E-UNIT: The Blue Angels of Death.

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

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Several days passed. The weather turned colder and sharper in a way that caught people mid-stride, coats came out fast, windows stopped staying open, balconies stopped holding laundry. The cleaning crews in green moved through the streets working on the drainage systems, getting everything ready for the first rainfall.

The E-Police station ran quieter than usual. The units on shift took their patrols seriously and the city had started to settle into the presence of the androids, though children never stopped breaking into smiles at the faces looking back at them.

The ones without shifts today, including the G-Bots, had gathered with 01 around the hovering table in the main meeting room. 05, 03, 04, and 07 on one side. Delta, Gamma, Tau, and Pi across from them. 01 at the head with two screens open and Sophos in his orb form beside her.

"I don't like how you're all looking at me." 03 moved her eyes across the G-Bots one at a time. "We settled this. I apologized. There's no reason to keep at it, and I'm certain 02 isn't even this upset about it."

Pi struck the table with her forehead. The table shook.

Tau lowered her automatic mask and looked at 03. "N-Now I understand why she's your captain. H-How are you this casual when 02 is out there missing a leg with an enemy connected to her? I can't stop replaying the mission briefing."

"Can we please not restart this." 01 rubbed her temple. "Everything is happening at once and we need to divide the team correctly for what comes next. We also have a new threat to address, which is exactly what was missing from our schedule."

Sophos spoke in his usual even tone. "Correct. 05 and I have been working on the attacker who deleted 43's system. We've assembled a profile on the unit designated E.V.E. 05 has the details."

05 opened three screens simultaneously. "Full designation: Environment Vector Encoder. Former occupation: system installer at a robot factory in Altea, Elysium now. The factory found a faster unit to do her job and did what that industry does best. She has been operating under Black Voltage since March."

Sophos continued. "We've classified her as an E-Terrorist. She attacks robots at the system level. Nick Rivera's base code is unhackable, so direct control wasn't available to her, she deleted 43's system entirely as the next available option. She also attempted to physically retrieve 43, 05"

05 nodded. "She couldn't install a replacement system on-site. Her intent was to take 43 to a secure location and decode her properly there. 43 still carries the connection handshake from the initial contact, she can sense when E.V.E. gets close."

Delta leaned back in her chair. "Why don't we locate their base and move on it? E.V.E. might be able to take some of us down, but not all at once."

"We think she might be able to." 04 kept her voice level. "Her former role was bulk installation, simultaneous system access across multiple units. We don't know the exact ceiling. Altea's archives are under Elysium's control now, but we have records of human technicians running the same function across fourteen thousand E-UNITs at once. Dave did exactly that."

07 flinched.

"And there's something worse." 05 hesitated before continuing. "The same factory employed an anti-rebellion unit, designed to hunt and force-shutdown rogue robots that attempted to flee or resist. They eventually decommissioned it because the hardware was too dangerous. We've confirmed contact between it and E.V.E."

"A-And they don't maintain a fixed base." 07's voice came out smaller than she intended. "T-T-They keep relocating—" She felt the eyes at the table and her voice faded.

04 tilted her head. "07, are you alright?"

"Yes. Completely. Very." Her head went down.

Delta looked at 04. "You put a hole in her chest when you went rogue. That's probably part of it."

Pi and Tau both went wide-eyed. Pi stood. "They shoot each other here too? Where exactly did we land, some wild west police station?"

"I am done with this." 03 pushed her chair back and stood. "You've been complaining since the moment you were revived. If you can't handle how we operate, find somewhere else where your attitude gets a warmer reception. Go find 02 yourself, you'd last ten minutes before a Mecha-worm worked out what to do with you."

"Or what, you'll shoot me like you did her?" Pi crossed her arms.

03 reached behind her and brought the Liberta 01 up to Pi's face. "You can see ten seconds ahead. Let's see it."

Gamma turned to the window. Then she was gone, yellow blur, out of the room.

Everyone turned toward where she'd been. Pi's expression changed. "No! She's already here!"

"Who?" 01 looked around.

Crash.

The large windows behind 01 shattered inward. E.V.E. came through head-first, glass breaking into small pieces around her. She landed on the table in a crouch, white and gold robe settling around her as she rose. Her eyes moved across the room.

"Searching for high-threat target: E-UNIT 43. Not present." She scanned the faces. "This meeting is a decoy to conceal the primary target's location."

03 snapped the Liberta 01 toward her face. "Use the front door." She went to press the trigger, and froze. Not by choice. E.V.E. had her arm extended toward 03, 04, 05, and 07 at the same time. All four of them locked mid-motion, faces going flat and expressionless.

"Initiating system deletion." E.V.E. turned right.

Clang.

Delta's fist caught her in the gut. E.V.E. crossed the room at speed, hit the far wall, and came to rest on the floor staying there.

Pi had her scythe out, twice her height, pointed at the downed android. "What an entrance you made." She looked around the shattered room, at the frozen E-UNITs, they were standing exactly as they'd been at the moment of the lock, mid-deletion, eyes blank. At Delta standing with her fists raised. Then her eyes swept the head of the table. The chair was empty. "And where is 01?"

E.V.E. forced herself upright. "Accessing G-Bot systems: unsuccessful. Reason: organic soul architecture, no compatible system found." She paused. "Launching emergency protocol: Hardware Hacking — OverDose."

A second android came through the broken window.

Where E.V.E. was elegant and angular, this one was something else entirely, a smooth featureless white helmet fitted with angular cat ears and a glowing neon-blue smile rendered across the faceplate. Bright blue hair flowing down the back like live data streams. A short blue pleated skirt over vivid blue synthetic legs, ending in white and black robotic heeled boots.

OverDose landed and struck the floor. Blue circles spread outward from the impact points, one appearing beneath each G-Bot in the room. A floating menu materialized near each of their heads, the same interface type Shelly had used on Reaper. Most entries were greyed out. Two remained active: Switch Off and Freeze.

OverDose waved her hand and pulled all the menus toward herself. She slid her finger across Switch Off for each one in sequence.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

All four G-Bots went to their knees at the same moment, and when Delta hit the floor, the ground cracked outward in a ring from the impact. One by one they bent forward and stayed there, motionless.

"What an overcomplicated design. Why aren't they battery-powered? I've never seen this architecture before, I need to study them properly."

E.V.E. looked at the frozen E-UNITs. "Their systems are caught in a deletion loop. Resolution: locate E-UNIT 43 independently and complete the process at a confirmed position."

OverDose crossed her arms. "I understand, there's no need to repeat it." She opened a screen. "We should—" Yellow eyes appeared behind the screen. "When did you—"

Clank.

Gamma's fist connected with OverDose's jaw and sent her out of the building entirely, tumbling to the grass below. The white plastic of her faceplate cracked along half its surface from the speed of the impact alone.

Gamma turned toward E.V.E. "Attacking us directly took considerable decision-making. I'll give you that." She reached back, two knives formed at her shoulders. She took her stance.

"Threat assessment: G-Bot Gamma." E.V.E. raised her arm toward the floor. "Counter-strategy: threaten the revival center. If she does not withdraw, initiation proceeds."

“Wow, wait!” Gamma dissolved the knives immediately. "Leave the area peacefully and this ends here."

"Negotiation accepted." E.V.E. moved to the broken window and paused there, looking back. "Probability of future encounter: 80 percent. Your looped sisters will need attention in the interim." She dropped from the window, reached OverDose below, and the two of them cleared the area at a speed that wasn't what either of them had looked capable of.

Gamma crossed to the frozen E-UNITs. They were standing in the exact positions they'd held at the moment of the lock, mid-motion, mid-expression, eyes cycling a faint blue-white pulse every few seconds. She tapped their heads. Nothing resolved.

"Why haven't they revived? Where is 01?" She looked at the G-Bots on the floor, all four of them motionless, powered down. The room was quiet in the specific way that follows a failure on more than one level. “I need to call Dave and 19.”

She ran.

At the doorway, E-UNIT officers had begun to arrive, stopping at the threshold and taking in the scene, sisters frozen mid-action, G-Bots down, glass across the table, and 01 simply gone.

<< end_of_file : E-UNIT >>

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