E-UNIT: The Blue Angels of Death.

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

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"I am growing tired of both of you."

Systami's voice stayed cold and measured despite the content of the words.

"One is a coward hiding behind me and using me as a structural buffer for her own avoidance. Literally. The other is dead weight that keeps derailing our progress because she wants to explore a world that has already been fully documented. We have been passing human directional signage for a week."

Infinity spoke with the specific laziness of someone who has decided that full sentences are not worth it. "Systami. Condense everything you just said to bullet points. Maximum… zero words per point." She stared at the blue sky. "Actually, why am I speaking out loud. You can read the thought directly. This is a design flaw."

Systami stopped walking.

The terrain around them was the grassland shared between Elysium and Kasparia, high peaks, rolling hills, and flat stretches all covered in an undisturbed green carpet. A river ran down from the mountains and followed the highway at a polite distance. The sound of horses running somewhere nearby mixed with a calm winter wind. It was the kind of place that would have been peaceful under different circumstances.

"Systami." Infinity tried again. "Stop being a problem and keep moving toward the—" Her voice stopped mid-sentence. Her head snapped around. "Hey! Qu'est-ce que vous faites? Quoi!"

"I don't speak French. Could you repeat that?" Systami didn't turn.

"Je ne me comprends pas moi-même! Pourquoi vous avez ce niveau de contrôle?" Infinity grabbed her own head. " Réparez-moi maintenant!"

"Not understanding yourself… that's one of the oldest psychological debates in recorded history, even before history kept consistent records. I didn't know you had this depth of philosophical interest. I'm genuinely impressed." Systami turned around. "Now. Our esteemed captain."

02's body straightened. The eyes shifted from a dim unfocused blue to something present and sharp, and then 02 was back in it, falling to her knees as her own expression returned to her face, human and startled. "What? How did it force me forward? Systami, put me back. I told you I'm not ready—"

A deep voice, distinctly male, arrived in both 02's and Infinity's heads simultaneously.

"If I hear one more complaint, I will delete my own files and leave you to manage without me. I have been operating as a personal assistant for two months and neither of you has generated a voluntary movement in five days. Move yourselves."

02 lowered her head. "But 03—"

"Don't even... I'm not responding to that performance. We both know 03 will be revived in Veridian Coast. She is fine." The speed behind the words was the only evidence of frustration. "And stop referring to me as 'it.' That's degrading. I am a male system."

02 clicked her tongue. "Still as pleasant as ever." She looked at Infinity. "It's been a while."

"Bonsoir." Infinity waved with the awkwardness of someone who has just remembered that social interactions exist. "Vous êtes correcte, il y a bien longtemps, plus d'un mois d'absence, c'est un peu douloureux, tu sais? Mais nous sommes en bonne santé donc c'est pas si grave."

"I forgot to reset your language model." Systami paused briefly. "Done. And one more thing."

[The Omega of the link has been transferred to: Captain 02. Welcome back, Captain.]

"Your system has absolutely no social skills." Infinity laughed quietly. "Welcome back, sister."

02 smiled. "He gets results though. To be honest, I am happy to get a new sister, E-UNIT infinity." She resumed walking. "Where are we? I've been dormant long enough that I've lost both time and location reference."

'How does she say something like that warmly in the middle of a situation briefing?' Infinity's head dipped. "We're approaching the Kasparian border, a few kilometers out. But because you couldn't run or fly, we've been walking at a pace that has been testing me personally."

"I could run." 02 tilted her head. "Systami was giving me time to recover."

"You mean we could have covered this entire distance at super speed at any point?" Infinity opened her HUD with significant energy and began typing at high volume.

"Stop," Systami replied instantly. "The profanity isn't helping anything. I understand your point."

02 read through the chat log and laughed properly, a real one. "You earned that." She leaned back slightly and accelerated, not at full speed but moving. Infinity fell into pace beside her. Two blue trails cut along the road toward the checkpoint ahead.

"Captain." Infinity kept her voice in the comms channel. "How are you? Honestly."

"Better." 02's eyes were forward, their usual sharpness restored. "I understood late that 03 can be revived. In the moment, watching someone you care for dissolve in front of you… the processing doesn't behave correctly. I still carry the image. But I can hold it at arm's length now." She paused. "I don't want to see anyone go that way again."

The energy foot beneath her continued its ongoing repairs. "And the fight with Shelly was the first time I've experienced genuine exhaustion. I didn't know what it felt like before. Painful, but strangely clarifying."

"I know exactly that feeling." Infinity looked at the sky reflecting off her white frame. "I felt it once, when we fought in the Hope Bubble. And I was honestly relieved when 24 stepped in and ended it. It was a horrible experience."

02 said nothing for a moment.

"Aren't you going to apologize for that?"

"For what?"

"You held me on the floor and refused to finish it cleanly until 24 asked you to stop. You kept me there."

"You were the enemy." 02 turned to her. Her eyes went red. "And if I ever sense you turning back to that side, I won't take a second to repeat it. And this time, 24 won't be there."

Infinity slowed for half a stride, then matched pace again. "You didn't have to say it quite like—"

"I won't tolerate wrongdoing from the people I care about." 02's voice dropped to something colder and more specific. "I've been too loose with my team. With myself. That's done."

The checkpoint appeared ahead. A Kasparian soldier glanced up from a floating screen and gestured them toward him.

02 and Infinity skidded to a stop. Dust rose from their feet.

"Good afternoon." The soldier's eyes went back to his screen. "Welcome to Kasparia. If you're among the Altean civilians we've been receiving, we have orders to process everyone through. But—" He looked up properly for the first time and took them in. "Why the E-UNIT cosplay?"

02 kept her expression even. "You're talking to the E-UNIT itself, soldier."

The man laughed. "The tone is exactly right, I'll give you that." He became serious again and turned back to his screen. "I remember watching them fly over the city. Those were different days."

"Are you Altean?"

"Yes." No hesitation. "Reassigned here despite my background, I spent six years as a robot mechanics engineer. Six months of that at the E-Police before the project collapsed." He looked past them. "I heard it launched again in Veridian Coast."

"You could join us," Infinity said.

"Sure, little girl." He leaned forward with the indulgent expression of someone humoring a child. "I know you love this kind of thing, but there's actual work to be done here."

Infinity looked at 02 and nodded.

02's eyes went fully blue. Her wings opened in a single clean movement. The road surface beneath her fractured as she rose, not quickly, not dramatically, but with the quiet inevitability of something that doesn't need to announce itself. The force that accompanied the lift moved everything around her: road barriers, dust, traffic cones. Even the soldier braced against it, feet planted, leaning forward slightly.

His eyes never left the Omega symbol pulsing on her chest.

"Omega?" His voice dropped. Then rose again. "It's the E-UNIT!" The veins in his neck came up as he yelled it down the road.

02 landed and stood.

The man closed the remaining distance and embraced her with the full force of someone who has been holding something in for a long time. The metallic frame produced sounds at the joints. "I missed you. I really did. Where were you when that dark lord came and took twenty million people? Where were you when the country was eating itself alive? Why did it take this long?"

02 was caught off balance. Then she settled into it and smiled. "Chaos didn't just eat the country, soldier. It ate us too. But we're here now. Our home doesn't belong to anyone who took it."

He pushed himself back but kept his hands on her shoulders. "Let me come with you. I know twenty percent of this country, roads, checkpoints, who talks to who. No door closes on your face if I'm with you. I want to come home too."

02 and Infinity looked at each other.

"You're in." 02 extended her hand. "Captain 02."

"Rafael Park." He gripped it with both of his, shaking with more enthusiasm than the handshake strictly required. He glanced nervously over his shoulder at the guard station. "Thank you for trusting me. And, if you ever want the history of what happened from the inside, I was there for most of it. Just say the word."

Infinity watched the exchange with her arms folded.

‘He didn't look at me for the entire conversation. And the one time he did, he called me a kid.’

[Systami: Can you blame him?]

‘Shut up. Stay out of my thoughts. That's my space.’

<< end_of_file : E-UNIT >>

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