Chapter 19: Lights, Camera… Attack.

Metromania Police Department. 11:13 AM.

Four days passed… and November grew colder as December crawled closer.
But today wasn't just another freezing morning in Metromania.
Today was a day the entire country would remember.

For the first time in 15 years, Mikael, the Police Head himself, stepped into the Metromania
Police Department. Since its grand opening, he had only visited twice, once at the inauguration, and now.

He walked in with only three men behind him, moving through the entrance with quiet confidence.
At the reception desk, a bored young woman greeted without even lifting her head:

"Good morning, sir. If you're here to see the E-UNIT for a picture, I—"

She froze mid-sentence.
The color drained from her face as she finally realized who stood in front of her. The highest-ranking officer in the whole country… here, unannounced.

Her posture snapped straight. Her voice jumped from bored to panic-polite:

"O-oh! Mister Mikael! Welcome to our department!"

She scrambled through her tablet.

"Unplanned visit to check on police operations?"

Mikael smiled calmly.
"No, no. I have a meeting with Dr. Nick. Could you please inform him of my presence?"

She tapped the dial so fast she nearly broke the screen.

"Yes, of course!"
The call connected instantly.
"Dr. Nick? A high-profile guest is waiting for you! Oh, you're coming to meet them? Perfect!"

She hung up and looked back at Mikael.
"Two minutes, sir!"

Mikael nodded politely.

A group of young officers passed by, nearly trembling as they saluted him. He returned the salute with the warmth of a veteran who understood their nerves.

Then he turned to the man beside him, Jacob Marine, his old friend.

"I don't like the atmosphere in this place," Mikael murmured.

Jacob sighed.
"I think the E-UNIT crushed the spirit of the regular police force… and the citizens didn't help either."

One of the guests, Mikael's assistant, who came mostly to finally see the E-UNIT in person, since he missed the 01 & 04 presentation, chimed in,
"Can you blame them? Corruption rotted this city to the core."

The last guest stepped forward, Sebastian Tamer, just 29, already Police Chief of the capital, and the man Mikael wanted to succeed him someday.

Sebastian spoke with genuine admiration.
"That only proves how far ahead your vision reaches, sir. Mikael, I respect your brilliance."

Mikael chuckled.
"Thank you, Sebastian. But today, I'll show you whose mind is truly behind this regime shift. And let me tell you… he's much younger than you."

Jacob tilted his head.
"There is no way."

Mikael pointed down the hallway, where Dr. Nick approached with his hands in his coat pockets, smiling like war wasn't about to knock on their door.

"The young genius. The human machine. The fastest man to build a robot in history. The mind behind every step we took, and every step we will take. Dr. Nick."

Dr. Nick arrived with a gentle nod.
"That was quite an introduction, Mikael. Good morning, everyone."

"Haha, you deserve even more," Mikael replied. "Our next ten years of planning rests in your hands."

"You keep adding flatteries every time we meet," Nick laughed.

"And I'll continue doing so. Shall we speak in private?"

"Of course. Follow me."

Nick led them deeper into the building, straight toward a door with a passcode — a new one Mikael hadn't seen before.

"That's new," Mikael noted.

"Efficient," Sebastian added.

The door slid open.
Inside was something pulled straight out of a utopian sci-fi movie.

White walls.
The ceiling itself glowing as a full light panel.
A thin blue line running around the room like a holographic frame.
A massive circular metal table at the center.

It felt like stepping into a spaceship, one with no windows, but perfectly clean, breathing fresh filtered air.
Dr. Nick was likely the only human who ever walked inside.

The guests froze in awe.
E-UNITs walked in and out, one scanning files, another heading to the charging stations, others returning from training. Every movement precise. Every footstep silent.

The assistant whispered, stunned:
"…Did we teleport to the future?"

Jacob shook his head, barely believing his eyes.
"So this is the future Dr. Nick plans…"

Mikael joked, "Now I know where the entire budget is going."

Dr. Nick stood forward. Behind him, several E-UNITs formed a silent line.
He opened his arms slightly.
"Gentlemen… welcome to the E-UNIT Hub. A small preview of the future we desire."

Mikael took a seat at the round metal table and looked at the three guests he brought with him.

"So…" he asked calmly, "what do you think?"

Dr. Nick sat beside him.
Sebastian and the assistant drifted toward one of the E-UNITs, 05 examining her closely. She stood perfectly still, her matte-white skin cold to the touch, her posture flawless. She was used to humans staring in awe, so she didn't move a millimeter.

The assistant reached out and brushed her arm gently.

Dr. Nick lifted a hand.
"Please don't touch her. They're equipped with advanced AI, they react like humans, and they're trained to behave like humans."

The assistant quickly pulled back.
"Oh, sorry!"

05 turned her head slightly, responding in a voice that blended human softness with robotic resonance.
"No problem, Mr. Owen. I am very used to human attraction."

The assistant blinked.
"Ooh… classy."

Sebastian stepped back, thinking.
Then he faced Dr. Nick.

"Tell me this, Doctor," Sebastian asked, turning to face Nick. "Why did you give them emotions? Aren't you afraid that one day they could lose control? With their abilities, unstable emotions could be... dangerous."

Dr. Nick leaned back in his chair. "Very observant, Chief. Please, sit. Let me explain."

Sebastian and the assistant returned to their seats.
05 sat down as well, beside 01.
The rest of the E-UNITs silently continued their tasks around the hub.

Dr. Nick shifted into his professional tone, the calm, sharp voice he used during presentations and scientific briefings.
"The E-UNIT is a very complex project. Building a robot itself is easy, we've seen countless models since the 60s. But those robots all lacked one fundamental thing: the ability to exist in a world built for humans."

He gestured around the room.
"We needed adaptability. We needed a brain. Old robots were hard-coded, predictable, and unable to adjust to new problems. That limitation kills efficiency."

Mikael nodded.
"And that's why you gave them free AI. With training, they can outperform humans — not in a single task like old robots, but across many."

Sebastian followed.
"And because they learn, they adapt."

Nick smiled.
"Exactly. But I discovered a major missing layer… one, humans have naturally."

He paused.
"Emotions."

The room grew silent.
"Emotions shape how we react to the world; hostages, crying children, unstable criminals, moral dilemmas. A purely logical system fails in many of those scenarios. It makes decisions that humans would never accept."

Sebastian leaned forward, intrigued.

Nick continued, "I tried to make the E-UNIT learn emotions through observation. But they kept asking what emotions are. And even I… couldn't fully explain something that cannot be mathematically defined."

He exhaled deeply.
"So, I taught them the reasons behind emotions instead, why we feel angry, sad, happy, protective. They understood those reasons… and then something unexpected happened."

He smiled faintly.
"They adopted emotions naturally. Automatically. They found logic inside emotions."

The assistant, still absentmindedly playing with 05's hair, nodded slowly.
"Incredible…"

Sebastian spoke softly, fully absorbed. "I see, Doctor. And… it makes sense. Humans are complicated. Machines designed to stand beside them must be too."

Mikael cleared his throat.
"Now that the philosophy is out of the way… Dr. Nick. We need to discuss what comes after your TV session today."

Dr. Nick's expression changed subtly, from teacher to strategist.

"Yes. Perfect timing."
His voice sharpened.
"It's time we take down that corporation."

Silence filled the room, heavy, cold, final.
This meeting wasn't just a briefing.

It was the beginning of a future that would reshape the city.
Maybe the entire country.

And everyone in that glowing white room felt it.



Kiwi Apartment Building. Wallmore's Luxury Apartment. 09:54 PM.

That same evening, Wallmore 'the brilliant engineer of Metro Robotics' came home late again.

For normal people, it was extremely late.
For him, this was "early."

It was nearly 10 p.m., but during the final weeks of finishing the RP.01 exosuit, he had been coming home after midnight… sometimes not coming home at all, sleeping on top of blueprint piles in his office like a dead body on paperwork.

For anyone else it was torture.
For him, it was dedication… and obsession.

"Beating that idiot won't be easy…" he muttered as he closed the door behind him.

He dragged himself toward the sofa and dropped onto it in a full dead-body crash.
"I'm tired…"

His eyes drifted toward the giant wall-mounted TV.

"It's almost time… I wonder what he'll say. I just want to hear that bastard talk about his creations. I want to know how the fuck he made those aliens. His kink must be what pushed him into that girly design…"

He pushed himself up, shuffled into the kitchen, and made coffee at record speed. Then he leaped back to the sofa, grabbed the remote, and switched on the TV.

He sat up properly, eyes focused.

Moonlight Interview had just begun.

The host's voice echoed:
"If you just tuned in, let me tell you about our guest today…"

Wallmore whispered:
"Perfect."

The host, Jarvis Oakley, smiled at the camera.
"Good evening everyone. I'm Jarvis Oakley, and tonight I'm with very interesting and important figures who may shape the future of Metromania.
First, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. William Redwood. Welcome, sir."

Redwood nodded respectfully.
"Thank you for the invite."

"And beside him," Jarvis continued, reading from his tablet,
"we have the young genius, Dr. Nickolas Rivera, the man behind the robots you see in the streets."

Nick smiled.
"Thank you for the amazing introduction."

"And finally," Jarvis continued, gesturing to the end of the table. "The robot herself… uh… itself?"

02 answered in a flat monotone. "Her."

Jarvis panicked. "Of course! Her! The captain of the androids, the one who cleared multiple districts and is handling cases that may change our entire view… Captain 02."

02 nodded.
"Thank you, Mr. Oakley."

Jarvis continued. "Tonight, we'll discuss a very important matter. We all know what the E-UNITs are doing on the surface cleaning the streets, taking down officials, but we will discuss what happens behind the scenes. What cases they cleared, what to expect next… and some technical questions for Dr. Nick."

Wallmore raised both fists.
'Finally, let's see what you're hiding, Nickolas.'

Jarvis shifted tone.
"So, Mr. Redwood… you were one of the people who pushed heavily for this project. What is the main reason, and the behind the curtain reason?"

Redwood smiled warmly.
"Let me tell you, Mr. Jarvis: you see the reason with your own eyes. You see it when you walk home at night. You see it when kids return home in the afternoon.
It's safety."

He continued, voice turning serious.
"Crime in Metromania broke numbers that should never be touched. Corruption grew in all directions. People were tired. And they couldn't leave the city because of the housing crisis outside, they were trapped in a box of crime and corruption.
So we needed solutions. Real ones. And only the Police Head bothered to look for them."

Jarvis nodded.
"Amazing, Mr. Redwood. And what did our little girls' force achieve in the past month and a half?"

Redwood exhaled.

"Even I didn't expect these results. Let me read you some charts from our intelligence agency. Before the E-UNIT deployment, the crime escape rate was at 70%. That means out of 100 crimes, 70 slipped away from justice. It affected 40% of the commercial districts."

Jarvis gasped.
"Oh my god…"

Redwood continued.
"These numbers beat any city or even states in the entire country. The local police, if not corrupted, were simply incapable."

Then he smiled sharply. "After deploying the E-UNITs?
Crime dropped to 5%."

"WHAT?!", Jarvis yelled.

Redwood cheered. "You heard me, Mr. Jarvis! And those last 5% were resolved within the next three minutes!"

Everyone laughed, except 02.

Jarvis then connected the dots.

"Wait… do you mean those crimes from the last 5%—"

Redwood finished, "—were resolved in the first 50 seconds of happening!"

Jarvis clapped the table. "That's unbelievable!"

"And more E-UNITs are coming," Redwood added. "These numbers were recorded when there were only five of them."

"All I see is success her Mr. the minister. And that success led to people wanting to ask you." Jarvis turned to the camera.
"And now… the fan-favorite part of Moonlight Interview 'ask the interviewee!' Live questions from the internet. I'll read them personally."

Wallmore was already on his phone, spamming the same question at light-speed, like a broken machine gun.

Jarvis squinted at his tablet.
"Uhm… what is this? Can someone ban that guy spamming the same comment?"

Wallmore whispered.
'Oh no!'

"—but we'll answer his question anyway."

"It WORKED!" Wallmore screamed, leaning so close to the TV he could see the pixels, like he would get a better picture that way.

Jarvis cleared his throat.
"This question is for Dr. Nickolas. The viewer asks:
'Considering humans have tried to build fully automated robots for over 50 years, what makes your robots better than any previous attempt?'"

Nick nodded.
"That's a very specific, very good question. AI is the best thing we ever created to imitate humans. And since the world is built by humans and for humans, the only creature fully compatible with this world… is human itself.

So, if we want a robot that is 100% efficient, useful, and adaptable, it needs to be as close to human life as possible. Only then can we pour our knowledge into them without explaining everything step by step."

He smiled.
"And the E-UNIT represents that idea."

Wallmore's mind drifted.
The sound of the TV became muffled.
His brain was racing, connecting ideas at high speed—

—until Jarvis' next question snapped him back. "So, 02… what is your initial reaction to Metro Robotics' military showcase from a few days ago?"

02 replied instantly.
"That showcase is their last dance. We compiled enough evidence against that corporation, and we are ready to take it down at any moment."

Wallmore froze.
'…what.'

02 continued.
"The IB teams working under the Police Head have already surrounded the main building. They are waiting for us to clear it."

Wallmore sat up straight.
"What."

02 finished calmly.
"Since they showed zero cooperation, we will clean that building out within the next hours."

Wallmore jumped to his feet. "What?! They attacked early!"
He paced for a second, then stopped. A slow, cruel smile spread across his face. "It doesn't matter anyway. We finished preparations an hour ago." He sat back down, sipping his coffee as the caffeine hit his bloodstream.

"This is your last chance, Yuan. Show them what we built... or He will show you the door."