V O L U M E . S I X : C O D E_R E S E T
Chapter 132: Embezzled Foundations
"How did you co up with that out of nowhere?" 03 was struggling to keep up with 02's pace through the Hope Bubble corridors. "We can't leave our ho because things got difficult."
"That's precisely why we're leaving." 02 didn't look at her, carrying a box of holographic PC projectors under one arm. "It stopped being safe and this is the only logical response. Why would we wait here until Reaper cos and dissolves us at the molecular level?"
"Because this is our ho." 03 pushed to match her stride. "Father built it himself. He planned everything, top to bottom. We can't just walk out."
"We absolutely can." 02 glanced sideways. "04, I know you're in the middle of the servers, but can you tell Dave to bring the G-Bot parts once he finishes with Delta? Thank you."
A thumb appeared from behind a server rack.
02 kept moving. "First, this building was not built with love. It was funded by money routed illegally from the E-UNIT project, arranged between Mikael and Dr. Nicholas Rivera. That's why when a heat-seeking rocket destroyed you at the factory, they couldn't repair you imdiately. The funds weren't available because they'd been redirected here."
03 went quiet, working through that.
"Second, father didn't build this himself. He effectively conscripted the E-dics for decades. No rest cycles, no proper charging intervals, they had to assign one E-dic specifically to collect the ones that had shut down from power loss and drag them to a charging station. Did you ever wonder why the repair bay is short on E-dic components?"
03 stopped walking. "Wait. How do you know that?"
"Third, he didn't plan this building at all. Thirty engineers and architects designed it. The automatic doors, the power systems, the crystal providing independent energy to the whole structure, none of that was Nick." 02 reached an intersection and slowed, looking left, then right. "03, where did you store the wireless drives? Which room?"
03 said nothing.
02 turned left without waiting. 03 followed in silence.
"I know this is an unusual thing to say to a robot," 02 said, not breaking stride. "But you need to grow up. The world is not as clean as you've been treating it, sub-captain. You're capable at a high level in most areas, but you're failing at the most basic one: recognizing when you're outmatched. Reaper alone was already beyond what we could manage. Now he has a team of enhanced units carrying crystal elents we don't fully understand yet. You cannot fight that from inside a bubble."
"I won't leave."
02 stopped.
"I said—" 03 moved around her and turned to face her directly. She was slightly shorter than the Oga body, which she seed aware of and chose to ignore. "I will not leave this place."
"03." 02's voice dropped in a way that wasn't a good sign. "This doesn't put just you at risk. Others will follow your lead. Fifteen thousand people are in this building."
"And?" 03 said. "You think I haven't thought about that? I'm not taking orders from a factory-reset 02 performing a role she doesn't rember holding."
02 set the box down.
"Last warning," she said. "I genuinely don't want to do this the other way."
"Do what?" 03 stepped closer. "Control ? You can't. And since the captain technically never ca back, I'm taking the post. I'll tell everyone to stay. What are you going to do, empty drive?"
02's eyes went red.
"You brought this on yourself." Her voice was completely level. "First, I'm not performing anything. This is how I am. I'm not reshaping myself to fit whoever you were used to. But the last ti soone perford that role for you, she robbed you of your sister while you watched old footage and called it training. I know that because 04 told . Without the filter."
03 threw a punch.
02 caught it without looking down.
"Second," she continued, holding it. "I understand why that spy lasted as long as she did. You can't make the most basic tactical decision because you're too attached to a garden buried underground. Your sentintality is putting fifteen thousand lives at risk."
03 tried to pull her hand back. 02 caught her by the collar instead and put her against the wall, close.
03 looked into the red eyes and understood, properly for the first ti, what 11 had felt at the parts graveyard.
"Third." 02's voice fell to almost nothing. "I don't tolerate inefficiency. Your old captain made things so easy for you that you can't even throw a punch correctly. You're a sniper who has never had to be anything else, because she covered everything else for you. And you stood there asking what makes her different from you, sa body, sa hardware, without ever once considering that the difference was effort."
03's eyes filled. "Please. I didn't an to—"
"Stop." 02 pressed her harder into the wall. "Listen to , 03. If you move to put our sisters at risk alongside your pride, I will take you apart and reassemble you after we leave. Your latest backup is current. I'll make sure this conversation is in it."
03 closed her eyes. Her vents were running at capacity. She couldn't look at her anymore.
02 released her and let her slide down the wall. She picked the box back up.
"You are the worst E-UNIT I have t. Your sentintality has cost you your sisters, your army, and your father, and you still haven't moved past it because you'd rather hold onto the feeling of this place than do what needs to be done."
She left.
03 curled against the wall, knees pulled up, face down. 04 had been listening from the server room. She crossed the corridor and sat beside her.
"03—"
"Go away."
"03—"
"Go!" 03 turned to her, face wet. "She's right. We sat here while everything outside burned."
"I didn't co here to say she's wrong," 04 said. "I ca to say you need ti to get used to who she is. The old captain was gentle with us. This one isn't."
"The old captain was never like that with us. Only with the enemy."
"And where did that end?" 04 looked at her. "Dave also told he can't get into 02's mory system without 05. He's too occupied with Delta right now."
03 went still. She stared at the white wall. Then her eyes moved down the corridor to where 02 had gone, taking the stairs at the far end.
"I wonder why you are defending her that much… Wait, that's not where the wireless drives are," 03 said slowly. "Where is she going?"
"Maybe 05's room."
They looked at each other.
They ran.
By the ti they reached the third floor, 02 was already standing outside 05's door.
"02, wait!" 03 called out.
02 didn't hear her.
The heavy glass door suddenly exploded inward, showering the corridor in a thousand glittering pieces.
03 and 04 stopped running.
05 ca flying out of the room sideways, slamming into the opposite wall with a heavy tallic crunch before dropping to her back. "What is wrong with you!" 05 scrambled to her feet, facing the door.
02 stepped out to et her. "We're leaving. Co on."
"What? Where did that even—"
02 looked at her. Red eyes, steady, illuminating the white corridor.
05 went quiet.
03 stood at the end of the hall with her arms crossed.
"Alright." She watched 05's expression do several things at once. "I think I might like this one."
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