The Hangar. 09:10 AM.
The morning could not be calmer. Life inside the hangar had been stable since the false attack of the Tau copy. Systems were running smoothly. Patrol shifts were organized. No alarms. No tension. 02 was on the rooftop with Beta for training. She was pushing Beta's capabilities to the limit, just to see if there truly was no ceiling, as Nick once claimed.
02 stood beside Beta. A training dummy made of random scrap materials was positioned fifty meters away. 02 focused on the target. Beta's eyes were closed as she imagined the dark-room scenario they had practiced before. Pi and Gamma sat farther back to avoid friendly fire.
02 spoke quietly. "Do you have the arsenal in mind?"
"Yes," Beta replied.
"Can you freely browse it? Was my update successful?"
"Very, Captain."
"Each weapon I name, add your touch to it as we discussed and spawn it in my hand." 02 adjusted her posture. "Clear your mind."
"Roger!" Beta opened her eyes. They glowed red with determination.
"Liberta 02!" 02 shouted.
Beta focused on 02's hands. The sniper formed in record time, half a second. The weapon was white, with glowing red lines stretching along the barrel. The scope was now a floating marker, projecting detailed spatial data in midair.
"Double Eagle!"
The sniper hovered, glowing red like a silhouette, then reshaped itself into dual pistols. Same pattern, white metal, red handles, refined edges.
"Modified M16!"
The pistols dissolved, merged into one entity, and became a thick M16 with a large magazine. The scope this time was smaller, optimized for close combat clarity.
02 shifted her stance. "Giant magazine LMG!"
The assault rifle dissolved again and reformed into a long-barreled, heavy light machine gun with an oversized drum magazine.
"Perfect!" 02 clapped once. "Now we try vehicles. Are the blueprints ready?"
"Yes… but I'm a little stressed," Beta admitted, her focus wavering.
Gamma smirked. "Beta, you don't look cute. Just incompetent. Captain hates when you do this. Just spawn them already."
Beta instantly spawned Liberta 02 and aimed it at Gamma, pretending to tremble. "Oh no! I'm losing control. What if my finger slips and presses the—" She stopped mid-sentence.
Gamma had already disarmed her with extreme speed and was inspecting the sniper closely. "What an amazing attention to detail! Every millimeter has a small Beta symbol engraved."
Beta raised her hand. The weapon slipped from Gamma's grip and flew high into the air. It rotated and aimed directly at Gamma. "You thought you could steal my weapons from me?" Beta said confidently.
Pi tilted her head slightly. "How can you control it this freely?"
02 answered, "We need this level of control for the final spawning type. Beta, take position. Full focus."
"Roger!" Beta saluted and returned to face the dummy.
02 extended a holographic screen. "Beta, I have full access to your system here. Everything is ready. I modified your ability so you can spawn any military vehicle you have a blueprint for."
Beta closed her eyes again. A red aura began filling the rooftop. Her eyes turned fully crimson, the same way Omega's did when she activated her full potential.
"Apache helicopter," 02 said calmly while monitoring Beta's system metrics.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Only the red aura and faint electrical sparks surrounding Beta. Her body trembled slightly, but she remained stable. Condensed matter began to vent from her chassis, escaping her armor as thousands of glowing red micro-particles.
Gamma rolled her eyes. "Beta… you forgot to make the helicopter. We appreciate the light show but—"
02 smiled without looking at her. "Gamma. Look up."
Gamma and Pi slowly lifted their heads.
The helicopter was already halfway formed in the sky.
Red particles from the surrounding air were gathering in real time, stitching together piece by piece. It was as if an invisible 3D printer was building it in midair. The red light advanced slowly, constructing the Apache from the cockpit to the tail. This took far longer than the weapons. Mechanical parts, rotors, missile pods, each component materialized gradually.
When the light finally stopped, the Apache hovered above them.
Beta could not hold it any longer.
02 noticed instantly. "Beta, step two, now!"
A copy of Beta spawned inside the cockpit the same way the helicopter had been formed. The clone immediately took control the moment it fully materialized.
The original Beta collapsed.
02 caught her carefully, smiling. "You did it! You can be proud now."
Beta smirked weakly. "Why… don't we… try… driving it…" Her words broke under heavy ventilation. Her cooling system was working at maximum capacity.
The helicopter descended smoothly. 02 entered while holding Beta and gestured to Gamma and Pi, who were still frozen in shock. She placed Beta in the back seat and moved to the front. The copy of Beta piloted the helicopter silently. She gestured toward her. The copy gestured back, indicating she could not speak.
02 sighed softly. Slight disappointment. Gamma suddenly jumped forward, landing partly over 02's seat from behind. Pi descended calmly and settled on 02's lap.
"Captain," Pi said flatly, "explain. I am barely able to process what happened. The shock is overwhelming."
"Yeah… you look extremely shocked," 02 replied sarcastically. "Beta and I developed code allowing her to spawn any vehicle from blueprint data. The main issue was: what if there's no pilot? So we examined Tau's code from Father's PC and replicated parts of it, with modifications, to let Beta use Tau's duplication method. They both manipulate the same matter framework."
Beta's copy gave a silent thumbs up while piloting.
The original Beta was still cooling down in the back.
Pi nodded slowly. "That is actually impressive. Reusing the same assets with different applications." She paused. "Since when can you code?"
02 smiled faintly. "I was curious about how I functioned. So I started studying my own code a long time ago."
"Creepy," Pi replied in the same monotone voice. "You should seek medical—never mind. We don't require psychologists."
02 laughed lightly. "You're learning." She turned forward. "Beta, let's try a lap."
The copy smirked and instantly accelerated upward.
***
Minutes later, the team spotted Nick, Alpha, Tau, and Delta standing in the grass field surrounding the hangar. Giant rocks were scattered around them. It was clear Delta's training session had moved outside. The helicopter descended gracefully beside Nick. Alpha instantly took a defensive stance, shielding her father. Nick tapped her shoulder. The white-and-red color scheme of the helicopter was familiar to him. Alpha stepped back.
The side door slid open. 02 stepped out first, holding Pi. Gamma and Beta followed. Beta had already restored most of her energy, the crystal inside her required a cooldown period between heavy usage sessions.
Nick stood there in visible shock. He approached Beta. "How did you—? Just last week you were struggling to generate a sniper." He turned toward the cockpit window. "And who's driving?"
"Me," Beta replied flatly.
Her copy waved at Nick from inside.
Nick walked closer to the cockpit, inspecting the duplicate. Then he turned to 02. "She can't speak, right?"
02 nodded. "How did you know?"
"I faced the same issue years ago." Nick adjusted his glasses. "The fix isn't simple. You need to—" He expanded a holographic screen. "—create a dedicated page for voice input generation."
02 gently set Pi down and stepped beside Nick, observing as he typed at extreme speed. "I see," 02 said. "The language model can't properly bind to the speaker driver. It needs a dedicated interface so both processes can locate each other."
"Exactly," Nick replied without slowing down. "And the real issue is continuous updates. Every time you introduce a new word—" Their conversation dissolved into rapid technical jargon. Code streams floated in midair as both typed relentlessly.
The G-Bots stood in silence, watching.
Alpha approached Beta. "So… how are you doing?" Her eyes were subtly fixed on 02.
"Fine," Beta answered casually. "Spawning that Apache wasn't easy. My system felt like it was sweating internally."
Delta joined them. "Are they…?"
Pi replied flatly, slightly irritated that 02 had left her aside. "I don't blame Father. When he said she was his best girl, I thought he was clinging to the past. Now I understand. And even that description was insufficient. They look like two halves of the same brain when they work."
Tau suddenly stuttered, "S-S-Stop glazing her."
Pi turned slowly. "What."
Tau's body began glowing orange. Her expression remained cold as she partially hid her mouth. "I-I said stop glazing her. Sh-she literally has no power. W-what makes her better?"
Beta smiled slightly. "Exactly. Even with her power sealed by Father, she's still amazing. The title 'Captain' means something different because of her."
02 glanced over and gestured. "Beta, update."
"There you go." Beta immediately moved to her side.
Gamma casually rested her arms on Tau's head. "Why do you hate her that much?!"
"Th-That's an understatement," Tau replied quietly. "I-I despise her, she stole our sister Omega."
"It wasn't her," Pi answered. "Father was the one who—"
"D-Doesn't matter!" Tau's voice rose for the first time.
Alpha stepped back. "Whoa, sis, calm down! We all love Pa, and we hate when someone treats him badly. But she's still our—"
"Don't s-say it!" Tau snapped sharply.
Nick returned at that exact moment. Tau's orange glow vanished instantly. "Welcome back, Father," she said calmly.
"Thank you." He didn't notice the tension. His eyes were fixed on his screen. "So, Delta. As discussed, lift one rock first. We'll increase weight gradually."
Delta, still slightly unsettled, nodded. "Sure…"
Nick dismissed the screen. "You look stressed. Don't worry. Alpha can lift one or two. You won't be crushed."
"Yeah…" Delta walked toward a massive rock three times her size. The rocks had been fused earlier using Alpha's melting fire energy, reshaped for stacking.
Nick tilted his head. "What's wrong with her?"
No one answered.
"Oookay…" He opened Delta's terminal, visibly uneasy.
02 and Beta stepped closer to observe.
"Delta, lift one rock."
She lifted it effortlessly. "Done, Father. No surcharge."
Nick smiled. "Good. Alpha, add one on top."
Alpha lifted another rock and carefully placed it above the first. The bases had been reshaped to stack properly.
Delta held both with one hand. Alpha was already venting harder. "No problem."
Nick typed notes. "Alpha, another one."
Alpha struggled more. "This one… is… heavier…"
Clack.
It landed on top. Delta's hand didn't shake. "Easy," she said casually. No pride. No excitement.
Everyone stared.
Nick spoke carefully. "Alpha…"
Alpha attempted a fourth rock, her knees shaking, her internal cooling fans whining as she fought gravity.
Clack.
She dropped it onto the stack. Still no visible strain from Delta.
"Come on, add the fifth," Delta said plainly. Alpha simply collapsed backward onto the grass, her systems exhausted.
Nick slowly sat down as well, stunned. "I reinforced your frame but…" He stood again abruptly. "Delta. Different test. Throw one rock toward the mountains. There should be no civilians there."
"Okay."
She removed one rock and casually tossed it up and down like a ball. "Next destination: mountains." She stepped back and threw it. The air cracked like a whip. The rock vanished from sight almost instantly, breaking the sound barrier as it tore through the sky. Several seconds passed in dead silence.
CRASH.
A distant, thunderous impact rolled over the mountains. The distance was staggering.
Nick froze mid-typing. "What."
Pi approached him slowly. "Father… what did you create?"
"I… don't know." He turned sharply. "Another test!"
The remaining rocks were arranged in a straight line like dominos, tall, thick cuboids.
Nick stood beside Delta. "Run through them since I don't know your upper limit."
"Okay," she replied calmly.
She sprinted forward. Her speed was not extraordinary, but—
CRASH.
The first rock disintegrated from the sheer force. She redirected all output into leg torque and structural density. It didn't make her faster with that huge density. It made her unstoppable.
CRASH.
The second rock shattered.
CRASH.
The third exploded into a cloud of gravel. The team watched in absolute silence as she casually jogged through solid boulders as if they were made of brittle glass. No aura. No glowing energy. No transformation. Just raw, catastrophic physical force.
02 collapsed on the grass. Pi joined her.
"Let's just send her alone to face Reaper at this point," 02 said casually.
Pi nodded. "I'm afraid for him now."
02 glanced at her. "Yeah. It's all over your face."