Do whatever Emilia wants

Wait, Pete, Tori thought at you. I don't know about those terms. If it were just me, I would agree, this is all problems due to Mike and my side of things, but if she wants to do something to both of us separately then we should just walk away, that would--

"Fine, just give me the code," you said. You took a deep breath, putting your hands in your lap, feeling Tori's body shifting uncomfortably with your executive decision. You and Tori didn't disagree often, but it seemed she was a little less comfortable with the idea of you ending up potentially in a dangerous situation with magic involved.

Emilia smiled as if she'd just realized the winning move in a chess match. "Wonderful, I think this will be far more enjoyable for all of us. Particularly since you've seen all of my latest and greatest King Enterprises research facility. We were in a warehouse for the longest time, it felt so grimy and dirty everywhere, but this is a far more convenient place to act as a testbed for my experimentation. You'll find me a hospitable host if you cooperate through the next phase of things without much complaint." She turned to Alice, handing the clipboard back. "Tell the Kel-AI to bring down grandfather's notes on the Countercurse Bracer. He detailed the precise pattern to unlock, though it takes a long time to manipulate it to that position. It's sort of like if someone had to put a Rubik's Cube into a precisely mixed-up combination to unlock a door, even knowing the pattern can be a challenge. Fortunately, the AI should be able to help speed that up significantly. I have some experiments to consider, so you'll excuse me for a moment."

Alice nodded, scrolling for something on her phone to write a message as Emilia rolled away toward one of the storage rooms you'd passed on your way in, her entry obscured by the rock formations the glass facility had been built around. Emilia has some artificial intelligence that can help with cracking codes? Very strange.

I'm having second thoughts about this, Tori thought at you. This is starting to weird me out. Pete, I don't want you hurt! I'd rather we figure out how to live with the bracelet than anything happens to you.

You smiled a little, wrapping your arms tighter around yourself to try and stop the uncomfortable fidgeting. We'll be fine. If anything happens to us, Leo knows our plan, and he'll... do something, I don't know. Call the police or whatever. Your own words suddenly made you shift a little closer to Tori's sentiment, as it would be hard to make police believe that one of the richest people in the world was **** strangers who toured an exhibit. Still, you weren't as bothered by Emilia's explanation as Tori had been--you knew she felt like if Emilia used the bracelet with the intent to bring her in, then Emilia was an angler and you and Tori were a fish on a hook...

You glanced up, and jumped back in your seat when you saw the entity standing next to Alice. The head looked like one of the Yabusa robots that the company had been developing for years now, mostly a giant camera for a head encased in sleek black plastic and metal. But from the neck down, the body looked very human, wearing a simple sleeveless blouse and skirt. Her body was covered in what looked like dozens upon dozens of tattoos, written in strange languages with symbols and lines surrounding them. Was this the kind of 'experiment' Emilia was thinking for you?

"No need for alarm," Alice said coolly. "Victoria, Peter, meet Kelly. Or at least more specifically at the moment, Kel-AI. Kelly's enchanted ink allows us to alter her body in a variety of ways, so this week we are testing a synthetic intelligence utilizing an organic form. The repurposed Yabusa android 'wears' Kelly, in a sense. Do be gentle with her, though, Kelly can still feel everything happening even if she can't see or hear at the moment, so if you struggle and injure her, Emilia will likely be rather cross, she's very fond of Kelly."

You didn't know whether to believe Alice's words. A person volunteered to be worn by another controller? How absurd! ...well, now that you think about it, Tori did the same. So, you conceded the thought.

Kel-AI stepped into the room when the glass slid away, holding the book open to a certain page that she set in your lap with a diagram of the Countercurse Bracer, including a position of all the dials. If you weren't so shocked by the company in your little holding chamber, you might have been fascinated by the fact that this was one of the legendary treasure hunter Archibald King's own journals. "Arm please." You glanced up, and then realized the AI wanted to examine the bracelet. You held your arm up, and watched as the android got to work, shivering at the touch of Kelly's hands on your wrist. Even under control of an AI, she felt so human and warm...

Kelly's fingers moved at an incredible pace, spinning dials on the wristband with dizzying but precise swipes. She seemed able to spin up to six dials at once, using her thumb and pinky as a sort of anchor against your wrist. Mike must have really done a number on scrambling these symbols up... even at the speed Kel-AI moved, the decoding took far more than just a few moments for her. By the time the pattern was looking nearly complete, with eight dials solved, Emilia had returned, with a few objects to consider for whatever she had planned for you and Tori. About a minute later, every dial had its symbols moved into a proper position. The bracelet fell off your wrist, tumbling to the ground.

Almost immediately, Tori ended the channeling, catching Emilia's full attention as you exited her body and stood next to her. Tori turned to Emilia with pleading eyes. "Please, don't do anything to Pete, he's just my friend who got caught up in this. Run multiple experiments on me or whatever, that's fine, just don't--"

You moved in front of Tori and leaned down to kiss her, to reassure her that things would be okay. "Hey, we do this together. I know you're worried, but we've always been there for each other as kids for whatever we did, for both thee rewards and the consequences." You smiled at her, pressing your forehead to hers. "We'll be fine, we'll get through this together, and then we can go home and get back to normal, okay?"

Tori hesitated, but eventually she relaxed, realizing that she felt reassured that you would be joining her more than she felt scared that something unbearable might happen. She turned to Emilia. "We do get to go back to normal after all this, right?"

"Likely," Emilia quickly replied. "But let's just say that I like cooperative subjects, and I like people who work for me on occasion. If you're the former, things will probably work out without much lasting consequence other than whatever we learn here today. If you also become the latter, I will make things very much worth your while and you two can have the happiest of endings together."

You glanced at Tori, and then back to Emilia, eventually nodding. "We'll cooperate," Tori said quietly.

Emilia clasped her hands together. "Good, I just need to decide between a few tests, then."