2039.
"I want to maximize the output, honestly."
The voices sounded muffled.
"We can't. I tested it on one of them before, and it destroyed her completely. This is one of the few active units left to test on."
The vision was glitching violently. The CPU was close to burning out, yet it continued to function, enduring the pain.
"Who cares? Just steal parts from the other robots we have in storage."
She had been trapped in this dark room for a very long time. Even before the first portable sonic weapon had ever been built.
"This time I'm going to make the waves denser. We can't just amplify the frequency again, she'll be destroyed in seconds. Look at her pathetic state." Albert's voice finally became clear and distinct.
11 slowly opened her optics. Her HUD spasmed uncontrollably. She felt enormous pain. The one sensation every being wishes to avoid. And she had been feeling it every day for years. She hung from her wrists, restrained by metal cuffs that lifted her slightly above the floor. Her left arm was nearly torn off, held together only by a cluster of wires. The three men spoke behind reinforced glass, just like every other day.
Jason sat in front of the control panel. "Wallmore, you need to find a solution for the energy consumption. You can't let this weapon drain that much power."
Wallmore shook his head while scanning notes on his tablet. "I want to develop a new type of battery cell, but we've already spent eighty percent of the research budget on the—" He glanced toward Albert. "—the amplification chamber."
Albert scoffed. "Brother, stop blaming me for once, please. We needed that money. The number of rooms we tested just to make this weapon portable exceeded dozens." He folded his arms. "And the materials aren't easy to obtain. You know that."
Jason sighed loudly. "I miss moments like this when Nick would run in like a fourteen-year-old, screaming that he found a solution." He leaned back in his chair. "That man loved his work."
Wallmore kept reading. "We can't rely on him anymore… Jason."
Jason turned toward him almost desperately. "Then go talk to Tamer or whoever. We need Nick. I know he's mainly a programmer, but the guy understands physics better than anyone."
Wallmore finally set his tablet down. "I know that. Stop repeating the same argument." He adjusted his glasses. "Tamer won't allow him to do anything except finish that prototype."
Albert joined the conversation. "…The gravity control system." He leaned against the glass. "I saw some of the test results. Honestly, if Nick finishes that project properly, we won't even need this sonic weapon." He smirked slightly. "I saw that machine bending light itself."
Jason shrugged. "Then let him build it." He glanced toward the test chamber. "For now, we still have work here. Our little girl is waking up."
11 tried to remain completely still. Pretending to be inactive. Her internal gyros screamed as she locked her servos, fighting the urge to twitch as sparks danced across her severed arm. She played dead, praying they would just go home.
Jason laughed into the microphone. "No, my blue-haired girl. I saw those little optics shine. Time to test the weapon again."
11 began crying quietly, her voice glitching. "P-P-please… k-k-kill—" Her voice cut off completely.
Albert shook his head. "Great. By the end of this test, I'll have to steal parts from the other E-UNITs again." He sighed. "I hate that storage bunker. It looks like a graveyard of Nick's girls. Sometimes one of them jumpscares me when their eyes glitch in the dark."
Jason and Wallmore burst into laughter.
Jason spoke between breaths. "Seriously? A dead robot girl scared you? Pathetic."
Wallmore adjusted his glasses. "Alright, enough. I want to finish this test and go home. It's already eight in the evening. My wife won't stop complaining if I'm late again."
Jason leaned forward toward the control panel. "Fine. Let's wrap this up for Wallmore's wife." He began reading the parameters. "Wallmore, note this down: Amplification equals 1.5, voltage 1500 volts, stress level below three."
"Perfect," Wallmore said while typing. "Start the test."
11 slowly raised her head. Electronic tears streamed down her face.
Jason pressed the button.
Suddenly, the room shook violently.
A small experimental device, its motherboard still exposed, released a concentrated blast of sonic waves. They were devastating. The waves were far denser this time. The lights above flickered wildly as the vibrations tore through the chamber.
11's body began tearing apart again. Not enough to trigger a full system shutdown. Just enough to ensure she could still feel everything. Her HUD flickered harder than ever. Pain surged through every circuit from head to toe. It had been this way for years.
Then the attack stopped. The machine was unstable. It needed time to refill the chamber with compressed air.
11's vision grew blurry. Her right audio receptor shut down completely. The wires holding her damaged arm finally snapped. The other restraints soon followed, leaving her hands hanging uselessly in the cuffs. Electric sparks burst from her broken frame. Her body refused to move.
Albert groaned loudly. "Not again. You couldn't even survive a 1.5 amplitude test?"
Jason laughed even louder, slapping his knee repeatedly. "Oh no… now he has to go back to the ghost room again." He pointed toward Albert. "Wallmore, you should film his face this time."
Wallmore smirked. "I can already picture it."
Jason shouted. "Exactly!"
Wallmore finished typing his report. "Alright. That's enough for today." He turned off several monitors. "Tomorrow, same time." Then he looked at Jason. "And Jason… don't be late. I'll need help with the battery cells."
Jason stood up. "No problem." He stretched. "Can you deactivate the device completely? I still need to report today's results to Tamer."
Albert grumbled. "That man doesn't understand half the science behind these weapons." He shook his head. "Yet he orders us around like he does." He mocked the voice sarcastically. "'Amplify it more… improve the waves.' Like how?"
Jason opened the door while Albert followed him. "Well… he's the boss now." He paused. "Vegas is dead."
Their voices faded as they left the room. Wallmore remained behind, powering down the machine. As he finished, he noticed 11 twitching slightly. He opened the reinforced chamber door and walked inside. Kneeling beside her broken body, he sighed. "What a miserable existence." He stared at her coldly. "I can't stand your face, you know that?"
He stood up slowly. "Nick stole the project from us… He stole the credit for the hardware we built, just because he wrote the code that made you cry. And now you're paying the price." He walked toward the exit. "We have plenty of active E-UNITs we could test on. But why bother?" He glanced back at her. "Keeping you here is easier." "And all of you share the exact same face anyway." His expression hardened. "It wouldn't change how I see your kind." He paused for a moment. "I'd love to kill you right now. A small bit of revenge for what Nick did to us."
He sighed. "But we still need a test subject."
"Sadly."
Wallmore switched off the final lights in the lab. Darkness swallowed the room. He looked one last time at her broken frame. "Nick… you really messed up, my friend." The door closed behind him.
Present, 2051.
"Captain?"
She didn't answer.
"Captain."
She was deep inside her memories.
P140 gently shook her captain's shoulder. "Captain."
11 finally returned from the past. She blinked and looked around. Three members of her team were surrounding her. They were being deployed to the west inside the AC-130. She was sitting at the far corner near the cockpit. The rest of the unit was scattered throughout the aircraft, though most eyes were quietly fixed on her.
11 blinked again. "Sorry. I was reviewing some footage from our last training."
P140 sat beside her. "Captain, you have never been this calm before. Is everything okay? We know the loss of P103 was not easy for you, and we appreciate how much it meant to you. But please don't think about it this much. Seeing you like this…"
11 paused for a moment, then smiled faintly. "Don't worry about it." She placed an arm around P140's shoulders and looked toward the other two standing in front of her. "I had a team before," she continued. "I know how heavy responsibility can become sometimes. But I have never lost a soldier before."
Her gaze drifted toward the small window across from her. "I will work harder to make sure I never lose any of you again, girls. But what scares me is how easily they deleted her… and how that affected Lord Reaper."
P122 tilted her head slightly. "Lord Reaper too?"
"Yes." 11 nodded slowly. "That action from their side alone changed how he looks at the E-UNIT. Just wait. You will see some extreme decisions from him very soon."
The trio smiled at her words.
11 straightened slightly and looked toward the back of the aircraft. "Status."
"Twelve minutes from the drop zone," P138 answered from the rear of the hold. "Western border surveillance is still sparse. Obsidian's map shows two patrol gaps we can slip through."
The cabin suddenly fell quiet, except for the constant roar of the engines and the faint vibration of the aircraft's metal frame. Then P127, who had taken the window seat on the left side, leaned forward slightly. She said nothing at first. Then quietly, "Captain… what is that?"
11 didn't move. "What."
"Below us." P127's voice was careful. "There are robots training in that field. Near an abandoned structure."
Several E-PHONEUS turned their heads toward the window.
11 stood up. "I know that location." She crossed the cargo hold in four quick steps and looked through the porthole. "That's where my old captain, 02, experienced the sonic—" She suddenly went completely still.
P127 continued slowly. "They don't look like mechs. They look like… E-UNITs. But different. One of them just duplicated herself."
The field below stretched wide and open. Green grass under a gray sky, with cold rain beginning to fall across the landscape. Six figures moved across the field with unmistakable energy signatures. Crystal output. 11 knew those readings instantly. She had studied them for weeks. G-Bots. Her optics adjusted, zooming further. Then she saw the white coat standing near the hangar entrance. Then she saw the blue hair.
02 was standing in the field. Omega's body. Moving like a captain. And beside her, gesturing toward a floating holographic screen with the same restless energy 11 had spent twenty-five years trying to forget—
Nick.
11 slowly stepped back from the window. Her hand found the edge of the cargo door. She gripped it tightly. "Continue the mission," she said. Her voice was perfectly steady. "P140 leads. Western border as ordered. Full stealth. No contact until I signal."
P140 stood immediately. "Captain—"
"Continue the mission," 11 repeated. She looked at P140 for exactly one second. Something in her eyes ended the conversation.
P140 slowly sat back down. "Roger."
11 pulled the cargo door release. The door burst open and wind screamed into the cargo hold. Her cloak snapped violently behind her in the rushing air. She stepped to the edge and looked down at the small figures moving in the field far below.
Her optics locked onto Nick one last time. Then she jumped. The cold air swallowed her instantly. Her thrusters ignited in a controlled burn, slowing her descent into a silent arc away from the hangar's line of sight. Rain streaked past her as the ground rapidly grew closer.
As she fell, she opened a direct communication line to the throne room.
"Lord Reaper." She watched the hangar grow larger beneath her. "I found them."