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Serena Prince: Love of Magic - chapter 157
🕑 Added 2025-09-13 02:12:30 +0000 UTCAuthor's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"So, what were you doing on Jig-Jig Street? " I asked as we started walking. Now that GLaDOS was in my head, my trip down Jig-Jig Street definitely became more distinct. Before, it was simply a sightseeing trip; now it was a real shopping trip.
"I had a delivery to make for old Wakako," Rebecca said nonchalantly. I hummed.
GLaDOS kept insisting that buying almost anything she saw wasn't really a problem; most of the things she wanted were cheap. Or, well, we had enough money that it wasn't a problem.
"I guess you're an Edgerunner if you have dealings with the local Fixer." I said simply, and Rebecca almost looked impressed.
Most of the things GLaDOS wanted were tools designed to repair electronics and cybernetics, such as a rather sophisticated tool set, a set of Microwaldo tools, and some Arasaka Exogloves. The latter, however, she was unsure if they were necessary for GLaDOS, but she still wanted them.
"Wow, you did your homework, Starry Eyes, just arrived in NC, and you know the local Fixers? Impressive." Rebecca said simply, I hummed.
"I like to be informed," I said honestly.
Then it was time to buy a lot of cables, several broken cyber components, and electronic trinkets. There were several broken or discontinued cyberdecks, and some chips with programming.
The most notable thing was some Quick Hacks I found in a small place, nothing special, just a Reboot Optics, Ping, and a Weapon Glitch, nothing awe-inspiring.
"Well, I guess you'll stay alive longer than the carefree gonk who comes to Night City without a clue," Rebecca said easily.
"I hope so," I said playfully as I grabbed another item at GLaDOS's insistence and paid for it. The good thing was that I could use my phone to automatically pay for all my purchases just by holding it close to the other device.
"Have you finished shopping? We've been here for almost an hour," Rebecca asked, almost bored. I laughed playfully.
"Unless you know someone who sells more Quickhacks?" I asked, amused. Rebecca wrinkled her nose.
"Not really? But I know a couple who probably know. Do you want me to call them?" Rebecca asked. I hummed.
"No need. I'll see if I can find anything else my wife wants. In the meantime, we can continue," I said simply.
"Nova, so now we're going to look for a Joytoy? Or were you looking for sex chrome? There are several stores that sell sex chrome; they have a good Midnight Lady, or were you looking for a Studd? " Rebecca asked calmly, my eyes widened.
"What? I'm not looking for any of that!" I exclaimed in surprise.
" Hey, I'm not judging. Maybe you were looking for something fun to do with your Mainline." Rebecca shrugged.
"It's not sexual at all." I sighed tiredly, and Rebecca looked at me strangely.
"No? And why the hell did you enter Jig-Jig? " Rebecca asked suspiciously, I snorted loudly.
"I was just about to go find the clinic of a guy named Finn Gerstatt? I think he's known as Fingers," I said immediately, and Rebecca made a horrible face.
"With that gonk? With all the Eddies you spent without a care, you can get a better Ripperdoc than Fingers," Rebecca said with a grimace.
"I never said I was going to perform an operation," I said playfully. "I have... unfinished business with him," I said simply. Rebecca seemed more interested now.
"Oh? What kind of business? " Rebecca asked.
"Matters where he doesn't come out alive," I said honestly. Rebecca smiled broadly.
"Nova, now you're speaking my language! Yes, I know where it is! Follow me!" Rebecca said cheerfully as she started walking down Jig-Jig. I followed her without hesitation. Really, she didn't even mind the mention of killing Fingers.
After a few twists and turns, things worsened, filled with trash, filth, and people wallowing in their misery. I saw the sign for Fingers' clinic several dozen meters away.
"Okay, stay here, I'll be right back," I said simply as I walked without any problems towards the building.
"Wait, you're just going to walk in like that?" Rebecca asked incredulously. I looked at her and raised an eyebrow in her direction.
"I'm pretty sure I read you right, and I can bet your plans boil down to no plans and just get on with it," I said playfully. Rebecca blushed slightly.
"Well, yes! But I'm Preem, you're a gonk head. Besides, there are important people who care about Fingers; the Tygers Claws send their dolls with that idiot. Just walk in like that and you'll have several people following you in no time," Rebecca warned. I laughed lightly.
"I appreciate the warning, but it's not necessary. Wait here for me." I said simply. Rebecca snorted and crossed her arms.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Rebecca growled sullenly. "…gonk." I laughed lightly.
I quickly looked around and saw that there weren't any cameras nearby, so I decided to enter the clinic. As soon as I saw the first person, I started using large amounts of Confundus to force people to leave the clinic confused and without asking questions.
There were some clients waiting to be seen, whom I also forced to leave without complaint. I looked at the door to Fingers' clinic, which was closed. I obviously didn't have the necessary credentials to open it, but it wasn't required.
I clapped lightly and knocked on the door softly. The entire door in front of me instantly began to crumble into dust under the power of alchemy.
"That-"
"Imperio," I said in Fingers' direction. Before he could do anything, Fingers's gaze glazed over slightly as he fell under the curse's grip. I looked around and saw that there were no patients, but there was someone in Fingers' room.
I cast Somnus on Fingers' victim before placing a time bubble around Fingers and me. It was actually a good thing my magic had stabilized after becoming a demon. I'm pretty sure if it were just my Harry Potter magic, it would have fried all the cyberware in people's heads.
I left the balls with my recent purchases and began pulling various items from my inventory. I gave Fingers the aluminum and copper medallions in the shape of rings, along with a copper sphere and an aluminum sphere the size of a baseball.
"Keep storing your identity in the aluminum and save all your memories, medical and technological knowledge, and experiences, and anything else that has helped you become a Ripperdoc," I ordered Fingers.
"I will," Fingers said with a calm, almost dreamy smile. I could immediately feel the magic flowing from the medallions as he followed my orders.
The great thing about Imperius is that, unless it's genuinely impossible, it's capable of granting slight abilities necessary to complete a task at hand, though nothing too far-fetched. And if not, I can impose my will on the victim to guide them down the right path of what I want to do.
And that's what I was doing now. It took about an hour, but Fingers finally finished storing all of his memories and knowledge I'd forced upon him. I looked him in the eye, cast a light legilimency probe, and saw that most of his memories were gone.
Still, I couldn't care less, I considered it for a few seconds, but Fingers wasn't even worth selling for the eight credits you'll get for selling him.
So, with a slight movement of my hand, Fingers' neck snapped as his head faced backward. I clapped once more, concentrating on my alchemy, and lightly touched Fingers.
His body began to decompose into ashes that gently fell to the ground. I gazed dispassionately at the ashes before looking at the technological equipment Fingers had in his office, what little he had.
I grabbed a couple of items GLaDOS asked me for, and the rest. I began to draw up the plans and send them to her with ease. GLaDOS was brimming with joy. I hummed as I broke the time bubble and grabbed my purchases once more. I walked over to the waiting room window and jumped out.
I fell softly and approached Rebecca, who looked at me, confused.
"Did something happen? Isn't he there? " Rebecca asked, confused.
"Come on, I'm done," I said simply.
"Wait, are you done? Is he already dead? " Rebecca asked in surprise.
"Who knows, at least they won't find a body," I said simply.
"Where did you hide the body?" Rebecca asked incredulously. "Or did you use your swords to tear it to pieces and flush it down the toilet in less than five minutes?" Rebecca asked, surprised. I laughed in amusement.
"Don't worry, let's continue our journey," I said playfully.
"No, no, no, I really want to know! First, you walked in like nothing happened, and then people started coming out, and they looked drugged! Did you use some kind of devil quickhacks or something?" Rebecca insisted. I scoffed playfully.
"Let's go to the next one. Do you have a vehicle? I need to get to Santo Domingo." I ignored her. Rebecca grunted, but nodded.
"Yeah, I have wheels," Rebecca grunted. "Vehicle? What year do you live in? " Rebecca muttered, and I just smiled.
"Okay, let's go. I hope you know a Ripperdoc in Santo Domingo, I just know they call him ' Doc '." I said simply, Rebecca grunted.
" Ugh, yeah, I know who you're talking about. Another Ripperdoc disappearance? Someone hired you to get rid of them? " Rebecca asked directly.
"Even if I were, I suppose you'd understand why I can't talk about it, right? " I asked playfully. "On the other hand, it's not important. Those two are my only goals," I added with a smile.
"Nova, I won't say anything," Rebecca said with a wide smile. "By the way, do you want to stop for something to eat first? We can stop by Cherry Blossom Market, it's close to Jig-Jig, and they have good food," Rebecca added.
"Mmm, no thanks, I was thinking of first going back to the H8 mega building, to my penthouse and de-"
"A penthouse? You must be really loaded," Rebecca interrupted, whistling.
"As I was saying, I was going back to the penthouse to drop off my bags for my wife—" I picked up the bags with everything I'd bought. "—and get some food I'd already prepared," I said simply.
"You cook?" Rebecca asked, surprised. "Nova," she said, impressed. "You're loaded, you do the shopping, you cook, and you can even zero people? You really are the complete package," Rebecca mocked. I sneered in amusement.
"If you say so," I said with a chuckle.
"Okay, go eat with your Mainline, I'll see you in… half an hour at the entrance of the megabuilding H8 with my Wheels?" Rebecca asked simply, and I hummed.
"If you want? I can At least bring you something I've prepared. I don't mind sharing. I prepare a lot of food, and my wife doesn't eat much. There are always leftovers. Besides, we just moved, she's probably busy messing around with things, so she'll probably grab something easy to eat and head out." I said, shrugging.
"Sure? Your Mainline won't get jealous if you go out to eat with another girl? " Rebecca asked mockingly.
"If that means not bothering her when she's having fun with her trinkets? No," I said dryly. Rebecca burst out laughing.
"Okay, I won't say no to a free meal, but I'm warning you, Starry-Eyes, I'm going to be very critical of the food, so I hope I'm not disappointed with your cooking skills," Rebecca warned playfully. I snorted.
Yes, it couldn't be expected to understand in the slightest what a royal meal prepared by Faery Feast would be like. With that, we both walked and quickly arrived at the mega building H8. Rebecca stayed outside the building while I quickly entered, without even stopping, and I entered the elevator and pressed the corresponding floor.
I was about to open the penthouse door when the door swung open, GLaDOS appeared out of nowhere, stole my bags from my hand, and ran off.
"You're welcome." I said playfully. GLaDOS just grunted as she started taking things out and looked at them like they were gold. I laughed playfully. I looked around and was surprised to see the room completely loaded with new boxes and equipment that weren't there before.
"You bought that much? I only disappeared for a couple of hours," I asked, surprised, as I quickly looked through the boxes.
"They have express mail, they delivered them through the balcony." GLaDOS said as she pointed to the open balcony door. I snorted and nodded. I opened one of the boxes and found myself face-to-face with several jars of medicine. I took one out and began reading the label.
"Neurological anti-inflammatories?" I grabbed another bottle. "NSAID anti-inflammatories?" I read the labels with confusion. Not that I knew what they did, but I was confused as to why GLaDOS had bought drugs like that. GLaDOS snorted.
"You said you'd let me use willing test subjects if I worked well with them. I need the drugs," GLaDOS said dryly. Oh, that made sense, I shrugged.
"Fine, keep buying whatever you want, but don't buy any more of the same type of drugs. I don't know if my Trace On works on them, but if you're able to figure out their formulas, I'd be able to create them with alchemy." I said distractedly. GLaDOS stopped and looked at me, almost disappointed.
"Again, you only used your skills to do magic?" GLaDOS asked, sounding almost horrified by the act she took as terrorism. I snorted and shrugged.
"Like I said, I love magic. Besides, my potions were better than any non-magical medicine I could get my hands on." I said honestly, GLaDOS just snorted.
"What a waste," GLaDOS growled. I laughed lightly as I walked over to the kitchen. I pulled out two plates of food from my inventory that would be easy to eat. Nothing better than a homemade hamburger on a freshly baked bun and some still-warm, freshly prepared fries. The time frozen inside the vault that was the mansion's inventory was the best.
"Are you going to use Fingers' memories now?" I asked curiously as I watched GLaDOS take out the copper medallion and the copper sphere out of the corner of my eye while I put the burgers in some Tupperware. I took out two small thermoses with orange juice and set them aside. I wasn't going to bring soda, not when it was impossible to tell her what brand it was.
"Even if I wanted to, I can't. I'm waiting for some deliveries." GLaDOS said almost sufferingly. I laughed playfully while shaking my head. I took something out of my inventory and threw it at GLaDOS.
"Time bubble grenades, you can adjust, create, and close them to your liking." I said while transmitting everything necessary to use them. GLaDOS grabbed the grenade and smiled widely, "Use the copper Allomancy and Feruchemy medallion, then swallow the copper sphere and burn it; that way, the memories will be much more lucid and perfect." I said instructively.
GLaDOS smiled and didn't even hesitate, immediately using the time bubble around her. I laughed playfully before leaving the apartment with the Tupperware and drinks in my hand.
I got out once more and quickly looked for Rebecca, who was waiting, leaning against a Maimai – it was impossible not to recognize the two-seat microcar.
"A Maimai?" I asked playfully as I approached, and Rebecca glared at me.
"Is there something wrong with my wheels, gonk?" Rebecca asked almost menacingly. I laughed lightly as I shook my head.
"Nope, none." I laughed lightly as I handed her a Tupperware. Rebecca wrinkled her nose and snatched the Tupperware away from me before getting into the vehicle. I immediately followed her into the other seat.
"A hamburger? Are you sure you didn't buy this and just change the packaging? " Rebecca mocked, and I smiled broadly.
"Just try it," I said smugly. Rebecca shrugged and grabbed the burger, took a big bite, and froze mid-taste before moaning loudly.
"Oh gosh ." Rebecca moaned, her mouth full, as she began to chew. She squirmed with her eyes closed, swallowing audibly as she gasped. "This is delicious." Rebecca moaned as she opened her eyes.
"I'm glad to know that," I said playfully.
"What the hell did you put in that?! This is the best food I've ever had in my life!" Rebecca exclaimed before taking another bite of the burger, then grabbing some fries and throwing them in her mouth.
"Nothing special, just food," I said playfully.
"Yeah, sure, just food," she mocked. "Now you're going to tell me it's real meat and vegetables," Rebecca mocked. I nodded.
"They are. Totally organic." I said honestly, Rebecca froze slightly.
"Don't fuck with me," Rebecca said incredulously before looking at the burger. "Is this... is this real beef?" Rebecca asked, almost breathless. I nodded. "And this lettuce... this tomato, and these fries?" She asked almost shakily.
"Everything." I said, amusedly. Rebecca stared at me with her mouth open, her eyes wide in disbelief.
"Do you know how much this would cost?" Rebecca asked incredulously. I shrugged as I opened my own Tupperware and began to eat.
"It's just food," I said simply.
"Just food? I've never eaten anything organic in my life! This is a first!" Rebecca exclaimed incredulously, and I shrugged again.
"Then enjoy it," I said simply. Rebecca looked at me suspiciously.
"When will you charge me for this?" Rebecca asked cautiously, and I laughed playfully.
"Not going to, I already told you, I prepared a lot, my wife eats very little," I repeated to myself.
"Is your Mainline crazy? She has delicious organic food, and she won't eat it?" Rebecca asked incredulously.
"We eat it all the time," I said simply. Rebecca opened her mouth before closing it.
"Now you're fucking with me, eating organic food every day is impossible, even for the top corpos," Rebecca said repressively. I shrugged.
"Believe what you want, and eat it while it's hot, it's going to waste." I said simply, Rebecca looked at me, conflictedly once more, before looking at her burger.
"Screw it." Rebecca groaned before taking another bite of the burger. She moaned again. "Even if it leaves me poor, this will be worth it," Rebecca murmured in pleasure. I burst out laughing.
We both finished our lunch, and it's worth saying that she almost went crazy with the fresh orange juice, too. It was fun to watch.
