Oh, man, that was pretty dark! I thought you did the violence very well - it was savage without being OTT, and contrasted well with the hope spot at the end of the chapter. Yay for Rick not being a traitor!

I look forward to seeing where you take this when you do get a chance to write more.

Just one thing - sometimes you put "Wheatley" when you don't actually need to state that, you could just use "he". Not a big issue, just a small thing I noticed!

I think I must've had a premonition or something, because I woke up around 1:30 last night and decided to check my email. Much to my delight, there was more Cake and Lies! Even though I should have been sleeping, I couldn't help myself: I read the new chapter before trying once again to sleep. It made my night.

I'm glad to see that Rick still has Altley's back in this whole mess. What with GLaDOS, Caroline, Atlas and P-Body all gunning for him, he could use the extra help. And I do love the Rickley bromance, as you put it. You play them off of each other really well. Rick admitting that he got stuck on the management rail was probably one of my favorite parts of the chapter. I also appreciated the "whirling vortex of blunt force trauma" line, as well as the context in which it was used. The score: Rick 1, Deranged Lunatic 0.

Which, of course, brings me to Caroline. Holy crap. She scares me. The bit where Rick tries to get the elevator started was a bit formulaic, but it worked really well nevertheless, because a.) Caroline is genuinely terrifying and b.) Rick miiight have been holding off for effect. (I had a good laugh at that.) Also, the thought that she and GLaDOS bargained over Altley's fate gave me the shivers.

All told, I liked this chapter a lot. It may have taken you a few tries, but you've managed to work your magic once again. The pacing is great, the characterization is spot-on, and the ending left me wanting more. I can't wait to see how it plays out when Altley and Rick give GLaDOS both barrels, figuratively speaking.

(PS-Congrats on joining the ranks of the employed and on conquering your writer's block! If you haven't already, have a great first day at work, and best of luck in your new position.)

*reading the Caroline scene* I do hope someone picks up that phone, 'cause I f*ucking CAAALLED IIIT!

*reads author note* Oh, I helped inspire it, THAT'S EVEN BETTER!

But yeah, I really don't think ANYONE expected Caroline to save the day, her try to tug-a-war Wheatley away from GLaDOS so she could break him is very much what I had in mind. Anywho, Wheaters has a solid ally now, and GLaDOS is rapidly losing control of her own facilities, the endgame is gonna be stimulating. Congrats on a stellar fic and a new job, keep on doing what you love.

First, congratulations on joining the ranksw of the employeed, no mean feat now-a-days. Hoping you can still update at least semi-regularly. First, as soon as Caroline called GLaDOS out on her stuttering, I had to recheck all of GLaDOS's previous dialogue. I think I only specifically noticed on one specific instance on my intial read through and just chalked it up to a typo. Sorry I doubted you and you can appreciate just how progessively worse her stuttering is getting. Brings to mind her dialogue from Portal 1 when it appears that GLaDOS is trying to convince Chell she is just an automated recording that is just malfuntioning. Now of course, she is actually breaking down "fer reals!".

Thanks again for those unexpected twists. Did not see Rick coming though I do have to wonder about his motivation. Wheatly did threaten him with Lisa Frank and Hello Kitty and did pull him down of his rail. GLaDOS would also certainly be in a position to make Rick pay (hows the incenerator treaing you) if he and Wheatly are captured.

Loved Ricks firearm philosophy and how you hade Wheatley call him out on it. Still at least Rick tries. He really only has his stellar belief in himself to go on. That, just happens to be the only thing Wheatley lacks here. So, I'm looking forward to seeing what kindo of shotgun solution Wheatley comes up with.

And as for GLaDOS stuttering, if she keeps it up, one could almost accuse her of sounding moronic. Wonder what could be wring with her?

OH MY GOD.

WOOOW
ok, that was really, very good. I'm in love with Evil Caroline! The chapters you say you don't like are really the best ones. Just... Wow, I like where this is going. To answer your question, I believe the betrayal was Wheatley's. I really hated him in the end of chapter 11. Ah, well. Though I feel very mildly irrated towards Chell, I think Wheatley could've goften what he wanted if he wasn't so damn rude. *sigh.*
Ah, well. LOVED IT! One of the best fanfictions I've read, right up there with Blue Sky. CHELLEY LOVERS UNITE!
Can't wait for Chap 12.

SOOOOOOO GOOOD
Spot on, bro.

I think you're far too hard on yourself. The first bit of the chapter may not have had the dramatic punch of the ending, but it was well-paced and engaging, with the action building steadily toward the act climax. I quite enjoyed Wheatley's realization that Rick and Craig were playing him. Also, I wouldn't worry about the "sad, mopey drama bullshit" too much, because you do it very well. You seem to have a very good feel for the beats of your story, so the drama never feels forced or unwarranted. It's a natural outgrowth of the story's progression that brings its own forward momentum to the narrative, not just pointless wangst.

The ChellDOS scene was amazing. I kind of had a feeling that Wheatley's plan wasn't going to go off the way he wanted, but I was completely wrong about what the hitch would be. (I had guessed that you were going to spin the whole "Aperture's DOS mainframes drive their AIs crazy" idea into a scene where Wheatley loaded up Chell only to have her turn on him. Boy, was I off base! What you did was way better.) I liked the counterpoint between Wheatley and GLaDOS as well: Wheatley reveals his mean, selfish side while shortly after GLaDOS shows Chell some compassion-although the sincerity of the latter's motives is definitely up for debate. In any case, I can't even begin to speculate on how poor alt!Wheatley is going to get out of this one alive.

In response to your question about the title, I would have to side with everyone else who says that there are multiple betrayals going on here. Rick and Craig betrayed Wheatley by working against him. Chell betrayed Wheatley's hopes that she could help him escape. Wheatley betrayed Chell's trust as well. Considering another definition of the word, both Wheatley and GLaDOS betrayed a part of themselves that they don't often show. This was a very aptly named chapter, in any case.

Excellent job. I'm on the edge of my seat here with that cliffhanger. Looking forward to the next chapter, as always.

*laughs* I like the sad mopey drama bullshit! Once again, you're doing the very Portal-appropriate thing of making me go "oh. Oh, poor Wheatley. SOMEONE GIVE HIM A HUG" one moment and giggling the next. I also really like how you played out the ChellDOS plot in this chapter - it really echoed the original game, and, of course, it just makes everything worse. I can't wait to see what happens next! I'm really worried for Wheatley!

I really like how the chapter title refers to several people - I guess if I had to pick one, it'd be down to Rick for being the most explicit betrayal or Wheatley for being the most emotionally relevant one.

Also really liked how you kept the ludicrousness of the facts going but used them to build a sense of tension - the way the reader also starts working them out as Wheatley does works really well!

Personally, I see the whole thing as one big backstab fiesta. Enjoying the story, I wonder if Wheaters could meet some of the older cores, or even the Oracle Turret and fellow defects.

I hate this cliffhanger, cause it was at such a nasty point! I want know what happens now! Love the chapter though, although I do agree that everything from ChellDOS waking up onward was a bit better than the rest, but I'm putting that down to the rest being stuff that had to be written for continuity, and not bad writing. Your writing is very good, not too descriptive, for my taste, and I think your shell shock reaction for Wheatley was fine. Everyone reacts differently, and I found it a believable reaction for his character.
For the chapter title...I would initially go for Wheatley, but that's because it reminds me of the 'core transfer-betrayal' in the portal 2 game. Thinking more on it, with relation to your story, I think it could be the fact sphere/Craig since he betrayed Wheatley.
Please try to bring the next chapter out quicker, cause that cliffhanger is so horrible it would be considered torture postponing your next chapter as long as you did this one! ;)

Is that the prototype chassis from the first DLC mission? Nice. I assumed that she had the bots gut the thing after they shook out the crow nest, but her trying to take control of the old network works better. I don't get why ChellDOS was suicidal, I have guesses, but hope you clarify. Building a new ID core seems rather OOC for GLaDOS: she hates having to deal with Wheatley, and what can she do to a core that she can't already do to a human? My "the universe is experimenting to see how much shit it can bury the hero under" senses are anticipating a reemergence of psycho Caroline in the next chapter, possibly pulling a "nobody puts you through hell but ME" moment and dragging Wheatley away and back square "Two psychotic versions of the same evil harpy are racing each other for my blood." But after making Chell let GlaDOS kill her, I can't even hope to guess your plans with certainty. This has been a thrill ride, shocking turn after insane twist, and I'm looking anxiously forward to the next part.

You have nothing to apologize for! This was dense and crammed full of well…everything. Action, imagery, drama, and an emotional roller coaster that would put Kingda Ka at Six Flags to shame. And what is even more striking is that you cut your original work down to this! Any chance we could see the unabridged edition? As for your dislikes of this chapter, I guess I can understand. I don’t see any major problems, but from your end, it must be frustrating to try to build a well-balanced and self-supporting story and yet still feel like you had to cut corners to get it to where you want to go. I admit, the revelation that Wheatleys extended escape (including the events after he removes Atlas and P-Bodies cores) was all part of some master plan of GlaDOS to not only recapture Caroline, but to give her complete control of Aperture was a bit hard to believe. No human would ever come up with so convoluted a plan because there is too much that could go wrong and you’d need multiple backup plans in case things didn’t go the way anticipate them. However we are dealing with a supercomputer that can think and evaluate more scenarios in a minute than your average person could manage in two lifetimes. GLaDOS probably had thousands of contingency plans worked out base on what Wheatley’s actions were, enabling her to keep 10 steps ahead of him. So maybe GLaDOS did just mean to use Wheatley to catch Caroline but when Wheatley proved more resilient than she reckoned, she just took advantage of the situation and modified her plans. Did she originally intend for Rick to be captured or was the original plan for him to just ride the management rail while leading Wheatley on a merry chase to room 44-44? Either way GLaDOS got him there to “discover” the Fact Core and where the backup server was located. And the convenience with which Wheatley blunders into the backup server room makes all the more sense when you realize that Atlas and P-Body had herded him there the entire time. GLaDOS pulls off a brilliant Mastroviska. Maybe one of her prorammers was Russian. Wheatley is so concerned that her designs are about recapturing him that he can’t fathom what else she might be up to. The only part that seems chancy is when Wheatley just happens to full out of the duct at the right spot to fall into the shoot to take him to the server room? Blind luck, or was GLaDOS somehow responsible for that also? She does have nanobots at her disposal so weakening the ventilation duct at just the right location and then moving the chute underneath to catch him would make sense. Considering her resources and processing power, the only way to beat GLaDOS is to deny her the information she needs to plan for your behavior. Thanks to Rick and Fact, GLaDOS has informers watching Wheatley at every step of the way. It also doesn’t help him that he reveals so much about himself through his taunts of her. In retrospect, Chell’s vow of silence throughout Portal makes for quite an effective strategy in limiting GLaDOS’s ability to strategize against her.

At the end, I really wanted Wheatley to prove he was better than his counterpart and just delete Chell. Yet in light of the horror show he’s just been through, I can’t see how Wheatley could be expected to just toss away what he’d built all of his hopes on. So now you leave him, and us, teetering on the edge of the abyss. Does GLaDOS shove him into a core? Given that we’ve all been rooting for him all along, I hope not but one could just as easily point out that Wheatley isn’t really in a position to resist and he’s had plenty of “daring escapes” already. I have an idea where you might go with this but I’ll let you surprise us.
As for who Betrayal “refers” to, it’s not immediately obvious. Is Wheatley betraying ChellDOS? He likely thinks that bringing her back is what she would wants. When he know otherwise, then sure, acting against her wishes after ChellDOS earlier saved his life would be a betrayal. Do the cores betray him? Not likely since their loyalty was never really in doubt. If anything, Wheatley is mentally exhausted which leads to him taking stupid chances. Letting Rick go? Keeping Fact with him? Not wondering why after repeatedly glimpsing the pursuing robots that he was so able to keep evading them on a bad leg? If anything, Wheatley betrays himself by clinging to rash hopes and unrealistic goals instead of thinking things through. After so much insistence that he is not a moron, Wheatley’ (while certainly near the limit of his endurance) manages to fall quite nicely into GLaDOS’a trap. She practically tells him something is up by playing back his counterparts “puppet reference.” It never even occurs to him why GLaDOS is sharing this particular quote with him. You can almost hear her thinking “Dance my little puppet! Dance!”
Thanks again for a great chapter!

Ow. Ow. Ow. Ooooow. That chapter hurt. That chapter hurt a whole freaking lot. Poor ChellDOS. Poor Wheatley. I wish I had more to say, but all I can think of is incoherent praise and I've already done plenty of that.

And don't worry, I ADORE long chapters. :) Looking forward to seeing how this is resolved! You've played with pretty much all of my expectations so far, and I look forward to seeing what you do next.

Aaaaah, I really enjoyed this! Your dialogue is great, especially Wheatley and GlaDOS, and I also really like the feel of the fic - you really get across how horrific Wheatley's situation is without making it super-dark. It took me a while to get who everyone was and what was going on, but I really like now how different incarnations are showing up and the choices you've made.

I think you're too hard on yourself - I liked both the fluff and the macabre-ness in the relevant chapters! I think you've got a nice balance of angsty feelings and humour which really suits the fandom. Looking forward to reading more!

Good concept, but the reality change just bugs me to much, just thought I'd let you know that it looks well done before I hit the back button.