"Ugh…" Prime slowly reached around and worked out his neck as a platform lowered him down from his mech's cockpit, "That thing can mess up your neck if you aren't careful…"
Various engineers rushed around the mech, plugging in a variety of cables and wires into the body to run tests on the systems. Prime himself just smiled to as many as they could. The effort it took to actually maintain Invictus could be staggering, if the readout data that he'd seen from the mech's computers alone was anything to go by, having twenty people swarming the mech like this was a lower estimate.
"Ah, Lloyd!" A familiar old man came walking up to him as soon as Prime hit the ground, "How went the test drive?"
"Dr. Julien!" Prime chuckled, "It's not Lloyd, it's Prime. You'll confuse everyone here if you call me that."
"Oh, you youngin's and your silly nicknames," Julien scoffed, "She felt like a beauty, didn't she? Designed her myself! Of course, without that fancy core it wouldn't even move, but the integration was smooth, wasn't it?"
"Well…" Prime rubbed his neck, "A little? There really isn't any seat in there, so…"
"What?!" Julien scowled, "My design was made for your comfort! You must be joking!"
"I don't want to lie to you, Dr. Julien," Prime chuckled gently, "You made these things so, I can't really find a reason to lie to you."
"Ah… well," Julien gave a small sigh and turned away, "I'll look into this, 'comfort factor' you're suggesting. I make no promises!"
"I ask for none," Prime put his hands on his nips and cocked them, "I'm going to go and get out of this suit. I'll get to the debriefing we have later."
"Well… I'll get on that," Dr. Julien sighed, "We're still looking for the other members of your team. You'll have to stick out my, apparently, uncomfortable mechs until you have others to help back you up!"
"I'm sure we'll find the ones the cores react to in time," Prime smirked, "Until then, let's just keep our feet on the ground."
"Ah, yes, that search is still ongoing!" Dr. Julien sighed, "I'm sorry you have to take on this task by yourself for now, Prime! I assure you, once we find your future team, you'll be stronger than ever!"
"I look forward to it," Prime put his hands on his hips, "It'll be nice not to have to watch my own back. Until then, I'm counting on you, Doctor."
The head scientist of the program gave Prime a smile as he found Prime's charisma washing over him. He chuckled and walked away, leaving Prime at the mercy of the engineers around him. Thankfully, the door to get out of this skintight thing was nearby, and so he was already walking his way over towards it when another voice stopped him.
"Mr. Prime," A female voice stopped him, "I'm here to report that-"
"Akita," Prime rolled his eyes, "You know for a fact that I don't like being called Mister. Just call me Prime, like everyone else."
Akita gave Lloyd a small roll of her eyes. The girl brushed back her long locks of black hair, currently restrained under a white construction helmet. Small red streaks and black dots had been painted on it to give the appearance of a wolf. To help identify her as apart of Prime's repair crew, she wore a green set of industrial looking clothes. A single zipper went up her entire body, affixing the thing to her body from the neck down. She tapped the clipboard she was holding.
"Prime," Akita continued again, "I just came to tell you that everyone so far on your mech appears to be in working order. You did not push it to the breaking point this time."
"Last time there was a giant shadow serpent that coiled around the thing!" Prime protested, "I didn't have a chance to stop it."
"It still took a rather long time to repair the mech," Akita narrowed her gaze, "I will not say that you were purposefully looking to wreck it, but the others may see it that way."
"I'll do my best not to get it damaged while I'm saving the world," Prime chuckled, "I need to go and get changed. Is that all you had to tell me?"
"For now, yes," Akita sighed, "We will have your mech ready for you when the next threat arrives."
"Thanks, Akita," Prime smiled, "You're fitting in well here, you know?"
Akita looked down at her attire with a neutral gaze. Prime recalled when he'd first found her on one of his missions. He'd been sent to deal with a disturbance in the North and found her in a small mech made of wood and scrap metal fighting back the smaller fry the Overlord sent to back up his forces. Once she saw his mech on the horizon, she'd demanded to come back with them. There were many things that he wasn't sure about just yet, but seeing her having integrated as a repair technician was a welcomed sight.
"Yes, it was my wish to repair the machines of those to fight in my steed," Akita frowned, "I learned how your mechs were built rather quickly. I suppose I am doing a good job of it now."
There was something in Akita's words that left Prime unsure of how to proceed. Akita gave him a small bow of her head, then turned around and began to walk away from him. As she did, Prime took note of the back of the clipboard she held, seeing it didn't even have a single piece of paper in it. He blinked at that, but there wasn't anything he could truly make from it. As Akita walked away, all he could do was sigh, put on a smile, and make his way over towards the outfitting room.
Getting out of his suit was about as fun as it was getting on. Dr. Julien insisted the suits were designed to help shield their bodies from the raw energy that their mechs output and, until he figured out how to make it so their machines didn't output so much energy just to turn on the cores, it would stay like that. Still, having to slide the suit on and then having to step into a panel to cause it to vacuum fit to his body didn't feel right. At the very least, it'd been designed with his body in mind, even if it made him look thinner than he actually was.
Once he was out of the suit and changed back into his casual clothes, a simple green t-shirt and a pair of black pants, Prime decided to make his way over towards the cafeteria. The last test mission he'd just arrived from had been almost ten hours long, and right now he truly wanted something to eat. After that, he would likely need to go and talk to Dr. Julien or his father, both of which would want to know about how his mech was working. The only reason he didn't go straight to them was knowing they'd likely keep him from eating for another hour at least if he did.
Prime had just turned down one of the long industrial corridors when he saw a strange figure in a stained coat pushing a large cart with them. Normally, Prime would ignore such happenings, but the way the one pushing it had their head so closely pressed to the cart to hide their features made him suspicious. He looked around for anyone else that saw it, but found he was the only one. After a few seconds of debate, Prime decided to follow them.
What became almost immediately apparent to Prime was the fact this figure was going into a part of the facility that he wasn't used to. The facility was huge, no doubt, and even he only truly knew the development area for testing new weapons, deployment bay and his own quarters. Prime saw that the figure had gone all the way to the edge of the facility, then found a small elevator and pushed the cart inside. Prime pushed his back up against a nearby corner to wait for the elevator to close, then rapidly looked around for a stairwell. He found one, and quickly began to rush down after them. He stopped every few floors, seeing if the elevator was still going down. Soon, he found himself all the way at the very bottom of the facility.
It was here that Prime finally got to see where they were going. The figure pushed the cart down the same lightly green tinted hallways. The air here was slightly colder, but other than that Prime couldn't see anything important about this bottom floor compared to that of any other one. The figure kept going for a long distance before finally stopping at a small door. They opened it, pushing the cart inside over the small lip of the door. Prime, blinking in surprise they had finally stopped, walked through the hallway up to the door to look inside.
As soon as Prime leaned his head inside, an arm wrapped around his neck and pulled him in. Prime gasped as he hit the ground, spinning around to look towards the one that had attacked him. The figure shut the door and hit a switch by it, causing large lights suspended overhead to turn on. Prime looked around to see they were in a massive dull gray room, filled with boxes and supplies. All around the room, carts like the one the figure had been pushing were strewn about, stacked up with various parts and pieces of scrap.
"You have been following me," The figure spoke in a female voice, "I will not allow for that. Whatever you say, you will forget immediately."
"Akita?" Prime asked in confusion. The figure froze, then pulled the coat aside to show the face of Akita. Her helmet was now gone, instead letting her hair down sprawling along her back. She shed her coat, revealing her to be in a white tank top splattered with oil and grease, along with a paif baggy gray pants that were similarly stained and filled with tools in almost every pocket.
"Prime," Akita sighed, "I should have known you would follow me at some point."
"Why?" Prime slowly got to his feet, dusting himself off, "Where exactly are we?"
"...I suppose since you have seen this place, I will not hide it," Akita stepped past Lloyd and towards the other side of the room, "This is my secret workshop. It is where I have been working on my personal project."
"Your, what?" Prime asked in confusion. Akita rolled her eyes and waved for Prime to follow her. Prime cocked his head, but followed her obediently. Akita led him across the room, stepping around many carts and boxes. Eventually, she led him over towards a large lump underneath a large tattered sheet. She waited to see Prime was watching, then took hold of said sheet and pulled it back.
What Prime saw was an odd sight. The machine appeared to be one of the smaller mechs that the workers used for doing repairs on his mech. Those mechs, normally a good ten feet tall, was now only perhaps four with how it had been put on all fours. The arms had been replaced by another set of legs, with metal torn in places and wires hastily connected at random. The back of the mech had been torn open, and a strange device had been put on top. The device looked like some sort of chair, but positioned so the pilot inside was on all fours just like the mech itself. There were two holes in the mech's back that the legs of the pilot would go into, which looked more like inserting one's legs into a snake's den of wires rather than a comfortable position. A large computer screen was erected in front of this odd control scheme, along with two control sticks for the hands. What bits of metal on the mech that remained were painted white, though they were stained with grease as well.
"...Nothing to say?" Akita spoke up as Prime starred at the amalgamation, "It is my project. I hope to turn this into a functional mech of my own design by month's end. I am attempting to make it operate like the spiritual animal I was named for by my people. So far, I have had limited success."
"Uh… huh," Prime blinked, "So… this is meant to be an animal of some kind?"
"A wolf, when I am finished," Akita walked over and picked up a large ball of welded metal, very crudely in the shape of a snout, "I will attach this when I have the machine working. That is when I will have the resemblance complete."
"Right…" Prime nodded. Akita gave a deep frown and sat the head back, walking towards the machine she was making and turning away from Prime.
"You find it silly," Akita stated plainly.
"What? No!" Prime quickly put his hands up, "I'm just, not sure why you're building this. I thought you were an engineer? Why are you even building it down here and not up in one of the labs?"
"Because Julien's experiments are being used for all of them, and they will not allow a lowly engineer like myself to build something that is not for your mech's use," Akita stated with bitterness, "I have been collecting pieces from destroyed or scrapped mech parts and taking them here. It has been slow going, but I am almost able to make this operational. Once I do, I will take it out into battle."
"What?" Prime frowned, "No, Akita, you can't do that. Those things will tear this up!"
"Better I go out and fight than stand behind one that fights for me," Akita hissed, "I did not come here to be a simple worker, Prime. I came here to gain what I needed to fight the creatures that took my home from me!"
"Really?" Prime asked, a confused look on his face, "But, I thought you were happy being an engineer. That's why you applied to work on my mech."
"I did so knowing you would damage the mech, and I could collect the broken pieces we remove," Akita stated dryly, "I have no attachment to your mech."
Prime felt a strange sense of heat race through him hearing her words. It was one of shame, assuming that Akita had been so eager to work on his mech for her own goals. Akita saw his lack of another reply and scoffed, moving to crawl up the side of her mech and get down into the pilot seat. She slid her legs into the slots and bent forward, gripping the control sticks. One of them pulled up as soon as she did, making her growl and fish out a screw from her pockets to fasten it back on.
"Why are you so, determined to go out and fight?" Prime asked her as she began her work, "My father recruited me to come here and help fight these threats so others didn't have to!"
"Some of us do not want to stay behind a hero," Akita responded, not looking up from her mech, "A hero is only good when they are there to save those that are hurt. As powerful as you are, you were not there for when my people were taken from me."
Prime felt an odd sting from her words, but also a feeling of ire. He walked forward and leaned up against the front right 'leg' of the mech, craning his neck to look at her. Akita ignored him and kept at it, finishing the stick and moving to test the grip.
"You said you lost your people a year ago," Prime pointed out, "That's when this all started, the Dark Impact. We weren't even around then! Dr. Julien didn't even perfect the mechs until a few months ago! I found you out there on one of my first missions, Akita."
"I am not saying you are to blame," Akita sighed, "I am stating my motivation. I do not wish for you to step down. But I am unhappy here, working in the long shadow your mech casts. I will perfect this machine, and then I will go out and make a name for myself and help those that you cannot."
"But you can't," Prime frowned, "If they find out you stole parts from us to make this thing, they'll send people to take this from you. And then they'll arrest you so you can't help."
"Then I will fight them too," Akita replied calmly, "My will is to fight. I will turn my claws to any that attempt to stop me."
Prime gave a small sigh, stepping back from the machine. Akita kept at her work, which in some ways made Prime even more angry at this situation. He didn't so much care about the fact that she was ignoring him, as much as it was that she was acting so full of herself. Her headstrong nature was enough to make him want to tell her off, but he wasn't sure why. For now, he just had to restrain himself and step back to look at what she was doing.
"...I don't want you to go out and fight without help, Akita," Prime sighed, "It's hard enough for me as it is. And I have my mech. I know they're still finding the others that resonate with the cores but, well. You can't just go out and fight in this thing! The bigger monsters will tear you apart. What will you do if you get caught out there?"
"What I have always done," Akita raised her head up, "I will run, and study them until I know what to do the next time I see them. I did not survive on my own without my wits."
"You're serious about this?" Prime frowned, "You're going to go out and fight in this thing, with or without any of us?"
"Yes," Akita stated firmly, "What of it?"
Prime gave a long sigh, "If you won't go and let me talk you out of this, the least I can do is help you, then."
"Help me?" Akita looked genuinely taken aback by that as she got up on her knees on the mech's back.
"Yeah," Prime nodded, "You're making this machine to go out and fight, so I might as well be here to help you. I know a thing or two about them after feeling how my mech works for me."
"Do you know how to build a machine?" Akita frowned.
"No," Prime shook his head, "But I can get your access to the blueprints of some of the mechs here. And I can help you get better supplies. So you can work with things better than scraps."
"Why?" Akita narrowed her gaze in mistrust, "Do you wish to sabotage me?"
"No," Prime sighed, "I can tell you won't back down. And, well, we all have something to fight for. So if you want to fight, I can't turn you down. I was the one that brought you here, so I should take responsibility for this."
"I am not someone that you must 'take responsibility' for," Akita rolled her eyes, "But… if your wish is to help, I cannot refuse the help. This has taken me months to complete. I have much I must do before this thing is ready for battle. I must take all the help that I can get. Do you intend to hold this information against me, Prime?"
"No," Prime shook his head, "I just want to help. That's all. When do you normally come to work on this?"
"At night," Akita responded, "I end my work at eleven and work until three."
"Then I'll see you then," Prime smiled, "I can get us some food too."
"...Then," Akita looked at a momentary loss for words, "For now, you should go. I came here early as I have some unexpected freedom from work. You, however, must make your report to your father, yes?"
"Yeah, I will," Prime looked towards the door, "I'll see you tonight then, alright?"
Akita wasn't sure what to make of Prime's words. She looked down to her mech, then sighed and got back to work. Prime gave her a smile of his own, then moved back towards the room and carefully stepped out. As he left for the elevator that she'd taken, he looked back at the door. A strange feeling of deja vu hit him as he looked back, seeing her working so hard to perfect her mech. The feeling was one he'd felt before. The feeling of first activating his mech, and of when he'd first found her out there, slashing away at the shadow monsters in her mech of cobbled together parts. The elevator doors closed as he left her be for now.
"That is not where that goes!" Akita battled Prime's hands away from a large piece of metal he held, "If you place it there, I will not be able to rotate the leg inwards!"
"You told me to put it there!" Prime protested as he shook his hands from the sting, "I'm doing what you told me to!"
"For one that claims to know so much about mechs, you are fairly oblivious at how they truly function," Akita repositioned the metal and smacked it, "Hold it there. This is where it must go."
Prime wrangled in a groan and leaned in, holding the metal up to the mess of wires underneath it. Akita reached out and took a tube-like device and pressed it to the edges of the metal. With a large pneumatic hiss, the tube ejected a bolt down through the metal, pinning it to the machine. The sound of it, so close to his body, was enough to make Prime jump in his skin. Akita paid this no mind, going around the piece of metal and doing so in several places to secure it on. Once it was finished, she waved for Prime to stop back so she could test if it was in place, jerking it around with her arms to see if there was any give. When she saw there was none, she waved for him to take up the next piece beside her.
It'd been a week since Prime had started coming to help her with this machine. True to his word, Prime had given her the blueprints he 'borrowed' from one of Dr. Julien's assistants. While Akita had refrained form thanking him, it'd had a noticeable effect on her work. With access to how the machine was built, she was able to more quickly move forward with installing components. By now, the legs had been fully attached and were operating enough to be moved from Akita's odd control scheme. In order to protect the wires, Akita had insisted they go ahead and attach the metal plates to the legs.
Prime braced himself as he moved to hold up the next plate at the marked position. This time, Akita didn't bark at him, but instead just worked as she had before. She leaned up and began to bolt the metal piece down, making Prime jump each time he heard the thing go off. Akita finished the piece and looked at his shaking before sighing and waving her hand.
"If this is too much for you," Akita narrowed her gaze, "I can stop and let you recover."
"I'm fine, Akita," Prime stretched out his arm, "It's just not normal for someone to have a machine be that close to them! Those bolts could go right through my arm."
"You will soon be facing monsters that will want to do far worse than that, and you cannot handle a loud noise?" Akita sighed, "Ninjago's fate is truly in the best of hands."
Prime didn't respond to her remark. Instead, he just picked up the next piece and squatted down to help her affix it on. Akita got to work, quickly affixing it with several loud hisses as the machine sent the bolt through. When the two finished, it appeared as though crude armor had been placed over the mech's skeleton. There was very little about it that looked polished. Prime looked at the three pieces of separate metal, then looked back to Akita.
"Is this all you're putting on the legs?" Prime asked, "Those won't last long out there."
"This is not the armor, this is the end of the frame," Akita gave Prime an annoyed look, "You must have skin before you can wear armor, yes? I am finishing the legs now so that I do not need to worry about them."
"But wouldn't you want to wait until the end to do that?" Prime pointed out, "What if your controls don't work and you have to get to it?"
"Then we will cross that bridge as it comes," Akita waved her hand, "For now, we will finish this task. That was the first leg, let us do the next three."
Prime had to hold back a grimace as she said that. He dragged the cart of metal over with him as they went to the back leg, getting ready to start the process. Given that they were slightly shorter, there were only two pieces that Akita wanted to attack. Still, that meant Prime had to endure the sound of the bolts going through the metal all over again, which made his entire body tense up on almost complete edge.
It was another twenty minutes before Akita had finished her task. By that point, Prime felt his arms numb from holding up the metal for so long. The mech didn't look much better from the first time he'd seen it, but at least the legs looked somewhat finished. They were still a mess of wires and metal pieces that he wasn't quite sure the purpose of yet, but that had yet to be seen. Once finished, Akita looked over at a table under one of the lights and walked over to it.
"We have earned a rest," Akita declared, "Come, Prime. We will sit."
"Sure, glad to," Prime stretched his arms out as he moved to slump down into a small chair. Akita pulled up a box and sat on that, kicking her legs and planting her hands behind her on the lip to lean back and look up at the ceiling.
"How long do you think it'll take to make that thing operational?" Prime asked.
"Months, at best," Akita responded neutrally, "Right now I am wrestling in my head with what I wish for it to look like. I only have a faint idea of what animal my people assigned to me."
"What's that all about, by the way?" Prime asked, "The whole, animal thing."
Akita leaned forward with a bit of an irate look in her eyes; for some reason, that seemed common when she was around him, "My people are people of the forest. When we grow old enough, we seek out our animal ancestor that will guide our path. I found my spirit within the wolves that run through the threes. If I had completed my ritual, I would have been able to fully transform into one."
"What do you mean, not complete?" Prime asked, "You said you found it."
"Because that shadow beast came down while I was returning to my village," Akita scowled, "And I was unable to perform the last bits of the ceremony that would allow me my transformation."
"...Oh," Prime realized what landmine he'd just walked into, "I'm… sorry, that was a bit rude of me. I'm sorry for what happened to your people."
"You do not need to placate me," Akita turned away from him, "I have accepted it, I do not need a half-hearted apology to console me."
"I mean it, though," Prime frowned, "I found you out there, all alone. Nobody even knew that your people were up there in Ninjago. We were able to find where you lived but… the beast must have taken everything."
"I saw it happen, Prime," Akita growled, "I watched the monster as it stepped down on my village and swallowed it in darkness. Had I not been searching for my form at the time, I would have been a victim. I saw it attack, and then saw it leave. My people were taken by that beast."
"Are you sure they were taken?" Prime asked, "These monsters… we don't know what happens to people that get caught up in them. I don't want to get your hopes up if they're actually-"
"My people are alive, as are all those that the shadow beasts took on that day," Akita cut Prime off harshly, "I will not stop believing in that."
Prime didn't know what to say to that. Whenever a shadow beast, as Akita called them, engulfed a person in darkness, what happened to them wasn't known. All that was known was that those people would vanish. Entire cities were gone now, simply due to the beasts walking through them. The only reason that Ninjago City remained no was due to the facility that Dr. Julien and his father had built here to combat them. With the power of his mech, he was able to push them back. With the power of the cores, the beasts could be defeated.
"The beast made my home vanish," Akita growled, "And I am here to make sure they pay. I am out for more than revenge. I am out to find them, and bring them back. I am the last of my people, even if those here do not believe that is the case. I will ensure that I bring back those that I knew. Even if it were to cost me my life."
"That's why you're so determined to fight, then?" Prime asked, looking down, "You never told me any of this. You just said that your people were killed by the shadow beast."
"Because at the time, I feared if I were to say something wrong, you would leave me behind," Akita admitted, "When I saw your mech on the horizon, I thought I had fallen into a dream. You batted away the small shadow beasts that almost took my life then and there. You brought me here, and I thought that I had been given a chance to finally partake in this battle. It seems that dream was foolish, as this place simply put my skill with the tool to use in other ways."
"I'm sorry about that, Akita," Prime leaned in, "I didn't know that was why you were coming with me. I would have helped if I knew! You didn't tell me, how was I meant to know?"
Akita lowered her head and let out a scoff. Prime frowned, feeling as though she was telling him to stop. He crossed his arms and leaned away from her, looking up towards the point in the ceiling she'd been staring at. He saw nothing, nothing other than the metal roof that would lead up to the many floors above them. He hadn't even known the facility went this far down when he'd first got here, something that now made him wonder what more secrets this place held.
"Why are you helping me, Prime?" Akita asked him, "You have no obligation to. If you were true to your duty, you would have reported me, and I would not be here. Instead, you asked to help. For what reason did you do this?"
"Because you said you'd go out and fight with or without me," Prime shook his head, "I can't let you go out and fight if I know you might get hurt."
"So you are doing this out of pity for my abilities?" Akita narrowed her gaze, "You view me as too weak?"
"No, I know you're strong. You were out there in a mech made of wood!" Prime declared, "You said you would go with or without me. If I let you go without helping, I would feel guilty knowing I could have helped. The reason I'm even piloting my mech is because I can help save Ninjago with it. That's just who I am."
"If your only goal is to help others," Akita sighed, "You will not find any satisfaction. The pursuit of others will never bring you what you truly want."
"Well, it brought me to help save you, and that's something I think is good," Prime pointed out, "Dr. Julien said that I could save countless lives by being in that mech. And that's why I am. I want to save Ninjago. I saw what happened to Ninjago when they first touched down. I know how many people were lost. I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen again. If that's not a good enough reason to fight, I don't know what is."
"...Forgive me," Akita sighed, "I did not mean to push you. I simply wished to warn you that you must fight for more than others. I have seen what that does to people. Those that live for the sake of others are those that fall when they have no one else to aid."
"Well, it's a good thing I'm helping you so I don't have to worry about that," Prime pointed out. Akita looked at him for a few seconds, then she rolled her eyes at his remark.
"I suppose Ninjago should be lucky that its savior is as good with his mech as he is," Akita stretched her back out, "Given how simple it was for him to give aid to someone he said could be arrested for carrying out her goal."
"I get why you're doing it, that's why I'm willing to help" Prime stood up, "We'll finish this thing together. And then we'll see how it works. You ready to get back to work?"
Akita wasn't sure what to make of Prime's odd behavior towards this project. She'd never taken the time to question him, or even to know him more. Seeing him so eager to help her without truly giving her reason to understand was odd, but it also spoke to him as a person. In a way, he was just like the hero that this facility was helping build him up to be. After a moment to gather her thoughts, she stood up and nodded.
"I will be working on the main system for now," Akita pointed out, "Try not to be afraid of the sparks. I do not know what you can handle given now that I have seen your reaction to simple noises."
"We'll see," Prime chuckled, trying to hide his nerves. For a moment, Akita couldn't help but feel a small smile tug at her lips. That feeling passed, and soon she was under the mech, once more starting another long night of work.
Over two months had passed from when the two had first started their arrangement together. In that time, Ninjago had been at peace. Prime had yet to go on a real mission, and instead had gone out on daily patrols to ensure that his mech was ready for when the time came. With that source of stress low, he was able to put his focus into the mech and, more importantly, to know more about the woman he was working with to build it. Several hours and empty food trays had already come to pass in the 'lab' that night when they had begun to talk in earnest.
"Prime," Akita asked as she tested the controls from her mech's cockpit, "Might I ask you a question?"
Prime looked up from where he was on the ground. Doing so meant that his eyes went right up to where she was on all fours, facing away from him, on top of her mech. He went red in the face and turned his eyes back down, instead working on connecting the wires that she had told him to work on. He cleared his throat before he spoke.
"Only if I can ask you one," Prime kept his eyes down, "Why are you piloting your mech like that? You're…. Showing off a bit."
"I have adapted the controls that you use for your own mech for my own use," Akita explained, not even flinching, "In this position, I can more clearly move each limb to simulate the motion of a true wolf. If you think this position gives me shame, it does not."
"...R-Right," Prime bit his lip as he went about finishing up the wires that he was working on, "Erm, so, what was your question?"
Akita hit a button on the top of the control stick for her left hand, causing the screen in front of her to display a long line of text. She groaned and began typing something into it, modifying what she saw. She did this several more times, losing herself in the process. When she spoke, Prime had almost forgotten about it and jumped a bit.
"You have not named your mech," Akita pointed out, "It has been months since you made it your own, yet you do not call it as anything other than 'my mech.' Perhaps it is time for you to name it."
"Why?" Prime asked, "I don't feel anything for it. Are you naming yours?"
"Yes," Akita stated to him plainly, "I am to name it Kota, after my brother that vanished with my people. I hope to evoke his spirit when I fight, so that he may watch over me and guide me to my people."
"...Wow, that's, really deep," Prime wasn't sure what else to say to that, "Erm… well, I mean. Does the name have to have some meaning like that?"
"It is something that will help you when the time comes," Akita pointed out, "A name with meaning is one that you will grow more attached to. You must connect with the core of your mech to use it, yes? Perhaps a strong name will make your connection stronger."
"Well…" Prime paused, "I don't know. I don't really do names that well. I could always just call it Green, kinda like the designation name."
"That is a rather simple thing to use as a name," Akita shook her head and typed in more onto the computer in front of her, "Think harder, Prime. What do you want your mech to stand for? What do you wish for your name to convey? That will help us decide."
"What do I want it to stand for?" Prime thought, letting himself go silent. He let his hand go at their task, diligently and deftly connecting up what Akita wanted connected. He took a long while in thinking, something Akita seemed willing to grant him.
"I want my mech to show that I'm there to protect the people," Prime answered finally, "Something that the people can remember. I, want it to be a name that reminds everyone of how powerful a mech like that can be. And that they can trust me to put down any threat that comes for them."
"Hrmmm…" Akita thought herself, "There is one word that comes to mind when I hear that. My people have an ancient tongue that we have not used for a rather long time. We use certain words for our stories, however. I believe I have one word that may work. It is a word whose meaning is not fully clear, but the stories use it to describe a being that was never conquered by evil, and went to save our people from destruction time and time again."
"What was it?" Prime asked.
"Invictus," Akita responded, "The word we used was Invictus."
"Invictus…" Prime thought for a moment, feeling a strange sense of warmth inside him as he heard that, "I like the name. It sounds powerful. And it's got that ancient flair to it. Yeah, I can imagine that. 'Look out, Overlord! Here comes Invictus, and I'm going to stop you!'"
"Was your only requirement that it sound appropriate for that shout?" Akita rolled her eyes, but a playful smile had crossed her lips.
"I… uh, I mean if it didn't sound right!" Prime started, but couldn't respond. Akita's chuckle was enough to make him stop.
For several more minutes, Akita worked. Prime was already imagining the name of his mech as Invictus and found no matter how many times he mulled it over in his head, it fit. He finished his task and slid out from under the mech, but the name didn't leave his head. It seemed decided now that he heard it. His mech would be named Invictus, and he would be its pilot. Prime, pilot of Invictus!
"Are you almost ready to test it?" Prime asked. Akita gave him an impatient frown.
"In one moment, Prime," Akita tapped the screen several more times, "I have been working on this machine for a rather long time. I would like to ensure that it will not fail on me when the moment of criss comes."
"I'll wait for you," Prime put his hands on his hips, "I just wanted to ask."
Akita took a few more minutes to finish what she was doing. By now, the two had put on all of the base metal over the frame. The head that Akita had worked on was now attached to the front, one that was nearly as large as Prime was himself. A large plug attached into the wall for power, soon to be supplied by the large batteries the service mechs used. Akita had hollowed out part of the mech's middle section so she was not piloting the mech out in the open. She gave a few more taps, then closed a panel beside her and took a deep breath.
"Let us pray this works," Akita gripped her control sticks. Slowly, she pushed forward. The screen in front of her showed a crude mock-up of the machine and highlighted the front legs. The two legs hissed out as large pistons moved the legs to slide forward. Akita waited for them to slide down until the head was all the way at the ground, then pulled them back so the legs came back up to level the mech's body again.
A small boost of confidence flowing through her, Akita pushed her right leg and left arm forward. The slots Akita's legs were in had sensors lining them, sending the signal to the machine for the movement. The mech responded by moving the corresponding limbs and highlighting them on screen. Akita's eyes widened as she returned those two to position and moved the opposite limbs out. Slowly, she made the mech take tentative steps forward. She repeated this several times. The machine hissed and responded by walking in turn, bringing a massive smile to Akita's lips.
"It works!" Akita declared, "Kota will ride into battle!"
"Awesome!" Prime shouted with her, "That's amazing! It's going to look so cool when we finish the rest of the armor and paint!"
"We have yet to add weapons…" Akita trembled with excitement, "But… it works! I can finally fight, Prime. You… you have helped me more than any other has been willing to. I must thank you for that!"
"It was nothing," Prime smiled, "In fact, I have a bit of an idea now that we know it works."
"An idea?" Akita's excitement turned to confusion, "What do you mean?"
Prime stepped forward, "I was thinking about your mech. It doesn't have a core, so we have to power it with batteries. Or, by plugging it into a source, right? Well… I had a bit of an idea. I didn't want to say anything until I knew that Kota worked. Look at this."
Akita, confused, turned her mech off and slid down from it. She walked over to a large workbench, where Prime had a blueprint unfurled. Akita took hold of it and blinked, then looked between it and Prime several times. Prime smiled sheepishly as he let her see it.
"Prime… are you certain of this?" Akita looked at the blueprint in disbelief, "Has Dr. Julien approved of this?"
"No, but he wouldn't have approved of this either," Prime gestured to Kota, "And, well. You said you're going to fight either way. So… maybe we can try this, and see how it goes?"
"This is a rather ambitious thing to try, Prime…" Akita paused, then a grin graced her lips, "But I cannot say that I am not eager to see if it will work. I say that we try it. Once we finish Kota, we can prepare for this."
"Perfect!" Prime smirked, "You won't regret it, I promise. We'll show those minions a piece of our mind with this."
"Indeed!" Akita rushed over to her mech, already working to test out more of the motion. Prime gave her a wide grin and quickly followed after her, ready for the work ahead of them.
All across the facility, a loud alarm blared. Personnel were rushing in every direction, quickly moving up to their assigned posts. In a large room overlooking the mech launch bay, Dr. Julien stood beside Commander Garmadon in front of a large number of screens. All around them, people sat at computers, monitoring various different things. Commander Garmadon looked across the screens, then he pressed a button to communicate to his son.
"Prime!" Garmadon shouted, "Prepare to launch!"
"Already on it!" Prime shouted back. Down in the hanger bay, Prime was already being raised up to enter the bubble cockpit of Invictus. Engineers all around him finished last minute checks before detaching plugs from the mech. Prime jumped in as soon as he could, thrusting his hands out in front of him. Holographic circles appeared over his ankles and wrists, causing the glass cockpit to turn on and display the world in front of him. As small screens began to turn on, Prime crossed his arms over his chest and shouted.
"SYNC!" In the center of Invictus, a core of green began to spin. Green power began to spark from it, firing out in all directions to strike circuits along the mech. Prime felt a massive rush of energy as his body and the mech entered sync together. Slowly, the eyes of Invictus turned on, allowing for him to take control. Prime kept his focus on maintaining the feeling of power until he finally felt a peak, at which point and thrust his arms forward and gripped his fists.
"Ready to launch!" Prime declared. The siren in the hanger bay became louder as the massive metal gates to the outside of Ninjago City opened up. Invictus' clamps were released, letting the mech drop down onto the floor with a massive thud. Prime took a step forward in his mech, causing the floor to move like a treadmill and let him walk Invictus forward. The massive mech let out whirls and hisses loud enough to almost overpower the sirens the engineers on the ground heard.
"What's this?" Julien's voice came up on Prime's display, "Prime, are you carrying cargo?"
Prime looked over his shoulder, to where a slim sleek white box had been affixed to the back of Invictus beside his rifle, "It's extra charges for my rifle. We don't know if this thing is powerful or not."
"Good call," Garmadon appeared on another screen, "Head straight for the target! Our scouts have confirmed the target is a Class D. It shouldn't be much, but don't drop your guard!"
"Already on it!" Prime declared. He stepped Invictus out until the mech was standing out under the open sun. Slowly, Invictus reached back and removed a large gun and the extending barrel. He slid the two pieces together, forming his laser pulse rifle. Gripping it in both hands, Prime summoned his radar until he had a lock on the location. Once he did, Invictus unfolded the jets in its ankles, causing a deafening roar as the mech blasted up into the air and soared straight out towards the horizon.
"Let's see how this one goes," Prime declared, a confident smile on his lips. His heart was beating a bit quickly. He had only fought one other real beast before, and it had barely even been a Class E. That one had gone down in two rifle blasts. He wasn't sure what a Class D would be like, but he was certain he could do it. He was the only one that could do it!
Soon, Prime cleared a set of hills and saw it. A massive beast, its body a deep purple with black shadows writhing around it like a mist, was planted in the middle of a rural town beast came up to Invictus' shoulder, but even then it cast a massive shadow over a large part of the village nearby. The people were already fleeing or had already fled from it. Prime recognized it as a small village that was known for its blacksmiths. Prime directed Invictus to land at a safe distance and ran an analysis on the creature.
"I'm not getting anything about its offensive capabilities," Prime declared, "I'm going to open fire and see how it responds!"
"Be careful," Garmadon warned him, "These beasts can be deceptive. It may be more powerful than it appears."
Prime focused, raising up the rifle Invictus held. Slowly, he moved to train the thing down on the middle of the massive beast. He gave a small inhale, ensuring the sights were right on the monster's torso. With a gentle exhale, the mech pulled the trigger. The rifle hummed for a brief second, then a whitish-blue laser fired out. The laser was almost ten feet in diameter, and fired off straight towards the beast in a straight and true shot.
Just as the laser was about to collide with the beast, the shadows suddenly shifted, allowing a massive yellow eye to be seen. The eye trembled in its socket as it looked at the oncoming laser. Suddenly, its body writhed as it extended a tentacles out, which had previously been wrapped around the body to look like the outside. Those tentacles moved and struck the laser, causing it to crackle and burst apart on impact.
"What the?!" Prime lowered the rifle, "How?!"
"Sir!" From Julien's image, a man in the background was shouting, "Something's wrong! Our scan of the creature we've received from Prime is signalling the monster is Class C!"
"Class C?" Garmadon turned back to Prime, "Be on your guard! That creature is stronger than we were prepared for!"
"Well so am I!" Prime declared. He took another shot at the beast. The creature moved its tentacles in the way, this time causing small purple circles to form along their length. When the laser struck them, this time it grew smaller as it hit the tentacles. The new circles acted as pores, and in turn Prime's scanner began to blare a warning.
"It's… eating my laser?" Prime asked in shock. The creature seemed to glow and froth with more shadows now that it had all but sucked down Prime's attack.
"It's a Leviathan!" Julien declared, "The Overlord must have modeled it after the beast of legend in the sea! I know quite a lot about it, you see-"
Prme wasn't listening. He moved to reattach his rifle to his back, but the Leviathan had shot its tentacles down and struck the ground. In an almost blurred speed, the creature began to rapidly crawl across the ground, tearing apart trees and churning up the earth as it came at Prime. Prime's eyes widened as Invictus rapidly moved to try to draw one of his combat knives.
The creature was on him before he had a change. Prime activated Invictus' arm shield, taking the impact of the creature slamming into him on it. The entire mech rocked as he slid backwards, his own balance disturbed. He slid his legs apart to stabilize Invictus, taking the pause to reach to his hip. Invictus drew the knife as directed, dropping the rifle to the side. With a charge of power, the knife began the hilt to the massive energy sword Invictus called its own.
The Leviathan wasn't about to let Prime attack without retaliation. Invictus suddenly found its shield arm, the right, wrapped up in two of the tentacles. Prime tried to move the mech's arm, but it only creaked. Prime raised his left arm and brought the energy sword, cleaving down into the Leviathan's head. His cockpit rumbled as the beast let out a roar, slamming its weight up into Invictus. Prime wasn't able to stop himself, causing him to fall over and hit the ground hard.
All at once, the Leviathan was on him. Prime's eyes widened as he slashed his sword at the beast. The Leviathan simply roared and wrapped a tentacle around his arm. With Invictus' arms now to its sides, he couldn't attack. The tentacles began to pulse with those circles along the length of its tentacles. More began to wrap around his body, causing his screen to flash red.
"They're… draining the power?" Prime growled, "I won't let you do that! The core's power belongs to me and me only!"
Prime focused. On his screen, the SYNC meter began to grow. All at once, the core began to burst out with power. Prime sent this to the leg jets, sending Invictus towards the sky. The Leviathan was suddenly clinging to Invictus' arms. Prime felt a small pain in his arms when the Leviathan tried to drag him down. He let out a small grunt, then forced more power to it. The beast was forced to let go as Invictus shot into the air, letting Prime relax.
"Prime!" Julien shouted, "What are you doing?1 SYNC is dangerous! The more in SYNC you go-"
"The more my mech's damage reflects onto me, I know!" Prime began to tap things on the glass in front of him, "I have a plan!"
Prime had managed to hold onto his sword. Now free, he drew the other knife in his right hand, brandishing the dual energy sword. He gave a small grin as he did, putting the hilts together. At once, the sword grew in size to a blinding blue brilliance. He hefted the blade up into the air, then turned it down towards the beast below him.
"Let's see if you can take this!" Prime sent full power to his jets in the reverse direction, sending him right down towards the beast. His sword was driven straight down through the beast's head. The Leviathan let out a roar of pained anger. Prime hit the ground hard, holding the sword as he tried to impale the beast on it. The Leviathan roared and writhed under the sword, but Prime held on with Invictus' iron grip.
Suddenly, the Leviathan shot its tentacles up, wrapping around the sword. Prime's eyes widened as he saw the sword suddenly begin to flicker and fade, then it went out, leaving him holding just the hilt. Seeing this, Prime tried to go for the cannons built into Invictus' arms, but the Leviathan was faster. It threw its weight into Prime again, who just put his arms up and used Invictus as he would in a fist fight. The Leviathan rammed into his guard until he finally broke it, throwing Invictus back to land against a large hill. The entire village rumbled at the impact.
The Leviathan crawled up over Invictus, showing a massive mouth underneath. The mouth was mostly shadows, but he could see approximations of rows upon rows of horrible teeth inside. The monster aimed its mouth at the core of Invictus, its tentacles moving out to hold Invictus down. Prime felt his fear rising as he tried to move, but knew any of his weapons would just get devoured by this thing!
"PRIME!" Garmadon shouted, "I order you to retreat!"
"Wait!" Prime hit a button, "Akita, NOW!"
From the case that invictus carried, a seam formed as steam depressed. From the box, a small figure leapt out. It slid out from Invictus' back and landed on its shoulder, standing large enough to be on par with Invictus' head and neck in size. Both Garmadon and Julien saw the onboard cameras pick up the sight of it.
Akita was on all fours in the cockpit in the center of a sleek white and red wolf mech. Kota let out a small roar from its jaws, showing its 'teeth' were spinning serrated jaws. Its four legs each had three claws made of the same energy weapons Prime used. Its tail lashed around behind it, ending in another blade that was plugged into the back of Invictus. As it detached, the systems went to a large black battery stored inside the back half of the wolf. Inside the cockpit, Akita looked up towards the beast and scoffed.
"You are mine!" Akita declared. With the press of a button, the two knives that Invictus sused suddenly went flying through the air. Two small arms extended form Kato's back, right on either side of Akiat's cockpit. The hands turned and grabbed the knives, causing them to hook into Kato's systems. Small versions of the energy swords that Prime used extended out from the knives, mounted perfectly on Kato's back. With a long howl, the wolf mech leapt off Invictus and right onto the tentacle of the Leviathan.
The feet of Kato extended the blades in its feet down, hooking in deep into the tentacle. The world began to race straight up the tentacle, racing up in a spiral. Internally, Akita's cockpit rotated in a gyroscope, forcing her to remain facing up towards the sky. She worked the mech's legs with her own limbs, causing the wolf to race right up the Leviathan's body. The beast tried to swat her off, but Akita jumped up and grabbed onto the tentacle that tried to hit her with the front paws. She let go as she passed another tentacle, sinking the 'teeth' of Kato into the tentacle, the jaws locking into place. Akita gave a heave of her controls, letting the tentacle carry her over its main body to drop down and land right on it.
As Akita began racing up the beast, Prime yanked his left arm free and grabbed one of his smaller guns, raising it up and firing a hail of bullets into the mouth of the Leviathan. The creature roared in pain, jerking backwards away from the mech. Prime stood Invictus up and looked around, searching for its weapon.
The Leviathan tried once more to scrape Akita off, but the more nimble wolf jumped over the tentacle and kept running. She had one target, and that was the large, glowing yellow eye. She gave a grin inside the cockpit as she saw it come up on her smaller screen in front of her. Kato gave a leap into the air just as Akita twisted her front control sticks. Kato shot straight down through the air, ramming both of the smaller swords it had mounted on its back right into the Leviathan's eye.
The Leviathan roared in pain, now unable to see. It flailed and thrashed around, but Akita locked Kato's feet into the beast with its energy claws. As the beast tried and failed to dislodge her, something came out and struck the beast right in the side of the head. It fell straight down, crashing through part of a glade and toppling many of the trees there. Before the best could get up, Invictus grabbed it by a tentacle and hefted it up. Akita let go with Kato, leaping towards the ground and activating small jets in its lower legs to slow her descent and land. The Leviathan gave one more roar before Prime used Invictus' other hand to jam the end of the laser rifle into its open mouth.
"You'll regret the day you messed with Ninjago, Overlord!" Prime shouted, just as he pulled the trigger to the rifle.
"Allow me to get this straight…" Garmadon stepped forward to where Akita and Prime stood at attention in the control room, "You illegally created a prototype mech without proper safety restrictions, hid her aboard your own mech, then deployed her in battle without any proper authorization. Is that correct, Prime?"
"Yes," Prime nodded his head, "It is."
"And what do you have to say for yourself, Akita?" Garmadon frowned at her.
Akita was unphased, "Prime gave me the only opportunity I had to contribute to your efforts. I do not regret my actions, nor do I feel they were out of line. I was given no orders at the time, therefore I could not disobey them."
"No, but you are an accomplice in defying protocol," Garmadon pointed out, "Where were you even building this… Kato?"
"In this facility, using spare parts," Akita informed them, "I was denied any ability to submit plans for my proper use of labs."
"That's because you are only a repair technician!" Dr. Julien stood beside Garmadon, letting out a sigh, "There's a reason we have these hierarchies, you know! As fascinating as Kato is, there were many things that could have gone wrong with it. Without proper testing specifications-"
"Without her, I would be dead," Prime pointed out, "She was the one that gave me the chance to strike. If you are to punish someone, I take responsibility for her actions. She was acting under my authority."
"Your authority?" Garmadon sighed, "Prime… son. You cannot let those that haven't undergone training into battle like that. If she had died, that would have been a disaster. I understand your motives, but this is far out of line."
"I did what I thought was right," Prime informed his father, "And if that doesn't align with what this facility has in mind for the future of Ninjago… I will rewrite what it does have, Commander. Even if that means defying you."
Garmadon's eyebrow twitched at being pointedly called 'Commander' in this context. Dr. Julien looked at Prime in surprise, while even Akita wasn't sure what to say. The entire room of personnel was unsure of how to even continue with the tension that Prime had just created. It was a long while before Garmadon took a long breath, sighed, and then stepped towards Prime.
"You will face punishment for this, Prime," Garmadon frowned, "And in the future, you won't be allowed to make such reckless decisions like this," Garmadon turned to Dr. Julien, "Doctor, what is it you think of the mech that these two constructed?"
"It is unlike anything I've seen, that's for sure," Dr. Julien admitted, "It's an impressive build. I would mistake it for something that we would produce if I didn't know where it came from! I find it rather fascinating they were able to make it and integrate it into the mech's-"
"Invictus," Prime cut him off, "My mech's name is Invictus." Akita had to restrain a smile.
"...Yes, Invictus' systems," Dr. Julien continued, "I believe that, if we were to properly take this task of modifying Kato, we could have a rather powerful addition to Invictus."
"I see," Garmadon turned to Prime, "Prime, if we allow you to continue this project with Akita, something must be stated. She will have her status changed to pilot and placed directly under you. You will assume all responsibility for her actions. If something happens to her, or she is to cause harm to us, the blame for what happens will rest on you. Do you understand what this means?" Garmadon narrowed his gaze, "If Akita falls, that is your fault. Understand, son?"
"I do, Commander," Prime used the term again and nodded his head. This time, it made Dr. Julien and Akita both smile. Garmadon sighed, then turned back towards the computers in the room.
"Right now, we have scored a victory," Garmadon nodded his head, "But I believe that you will need to learn what it is like to fight alongside others, Prime. Earlier this morning, we found the last candidate to utilize the other cores we were able to develop. We are creating their mechs as we speak."
"Wait…" Prime blinked, "Are, you saying what I think you are?"
"Yes," Garmadon nodded, "We have assembled your team. They are waiting for you in the briefing room. I believe you should go and meet them."
"I will!" Prime declared eagerly, "We finally found the others1 Let's do this!"
"That is all then," Garmadon nodded his head, "Dismissed."
Prime gave one nod, then took hold of Akita's arm and dragged her happily from the room. Slowly, the tension in the room began to fade. Garmadon turned down to the computers in front of them, then he let out a long sigh. He wrapped his fingers around one of the consoles.
"That boy is a wild one," Dr. Julien remarked, "Let's hope that we can turn that spark she has against our enemies!"
"It is not his enemies I worry about," Garmadon slowly leaned up, "We are at war, Dr. Julien. And he has just dragged her in with him. I worry about what will happen to them."
"Oh, lighten up, old geezer!" Dr. Julien chuckled, "We've barely gotten started! Those two make a remarkable combo. I'm sure we'll be seeing some great things from them! Add this new team we've found on top of it and, well. Ninjago is in good hands, I guarantee it!"
"Let us hope that is so, Doctor," Garmadon sighed, "Let us hope."