uncertainty of what waited outside these walls.

"If we ever make it out there, do you think it would be worth it?" You distantly asked as you slowly stopped in your tracks. This question seemed to go unanswered as if it was the first time Wheatley ever considered what was out there waiting for the both of you. Will there be anything for you out there?

"I'm gonna lay my cards on the table: I honestly don't know what to expect. I'm not worried, though. We'd make a great team out there," He replied, trying to mask the obvious worry in his voice.

—

The main breaker room was tighter than you'd expected. There was enough room for the both of you in the cylindrical "room". You got there through an alternative route with only a couple of wrong turns thanks to Wheatley's extensive yet unreliable knowledge about the place.

You looked up, barely making out the farthest switches at the top half of the room. "Look for a switch that says 'Escape Pod', alright? Don't touch anything else," He instructed.

You skimmed through the tiny labels of the switches and saw how all of it so far were not or not related to anything about escape pods. You held Wheatley up with both arms in hopes of him seeing the upper switches. The dim lighting wasn't really helping the case.

"I don't see anything. Hm. Tell you what, plug me in and I'll turn on the lights in here," he said. You obliged, the socket secured him with a satisfying click. "What? Should I need to turn around for this, too?" You chuckled.

"Not necessary,"

The brightness took over your vision. "Let there be light," he noticed how you looked at him questioningly with squinted eyes, "That's—uh... God. I was quoting God,"

A loud buzzer sounded somewhere above you as the platform beneath whirred alive and started turning. You caught yourself from stumbling and accidentally switched something on—turning it off again at lightning speed. Wheatley seemed too preoccupied by the turning to notice your little mishap.

"Ominous," he eyed the platform, "But probably fine, so long as it doesn't start moving up,"

"Uh... escape pod, right?" You tried to look for the switch you just messed with earlier.
When you couldn't find it, you just silently hoped that it was nothing too important.

Hmm, I guess that didn't do anyth— three consecutive alarms sounded from the buzzer. Uh oh. Its. Moving. Up.

"It's...it's moving up," you didn't know what would happen but the collective clicking of each row of switches made you somewhat anxious. What if it will make the facility self-destruct instantly? Just boom, dead.

"Okay! No, Don't worry, don't worry. I've got it, I've got it! This should slow it down," Wheatley seemed to have it under control.

Nope.

"No, it makes it go faster..." he calmly stated, managing to hit every single switch on the way up, alarmingly quick. You were a couple of bumbling idiots. Yes, idiots, that includes you. Well, you are more of a clutz.

For a workplace that employed geniuses, this was a stupidly designed room. No wonder why they all died a horrible death. I mean, what the actual fu—