Opening File: Harold "Coop" Cooplowski
The pilot of MEGAS, Coop is overweight and has an insatiable appetite. Coop's general appearance seems to be quite typical Jersey native. He has a short, spiky blown-back crew cut and a carefully shorn chin strap. He is typically seen wearing a sleeve torn red-plaid flannel shirt, with a white #12(Joe Namath) t-shirt underneath.
It is implied that Coop is unemployed and still lives at home with his mother, occupying the basement and the garage. Due to years of playing video games of all types, he is an extremely capable pilot. His main fighting techniques are derived from numerous wrestling, dancing, racing, and other combat games. He's not exactly the brightest person around, but does occasionally exhibit some tactical ploy, as well as some considerable computer and mechanical engineering skills; seen as he managed to adapt his car to serve as jury-rigged control center for the super-advanced MEGAS, as well installing a number of secondary modifications.
Although Coop can be a clever robotic fighter, he prefers the gung-ho approach of smashing now and asking questions later, especially if something gets in the way of what he wants. Most, if not all, of his amazing heroics are accidental, and he usually ends up destroying more than he protects. Even though he spends a majority of his time in MEGAS, Coop is actually quite strong as depicted by his demonstrations of raw strength, such as being able to punch a car window without flinching or using a monkey-wrench to smash a null-distortion missile off of MEGAS. Despite Coop's strength and piloting skill, he tends to avoid physical confrontation, only doing so when he is angered or wants to have a little fun.
Along with his keen piloting and physical prowess, Coop also exhibits exceptional technical driving skills.
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Opening File: Jamie
Coop's best friend since childhood, Jamie is a skinny, smart-aleck slacker. He wears a woolen blue beanie, tight blue-jeans, and a black leather jacket with a green hoodie underneath. Compared to Kiva and Coop, his contributions are minimal, and are usually limited to comic relief. Really, Jamie is just along for the ride, often enjoying the thrill of Coop's misguided.
As time went on, he built a stable friendship with Kiva. He frequently makes passes at pretty girls, often imagining himself being adored by numerous attractive women, but often has little to no success. Personality wise, Jamie is very cowardly and often runs at the first sign of danger, only showing bravery when he or his friends are gravely threatened. He does possess a talent for noticing the obvious and awareness of common sense which most of his friends lack however.
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Opening File: Kiva Andru
Kiva is a military pilot and engineer for the Earth Coalition who traveled back in time from over a thousand years in the future, around the year 3037. Kiva re-designed a captured Glorft prototype and was originally meant to be the pilot of MEGAS, but she can no longer pilot it due to Coop's modifications. She also finds herself stuck in the present time because Coop smashed the time drive. Instead of driving MEGAS herself, she constantly tries to train Coop. She has a no-nonsense personality, but adopts a small sense of humor as her journey in the present progresses.
Kiva repeatedly demonstrates high skills in both robotic and hand-to-hand combat, usually being the 'muscle' of the trio. She is always seen wearing her original futuristic pilot uniform, of which the shoulder pads and leg-guards are made of 'tritanium refractive armor'. Kiva is also very knowledgeable, tough, and fearless. Despite her many skills, Kiva is usually confined to the back seat, operating a wrist-operated holographic panel to give Coop advice on opponent's weaknesses, navigational directions, or feedback on MEGAS' system status.
She can be viewed as Coop's co-pilot. In an attempt to revert the outcome of the war in the future, she tried to send the M.E.G.A.S robot back in time to the Battle of the Last Stand in the year 3035, in order to tip the scales of Earth's last major offensive against the Glorft. However, a malfunction in the time flux drive sent it back to the 1930s and Kiva (joined by two other mechs) to 'The Present' (early 201X). After being soundly defeated by Coop in Megas, she tries to steal it back, only to find the heavy modification done by Coop has rendered it unpilotable by anyone except him. In order to defend earth from a Glorft attack force, Kiva is forced to take the back seat to Coop as he defeats the Glorft.
Finding herself stuck in the past, she decides to stay on and train Coop with the hope of bringing him into the future to help change the outcome at the Battle of the Last Stand. Her deep seeded hatred for the Glorft is apparent in the series and she has shown she can and will do whatever it takes to defeat them. Kiva appears not to like anything in the past except slushies and potentially beef jerky.
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Xxx
"I've mentioned this before but sometimes it's important to revisit the classics. I'm talking of course about two types of heroes: the brainy ones and the brawny ones. Smart heroes think their way around problems. They look at a situation and see what needs to be done." TOM spoke, watching as the files closed. "They also get a little technical assistance. Strong guys are different, but not quite as pleasant, sometimes downright ruthless. In the end, brains or brawn alone just isn't enough. You gotta go with the middle ground."
"It's the journey that's important, not the path you take." SARA said, appearing next to TOM in holo-form.
"Yep." TOM nodded. ""Always focus on the journey, never the destination."
Xxx
"There it is. The colony that will be known as the Reach."
For Kiva it was like seeing home for the first time in a long time. It brought back fond memories of her life growing up, at least the memories that were not consumed by war, death and destruction. When the Glorft began their attack in the future Earth and her other colonies suffered heavily Reach was no exception but the Rasputin AI helped fend off the worst of the attacks, at least before it was destroyed.
"Looks nice." Jamie said, thankfully not making a dumb comment that would have ruined the moment.
"Any idea what they have for food here?" Coop asked, always focused on what he wanted most.
"Coop, even if they've managed to land a settlement here it'll take years before they can have food like…Jersey." Kiva said, deciding not to mention that she was eight when the Glorft destroyed the Reach and she could barely remember what kind of meals they or if they were even close to the kind of food Coop was thinking of.
"They would at least have a burger stand, right?" Coop asked.
Kiva sighed, deciding to focus back on the real task. "New Alexandria was the capital city in the future. If they were going to set up Rasputin anywhere it would be there. Try to land a few miles away before heading there. I don't want Megas spooking anyone down there if we land in their backyard. They probably know what usually happens in Jersey."
"Right." Coop said, piloting the giant robot down to the planet.
When Megas landed all they would see for miles was green forests and grass, a mountain or two in the distance and a few rivers as they made their way to what looked like the main bass. Obviously colonization was still in the infant stages as there only a few buildings, big buildings but few nonetheless.
"Oh man. I don't see burger stand, an arcade or even a chip wagon." Coop groaned. "Oh man. This is not what I imagined."
Xxx
(What Coop Imagined)
Coop stood in a city with cheeseburgers, hotdogs, tacos, cheesesteaks, sausages and so much more kinds of food raining down from the sky.
"YEAH!"
"Coop?"
()
"I am now happy to declare the Infinite Food Of Every Kind Restaurant open forever!" Kiva happily announced as the doors opened, allowing Coop to see inside.
Pure, absolute, food paradise.
"YEAH!"
"Coop."
()
Rives of slushies of every flavor stretching as far as the eye could see as Coop jumped in and swam through every river, drinking its sweet flavors.
"YEAH!"
"Coop!"
()
"As you can see, we struck gold when our drills found a mine of cheesesteaks at the planet's soft gooey center." Kiva said, pointing to a drawing of the planet on a chalkboard. "We'll never run out and we can eat every form of food every day…Except horrible food like tofu and vegetables."
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Coop and Jamie hopped into the air and hugged tightly, laughing in pure joy.
"COOP!"
Xxx
Coop was shaken from his thoughts by Kiva and Jamie shouting at him and an alarm. "Uh? Wha-"
"We're being hailed." Kiva said as the screen on the dashboard showed an unhappy Anastasia Bray.
"Unidentified mech you are intruding upon a Russian military facility. Leave now or be destroyed." Ana says on their communicator.
"You and what guns?" Coop replied with a cocky grin.
In the distance they see a missile come down from orbit and impact a nearby mountain.
"Oh."
"You just had to ask." Jamie deadpanned.
"That missile must've come from a Warsat." Kiva informed.
"A what?" Coop asked.
"War satellites developed for the military, but they were created along with...Oh no." Kiva gasped in realization.
"What's wrong, Red?" Coop asked.
"Coop, Reach wasn't just Earth's first colony it also housed an advanced A.I. made for the defense of mankind, the Warmind Rasputin." Kiva said as she pulled up her history logs. "He was regarded as one of greatest military generals of mankind's history."
"So?" Coop asked.
"So, this is why Anastasia is off-planet, she helped create him by teaching him speech and independent thought. She must've come here to check on him." Kiva explained.
"If Rasputin's so great why didn't he defeat the Glorft?" Jamie asked skeptically.
"The Glorft targeted him during the war because they knew that if they destroyed him they'd cripple the Coalition's military power. They came to Epsilon Eridani, attacked all of its worlds, and glassed most of the planets. The siege lasted for five years and ended with Rasputin's destruction in the Fall of Reach. If he wasn't around then the Glorft probably would've won the war a lot sooner."
Another missile hit the ground nearby.
"Okay that was a little too close for comfort!" Jamie said as he started to panic.
"That was your last warning shot, leave now or be destroyed." Ana said.
"Ms. Bray please we don't mean you any harm we only wish to talk to you." Kiva quickly spoke before Coop could say or do anything.
"And why should I trust you? I've seen that mech on the news so I know you're from Earth but I also know the amount of property damage it does." Ana replied. "But the only way you could've known I was here was if you hacked my company's security, so I'm pretty sure I have every right not to trust you."
"She's not wrong." Coop admitted.
"Ms. Bray please we don't mean you any harm, I need you to let me see the time drive of the Eon Trespass and-"
"How the hell do you know about the Eon Trespass!?" Ana demanded cutting Kiva off.
"Wrong choice of words Kiva." Coop said, noting the shocked angry look on Ana's face.
"I normally don't say this but Ms. Bray I'm from the future and I need the Eon Trespass' time drive to get back to the future and stop a war from destroying mankind." Kiva quickly explained.
"And why should I believe any word of garbage you're saying?" Ana asked.
"I have proof." Kiva said as she pulled out a golden glowing multi-sided object that had a pentagon on each side.
Ana's eyes widened when she saw the object. "That's an Engram but they haven't been finished yet how did you get one!?"
"Let us speak in person and I'll show you what's in this Engram. We'll come unarmed." Kiva proposed.
"We will?" Coop and Jamie asked at the same time.
"We will." Kiva replied.
"Fine, but I'll have my guards watching you at all time."
Xxx
After agreeing, the trio exited Megas and was escorted into the complex under heavily armed guard. They were led to Ana who waited for them inside the base's command center where Kiva used a device to decode the Engram. It disappeared and a data drive was revealed. She gave it to Ana who took it and plugged it into a laptop she brought with her. She didn't plug the drive into one of the base's computers because she thought there might've been a virus on it and she didn't want to risk compromising the base's computers.
Ana looked through the files and her eyes widened at what she saw. "No way..." Ana said as she looked at the file that informed her Rasputin's destruction at the hands of the Glorft.
"It's all true Ms. Bray." Kiva said. "But it was thanks to Rasputin that we managed to hold out for so long against the Glorft."
"Okay, I'll help you get back to the future but accessing the Eon Trespass will be a little difficult." Ana said, closing the laptop.
"What do you mean?" Kiva asked, feeling the hope in her being threatened by a sudden dash of fear.
"After the time travel project was shut down my sister Elsie put in a security system to prevent any unauthorized access and if we try to hack it we might trigger its self-destruct mechanism. She really didn't want anyone messing with it." Ana explained. "And they only way to bypass it is with a password that only she knows."
"Well let's just go ask her for it." Coop suggested. "She's your sister I'm sure she'll give it to you."
"She was admitted into the Moscow psychiatric hospital." Ana said.
"So she went crazy?" Jamie asked.
"Not exactly. After her project was terminated she worked on making a device to let her see into the future but when she tested it on herself she apparently saw multiple futures."
"Multiple futures?" Kiva asked.
"Futures that might or will happen." Ana explained. "She kept rambling about each future and couldn't get a grip on herself so my dad had her admitted into psychiatric. Which led to his company being inherited by his adopted daughter over his actual daughter."
"So was this whole thing a bust?" Coop asked.
"I don't think so; we might be able to get her to help us. Remember she's seen every future she must've seen the Glorft in one of the futures she saw." Ana said before looking at Kiva. "However if I help you Ms. Andru you have to help me."
"What do you need?" Kiva asked.
"The only way you could've known I was here was if you hacked my cyber-security. Someone hacked Clovis Bray and released several confidential files that got my father arrested." Ana explained. "I need you to see if they left a backdoor into the system, access it and see if they learned about Rasputin. If they have pull out any files they got on him, steal any information they might be hiding, crash their systems, and destroy the backdoor they left."
"Sounds reasonable, I'll see what I can-"Kiva said before being cut off by the alarms klaxon ringing.
"Ma'am the Warsats have detected something on approach." A technician said.
"Put it up on screen." Ana said.
The screens displayed the Karajor on approach to Reach.
"It's the Glorft they must've followed us from Earth." Kiva said, alarmed by the sight of the dreaded Glorft mothership and what it could mean. "If they learn about Rasputin being here they'll destroy him and change history in their favor."
"And here I thought the squids learned their lesson." Coop said, flexing his neck and cracking his fists. "Looks like I better remind them."
"Get to your mech and keep them off Reach. I don't need you damaging this planet." Ana said as she returned the data drive to Kiva. "I'll have Rasputin send you tactical advice and back you up with the Warsats."
"Don't worry, time I remind this squids how we do things in Jersey." Coop said as he walked off.
"That does not inspire confidence in me." Ana deadpanned.
"Nothing he does inspires anyone with confidence." Kiva replied.
Xxx
"Sir, we are coming within scanning range of the planet."
Gorrath narrowed his eyes at the sight of the Earth-like planet. "Scan the entire planet for human settlements."
A beeping sound stopped the Commander before he could carry out his order. "Sir, the prototype is leaving the planet's atmosphere on a direct course for us."
Gorrath stood up from his chair. "Ready the mechs and lock all weapons on the prototype but do not destroy it! I want that monkey locked up and the prototype brought aboard intact. And scan that planet! The only reason that monkey would be coming to meet us instead of allowing us to attack him is because he must be protecting something!"
Gorrath marched off the bridge, heading for his own personal mech. If there was something of value on the planet he would have it or destroy it.
Xxx
"All right, Coop. They've probably spotted us so keep a fair distance from their ship." Kiva advised as soon as they saw the Karajor.
"What? Where's the fun in that?" Coop asked in protest.
"This isn't supposed to be fun, Coop." Kiva snapped. "If the Glorft destroy that planet we lose one of the Earth's greatest hopes in the future. We can't let that happen."
"So what do you suggest?" Jamie drawled.
"Lure them away from the planet. Take out their forward units and keep their attention on us as you lead them away." Kiva explained.
"All right, all right." Coop said, watching as mechs were already launching from the mothership. "I can still smash them right?"
"Yes, Coop." Kiva sighed. "You can still smash them."
"Works for me." Coop grinned.
Over a dozen Glorft mechs were already flying towards them, firing their machine guns. Coop immediately shifted gears, increasing speed as he piloted Megas through a firestorm of incoming bullets, dodging and weaving around them as he aimed right for the Glorft mechs. The blue mech's massive fists came down on one Glorft mech, followed by another and ended with a kick to the third one. After the first three were destroyed Coop quickly fired up the thrusters to dodge a barrage of missiles from the rest of the incoming mechs who flew after Megas.
They surrounded the blue mech and piled on it as they grabbed the arms and legs. They tried pulling Megas down to the Karajor, no doubt to capture it which would not end well for the human pilot and his friends.
"Do something, Coop!" Jamie urged fearfully.
Coop pressed the button for the leg thrusters, increasing Megas' speed and giving the unwanted passengers a ride and managing to shake a few but the rest managed to hold on. Megas flew all around the Glorft mothership, losing most of the mechs by the time they reached the rear end of the ship. Finally Coop got an arm free and backhanded the last couple of mechs away, freeing Megas. Just as it broke free Megas came under attack by another squadron of Glorft mechs who this time used blaster cannons instead of machine guns or missiles.
Coop quickly had Megas raise its arms, deploying energy shields to block incoming laser fire and then fired up the thrusters, shooting Megas right at the incoming mechs. The Glorft pilots had no time to dodge as Megas slammed its way through them. Cables shot out, grabbing onto Megas by the arms and legs and suddenly they were pulled down towards the Karajor, slamming onto the hull.
"Pin it down!" Gorrath shouted from his mech.
Just as Megas was back on its feet the Glorft mechs dogpiled it, pinning it down.
Gorrath laughed as he opened a channel with Coop. "Ha! You are making this too easy, Earther! Not only do I get my prototype back but I get to destroy one of Earth's putrid colonies before you can fully infest it! You thought you could gain the advantage by expanding like the virus you are earlier in history but no matter what you do your defeat is inevitable!"
"Dream on, squid! No one stops humans from infesting planets on my watch!" Coop retorted but stopped when he realize what he said. "Or making new planets nice for humans or…building a food wagon…"
By this point, Jamie, Kiva and even Gorrath looked tired and perhaps even embarrassed for listening to Coop.
"You know what I mean!" Coop said frustratingly. "I'm taking all you squids down!"
"And how will we do that when they got us?" Jamie asked.
"With this." Coop said as he pressed a button labelled 'That's right. We're ripping off fight scenes from the Matrix now.'
As the Glorfts continued to try holding it down long enough for it to be taken into the ship Megas suddenly broke free, sending all of the Gloft mechs flying in all directions with some even slamming into the Karajor and causing damage.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Coop let out a battle cry as fired several fists at the Glorft mechs while they were stunned and shot off the hull of the mothership at full speed.
Xxx
"He's insane."
That was the only word Anastasia Bray could use as she watched Coop's brutal fight with Glorft in orbit from the satellite feed being sent to the base down on the planet. Explosions were seen left and right as Megas shot around the Glorft mothership, demolishing anything in its way and those that survived were tossed away like trash. This Coop was obviously a very skilled pilot but he was also extremely brutal and showed absolutely no mercy.
Megas had just ripped one arm off of one mech and used it to smash another mech into pieces like a sledgehammer.
"And this guy is supposedly the only one who can stop these aliens here and in the future." Ana sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I suddenly need a bottle of aspirin."
Xxx
Gorrath gritted his teeth as Megas left a cloud of debris around his ship but he had no intention of stopping.
"Commander, have you found anything on the planet?" Gorrath shouted impatiently at his second in command.
"Yes, Warmaster. We have detected a human settlement on the planet. The coordinates match that of the Reach's capital city and the housing unit of their AI. Shall I order a bombardment?"
"No. I have a better idea." Gorrath grinned. "Send a detachment to capture the AI. The humans stole my prototype to use it against me so now I'll steal one of their most valuable weapons and use it against them!"
"Yes, Warmaster." The Commander complied.
"Do not fail me, Commander or I'll have your jorblocks!" Gorrath threatened before closing the channel. He looked at Megas as it dodged incoming fire from the Karajor. "I see through your tactic, monkey man. Too bad you're not smart enough to see through mine."