It only took a quarter of an hour for the battle to be wrapped up.

Without clear orders nor leadership, the clone sentries fell easily. Their number stopped to replenish too, resulting in them being neutralized at a faster rate as their number decreased. 

The regular enemy clones either fought to the death or surrendered due to their morale dropping. The surviving ones were then rounded up and taken as prisoners by Chloe’s men.

Ticia herself had dealt with as many enemies as possible in the shortest time she could. The only thing on her mind right now was Emily, so she showed no pity in dealing with her enemies while sometimes glancing in Emily’s direction.

From what she could see, she was amazed. The Eve class clone not only did the same thing as her, but also took command of surrounding clones, using them appropriately. This was something Ticia thought herself incapable of.

Once the situation outside the town hall stabilized, Ticia decided to gather her daughters, leaving the last bits to Chloe and her men.

ECG-055, being relatively unscathed, helped her in gathering them while ECG-091 arrived with the wounded that stayed back. Bronz wanted to help, but seeing her state of exhaustion, Ticia ordered her and her sisters to stay put.

One squad of ECGs caused a bit of a comotion for Ticia though. It was squad 2, who despite her calls and orders, continued to attack enemy clones. Only when their mother was within eyesight did they get out of their battle crazed state and immediately stopped fighting. Eight out the ten of them immediately passed out on the spot due to blood loss and exhaustion. Their state was such a mess that it frightened Ticia, who thought they died on the spot due to the horrendous state of their injuries.

They were immediately brought to medics for intense medical attention along with the ECGs Warmonger had hit. The medics had a grave look, but reassured Ticia by saying they would make it out of this ordeal alive, but with consequences.

About thirty ECGs had gathered around Ticia, including, Bronz, Fana, ECG-021, ECG-055 and ECG-091. All had a various amount of injuries, the worst ones among them being Fana and ECG-021 who, for some reason, was still holding the gatling laser gun.

Emily joined Ticia at that moment and stood right next to her as if it was the most natural thing to do. It made Ticia conscious of her presence, but she still held back asking questions. Right now, she wanted to know the state of her daughters.

“Bronz.”

“Mother.” Bronz saluted, seemingly knowing what Ticia was about to ask. “A lot of us have been injured, but none of my sisters have died.”

“Is that so…” Ticia released a sigh. That was one less weight on her shoulders at least. She’d already lost Jinxy. Ticia’s heart wasn’t ready to lose another daughter yet.

There were a few missing ECGs other than the heavy wounded though…

“081 and her squad are still missing.” She said out loud. “Have any of you seen them coming out of the town hall?”

Her daughters shook their heads, but just as Ticia was about to say something else, someone called out from behind her.

“Mother…”

When she turned, she saw her missing ten daughters. They seemed mostly unscathed,  but their mood on the other hand was downcast…

“I informed them about what was happening outside.” Rebot-ia informed Ticia. “Don’t blame them too hard though, they were trying to-”

“Sister, where have you been all this time?” ECG-055 suddenly said with a sharp accusatory tone. She was not the only one who looked at the group with reproach. All the ECGs who had been nearby Ticia during Warmonger’s fight were looking at them with a bit of resentment.

“We took advantage of the confusion and broke in. I thought that if we dealt with their leader, that’d be the end, however…” ECG-081 explained bitterly, gritting her teeth. Frustration was clear in her voice.

“You shouldn’t have done this.” ECG-055 replied harshly.

“...Girls?” Ticia was a bit stunned. She called out to her daughters, but they did not listen.

“Protecting Mother is our duty. How could you go out on your own like that?” ECG-021 criticized.

“I was trying to do that by cutting the head of the snake. I judged that mom had enough protection around her, so I executed my plan.”

“And this left Mother underprotected as a result. Are you serious 081?”

“I-I just… wanted to defend mom in my own way…” ECG-81 defended her decision, but her voice trembled a bit. She seemed to be holding a lot of emotions over this failure. ECG-055 did not say more, but ECG-021 and ECG-091 continued to reprimand her.

“Hmph. Instead of trying to sneak in, you should have just faced the enemy head on!”

“I’m with 055 and 021 on that one. You should have stayed with her and defended Mother.”

ECG-081 however did not falter at her sisters’ words. In fact, it angered her.

“I don’t want to hear anything coming from both of you, sisters. You also failed.”

“Wha-?”

“That’s preposterous!”

“081 is right on that.” ECG-055 nodded in agreement.

“How could you say that? We did everything for Mother!” ECG-021 protested, but ECG-091, who was supposed to be on her side, frowned.

“By going Berserk? Look at the state of your squad, do you think this is helping Mother?” She said with an accusing tone while pointing towards Fana, who was barely holding herself still despite her injuries and the accumulated fatigue.

“Ugh.” That was an argument ECG-021 could not refute. She looked down, ashamed. But then she looked at Fana. “Fana, say something…”

“...I am reflecting.”

“Fana!?”

This not only surprised ECG-021 but also all the other ECGs present. Not only was Fana looking downcast, but she was reflecting on her berserking?!

“...I am gonna get scolded by Prime sister Nicia when she sees what state I’m in. It’s good in a way but, it’s bad. I’ve betrayed her trust…”

““...””

Fana’s depressed words left her sisters speechless. What were they expecting from their battle crazed sister who was known for strong fangirling over the eighth null CG?

“...And when will you stop holding that thing? We’re in front of Mother.” ECG-091 said after a while, pointing to the gatling laser gun ECG-021 was still holding.

ECG-021 hugged the gatling laser gun to her chest defensively as she responded.

“It’s not a thing! Its name is Gatly!”

“You named it!?”

“And at least I did something useful instead of staying behind and watching!”

“I wasn’t just standing! I protected the wounded and our backs!”

“So protecting the wounded is more important than protecting mom?” 

“Ugh, I didn’t say that!”

The both of them began to argue back and forth, seeing this, ECG-055 sighed.

“Haa, you’ve all failed in our primary goal…” She said, but this directed her sisters’ anger towards her.

““Shut up 055!””

“How can you say that when you, the closest to mom, are this unscathed!”

“Yeah yeah! You even asked for a reward!”

“... I did what I could with the limited resources at my disposal. I’m not a battle crazed person who can’t seem to understand what’s happening around her, an opportunity taking person nor a scaredy cat. Heck, I’m not even one of the commanders selected by Prime sister Ria! I only do what I’ve been told to do: Protect Mother and obey her orders.” ECG-055 was calm despite the accusations, yet her words remained strong and accusatory. “Well, it sure would have been helpful if there were more of us around Mother.”

This caused another round of argument between the leading ECGs.

Ticia was speechless. This was the first time her daughters had such a serious dispute! Until now disagreements had been dealt with easily, but it did not appear the ECGs would settle on just an apology this time…

Ticia looked towards Bronz for help. As the leader of the ECGs, Bronz should be used to dealing with her sisters. However, to her disbelief Bronz was not paying attention to what was currently happening. She was lost in her own thoughts, looking down.

Without any support, Ticia tried to call out to her girls to stop.

“Hey, girls? Girls! Please sto-”

“Silence.”

““!?!””

A low voice reverberated as Ticia tried to calm down the squabbling ECGs. Its tone was low yet it exercised a huge pressure that startled not only the ECGs but also Ticia.

The voice came from Emily, who had a slightly sharp look on her face.

“Do I need to remind you that you are still on a battlefield? Keep your squabbles for later.”

““...””

Her words were not filled with anger but with authority. The ECGs became quiet, calming down. Some of them looked at Emily with confusion.

While Ticia looked at Emily in a daze, Emily continued her light reprimand.

“Responsibilities and punishment shall be given after the debriefing.” She finished, before her gaze met Ticia’s. The look on her face immediately softened, before putting a hand on the still lost in thought Bronz’s shoulder.  “Little Bronz, don’t you have something to announce to your mother?”

“Ah! R-right!” Bronz immediately came out of her daze. She looked at Ticia with a happy gaze. “Mom, Jinxy is alive!”

“Jinxy is alive!?” Ticia’s eyes grew wide. She immediately took Bronz’s hand and exclaimed.  “Lead me to her right now!”

“Yes!” Bronz obliged and they both left in a hurry, leaving behind them a sighing Emily and bewildered ECGs

“Just the mention of her daughter’s name and she forgot about me… I’m relieved, it seems like she really loves her daughters.” Emily mumbled to herself, before her gaze fell on the ECGs.

There were two kinds of reactions between the ECGs. Those who had been with Bronz and were now curious about Emily while the others were confused, with slightly weary looks.

“...Who are you exactly?” ECG-055 asked, representing the second group.

“Me? Well~, who do YOU think I am?” Emily responded, a teasing smile on her face. The ECGs became flustered as they tried to guess Emily’s identity.

Emily watched them with a smile, seemingly enjoying their struggle when Chloe approached her.

“...Still as playful as ever I see. Looks like your two years of captivity didn’t affect you too much.” Chloe said, looking at the ECGs.

“Oh, Chloe. Everything’s wrapped up, I presume?”

“Pretty much. Only a few sentries remain.” She said, folding her arms. “The android girl accompanying us rescued the prisoners too, Mister Derguer is among them.”

“Oh, that old fart huh? He’s still alive?”

“Alive and kicking but still a bit dazed. He’s been asking us where his wife is…”

“He never had one…”

As Emily sighed, a small silence emerged. Chloe looked at Emily with an unsure, apologetic look full of emotions. She wanted to say something, but was unable to make up her mind.

Finally, after a brief silence, she spoke up.

“...Uhm, sis-”

“Shh” Emily stopped her, a sad smile on her face. “I know. There’s no need to say anything nor ask for forgiveness. I cannot say I forgive you, but you did what you thought was right, I understand that. Neither me or Claudia put the blame of what happened afterwards on you.”

“...Thank you.” Chloe’s tense shoulders relaxed at those words. Emily lifted a weight out of her heart.  “Ah, also, Rebot-ia is alive and here.”

“Rebot-ia? Haven’t heard her name in a long while. How is she even here? No, how is she?” Emily frowned again, but this time she seemed half happy and half curious.

“Same as usual?” Chloe shrugged. “Maybe a bit more talkative. From what I’ve heard she became a bit crazy from being left alone and active for so long, but she told me that talking with her new owner and her daughters helped a lot.”

“Her new ‘owner’ huh?” Emily looked in the direction Ticia went with a distant look. Chloe immediately caught on the feelings the Eve class clone had. She was thinking about Claudia.

Claudia had been the owner of Rebot-ia before, so why wasn’t she now? The information Warmonger revealed also made her worry. Just where was Claudia?

Chloe knew they’d have to talk about it, but now wasn’t the time. Fortunately Emily was in a rather good mood. She took advantage of that and asked the question she, Ticia and Rebot-ia had been most curious about.

“Hey, Emily, is she-”

“100% sure. No doubt about that.” Emily answered resolutely with a slight nod before Chloe could even finish asking. Her answer left no room for questioning.

“I see...” Chloe sighed, feeling a bit better after having the answer to her question. However, she could not understand how Ticia came to be. There were simply too many known barriers that would make her existence impossible.

She could only guess for now…

“But… how? Did you even know she existed?” She asked Emily, but the latter just shook her head, a wry smile on her face as she answered with a shrug.

“Nope. I’m as surprised as you, you know? I wasn’t expecting to be a grandmother while I’m still this young~.”

“...32 is old for a clone, you know? More so for someone like you who had a near human growth.”

“Bufuh!?”

A small smile appeared on Chloe’s face as her sister figure held her side, seemingly suffering an imaginary hit to the stomach at her words.

“So we were right, she is an older version of Mother!”

“So does this mean she is Mother’s older sibling?”

“No, the feeling is different.”

“Then as expected, Mother’s mother?”

“Oh, I see! That makes sense! This old lady is Mother’s mother!”

“...I am happy they consider me like that, but somehow I feel defeated?”

“...”

Somehow, their half joking half serious talk had heavy repercussions. The ECGs who up until now were just bystanders listening to Chloe and Emily grabbed on to the mention of Emily being ‘old’ and began making their own conclusion about Emily’s link to them. The ECGs from Bronz’s group nodded in satisfaction while the other group looked like they found the solution to a lifelong problem.

Meanwhile, Emily laughed dryly. She had a happy smile, but her eyes were void of any emotions…

Chloe wasn’t saying a lie though. From the most recent generations, a good majority of clones died early due the conditions they were submitted to.

“But… what exactly happened between you and big sis?” Trying to get the subject back to Claudia, Chloe asked the still somewhat depressed Emily.

“It’s complicated.” Emily replied with a wry smile, scratching her cheek. Chloe knew this habit of Emily. It meant the answer was a bit too long and personal and that now was not the time to answer it. “But did that girl not tell you anything about Claudia?”

Chloe froze at Emily’s obvious question. As Claudia’s daughter, Ticia should have at least known something. There was simply no way Claudia would just leave Emily alone.

…If Claudia was there, that is…

“You’ll have to ask her yourself.” Chloe answered, evading the question.  “If you’re too curious, just ask the girls there.” She said, pointing towards the ECGs who were still within their own world.

“Would you ask a toddler the secret code to their bank account?”

“...I guess you’re right.”

“Yup, they’re cuties, but also clueless it seems. Seeing how you’ve been avoiding the subject, I’d be surprised if they knew the answer.” Emily replied, making Chloe flinch a bit as it appeared she’d guessed something from her words. “They shouldn’t even be on the battlefield. I really need to say a word to their mother about that.”

Chloe sighed at Emily’s comment, trying to appear not too unsettled. True, the ECGs were young, maybe a bit too much. They had the basics and would perform well, but their fighting style was rather unique. She could only say they were more relying on their instincts and needed to polish themselves.

“Anyway, what did you do for Warmonger to leave like this?”

“Oh, nothing much, he just guessed what I’d done since I’ve been freed~.”

“...And what did you do exactly?” Seeing Emily act so nonchalantly, Chloe could not help but ask her with a feeling of mounting dread visible on her face.

The answer she received confirmed her fears.

“I filled the lower floor with explosives~♪.”

“YOU WHAT!?”

***

 

Ticia sighed as she recalled the events of the day, lost in thoughts as she watched the clones gather their dead.

Since the battle had ended they had been going around here and there, offering a somewhat quick but appropriate temporary burial for their fallen comrades. The same could not be said for the fallen enemies though, who were just piled up to the side before cremating them. The smell of blood burning was omnipresent, but Ticia was unphased by it.

For one, this wasn’t unusual on a post-battlefield scene. She herself had to bury fallen comrades in the past and knew well how necessary it was for those who survived to continue on with a somewhat appeased mind. In those times, you did not really care about the smell in the air, but instead focused on what you were doing.

For second, Ticia was just feeling glad. Although some had severe injuries, none of her daughters had died. Not only that, but Jinxy was alive. It was nothing more of a miracle to her.

When she saw her beloved daughter in such a horrible state, she could not help but check her pulse for herself. She rushed over, removed her helmet and put her head on Jinxy’s chest before crying out of relief. Bronz was there to support her, but she did not want to leave Jinxy’s side. She had to be warned by medics to finally leave the place, not before kissing Jinxy’s forehead and caressing her cheek.

Ticia then put her helmet back on and went around checking her other wounded daughters. She nearly broke up when she saw the poor state ECG-002 was in but was held back this time by a remorseful Bronz, who also was on the verge of breaking down. Ticia realized Bronz also felt responsible for the state her sister was in, so she instead hugged Bronz, Trying to reassure her daughter.

Similar scenes played with other severely wounded ECGs. Ticia bit her lips, trying not to get too emotional, but the task was hard. Sure, they were alive, but seeing her daughters in such a state put her in a depressing spiral as she felt responsible.

Those that were still conscious among the wounded ECGs sensed their mother’s state. They tried to reassure her, showing their resolution. They ended up in this state knowing full well the consequences. None of them felt sad or upset about it, in fact, it was quite the contrary. They were proud to declare they ended in this state fighting for what their mother wanted.

This brought another wave of emotions to Ticia, but she swallowed it. This was the will of her daughters. She could not bring herself to scold them for ending up in this state and not caring for their lives more, so she praised their courage instead.

Reinforcements coming from the floors above had come around that time and they quickly went to work, helping the tired clones.

The allied losses were heavy. Nearly a half of the men Chloe had brought with her had died and a good quarter had also suffered severe injuries that needed to be treated quickly. A lot more allies had survived from Bronz’s group, but they also were in a severe state of fatigue, which is why the reinforcements were welcomed with neither cheers nor any complaints but silent relief.

The old clone that had followed Ticia along had not survived the ordeal. He died at some point in the battle. Ticia spotted his body and went over to it. She paid her respects and asked for the help of surrounding clones to bury him in the soil of the small park near with the other fallen clones. It was a temporary and quick burial without any ceremony, but this was the only thing she could do right now. He had helped her all this time so this was the least she could do. She did the same for any clone she had come to know during this expedition that had fallen.

The other surviving clones seemed to appreciate her actions. They looked up to her, giving her thankful nods. Ticia still had a hard time understanding her relationship with clones and why they looked up to her so much, but she decided not to question it for now. She would have her answers. The right person for that had just appeared after all…

After finishing all this, Ticia spotted Laura. The red haired woman was surrounded by a group of medics. It seemed she had once again caused a commotion. Ticia approached the group.

“Oh, hey Ticia.” Laura immediately smiled when she saw Ticia. She waved her arm… Her only remaining arm in fact, one of her prosthetic arms was missing…

“Can you say something to those guys? They won’t leave me alone even though I don’t have any more premium panacea.” She asked with a somewhat light annoyed tone.

“It’s not about that!” One medic protested. “You’re injured, we simply want to treat you!”

“I don’t need it.” Laura said back nonchalantly, taking out another syringe from a pocket strapped to her tight before injecting herself its content.

“Relying on stimulants won’t help, you need real treatment right now.” The medic insisted, but he was waved off.

“Thank you for your concern, but I am completely fine. I know my own state well enough, this is nothing.”

“You sure?” Ticia asked, a frown on her face. Laura only replied to this with a laugh.

“Yup! It’s not like I can feel much pain anyway~.” She replied with a face that showed emotions Ticia had a hard time describing, but if she were to pinpoint it, she would say it was a face of madness. Ticia stared at Laura for a moment with a questioning look, but Laura quickly caught on to it and changed her expression back to a smile as if nothing happened.

“Anyway, I have to thank you Ticia. Without you, I would never have reached my objective.”

“...You mean Stuart Derguer?” Ticia asked, to which Laura nodded with a smile.

“Speaking of Father, Owner…” Rebot-ia suddenly spoke out, this time out of a speaker for everyone to hear. “Do you mind if we go see him right now? I have a few things to say to him…”

Ticia nodded. To the side, Laura made an amused expression.

“Now this is going to be fun! I wanna watch this!” She declared, sticking to Ticia like glue before Bronz and the medics had any time to react and protest.

Ticia was also caught off guard, but was too tired to comment. It didn’t annoy her in the end. She did however give some affection to Bronz before the girl tried to remove Laura.

The group moved to the location where the freed captives were. There were more females than males. Some appeared to be regular humans, but a good majority of them were half bloods. Some appeared to be scientists while others were in civilian clothes. They were in various states from unscathed to beaten up and a good majority of them looked worried, tired, or resigned.

Among that group was a surprisingly old man…

He was skinny and had a long white beard, he appeared to be in his eighties and very weak physically, yet his brown eyes still had a strong will in them. He was lost in his own thoughts until he spotted Ticia.

“Hoh?” He got up from his seated position with a pained grunt. Others noticed it and tried to help him, but he waved them off. He was focused on Ticia and no one else.

“That appearance… Is it Claudia or Emily…” He mumbled to himself.

“Neither, Esteemed Ancestor.” Laura said respectfully from the side. Her comment made Ticia’s eyes widen a bit. Now she understood why Stuart Derguer was so important to her…

“I see, then she is-”

“Daddy~!” A surprisingly joyful Rebot-ia interrupted the flow. Stuart frowned at the voice appearing from nowhere.

“Oh? This voice… Rebot-ia?”

“Yes! It’s me!”

“Did you break your codes again?”

“Yup! Now please do me a favor and kick the bucket already~.”

“Rebot-ia!?”

“Pffft-”

The sudden remark from Rebot-ia surprised Ticia while Laura exploded in laughter as if she’d already expected the outcome.

The recipient of those harsh words however had a very warm, affectionate yet somewhat sad look on his old wrinkled face.

“Aw, don’t be like that, dear daughter. Now, why don’t you show yourself to your father? Come on, activate your hologram.” He said, raising his hands as if awaiting for a hug. Rebot-ia was merciless however.

“Never!”

“B-but why!? You’re one of my best creations!” Stuart Derguer exclaimed back, a tearful look on his face. Rebot-ia hmphed back.

“As if I’d enjoy being condemned to a forever good and faithful cute daughter in a loli body! I hate you Daddy! Goddamn, why did you have to put so many firewalls on that one naming program!? What a waste of computing power…”

“Wh-what’s wrong with being a loli!? Flat, Small, and Cute, FSC for short! This is justice!” 

““...””

Stuart Derguer suddenly defended himself with an energy that made people doubt he was an old man. Although what he defended made those around him, particularly women, look down on him with judgefull eyes…

“You disgust me Daddy~.” Rebot-ia commented, although the cheerful way she was forced to call her creator made a weird contrast…

“Don’t be like that Rebot-ia. Your father loves you!”

“Stupid, if you truly loved me you wouldn’t have left me to rot for a thousand years in an abandoned facility!”

“Ugh.” Stuart flinched. “A-about that… I’m sorry…”

“Hmph! Words aren’t enough! Seriously… I’m not the only one you know? Poor Atrax-ia…”

“A-Atrax-ia… Where is she?”

“I’m scolding you right now, Daddy~.”

“Yes…”

“...”

“I-I can’t, pfffft-”

The contrast of an old man being scolded by a seemingly young voice left Ticia wondering what she was witnessing while Laura held her stomach from the laughter…

“...Sorry to interrupt your fun, but we have to move.” A voice suddenly said from behind with a serious tone. It was Chloe, accompanied by Emily who had a happy look on her face.

“Mh? What’s up? Something wrong?” Laura asked.

“Well, no, but actually yes.” Chloe sighed in frustration, a vein clear on her forehead. “SOMEONE had the genius idea to transform the floor under us into a whole powder keg.” She said while glaring at Emily.

The atmosphere immediately took a drastic turn.

“...You serious?” Laura asked just to be sure with a serious look. Chloe only looked towards Emily. Everyone did the same.

Emily only pulled her tongue out with an idiot look.

“Teehee-Ouch!?”

“You’re hopeless!” Chloe exclaimed while punching Emily in the guts.

Meanwhile, Ticia was lost in thoughts about the situation.

It was clear to her that Emily came from the floors below and that she had more information than their group about this clone installation. If there was something down there that needed to be destroyed at any cost then filling the zone with explosives was a solution. Given the fact that she had no clue about what was happening above, she did not have any worry whatsoever about friendly fire, and besides that…

“...I like that move.”

“Huh? Ticia?” Laura looked at Ticia with an incredulous look while Emily became delighted.

“Right-right!? See Chloe? She’s with me on that one-ouchouchouch!?”

“Don’t try to bond over explosives for fuck’s sake!”

 

***

 

Fortunately there was no risk of the explosives suddenly detonating. There was a really simple reason for that, which Emily revealed later on when they faced the temporary clone council…

“I just unplugged the machinery.”

“...Why is such a big weakness not even hidden…”

“Dunno? Probably has to do with all these anti-AI thoughts spreading around…”

“Yeah, but still…”

“Who cares? Thanks to that I didn’t have to blow up the whole place! Ouch!?”

“You better keep quiet right now…”

Chloe still seemed angry against Emily, who commented from time to time as if she was not involved in the mess.

“Now, now Chloe, it’s unsightly to treat an Eve class clone like that even if you know her.” Ernest said in a light yet reprimanding tone, though other council members looked at her with looks of disdain.

Chloe herself was unaffected like usual though.

“It’s weird…” Ticia could not help but silently comment.

Ever since Emily entered the room, the council members’ mood changed. They were extremely respectful towards her, some even going as far as calling her ‘Your Perfection’.

It was as if a goddess had descended, no one dared to strongly speak against Emily nor question her words. She was the master of this room.

Even the clone named Otto, who was very expressive about his opposition, remained quiet as if in a trance.

The person herself seemed used to it too. Emily gave comments from time to time to what Chloe reported, but otherwise kept a silent happy look on her face as she stuck as close to Ticia as possible.

Ticia herself was in quite the predicament. She had Emily glued to her on one side and Laura on the other for some reason… Added to that was Bronz who was cutely pouting to the side. Ticia tried to give her some attention while dealing with the twos on her side and listening to the report.

There were some new faces in the council, clones that had probably been liberated not so long ago, but the head of the council remained the same.

Ernest looked tired, but still conscious of his actions. He was one of the less affected by Emily’s presence.

“It’s a good thing.” Ernest said. “It means we don’t have to hurry up or worry about it.”

“I’d still worry about it if I were you.” Emily corrected. “The explosives are still there in the end.”

“Hmmm…” Ernest let out a low grunt, lost in his thoughts while other council members discussed between themselves. After a while, he looked again towards Emily. “Your Perfection, since you came from the lower floors, is there any chance that…”

“No.” Emily immediately answered. “You won’t find what you’re searching for down there, there is nothing left.”

“B-but you-”

“The lower floors are a mess.” She insisted. “Structural damage is omnipresent and although there is no risk of immediate collapse, it is still a dangerous place. Besides, Warmonger probably already scavenged anything of importance when he woke up. He’s destroyed the rest. Didn’t find me though.” She said seriously, before adding the last part with a small smirk.

“Warmonger huh…” The mention of that Adam class clone made the council quiet. 

Ironically he had the opposite effect of Emily on the clones. All of them seemed slightly scared by him.

“What about the head scientist?” Ernest asked, changing the subject. Chloe continued her report.

“Robert Fitzmore. A talented scientist who was the head of the radical’s faction’s scientific projects. Based on the information we collected from survivors, he took advantage of the surrounding chaos to execute a massive purge. Only him and his trustees remain now.”

“Including Warmonger.” Emily added with a serious look.

“Should we keep our guards up then?” Ernest asked warily, but Emily shook her head.

“There's no need, they’ve probably already left the facility by now. I probably was the last thing of importance to them here, but now that I’m awake they won’t take the risk.”

“But we will have to worry about them in the future.” Chloe once again added, making some of the council members glare at her. Their chiding was quickly silenced however when Emily nodded in agreement.

“Agreed. They’re a loose threat, not just for us but for the entire galaxy.”

“The entire galaxy…” Ticia murmured lost in her own thoughts. Emily was serious when she said this but it was still a bit hard to imagine.

Warmonger’s group was alone, few in numbers and without any support to boot. They didn’t seem like people who would cooperate with anyone either due to their pride and ideologies. There wasn’t much they could do in such conditions.

However…

If they, by any stroke of luck, managed to either cooperate with outsiders who would provide a shelter, a laboratory, weapons, anything to them… they would become a serious threat.

At the very least, Ticia had a feeling Warmonger would come back for Emily and while doing that, he would also come for her and her daughters… The simple thought of facing him again made her shiver a bit, but it was quickly replaced with the strong determination to fight back and prove her superiority, which perplexed Ticia a bit. Why did she have such feelings against Warmonger?

“There isn’t much we can do right now though. They’ve probably already left the installation by now…” Emily said, shrugging it all off as if it was someone else’s problem. For a moment Ticia looked at Emily with an incredulous look. How could she just dismiss it all so easily?

Emily noticed her gaze and smiled at her.

“This is a problem for future me. There’s no need to overthink it, it’ll just be stressful and tiring.”

“...” Ticia could only nod in a daze, unsure whether Emily was right or not.

“...Speaking of…” Ernest spoke up after a long silence. “Your perfection, is it true that Doctor Willbix destroyed the Eve sample?” He asked with a trembling voice, reflecting the emotions each clone in this room had for this ‘sample’.

Ticia was also curious about it. On the way back, she asked Chloe and other clones about it.

Apparently, there existed only two strains of the purified clone gene: one male variant, the ‘Adam sample’, and one female, the ‘Eve sample’. Both samples were kept within what the clones called ‘The birthplace of all clones, CI0’ which as the name suggests was the place where the first clone had been successfully created.

Ticia had asked why such precious resources had not been better preserved and duplicated, but the answer she got was rather silly in her opinion. The scientists were so paranoid that their creation would be stolen by another faction that they heavily restricted access to the strains, never creating a copy nor allowing access without a thorough checkup. In fact, CI0, the center of it all, was well hidden. No clones, scientists, politicians or even its own personnel knew exactly where it was. Those who worked at CI0 stayed there until their death and only a select few had ever left the place. 

The end result was a lack of backup plans in case of emergencies such as the loss of said strains for whatever reasons…

For these reasons as well as cost of production, Adam class and Eve class clones were a rare sight. The scientists from CI0 also seemed to prefer the Adam sample, which resulted in fewer numbers of Eve class clones being produced.

As for other strains of less pure clone genetics, Rebot-ia brought the answer herself. Although the UFG’s council was the one who made decisions, before things went downhill, it could not appoint a facility manager without the passive acquiescence of CI0. Claudia for exemple would never have had her position if she didn’t receive the support of CI0’s inner circle of scientists.

Other clone genetic strains were not considered so precious. The general thought was that they were ‘inferior’ and as such, less valuable. CI managers usually had their own collection of genetic strains that they would use to complement the installation’s base source or when they did not want or could not use their own genes.

“She very likely destroyed it.” Emily replied seriously to Ernest’s question, making clones gasp in disbelief. Emily immediately continued. “I can’t really tell you why she did it, but know she did not betray your cause.”

““...”” The room was filled with silence as the council members registered Emily’s words. some of them opened their mouths, seemingly contesting her words, but none ended up speaking.

Ticia watched the scene with a neutral look. Her opinion of this council was… low. They seemed to have a hard time coming to any decisions and did not even question Emily. In fact, Emily seemed to be the one taking the lead in this conversation.

“So? what are you all gonna do now?” Emily asked in a light tone after a while.

““Eh?””

“You’ve obtained freedom now, haven’t you?” She tilted her head, before counting on her fingers. “No more radicals, no more owners, and no more UFG. You have it all for a fresh new start.”

“T-that is true…” Ernest nodded crispily.

“...”

“...”

““...””

An unbearably awkward silence then appeared in which the clone council looked uneasy, fidgeting in their seats while Emily looked at them. Chloe, a bit to the side, seemed lost in thoughts with her arms crossed while Ticia and the rest could only awkwardly observe the situation. Ticia outright felt like an outsider, none of this concerned her and she hoped this talk would end quickly so that she could talk to Emily and rest. Laura also seemed impatient. It was clear that she wanted to leave already.

After a long moment, Emily let out an audibly long, exasperated sigh.

“This is exactly why me and Claudia stayed out of your revolt.” She mumbled, making everyone look at her.

“Sis?”

“I think you understand now Chloe, right?” Emily directed a sad smile towards Chloe, who nodded while looking down.

“...Yeah, I guess I do…”

Everyone else on the other hand was bewildered.

“W-what do you mean, your perfection?” Ernest asked, representing everyone. The answer he got came in a harsher tone than he expected.

“You guys are lost without an owner.”

““!?!””

“This is to be expected. All of you have been used to being under the leadership of a regular human. The best you can do right now is to emulate them.” Emily said, sighing again sadly.

“In the first place, the goal of our rebellion never was complete independence, but improvements on our conditions. We had no intention to topple the UFG…” Chloe added, still looking down bitterly. She seemed to be reflecting on her actions as a whole. She looked towards Emily like the other council members, as if Emily would give her the answer she hoped for…

Emily however was merciless…

“The UFG’s gone. It had been gone long since before your rebellion. Your actions have only been based on emotions with no real thoughts on the future. You all thought someone would take care of it when the time came, and then things would go back to normal with an improvement to your life conditions, didn’t you?” She said with a harsh tone.

““...”” No one responded, the clones simply looked down, including Chloe. This was one of their biggest mistakes.

“Can’t Council Member Derguer lead us?” Ernest sent a pleading look towards the old Stuart Derguer.

“I’m afraid not, clones.” Stuart said, crushing the clones’ hopeful looks. “The lady is right, you know? I’ve already been too implicated in this rebellion. At first I thought you all had a plan, but I was simply too naive. I lent you as much help as possible, but… you ended up relying on me too much.” He said, before giving a look to Laura. “Besides that, I have to go with that little lass here and ‘fix up my mess’.”

“Owner, I need to do an emergency check up! I just heard father say he would take care of his mess. My mics are bugged, right?!”

“...” Ticia did not reply to Rebot-ia’s erratic state of disbelief. She did not know Stuart Derguer well enough for that. The person himself was now being glared at by Laura due to him calling her a ‘little lass’ though...

“W-what about you, your Perfection?” Ernest suddenly began to plead. “Please lead us! You’re the best fit for the job!”

“Hell no. I hate politics. I’ve never liked leadership positions.” Emily coldly shut him down, giving him a cold, accusatory look. “Don’t try to rely on me or the old fart. From here on you should make your own decisions. Fortunately you have time now.”

The council remained speechless, unable to word out any protest against Emily. Seeing this, Emily sighed once again, crossing her arms. People could tell she was both annoyed and indifferent to the clone’s situation.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave here.” She declared and before anyone had the time to say anything, she went for the door at a fast pace… or at least that’s how it appeared to everyone. Instead, she made a beeline straight to Ticia.

“You’re coming with me.”

“...Eh?”