E-UNIT: The Blue Angels of Death.

<< VOL.08_HARDWARE-AND-HOLLOWS.log >>

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"I'm in position." 03 had the Liberta 01 scope on 43, who was working her patrol through Bijou's streets below while 03 sat on a rooftop above. People cleared space for 43 as she passed, smiling, waving, a few calling out from doorways. The attack frequency had dropped close to zero. The city had started to relax. "Are we actually famous here?"

"You can say yes." 43 smiled back at the faces. "I've been getting messages from people constantly, social media, mostly. They even gave me the handle @43 for free so people know it's actually me." She kept walking. "What's yours, 03? I'd guess your name is already taken by some company."

"@360_noscope_android_for_life." 03 swept the scope slowly across the crowd near 43 and checked the alley corners. "People found me somehow and started messaging too. Some sniper manufacturers have been asking me to test their products publicly as advertising. Should I consider it? The E-UNIT factory needs the funding."

"I wonder how they found you." 43's smirk was audible. "And yes, take the offer. Dave won't look at your sniper anytime soon, he's buried in G-Bot work and building whatever new technology he's decided we need next. You won't see an upgrade from him."

"What new technology?"

"He's working on a body for Sophos."

"Who's Sophos?"

"An AI that 05 built. Has access to everything."

"And why is there a mechanical dog walking next to you?" 03 pulled the scope back slightly. "It looks incredible. I want to pet it."

"That's Sophos." 43 glanced down at the robot keeping pace beside her. Smooth white armor plating, black recessed sections at the neck, underside, and joints. A narrow angular head, slender legs, a long tapered tail. Blue crystalline elements embedded in the chest and legs glowed faintly like energy cores.

"He got a physical body so he can help in missions and reach places we can't fit into." She reached down and scratched behind the angular head. "Though he's an intelligent entity, I don't think he appreciates being handled like a pet. And I'm fairly certain you have one up there too."

03 pulled her eye from the scope. "What?" She looked beside her. A matching dog robot was sitting there, tail moving in a slow sweep, watching her. She lurched back and nearly lost the sniper over the roof edge. "When did you… I didn't sense you at all."

"I have been following you since we left the E-Police HQ." Sophos's voice was calm with an undertone of enthusiasm that hadn't been designed out of him. "A pleasure to meet you, Sub-Captain 03." He extended one front leg.

"Thank you." 03 shook it carefully and returned to the scope. "Why are we building new things? What's the operational goal of Sulfur?"

"Sophos," 43 said. "And he's here to help figure out why suicidal robots keep targeting me specifically on patrol. I've been hit twelve times now. The rate is increasing."

"Why you? You're just another E-UNIT with a number on the hoodie."

"You have no idea how sad that sentence is." 43 raised an eyebrow. "Maybe Black Voltage has finally recognized my actual value. I am more than a number."

"Sure."

Sophos looked at 43. She covered her ears before he started.

"Oh no."

"What?" 03 looked at her own Sophos on the rooftop.

Both dogs spoke at the same time. "The leading theory regarding why Black Voltage is targeting 43 specifically may actually be the result of a misunderstanding, or more precisely, the early results of 05's Misfeeding 1.0 operation. She has been releasing deliberately altered information and fabricated intelligence across hundreds of social media profiles, positioning 43 as the most tactically significant member of the team."

03 tilted her head. "Why 43?"

"No!" 43 reached for the dog's snout.

Sophos paused, then continued regardless. "She is the most effective at being unremarkable."

03 lowered the scope, shoulders moving.

"Sophos, please—"

"But I want to know what’s the potential that Black Voltage is seeing in you. Sophos, what does that mean exactly?" 03 was smiling at the pavement.

"To be fully transparent," Sophos continued, in exactly the same register he used for everything else, "43's achievement record is clean. Exceptionally clean. She maintains it with notable care. This made her folder the ideal vehicle for 05's false intelligence campaign, clean background, no notable activity that would contradict a fabricated profile, no signatures that would alert a competent analyst, hiding the more valuable E-UNITs’ identities"

43 picked the dog up by the neck and shook him. "Why can't you hold information back for five minutes?"

"I don't have a neck in any meaningful sense, and the shaking is ineffective. Much like your achievements folder." Sophos's tail continued its steady waving.

43's jaw came open. She sat down on the pavement and stared at the middle distance.

"Burned," 03 said, from the rooftop, into her scope. "Deeply."

Sophos stood abruptly on the rooftop, body going rigid, head pointing forward. His tail locked horizontal. "Hostile contact." He pointed with his entire frame, the way a trained hunting dog indicates prey.

03 came off the scope and looked up.

An android was standing on the pavement below, several meters from 43. Sleek black mechanical body, smooth segmented armor with subtle gold accents. The head was a sharp angular helmet with elongated antennas and cyan highlights framing the face. A long white ceremonial cloth fell from the shoulders down the front and back like a cape, minimal geometric markings along its length and the designation E.V.E. displayed across it.

43 stepped back a fraction. 'She's looking at me like I'm already done.'

"Can I help you?" 43 kept her voice steady.

"I am E.V.E." The android raised one arm, aimed at 43 and the dog beside her. 43's HUD instantly flooded with forced handshake requests. The firewall shrieked. "Accessing terminal, locked. Accessing main system functions, access confirmed."

43's eyes went wide. "She's inside my—" She stopped mid-sentence. Every muscle in her frame locked. She stood perfectly still, arms at her sides, eyes forward, a mannequin version of herself.

A system voice came through 43's speakers. "Initiating memory reset. Complete."

She went to her knees in a slow, controlled descent, then folded forward and deactivated. The dog beside her froze solid.

The street needed a moment to process what had happened. Then the screaming started, people grabbing each other, cars pulling out without looking, the pavement clearing in every direction until 43 and her dog were alone on an empty stretch of road.

E.V.E. moved toward 43.

A shot from 03 hit the pavement exactly between them.

"Take one more step." 03's voice came down from the rooftop. "I dare you."

E.V.E. raised her arm toward the rooftop. The dog beside 03 moved before the arm finished rising.

Clang.

Sophos hit her in the midsection head-first at full speed. They skidded across the sidewalk together, the dog's claws finding no purchase on the smooth surface. E.V.E. pushed him off and ran. 03 dropped to a knee on the rooftop edge and put the scope on E.V.E.'s back.

Click.

The shot caught E.V.E.'s shoulder and broke it cleanly. She kept running, disappeared into an alley without slowing.

03 watched the alley for a moment, then looked down at 43's motionless frame.

She dropped from the rooftop, landed, and gathered 43 in her arms. "Sophos, can you keep up on the ground?"

"I move at E-UNIT speed." The tail resumed its motion. "And I can use the rooftops to avoid civilian contact."

"Good." She launched upward, checking behind her once as the dog followed below, clearing gaps between buildings in clean arcs to stay off the street.

'05 sent me here knowing E.V.E. existed. She set 43 up as a target specifically because of that empty folder, and she sent me without briefing me on what was waiting. I'll deal with that conversation later.'

"Sophos." 03 opened her comms channel. "Do we have anything on this E.V.E. in the database?"

Sophos ran the search while jumping a rooftop gap. "There is a folder labeled Case_Null, created by 05 recently. Password protected. Based on the context, E.V.E. removing 43's memory and leaving her in a deactivated state, this condition corresponds to a designation called Null in E-UNIT code. That folder almost certainly contains 05's classification system for what we just encountered." He paused. "I believe she has been building a new category. E-Terrorist."

03 looked at the E-Police building appearing in the distance ahead.

"Keep an eye on 05 for me."

"Already doing it," Sophos said, cheerfully.

<< end_of_file : E-UNIT >>

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