Zack turned his attention to the meical spider and ied another Hydrogen Fuel Cell. The spider hummed to life as its long limbs unfolded. Its four red eyes flickered on, each sing in a different dire, surveying the surroundings. Zack issued a few ands: "Move forward. Stop. Return." The spider obeyed with precision, but, uhe dog, it didn’t seem to have any personality behind its movements.

  "Sir, please perform a full enviroal test on the meical dog and spider," Ego prompted from the AI interface.

  "No need," Zack replied, shaking his head. "The real test will be in the field."

  He then looked at Ego, his expression serious. "Ego, where’s the armory?"

  Zack wasn’t looking for just any supply depot—he needed a heavily armed armory, ohat could support upgrades to the MV-02 suit, and supply firepower for the dog and spider.

  "The coordinates have been uploaded, sir," Ego responded promptly. "Before the grid went down, I had already backed up maps of military bases, armories, and key locations worldwide. The data is now dispyed in front of you."

  "Perfect," Zack said, a slight smirk f. "Let’s modify the helicopter. This time, you’ll be the oo fly it."

  He walked over to the transport helicopter parked outside, rolling a cart filled with tools. The modification was simple enough—adding an autopilot module that would allow Ego to trol the aircraft. The helicopter already had basic driving funs, so a few quick adjustments would make it fully autonomous.

  Zack fihe modifications in uhirty minutes. He stood bad nodded in approval before heading bato the Mansion. There, he found his younger sister, Annie, engrossed in a meics book.

  "Big brother?" she looked up, surprised by his suddeurn.

  "I need your help," Zack said, handing her a Hydrogen Fuel Cell.

  Ailted her head in curiosity, but Zack tinued. "Take this to the steel mill and ect it to the prid. I’ll give you full access to the MV-02 suit. You’ll be safe flying there."

  Her face lit up with excitement, but some also crept into her voice. "But if I’m using MV-02, what are you going to use?"

  "I’ll use MV-01," Zack reassured her calmly. "I o test the dog and spider in the field, so I’ll stick with the first-gen suit. It’s not built for flying, but it's more than enough for close bat." MV-01 had a heavy, oon frame, designed for brute strength and endurance.

  Annie hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Alright then."

  She headed downstairs to the armor station, and Zack followed, watg as the meical arms began fitting the MV-02 suit around her.

  "Brother! You didn’t tell me MV-02 could adjust to my size!" Annie’s voice rang out, filled with surprise and joy as the inner armor resized itself to fit her perfectly.

  Zack chuckled. "That’s just the first surprise."

  He grabbed a Hydrogen Fuel Cell and made his way to the MV-01 suit sitting in the er. As he started w on the suit, Annie’s voice crackled over the s.

  "Look, Zack! I fly!" Her voice was full of excitement.

  Then, a loud crash echoed through the s.

  BAM!

  Zack wi the noise, his hand still on the MV-01’s trol panel. "I’m fine! Really, I’m fine!" Annie’s voice followed, tinged with embarrassment.

  Zack shook his head, a smirk pulling at the er of his mouth. "Typical Annie."

  After a brief pause, Aivated the autopilot system. The MV-02 suit flew off automatically, gliding smoothly out of the neighborhood. Zack, finished with the MV-01, made his way to the modified transport helicopter and called out to his AI assistant.

  "Let’s go, Ego."

  "Uood, sir," Ego replied calmly.

  Zack boarded the helicopter, the meical dog and spider following closely behind. The helicopter hummed to life and lifted steadily into the sky. As they flew, Ego’s voice came through Zack’s earpiece.

  "Sir, Annie has arrived at the steel mill and entered a small group of zombies. They posed no signifit threat."

  Ego was multitasking—piloting the helicopter and monit Annie’s status in the MV-02 suit. "How’s she holding up?" Zack asked.

  "All systems are normal."

  "Good," Zack murmured, closing his eyes to rest for a moment.

  A short while ter, he felt the helicopter’s speed decrease as it began its dest.

  "Sir, we’ve arrived at the armory. However, it seems we weren’t the first ones here," Ego reported.

  The satellite feed flickered to life in front of Zack, showing a voy of armed men already outside the armory. Their vehicles, reinforced with steel ptes, spikes, and modified front bumpers, resembled mobile fortresses. Zack watched as they shot down nearby zombies and loaded crates of ons into their vehicles, firing into the air as they celebrated their success.

  "When was this footage recorded?" Zack frowned, irritated.

  "Thirty minutes ago, sir. We were still several kilometers away at the time."

  Zack’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the footage. " you track them back to their base?"

  "Certainly, sir," Ego responded.

  The satellite view zoomed out, fog on a heavily fortified location. "Sing Sing Prison," Zack muttered, reizing the name from news broadcasts when he first escaped his apartment. "That pce… wasn’t it trolled by a gang of victs? Their leader was... Arthur, right?"

  "Correct, sir," Ego firmed.

  Zack’s expression darkened, his resolve solidifying. "Let’s go. We’re heading to the prison. We’re taking back our supplies."

  The helicopter adjusted course and sped towards Sing Sing Prison. When they he area, the helicopter slowed, finally toug down on ay road about a kilometer away from the prison gates. The rear hatch opened, and Zack stepped out, his meical dog and spider at his side.

  A few zombies wandered nearby, their guttural growls eg through the air as they shambled toward him. Zaodded to his meical panions. "Your turn."

  The meical dog’s eyes shifted from blue to deep red as it sprang forward with the speed of a predator. With a metallic growl, it leaped onto the zombie, sinking its alloy teeth into the creature’s head and tearing off a rge k. It swung its tail, which was sharpened like a bde, decapitating two more zombies in a fluid motion.

  The spider, its limbs folding and unfolding with remarkable agility, joihe fight. It darted forward, pierg two zombies with its razor-sharp legs, then tis deadly daaking down more in its path. Within moments, the road was littered with fallen zombies, the meical creatures standing victorious.

  Ohe st zombie had fallen, the meical dog’s eyes returo their calm blue hue. Wagging its tail, it trotted back to Zack, while the spider silently returo his side.

  "Meical dog and spider bat analysis plete: all systems perf at optimal efficy. Identification pos, transmission, and stability meisms are funing as expected. bat performance meets desigandards."

  Zack chuckled. "Good work, Ego. But we’re not do."