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

Chapter 183: Lost in the Labs

The elevator's glass doors slid open from both sides. Reaper stepped out, his cape making a late decision to follow. Half a silhouette floated at his left, hovering above the floor in the particular way the mayor of Theria moved through every space. Obsidian came at his right, reflective, near-silent, nearly his height.

Reaper moved through the white corridors, his reflection catching in every glass door he passed. "Her speed alone would have been manageable. But her strength was something else. I'm still not convinced she broke your blades with her bare hands, that requires real-time load calculations to keep your own frame intact."

Obsidian kept pace behind him. "A logical concern. I don't miss when I commit to a strike, my processing speed accounts for that. She was faster at the calculation than I was. Knowing she's in the capital at her current level is a different kind of problem than anything we've planned for."

"Let's hope Chrome is building actual countermeasures and not feeding Metis another intelligence report about her behavior." Reaper passed through automatic doors. White-coated robots stepped aside and inclined as he went. "I know how he operates. Assigning him this mission may have been a mistake."

Xidia held her chin. "I've read several of the Metis analyses on the E-UNIT, on 02 specifically. I may have something worth considering. I worked as co-engineer at the E-Police for a period, helping repair damaged units."

Reaper's pace slowed. "Go on, Xidia."

"What if we build our own E-UNITs?" Her eyes brightened. "The technology is here. And we have the mind… the CPU, that built the most capable E-UNIT in existence. It would stop us from sending the Golden Circle into repeated engagements that cost them in ways we can't fully account for. And unlike mechs, which are slowing in production, these units could be replaced cleanly."

Reaper processed it in his HUD as he walked. "That is a brilliant suggestion." He looked at her. "Your way of thinking is simple."

Xidia's expression fell. Her shoulders came down.

"Not as criticism." He brought her closer, putting an arm around her shoulder without breaking stride. "The circle has exceptional minds, but high intelligence tends to overcomplicate. They build around problems rather than through them. Your directness finds things they miss. That matters."

Her white face turned a shade of red. Her cooling vents ran loud. She focused on maintaining forward motion.

"After the ceremonies today, come to my office." His arm was still there. "There may be a role better suited to how you think."

She got the words out in individual pieces. "Yes. Lord. Reaper."

The main lab was unusual when they came through the glass doors, scientists gathered in a cluster around a single floating table, their own stations abandoned. Kuantum was leaning against the transparent wall, watching the entrance. He moved toward Reaper as the group came through.

"Lord Reaper." A slight bow. "Your sister."

"What about her?" Obsidian tilted his head.

"Everything!" Kuantum stepped closer to Obsidian, stopping a precise distance from his face that suggested no awareness of personal space. "Where did you find her? Her AI doesn't behave like anything I've worked with."

Obsidian moved him back with one hand. "She's not a standard AI. You're right about that."

Reaper picked up the thread. "She is the first creation Nick Rivera put into the world. Her classification was Superintelligence, the only one built to replicate human cognition rather than extend it. The only AI in existence that can create rather than simply upgrade." He glanced at Obsidian, who confirmed it with a nod. "The only one capable of making something genuinely new."

"That explains it." Kuantum clapped his hands together. "So the stories she tells about building you and 02, those weren't fabrications?"

Reaper lowered his head slightly. "She's exactly the same as she's always been. I thought real work, the kind she was built for, might settle the chaotic behavior." He looked around. Posters of himself covered the white walls in a pattern that required a decision. "How many of those does she have?"

Kuantum laughed briefly. "We stopped counting. Her inventions more than compensate for the behavior."

"Inventions, plural," Obsidian said, moving toward one of the posters. "'Iron fist for iron people.' What is that supposed to be?"

"Several days were enough for her to produce a set of Omega prototypes before we'd even found a path to actually waking Omega up." Kuantum's expression was that of a scientist who has decided not to question his good fortune.

Across the room, Shelly was already in motion.

She pushed out from behind the crowded table, lab coat several sizes too large, the sleeves covering her hands entirely. "Sorry, sorry… lunch. I'll finish the frame update after." She navigated around two scientists. "The hyper-joints are a strong concept, Broton, but Foton already flagged the durability issue and I think he's right. I'll look at your design properly later—"

She stopped.

Reaper was at the far end of the room. She crossed to him at a run, then slowed in the last few meters when she registered his arm was still around the mayor's shoulder.

"Brother?" Her lab coat sleeves moved when she tilted her head.

"Shelly." Reaper had no mouth to smile. "We were discussing your Omega prototypes. You've taken to lab work faster than I anticipated. What are you working on—"

"Why are you cheating on me with a half robot."

Reaper looked left. His arm was still around Xidia's shoulder. Xidia had reached a level of red that suggested an imminent thermal event. He removed the arm. "Apologies. I was focused on the conversation." He turned back to Shelly. "Calling her that is disrespectful."

"Sorry." She stepped between them on reflex, then seemed to notice she'd done it. "Welcome to the lab, brother. I haven't been able to wake Omega yet, she's being stubborn, which is consistent with how she was when she was operational."

"You've been here a few days, Shelly. Progress in that timeframe would already be unusual. You've produced hardware advances." He tapped her head. "Is this better than the ministerial work?"

"Considerably." The smile arrived without calculation. "I feel like I was built for this. And I can actually be useful to you here."

"Speaking of useful." His voice shifted slightly. "You shared the information about being my main engineer with the world."

Shelly looked at the floor. "Yes."

"Do you still have my schematics? The original blueprints you worked from?"

She tilted her head. "They're in the Hope Bubble somewhere. Why?"

"Lord Reaper has no backup body." Obsidian kept his voice level. "Which is why we've been managing his exposure and why I suggested he pause the force-control development sessions."

Shelly's eyes went wide. "You've been able to die without return this whole time?"

"That's why Infinity and 11 were deployed against 02," Reaper said. "I was preserving myself." His eye shifted to red. "That ends today. Infinity is held on their side. I've been cautious long enough."

"What?" Shelly turned to face him fully. "You tell me you can't be revived and in the same breath you say it ends today? I built 02, I know what she can do to you."

"I won't send the Golden Circle again." He kept his voice even. "We're breaking them with each engagement. 11 needed weeks to recover from her last mission. We can't afford to keep spending them."

"And I can't afford to lose you." Her voice cracked at the edges. "Wait until Omega is ready. That was supposed to be my punishment anyway, send me, I can be revived."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because I've seen what she does to the ones who come back." He glanced at Obsidian. "Even the ones holding themselves together for my benefit, it slips through. You've mentioned 02 three times today." He didn't let Obsidian respond. "I know you're managing it. But it's there. I won't add to it." He looked at Shelly. "Especially not you."

Shelly's eyes filled with blue electronic tears. "Please… I don't think I could—"

Reaper's head turned. He raised one hand, comms incoming. "Confirmed. I'll be there in a few minutes, the hospital is across the city. Keep me updated."

He turned toward the exit.

"Stop." Shelly caught his hand and put her weight behind it. "Send me. I am begging you. I can't lose you again."

He turned back. "Again?"

"When the thugs took your body after you broke your CPU to pull me out of the sonic chamber." She wasn't holding herself together anymore. "Don't do it to me again. I won't manage it this time."

Reaper turned to face her fully. He lowered himself to her height.

"Shelly."

"No."

"Shelly."

"Please—"

"I will come back. You believe in me. Don't you."

She shook her head, eyes down, still shaking.

"Then let me prove it to you, sister." He stood and resumed walking.

"I won't let you."

Shelly rose off the floor.

The room felt it before anyone saw it, a pressure drop, something shifting in the air. Her eyes went grey and lit from within. She began to speak without producing sound, her mouth moving in silence. The ceiling lights started going out in sequence, one after the next, the flicker spreading down the length of the lab.

Reaper stopped. "Shelly?"

"I'm sorry, brother."

A terminal materialized beside every robot in the room, clean UI, floating at eye level. The one nearest Reaper moved to her as she pulled it close. She typed at a speed that made the inputs look like a single gesture.

"What's happening?" Xidia said, her frame locked in place.

Obsidian stood recording everything. 'Thank you, Shelly. I couldn't bring myself to challenge his decision.'

Shelly's voice resonated through the lab, not louder, but present in a way it hadn't been before.

"Initiate remote deactivation. Model RP.02."

The light above Reaper went red.

Clang.

He went to his knees. His eyes didn't leave Shelly's face. 'She is doing exactly what he did to 02. Exactly what he did to her. Control where alignment fails. I will remember this.'

He went flat. The floor registered him.

Shelly stepped down to the ground, placing her feet with care. She looked at Obsidian.

"Thirty minutes. Take care of him, please."

Obsidian nodded without words.

Her small footsteps moved through the silenced lab. Every robot in the room stayed still. She pushed through the glass doors.

Chrome was standing in the corridor. He held out the DIABOLOS suit without ceremony and dropped it into her hands.

"Give me a good show." He turned and walked away.

Shelly held the suit and faced the opposite direction. She ran.

A notification arrived in her HUD.

[Metis: 40.790066° N, 73.953249° W. Don't fuck it up.]

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