"Hey! Privacy protocol!" Mini Cleo shrieked, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. "I'll file a complaint with Rex! Hostile work environment!"
Another deep, mechanical sigh. "Terminate the juvenile simulation. Your presence is inefficient."
With a thought, Cleo dismissed the hologram. It flickered and vanished with a faint pop. In the same instant, her laser plasma rifle hummed to life in her hands, cycling up with a rising, resonant whine. It began to pulse with a fierce, molten-gold light.
The reaction spread across her armor. Golden circuit lines ignited across the white plating like spreading fire, and from her back, two vast, shimmering wings of hard light cracked into existence, shedding radiant particles.
With a powerful flap of her powerful wings, Cleo launched into the air. Below, the remnants of the Sergeant Hauer battalion scrambled for cover. She raised her rifle. There was no hesitation, no anger... only the calm geometry of a targeting solution.
