Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Serena Pov.
Pacifica Serenity Bible Church looked like a typical church from the outside, and I guess that was the point: to provide an unidentifiable front for the Voodoo Boys' hideout.
A hideout leading to the abandoned tunnel formerly used by the transcontinental Maglev system, a project that was abandoned after the Fourth Corporate War due to the economic downturn.
Now, this section of the tunnel was being used as the Voodoo Boys' base, and it was now where GLaDOS and I were. I was sitting in one of Netrunning's chairs as I watched GLaDOS practically bounce up and down in excitement as she played with everything she found around her.
She had wanted to take absolutely everything and place it inside our Penthouse, but we definitely didn't have the space, so she was separating the essentials to take and then would leave the rest here, or we would send it to storage or to our mansion in DxD.
It was fortunate that Structural Graph was able to analyze and review the plans for the electromagnetic levitation train that was here; otherwise, she would have taken it too.
I looked to my side and saw the piled-up bodies of the Voodoo Boys. There were a dozen unconscious bodies piled up waiting for GLaDOS to finish so they could begin the memory transfer. Apparently, there was something she wanted to try before all the netrunners' memories were erased.
The fight was… easy, almost disappointing. I mean, the Voodoo Boys were a group dedicated to netrunning, with a few fighters like Placide. Still, the group's specialty was definitely attacking you through the net, but against a full-fledged organic? It was utterly useless.
The Maelstroms and the Animals put up more of a fight, and that was saying something. All of the Voodoo Boys' fighters, including Placide, had been killed. Their bodies reduced to ash—or, well, just flesh. Cyberware was scattered around, so maybe GLaDOS wanted to get something out of them.
I had gotten lucky and was able to easily trap Mama Brigitte, Placide, and a dozen Netrunners inside the tunnel along with dozens of guards. Still, I noticed that some members of the Voodoo Boys were missing, so I went to Batty's Hotel, where luckily I found the rest of them, as well as Ti Neptune.
I was almost tempted to go look for Slider with the Voodoo Boys subgroup inside Dogtown. If I remembered correctly, they should be inside Eventide Resort & Spa, but for the moment, I held back; we already had enough netrunners to steal their memories.
"Are you done?" I asked playfully as GLaDOS approached with a satisfied smile.
"For now. Now, wake up the leader of this group." GLaDOS ordered, and I raised an eyebrow.
"Do you need to ask her something?" I asked curiously, GLaDOS snorted.
"Of course not, I want her to try to attack me through the net." GLaDOS said immediately, and I frowned immediately.
"Wait, attack you? Why do you want me to do that?" I asked, confused. GLaDOS grimaced.
"I told you, I was curious about Blackwall-"
"Tell me you didn't get close to Blackwall and the rebel AIs." I interrupted her immediately, GLaDOS rolling her eyes.
"Of course not, but I did my research." GLaDOS said simply, I sighed in relief.
"Fine, fine, fine, so... what did you find out?" I asked simply, GLaDOS grimaced again.
"As I was saying, I've done a lot of research on Blackwall and the rogue AIs and… they might actually be a problem for me." GLaDOS admitted, almost sounding as if it physically hurt her to say those words, and I smiled widely.
"Oh? Are you admitting that you're not the best, GLaDOS?" I asked playfully, GLaDOS glared at me, which really doesn't work well with that face and body, and I just smiled at her even more.
"I didn't admit to anything. I'm still GLaDOS, and I'll be the best. But… yes, Blackwall and the old Grid AIs could cause me problems. They could even devour my code with ease." GLaDOS said with a grimace. "And I got curious to know what these… Netrunners were capable of. They research the Blackwall and the AIs frequently, so they should be able to defend themselves against the AIs." GLaDOS said. I hummed lightly.
"Very well." I said simply, easily attracting Brigitte, a Renervate, and an Imperio, who later stood before me with her gaze unfocused, waiting for orders. "Are you ready?" I asked GLaDOS for direction.
"Yes, tell her to attack with all her might." GLaDOS said without hesitation. I grimaced.
"I hope you know what you're doing." I said simply, GLaDOS rolled her eyes, raised her hand, and began to create what appeared to be a personality core.
"Here, a backup copy of myself, satisfied?" GLaDOS asked mockingly. I looked at her in surprise.
"I... yes, a lot. I'm less worried about you now," I said honestly, with a calmer smile. GLaDOS seemed to stumble and looked at me in confusion, almost as if my being worried about her was a ridiculous concept. I simply took the personality core and stored it in Pocket Space.
"Just… start, I'm curious to know what an attack from a netrunner from this world is like." GLaDOS said, changing the subject. I nodded and looked at Brigitte.
"Use all your skills and strength to attack GLaDOS through the Net, try to incapacitate her in every way possible." I ordered Brigitte, who just nodded and launched into the attack. I could see her eyes glow as she walked away, dropped into a tub full of ice, and placed a cable on the back of her neck.
The next thing I saw was… GLaDOS stared at Brigitte as she spasmed slightly every few seconds. The only change was GLaDOS's frown, which was getting deeper and deeper.
"Okay, stop." GLaDOS finally said, and I ordered Brigitte to stop. Luckily, she was able to receive orders while still connected, so she stopped and disconnected. I looked at GLaDOS curiously, but she just looked at me with a frown. "That was... revealing." GLaDOS said slowly.
"In what way? Did everything go well?" I asked curiously, and she nodded slowly.
"I must admit… I underestimated what a competent netrunner could do…" GLaDOS admitted with a grimace. "I have superior processing power, but… It's true that I never had to attack or defend myself against other people while I was in Aperture, at least not in a 'digital world'. It was weird fighting through my code."
"She… was strong, digitally speaking; she almost encapsulated and trapped me several times, she had trap after trap prepared that even confused me a few times, firewalls and ICE that took me time to get through, gave her enough time to attack me from other sides."
"The only reason I didn't make it was because of this body. Its processing power and ability to assimilate processes and adapt are ridiculous. If I were in my old chassis… I would have lost." GLaDOS said almost solemnly.
I hummed softly as I considered this. That… was good. I mean, GLaDOS had lived most of her life as the sole undisputed queen of Aperture Science, and that had generated a superiority complex bigger than her Enrichment Center.
Even her fight against Chell simply took place in the 'physical' world, and there were a lot of coincidences and luck that led to Chell beating her, and well, a lot of skill and stubbornness on Chell's part. You had to give Chell credit; she really deserved it.
But still, nothing ever directly threatened her code. Even when her chassis was impersonated by Wheatley, her code was never directly compromised. It was a nice reality check to show her that she wasn't invincible, even as a code, where she should excel as an AI.
"So? Can I order them all to store their memories now?" I asked simply, GLaDOS just hummed lightly.
"Yes… But grab one of the less important members and make him keep his memories, then I'll absorb them and fight Brigitte again in the Grid." GLaDOS said simply.
"Wait, do you want to keep fighting?" asked GLaDOS. GLaDOS looked at me seriously.
"Of course I do. I have to learn to defend my code. Right now, it's the most vulnerable part of me. If even one person in this world could corner me that much, my code will be in danger in the higher worlds." GLaDOS said, almost in a defiant growl.
"I'm really impressed, GLaDOS." I said honestly, GLaDOS just snorted, but smiled slightly.
"As you should know, now, the memories, I want to see the difference in tactics and skill if I have knowledge of how the netrunners of this world attack and defend." GLaDOS said simply, I nodded slightly.
Just as GLaDOS had requested, I grabbed one of the netrunners at random and forced him to store his memories in a coppermind under a time bubble, then let GLaDOS absorb them under another bubble.
So, the confrontation with Brigitte happened again; I must say… it wasn't exciting at all to watch a fight between netrunners from afar. I'm sure there was a lot going on within the network and the codes, but simply watching them stare at each other wasn't particularly exciting.
But GLaDOS seemed more than determined to learn how to defend herself, so I allowed it and kept an eye on her the whole time. GLaDOS seemed satisfied as time went on, until she started demanding that I start waking up more Voodoo Boys to try to attack her as a group.
After nearly two hours, GLaDOS seemed completely satisfied, and the dozen Voodoo Boys members who were attacking suffered some sort of short circuit before being rendered unconscious.
"I hope they're not dead." I said simply, GLaDOS just started preening herself as she strutted around the place.
"Don't worry, they're just unconscious," GLaDOS chirped.
"It seems your experiment ended in a good result?" I asked curiously, and GLaDOS nodded happily.
" Yeah, I have to admit I thought Quickhacks and Daemons were completely useless, since I could do all of that completely manually without any problem, but it turns out they're pretty cool. Having pre-compiled programs designed to exploit specific vulnerabilities within a system is pretty useful."
"My processing power is so high that I can load hundreds of them without any problem and simultaneously attack all the vulnerabilities or divert their attention to different points and then ignore them while I take care of attacking the central point."
"Even the most advanced ICE considered it… not useless, certainly, but not valuable enough to spend any extra time preparing it, once again, I didn't see the point in something I could already do directly, but having a permanent shield up, even if it consumes a very minuscule portion of my processing, turned out to be something truly valuable." GLaDOS said excitedly.
I grimaced; that sounded horrible to any human netrunner, and I almost felt sorry for the Voodoo Boys who served as guinea pigs to evolve GLaDOS.
"That sounds really good, I'm happy for you." I said honestly, GLaDOS just smiled widely.
"Good, now you can wake them up again and order them to save their memories. I only need Brigitte's. I want to retain all the knowledge I have about Blackwall; it will help me create a better ICE. You can keep all the others." GLaDOS said happily, I sighed, but did what GLaDOS asked me to.
In no time, I had a dozen copper minds filled with the memories and abilities of netrunners, and a dozen Haitians with no memories left in their heads. After clapping a few times, there were ashes along with cyberware scattered across the floor.
GLaDOS stepped forward and gathered everything that belonged to Bri, placing it inside the Pocket. Then, she grabbed the Coppermind with Brigitte's memories and sealed herself in a time bubble.
I looked at the remaining copper spheres before sighing. All right, let's get this over with. I also grabbed the one with Doc's memories and created a time bubble before I began absorbing the memories.
Absorbing other people's memories was... confusing. It was like reliving all of that person's memories as I began to draw on their stored memories. I would have had to slow down the speed at which I drew memories so as not to get confused if I wasn't so good at Occlumency.
It was terribly easy, though mentally exhausting, to sort out and unpack all the memories properly; it would have been almost instantaneous if I had simply thrown them to the back of my mind, but I had to absorb the knowledge, so I had to put in some extra time for it.
It was also beneficial that I had the ability to understand all the languages, as most of the Voodoo Boys' memoirs were in Haitian Creole and other languages, so I was able to understand them completely.
After… I have no idea how long it took, but I had finished absorbing the memories of Doc, Ti Neptune, and three other Netrunners before I decided to stop. After the third Netrunner I absorbed, I realized that absorbing any more was completely useless; they all tasted exactly the same.
The only subtle differences were the methods and a few other minor personal quirks, which didn't help me at all, and it was a waste of time absorbing the rest, so I've thrown them into Pocket Space for now.
I broke the time bubble just in time to see GLaDOS do the same.
"Good! Do you want to test your new skills?" GLaDOS asked almost excitedly, and I rolled my eyes in amusement.
"I don't even have a neural port; it's impossible." I said dryly, GLaDOS just raised her hand and began creating something new, quickly creating what appeared to be a... laptop? No, a physical cyberdeck, I almost blinked.
"A cyberdeck? I'm sure there are several of them around." I said curiously, GLaDOS just snorted as she handed me the cyberdeck.
"That was absolutely disrespectful. This is far superior to any cyberdeck of its age. I have the blueprints for my body stored in my memory data, so I was able to replicate a portion of my processing power. This is the finest cyberdeck you'll ever find in this world." GLaDOS said simply, and I hummed softly.
I took the cyberdeck and looked at it for a few seconds. It was approximately 25x15 centimeters; its shape was quite stylized and completely white, the only thing that came to mind to describe it was that it was very… Aperture.
The only odd thing was that it didn't have the Aperture Science logo anywhere; instead, there was a small heart scratched into one of the corners of the top of the cyberdeck. I blinked at it and looked at GLaDOS, confused. She seemed completely smug about the result, puffing out her chest and jutting her chin.
"This is a Companion Cyberdeck, your new best friend. Please, it's vitally important that you take good care of it. I should also remind you that the Companion Cyberdeck will never threaten to kill you, but it does have feelings."
"Remember to take care of it, or the Companion Cyberdeck might become depressed and ultimately delete its own code as a form of euthanasia. And I must remind you that the euthanasia process is notoriously painful." GLaDOS's eyes glittered with amusement.
I froze in place and moaned loudly.
"For the love of- GLaDOS, tell me you didn't put any AI of any kind into this thing." I almost begged as I lifted the Cyberdeck. Besides, isn't self-euthanasia just suicide?!
GLaDOS's eyes sparkled with amusement, but she didn't say anything. I just sighed and opened the Cyberdeck.
The cyberdeck powered up easily, and I saw a cascade of data and code. I almost grimaced at being able to understand everything I was seeing. With a sigh, I began to manipulate it before stopping.
With a flex of my Reality Marble, a perfect copy of the Perfector gloves appeared on my hand; then, my fingers began to move at an enormous speed on the keyboard.
I quickly noticed that there was, in fact, no rudimentary AI on the Cyberdeck, which only made me glare at GLaDOS, who was giggling slightly. I sighed softly before continuing to scan the Cyberdeck.
"Aperture OS?" I asked playfully, GLaDOS strutted.
"Aperture Operating System, the best operating system for Cyberdecks." GLaDOS said arrogantly, I laughed lightly. Although GLaDOS had a point, it took me a while to understand since it was different from the Operating System the Voodoo Boys used, but I could certainly see some improvements.
The cyberdeck already had several Quickhacks and Daemons loaded, a relatively thick ICE, and an impressive amount of RAM to work with. I'm sure any netrunner who saw this cyberdeck would drool and sell their souls just to get their hands on it.
It seemed to have an... unlimited amount of battery life? I curiously turned the Cyberdeck around as I scanned it and quickly realized it had the same magic absorption system as GLaDOS's body, so it was functionally inexhaustible.
I blinked for a few seconds before grimacing. Trace On, just as I expected, the damn item counted as a magic item and was immediately saved into my Reality Marble. I almost wanted to throw up at that simple fact.
"Don't be a child." GLaDOS complained, and I rolled my eyes before taking a deep breath. I'd better stop thinking about it and get used to it quickly.
"Thank you for the gift, I really appreciate it, I'll take care of it." I finally said with a small smile, after all, even if I didn't like technology, it was still a gift from GLaDOS. GLaDOS seemed to hear my thoughts and blushed slightly.
"Okay, then try attacking me!" GLaDOS chirped as she changed the subject. I snorted as I stood up.
"Actually… I was planning on testing it against other people… we still have to go find the Chimera, and I'm sure it will be full of people protecting it." I said, amusedly, GLaDOS's eyes sparkled.
"All right, let's go!" GLaDOS chirped. I laughed lightly.
In no time, we were in front of the Dogtown Gate, the BARGHEST-controlled wall in front of EBM Petrochem Stadium. We were both sitting on top of a building. Aria had split in two and was covering us both while making us invisible.
"So… whoever takes down the most BARGHESTs, non-lethally, wins?" I asked playfully as I grabbed my new Cyberdeck.
"Exactly, I'll limit all my processing to match the cyberdeck I just gave you, to make it fairer!! So don't let me down!" GLaDOS said happily. I laughed lightly. After a few seconds, my fingers began to move at an incredible speed as I could feel GLaDOS acting.
Even though I still had a slight disadvantage of not having any neural cyberware to aid me, between GLaDOS's futuristic cyberdeck and the Perfector gloves, my hacking speed was abysmally enormous.
The BARGHESTs began to fall rapidly as panic began to set in. I could see several people start to scream and run away, but none of us flinched; instead, we continued to attack virtually every soldier on the wall.
I could feel several netrunners trying to locate me, but there was one thing the Voodoo Boys were specialists in, and that was attacking other netrunners. After all, they lived fighting NetWatch, so I was able to get rid of them easily and avoid being tracked.
After wiping out dozens of BARGHEST soldiers, we moved to Founding Our Future Expo, an exhibition hall. As expected, the place was being used as storage by the BARGHEST, so the place was completely surrounded.
Still, between GLaDOS and me, we made our way through the game, hacking away at every soldier who came within range. I have to say, after the first few hacks, once I got used to it, it almost felt like an interactive game.
There were some soldiers who had pretty strong ICE, but it seems that GLaDOS had actually gained enough experience with the Voodoo Boys, so none of them really were a problem.
It was pretty entertaining from that point on. Once all the BARGHESTs were unconscious, we started looting everything around us that GLaDOS found interesting.
"Oh… you're so beautiful." GLaDOS said, completely entranced as she looked at the completely uncovered Militech Chimera. I snorted in amusement. "Jealousy doesn't suit you, [Insert Wife's Name Here.]" GLaDOS mocked, and I rolled my eyes with a slight smile.
"Let's move this before more soldiers arrive," I said simply.
"Why? You already admitted defeat? I incapacitated twice as many as you." GLaDOS mocked, and I just raised an eyebrow in her direction.
"Losing to an AI at hacking is absolutely no problem," I said simply. GLaDOS scoffed.
"Let's move this cutie," GLaDOS said simply as she gently ran her fingers over the Chimera. I scoffed as I sighed. Now... where could I put a 10-meter-long and 4-meter-tall creature that weighed dozens of tons?
A few issues aside… today was a good first day, a long first day.