Major Watts rolled his eyes. He said "I see. We take bereavement quite seriously in the military. I can wait a week for the operation." I got back on the phone and said "I'll be there. We can go. When is the funeral?" Hunter told me we were going to go to the big funeral from Susanna's apartment. Hunter was not a good dresser and she refused to let him be "a bad representation" of her kind uncle. I offered Major Watts an apartment if he wanted to stay in the area. He shook his head. "No thank you. I'll go ahead to the Void Clan's settlement. I can run some last minute logistics while I wait for you to get there." he said. I nodded and led Jake up to Hunter's apartment. He was still sniffling when we got there. Jake went over and pat him on the head. Hunter cried even more. I let him have his moment. The AEP units were not pleased with his display. All 3 were gossiping in the corner. "Why is this human adult acting like a baby!?" 08-003 asked in disgust. I said "His father died. He loved his father. I'm sure that if anything were to happen to Jake, you would also be upset." They all blinked.
Clearly, mortality and dying was not a concern for them. For the AEP units, even the ones in the Advocate faction, they were the pinnacle of evolution on the continent. It was not even close. Nearly perfect beings were what the transmission hubs wanted them to be. One day, they would give birth to the true perfect beings. Jake dying was not something the 3 cyborgs had ever thought about because he was the treasurer of their clan. They simply would not allow anyone to kill him. It was something so simple, they did not believe I could say something like that. I'm sure they were unaware or had forgotten that I had killed 2 AEP units before. I just shrugged and smiled at them. I did not need to fight them and I certainly did not need to make them angry at me. "Stupid human." 08-002 said. "I know, right? If she wanted to improve herself, she should have tried to become more like us. Not more like a stupid animal." 08-003 added. 08-001 looked at me. "I don't like her. 12-001 told me her clan bullies him." he said. The other 2 could not believe in it. How could a human led clan bully them?
08-003
Having a van, they were able to drive to her house in the morning. I was right beside them as they made the trip. When we got to the right building, we had to get past a massive hurdle. It was the doorman. He had a really foul attitude. Classism was a major problem. He did not want to let us in the building. Hunter and I tried to reason with him. The bruiser insulted us and threatened to call the police on us. The cyborgs were silently mocking us. That was until they caught his ire. The human had no real problems insulting them either. Now they were apoplectically angry. Normally, I would just bribe him and be done with it. However, this ma had just made an enemy of a very angry selection of Erosion Clan. "Sir. For your own health, you need to stop all of this. This kid here can kill you in a fair fight." I said as I pointed at 08-001. The big doorman just cracked his knuckles. "Oh yeah? Let's step outside then." I rose an eyebrow. "Sir. He's just a child. I wasn't challenging you." I said. "NO! You said he can kill me. Let's see it." the doorman raged. Looking at 08-001, I said "Only use your fists."
