Bob was walking through Nemesis HQ one night when he passed by Elise’s rooms.

“Customary Post-Simulation Greeting: GG ez noob. This unit recommends Chronolock repeat simulation training.”

Bob just shook his head, chuckling. Seems like Elise was having fun again tonight.

Then he stopped and rubbed his chin.

Again, huh?

She had played with Chronolock just a day or two ago.

And the day before.

And two days before that.

Bob’s smile dropped.

Just…how much was she tormenting the poor girl?

He decided to find out.

He knocked on the door.

“Status Report: Greetings Commander Bob. Elise ready and waiting for orders.”

“Mind if I come in, Elise? I’d like to have a chat.”

“Happy Agreement: I am always willing to chat with Commander Bob.”

Bob held back a sigh. He hoped indeed this would be a happy chat.

He talked with her about this and that for a while. But well, there was only so much to discuss, and so he came to the topic at hand.

“I’ve been noticing, you’re…participating in a lot of simulations with Chronolock lately, right?”

“Affirmative.”

Bob nodded. He knew of course, that Elise was manipulating the matchmaking to specifically end up in Chronolock’s games, often repeatedly. He hadn’t said anything at first, because Elise needed to vent.

She was deeply attached to Nemesis, the team representing her current family. Perhaps her first true family, seeing as she was living at an orphanage prior to being picked up by the Concordat. So she had been deeply upset after that whole mind control incident. And then he sent Nana undercover and Arvid had left them for a time. So he allowed her to, ‘inflict distress on Director Green’s allies’ as she called it. Plus, it seemed like she was having fun, and that in and of itself was something Bob valued for the cyborg.

“How often are you doing so?”

There was such thing as taking it too far, however. A bit of defeat and banter was all well and good, but he didn’t want Elise specifically targeting someone to an excessive degree. Still, at the end of the day she’s a mission focused cyborg with a heart of gold, in Bob’s entirely objective opinion. So he was sure it wasn’t too bad.

“Answer: This unit has logged four simulation sessions with Chronolock in the past week.”

Bob froze.

“And…how long were each of those sessions, Elise?”

“Analysis: Simulation session time varies depending on mission schedule for both Nemesis and Aurora Legion. This unit has noted Chronolock will conduct several hour sessions if she has no urgent priorities, until her organic components require standby and maintenance cycles.”

“...is that the case for the past four sessions?”

“Affirmative.”

Ok.

This might be a problem.

“And…you were present…for all that time…in her games?”

“Affirmative.”

“...has Chronolock…won any match against you?”

“Proud Response: Negative. This unit’s simulation efficiency is significantly higher compared to Chronolock’s.”

Bob covered his face with his hands. He took a deep breath, and then looked Elise in the eyes.

“Elise.”

“Yes, Commander Bob?”

“You need to stop this.”

Her robotic eye spun around.

“Requesting Clarification: Commander Bob, what does this unit need to stop?”

“Bullying Chronolock.”

“Clarification: This unit has not been bullying Chronolock.”

“Elise…specifically targeting a person and making them lose over and over for hours on end is bullying.”

“Requesting Clarification: This unit thought that was a normal training procedure.”

“Where did you get that idea?”

“Confused Response: Commander Bob, isn’t that how this unit and Nemesis were trained?”

Bob opened his mouth.

And then…

He thought back.

To Xiong Huang’s training.

He paused for a second before speaking.

“...it’s...slightly different, Elise.”

He also couldn't bring himself to make eye contact.

“Requesting Clarification: How so, Commander Bob?”

“Look…um…has Chronolock’s performance actually improved at all from you playing with her?”

“Analysis: Chronolock’s reaction time and situational awareness have been improving at a modest rate.”

Bob closed his mouth and rubbed his chin. Looks like he would have to try another approach.

“Elise…you just finished a session with Chronolock, correct?”

“Affirmative.”

“You have a method of observing her?”

“This unit infiltrated Academy security a while ago.”

“Please do so now.”

“Affirmative.”

Elise focused in, locating Chronolock at her dorm in the academy. She was lying on a couch. Voidspeaker sat beside her, a pillow in his lap. Chronolock had her face buried in the pillow and was screaming into it, Voidspeaker gently rubbing her head.

“How is she?”

“...Answer: Chronolock seems to be in great distress.”

“Do you know why?”

“...affirmative.”

“How do you feel about that, seeing her as she is now?”

“...Uncomfortable Response: This unit…does not feel good, Commander Bob.”

Bob heaved a sigh. Progress.

“Look…it’s not wrong to play with her, or hand her defeats. A bit of banter is fine as well. But you’ve taken it too far, Elise. You need to ease up on her, all right? Besides, it violates simulation integrity if you interfere with the matchmaking, right?”

“...affirmative.”

“And…I think you should apologize. It’s the right thing to do when you’ve hurt someone.”

“Requesting Clarification: Commander Bob, this unit has hurt many people. Should…this unit apologize to all of them?”

Bob opened his mouth and then paused for a second.

Right.

Mercenary strike team.

“...think of it this way Elise, all those people were hurt during missions, correct?”

“Affirmative.”

“Right. Hurting them is still unfortunate but was part of your job. Was hurting Chronolock in simulations part of your job?”

“...negative.”

“Likewise, the other players in the simulations all agree to compete with one another…when you let the matchmaker do its thing. But is that the case if you adjust the matchmaker to end up with the same opponent over and over?”

“...negative.”

“We do have to hurt people from time to time, Elise. But we shouldn’t go out of our way to do so, especially not unfairly like this. I know I ask you to hurt people, but I don’t want you to enjoy doing so, all right?”

Elise was silent, her robotic eye spinning as she pondered.

“Tentative Response: So…this unit…should apologize to Chronolock?”

Bob nodded.

“In this case, it’s the right thing to do.”

Elise went silent. Her eyes turned towards the ground. Bob pat her shoulder.

“It’s ok, Elise. Everyone makes mistakes. What’s important is that you acknowledge, and learn from them, all right?”

“...affirmative.”

Elise sat in silence for a moment as Bob slipped out of the room. Her AI raced to make sense of this situation, not fully understanding the difference between this and her initial training…but in her organic components knew. Commander Bob was right. She intentionally hurt Chronolock. She had enjoyed hurting Chronolock.

Until she took a look at the effects of doing so.

So she had to do this.

She connected her consciousness to the cell phone network in the air and reached out to Chronolock’s phone…

Back at the Academy Chronolock jumped as her phone began to ring. She took it out…and scowled, gritting her teeth.

But she answered.

“What do you want, you stupid bot?”

“...Apologetic Statement: This unit…is sorry.”

Chronolock froze, blinking repeatedly.

“Wait, what did you say?”

“Apologetic Explanation: This unit…unfairly manipulated the matchmaking so she could inflict loss and distress up Chronolock. That…was wrong. I…am sorry for hurting you.”

“Wha…what are you…? Um…”

She heard Chronolock sigh.

“...so…are you doing it again?”

“Response: This unit will refrain from manipulation of matchmaking from now on.”

“...I see.”

“Apologetic Offer: This unit is willing to pair with Chronolock and restore her to previous simulation ranking.”

“...what?”

Chronolock went silent for a second.

“SCREW YOU, BOT!”

Elise’s robotic eye spun as she processed the statement.

“I DON’T WANT YOU ON MY TEAM OR RUNNING AWAY! IT’S NOT ABOUT THE RANK, YOU IDIOT! IT’S ABOUT BEATING YOU! DON’T YOU STOP ON ME NOW CAUSE YOU FEEL BAD OR SOME CRAP LIKE THAT! THAT’S IT, VOID, GO GET US ENERGY DRINKS, WE’RE GOING AGAIN TONIGHT! DON’T YOU DARE SIGN OFF, BOT! WE’RE PLAYING UNTIL I BEAT YOUR SORRY METAL BUTT!”

“...Confused Query: Chronolock…wants this unit…on other team?”

“NO CRAP! I’m going to beat you if it’s the last thing I do, bot. If you actually feel bad or some crap like that, then give me Emao and prepare to lose.”

Elise froze.

“...Possessive Refusal: Friendly Nana belongs to me. I am not giving her up.”

“Screw you bot! We’re the ones who taught her to play, so in game she belongs to us!”

“...Predatory Statement: It seems Chronolock requires additional simulation training. Very well. This unit will oblige.”

Bob waited outside the door. Elise could converse to a phone directly, but her systems were also linked to Bob’s phone, so he could listen in that way. He smiled and nodded at first. He was proud of her.

“Bob-sama, what are you doing here?”

Nana just happened to walk by. Bob opened his mouth to explain when Chronolock started shouting.

Nana began to sweat and tremble, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Please…no more…not again…”

Bob heaved a sigh.

“...I’ll talk to her about letting you make your own choices in-game, Nana.”

She looked up to him with teary eyes.

“Bob-sama…”

That conversation would take significantly longer. But Bob was eventually able to convince Elise that Nana playing with other people did not constitute a real world betrayal, pointing out that Nemesis conducted spars against one another all the time. Elise finally agreed to let Nana do as she wished in game.

And so, ‘Emao’ logged back in for the first time since leaving the Academy.

She even allowed herself to smile. She actually missed playing with Chronolock. It was tough losing to Elise constantly, but deep down they enjoyed the challenge.

And the few times they won tasted oh so sweet.

So she booted up the game and sent a request to Chronolock.

“Um, h-hello, Chronolock-senpai, Voidspeaker-senpai?”

“You can cut that out, we know who you are, Emao, or should I say Nana?”

“I still can’t believe you’re on Nemesis, Em...um, Nana?”

“R-Right...u-um...is...Antonio-senpai...ah...right, he has that internship now...guess not...”

And then Chronolock started cackling, ignoring Nana's question. Voidspeaker found himself sweating for two reasons.

“Let’s do this. We’re coming for you, you stupid bot.”

She started the matchmaking.

Just then another voice came in through their mics.

“Correction: We are the ones coming for you, noobs.”

The other team loaded up.

NSLICE-00P.

And NSLICE-00P Beta.

And NSLICE-00P Gamma.

In fact...

The whole team was filled up with NSLICE name variants.

Nana (and Voidspeaker) screamed.

In her room, Elise was surrounded by a group of pink clones of herself sitting at several computers, her Mass-Energy Manipulator humming with Pink Star’s powers. Her head was splitting as she tried to watch several screens simultaneously. But it turns out her cybernetic half could network with the clones and take some of the edge off, so she could in fact maintain an entire team all on her own.

It still pushed her to the absolute limit and reduced her per-unit efficiency, but that in itself was desirable. She now had a new way to train and improve during these simulations, since the lack of worthy opponents was restricting her progress as a solo-player.

And, well…

“Vengeful Statement: This unit recommends traitor Nana prepare for justice.”

Maybe Bob still had some convincing to do after all.