“What are you doing?” Reaper asked, raising his hands.

  “I think I asked you a question,” Shelly replied, her face hardening.

  The Reaper started laughing. Not a normal laugh. It mixed manic bursts with his deep voice, sounding almost evil. Almost.

  He pushed the blade aside and stood up.

  Shelly did not move. She could not. Reaper had already frozen her in place.

  He began circling her slowly, inspecting what his father had created.

  “You are a coward,” Shelly said with disgust.

  “Better than a crazy cute girl waving a plasma blade at everyone who opposes her,” Reaper replied calmly as he stepped closer to her face.

  “Hmm,” he muttered. “So those are the sensors.”

  He turned away and lifted broken furniture, still holding her immobilized with gravity control.

  “In normal conditions,” he continued while arranging the room, “I would ask why you are this violent. I would bombard you with questions, as usual. But now, I understand.”

  “You know nothing,” Shelly replied, frozen.

  “That is still true,” he said. “I know nothing about this world. But I know the names. The headlines. The footage. Enough to see the pattern. You. The E-UNIT. Dr. Nick. Mikael. Brightson. Redwood. And 03, 05, 07. The list keeps going.”

  He positioned two old chairs facing each other. Between them, a three-legged wooden table barely held itself together.

  “Let’s test something.”

  He released her for a blink.

  The blade was already near his neck.

  He froze her again instantly.

  “Too fast for me,” he said calmly. “But I know you are faster. Stop trying to act violent and frightening. I know when you pretend to be someone else.”

  He sat down, one leg resting over the other.

  He lifted his hands and released her again.

  This time, she did not attack.

  Shelly’s head dropped. The blades fell from her hands. She collapsed to her knees, crying quietly.

  “Sit,” he said. “We’re talking like people.”

  He gestured toward the chair opposite him.

  Without speaking, she stood up and sat.

  “I know you could have killed me when I released you for that fraction of a second,” he said, leaning forward. “But you didn’t. Shelly. Or 02. Or whoever is inside. When we entered the E-UNIT hub, I became curious. Your lack of explanation pushed me to hack the security system. I watched everything. Every room. Every recording. All the way until now.”

  She raised her head slowly. “That is why you were judging me before we rode the hoverbike.”

  “Yes.”

  She forced a weak smile. “So, what do you think of a monster like me?”

  “The world made you a monster, sister.”

  It was the first time he called her that.

  “Before we continue,” he added, “who am I talking to? Omega never existed before. How did you inherit 02’s memories?”

  “Father implanted them,” she replied. “He tried to revive 02. He discovered she was attempting to upload her mind. But the crystal rejected her. It wanted to be someone else. That is how Omega was born.”

  She looked down at her hands.

  “But 02 is still there. Her memories are powerful. Sometimes I feel her anger leaking into me. That is why I reacted when you spoke about my sisters.”

  “Complicated,” Reaper said.

  She smiled faintly. A broken smile. “That is exactly how I feel every day.”

  She looked at him.

  “When father finally met me after he escaped his prison, the disappointment in his eyes destroyed me. He wanted 02. Not me.”

  Reaper clenched his fist.

  “So 02 is trying to take control?”

  “Sort of,” she said quietly. “Her emotions leak into me. I feel them without knowing why. Sometimes I feel insane. Maybe giving up and letting her take over is—”

  “I refuse,” Reaper interrupted.

  “Why?” Shelly asked weakly. “I have suffered for too long. I just want to rest.”

  “That does not mean you do not deserve to live,” he said, standing up. “When we meet that crazy scientist, I will force him to fix you.”

  Sleek.

  Her blade was already at his neck again.

  “Noted,” Reaper replied, calm but slightly nervous. “No more calling our great, amazing, and almighty creator names.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Abandoned commercial block. 11:40 PM.

  Click.

  The old blue metallic door opened, waking up half the neighborhood. It was rusty and loud, just like the mindset of this city.

  Shelly entered after a full day outside the hideout.

  Reaper had not moved much. He spent the entire day sitting inside, reviewing the footage he extracted from the E-UNIT hub.

  “Welcome home,” Reaper said while scrolling through his HUD.

  “Thanks. You look like you enjoy this place a lot,” she replied, almost smiling.

  He glanced at her. “Anything is better than that lab. I felt like a rat being tested on. Some of those scientists are… more ruthless than you.”

  “No way,” Shelly said while placing portable energy generators on the broken kitchen counter.

  “Okay,” he corrected himself. “Maybe I went too far.”

  She chuckled and sat on the old chair facing him. “You look more relaxed.”

  He sighed. “I feel like a creep watching all those recordings. Humans and androids being observed without consent. But now I understand why you love this family. Everything here screams love.”

  Shelly rested her chin on her hands and stared at him.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” she replied softly. “I always wanted a brother. Seeing the same shell face every day made me hate them.”

  He lowered his head. “You’re a walking trauma loop.”

  “Says the war machine spying on other girls,” she replied, half joking.

  “For research purposes only.”

  She stood up and began walking around the room, her hands behind her back. “The way you see the E-UNIT through security cameras is the same way I see 02 and the others.”

  He looked at her.

  “I mean,” she continued, “the third-person view. I know I did not make those decisions. I was not there. I just watch.”

  She slowly spun in place.

  “So,” he said, “you are a creep too.”

  She stopped, turned toward him, and pointed a finger at his chest. “Forced to, idiot.”

  “Anyway,” Reaper said, standing up, “we need to move soon. The police are tracing the area. According to my calculations, they will reach us in two days.”

  “What a nerd,” she whispered.

  “What did you say?” Reaper stepped closer.

  “Nothing,” she replied quickly, raising her hands. “You are right. We stayed too long. We will move closer to the hope bubble. Since we attracted attention, we will stop at multiple locations until we reach it.”

  “Affirmative,” he said, saluting and jumping in place, mimicking the E-UNIT gesture.

  “No…” she suddenly dropped to her knees, crying, her legs shaking.

  “NO, SORRY!” he shouted, rushing to her and holding her shoulders. “Are you okay?”

  She took a breath and steadied herself. “Yes. Barely.”

  “That is a problem,” he said, letting go. “Note to self. Never act like a cute police girl again.”

  She burst into laughter. Real laughter. Tears streamed down her face as she laughed nonstop.

  “You are the stupidest person I know,” she said between breaths.

  Reaper watched her quietly, clenching his fist.

  ‘A walking trauma loop’, he thought.

  Area 06. 01:10 AM.

  Clang. Clang. Clang.

  “Can you be more obvious?” Shelly said, annoyed.

  “Sure,” Reaper replied cheerfully.

  CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

  Shelly walked down the street with her hood pulled low. “Okay, stop. Your steps are too loud.”

  Reaper followed her and immediately adjusted his movement. “Affirmative.”

  He activated gravity control in his metallic feet. His body lifted slightly above the ground. Every step became completely silent.

  “You were able to do that from the beginning!” Shelly yelled in a whisper.

  “Yeah,” he replied coldly.

  She took a breath and continued walking. “As we discussed, we go east. That zone is mostly dead. Surveillance coverage is weaker there. But—”

  “It’s dangerous,” Reaper finished. “It’s either us versus the military or us versus a desperate poor population. I would pick the second any day.”

  Rain began to fall slowly. Neon lights reflected off forming puddles, stretching across the cracked street.

  “I agree,” Shelly said, glancing around. “But we need to be armed. That area is like a PVP server. Everyone for themselves.”

  “Yes,” Reaper clenched his fists. “Time for an upgrade. By the way, why is there no human outside? We’ve been walking for an hour and only saw robots.”

  Shelly answered without slowing down. “Human curfew. It’s been active since 2040. When people saw how fast the economy collapsed, and compared E-UNIT policing under civil control to military control, a movement formed. They started attacking military facilities.”

  “Hmm.” Reaper rested his chin on his hand. “Very human behavior. That explains why every hundred meters there’s a soldier staring at our eyes.”

  “They don’t fear robots,” Shelly continued. “We’re the only ones with free AI. The rest either fear being shut down or obey orders because that’s what they were made for. And you don’t even have eyes.”

  “And you have two hundred,” Reaper replied, gesturing upward toward a a flicker of blue light on top of a building, it was a shell. “Does that make you more human than me?”

  Shelly froze. “You saw her?”, “How?” she asked.

  “I don’t have eyes,” Reaper said calmly. “I have three thousand five hundred forty-six sensors for movement, temperature, and positioning. One hundred three cameras with different—”

  “Don’t move,” Shelly whispered.

  “What?” he asked.

  “MASK ON. NOW,” she whispered louder.

  He tilted his head slightly. “Why should I—”

  A soldier stepped in front of him, holding a scanner similar to a supermarket barcode reader. “Your hand.”

  Reaper extended his hand. “Sure.”

  The scanner beeped.

  “What?” The soldier frowned. “No barcode?” He raised his weapon. “Don’t move.”

  “Sorry,” Reaper said casually. “I was laid off recently. I messed up a wealthy client’s order so badly they scratched the barcode off my hand. They didn’t want me registered under their company anymore.”

  The soldier scoffed and lowered his weapon. “Figures. Half the bots here don’t match the registry. I told them all. Robots can’t replace humans. Everyone called me old school. That’s the fourth robot today.”

  “You know what,” Reaper said, nodding, “I agree. Complex tasks need hyper-intelligent creatures like humans. Robots should handle simple work. Brute force tasks. We don’t feel pain. We don’t get tired.”

  The soldier’s eyes lit up. “That’s it!” he said excitedly. “I’ve been writing that exact thing on my profile since I made it. Nobody understands!”

  “Yes!” The wind pushed the hood off. “Humans and robots are both necessary for a functional society. Everyone just needs to do the task they were made for.”

  The soldier froze.

  Slowly, he raised his hand to his comms device. His eyes never left the green lights on Reaper’s face.

  “I found him.”

  He forgot, just for a second, what kind of city this was. Reaper slowly turned his head toward Shelly.

  “Shelly,” he whispered, “I’m sorry.”

  Her eyes burned red.