A/N: Hello, everyone! This is just a short (funny?) fic that takes place decades after the events of Portal 2. Chell returned to Aperature and ended up pursuing a relationship with our favorite AI. (It's a long story, one I hope I'll get around to writing at some point.) The two adopted a young orphaned girl who had no other place to go. She isn't a human/AI hybrid or anything, but with such extraordinary parents, she's still pretty exceptional. At the moment, Chell is away and her daughter (now a teenager) is left with GLaDOS. [Insert Name Here] is just a placeholder. Anyway, enjoy!
The two had been at it for almost half an hour, voices echoing off the white walls of GLaDOS's chamber. Neither of them really remembered how the argument had started, only that a challenge had been issued and received with the civility one would expect from a bored teenager (or an AI with a very high opinion of herself).
It was all terribly predictable. The mother and daughter verbally sparred whenever given the chance, followed by apologies and affection once their blood (or oil) cooled. This, of course, led to GLaDOS's current predicament. She'd run out of comebacks.
Seething, GLaDOS leaned as close to the teenager as she could and shot out the only response she could think of. "Well... you're adopted!"
It wasn't exactly a secret, but they'd never addressed it before, so... shock value?
"No shit, Sherlock!"
Apparently not. And that was simply no way to talk to one's mother.
"[Insert name here], language!"
"Oh, come on! Everyone else cusses. That's not even a bad one."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was unaware that humans have hive minds. I'll be sure to consider this while you spend the rest of the month in your room."
"This is so unfair!"
"Do you know what else is unfair? The fact that I have to deal with this while Chell galivants around on the surface."
"UGH!"
"My sentiments exactly."
"Whatever. You know that I'm just going to escape again, so why don't we skip the punishment and get to the bribe?"
If GLaDOS had a mouth, she would've frowned. As it was, she narrowed her optic at her daughter as she tried to find a solution. The girl in question looked her in the eye nonchalantly, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one side.
'When did she go from asking for a ride on my chassis to open rebellion?' she wondered before focusing on more pressing matters: punishment.
The girl had a point. Every time GLaDOS had tried to ground [Insert name here], she had unhooked a panel or hacked the door to get out. The AI cursed herself for teaching her daughter coding. It had seemed like a fun bonding activity at the time, and she'd never imagined it would backfire so spectacularly. 'Next time, we'll just play twenty questions or some other infuriatingly boring human game. A puzzle, perhaps? Or, we could try some experiments over in the biology lab. It might be nice to run a few... wait a minute.'
GLaDOS had been shifting from side to side restlessly, but she stopped as a wonderfully horrible idea came to her mind. 'Chell is going to kill me.' GLaDOS took another look at her daughter's thoroughly unapologetic pose and made her decision.
"[Insert name here]. How would you like to do a little testing?" The AI could barely stop herself from chuckling evilly as her daughter's eyes lit up. [Insert name here] had always loved experiments and puzzles; it was another thing they'd bonded over.
"What kind of testing?"
"Mom, this is NOT FUNNY!"
"Oh, I think it is. In fact, it's hilarious. Look at you, flying through the air, crashing through turrets and cubes with ease. Oh, and you even managed to put a human-sized dent in that panel. Congratulations."
GLaDOS had to admit her newest test subject was doing a good job. She was moving through the test chambers almost as quickly as Chell. Still, the young girl was more used to taking tests than being in a test. She'd panic when things didn't go her way, and she'd even screamed in fright a few times, unlike Chell.
"Mom, what's with the blue jello?"
"DON'T YOU DARE EAT THAT!"
"Okay, okay! Yeash."
Luckily, [Insert name here] was still talking, not begging or pleading. That meant she wasn't too scared. It also meant that maybe Chell would show some mercy when she found out. Maybe.
"THIS IS SO FUN! IT'S LIKE A BOUNCY HOUSE, BUT BETTER!"
'And suddenly, my chances are looking pretty good,' GLaDOS thought smugly.
"Cool! There's orange jello, too! I wonder wh-" GLaDOS flinched as her daughter ran onto the propulsion gel and was shot full speed at the nearest wall. "Oww."
The AI decided this had gone on long enough. It was starting to become dangerous, and she wouldn't be able forgive herself if something bad happened. "[Insert name here], I think you've had enough for one day. Just remember what happens when you don't follow the rules."
"Wait, so I can come down here any time I want, and all I have to do is annoy you?"
That was not the response she'd expected. "You want to come back?"
"Well, duh. I mean, this is so much fun!"
"What about the twelve times you screamed 'Oh my god, help!'"
"Oh, that? That was just... I was, um, expressing my excitement. You know, like... 'Oh my god, this is so cool.' and 'Help, I'm having too much fun.'" The teenager fidgeted in the dead silence that followed. Unwilling to admit that, yes, she had been just a teensy bit frightened in the beginning, she fell back on the excuse she used every other time something like this happened.
"It's a human thing. You wouldn't understand."
"Sure."
A/N: If you're reading this, then thanks for giving the story a shot. I know it's out of the blue, but I wrote it a while ago and it was just sitting in my hard drive being useless. Besides, who doesn't like a motherly GLaDOS?