E-UNIT: The Blue Angels of Death.

Chapter 125: Late Glow.

V O L U M E F I V E

Chapter 125: Late GlowDays had passed since Infinity marched out with the army. The Hope Bubble had been quiet in a way that felt less like peace and more like the aftermath of something, everyone still processing what had happened, still finding the edges of it.

Thud.

Dave dropped into his chair. "Is this what I do now? Build monsters, or build thousands of copies for the monsters to use. Either way the world gets destroyed faster and I'm the one who helped." He stared at the ceiling. "Betrayed twice."

"Twice?" 19 was lying across his desk, watching him.

"The first time was less obvious but more consequential." Dave leaned back. "I was sitting in my workshop when an old friend dropped a deactivated Reaper body on my table. That same friend turned out to be working for the government the whole time." He shook his head. "Nick put real time into building Reaper. I have to give him that."

19 turned to look at him properly. "Deactivated? Reaper was deactivated at some point?"

"He was updated after, so don't get excited." Dave smiled faintly. "Nick put ten extra Super Memory Chips inside him, each one a full backup. Those things can survive almost anything. I keep thinking I should update your SSD architecture one of these days."

19 pulled herself upright, folded her legs, and looked at him. "Are you alright? You've been talking around the actual subject for ten minutes."

"I mean—" Dave stood and started moving through the empty storage room, his voice coming back at him off the walls. "What's there to say? I told 05 this would happen. If someone carries another person's memories, they are functionally that person. That's not a philosophical position, it's just true. That spy was good—"

"05 figured it out almost immediately."

Dave stopped walking. He turned around. "That's not possible."

"It happened. The spy called her on it directly." 19's tone didn't shift. "Apparently 05 knew for days before the betrayal, and kept it to herself because she missed the captain enough to accept a copy over nothing. She slapped 01 when 01 said the same thing she already knew was true." A pause. "She's locked herself in a storage room now."

"The rest of you believed it though." Dave moved back to his desk and expanded a holographic screen, fingers moving through the air. "In my opinion that's the worse part."

19 leaned forward and stared at his hands. Then at the screen. Then at his hands again.

"Am I seeing this correctly? My Dave, using floating screen technology? Instead of that mechanical museum-worthy antique he usually drags everywhere?"

"Was insulting my laptop necessary?" Dave didn't look up. "That machine is like a distant relative. Show some respect."

19 rolled her eyes and settled back on the desk, legs swinging. "What's on the schedule today?"

"Nothing." He glanced at her.

"Seriously?"

"Yes." He looked at her properly for the first time. "I expected being your errand runner to be worse, honestly. Why are you still here? The memory wall is gone."

"I'm free AI." She pulled up her own screen. "I decide what I do. And what I want to do is watch you work and take notes." She expanded a document. "I'm mapping how our system actually functions. The deeper I look, the more I understand what father built. And talking to you is—" She hesitated. "Surprisingly natural."

"I see." Dave's expression warmed. He crossed to her, and looked over her shoulder at the notes. The warmth lasted about four seconds. "What are you doing. Half of this is wrong." He took the screen and started typing with the particular aggression of someone who cannot believe what they're reading. "This one, putting a system on the D drive is impossible. It is completely possible. You just reroute the bootable drive path."

19 tilted her head. "So I could have two personalities in one body?"

"Technically yes. It's unstable, but possible." He handed the screen back. "I have spare parts. We're building an E-UNIT from scratch. Come on, I'll show you while we—"

The door came off its frame.

07 stood in the entrance, catching her breath. "Emergency."

Dave closed his eyes.

"The real captain showed up. The actual one this time. She came in with 01 and 12." 07 pressed a hand to the wall. "You need to come."

19 tilted her head. " 02? The real one is actually alive?"

"Why is she out of breath," Dave muttered. He gestured at 19. "Fly us there. Now."

She grabbed him and lifted off, carrying him out of the factory at speed.

"Welcome, E-UNIT 01, E-UNIT 12, and Captain 02." The system announced it without ceremony.

The charging room had filled out as much as it could, fourteen E-UNITs lining the walls near the tunnel exit, with 07 and 19 arriving in the rear. Not many. The room had held far more once.

A low, dangerous hum filled the room. Plasma blades ignited, casting harsh orange and blue shadows against the white walls. Energy shields flared to life. The fourteen androids shifted instantly into a defensive perimeter, weapons leveled dead at the tunnel exit. After Infinity, nobody was taking chances.

01 came through first, clothes torn, battery nearly empty. She went straight for a charging station and dropped onto it. "Long walk. Even longer conversation." She looked at the assembled faces. "Manage your expectations. And lower the blades."

Nobody responded. They were all watching the tunnel.

Then the Omega symbol appeared in the dark, the blue glow coming first, then the shape of her, then the detail. She walked out carrying 12, her chest lit, eyes forward and focused. She was clutching an orange and white sphere against her chest, holding it with a tight grip.

The room held its breath. After Infinity, nobody moved quickly.

The light found her face.

02 stopped and looked at the group. "So these are the E-UNITs you told me about." Her voice was neutral, assessing. "The formation alone reads military."

Faces went unreadable across the room.

03 stepped forward. "Captain?" She stopped, looking at the mangled, one-armed, one-legged E-UNIT. "12, what happened to you?!"

02 glanced at 12. "The sub-captain?"

"Yes." 12 was unbothered, watching her sisters' faces rather than their words. "Good news and bad news. The good news, this is the real one. We confirmed it the hard way."

The E-Medics broke from the back of the group and took 12 immediately.

01 spoke from the charging station. "The bad news, she doesn't know any of us."

03 put her hand flat against the wall beside her. "Of course. Of course there's something else. Father, I swear I will dig up that grave just to—" She stopped. Turned to the door. "05 needs to hear this." She gestured blindly back toward 02, refusing to even look at her. "Have fun with the empty drive."

02 spoke quietly. "I'm sorry I'm not who you needed."

03 stopped.

"I can see how much this costs you, and I can't fix that. But I'll do whatever I can to make up for what's been lost—"

"I don't care anymore." 03's voice was completely, utterly flat. She stopped at the doorway. "One more thing, 01. You were right. She was an agent. And she took the army we built, and several of our sisters starting from 21." She didn't turn back. "Congratulations on being right."

She left.

02 lowered her head.

01 sat on the charging station and didn't move.

The others filed out, one by one, leaving the room quieter than it had been.

04 stayed. She approached 02 with a quiet, careful gentleness. "Don't take it personally. We've just come through the worst thing that's happened since, well. Give us some time." She tilted her head. "While that's happening, do you want to see the bubble? What father built here?"

02 looked up. "I can try. Though reaching through the wall—"

"Don't." 04 shook her head. "That's the trick. Don't try to read the old files. Build new ones instead." She smiled. "Come on. 01, join us when you're charged. There are things 03 left out that you should probably be the one to explain."

"Sure." 01's voice had no weight behind it.

02 followed 04 into the corridor, looking at the walls as they went. "The design is clean."

"Father loved things being right." 04's voice softened a little. "He really did."

Their voices carried back down the hall, and then didn't.