Position: Classified

Date: Classified

Location: Somewhere in the Azunian jungles

Mission type: Search and destroy

Target: Species 0099

Current operation: Awaiting Unit V-1-000-001 (AKA Sotek)

Current orders: Wait for Stage 2 to commence.

Silence, just silence engraved the image of this lush jungle, where the crickets should've creaked, the Birds made calls and the worms made such sounds that scream life abounds. Silence, just silence crept the empty branches of once lively and magnificent trees now even the wind says hush as it flew past those green leaves. The ground empty and without a single ruminant in sight, nor primates dangling by the vines and trees as they live their mischievous lives. Now the trees imitate their once childish presence as their branches sway along with the lonely vines, and their fruits fall below for the rest to find.

But none could be found here, not even a single piece of bone could be found of them. They've simply gone extinct, for millennia they survived their home but now they proved helpless. What once was meant to emulate their homes wiped them out. As the last of their dwellings cried out to them and called them back, none came for no longer were they there. They were all gone as crimson touched brown and flesh touched teeth, sealed their lives and the color of their hearth.

The unit sat with their arms in their thighs, waiting, listening, and preparing. V-8-001 (Winters) bided his time as its programming suggests. Its sensors told him three things were beyond his vicinity, and one of them is metal. It noticed them move at the exact pace and the exact time, approaching their location. The rest awaited Its order as the V-2 unit confirmed this with its slightly weaker but still capable radar sensor, such ancient tech still posed a threat to some if used and improved correctly. Anticipating a fight, every avtomat drew its blade and prepared for the order to move as the targets were within shooting range of their disk launchers.

Winters made the first move by shooting at all three directions with his disks, sending one disk each. One sound was made, a metallic clank and after a few seconds strange drilling noises were heard alongside what seemed like cries of pain so faint some would've thought it was just an elephant talking. Within a single second, Winters sent the command through a link with each of the avtomats of his unit. They all stood and divided themselves into three in a split second, shooting two disks in a single burst in the next. The cries stopped, a distinct hydraulic sound was heard, and the thermal signal they emitted in the sensors was gone. However, the one to the Northwest still flickered and made a beep. Their eyes trained on the peculiarity that approaches and each was ready to let out a spray of metal.

And out of the ferns and weeds came Sotek, limping with its left leg as a disk was lodged upon its joint near the groin area. The thick layer of steel and plastic saved it from blowing itself up in a bid to self-destruct. It pulled the projectile out and threw it near the V-2's foot and with a jerk towards the other unit. He sent "You owe me a washer Urod!" to the latter and the rest sans V-8's confusion.

Curious and confused, the V-2 sent: "Convert_language...Convert_language...Please_convert_language_to_command_IAL..." but it didn't mind as it approached Winters which sent an exclusive message to Sotek: "Snicker".

Sotek didn't mind and asked why he was shot twice with the very weapon it possessed.

Winters replied with: "Presence_no_longer_detected._Signal_missing_composition_present." Winters no doubt knew that V-1 units could comprehend simple English and IAL but prefer to utilize English as the primary language instead of IAL due to it being predominant in its programming. The last message was also sent to the rest of the group, they all heard it but didn't understand it, the next thing they did was send the same command V-2 gave to Sotek, now aimed at Winters. Winters received the command to proceed and ordered the rest to bug-off as it gave them the schematics and details to the next objective.

***

"That's quite interesting, wouldn't you agree?"

"This new one in the tube? Indeed, very interesting."

"I never expected that we would be working with Biological weapons when I first joined. It makes my joints shiver with excitement."

His partner doesn't seem to share his sentiment and just stared him in the eye with a hiss.

"What? Aren't you excited?"

"It's easy to feel euphoria from relishing the pain of others when you are safe from the pain."

"Come on man! We're safe remember!"

"For now, You haven't been there. You're new here.

"Don't be that stingy man. It's not like everything will be a mess for..." His face grew green as he dropped to the ground. His plasma pistol fell, his ankle-deep robe fluttered, his green hood covered his sweet blue eyes. The man beside him didn't even notice him drop and was startled as he immediately took a combat stance with his bulky but short Plasma thrower aimed at the entrance of the cave they are in. But the enemy was not at the entrance, it was right behind him as it struck a thin needle straight into his left eye and flushed a myriad of toxins into his brain. He fell dead as the needle retracted. Green was his face covered with a black balaclava and a foaming cigar still in held by his teeth.

The assailant went to the first victim and pulled a small needle and placed it in a hole on his arm as its comrades outside entered in perfect delta formation. With the place cleared for another half a kilometer of tunnels, V-3 relaxed its systems as it turned off the cloaking field that it used a moment ago. Its specialty was stealth operations and to succeed the designers gave it little armor for the sake of other utilities, a real glass cannon. But still, it wasn't meant to go toe to toe. It is smarter than that since that's for V2, V4, V6, and V7. It is not supposed to box, rather sneak and kill.

Winters gave the order to advance and sent V4 to scout, of all the units available its sensors were one of the finest and still had enough horsepower to run when needed. It moved swiftly and scanned ahead and mapped the place. It found two forks at around the first kilometer of winding tunnels, both were booby-trapped and lead to the same place. Strangely, the booby traps were military-grade mines that were made of metal.

Analyzing the situation for a few seconds, Winters weighed his options since he had to opt for either stealth or a noisy assault.

He was weighing carefully the functions of his units: V1 was a good liaison for organics and Jungle operations. V2 was good for urban operations and liaison duties but was not that good in the latter. V3 was for stealth operations. V4 was a walking SAM site, capable of detecting hostiles from miles away and was filled with homing weapons such as missiles, although its long-range detectors are prone to jamming unless in close range. V5 was a bomb squad specialist with tools meant to not only do its job but enough armor to qualify as a walking tank. V6 was a literal walking tank with weapons meant for sieges, his main weapons though smaller in caliber were capable of rivaling 150mm cannons. And V7 was similar to V6 but was instead an energy weapon specialist. And he, a jack of all trades with enough armor to bully the V1-V2s and an unstable processor that made him an unpredictable mess. Although all of them had above-average mobility, each of them cannot truly fulfill another role. And V8 with its oddly moody processor decided to make a sober decision. And sent the bomb specialist to disarm the mines.

However, despite their readiness nothing could prevent them from avoiding the ambush that knocked V4 out and immediately crushed his body's core and, tore its head open.

***

2hrs later...

" Well, I'll be damned!!! Of all the units who made it only three out of eight got out! And worse! Those who made it were the V-8, V-5, and V-1 units. Can somebody explain to me just why a bunch of cheap units were capable of surviving this mess instead of the expensive ones?" Asked President Korbanen, Azuna's president.

" Well, at least this proves something Mr. President," replied General Haralda as he lit a cigar. He just arrived into the room and strolled like an alpha. Hands in his pockets, slightly tilted head and slightly slouched back; confident and deviant. The total opposite of his chimera but generally reserved and Hecticly mysterious superior.

"This proves that my theory was correct. When I received the summary reports and specs befalling the new units, I've found that they weren't that similar at all." General Himmel interjected.

Haralda's response was not befitting that of a Harkovite but akin to that of a Venturan Buffoon; grabbing a chair like a spoiled child and sitting next to Danya slouched and carelessly blowing his smoke.

" The multiple cases of Intelligence tampering of the units by the project led to a bunch of specialized units that could be as unpredictable as an earthquake in terms of capability and quality. Therefore what you're seeing is the result of such tampering." he continued.

"You're telling me that it's better to buy more of those units that made it and forget about the rest?" The president asked.

" No, I meant that they weren't deployed properly."

"Plz enlighten me, General!"

The enlightening process took almost half an hour to process and most of the guests were dumbfounded as the explanations necessitate more mental gymnastics to comprehend than usual. Long story short, the units who survived managed to because they were well suited to the terrain and environment despite their nuances. Such as V-2's higher chances of survival in urban warfare as opposed to its predecessor's jungle specialty. However, the general also explained that most of the reasons why the other units didn't survive are due to their incapability to react and adapt quicker. The surviving units may be cheap to produce and may have been less armored than say the V-6 and V-7, however, they make it up by being more able to adapt to new tactics and strategies that other units already know as those lost are only capable of utilizing existing programming instead of learning new heuristics.

" Finally! that's finished. But I still have one more question?" The president spoke.

" Why is that guy tying up those gentlemen like a crazed BDSM addict?" He spoke irked whilst pointing at Kempf.

"Ohhh, That sir. Those two barged in with fake paperwork and managed to gain the ire of that Young gentleman who is tying them up as we speak. Initially, he intended to execute them after committing what can be considered as deliberate espionage but decided to let the said gentleman do it instead for the sake of costs and since he had a bone to pick after an Injustice done to him a few years back and for escaping justice through a crooked nose."

" If that's the case then why didn't you detain them?"

"Because I knew what they were thinking of, and knew this would happen nonetheless. I actually just wanted to see how they might reach their end after they gave my wife death threats.

And besides, remember that V-1 unit?"

" The Sotek?"

"He is scheduled to execute them in a few minutes, God I wish I could just do it myself."

" Did something happen to you Yevgeny?"

"Yep, They barged into the house unsuccessfully once and wrecked my favorite bike. I knew it was them after noticing their strides today."

" I'm so glad I was born here." Said Bubi's mother.

" You guys are weird! you know that!" Bubi exclaimed in a jerk.