A/N

So good news! True to my word I am accelerating the upload schedule of this story. Tigress will now be receiving updates on Sundays and Wednesdays. This new schedule is effective immediately, the next chapter will be posted this Wednesday (October 21st).

I'll be putting a lot of focus on this story for a while, mostly because I feel guilty for neglecting it. For those of you who read my RWBY content, I'll be posting my final author's note tomorrow, which will sorta outline my plans for the future of my RWBY saga.

In that same author's note, I will once again go into detail about the Q&A I'm planning. If you want to know more about that, the details I have posted so far can be found in the author's note of the most recent chapter for Team MARS Part 2.

Anyways...

Chapter 7…

For the third time in the last few days, Ashley was screwing around with her own brain.

Her previous experience in a simulator the day before had ended rather poorly and she had planned to keep her distance from the machines; but two years of drinking herself into a stupor had unsurprisingly dulled her skills as a pilot quite a little bit. That wasn't even mentioning the new titan AI she had been paired up with…

Cain was with her now… and a part of her in some sense. "His" grating voice had lulled somewhat into the back of her mind, almost acting like a second set of eyes for her. To Ashley's surprise Cain actually hadn't been as bothersome as she feared he would be; the titan AI, perhaps for the sake of brevity, had already familiarized itself with her past service records and had run through the calibration tests in a timely manner.

A simulated rocket slammed into Cain's chassis, rattling the machine and causing several alarm klaxons to blare in warning. Ashley growled in discomfort and activated the machine's dash function, sliding to the left and behind a building for cover.

"Scans indicate a 'Reaper' class automaton," Cain droned faintly in the back of Ashley's head. "It is armed with anti-titan weapons, would recommend a flanking maneuver in conjunction with blocking."

Ashley hummed in affirmation and maneuvered the titan into a fast sprint, using the dash engine to quickly build momentum. The building she was currently sprinting around was meant to look like a research complex. If Ashley remembered the layout of the area correctly then there was an alleyway she could take to complete the flanking maneuver…

This all felt so strange… controlling a titan was just so different now…

Two years ago piloting a titan had been more comparable to operating an aircraft or truck; there was a complicated control board and joystick system, but nothing too out of the ordinary. But now that complicated control board had been ripped out, replaced with a comparatively much smaller one that hosted several large buttons… most of which were tied to the mech's safety features.

When Cain moved "his" legs, Ashley could feel them slamming against the soft ground. It wasn't the vibration of the chassis… no, she could feel it… as if she was the one running…

When Ashley thought about moving her legs, Cain moved "his" legs. When Ashley thought about moving her arms, Cain moved "his" arms. When Ashley thought about firing the gun or swinging the sword, Cain moved "his" body around to follow her orders to the absolute letter.

Ashley now realized the importance of the neural link… she and Cain were indeed one entity now.

She wasn't sure how she felt about that…

Ashley and Cain rounded the corner of the building they were sprinting around; Cain slammed "his" legs against the ground to skid to a stop, digging two deep grooves into the soil. The two didn't linger where they were standing, as a barrage of blue-coloured plasma bolts slammed into the ground at Cain's feet, turning the soft sand into glass.

The aggressor the two of them were trying to flank was wiser than Ashley anticipated. The "Reaper" was clearly a new or very recent innovation, as Ashley had never properly seen or heard of one until today. An eerie red light glowed from behind the metal faceplate of the small automaton as it raised its arms up for another barrage of plasma.

"Would recommend immediate defense action!" Cain warned.

Ashley commanded Cain's arm back to swipe the bus-length sword off the titan's back, swinging it low to the ground so it wouldn't impact against the buildings on either side of them. The massive weapon had been raised at precisely the right moment to block a plasma bolt that would have directly impacted the cockpit.

Ashley kept Cain's arms up but the robot did the rest of the work for her; the AI jerked the arms of the titan around with impressive speed, angling the flat of the broadsword to block any incoming projectiles. The dark haired woman controlling the titan pushed forwards, moving Cain's legs at a fast pace to close the distance between her and the Reaper.

"We are in the ideal range!" Cain warned, the AI still moving the flat of the broadsword to block the plasma bolts. "Would recommend using offensive maneuvers after the plasma barrage ends… estimated time until barrage ends is five seconds."

Ashley licked her lips behind her helmet and imagined slamming her back foot into the ground, to her satisfaction the legs of Cain's chassis followed her command to the letter.

'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale'

Whether in a titan or on the ground… the rule about breathing always applied.

"Now is the optimal time for an attack, would recommend a downwards slash,"

The Reaper's plasma barrage had stopped, just like Cain had predicted. Small cooling vents raised on the metal skin of the machine to try and dissipate the heat the plasma weapons had accumulated.

Ashley raised the sword high, feeling the muscles in her biceps and shoulders begin to burn from the neural feedback. The dark haired woman brought the blade down with a heavy crash, completely severing the left arm of the Reaper below her.

"There is still an opening, would recommend bisection for the kill maneuver."

Ashley adjusted the hilt of the sword in the titan's metallic hands to angle the cutting edge horizontal to the Reaper's midsection. With the flick of her wrist and a twist of her midsection Ashley sheared the blade through the midsection of the Reaper. The ear-splitting noise of metal being sheared apart rung in her ears as both halves of the Reaper collapsed to the ground.

Ashley was satisfied… in fact, she was so satisfied that she slammed the titans metallic foot down on the top half of the Reaper's corpse. It was a completely unnecessary motion, but it served to further feed the flame Ashley could feel burning in her chest.

"Warning! Would recommend that you retreat immediately. "Reaper" class automatons are designed to self-destruct to damage surviving enemy units."

"What!" Ashley snarled in shock, withdrawing the titans foot from the Reaper and looking down; the top half of the Reaper was beginning to glow.

Ashley turned the titan on its heel and ran, the massive metal machine slamming into the wall of the nearest building as the woman and AI tried to desperately flee. A massive crash sounded behind her, signalling that the Reaper had finally detonated. Alarm klaxons blared and the viewscreen flashed red for a moment, but it seemed as if the titanium armor of the Ronin chassis had absorbed most of the damage.

Ashley stopped the titan and loudly sighed, pressing the back of her helmeted head into the soft headrest of her seat. "How was I that time?"

"For this battle scenario, I calculate a seven-point-six increase in link efficiency," Cain congratulated. "You showed adaptability when faced with several unfamiliar foes, good work Ashley."

The dark haired woman cringed in preparation for what was to come.

"However, your inefficiency with the Reaper was noted," Cain rasped, his voice ringing around inside Ashley's head. "The pilot training manual states in Chapter Three Section Forty-Two that all unfamiliar or unknown combatants should be treated with extreme caution. The final kick you delivered was an unnecessary attack-"

"I did it out of satisfaction!" Ashley shot back. "And yeah… looking back on it it was a bad decision-"

"I would suggest you refrain from such actions again."

Ashley felt the urge to tear off her helmet and rub her temples.

"I would recommend ending this training session."

"You sure? I was that bad, huh?"

"Negative, Ashley," Cain rasped. "You have been locked into a neuro-link pod for the past four hours. Safety measures stipulate that no more than three and a half hours should be spent in a pod per day. I would recommend that we terminate this session immediately."

"Okay?" Ashley frowned. "I suppose you're right…"

The world around Ashley, cockpit and all, fizzled out of existence. The dark haired woman was left sitting in the cramped seat off the neuro-link pod, the bright green lights slowly faded away and left her in darkness.

The dark haired woman reached out her gloved hand and groped around in the darkness, finally feeling the release switch. Ashley wrenched the switch down and shoved it forwards.

With a hiss the pod opened, revealing the bustling room in front of her. Dozens of technicians rushed about, monitoring the many different pods that contained other pilots or pilots in training. Ashley gingerly stepped out the pod, feeling her head momentarily spin as she adjusted back to reality. She wasn't the only person done, as several other pods were beginning to open up.

Ashley held her helmet in her hands as she waved away the technicians and made her exit. She was keen to put as much distance as she could between her and her fellow pilots, she had never been much for small talk.

Her old teammate Colton used to frequently joke about that with her… he had always been good at small talk, unlike her.

Ashley froze in place, her mouth hanging slightly ajar as she remembered her old friend. For but a moment a memory of his smiling face flashed across her vision, staring back at her with soulless eyes. Imagination and memory were powerful forces… but neither could fully capture a true, life-like representation of his features.

Out of all the people she lost… Ashley could remember Colton the clearest. He had always been a lingering spirit, so to speak…

"Hey, Ishikara?"

Colton had been positive to the point of annoying… and he had this peculiar way of smiling. It was actually more of a smirk than a proper smile… he would lift up the left side of his lips and let the right side droop.

She remembered hating that smirk when she first met him…

"Um, Ishikara? I don't need to grab your shoulder… do I? Hello?"

She hated Colton's smile at first because it oozed confidence, a perfect representation of the man whose face it rested upon. Deep down Ashley wondered why he had always been so nice to her, even when she had given him little reason to be… maybe he had felt more for her than she did for him…?

Had she felt more for him?

Not that it mattered now…

"Alright… don't say I didn't warn you!"

A gloved hand softly rested on Ashley's shoulder, giving a little shake to try and get her attention. Ashley, shaken out of her stupor, resisted the overwhelming urge to spin around and strike the person grabbing her.

'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…'

Ashley spun around to find the dark, twinkling eyes of a man with a rat-like face.

"Sorry about that…" Templeton removed his hand and awkwardly wiped it on his pant leg. "But you looked terrified for a second there and I nearly bumped into you… are you alright?"

Ashley held her tongue for a moment and continued her breathing exercise. Finally she answered, battling back the non-committal response that she was initially planning to utter. "I'm fine… just zoned out for a moment there, sorry…"

Ashley cleared her throat and turned on her heel. The dark haired woman was three steps away when she realized that she wasn't holding her helmet.

"You dropped this also…" Templeton called out in his tinny voice, prompting Ashley to spin around and face him in surprise.

The shorter man was holding out her black and yellow helmet for her to grab. Ashley quickly closed the distance between them and gently accepted it.

"Are you… sure you're alright?" Templeton asked gingerly, narrowing his beady eyes as he peered into Ashley's face. "Maybe you should head to med-bay… those neuro-link pods can have some weird side effects."

"No… just… I'm ok," Ashley awkwardly cleared her throat in response. She turned her helmet in her hands so the visor was facing her and then tucked it under her arm. "Thanks for your concern… but I'm fine."

To Ashley's immense relief Templeton shrugged and drew his lips into a tight line. "It's not my business anyways…"

"Yeah, it isn't…" Ashley replied tersely.

A blanket of awkward silence settled over the two pilots.

"Hey?" Templeton visibly lit up. "Me and a bunch of the other guys going on the raid tomorrow are meeting up in the mess hall for drinks… do you want to come?"

Ashley cleared her throat and tapped her fingers against her leg. "I don't know if that's a good idea, Templeton."

Templeton held up his hand. "Don't tell me you don't like drinking… because that would be a bald-faced lie and you know it. Why won't you come?"

Ashley felt her face begin to heat up and resisted the urge to grit her teeth. "Don't take this the wrong way, Templeton. But I'm not here to make friends-"

"You're here to get paid!" Templeton snorted and rolled his eyes. "You and I are in the same boat. In all honesty I fucking hate most of the guys on the roster tomorrow, but having a few drinks before a big mission is a good way to calm your nerves. Whaddaya say?"

Ashley was about to give her reply when Cain's voice sounded in her head.

"Ashley, I would suggest that you take Pilot Templeton's offer for recreational activities. IMC field reports have proven that soldiers with personal ties to others act less recklessly in battle and have a twenty-six percent greater chance of survival."

While she was growing an appreciation for Cain, she still wasn't a fan of sharing her head with him. Ashley truly wondered how much privacy she really had these days.

But the titan AI had a point...

Ashley hummed for a moment. "Alright Templeton… but you need to buy me a drink."

Templeton held up his hands and smiled. "Fine, but nothing top shelf… I'm here to make money, not debts."

"Deal."

Templeton walked off and waved over his shoulder as a gesture for Ashley to follow him.

With a long exhale out of her nose, the dark haired woman did just that...