Godslayer of Gen-Lock-3
"Are ya mental?" Cammie shouted as if Dr. Weller just asked her to strip in her underwear and do a belly dance for everyone.
"Dr. Weller, please report to Ops." The A.I said over the speaker system.
"The Polity grabs us, telling us there's a science project only we can help with. We get shipped to the middle of nowhere only to be locked in with a Union spy who tries to kill us. But he only gets fried because he tried to use the very same tech you're trying to plug us into, and now we're supposed to carry on, la-la-la, like nothing ever happened? Do I have any of that wrong, Longshanks?" Cammie asked before the dead, covered body of the Union Spy, was wheeled past the window. "Oh, and let's not forget to mention it's the freaking deformed mercenary, with fucking supernatural powers who killed him with that same tech."
"Privacy windows, please." Dr. Weller stated, before the windows were put in privacy mode. "You have the gist of it, but I'd apply a less sarcastic tone."
"I think sarcasm helps us see things more clearly." Cammie exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm with her. I'd like to return to my unit. Which… I can't believe I'm saying." Kazu exclaimed.
"Dr. Weller, please report to Ops." The A.I repeated.
"I'll be there in a minute. Valentina, you're quiet." Dr. Weller stated.
"Sometimes it's simply fun to watch. I'm also curious as to Scythe's abilities, and how he's able to mimic the same powers as the infamously famous comic book character Wolverine, plus many more."
"We're not here for fun." Yasamin stated matter-o-factly.
"You sure? Look at this crazy party you've thrown, and you invited a spy, now dead, a ghost, also dead, and a zombie, also dead.
"I take offense to that." Chase stated.
"Same." Scythe exclaimed leaning against the blocked window.
"Hosted by the absent-minded professor, and the Union stray he took in." Valentina continued.
"You have no idea…" Yasamin began as she marched up to Valentina.
"Yasamin." Chase and Dr. Weller said, trying to calm her down.
"No idea the cost to be here." Yasamin began. "I want to be here."
"I have fought and sacrificed everything I had, all because of what your perfect Union did to people like me…"
"I want fight them. Why are you here?"
"So do not lecture me about the cost of fighting.
"It was not my Union!"
"ENOUGH." Scythe shouted, stomping his foot on the ground, causing the metal floor under them all to shake. "I don't care what differences in opinions you two may have. You a transgender being who can't decide to identify as either a man or woman, and you a woman who is trying to make an amends for a mistake she made, at the cost of her parents lives."
"How did you know I'm a Trans?" Valentina asked after the metal floor stopped shaking like an earthquake.
"My nose can pick up the pheromones of any living creature on the planet at a close enough radius. You smell like both a man and a woman. I've kept my mouth shut about this, but you force my hand." Scythe declared. "We're all here to stop the Union. Now that can be achieved, if you stop arguing for longer than two seconds. We might not always get along, but we can always put our differences aside for a common goal, we don't have to do any of this alone."
"Scythe, why did you have to bring up my mistakes?" Yasamin asked, her fists clenched.
"Because a mistake that comes at the cost of your loved ones lives, is something I know all too painfully well." Scythe stated.
"We know the story about your childhood man. You have my honor and respect." Kazu said.
"You told them and not me?" Yasamin asked.
"No, the only person I ever recall telling this story to, was Chase." Scythe exclaimed looking to the hologram.
"I might have told them earlier this morning so they wouldn't think you were such a huge dick." Chase exclaimed.
"Chase man that was not your story to tell." Scythe sighed. "But, I guess it is about time Yasamin and the professor heard it."
"What story is he talking about?" Dr. Weller questioned.
"The story, of how I lost my parents." Scythe stated. "When I was only five years old, my mother and father were the light of my life, the people I looked up to the most. One day, while out with my dog Thunder, we came across an injured man, with blonde hair, and a nasty looking gash on his torso. I ran home for my dad, and lead him to where I had found the injured man. A couple days after we helped him, and he acted like a normal person, smiling with us… laughing with us… sharing experiences with us… he betrayed us." Scythe explained as a tear began to trail down his cheek. "I hid in the closet, with Thunder, and right in front of my eyes, through the shudders of the closet door, I saw him incinerate my parents, to nothing but ash. Their pained screams still give me nightmares, to this day. But I endure, and I fight."
"Dr. Weller, you are urgently requested to join Colonel Marin in Ops." Able said after a moment of intense heart-wrenching silence.
"Mix into my lab again without permission, and I will rewrite you to speak only in Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics." Dr. Weller said, getting annoyed at the A.I. Able looked up to Caliban, who only shrugged, before mixing away from the group. "More of a Dylan fan, I suppose. Well, this conversation has been delightful, but I believe it's the Colonel's turn to berate me. Chase, Scythe, feel free to take over. You can't make things worse, I don't think."
"Well this has been fun and all, but I'm out of here." Cammie said as she began walking for the door.
"Caliban." Yasamin sighed.
Without further instruction, Caliban grabbed Cammie by the underarms and hoisted her up into the air.
"Let me go! Get me the fuck outta here!" Cammie complained as her little robot-pet jumped onto Caliban's face.
"Nobody goes anywhere until the doctor returns." Yasamin stated.
"Maybe Val-" Kazu began.
"Valentina, yo."
"Valentina's onto somethin'. We're only here a day, and the Union is already holding us prisoner." Kazu exclaimed.
"I would choose my next words very wisely." Chase said as Scythe sighed in annoyance.
"Are you going to leave your tank and fight me now?" Kazu questioned.
"Man, I'm just tryin'a warn ya, she'll kick your ass."
Kazu looked up to Yasamin and saw a look that told him Chase was telling the truth.
"Act like adults, would you?"
"I'm not here to fight. I was told I was needed for scientific research." Valentina stated.
"Well yeah, research, on how to fight better?" Chase questioned.
"I was in the resistance against the Union even before New York. I've been fighting one way or another my whole life. I'm done now, and you'll need more than that android, if you try to stop me from going."
"You want to leave? Gen-Lock will give us the edge we need to strike back." Yasamin stated
"More revenge. What's that going to solve? War never changes anything. People themselves are the problem, and more fighting won't alter that. I've done my bit. Let the world tear itself apart. I'm going to live it up while I can." Valentina exclaimed. "I'm going to leave a beautiful corpse, an open bar tab, and no regrets."
"Self-fulfilling prophecy." Scythe chuckled.
"Shto?" Valentina asked.
"You're gonna go live it up like there's no tomorrow, which is gonna make sure there's no tomorrow." Chase exclaimed. "I can guaran-damn-tee you'll have one last regret as the Union nano hits wherever you been partying at. You'll think, maybe I could have changed this, and I didn't."
"You wanna know what the estimate on the Unions advances towards the West Coast is?" Scythe asked. "Six months. If they could accomplish that within such a short amount of time, what's to stop them from taking over the rest of the world in a year, or eighteen months?"
"You're one to talk, Mr. All-Powerful-God." Cammie stated.
"I'm no God. But I do wield the power to slay one." Scythe exclaimed a small burning fire, igniting in his right hand. "If you stay, and fight, you just might learn, the origins of me and my power."
"Even if you don't trust me, listen to the doctor." Yasamin stated. "Trust him."
"I trust no one. It's why I'm still alive. He's got the right idea considering his past." Valentina stated pointing at Scythe.
"In a way, she's right." Dr. Weller said coming in. "You all are. I'd like to start over."
"Wouldn't we all?" Valentina sighed.
"I'm glad you don't blindly give trust. Sign of a reasonable mind, just like Scythe when we first brought him in for recovery. But we do need to start somewhere. Let's get to brass tacks." Dr. Weller said, getting serious. "You are all we've got."
"Way to sell it." Chase stated.
"We need you. You have an opportunity no one else has, to master this new technology and, in doing so, perhaps turn the tide of the war." Dr. Weller exclaimed.
"You think we're gonna Luke Skywalker the war for you? That's a very nice fairy tale." Cammie stated.
"I say to you, what I told my superiors in Japan, before they busted me down. I don't fight simply because someone tells me to." Kazu stated.
"You have a noble heart Kazu, but don't fight for us because you're told, fight for those you love, to protect them. Admittedly, the choice of whether you stay is up to you. You won't be forced." Scythe said, surprising everyone as he spoke pure Japanese.
"I wouldn't want it any other way. If you want to return to your previous lives, I'll tell the Colonel anything you want. That you were incompatible after all. You'll be free to go. All I ask is that you try Gen-Lock one time." Dr. Weller exclaimed.
"Can't say I'm crazy about trustin' my brain to a piece of tech that killed a man right in front of us. It does do something besides kill us, am I right?" Cammie asked.
"Chase, you're still mixing in from your Holon?" Scythe asked.
"Ay-ffirmative." Chase stated.
"Why don't you let our Vanguard friends know we're ready for a lesson? Yaz, would you mind uploading? Go set up the playground, and Scythe's equipment?"
"Of course, Doctor." Yasamin exclaimed.
"Caliban?"
"Are we to use the hangar?" Yasamin asked as Caliban went to the console next to her pod.
"It's such a beautiful day, let's hold class outside. Please, set up over by, uhh Hangar 2." Dr. Weller smiled.
'The hangar where the refugees are to come in at later today? Does he plan on playing with their heart strings?' Scythe asked.
"Scythe, why don't you jump out the window and head to the hangar?" Dr. Weller inquired.
"You got it." Scythe sighed walking to the window, and opening it.
"Wait are you daft?" Camron asked as she, Kazu, and Valentina rushed to the window to try and make him stop, but were too late as he jumped. They looked over the edge, and gasped when they saw him, gliding down on the air currents on metallic dragon wings.
"Anvil Ground, this is ESU2. Huma is waking up, taxiing to Staging Area One." Yasamin said after hooking up to her pod.
"ESU2, Anvil Ground, clear taxi, pull that 3-5 right for landing traffic."
"Taxi and hold, ESU2." Yasamin gave the all good signal, right before her mind began to upload into the Holon Gen-Lock systems.
"That's a It's a - What is that, anyhow?" Cammie asked.
"Mecha?" Kazu questioned.
"That's the biggest drone I've ever seen." Valentina stated. "She's controlling it from here?"
"She is the mech now." Dr. Weller said with a smiled. "Her mind has uploaded to the Cyber-brain."
"Huh, okay, that's kinda cool when it works." Cammie stated.
"It works fine, provided you are psychologically fit and neurologically compatible with the system." Dr. Weller stated.
"If you're not, you-?"
"I don't know, you might as well put your brain in a microwave." Dr. Weller stated, causing them all to gasp and back up in fear. "So, who wants to give it a go? Iida-san?"
"Man, you can call me Kazu." He said, causing Cammie to snicker.
"What? I just never met anyone named after a kazoo is all."
"Kah-zuh." He emphasized.
"That's what I said."
"No, thank you." Kazu stated.
"Miss Romanys-zyn? Uh, Val?"
"Valentina, please, and not yet, thanks."
Dr. Weller, Valentina, and Kazu turned to Cammie who gave a sigh of defeat and dreaded look.
"Ugh, piss. Really? Can you give me a few days to QC your code, at least?"
"Fortune favors the bold." Dr. Weller smiled. "Not to worry though, if anything does go wrong, Scythe is able to heal you with his abilities, so long as you still got a pulse. He can restore your brain to its pre-microwaved state."
"My memories?" Cammie asked.
"Unfortunately those are something he would not be able to get back. Believe me, I saw him heal someone who got shot in the head by a Union soldier, and his memories were completely gone. He can repair the tissue, but the neural synapsis of the brain, he could not restore. Though the good news is, we were able to regain their memories, by using a trigger of something good or bad, from their past, which caused their memories to come flying back to them, after six months of mental therapy and conditioning."
~Outside Hangar2~
"Okay, we get it, you still got game." Miguel stated.
"I never lost it. You, on the other hand, never had it. Man, I might actually get bored." Chase smiled as he flicked basketballs into the hoop.
"Maybe if you turned off Aim Assist, you might actually get some fun out of playing ball as a giant robot?" Scythe suggested stepping up to them, catching one of the rubber balls that fell through the hoop.
"I don't know what you're talkin' about." Chase said.
"What are those for?" Chase asked as Yasamin came walking by in her Holon.
"Presents, and Scythe's training equipment. Are your Vanguard companions joining, or not?" Yasamin asked.
"I mean, yeah, they're supposed to. Joint training and all that. Yeah, here they come." Chase said spotting Miranda and Jodie walking out.
"Then you don't think this is weird?" Jodie asked.
"I didn't say that."
"I think it's weird. I mean, I wanna be welcoming and all, but…"
"Please, let it go. I will find a way to talk to him."
"Do you want me to tell him about us? Do I need to do it?" Jodie asked.
"Are you out of your mind? Let's go."
Meanwhile, upstairs back in the lab, Dr. Weller and Caliban were just finishing up with helping Cammie out of a panic attack.
"Chase and Yasamin are downstairs, ready to catch you. Are you ready, Miss MacCloud?"
"Down the rabbit hole. Let's do this." Cammie stated.
"Clear your mind. Listen to your breathing. The goal is to lower heart rate and blood pressure. Just relax. Just be. You should sense a pulse, a repeating pressure you've never felt before at the edge of your mind. That's Gen-Lock's sync signal, looking for you. Give into it, reach for it, and go to that sensation. Go to the light, grab it, and then hang on.
"Kazoo."
"Kah-zuh." He corrected.
"If I wink out, you can have my manga collection."
"I haven't read Manga since I was a kid." Kazu stated.
"What's wrong with you?"
As if waking up from a dream, Cammie opened her eyes and found herself in the hangar where the Holons were being stored, and began to try and move, after looking herself over a bit. As she tried to move, she noticed the people of Anvil looking at her, expecting her to step on them or something.
"Hiya…" She chuckled. "How ya doin'? Don't mind me, just learnin' how to walk again. Huh. This is… this is incredible." She said as she began singing a nursery rhyme in Gaelic, before she nearly fell over, if it wasn't for Chase catching her. "Whoa! - Jesus, I'm tall!
"Well, yeah, you're almost four stories." Scythe chuckled, sitting on Chase's shoulder.
"No, I mean, I'm really tall! Like, my legs are wrong or something."
"You have a new center of gravity." Dr. Weller said over the communication systems. "Your legs are longer, proportionally speaking. I only had enough time to design one frame to give you all, so I went with some idealized ratios, plus some stylistic touches. You'll adapt over time."
"Ah! My bits are showin'! Whoa." Cammie said covering her lower half before she nearly fell over again.
"Cammie, you're a four story tall robot. I don't think Dr. Weller designed these robots with reproduction purposes in mind." Scythe laughed.
"Who's next, Doctor?" Yasamin asked.
In the lab, both Kazu and Valentina raised their hands, not taking Dr. Weller by surprise, but giving him some amusement at their reactions.
Sometime later, both Kazu and Valentina were in their respective Holons, and were trying to adjust to them just like Cammie.
"Amazing… I can feel." Kazu said, flexing his arms.
"You have a variety of physical feedback indicators coming from all over the Holon." Dr. Weller stated.
"I can work with this." Valentina said, practically smiling.
"Condition and perception all looking good. No signs of cyberattacks yet, excellent! Let's everybody gather outside, and we'll get going on engram formation. Oh, and happy second birthday, everyone." Dr. Weller said before whispering the last part to himself in a low voice. "As many happy returns as possible."
"Scythe, your equipment is all set up, why don't you go train where Yasamin set it up?" Chase suggested.
"Whoa." Cammie said going over to where Scythe's workout equipment was all prepped and ready. "A Salmon Ladder, about as tall as the Holons, a bench press, a leg press, a deadlift/squat machine, all with weights that weigh fifty pounds each; an industrial sized treadmill that can go up to speeds of seventy five miles per hour, at minimum, and… what the heck are these things for?" Cammie asked as the information of all Scythe's workout equipment was fed to her mind, until she got to a simple pull up bar, with an industrial weighted chain linked through three fifty pound weight plates.
"An upside down sit-up machine, you know like in that Rocky movie where he trains in Rusha and does those sit-ups hanging from the second floor of the barn?" Scythe asked.
"You mean the one where Apollo Dies?" Valentina asked. "That's Rocky4."
"Yes, that one."
"Bet you fifty bucks he isn't even able to get through the first part of his workout." Kazu wagers with Chase.
"I'm not taking that bet." Chase stated.
"I am." Miguel stated.
"Welcome to your new bodies. Impervious to organic damage by virtue of having no organics on board, and a wide, wide variety of benefits due to running your mind as code. There's so much we'll need to go over, but for now, just go play." Dr. Weller said interrupting their gambling wager.
"Kazu, think fast!" Chase tossed Kazu, a Holon sized football.
"A football?"
"No, footballs are round." Cammie said.
"To you maybe, but here in America, that's known as Soccer." Scythe exclaimed as he undid the top half of his suit, and tied it around his waist.
"Scythe, aren't you worried about people seeing your arms and back?" Chase asked.
"Not really my arms, I'm more used to that by now, since someone walked in on the most important medical treatment on the month last night." Scythe exclaimed as his voice grew louder towards Miguel. "But my back is fine. I'm wearing my favorite muscle shirt after all."
"I said I was sorry at breakfast all right?" Miguel shouted back.
"Medical treatment of the month?" Cammie asked.
"We'll explain the longer version later. Short version, is his body is still adjusting to have organic like metal as replacements for his missing body parts, arms, legs, and back flesh. So to ease the pain of the treatments, we apply a special numbing agent to the seams of where the flesh meets the metal. Once a month though, every night on the full moon, if he doesn't go through a treatment of the numbing agent, he will be in excruciating pain until the next morning, or the numbing agent is applied. But to apply it at that point, he needs to be unconscious as he'll attack in a blind fit of pain, to where he could harm somebody or himself if he wasn't to be careful." Yasamin exclaimed. "Usually Caliban and I are the ones to help him with applying the numbing agent, but lately, he's been trying to avoid me helping him."
"What do you expect? He's a grown man, who has to strip down to his underwear for the treatment, and you're a woman." Chase exclaimed.
"Any chance you got a baseball?" Kazu questioned.
Chase threw, the Holon sized baseball, and Kazu caught it without any disruption to his motor functions, before Chase took the position as pitcher, and Kazu took batter, using a steel girder as the bat.
"Batter, batter, batter, swing, batter."
Chase threw the ball, as a fastball, and Kazu hit it, and it flew, before it would up hitting a military car, causing the alarm to go off. Kazu stood stiff before hiding the girder behind his back, like a child who got in trouble for breaking his parent's window when playing ball in the backyard.
"Valentina, you're it." Cammie said tapping Valentina on the shoulder.
"Come here, little bunny!" Valentina said giving chase to Cammie.
As they ran, Yasamin surpassed them, revealing the roller blades on the bottom of their feet.
"Mhac na galla!" Cammie said before she started examining her own feet. "Whoa!" She said as she fell to the ground as her roller blades popped out.
As Chase threw another fast ball, at Kazu, it burst in a cloud of blue dust much to Kazu's confusion.
"Huh?" Kazu asked.
"Gen-Lock recruits, meet your new drill instructors. After today, they will begin your education in weapons, team combat tactics and paying attention, please, Cammie." Dr. Weller said as Cammie was still examining the souls of her robotic feet for the wheels.
"Sorry. Sorry." Cammie said, as she was now paying attention.
"They've had years of field experience, and they are very generously donating their time to train you up. So, heed them well. Or you'll be getting Scythe for a drill instructor, and he's not on the soft and fuzzy side when it comes to that."
"Case in point." Chase said pointing his robotic finger back to Scythe's training area, finding her was more than two thirds up the Salmon Ladder.
"So much for playtime."
"You're gonna teach us in those?" Cammie asked.
"Listen, you. Normally, I'd train our pilots on simulators, but that's not gonna work for you. School starts for real tomorrow." Leon stated.
"Doesn't mean we can't have some fun, though." Jodie smiled.
"We're going to do a round of capture the flag." Miranda stated. "New recruits, just one of you has to get past us. Touch the flagpole back there. We hit you, you're out. Spread out on the other side of that line, and let's get started."
"Hey guys." Scythe called out, sitting on the Salmon Ladder pole with a smile and a water bottle. "Keep in mind, a direct approach isn't going to work. Use your surroundings to your advantage, and make the turf your element. Anything goes, so long as you touch the flag pole, and you're not shot at with a cannon."
"Okay, let's go." Cammie stated.
The trio began to make their move, and followed the advice Scythe had suggested, but Cammie got a bit distracted when she caught a glimpse of Scythe doing the Salmon Ladder in reverse.
"Holy…"
BANG…
"You're out Cammie." Chase stated as she fell to the ground from the cannon hitting her in the stomach.
After countless attempts at trying to get past their Drill Instructors, the three were finally given a break as Leon suggested they quit for the day.
"Let's pack it in." Leon stated.
"Oh, no, we ain't quite done." Chase said coming up to them. "Let's show them the goal."
"Sorry?" Leon asked.
"Let's show 'em what they can do once they're trained up." Chase stated, sounding confident. "Care if I give it a shot?"
"What are you up to?" Yasamin asked.
"What? It's cool."
"Alright, let's see what you can do." Leon stated. "Everybody reset."
Chase had no problem as the round began. The recruits saw he had used a bit of parkour skill to avoid getting hit by the cannon fire. In the end, he got the flag, and earned the respect of the new recruits.
"Okay, well, I don't wanna get anywhere near exceeding uptime, which is a concept for later. Let's call it a day." Dr. Weller said.
Not ten second later, four military carrier jets came in for a landing, alerting the mecha drivers they needed to head back in.
"Alright, we gotta clear out." Leon said over the intercom. "Striders back in maintenance. Gen-Lock team, go do whatever it is you do to reset."
As the two teams of mecha's and Holons made their way back to the hangers, the non-soldiers caught sight of refugees being offloaded from the jets that just came in.
"I've only seen it before on the news feeds." Cammie said.
"You get numb to it when all you see are vids going by." Valentina stated.
"It's honestly a lot worse up North." Scythe sighed as he was sitting on one of the crates the Holons were gathered around. "But there are those who still fight back. Those, who haven't given up hope."
"Needless aggression, unscrupulous greed, unchecked hate." Dr. Weller stated. "To have the images, the headlines, incessantly thrust at you, hour after hour, years at a time, you normalize to it. They want you to go numb, become indifferent, or lose yourself in distractions, for it to feel like the evil in this world and all its machinations are too big to challenge. That loss of control leads to despair. To re-engage, to claw back even the tiniest sense of control, you don't have to save the world."
"You just have to make a difference where you can, with the opportunities you are given." Scythe exclaimed.
"That's all I'm asking." Dr. Weller sighed.
"These ideals, you make it sound so simple." Valentina exclaimed.
"It's not. I had such high hopes for how Gen-Lock could be used to expand communications, understanding, improve the human condition, all its potential, and of course, the first thing we do is weaponize it. But maybe, just maybe, if we're made to fight, we can apply it a new way. Save more lives, protect those who can't protect themselves, buy some time for others to end the war, and after that, who knows what we can achieve together?"
"And build a better peace." Yasamin stated.
"I still say you'd have to solve humanity itself." Valentina stated.
"Yeah, how do you solve evil?"
"You can't, but you can step up when you see it, and we got a very special chance to help more than anybody else." Chase exclaimed.
"A chance I would gladly take if it meant protecting those I cared for." Scythe stated.
"What is Gen-Lock if not the next step in humanity's evolution? And you can be the first to see where it takes us." Dr. Weller stated.
"You want in?" Chase asked.
"We get to fight the Union head on, however we want?" Kazu asked.
"More or less." Dr. Weller stated.
"Will we have rescue duties?" Valentina questioned.
"Absolutely. Won't be all you do, I suspect."
"We get new toys?" Cammie asked.
"As many as we can build. So long as Mr. Strauss can withstand the pain of having the metal peeled from his body."
"Aye! Put 'er there." Cammie said reaching out her hand, only for Scythe to chuckle before jumping up and sitting on it. "Aw."
"Looks like we got a team." Chase smiled.
"We should celebrate."
"Beer?" Kazu asked.
"No, gaming! There's this level in Seige2 I've been trying to beat, yas kin help me while I fight the dragon." Cammie exclaimed.
"Sorry, not gonna happen. You still need to train your physical bodies, that's where I come in." Scythe exclaimed jumping to Chase's shoulder.
"I have a feeling we're going to be in for a Kurro Sensei type lesson." Cammie stated, referring to the Anime/Manga, Assassination Classroom.
~After the physical training~
"Please… no more… I can't handle it." Cammie groaned flopping down on her bed, which she had trouble getting to as it was the top bunk on a bunkbed.
"Please tell me we're not gonna have to go through that hard training every day." Valentina inquired.
"Relax everyone. It was your first day, Scythe was just testing your limits, to assess what you can and cannot do. He's making personal workout plans for each of you as we speak." Chase chuckled. "Oh, and this is a welcome gift to you all from him."
Chase moved out of the way, to reveal three six-pack bottles of Dr. Pepper, each with their names on them.
"These are from his personal stash, as welcome gifts for you all." Chase exclaimed.
"Awesome." Cammie smiled, jumping down, suddenly forgetting the fatigue and pain in her muscles.
"Hey Chase, what did Dr. Weller mean about peeling the metal from Scythe's body?" Valentina asked taking a bottle from the pack with her name on it.
"I'm curious myself." Kazu stated.
"Well, I guess I should tell you since you're gonna be a part of the team. I'm not gonna go into detail about it, but Scythe is able to produce massive amounts of metal and gemstones from his own body. The metal is stronger than carbon based titanium after tempered, and the gemstones are of the purest quality." Chase explained. "The Holon's themselves are made completely out of Scythe's metal. The only down side, is each sheet of metal peeled off, is equivalent to the pain of having your skin filleted from your muscles, his words, not mine."
Cammie nearly did a spit-take, choking on her drink, as she heard this.
"He goes through that much pain, just to produce weapons to protect us with?" Kazu asked.
"He does. Though, don't feel bad about it." Yasamin said as she was reading. "He told us to look at it this way. If the metal is from his body, just think of it as him giving you a hug from all directions, that shields you from the enemy's firearms."
"Why'd he want you to think of it that way?" Valentina asked.
"Scythe might seem like the big bruiting type. True he can be stubborn and annoying to be around, and can definitely get on your nerves at times. But deep down, he's a guardian, a protector of the innocent."
"Judge of the guilty." Valentina stated.
"He vowed to abide by society's laws, rules and obligations." Yasamin added.
"To live honorably and just. To guide and assure justice." Kazu stated.
"He's a hero of the innocent, who vowed to turn his future towards ruling his entity." Chase exclaimed.
"Not to give into temptation, injustice, or unlawfulness." Cammie stated.
"To help those in need is his loyal mission, to himself and others." Yasamin stated.
"I always wondered where that vow originated from. It's been all over the news over the past four years from every Union Base destroyed or emptied." Cammie stated.
"Scythe made that vow, in honor of his mother, the one who raised him after he escaped enslavement. He's never going to be able to see her again, and that is heart breaking. But he knows he can do her proud by fighting against the Union." Chase exclaimed.
"I pledge myself to that vow as well." Cammie stated.
"Same." Valentina smiled.
"Hai." Kazu nodded.
"That's what I wanted to hear." Yasamin smiled. "Now let's get some shut eye. We've got a big day planned ahead of us tomorrow, and Scythe won't put up with people who sleep in. He'll punish you accordingly if you miss even one training session. This is personal experience talking."
"I'm regretting pledging myself to that vow already." Cammie sighed.
~New York Union Base Prison Cells~
Deep within the basement of the Union Base in New York, there were several cells built and designed specifically to contain prisoners the Union thinks they can turn into weapons. One of these cells, was torn up and shredded, and currently under repairs. The current occupant of that cell was transferred to the toughest cell they had, unconscious due to a sedative.
"Wake up." A Union soldier said throwing a bucket of ice cold water on the restrained woman's head.
The woman in question was tied up to a chair, with chains as her restraints. She wore a prison uniform that was torn at the midriff, sleeves, and upper thighs. Her white hair down, with a braid at the side. Breast Size: J-Cup.
"What the hell do you assholes want?" She asked.
"Transform. We need to see your wings." The second Union soldier said, as they were both part of the mission to stop the refugees from fleeing with the rebels when the Holons were first introduced to the Anvil Rebels.
"I'd transform if I had any magic left in me." She growled.
"Mirajane Strauss you will transform into that thing you can turn into." The first soldier said pointing his gun at her.
"Go ahead and kill me. You'd be doing me a favor, by reuniting me with my son." Mirajane stated.
Yes Mirajane was in the world that was currently at war with the Union. How she got there, she had no clue, but she figured it had something to do with Scythe and the Tower of Heaven's energy he absorbed. Though because of the nature of the world she arrived in, she had to regress a bit back to her old self, which meant unlocking her Satan's Soul power. That was little over four years ago.
"Your son is alive bitch, and he's a major thorn in our side for the past three years." The second Union Soldier said pulling up a picture from the battle the other day. It was a picture of Scythe in his Satan Soul form, his wings spread wide, while also kneeling atop a crushed tank.
"Scythe…" Mira gasped, a look of relief on her face.
"So this is your son." The first Union soldier said lowering his weapon. "Good to hear, guess we don't need to compare your wings after all."
The Union soldiers left Mirajane with a physical copy of the picture of Scythe on the ground at her feet, looking at it with tears of joy.
"He's alive." Mira smiled. "I'm so happy."