Author's Note: So, so sorry for the massive delay – a lot of things have been happening in RL, and I've recently just managed to continue this. However, I'll now be doing more regular updates. Thanks to everyone who's viewed the prologue so far though! :D
Chapter 1 - Assimilation
It was night time. The bright stars in the blackened sky glittered brilliantly, without a single care. They shone upon the solitary darkened mansion of the land. The Mansion of the land's creator.
It had been one single year since the incident with Batman, Yugi Moto and Miles Edgeworth. Their fates were kept closely guarded by Dubsy. He never said a word about them, not to his staff, not to anyone.
Dubsy sat in his leisure room, silently. His hands clasped together as he sat at his chair, deep in thought. Thoughts that no human could even begin to conceive. His eyes darted around the room, the golden aura from his light spreading throughout.
Then he came to a decision. A decision he had thought long and hard about. But he had decided that it was now time. A slightly twisted frown came over Dubsy's face, as he knew what was going to happen. But he had to keep HIM happy.
He jumped out of his chair, and walked over to his bookshelf. He slowly took out a large, old-ish brown book. It was dusted over, to which Dubsy blew on it. There was a post-it-note stuck on it. It simply stated "Book of Summoning". He opened the book, and grabbed a quill from his desk.
Slowly, he scanned over the page of contacts. Then he quickly flipped over to a new page, having found the person he required.
"Summoning: Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Reason: Assistance."
Once he had finished writing, he closed the book, gently. Suddenly a large ice-blue and red portal opened in mid-air at the centre of his room. Dubsy took a seat at his aforementioned desk, ready to greet his old "friend".
And soon enough, the bulbous figure of Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik tumbled through. The portal closed itself immediately afterwards.
"Thank God..." grunted Robotnik, as he stumbled his way back up, brushing the dust off his modern red jacket. However, he then caught a glimpse at his summoner. "Oh... not again."
"Aha, Dr. Robotnik. Splendiferous to see you again." smiled Dubsy, folding his arms.
"I wish I could say the same. And no one calls me that any more. In fact, they haven't called me that for years. I am, the brilliant, and eggstravagent Dr. E-"
"I don't care what the timeline says, you're still Robotnik to me. And forever shall be. Hell, I don't even know why you went as far as insisting people call you a name that shares its first three letters with an edible item of food. It's like me changing my name to Porkchopsy. But I digress." stated Dubsy, to a very uncomfortable looking Robotnik. "Anyway, I've brought you here because... it's time."
"...Time?"
"Yes, time. Time for our plan to be initiated."
"Ahh, the plan."
"Yes... now I need your assistance on gathering a set of 'heroes' to unknowingly put it into action. Because, you know, my masters will destroy me otherwise."
There was a pause as the doctor considered the situation. A smirk gradually formed from his mouth.
"I've been doing a bit of research into alternate temporal timelines recently... I think I can be of some most helpful advice to you."
Dubsy smirked in turn. Soon, their plan would come to fruition. And the rewards would be beautiful. "...Eggscellent."
Location: Aperture Science Facilities and Enrichment Centre.
Silence was never a beneficial thing in the dark. It was the situation nightmares were born from. However, that wasn't, never was, and never will be a concern for the resident homicidal machine.
GLaDOS rotated slowly, letting out a short electronic sigh.
Her chamber was too dark. It did not actually matter for her, with multiple thermal, infra-red, and resonance image scanners, she could paint a picture of the Enrichment Centre more vivid than any human could see.
Multiple images flickered through GLaDOS's artificial brain. One showed a particuarly unfortunate test subject slipping on some Propulsion Gel, and falling into the Acidic Test Subject Repellent.
Her attention did not linger long enough to watch him writh in agony before death, but instead moved along to another, slightly more competant Test Subject, just as she finished chamber eight of course five.
"Very good. The Enrichment Centre would like to take this moment to remind you, that cake and grief counselling will be made available at the conclusion of the tests." she stated, her sing-song voice echoing around the chamber.
The Woman looked up at one of the camera's, but did not stop.
GLaDOS started to do another rotation, rocking back and forth slowly.
The testing still didn't seem right. The subjects were so predictable, each one did the same thing as each other, even when confronted with the new challenge she had created with the Cooperative Testing Initiative.
As much as she hated to admit it, GLaDOS missed Chell. She was interesting, unpredictable, and fun to work with.
But now she was gone. and GLaDOS had next to no chance of finding her again.
GLaDOS jerked back to reality, realizing that there was a test subject tapping on a camera.
"Just how long does this go on for?" He shouted. "You stupid computer!"
She contemplated his statement for about half a second, before promptly flooding the chamber with Neurotoxin.
GLaDOS noted that she had un-intentionality raised the lighting level in her chamber.
Yes. She never thought she would... but she actually missed that mute lunatic.
The days passed, and the feeling of boredom never quite seized. The test subjects seemed to be getting stupider by the minute, one poor bastard even tripping over a mislaid potato, resulting in him beginning a long trip down an elevator shaft.
GLaDOS gave a deep sigh once more. Things at the Enrichment Centre were going down hill, and she could do nothing to prevent such a thing.
She slowly drifted into hibernation. Perhaps the test subjects will have been killed in spectacularly gory ways for her to playback to her hearts content when she had woken up.
However, 8 hours later, GLaDOS came back on-line immediately. All systems functioning at maximum effiency.
One of the exterior camera's had registered movement, and she watched in contemplative silence as a dark shadow moved forwards, placing a briefcase on the ground in front of the sealed entrance to the Enrichment Centre.
She switched to infa-red, and took several snapshots.
It was a masked man in an black suit, black shirt, with a white tie and a top hat, holding a briefcase.
He stepped back, adjusting his tie and turning around, walking away into the night with a second briefcase in hand.
GLaDOS waited patiently for a brief moment, and then sent a drone to retrieve what had been left outside the facility entrance.
Then she attempted to re-enter hibernation once more, untroubled by the event that had just taken place.
However, she was disturbed by the beeping of the drone, as it brought her the, now opened, briefcase.
GLaDOS stared at the contents of the case before her.
It contained $1,000 in human currency. It was immediately rendered completely worthless, due to the very nature of her existence.
What was even stranger, was that there was a deed paper to a house in the 'town of Crossing Central'
GLaDOS ran a check on the internet, and found nothing but a roleplay from a website that had existed over a century ago, during the time Chell had gone through her first... episode.
Finally, GLaDOS' attention turned to the final object in the large, case.
It was a small cube, covered in lines and coloured shapes.
On GLaDOS's will, the robot that had brought the case to her bent down to pick up the large cube.
On touch, the cube suddenly sprang up out of the case.
GLaDOS watched calmly as it unfolded, each line turning out to be a grove as the cube unfolded into a robot.
As if on cue - most likely to some sort of magnetic call, the padded interior of the case sprang open, revealing a hidden compartment filled with curved white metal plates.
They flew out of the case, assembling on the machine, leaving a very feminine robot standing in front of GLaDOS, with a small circular hole where her single eye should be.
The design looked like it could have been created by Aperture, but GLaDOS knew that could not be so.
Suddenly, the new robot leaped forwards, grabbing GLaDOS's head in one hand, and hastily punching into her core with the other. Then there was a vibration. A massive vibration. The robot ripped out GLaDOs' core, as if it was ripping the heart out of a human.
GLaDOS finally reacted as she detected a temporal rift jerking back, and letting out a metallic screech, but it was too late.
Her vision went dead, as she powered down, going offline.
Thirty seconds later, however, her vision had returned, as GLaDOs' system rebooted itself. However, she wasn't entirely pleased with the circumstances upon which she had been revived.
She had realized that she was now inside the robot, and in an instant, she realized what the devil was happening.
"No. NooOOOo! STOO-ARRGGH!"
Her new body, still running on a pre-prepared program of commands, bent down picking up a small cylinder from the case, before closing the case and scooping it up as well.
"Warning. GLaDOS Master Core missing. Retrieving." The Announcer stated.
A mechanical arm swung down, but missed narrowly as the robot stepped back, clicking down on a button on the cylinder.
There was a massive build up of energy, that surpassed even GLaDOs' capacity, before a flash of icy-blue and purple light overloaded her sensors.
Then it happened. The light completely enveloped GLaDOS' new body... before dispersing. Leaving nothing behind.
She was gone.
Gone from the Enrichment Center.
Gone from her own time.
Leaving behind a dead shell of a once powerful robotic being.
Things were only going to get more complicated from there.
...bzzzt...
...BzzzT!...
GLaDOS' visual receptor cleared, dispelling the burn on the artificial retina that the flash had caused.
The white started to fade, receding back too the edge of GLaDOS' vision.
She found herself sitting on a train, one that was particually clean and fresh, bouncing through the countryside. It seemes to be headed for a small city sitting on the near horizon.
The carriage was empty, well lit, and made entirely of chrome metal, save for the seat covers.
GLaDOS absorbed all this infomation instantaneously, before turning to a more pressing matter.
She had never been in a proper robot. She had been robotic. But never a robot. Technically, she was a computer, with a determined object of interface, namely the large body dangling from the roof in her chamber, back at the Enrichment Centre.
Over the years, she had occasionally used robotic arms, or taken wireless control of robots, so GLaDOS already had basic motor skills of a humanoid styled body.
But she had never been in a body like this. It was so... cybernetic, yet feminine. The plain whiteness of the typical Aperture Science creations had been kept, but her body was far more detailed and humanoid than the average P-Body
After some further pondering, GLaDOS made the decision to stand up, and did so, in a very jerky and uncoordinated fashion.
She took a few steps, getting a feel for this lightweight copy of Aperture technology - most likely something else stolen by Black Mesa.
GLaDOS flexed her exoskeletal fingers twice. She tested out her new eyes, the red emerald gems on a sea of blackness and let out a whimsical hum out of the silver mouthplate which now housed her audio speakers.
"Interesting..."
She sat back down, as the train started to slow, as it seemed to finally reach its inevitable destination...
