V O L U M E . S E V E N - P H A N T O M S . A N D . P R E D A T O R S

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Chapter 169: In the Minus (Part 1)

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‎"Why can't we fly? This is a nightmare for my joints." 03's voice came through the comms as the cell moved across the western plateaus of Elysium.

Green hills and knolls stretched to the horizon in every direction. The west had always been empty — Altea had poured everything into the east, where the population was, leaving the more beautiful half of the country to sit untouched and largely forgotten.

"Veridian Coast can't authorize a flight path over Elysium's airspace," 02 said. "They've signed too many peace agreements, launching powerful androids across Reaper's territory from above is functionally a declaration of war." A brief pause. "I know. We keep forgetting how much of a weapon we are for something that looks this human."

The team was running at reduced pace through the hills, keeping 03 in range. She was carrying the Bulwark Frame, already heavy on its own, and trying to match the two fastest androids alive. Her ceiling without the armor was 400 kilometers per hour. With it, she was barely hitting 200.

"Nothing about you is human, Captain," Gamma said, her voice carrying the lightness of someone who finds this genuinely funny. "You erased armies, built giants from energy, dragged Obsidian across a city in pieces. You lead a team of super androids protecting a foreign capital. Where does the human part live in any of that?"

"Your personality too," 03 added, choosing her words. "It's, special. Cold, but in the best way. You're an android. That's the clearest thing I can say without losing my head."

"I can be warm when I want to be." 02 shrugged, letting her speed drop to stay alongside 03, feet brushing the grass with each stride. "I choose not to because it doesn't help in the field. What does being affectionate accomplish when I'm stopping a bomb from leveling a building?"

"It's hard to believe that when those eyes are on me," 03 said. The Bulwark Frame glowed white at the joints as her system balanced energy draw. "Have you ever wondered why no one holds eye contact with you for long, Captain?"

"Respect?"

Gamma and 03 answered at the same time. "Completely."

"I'll show you." 02 closed her eyes for one second. 02's voice shifted into a soft, melodic tone, the kind used in luxury car AI or medical centers. "My 03, I know you've wanted to join the Omega link. And even though I value you more than I have words for, I can't bring myself to remove your autonomy. You being exactly who you are is part of what keeps me going."

'Pet? You're trying to be warm and you're still calling me pet?'

[Be quiet and I'll give you some freedom later.]

"What in the—" 03 turned sharply toward her captain.

Gamma stared at her for a moment. "Captain. Is that you? How is it both warm and deeply unsettling at the same time."

02 dipped her head, continuing the acting. "I'm sorry if I caused something uncomfortable. Watching you both have the same reaction to me trying to be different—" Her voice fractured slightly. "—is genuinely painful. Please stay different. Stay yourselves—"

"Stop!" 03 covered her audio sensors. "What is happening to you? Don't ever do that again. I would rather have the murder-gaze captain back than feel this weak in my knees. Stop being warm. Now."

Gamma felt something cold move through her frame. "That was deeply uncomfortable." She glanced back at Infinity running at the rear of the group. "Is she feeling it too?"

"I can free her face if you want to hear from her directly." 02's eyes stayed forward, the smirk present in her voice. "Her thoughts have been excellent company all day. The despair is very consistent."

Gamma and 03 looked at each other.

Infinity's face shifted, the frozen cold expression giving way to something exhausted and human. Her eyes moved left and right, slowly, as if remembering that movement was possible.

"Finally." Her voice held something tight in it. "She always looks forward. Her eyes never leave whatever she's fixed on, it's physically uncomfortable to maintain from the inside. How are you this mechanical when your creator put every possible emotion into your architecture?"

"He didn't tell me how to use them." 02 kept her eyes on the road ahead.

03 turned partway back. "You are the absolute last entity who gets to lecture anyone about being emotional, face-wearing chameleon. The only reason I'm not stopping right now to hit you is because we need your access to facilities in Theria. The moment 24 is freed, I'm coming for you and I won't stop until you're begging."

"I'm already begging just watching you operate," Infinity said. "Honestly, infiltrating your group was the easiest assignment I've received. The only one with a fully functioning threat assessment was your captain, she saw through me from the first conversation."

"No regret at all," Gamma said flatly.

"Why would I have regret? The mission succeeded so completely that my father thanked me personally for three days."

03 ran without looking back. "What is it with that dynamic? Lord Reaper expressing gratitude and you finding it meaningful. I'm starting to wonder who the half-minds are in this picture."

"Says the one who prays to her captain in private with 01." Infinity's gaze moved to 02. "And her captain knows exactly how unhealthy it is and lets it continue because she needs the team to be, what was the phrase… 'distinctly themselves.' That mentality is part of why you lost your country."

"Captain, can we pause to hit her?" The blue light dot in 03's helmet visor turned red. "Just freeze her in place for a moment."

"Because physical force is your solution to everything," Infinity said. "When that fails, you cry on the floor and sit in a circle like you're in group therapy for people recovering from having a mind."

Gamma's fist tightened. "I support 03. Let's take a break and break something."

"I genuinely cannot understand why your father takes this group seriously." Infinity looked at them with something approaching tired pity. "The only one he's actually concerned about is 02, because she fills every gap the rest of you leave open. If you'd caught my infiltration without her, you would have killed me immediately, felt good about it, and I would have been revived three thousand kilometers away before you finished the celebration."

"Captain," 03 said, still running, "you said you find her inner thoughts entertaining."

"Significantly more desperate than what she's showing right now," 02 said. "I remember when she saw 01's blade form and felt genuinely inferior."

"No, stop—" Infinity started.

02 removed her right to speak. "She also watched 03 use the sniper and decided she wanted to train under her."

03 laughed through the Bulwark Frame's speaker, the sound coming out slightly mechanical. "The face-wearing ghost was performing the whole time."

'Stop. Please. This is a violation of free thought.'

[Not from where I'm standing.]

"Genuinely," 02 continued, "she has an exceptional eye for movement errors. She was identifying technique problems in the other E-UNITs during training without being asked. I might keep her as an analytical tool. And a source of entertainment when the work gets heavy."

'You are a monster.'

The ground moved beneath them.

02 and Gamma felt it immediately. 03's frame absorbed most of the vibration, she kept running for two more steps before the expressions around her made her slow.

02 raised a hand. "Wait."

The plateau hummed. A low-frequency vibration rattled through everyone's gyroscopes, a sound that wasn't tectonic, but mechanical.

Her eyes went wide.

"Gamma. 03. Move!"

Gamma caught 03 and pulled her clear. 02 took Infinity in both arms and ran. Behind them, the ground where they'd been standing collapsed inward, and then metallic sharp-edged triangles appeared from below, spinning fast, cutting a clean circle through the soil.

The grass split. A Mecha-worm rose from the earth in a single continuous motion, a metallic column of rotating cylinders and sharp edges climbing straight into the sky. The motor sound filled the plateau and then went quiet as it stopped rising.

It shifted.

The worm leaned slowly toward 02, its head stopping at a close distance, regarding her and Infinity with the particular patience of something very large that is not in a hurry.

02 looked at Infinity for a moment.

Infinity shook her head. 'I have absolutely no information on this.'

02 and Infinity looked back at the worm.

‘Father. What exactly are you doing?’