Chapter 11: Locostral 4 Life!

Alright, I assume I've got some explaining to do. Sorry for not writing in so long, I got MHR a few days ago, and I think it's safe to say I got a little... distracted, so to say. There's also been a colossal amount of assessments that's been piling on me, and it's really been eating away at my free time. Anyways, I'm sorry I've been gone so long and enjoy the chapter.

"Well, it's best to not waste any time, don't you think? We should probably get moving," James said, nudging me on the arm.

"Yeah, you're right." I replied, "Is Charles coming along?"

"Ahh, don't worry about Charles, he's all bark and no bite, trust me," James said "Besides, maybe you'll grow on him"

James grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me out of the room, he shut the door behind us and continued down the hallway. Aleki was standing outside Charles's room, his arms crossed and his foot tapping impatiently on the ground. There was also the sound of heavy gunfire hailing from behind the door alongside a copious amount of shouting and yelling, I probably would've mistaken it for an action movie if I didn't know any better.

"Charles! I may have bullet-proofed your room, but that doesn't mean you can use it as a firing range!"

"Then why'd you bullet-proof it?" Charles laughed,

"So you we wouldn't have to get it fixed every day!"

"Well, what are you worrying about, if you don't have to get anything fixed!" Charles laughed, followed by more heavy gunfire.

Aleki sighed, "Charles! We're going out with the newcomer!"

The gunfire abruptly stopped, and so did the shouting. It was soon followed by heavy footsteps walking toward the door. Charles cracked the door open a peak, looking through the small gap he'd made.

"Where you going?" Charles asked

"Laser tag, you know you like it."

He slammed the door, shuffling about and mumbling before returning to the blast-proof door, cracking it open just a little bit once more.

"I'm in, Elijah, I swear if you get in my way, things will get ugly real quick," Charles said,

"You challenging me?" I said, crossing my arms.

"Yeah, what're you gonna do about it, tough guy?" Charles said, prying the door completely open, staring up into my visor.

I scoffed at him, I wasn't gonna hurt him, obviously, but I might just... lace his room with an extremely toxic layer of unstable element. Yeah, no, I'm just kidding, I would never do that, I'm no psycho

"Good to see you two are getting along well," James chuckled.

Charles scoffed back before pushing out of his room and into the hallway, he slammed the door shut behind him, and he stared up at me, giving me a nasty glare with that blank unmoving visor of his. He shoved me as he passed by, but since I weighed at least ten times his body weight, he failed to move me more than a few centimetres. He grunted in defeat as he squeezed by me and he walked out to the living room. Ooh, embarrassing! He began looking about for something, lifting the couch cushions and chucking them about the room and looking in shelves and drawers, all while mumbling to himself.

"What's he doing?" I asked.

"I got him his very own custom rifle for laser tag, it may sound silly, but back then he was a simple-minded gun-toting maniac. And I had to find him something to let out all that violence, turns out laser tag was our best option"

"And in my opinion, I would still say he is" James whispered, chuckling to himself

"I heard that!" Charles yelled.

Aleki, headed out to the living room, walked up to James and tapped him on the shoulder, Charles turned to look at him, seemingly upset about something, who knows, such is the way of the American. Aleki pointed to the corner of the room, where this heavy-duty rifle was propped up. It looked a little like a Flatline, just whiter, and more... Sci-fiy?

"Thanks, man," Charles muttered

He laid his current rifle down right beside what I hoped to be a harmless toy laser gun and picked it up, he propped it over his shoulder and leaned against the wall, beside the elevator door. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for us to get a move on.

"Don't worry, he was like that with me too," James said, staring up at me.

He walked out to the living room alongside Aleki, I followed shortly afterwards standing beside James as we waited for Aleki to call up the elevator. Aleki walked up to the elevator door, and he input some code into a keypad beside it, don't know why they didn't just put a button there, seemed counter-productive. We waited as the faraway sound of elevator music grew closer and closer, and eventually, the doors slid open, giving us access to its interior.

Charles was the first to walk in, rounding the corner and shuffling inside, Aleki and James were next, pushing through the doorway, and I was last, ducking beneath the frame and into the elevator, the doors smoothly slid shut a moment after I entered, and a soft tune played, like your stereotypical stock elevator music. Charles was practically glowing, his grip on his rifle was tight and he was shaking, either from a faulty engine or excitement, I hoped it was neither.

The elevator slowly descended, passing by room after room. Till it eventually reached the ground floor, ringing out a soft ding as the doors slid open. We squeezed out, our chassis making a horrid screeching sound as they scraped against one another, we popped out of the confines of the elevator and tumbled out onto the ground. We were soon to pick ourselves up, one after the other, I dusted my chassis off as I stood at my full height, before continuing down the blank metallic hallway alongside my slightly disorientated clan mates.

"You ever think they're gonna make that lift any bigger?" I asked.

"Mate, you ever wondered how many complaints are filed about that thing? Too many to count. I mean, who makes an elevator that small, in a place made for some of the biggest people?"

"Yeah! They house some of the biggest Plainswalkers here in the mountains, apparently, this is the best they could do without there being any issues," James added.

"Enough chatting! I wanna kick some ass already!" Charles beamed

"We're going, we're going."

Charles sped ahead of the others, dashing out the door and speed walking out into the streets. We followed suit shortly afterwards, shifting our walking speed to match his, it wasn't all that difficult for us, after all, we took the form of some of the only mechs that aren't clunky and slow. Charles didn't quite fit into that category, unluckily for him.

The streets were still fairly crowded there were at least maybe 20-30 people. We tried keeping to the sides, me especially. A group of 14-foot and above robots in a street full of 6 to 8 feet tall people wasn't the greatest mix. Charles didn't quite care though, he was a little too focused on his current goal of getting to laser tag as fast as he could. Whether or not he trampled some poor sod beneath his 1.7-tonne chassis.

The streets were ever filled with Plainswalkers, never dying down in quantity, no matter where we'd turn, the walkways were always filled with a good 20 people, so we decided to stick to the roads. I mean technically, you could classify us as vehicles, we aren't 'human' to say and we were designed to carry people about. As we continued onward loud beeping rang out from behind us. It originated from a massive truck, almost as tall as James. It looked a little familiar, although I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Get off the road jackasses!"

James looked back, before hurriedly shuffling off to the side, I didn't need to be asked twice as I shuffled over alongside him. Aleki sighed and walked off the roads, grouping up with us, though Charles was a little pissed off, judging from his ever-tightening grip on his gun.

"Let me smash his headlights" Charles muttered,

"What? No! Get over here bro"

Charles let out an angry grunt, be somehow, Aleki managed to coerce the angry robot, making him group up with the boys. The truck passed us by, speeding off into the distance, and it soon disappeared around a bend in the road. Y'know, my whole time I've only ever seen like, 13 cars, I would've thought there'd be more. Eh, why drive when you've got an awesome body that never ages? Some people would kill for something like that, past life me would definitely have.

We pressed down the road, and Charles lead us about making copious twists and turns, not slowing down in the slightest constantly shouting about his 'shortcuts'. We couldn't even take most of them with my apparent size. But eventually, we'd reached what I guessed was the laser tag place, only after I don't know... an hour! It was a giant black building, right along the side of the road. The gates were massive and tall enough to fit me comfortably beneath without issue. Well, I give my thanks to whoever designed this place.

The gates automatically opened as Charles made his way over, Aleki, James and I were next in line. The inside looked practically the same as any old laser tag arena, it's not like I'd ever been to one, but I'd seen my fair share of videos when I was young. There was a massive assortment of weapons and vests of varying sizes mounted along the walls, the room was well-lit by a massive ceiling light, and the walls were decorated with drawings of guns and helmets of varying origins. There were maybe about 6 other people, many if not all of them were super-soldiers from varying franchises, I recognized a few, there was a Halo Spartan, a Space Marine, Bastion, and some dude wearing a Nano-Suit from Crysis. The rest were unknown to me, ranging from some guy wearing what looked to be a motorcycle outfit with some weird-ass helmet, and a couple of others I didn't bother exploring at.

"Hey, kids! Guess who's back for another round of kicking your asses!" Charles announced

"This guy again?" The Space marine said

"Man shut yo ass! I'll smack you silly!" The Nano-Suit wielding man said

"Who's this guy?" Bastion asked

Charles turned to face us, a smug expression was apparent on his expressionless windshield. It was difficult to make out, but there was a certain amount of smugness in his posture, I don't know how to explain it, there just was.

"As you can tell, I'm very feared" Charles whispered to me.

"Yeah right, you get your ass kicked every time dude."

"Shut up!" Charles muttered,

I stifled a laugh, and he certainly noticed, glaring me down. Though his gaze was broken as somebody spoke up.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting! I can certainly see some new faces here."

I looked over toward the voice, it originated from a heavily armoured man, many of his armour platings had little glowing slits along them, especially the helmet, he kind of looked like me, only 7 feet tall. He was standing beside some giant metal gate, atop a pedestal. Maybe he owned the place.

"My name's Derick, and I'll be your host for today."

The crowd murmured, some greeted the man, and others continued with whatever conversations they had beforehand. The man cleared his throat somewhat silencing the crowd.

"I can assume you're all here in celebration of today's gathering, so let's get on with it! I'm not gonna bore you with the details. But I do have to go over the basic rules."

A few people in the crowd sighed in protest. Though I didn't mind

"Alright, Rule 1: We're strictly using the weapons provided, if you fail to comply you will be escorted out. Rule 2: No physical contact, that should seem pretty obvious. And lastly, Rule 3: Have fun!"

That's gotta be the cheesiest thing I've ever heard anybody say in my entire life.

"And with that, grab your weapons and strap on your vests. You have 5 minutes to do so."

The soldiers dispersed, studying their options. Our little group spread out, James and Charles went to the extra large vest section, fitting on the reflective vests over their chassis, it was pretty awkward watching them struggle about with that. Aleki managed just a little between the soldiers and our group's sizes, he was the shortest, but he was still maybe about 2x taller than the soldiers, he grabbed hold of the nearest vest and clipped it to his chassis with ease. Then, I made my way over to the super-sized section, I have no clue why'd they have these but I'm not complaining.

I pulled a vest off the wall, and clipped it on, slipping my arms through the holes and loops, pulling strands and clipping together the buckles, till it was nicely fitted over my chest. There were only a total of three guns that properly fitted my size, all of them were rifles of the same design. I pulled one free from the wall and inspected it, it was made from plastic as one would expect, and it was pretty badly damaged, and melted in some places. I wonder who used this poor piece of technology last.

"Alright, people! Times up."

The soldiers and I all grouped up at the door though James was still struggling. James hurriedly pried a rifle from the wall and hurried over to the rest, falling in line with the group.

"Alright, how many clans do we have here?"

The Space Marine, Bastion, and a few heavily armoured individuals tore from the group.

"We're the New Legion and we're here to come out on top." The Space marine shouted, rallying cheers from his clan.

The Nano-Suit guy, the motorcycle suit guy, and the Spartan broke from the crowd, grouping a hairs length from the New Legion, jeering at them as they approached

"We're the 15th Block Shadow Hunters, and we are here to make sure those jackasses don't win." The Spartan announced. His team pumped their fists, chanting 'Shadow Hunters!'

The Space Marine and the Spartan locked eyes, growling at one another. Seems there's a biiiig rivalry between these two, yeah, I don't wanna get involved with that.

Aleki walked forward, beckoning us to follow. We trudged behind him and made our place a little away from the others. Aleki cleared his throat before being interrupted by Charles who'd shouted over him.

"Hey! I'm Charles and I'm with the Iron Warriors, AND WE ARE HERE TO KICK YOUR ASSES!" Charles shouted,

"Oh yeah, tough guy? I doubt it." The Space Marine growled

"Bring it on Emperor's Lap Dog!" Charles yelled

"You did not just call me that! I'm gonna beat your ass into the ground!" The Space Marine retorted

"Yeah right, You're all going down!" The Spartan added, "You too big guy!" He shouted pointing straight at me.

I feel incredibly offended

The banter was amusing, though it was cut short as Derick whistled sharply, causing everybody to shut their mouths and listen in closely. This guy must be pretty respected around here.

"Woah woah woah. Save it for the field! Let's just get on with the game, shall we? You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be baby," The Spartan said,

"Alright! You have 1 minute to spread out... Go!"

The door slid wide open, the Soldiers were first to rush in, and we were soon to follow, we trudged out onto the field and the gates slid shut behind us, coating the arena in darkness. The arena was almost pitch black, aside from the hundreds of LED lights built into the walls, floor and ceiling, the door slammed shut behind us. You probably would've guessed it was one of those weird wall mazes that you would find in almost every laser tag arena, but instead, there was a little more love put into the design. It was WW2-esque, with trenches and fences littered about the place. As our group made their way to cover, I couldn't help but feel as if though I was painted like a target, after all, I was glowing like a Christmas tree all over, guess it's one of the very few flaws of the Mek.

The New Legion ran off west, disappearing into one of the many trenches, and the 15th Block Shadow Hunters ran off east, taking cover behind a small mound of dirt. Charles led the group, taking us north into a patch of trees, most were dead but they concealed us well.

"Good thinking," I said,

"Shut it, you're breaking my concentration," Charles replied.

And just a moment after we'd settled in, the New Legion and all its heavily armed individuals vaulted out of the trench, the Space Marine lead a massive charge through the arena, all the while shouting and screaming with their guns firing wildly, just as every good Space Marine would. Luckily we weren't their target, instead, they were making their way east, suppressing the 15th Block Shadow Hunters behind their cover.

"Alright, Aleki, you get behind their cover and take them out," Charles whispered

"Got it."

Aleki stalked out of the tree line, with surprising speed. The New Legion slowly made its way around the dirt mound, keeping the 15th Block back. But they hadn't the time to react, as Aleki got the jump on them. He rushed out into the open and let his rifle go fully automatic, sending a barrage of 'lasers' towards the group. The 'lasers' flew and grazed harmlessly against their armour, though what really counted was the vests. He managed to get a grand total of one person out before they counter-fired. He dashed away, taking cover behind anything he could get his hands on.

"Alright! Go go go!" Charles yelled, doing the little two-fingered hand signal that you'd see military men do in the movies.

Charles lead the charge, breaking through the tree line and firing wildly, for some reason his rifle had a whole lotta recoil and it sounded rather like a rifle, yet it acted exactly like a toy laser rifle. James and I charged behind, keeping formation and firing upon the distracted New Legion. Buzzers blared out as nearly every one of them got out, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Though one was left alive, he dashed away and jumped behind a little wooden fence that'd been set up nearby.

"Thanks, guys."

"The fight's not over, get up dude," Charles muttered. He let out a hand and pulled Aleki up, helping him to his feet.

The arena was awfully silent, too silent if I had to say. We looked about cautiously, keeping eyes on anything and everything. I spotted a little movement from my peripheral and I swivelled around, keeping my cameras trained. Whatever had been there wasn't there anymore, either dashed behind cover or maybe they had a cloak of sorts. Either way, it wasn't good. The others had looked my way, keeping a lookout alongside me.

I should've expected what'd happened next. Lasers flew from all angles, from the trenches, tree line, or behind the mound. The others dashed away, behind the fences, Charles and James just barely fit, but because I was, obviously, much bigger than them, that wasn't really an option for me.

So the most sensible thing I could've done was counter-fire. If I was getting out, I was taking them with me. Lasers flew and buzzers blared, signifying the 'death' of more good soldiers. One of them being me. Through the storm of lasers, one lucky shot landed right on the sensor on my chest, causing my vest to glow a bright red. I'd managed to take out the guy in the trenches, causing a bright red flash to emanate from it. Turns out I'd gotten the motorcycle guy, as he jumped out, mumbling curses beneath his breath.

As we walked over to the gate, James flashed me a thumbs-up from behind his cover.

"You did your best." He said, sympathetically

"You can't have everything, I guess" I replied,

The doors slid open as we neared them, letting us back to the lobby where the rest had been waiting. They sat upon a bench staring up at a monitor mounted on the wall, it had a live feed of the game, with multiple different POVs from the different vests. The New Legion scoffed at us as we entered, and the motorcyclist snarled back, I kept out of it though, didn't want any rivalries on my very first day, no thank you.

We took off our vests and hooked them back up on the wall, we also deposited our weapons back on their stands, before continuing to the seats, the motorcyclist took a seat far away from the New Legion, for obvious reasons, but I stuck to the floor. After all, I doubt that bench will hold my weight. I gazed up at the screen. James and Aleki were huddled up behind their cover, but Charles, being the military maniac I assumed him to be, was already back out on the battlefield.

He tramped on through the torn battlefield, his weapon shouldered. He darted about, dashing behind cover whenever he could, I looked at the other cameras and watched, the man in the Nano-Suit was just out in the open, he wasn't even trying to hide. He was casually following behind Charles without so much as a care in the world like he was invisible...

Charles hurled himself into a trench, acting all dramatic and stuff. He propped his rifle up against the ledge of the wall, searching for enemies, and specifically, one he couldn't see. The Nano-Suit man walked right up to him, and he leaned against his gun, almost like he was taunting him, which he definitely was. He then casually raised his rifle and fired, causing Charles's vest to go off.

"Sucks to suck"

"Fuck you, and your cloak!" Charles said.

"What can I say?"

Charles grumbled as he tramped over to the gate, the doors slid open for him as he neared, and I watched as he exited to the main lobby. He ripped off his vest and hung it up crudely on the rack, leaving it dangling by a single strap.

"You did well, mate," I said as he made his way toward me.

"Wasn't fair, I totally could've taken him" Charles muttered

"Yeah right," The motorcyclist scoffed.

Charles glared at him from across the room, but I broke it up, knocking Charles on the chassis.

"Cut it out," I said,

Charles grunted in protest, but he obliged. He then turned to watch the cameras, we still had James and Aleki so I think things are going to go well for us. So long as that Nano-Suit guy doesn't linger around for too long. The Spartan was prone atop the dirt pile, surveying the area and looking out for any hostiles, James was now out and about alongside Aleki, they stuck to the tree line to keep hidden, The Nano-Suit guy was walking about without a care in the world and the New Legion guy who I'd figured out to be the Space marine was right behind the Spartan.

As expected, the Spartan wasn't 'alive' for very long. The Space marine pulled the trigger, causing the buzzers on his vest to blare throughout the arena and the LEDs to light up. The Spartan turned around and glared at the Space marine, who simply stared back snickering at him. The Spartan got to his feet and punched him straight in the gut, knocking the air out of him, which resulted in the Space marine charging him and shoulder tackling him to the ground. The Spartan easily lifted the marine off him hurling him down the mound.

The New Legion didn't quite like that, they jumped from their seats and trudged up toward the door. Snarls prominent on their faces, well, at least snarls present on those who had facial muscles that is. They were stopped before they reached the door by the armoured man, standing between them and the gate.

"Do not worry, I'll break up the fight, please return to your seats."

The New Legion exchanged glances before looking back towards the man.

"Make sure to give Cohin a pounding will you?" Bastion asked

"I'll... I don't know, just go back to your seats."

They didn't seem quite too pleased with that answer, but they did so anyways. They walked back to the bench and sat down, though they were still rather upset at seeing their presumed leader get the shit kicked out of him.

"Come on, I wanted to see a fight," Charles muttered.

"Mate, you gotta get that checked out," I replied,

"You sayin there's something wrong with me?"

"For short, yes, get a therapist man," I pleaded,

He scoffed and turned away from me, looking back at the screen. Dunno how long it'll take for me to make amends with this man, I just hope it'll come soon.

James, Aleki and the Nano-Suit guy had all stopped whatever they were doing, turning to watch what was going on. The sounds of their shouting echoed through the arena. James slowly moved forward and activated the torch beneath his 'face' illuminating the scene. They watched as the Spartan and the Space marine tussled, throwing punches and kicks towards each other. James was quick to react, pulling the two apart.

"What are you two doing? Stop fighting!" James said, holding the two away from the other while they swung wildly towards the next.

"Get your hands off me, Grandad!" The Space Marine yelled

"Let me at him!" The Spartan yelled back

Soon enough the armoured man arrived and grabbed hold of the Spartan,

"Hey, you mind helping me out here?"

"No worries," James replied. He clamped down on the Space Marine and somehow lifted him off the ground, despite him weighing around 700 kilos. He balanced him between his gauntlet and his three-pointed drills, making sure not to accidentally activate it in the process. He held him far from his face as he wildly swung, bringing his fists raining down on James's arms.

"Let me down you prehistoric artefact!"

The armoured man held the Spartan in a headlock, struggling to keep him down as he dragged him along, despite his kicking and struggling, his grip held strong. They dragged the two out of the arena while Aleki followed behind keeping his gun trained, just in case anything got a little out of hand. The Nano-suited man broke out his cloak and rushed up to the man and socked him in the jaw, causing him to break his grip.

What followed next was a hail of bullets, proper lead bullets, all from Aleki. They panged against the suit, digging shallowly into it, he screamed out in pain as the hail of bullets laid into him. Aleki tackled him to the ground, taking advantage of his stupor, and pinned his head down with his claw, keeping him down with his immense body weight.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" The man yelled

"Look mate, I came here expecting a fun game of laser tag, I didn't expect to end up in this situation."

Aleki grabbed hold of him and lifted him from the ground, before grouping up with the others, who were still struggling to keep their captures in place. After an angry Space Marine is pretty hard to keep down, judging from my knowledge about them. They all dragged them along through the arena, soon reaching the door after an immense amount of struggle.

The man shoved the Spartan to the floor, Aleki dropped the Nano-Suit guy and James dropped the Space marine to the ground, ceasing the nigh-endless assault he was raining upon his chassis. The Spartan backed away and raised his fists in a fighting stance, and the Space Marine rolled away, rallying up his group.

"Alright listen up! Due to some complications, the game's over! AND THAT'S FINAL."

"What gives-"

"Shut it! Get out, now! No fighting, if you wanted to do that, you should've gone to the Arena!"

They grumbled and walked out, pushing and shoving past the rest, the New Legion and the 15th Block Shadow Hunters growled and snarled at each other as they tried to fit through the same door,

"Maybe we will!"

They then disappeared round the corner, as their voices grew fainter among the sea of sound.

The armoured man sighed and turned to us, "Sorry about that,

"It's alright, happens all the time"

"Yeah... Can't argue with that logic,"

The room grew silent, as an air of awkwardness washed over us. The silence was broken as James began unsticking the velcro straps on his vest, it gathered the attention of Aleki as he glanced over. He perked up slightly and followed suit, untying the straps scattered about the vest. They soon made their way over to the racks, before hanging up their vests and laying their rifles down on the walls.

"Alright, let's get a move on people, chop chop," Charles said, clapping his hands together to emphasize the 'chop chop' only to practically shatter the eardrums of nearly every organic Plainswalker in a ten-meter radius with a horrible screeching banging sound.

"Yeah, don't ever do that again"

"Psh, whatever," Charles said, rolling his dashcam.

Charles pushed open the doors, and turned back to our group, making a little motion with his hand, signalling us to come over. James and Aleki made their way over, accidentally bumping into each other as they pushed through the narrowish doorway, though I stopped as the man called out, his voice ringing through the empty room.

"Oi! You're the new guy, right?"

"Uhm, yep. That's me," I replied.

"Sorry about that little... incident earlier, hope it didn't change your view on our community"

"Eh, there are some shitty people, but it's the best I've got," I said, slightly shrugging.

"Well, take care. You don't want to keep your clan waiting" He pointed towards my soon-to-be-friends

"Take care" I responded, turning round, whilst looking over my shoulder.

I faced straight ahead, looking at my clan members, before sighing. Before heading toward my clan, who were making conversation out the door, James was looking back at me, while Aleki and Charles were chatting up a storm from what I could hear. I hunched beneath the door and pressed out onto the sidewalk beside my fellow clan mates, stopping Charles's conversation short.

"So! Uhm... That didn't go out as I had planned, but, I do have more plans! For later that is."

"He's gonna go-" Charles started, before being shut up by Aleki punching him on the shoulder.

"It's a secret Charles."

"Yeah, if it were a secret you wouldn't have told me," Charles remarked.

Aleki scowled at him, making Charles scoff, and tear his gaze away from him.

"Look, we'll just go home, and we'll just crash there for the day, sound good?"

"I'm down," Charles said,

"Seems fine to me" James added

"That'd be great!" I said, perking up immensely

I could really go for a break, and that sounds heavenly... You know? Maybe Stephane would like this place, he'd fit in with the lot, and they'd never suspect a thing. But alas, it'd probably break the rules, and cause the universe to collapse or something. Maybe I'll ask James or something...

Aleki walked onward slowly down the sidewalk, Charles and James turned to face him, before following behind shortly. I made a few paces, eventually catching up to the group. The streets were much less crowded, in fact, they were almost barren. There wasn't a single person about on the street, except for a lone man, dozing off on a table outside a café. It was peaceful, to say the least, and I liked it, just a small break from the chaos I'd been experiencing daily.

Aleki continued forward with us following behind, there weren't any angry drivers, or people too distracted to notice that they'd walked in my path. Just a peaceful silence, with only the faint sound of voices echoing from the buildings accompanying it. I would've expected more people with the sun being at its highest, but hey, people will be people.

We passed on through the streets, through different city blocks, all with a wide variety of different things. Each building had a recurring theme, there was a massive neon skyscraper, a small Japanese-styled house with a small blue banner flying in its doorframe, and a whole bunch of other crazy shit. Charles, James and Aleki walked along, acting as if it was no big deal, which was to be expected, seeming that they'd spent months if not years here.

Eventually, I spotted something off in the distance, it was a giant mechanical gate, most likely the same one that led home. As we walked closer and closer, the door opened, and the gate rose up, giving us access within. I ducked underneath the thick teeth of the door and pressed on into the main cabin. The gate slowly closed behind us, clamping shut as it hit the ground.

The whole clan wandered through the stark metal hallway, eventually making our way onto a giant cargo lift. Well, I don't know if I should be calling it that, it was more like a normal elevator, just 50x bigger. It was neatly decorated and even had that cheesy elevator music, guess it's just a force of habit. Aleki punched in a number before the elevator slowly ascended up, playing a calm, mellow tune.

The elevator softly rumbled as it climbed further and further up, it was rather quiet, that was until Charles spoke up.

"So what's your deal, big guy? We never really got to know about you. Personally, I couldn't give more of a fuck about you, but I'm curious," Charles asked, crossing his arms

I turned to look at him, a little bewildered. But I righted myself, wiping the non-existent shocked expression from my blank visor.

"Well, you should know me as Elijah, I 'defend' Titanfall, and I'm a Mek" I responded blatantly. "That good?"

"Well, I don't know what Titanfall is, neither do I know what a Mek is, but I'm satisfied. For now," Charles replied

Man, why you gotta be so edgy?

Then, just as the conversation ended, the doors slid open, ringing out a soft ding, as it opened to the interior of our home, giant television and all. Charles gently lay his gun down against the wall, before sprinting over to the couch and leaping onto it. Surprisingly, the couch didn't immediately crumble beneath his weight, instead, it held firm. What's that frame made from?

"So... What're we doing tonight boys!" Charles said, piping up.

"How about we watch a movie, no?"

"That'd be lovely!" James added.

James made his way to the couch, and threw his heavy chassis down on it, causing the couch to slightly buckle under the combined weight of the both of them. Aleki was soon to follow, letting his burden upon the soft blue cushions of the couch. He stuck his arm down the cracks of the couch cushions, ruffling about till he pulled a remote free from its ensnaring depths. He aimed it toward the TV and brought it to life, the screen glowed a brilliant white, with some strange symbol of what appeared to be an island plastered in the centre.

"Alright boys, whaddya wanna watch?"

"Well, Avatar, duh," Charles said,

"Oh! First Blood! It has got to be the greatest movie of all history" James announced

"I dunno, maybe the boy who harnessed the wind, heard it was a pretty bomb movie" I added

"Well, District 9's obviously better than all your movies, but I'll give you a chance. Rock, Paper, Scissors. Now"

"Seems a bit childish, don't you think?" James asked

"You wanna have a chance to watch your movie?"

"Fair point," James replied

We all huddled up, I kneeled to the ground while Charles, James, and Aleki remained seated. The atmosphere was tense, and I could swear one of these fuckers was playing action music through their speakers. We slowly brought our fists out, making glances at one another, wondering who was first to make a move. Aleki brought his fist up, and with that, it had begun.

"Rock."

"Paper."

"Scissors."

Draw. Aleki, James and I had pulled scissors, all while Charles was lucky enough to draw rock. He was happy, and he wasn't afraid to show it.

"Yeah! Read it and weep bitches!" He cheered. He snatched the remote from Aleki, to be met with a grumble. He scrolled up to the search bar and typed in AVATAR. He hovered the cursor over the movie and switched it on. As it cycled through the studios, he pointed the remote toward the ceiling light, and somehow switched it off. Damn, that shit's crazy

I sat my heavy metal ass on the ground and landed with a clang against the hard metal floor, and I looked at the screen. The intros had passed by then, and it'd opened to the prologue. Somewhere off in the middle of a glowing, neon city. I kinda zoned out for the rest of the movie, don't get me wrong, I definitely caught the important parts, like Jake becoming an avatar, meeting the Na'vi, and all that jazz.

"You ever wonder if I'd fit in there?" Charles asked, out of the blue.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if I were to pull out my key, and wander out into that realm, would they be able to tell the difference?" Charles answered

"I mean... maybe. Doubt the blue people will like you very much"

"Well, they can kiss my shiny metal ass if they don't like me, I'll whoop their asses" Charles boasted.

By then, we'd reached the part where Colonel Miles Quaritch, in his AMP suit, confronted the new Jake Sully. The action in that scene was pretty good, nothing compared to what I deal with, but pretty good nonetheless. I then promptly zoned out once more, I wasn't really that interested in it, it didn't really fit my tastes

The minutes flew by, scene after scene passing us by, and before I knew it, the credits were rolling. Aleki reached over and snatched the remote from his hands, keeping it far from his reach.

"Alright, anybody up for round two?"

"Nah, I'm fine. The only good one's already used up" Charles answered.

"You, James?"

"I think that's enough for me, this old man doesn't quite feel like it" James replied

"Elijah?"

"What those two said" I responded blatantly

"Ok then, seems I'm outvoted,"

He re-entered the homepage, there were hundreds upon thousands of different apps, games and files on this one small console. It was honestly surprising, to say the least. Aleki fiddled with the remote, finally coming across the power button, he pressed down on it, causing the tv to go from a radiant white to a dull black.

The sun shone dimly through the windows, letting its golden rays pierce into the room. The sun had already made it a quarter through the sky, now rising just above the faraway mountains. Either that movie was much longer than I'd expected, or I'm just tripping balls. The room was silent, and everybody was just sitting around, doing a whole lotta fuck all, it was awkward, to say the least. But Charles broke the silence as he sighed and pushed himself from the couch, he picked up his rifle from the wall and trudged onward through the room, before slipping down the hallway.

"Alright, take care everybody, I'll be in my room for the rest of the day." He pulled open the blast door and slid behind it, slamming it shut as he entered. But he cracked the door open, just a peak, looking at us through the gap. "Unless you decide to do somethin fun, don't leave me outta it," Charles said. He then slid the door shut, a soft clang ringing through the room.

We sat in awkward silence for only but a few moments, till I decided to break the thick atmosphere.

"Why does he have such a problem with me?" I asked, looking to Aleki

"Ehh, he always does this with everybody. Trust me, it's not new." "Just give him a few days, he'll eventually warm up to you."

I doubted that, but hey, you can always trust the wise words of a Pacific man. I would know, I am one after all.

"So... I hope you don't mind me asking, but we didn't really get much on your backstory... Do you mind... Expanding on it a little, I understand if you wouldn't want to share! I'm just... Curious, I guess." James asked,

I pondered on the thought, maybe I could? I can trust these guys, besides, they're in the exact same boat as me, wouldn't hurt to share... right?

"Alright, I can do that for you," I replied, "it's pretty strange, and just plain unlucky what happened..." I stared down at my chest, lightly grasping my stomach, a sensation of phantom pain washing over me "I won't keep you waiting anymore." I looked to the group, pushed myself to my feet and took a seat between the two of them, after all, it was the only space available. The couch buckled and bent beneath my weight, yet it didn't snap, props to whoever made this. It was tight and cramped, but at least it worked.

"Alright, you promise not to laugh?" I asked.

"Dude, we won't, you can trust us."

"Alright then..." I muttered, "So... What do you wanna hear first?"

"Oh... What about your death?" James asked

I flinched as his words left his speakers, death... It was strange to think about, it's hard to think that I actually died in the first place... I'd put that behind me long ago. But I distinctively remember my death, horrible and painful is what it was. A sight that only a sociopath would enjoy.

"Alright... I'll provide a little backstory, to my backstory... So I'm a kiwi as you could probably guess." I said

"Really? I thought you were like him" James said, pointing to Aleki.

"Yeah, it's easy to get mixed up sometimes. Anyways, there was this massive cyclone occurring in my country, and I mean huge." I continued,

James leaned in closer, seemingly intrigued by my story.

"Right... So the power went out, and I was getting a little bored..." I said, cringing.

"Oh no... Don't tell me..."

"Yeah, I went out in the storm... Look! I wasn't thinking straight." I replied, my head dropping slightly "So, the storm brought a huge gust of wind, I didn't think much of it until a rogue tree branch made it's home right dead centre in my abdomen." I clutched the spot I'd once been hit, hissing in pain as a wave of phantom pain rushed over me once more.

"It's alright. Don't worry about it." James said, placing his hand on my back, comforting me.

Sorrow began leaking into my mind, slowly taking hold. But before I could get into another sobbing episode, Aleki snapped me out of it.

"Look, man, we've all been there, we've all died one way or another. I died from ignorance too! I mean, I never maintained that bike and James... Well, there's not much to say about him. But we're all in the same boat, Elijah" I raised my head to look at him, the emotions welling up inside me, slowly dying down "Either way, we got your back man, you can come to us for anything." His weird little Prawn mandibles shook as if to signify that he was smiling up at me.

"Thanks, man..." I said, my mood lighting for the better,

James pulled his hand from my back, and he stared up at me, his deep blue windshield piercing into my glowing cyan visor.

"Look sport, if you have any questions for us, we're glad to answer," James said "I can tell you have something to ask, trust me, I've raised two generations of kids, and I've learned a few things." He said, tapping the side of his windshield.

How'd he know?

"Well, you got me. Never got to get enough out from that lady" I replied, lightly chuckling under my breath.

"So what do ya wanna know first? I've been here a long time, and I know a few things"

"Are there any rules, like at all? I'm not looking to accidentally break the law or whatever and get hunted down by Doomguy anytime soon." I said

"You weren't filled in on them?"

"No, my guide was a little... preoccupied..." I replied

"Alright... Damn the elders are gonna have their ass for that... Anyways, basic ground rules: Rule Number 1: Never, ever, go into the rift while intoxicated, I can tell you that your physical form will cease to exist."

I shuddered at the thought, maybe I won't go back to Stephane... Yeah, he'll be alright without me...

"Rule Number 2: Don't fuck up the timeline. Absolutely do not fuck up the timeline. I swear to god, do not mess up any fucking timelines, Jesus, for all that is holy never, ever, ever, mess up the timeline. Certain realms go in one predetermined route, straight forward and that's it, if one key plot point were to be taken, shit can go spiralling downhill real quick."

Well, seems I may have just fucked up big time.

"Well... Unless that major plot point, causes a massive loss of life, then yes, you can change that."

I sighed a breath of relief, slouching back on the couch. Thank the heavens above! Aleki tilted his head inquisitively.

"Elijah... Did you mess with a predetermined plotline?"

"Yeah... But don't worry! A mega-corporation would've gotten its hands on a massive super weapon capable of folding space and time. I feel like what I did was justified." I replied

Aleki sighed, and shrugged it off, before continuing on with the cold hard facts.

"Rule three: This is pretty obvious, but don't go to a realm in which you are considered a villain. I mean, that one just explains itself"

"Yeah... But I should be fine, don't think anyone will hold a grudge against some random Mek, well, excluding a certain somebody... but I don't ever plan on going to that realm any time soon." I said,

"That should be all-"

"Nope, you're missing one mate! It's everybody's least favourite, but it's a necessity to tell him, right Aleki?" James asked,

"Right... This might sound... Bad... But you can't ever go back to Earth"

"Wait... You're saying, everybody here can access Earth, but we're not allowed to? WHAT THE FUCK!" I yelled, I pushed myself to my feet and grabbed hold of my key, but before I could stab it forward, Aleki and James leapt onto my arm, holding it down.

"Look! Calm down! You just have to accept it, you're different now, nobody will recognise you" James called out

"Saphire will! I know she will!" I shouted, slowly prying my arm free from their grasp.

"Please you have to trust us, it's heartbreaking, no matter what you'll say, they'll never believe you, they'll insist on your death, and worst of all, they'll be afraid. Please, we all had to let go of our loved ones."

I stopped struggling, and I sighed. They slowly let go of my hand, and once they had, I slipped the key back on my hip. Considering the sheer psychological torment I'd have to go through, I suppose this is the way to go.

"It's for the better... I guess." I said, my voice saddening.

"Look... We can stop this if you want, I just hope you can overcome this." James said, his voice soft as he spoke.

I sighed and looked down the hall. Gazing toward the giant metal door that held away my room,

"It's alright... I'll just... go to bed," I said,

"Elijah, we all know that you don't need sleep, just sit down, and we can talk about this."

I turned back to face them. I don't know what I'd done to deserve these people, but I doubt I did it. A non-existent smile grew on my visor, as I looked upon the pair.

"...ok, maybe just for a little bit."

And finished! I apologise again for not uploading sooner. I take full responsibility. I'll be steering the story a little more towards Locostral from here, but it'll mainly be in the good ol' Titanfall realm, it is what this story's all about after all. Sorry for the shorter chapter, I'm running 'short' on ideas, ba dum tshhh no actually, writer's block is hitting hard.

Anyways, please send a review my way if you liked it, send one if you didn't, any feedback provided helps. And I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.