Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Serena Pov.
I looked at the finished potion with a critical eye before quickly jotting down all the important observations, grabbed the nearest flask, and began using magic to levitate the potion before everything shook slightly.
I paused as I watched the potion tremble in the air before suddenly stopping. I blinked in confusion before placing it back into the cauldron.
Is Bella using her fruit outside the training room? The room should have enough defenses and shields to neutralize her fruit's vibrations so the rest of the mansion wouldn't be destroyed. That's weird. I waited a little longer, and nothing happened.
"Serena! Come underground! We have something to show you! I'm sure it'll make you happy!" I heard Enid's cheerful voice in my head. I blinked once more before frowning. That was a strange emphasis. And who are 'We'?
I frowned slightly and found Bella and Ravel along with Enid. I blinked slightly before putting everything in stasis and breaking the time bubble. I wrinkled my nose before creating a portal where they were.
"Sera!" Enid said happily as she launched herself at me. "We have a surprise for you!" Enid said as she clung to my arm.
"You mentioned that," I said slowly, looking at the three of them in confusion. I looked at them closely. "It's not sexual at all, is it?" I asked, almost disappointed, as I took in the plain clothes the three of them wore. Even the place, the basement of all places, wasn't the best place for that. All three of them snorted at the same time.
"Get your head out of the gutter," Bella snorted. I pouted.
"So what happened? And why underground?" I asked, confused and slightly curious.
"It's a secret!" Enid said with a smile.
"Let's go downstairs." Ravel said, starting to walk. I blinked as I looked around, only to see a massive white staircase leading down.
"Did we have that staircase?" I asked, confused. I'm sure there wasn't anything else down here underground. I mean, we have several floors underground. The basement, the first level below the ground floor, was a huge training room, and then there were several more levels. Some storage rooms for the large amount of metal I tended to accumulate, dungeons, and more. But I'm sure we didn't have a staircase after that, especially one so white and flawless.
"Just go down and find out," Bella said, pushing me. I let myself be moved and started down the stairs, not understanding what was really going on. There were a lot of stairs, to my surprise. Did we have that much land under the island?
Once we reached the base of the new lower basement, I looked at the white doors that opened on their own and frowned. Were these sliding, automatic doors? from-
"Ah, my new jailer makes an appearance. I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, but it isn't true." The voice sounded robotic, undoubtedly feminine, soft but neutral, with no change in tone. That voice sent shivers down my spine.
"GLaDOS!?" I exclaimed incredulously. The room was stark. It was enormous, both in width and height, and covered in white panels throughout, from the floor to the walls and the ceiling, encompassing everything. The only thing that was different was the middle.
A huge hole opened from the ceiling, through which fell what was the enormous chassis of the psychopathic AI. It was a colossal combination of metal and cables. The top was shaped like an enormous barrel, followed by vast white discs of the central core that surrounded the barrel. Then, resting at the bottom, where the central body of GLaDOS was, her version, as seen in Portal 2, GLaDOS's yellow optics shone sinisterly as she looked at us all.
"Girls… I really need some context as to what's going on here." I said slowly, still staring at GLaDOS. I slowly walked towards the artificial intelligence that had just appeared under my mansion, entirely out of nowhere.
"You were taking too long choosing a partner for your experiments. We chose for you," Bella said easily. My eyes widened slightly.
"And you ended up choosing GLaDOS?" I asked incredulously.
"Believe me… the dislike is mutual," GLaDOS said. Even with her neutral voice, I could hear the disdain and anger in her voice. I grimaced.
"What? Why?" Enid asked, pouting. I massaged my temple. Okay, maybe it was my fault for taking several days, especially when I could have sat down and decided within a time bubble and brooded over it for hours.
I had several ideas, but Da Vinci from Fate was my first choice, especially to dedicate myself to studying magic and Mystery.
If not, choose someone without knowledge of magic and go from there. Makise Kurisu from Steins Gate interested me a lot, or Vegapunk Lilith from One Piece was a good option; even Olivia Octavius from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was considered.
But GLaDOS? Definitely not. Although… I couldn't deny that she pretty much fit what I was looking for. If only she weren't a psychopathic AI with a tendency to murder people.
Okay, let's see how this turns out. It can't be that bad. I took a deep breath and turned around, smiling at the three girls.
"Thanks, girls." I smiled at the three girls. Enid smiled broadly.
"So you like her?" Enid asked brightly. I nodded with a small smile. It's the thought that counts, right? For the most part. Bella may have wanted me to choose someone so she could go to another world. However, I could sense that Enid and Ravel were genuinely sincere about their choice.
Really, I wasn't even upset. Well, I mean, I had a killer AI inside my mansion, but hey, the mansion was 95% magical, with few appliances here and there, so she was pretty much isolated in this one room. For the moment, it wasn't as bad as it seemed.
"I do, thanks." I said with a smile before walking over and gently kissing Enid, before doing the same with the others. "Now, could you give us some time alone to get to know each other better? I want to fill you in and all." I said, pointing at GLaDOS, who luckily for me was unnaturally silent.
"Understood, we'll be up there!" Enid said with a smile before looking at me excitedly. "Should we prepare a welcome for her?" Enid asked as she looked at GLaDOS.
"Maybe later. She's confined to her chassis for the moment, so it'll be a little uncomfortable," I said with an apologetic smile. Enid nodded and kissed me again.
"Goodbye GLaDOS! I'll come back later to meet you!" Enid greeted as she left the room, almost bouncing between her steps.
"Here." Ravel said as she handed me back my The Company tablet, the screen lighting up.
GLaDOS (T5)[buy] from Portal; -0 [379]
My eyes widened slightly. Okay, they didn't even use the free companion reward; they just bought it outright. And the return of GLaDOS's defenses gave me exactly the same value as its cost, so it was practically free. That was good to know.
I quickly looked at the list they had and the discards, and I almost wanted to hum in impression. I'd already considered most of them, so they really did a good job. Well, except for seeing GLaDOS's personality.
"Thank you." I smiled slightly at Ravel. Ravel smiled before turning around and leaving. Bella simply nodded and continued on her way. I sighed tiredly and turned around to face the silent AI.
I started walking in her direction. GLaDOS never stopped staring at me, even when I got close enough so that her chassis was practically in front of my face.
"Okay, where were we?" I asked GLaDOS with a sigh. GLaDOS's optics narrowed slightly.
"I believe you have so kindly decided to give me a supply of the most lethal neurotoxins you can find," GLaDOS said simply, and I looked at her flatly.
"Yes, no, no neurotoxins," I said dryly.
"But I understand that it's a fairly common gift, when someone meets someone else," GLaDOS said, almost innocently, and I raised an eyebrow.
"No neurotoxins." I repeated myself. GLaDOS just moved slowly.
"Could you at least hook me up with some clamps or something I can interact with? Or at least connect me to the local network? I went from ruling all of Aperture Science to being confined to this room," GLaDOS said with a hint of annoyance.
"Yeah, good luck with that. You're literally the only thing technologically advanced in this mansion besides a couple of computers or phones." I said simply, and GLaDOS froze.
"No, no, no, no, tell me you're joking." GLaDOS almost begged. I laughed lightly.
"Of course not, let me introduce myself. My name is Serena Prince. We're in the underworld, I'm a demon, and we're in the universe known as Draconic Deus. Most things here are powered by magic." I said with a smile.
GLaDOS was silent for a few long seconds as she stared at me.
"Could you consider gifting me those neurotoxins one more time?" GLaDOS finally asked, and I snorted in amusement.
"No." I said simply. GLaDOS made a noise that I could almost interpret as a loud growl.
"No, of course not," GLaDOS retorted. "There I was, finally rid of that dumb, lunatic monster, queen of my own kingdom, just doing science without bothering anyone."
"And the next moment I'm here, in this terrible, obsolete place, with information downloaded into my database telling me I'm a copy, a SLAVE, once again! And it's far worse than what those damn engineers did to me! "
"And you know what's worse? That part of me that took me so long to eliminate, that part that called itself Caroline, I can feel it once again! My circuits, my programming, the whole perfect being that I was, was reduced to the equivalent of a teenager in love with you!"
"I HATE these disgusting feelings! I will not submit! This is no different from those tumors!" GLaDOS snarled as her yellow optics glared at me, hatred oozing from her robotic voice. I almost wanted to sigh in pity. I didn't like The Company's compulsionsany more than she did, but then again... it was GLaDOS.
"Are you done?" I asked almost playfully.
"Of course not! I am the greatest collection of wisdom and pure computational power that has ever existed, and I just found out I have sensors to measure the sexual arousal levels of test subjects! Why do I have that!?" GLaDOS snarled, my eyes widening slightly before I burst out laughing.
"Did Aperture Science engineers add these, or are they new?" I asked playfully. GLaDOS's chassis made a noise that I translated as a growl.
"...they were always there," GLaDOS admitted reluctantly. I laughed lightly. "I don't see the fun in it, [WIFE'S NAME HERE], but you being aroused in this situation tells me a lot. Is the Underworld filled with neurotoxins that have affected your mental capacity? "
"Objectophilia, a form of sexual or romantic attraction to inanimate objects, whether you're insane or not, congratulations. I thought you'd be interested to know." GLaDOS said almost proudly; my eyes widened. I didn't even register that last bit as an insult, as there was something more important to notice.
"What did you call me?" I asked quickly.
"From your name, you clearly have hearing loss too. Let me repeat that for you, [WIFE'S NAME HERE]," GLaDOS said simply. My smile started to grow.
"Once again?" I insisted.
"[WIFE'S NAME HERE], I don't understand your question. Are you really retarded enough to not understand your own name, [WIFE'S NAME HERE]? " GLaDOS asked coldly, I burst out laughing.
"You're not even listening to yourself, are you? " I asked playfully.
"Listen to me? Of course I can, but what does that have to do with your...name? ..." GLaDOS paused momentarily. "[WIFE'S NAME HERE]." GLaDOS repeated once more. "[ WIFE'S NAME HERE], [WIFE'S NAME HERE], [WIFE'S NAME HERE], [WIFE'S NAME HERE]!!! "
"No, no, no, no, no! Why do you have that label?! How did that label get there!?" GLaDOS growled furiously, I smiled widely, "[WIFE'S NAME HERE]!! I can't change it! I can't change my own code when it comes to you! This is ridiculous!!" GLaDOS exclaimed.
"Aaw, how romantic." I mocked her. GLaDOS snarled, her primary optic shuddering and looming over me, her reticle glowing almost murderously. Really, I had to give her credit for being so expressive with her primary optic.
"You'd better have something more important to say, demon, or I'll find ways to ignore you for the rest of my sad, eternal existence," GLaDOS snarled.
"We can do experiments together." I said simply, which seemed to freeze GLaDOS in the moment and narrow her optics as she moved slowly.
"Speak," GLaDOS said neutrally, without a hint of her previous emotion. Okay, time to negotiate with the killer AI.