I stayed inside the Exo-Knight, waiting to see if there would be any other AI controlled Exo-Knight coming to attack me.

Seeing that there were none, I let myself relax and leaned back in the pilot's seat.

Not gonna lie, just after piloting this Exo-Knight once, I don't know if I can return to the previous generation Exo-Knights given that they definitely perform worse than this one.

That means I'll definitely want to get my hands on this new generation of Exo-Knights as my personal Exo-Knight if I ever plan to fly one myself…

As I put the Exo-Knight into standby mode, Ries suddenly appeared beside me looking especially excited.

"Boss!! Boss!! How is it?! How does it feel?!"

I gave her a pat on the head, "Calm down, Ries… Remember we're still borrowing this Exo-Knight and it isn't ours."

"Ehehehe~ I can't help it, Boss~ You looked so cool when you were piloting the Exo-Knight earlier! Even though it's your first time, you were controlling it like a pro!"

"I mean… I did have practice piloting the older generation… And the controls aren't really that different to begin with."

"So how was it, Boss? Was the Exo-Knight better? Was it worse? What are the differences?!"

"Well… I suppose the first thing I noticed was that it felt smoother and more responsive to the controls as compared to the other generation. Additionally, the power behind the Exo-Knight seemed to be much more as compared to the older one as well."

"That must be the capability of the new crystal they are using to generate power for it! There's a much higher percentage of efficiency in its energy conversion for the newer crystal so they can remove a lot of the redundant systems~"

I'm not sure how that worked but if Ries said it it must be true.

"There is one problem though…" I pointed out, taking a moment to look around the cockpit. "I don't think I would be satisfied using anything but the newer model."

Ries grinned, "Oh, the plan has always been to get you a new Exo-Knight from the newer generation, Boss! If we want to buy one from the older generation, it would just be for Renata to pilot instead!"

Renata also chose that moment to speak up, "Don't worry Daddy! I would be able to match the new generation Exo-Knights even if I am using the older one!"

That wasn't what I'm worried about but good to know I guess?

Right then, my Codex started to ring, letting me know that I was receiving a call.

Looking at the screen, I realised that it was Amber calling me and quickly answered it.

A screen with her face popped up and she immediately cried out, "Tera! Are you alright?! Renata told me you were handling the problem and that it's supposedly over now?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I took control over one of the Exo-Knights and used it to subdue the other Exo-Knights that had gone berserk."

She tilted her head at me, "Gone berserk?"

"Well… They were being controlled by an AI. There were no pilots in the cockpit."

"What?! That should be impossib-- Wait… Don't tell me…"

"The data chip that we returned, yes. I don't know if they were responsible or someone else got a hold of it and made use of it."

Amber seemed to think about it for a moment before speaking, "Did you use one of the new Exo-Knights, Tera?"

"Yeah. They were the closest to me that didn't require me to go past those other Exo-Knights after all. Why?"

"Umm… Well… We're currently all evacuated outside the exhibition hall and it looks like they have mobilised some special police unit that is entering the exhibition hall right now… From what I heard, the people responsible are still on sight and there has been some gunfire coming from inside."

I frowned, "Wait… The perpetrators are still around?"

She nodded, "Sounds pretty serious. They've got the entire place locked down and I saw power armour being deployed as well… Is anything happening on your side, Tera?"

"Not really? I mean… It was just those Exo-Knights coming to life and trying to reach the new generation Exo-Knights so I intervened and took them out. I had to crack open some of their torsos to stop them and the pilot seats were all empty. I doubt this was an accident."

And by 'accident' I mean that they definitely activated the Exo-Knights on purpose and didn't just somehow make them move without meaning to. But who were these people and what were their goals in doing this anyway?

Amber looked around again and I have a feeling she was listening to the other girls giving her their opinions before she turned back to me, "Should we head over there, Tera? We should be able to find a way to slip past the police blockade and join you inside?"

I thought about it for a moment before shaking my head, "It's fine. Just keep me updated on what is happening outside instead. I'll just wait here for the police to show up and I can explain what happened to them."

"Unnn… In that case, please be careful, Tera."

I couldn't help but chuckle, "I'll be fine, Amber. After all, I'm literally sitting in an Exo-Knight right now. I doubt even Power Armour would be able to do anything to me."

"Still… If they are able to hack into those Exo-Knights and let an AI take over its controls… Oh wait, you could just hack it back. Ahahaha~ I guess I really was just being paranoid for no reason~"

Well, I'm not even sure if they would even come here since they would be busy with the police right?"

Before I could even suggest that, however, the sound of gunshots came from one of the corridors, prompting me to turn my attention towards the corridor in question.

Several people ran out from a doorway and took cover before they turned back to start shooting at where they had just come from.

Another guy dashed through the doorway while ducking under his companions' gunfire, "Fuck! How did they get here so fast?! I was expecting them to be occupied for at least another thirty minutes!"

"Shut up! Hurry up and get your ass here! The Exo-Knights should have already done their job already! We're lucky that we made a plan to scan the data chip first or else we would have been left with nothing despite losing everyone on that heist!!"

Wait… What did I just hear?

From their conversation… I think I can pretty much piece together what was going on here…

These people must be affiliated with the thieves who had been tasked with stealing the data chip from Ruger Heavy Dynamics whom we managed to catch.

But sometime during their escape, they somehow managed to send the information on the data chip over to their comrades and they managed to replicate it somehow to be used on the Exo-Knights here.

I was curious how they even managed to get the information on the data chip since the data chip was definitely still locked when we got our hands on it and Sophia did say it would have deleted itself if you attempt to copy it.

Nevertheless, it's a fact that these guys managed to make use of the data to control several Exo-Knights and it's most likely due to that data chip.

I'm still not sure what their goal here was… Were they here to steal the new generation Exo-Knights? Or were they just here to destroy them for some reason? Was this part of their heist?

I was brought out of my musings as someone in the group started shouting again.

"Come on!! We can't hold them off forever!"

"Use the hacked Exo-Knights to get out of here! Hurry!"

Because they were focused on shooting behind them, none of them actually noticed that all of their Exo-Knights that they had 'hacked' had been disabled and I was the only one remaining.

When they finally turned around and noticed me, they skidded to a stop and gaped up at me, clearly not expecting this scenario.

Right then, the police showed up, all of them armed to the teeth and they even had three Power Armours in their ranks.

Just like the thieves, they also skidded to a stop when they saw me.

I guess neither side knew if I was a friend or foe and seeing that I was still armed, I could potentially just drop a rocket on them and wipe them all out since they don't know if I was loaded or not.

Err… Let's see… Where's the button that allows me to broadcast my voice outside of the Exo-Knight? Ah here we go…

I cleared my throat, "Ahem… Hello officers! Please arrest them! Don't worry, I will help you!"

It's probably at this point the thieves realised that there were disabled Exo-Knights scattered around the room and that meant their plan had already gone to shit.

They tried to run so I lifted up my fist and punched into the ground near them, knocking a few of them down on their butt from the shockwave.

Most of them quickly surrendered since they didn't want to get squashed and laid themselves on the ground.

Alright police, they're all yours!

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