The Corniche. 10:35 PM.
Rain covered the north side of the city but unlike the cold empty downtown this district was alive. Warm lights covered the Corniche overlooking the Sea of Meridian Tides. People were laughing, drinking coffee under balconies, and celebrating something even at nearly 11 PM.
Tourists walked in the rain like it was magic.
But a little offshore connected by two bridges stood a massive modern factory. Sleek, tall, and too clean. It wouldn't ruin the perfect vibes of the shore.
Above that giant place waited Team Beta. 04 and 05.
High above the facility invisible to humans they hovered silently.
05 whispered while scanning the systems. "We have a problem."
04 looked at her. "What exactly?"
05 zoomed in on the security feed. "I am on the cameras. And... all I see is a military army of mechs waiting for us."
04's eyes widened. "How?! We are practically invisible to any human!"
05 sighed. "Team Delta attacked early. Metro Robotics managers definitely warned every branch."
04 groaned. "I knew it! I told you E-UNIT 07 was malfunctioning! I thought giving her a more stable partner would make her subtle."
05 smirked. "Imagine if the Captain put her with 03."
04 laughed. "They would compete on who slashes more heads!"
"True. But we need to move. The more we wait the stronger their prep."
"On your mark 05."
"You devil. Putting the responsibility on me."
04 smirked. "Maybe."
05 exhaled. "Okay then... let us show them who the superior unit is."
They descended together toward the rear entrance.
05 kicked the massive metal door. It was the size of a small house and flew off its hinges across the hall crushing one mech instantly.
05 grinned. "I see why the Captain loves doing that."
In front of them stood thirty mechs perfectly lined up. Some had turrets. Others had giant mechanical arms which were the perfect counters to E-UNIT agility.
They weren't using guns.
They were ready for hand-to-hand combat.
04 yelled. "05 do your thing."
"Already did."
Outside the power generator exploded shaking the whole island. The factory went pitch black before red emergency lights kicked in.
Now the hall glowed in dark crimson.
05 and 04 stood side by side.
05 declared. "We need to act fast."
They drew their blue blades. The metal hissed as the weapons activated.
05 finally announced .
"E-UNIT. Code Red. Initiated!"
And they launched themselves forward.
The front line of turret mechs opened fire instantly. A wall of bullets. 04 spread her hexagonal shields and covered 05.
She slammed into the front three mechs cracking their torsos with pure force.
05 jumped directly into the crowd and started tearing through them.
Sleek.
Sleek.
Sleek.
Sharp. Fast. Merciless.
Then 04 yelled. "BASEBALL!"
05 nodded, flew upward, and hovered over her.
What followed was insane.
04 became a bull charging forward and slamming mechs upward with her shields.
05 became a blade dancer in the air slicing each mech 04 launched.
Slam.
Sleek.
Slam.
Sleek.
The pilots had zero time to react. One moment they were fighting. The next moment they were airborne.
Then came the cut.
Blood sprayed inside the mechs but everyone knew it wasn't mech's blood.
They reached the backline when it happened.
A giant metal fist punched 04 across the facility slamming her into the wall. She lost the ability to respond for a moment.
05 froze.
Then she got angry.
Really angry.
She dropped from the air and landed hard.
The mechs charged her instantly. They had finally found a weapon that could hurt the E-UNITs.
04's voice came through comms.
"I am fine. But they have insane strength. Be careful."
05 was angry. "That will not help them. Stay back."
05 began to glow bright blue. The emergency lights couldn't compete.
"Super Speed. Initiated."
Then she split into five copies.
No illusions.
No holograms.
Five real versions of herself moving at such extreme speed they existed at the same time. It was high-speed ghost cloning. (Take that Schrodinger).
04 watched in awe. "What the..."
The copies all smirked.
Then they attacked:
One copy dive-slammed a mech core causing an explosion.
The second copy performed a flip-kick and split another mech in half.
The third copy pinned a mech with one blade and butchered it with the second.
The fourth copy ran across the hall at teleport-like speed carving through mechs one after another.
The fifth copy casually walked back to 04.
"Are you okay?" her voice glitched like she was speaking into a fan.
04 was sitting on the ground. "I am scared of you honestly. I do not even see shadows between the copies."
05 continued glitching. "We trained really hard for this. The voice issue is just physics."
04 trembled. "Who else can do this?"
05 answered. "The Captain."
04 replied. "I want to..."
One mech's unstable core exploded so violently it launched itself and two others through the roof straight toward the shore.
Down at the Corniche four friends were chilling at a table.
One of them looked up, admiring the half moon.
"The rain did not stoooooooop!!!"
A 500-kilogram mech was falling right on them at high speed.
05 and 04 rushed at max speed trying to reach it. But the speed didn't help them.
But right before impact 04 broke. Something inside her snapped. She entered an Emergency State. She pushed past her limit and rushed to the falling metal piece.
04 appeared at the table and kicked the mech away like a football sending it crashing onto the road.
She flash-stepped to the second mech which was flying toward a building and kicked it into the sea.
The third mech was falling straight toward a passing car.
She caught it slowing its speed until it stopped.
Ten centimeters.
Before it crushed the vehicle.
05 finally reached her.
04 looked at her and smiled a faint smile then broke down falling on the asphalt.
05 caught her. "You always push yourself do not you..."
She hoisted her sister onto her back and flew toward HQ.
The Capital. Alvera District. 10:41 PM.
Same night.
Far from the chaos, far from the rain and neon streets, an old man sat quietly in his bedroom.
His room didn't look like it belonged in this century.
Ceramic walls were polished so perfectly they reflected the warm light like water.
A high ceiling curved upward into a painted masterpiece. An enormous hand-drawn Mona Lisa watched over the room from above with brush strokes visible under the glow.
Little green trees were placed carefully around the corners trimmed into perfect shapes.
And right in the middle stood a huge king-size bed dressed in deep silk blue sheets with pillows white as snow and edged in real golden thread.
The nightstands matched. Slick white. Gold buttons. A small golden lamp with a soft warm flame-like glow.
He sat on the edge of the bed hunched slightly with hands resting on his cane.
Three gentle knocks.
The door opened before he even answered. His young maid entered quietly pushing a small cart with late-night dinner.
She moved with almost ghostly silence across the ceramic floor.
She stopped beside him kneeling down a little as she began placing the plates carefully on his bed.
"Do you want me to feed you today Mr. Brightson?" she asked softly.
"No need thank you," he answered without looking at her. His voice was aged, calm, almost too calm.
"If an important call comes tell me immediately."
"Of course."
She bowed her head slightly and left just as quietly as she entered.
Brightson picked up his fork took one slow bite then wiped his hands. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number he knew by heart.
The phone rang twice.
The line clicked open.
"This is Shikimori who is calling?"
A hint of stress was already in his voice.
Brightson spoke. "This is me."
Instant shift. You could practically hear Shikimori straighten up.
"Oh Mister Brightson!! Thank you for calling! You hid your number again! What is the occasion this time?"
This was the second call from Brightson in less than eight hours.
Brightson's voice remained cold.
"How is the engineer doing?"
"Funny enough I just talked to him! And he guaranteed the success of the new prototype!"
Brightson cut in. "Like how the Behemoth did right?"
A full second of silence.
Shikimori tried to laugh it off.
"I mean that was an old prototype..."
Brightson cut him clean.
"This is your last chance Shikimori. And remember it is not me who is after your neck."
Shikimori immediately stiffened.
"I get that sir. Do not worry. This is the best engineer in the country after all."
"Keep me updated."
He hung up without another word.
Brightson leaned back on his pillows with eyes on the painted ceiling whispering to himself.
"I still have cards to play Dr. Nick... do you?"
A soft vibration.
A new message popped up on his screen.
The meeting tomorrow is scheduled.
Brightson smiled. Slow. Satisfied.
"Many many cards."
He opened his phone and selected a contact named David.
"But I need to clean my house first."