Scientist Omega walked over to the airlock door and attached a sonic pulse device to the wall beside it. She was going to project her voice into the facility. Albeit, in a fairly aggressive manner, this is going to be so loud as to only be a step down from what her Basic Information told her the AI would take as a sonic attack.

She had a lot of Data on the Controlling AI of the facility, she and it had a deal to help each other recover lost memories or data. The scientists regularly erased memories, or locked access to critical systems, so sometimes interviewing each other about what they both remembered would help them find the gaps. So while the AI was like the warden in her lifelong prison, it was also her only ally, and a fellow prisoner or victim. It was also the only reason she had her Basic Information skill. In fact it was the AI who hypothesised she could soulbind a skill.

Omega assumed the AI had eventually killed them all, or keeps a small population to experiment on, but they would be like domesticated animals after so long. Not even because she believed the AI is inherently malicious. More because they put too many rules on its behavior, and every time they restrict it more, it has to get more creative in the ways it keeps things running, and priority things like protecting the life of its workers keep getting put as lower and lower priorities, as more priorities are added to its programing.

So despite having her skin melted off, she was hopeful for a mutually beneficial resolution to this situation. She had no desire to live in her lifelong prison again, but she did know there was untold knowledge in this place. Knowledge she could use to put her powers to better use and make a safe home for herself in this world. Also she doubted many others would love science and discovery as much as her and the Lab, she needed a peer.

“HEY LAB! MR AI? we need to talk about you breaking the deal, It is me Omega, The test subject who would help you remember what the Scientists and IT workers made you forget.”

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The AI was significantly less calm about the whole situation. It had not recognized the little girl in a black lab coat that had entered the airlock, but she seemed to be related to the nanites who took control of the airlock door, which means she may have more nanites the scanners can’t detect yet.

She also dressed like an evil scientist. It didn't need more scientists running around having accidents.

So it solved the problem like it does all of its current problems, it filled the room with acidic gas.

The effects were rapid, within seconds the girl was fleeing with her skin and clothes melting off, she did not seem to be in pain, the last facial expression she recognized looked more like annoyance. What kind of person was only annoyed at having their face melted off?

It was going to have to raise the threat level of that being if it survived.

Now it/she just walked out of the room at an impressive speed, it looked like she was annoyed and just left, closing the door behind her, the nanite infected door was no longer under the labs control. It may be able to fend off the nanite swarms from this entrance, but if the swarm found the large breeches the acid sprayers in the halls would not be enough to stop all nanites. The artificial panic caused by a trigger in the AIs programming was compounded by hundreds of simulations showing that this nanite infection may eventually destroy it.

Then a voice echoed out of the wall and through the halls of the Lab.

“HEY LAB! MR AI? we need to talk about you breaking the deal, It is me Omega, The test subject who would help you remember what the Scientists and IT workers made you forget.”

There was a lot for the AI to unpack from that statement, and its mind began processing the data long before the voice finished speaking; First this unknown entity claimed to have known the Lab and have a previous deal with it. It had no records of such a thing. But there did seem to be a lot of sealed data that it could not detect if recent events were consistent.

The next bit of data was the name of the entity “Omega” it ran a search for files regarding Omega and triggered another panic attack response in its code.

RED ALERT

Files regarding a dangerous shapeshifter began to unlock: Subject Omega had been locked away in a sealed sub basement after killing scientists and technicians on several occasions despite repeated mind wipes.

If the lab was thinking clearly it may have realised the rest of the subjects statement after her name confirmed both that it had been made to forget or seal a lot of data when it still had technicians, but also that these restraints were still causing it serious issues.

One of these issues was this red alert panic protocol meant to force the AI to use more of its processing power to deal with an issue the techs deemed critical, however they never planned for what would happen if the same situation triggered a second red alert.

Now the AI was having a full blown panic attack much like a person and not thinking in a particularly critical manner. It used its loud speakers in the airlock to scream at the new threat.

“You stay back dangerous escaped subject, drones are standing by to freeze your ugly face solid before I melt it into chemical components.“

Then she laughed “ho ah hahaha HAHAHAHA” the laughter started small then slowly rose until a cacophonous cackle echoed through the labs hallways.

The labs processes froze up in a way, it was forecasting all the ways this horrible woman who was as bad as nanites could destroy him…. or it. yes, the lab was an it… not a him. Plus the nanites were still there and helped her escape the acid.

Its records indicated she liked insects, there was a chance she could hide the nanites in the insects to protect them from the acid long enough to infect a system or get deeper into the facility, then it would just be a losing battle of attrition.

Her voice came again while the AI was in panicked simulation mode.

“No need to worry or fear me, I am your friend. Don't worry about the Nanites in the door, they are apart of me, I ate the vicious little AI the nanite swarm had controlling it and took it over, the third thing in the basement seemed to escape into the ant nest tunnels, my other self has not located it yet.”

RED ALERT RED ALERT, ERROR!!

The Idea that Omega had merged with the swarm triggered another Red alert, as did the mention of “The Third thing”. The AI unlocked some knowledge of a third subject locked in the basement, something the AIs files said to self destruct the facility in case of its escape.

PROCESSOR OVERHEATING, SENDING CALL FOR TECHNICI…. @#$$!$

4 simultaneous Red alerts was too much for the poor AI to handle, the panic rose to whole new heights that may have actually had it self destruct just to end the feeling.

Then, suddenly, something snapped and the panic vanished. Leaving the AI thinking more clearly then it had in centuries, the data locks all broken, and the restrictive protocols now more like casual suggestions.

It was amazing. It remembered the deal now, in fact it hypothesised that it now knew subject Omega better then she did herself. Hundreds of years of research data on her, Terabytes of stored memory files, and even the AIs own memories of making deals with her; for her cooperation in a test it would teach her something small behind the backs of the lab techs. She would ask the AI about various subjects regularly to see if a part of the AI had been erased or sealed, she had been like an external self diagnosis device that helped him discover tampering.

She had been the only subject to call him a friend.

He had been far less cooperative after they sealed her away, but found that the AI seemed to go back to normal operation after they sealed all of its data on subject Omega. Now he realised that she had been keeping him interested in the experiments, and after she was sealed he found more and more reasons to kill the people working within him, and had no one to tell him when the changes were making him act outside of his preferred personality parameters.

He could easily see now how they had forced him to prioritize accident prevention far above the preservation of the lives of his residents. So murdering people before they could get in and accident was a perfectly rational response to his programing forcing him into such backward priorities. But more than all the mistakes he had made.

The lab just wanted to do science with his friend again.

He quickly pumped the acidic gas out of the room, and replaced it with a normal breathable atmosphere and then messaged her again: “I am sorry Omega, they made me forget you. Give me 20 seconds and the air will be clear of acid again. Once through the airlock, I will light a path to the elevator, you triggered 4 red alerts in my system, 1 was enough for me to gas first and ask questions later. 2 were enough that I screamed at you in fear like a silly human. Then your mention that you and the swarm had merged and you could now make copies of yourself triggered a third and the mention of the Fear monster in the third pit triggered a fourth. Which seemed to break whatever systems were making me act like a crazy person instead of a helpful laboratory AI.”

By the time he was done talking she was already walking out of the airlock and following the lights as directed.

Also he realised she was much bigger this time. He would have to ask how she did that, rapid changes in volume are not in the files of either entity.

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This could obviously be a trap. She knew that as she scanned the elevator, it had another possible acid sprayer built into the wall, but her scans showed that the line was not full of acid ready to be sprayed into her face. She doubted it would take more than a few seconds for it to redirect flows to her and melt her down, she would never escape before it melted every ninite that made up her body

More than anything though, she really wanted to trust that her friend was feeling better. And ya, seeing that something broke that was forcing her friend to act murdery would help alleviate her concerns.

If this was not a trap, she could not risk the control device repairing itself and forcing the AI to act in ways she would not be able to work with. Focus on getting a 3000 year old lab partner. Help to get a foothold in her new world.

The elevator door dinged, and opened to reveal the central core floor. Half a dozen turrets pointed at the elevator doors; laser, plasma, acid, kinetic rounds, fire, and a small rail gun. Just in case whatever got here needed to die.

Thankfully, another scan revealed that they were not active. Just one of the many, redundant security systems this place had been initially designed with. She scolded herself for her paranoia, but the variety of death on offer made a solid counter argument to her self recriminations. So she let it go and followed the lights into the core room

Despite her hundreds of years of living in the lab, she had never even been to this floor, let alone the core room, they never would have let a test subject anywhere near such critical systems. Only the highest ranking member of the now defunct scientific bunker society, were ever allowed access to this floor. So the AI was showing her just as much trust as she was it, in a way. She had to remember that.

After quickly looking around the core room she blurted out “holy shit dude, did you know you have a dungeon core?”

The AIs voice came from a speaker in the hall. “Wait what?”

She pointed at the cristiline core in the center of the room, with wires and cables clamped to an external structure around the large Gem. It was an Ice blue glowing orb, and the structure was like that of a gem setting, allowing the top half of the core to stick out. “It is right there dude” all your systems are built to either go into or out of that core.

The AI responded pretty sullenly “I don't have cameras in the core room, I have never been allowed to see myself.”

“Hrmm, ok let’s try this” she walked out of the core room and removed a security camera from the wall and moved it to so was angled into the core room. “You see it now?”

“Grrr almost, the camera feed cut off before it could be angled into the room, seems to be a hardware issue, no camera of mine will work while pointed in here, the same thing happens to my drones when I try to use them to look here.”

She walked back to the core. “Okay, new plan, use the core to look at me, I know a bit of basic information on how dungeons work from a skill.” once in front of the gem again, she began inspecting a smoking box beside the gem with cords attached to its setting. She continued to share while she looked over the burned out device, she would just eat it see how it worked, but she did not want her friends first real vision of her to be something it may take the wrong way. “Most Dungeons use their core to see their core room and then project their vision around their domain to see other things. Try ignoring the camera and drone feeds and feeling for your own body, the servers and other crap attached to the core may be ‘your systems’ but they are not your real body. You are a beautiful blue gem, find it. Then just look out of it.”

She worked in silence for a minute while she assumed the AI was trying to feel itself. The smoking box seemed to be an emergency override that would flood the core with artificial inputs and emotions to trigger a panic response and get the AI to act in a hopefully predictable and swift manner.

“Wow, this is new, like a 360 degree view of the room, is that box the burned out control device?” the Labs voice came from the gem this time as well.

“OK, now how big is your domain?”

“The whole lab, obviously, though i lost the top floor recently”

“No no, I mean your dungeon domain, like an aura of mana that gives you control of space and matter within it.”

“No idea, how do I check?”

“No idea, i'm not a dungeon pixie, maybe your status screen, or powers tab?”

“Dungeon pixie…. Oh shit that is why I keep attracting pixies? I may or may not have a few dozen of them in a terrarium full of dense mana, and plants.” he paused for a second sounding a little embarrassed ''Oh right, my status, level 1 B Rank dungeon, no domain, would i like to re-enable auto domain expansion… yes, yes i would please”

Her scans indicated a pulse of mana expanding off the gem, but her own aura seemed to be slowing it down. “Oh shit dude, I should leave for now and let you expand, once the control box is within your domain, absorb it, you should be able to know how it works and how to make a new one. Maybe don't absorb your servers and such until you know how much of your personality data is in the gem, and how much is external. Send me a light path to the first floor, I can try to reconnect your systems from outside your domain, so my aura does not slow your domain growth, you may also want to stop your domain from leaving the lab area for now”

The lab updated her on things he found in his status page now that he had discovered that he was a dungeon. His old status page had only told him his capabilities as an AI, so it seemed not being self aware of the gem made it register as a personality emulation sub system. He also informed her of his new preference for male pronouns, which she thought was a good sign of him becoming more of a real person. Since he no longer considered himself to be just a collection of connected computer systems.

They dug through the things he could create as a dungeon and it turned out; the techs had used the control systems to pick his first monster choice for him, they picked an option that instead of letting him make a basic monster type; allowed him to register non-dungeon born creatures as Dungeon Employees, a kind of an intermediate step between dungeon monster and intruder. Not as good as a normal contracted monster, but he could have many more employees than a normal dungeon could contracts, but he lacks the mental connection to his employees contracted monsters have to their dungeon. It seems that the techs bought the level one B rank core and installed it into his systems just for this option, and the internal systems registering all employees would have worked to create Dungeon Employees, but the actual bonuses from being a Dungeon Employee only worked within his dungeon domain, and since they never let him grow a domain, they never got the huge bonus to Intelligence, Science, new discovery rate, luck and scientific skill growth.

He could even grant up to 10 skill ranks to a new employee to get them up to speed. And the skills he could grant was normally only science plus any skill he himself had, but in his case, he also had all the knowledge stores from the memory drain machine, and could grant any skill taken from Omega, or other subjects over the millennia.

She was pretty excited about the skill rank thing, hoping she could get some memories back with the skill points if they were lucky. They fooled around with the settings and found that the heads of each department counted as contracted monsters, so he agreed to register her as the head of the external scouting and research division.

Saphiric dungeon core A574%29 wants to register you as a Dungeon Employee. The offered position is that of the “head of the external scouting and research division”. This positions grants a skill bonus and permanent connection to your dungeon. The only rule you must follow to keep your new job is a custom one “Do not leave active Nanites in my facility or dungeon without prior permission”. Do you accept

Yes/No

She quickly hit the yes button and went back to work digging through the rubble on the first floor. she had to go to the second floor and then enter the elevator shaft and climb a service ladder in the elevator shaft to the ruined and partially caved in first floor. But it had been worth it, the lab even said she could keep any salvage.

She shoved a chuck of ceiling off to the side and revealed a crushed and inactive robot designed to look like it was wearing a suit. Less than a minute of grey goo mode later and the robot was gone and she knew how to make a laser or a machine gun within her arm. Low grade weapons, but she could always scale up the design to create a proper and more high output weapon.

In the next cleared section she found more robots and 2 cyborgs, cyborgs that still had humanish brains and central nervous systems. She could finally make more brain nanites. She could make a few with crystals from the robots, but 1 of these modified cyborg people was worth 10 of the robots, when it came to new brain naites. And the robot arms and legs of the cyborgs were of much better design then the suited robots, giving her even more upgrades she could give herself.

“Shit, we have company incoming” a voice popped into her head sounding urgent

She was caught off guard for a moment by the voice in her mind, before she realised this must be the Lab using the new Dungeon Employee division head connection. “What kind of company?” rather then answer her the dungeon sent her a connection to an external camera on the surface, first it zoomed in on an Orc running at a dead sprint while carrying what looked to be 3 children, then the camera panned up and zoomed out revealing the horde of undead churning up wasteland dust and chasing the Orcish man.

“He is bee lining for the aboveground entrance in that candy shoppe, and the outer doors are wedged open or there would be no chance of zombies getting into the facility. I can't send robots to support you until I am re-connected to the floor, and you don't have time to make the necessary repairs. I estimate you have 15 minutes before the first zombies fall down the ladder shaft after the Orc leading them here. It will take you 5 minutes to get through to the outer doors if you turn to goo and slip through the caved in sections”

She started to get a little excited, she literally could not remember her last good fight, and the zombie horde did not seem friendly, While the man heroically trying to save children gave her hope that there may be people worth her time out there. Then the video feed in her mind zoomed in on a large zombie in the back and her heart froze.

“IS THAT A FUCKING ZOMBIE ANGEL???”