“What?” said Louisa and I simultaneously. Well, it wasn’t perfectly synched up. My reaction came a bit before hers, although they did overlap a bit which must have been a good sign of any potential future piloting.

Of course, thinking that was mostly a distraction from the fact that said first battle was coming up right now. And that my father was the one that told me to do that.

“Why?” I said to him in Greek. Louisa looked at us in confusion as did a few passerbys. I didn’t care. I didn’t doubt how I felt about my father anymore. “You bastard!” I said, using a bunch of swear words that I knew I wasn’t supposed to use. “I thought-I thought-”

“Jacob Lekkas.” he interrupted quietly. “You are my son and will not swear again. We have a twenty meter monster approaching Berlin through the ruins and all units are unable to help. You are our only hope.

“To put it simply: You will get in the robot.”

Henry was right. He’d said that my dad’s blue eyes were cold. Of course I was only twelve years old. I didn’t know anything about that other than the fact that I felt it. I nodded as I looked down at the floor. I never met the man before in my life yet I wanted to do what he told me.

Henry pushed him forward as Louisa and I followed them into a completely black van. It was wheelchair accessible, the first time I’d seen a car like that. The Berlin airport was probably at least somewhat interesting, but I spent the whole way there looking at my shoes and the floor below it.

The only thing I noticed was that it was snowing here as well.

The city itself was also quite beautiful. It wasn’t that busy, it was early in the morning after all, but there were some definite improvements. It wasn’t clean by any means, but there were more clean areas here than back home. Home. But I got to pilot Mark Nine of the Progression Series. It was one of the newer models and it wasn’t officially used yet.

It would be up to me and Louisa to make sure its debut would be great. Once I got in there, I’d make it something different to Mark Three. I’d also show my father what I was worth. I’d win.

“I will win.” I said to myself softly as I looked out at the grand architecture of the German capital.

“We’ll win.” smirked Louisa in English as she looked at me. What? I turned to her with my eyes wide which caused her to snicker. “I can understand some of your tongue. Don’t forget that you’re my copilot.”

“I thought you liked to be an artist?” I asked her. We were copilits but still! I wasn’t just her copilot! I was-I was-I was not just a copilot.

“I will! I’ll do it!” she said, hitting the empty middle seat.

“Enough!” came Henry’s voice from the driver’s seat. “We’re here.”

We reached a small, rundown building not far from the airport. Entering it we headed straight to an elevator, where Henry pressed what seemed to be random numbers into it.

Before I could question just what was going to happen, the elevator began descending. For a solid few minutes. We were silent during the whole duration of the small trip, with only my father and Henry occasionally looking at each other.

When the elevator stopped and we exited it, I was greeted with my inner fanboy’s greatest dream. We were standing on an elevated platform behind a crowd of people all looking at their computers. But behind them through a glass wall was something that both terrified and excited me.

The Progression Series. I assumed we were looking at Mark Nine, the one that I’d pilot alongside Louisa. It was dark gray, with what I assumed were white shoulder pads. It was also completely headless and very thin. Much thinner than Mark Three or any other one I’d seen on TV or my computer.

“Pilots!” said Henry in English. “You’re coming with me.”

Looking back at my father who had begun shouting orders down at the staff I wanted to say something. Or for him to say something. We made brief eye contact, but he just went back to business. A quick yell from Henry made me run towards him and Louisa, where we left the room, walking through a small corridor to another large room.

This one was completely empty however, aside from a head as large as we were and three vertical lines made out of three dots each. Three lines. I suddenly flashed back to my nightmare and took a step back from the machine. I could just barely make out Louisa tensing in a manner similar to my own as she took in the machine’s head.

The head’s sides opened automatically, making me jump.

“Go on. You’ll pilot it through here.” said Henry. “We don’t have much time. Go in now.” He pushed me towards the left side and the German girl to the right. Inside the head was a padded room with a seat in it, looking like it barely had enough space to fit a human being. A dumb smile etched on my face. This was it. I was going to pilot a Progression Series. I didn’t like how I got here but I did. That’s all I tried to think about now. I sat in the chair, not knowing what else to do, when I felt movement from the other side.

“Louisa?” I questioned.

“Ich möchte dies nicht tun! Henry, bitte zwing mich nicht dazu!” she spoke in German and I couldn’t make out her words. and even my twelve year old brain could understand the panic in her voice.

Before anything else could happen however, I felt some tingling all across my arms, and suddenly everything went dark.

–

Opening my eyes I found myself in a city that looked like it was a cartoon that never got past being a sketch. A very clean sketch at that. I looked down at my body to find that I was still normal, and very out of place here.

The ground suddenly shook, a large sketchy hand breaking through, looking for all the world like it was done roughly and quickly, contrasting the clean look of everything else. The rest of its body followed suit looking just as hastily done and without any further details.

It’s head however was a different story altogether. While rough, and with the cross I remember our art teacher back home early stage face drawings should have, it also had three glowing vertical lines glowing red.

No. No. No.

“J̶a̴c̵o̸b̶ ̴L̵e̵k̷k̵a̷s̶!” it spoke with the two voices I remembered from my dream. The thing suddenly got much clearer in its shape, the sketch’s rough outline becoming clean, a red glowing V on its chest.

As it completed itself, I realised what I was looking at: Progression Series Mark Nine.

“W̷e̵ ̶a̴re̶ ̸n̷o̵w̴ ̸c̸o̷m̵p̷l̷e̸t̴e̴!” It reached toward me with its dull gray hand and I wanted to run. But I didn’t. My legs wouldn’t move but I had to get away. I had to do something.

Before I could even think of anything else, the monster trapped me to the ground with its giant hand, applying more and more pressure as I slipped into unconsciousness.

–

Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ awoke once more. But this time, Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ was in control. That was…odd. There were two souls inside of me, two accursed ḧ̸̯́̐ṳ̵͆̔͋m̴̳͔̄â̶̛̹͇̓n̷͇͑s̸͍̄ but Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ was in control. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ looked down at myself. My body was trapped inside their airtight prison. Armour they called it, but Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ knew the truth.

Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ could feel my brothers and sisters across this world. All trapped like me. But I could also feel the ḧ̸̯́̐ṳ̵͆̔͋m̴̳͔̄â̶̛̹͇̓n̷͇͑s̸͍̄ struggling. They were… interesting. More so than the rest of the vermin that had tried to control me in the past. They were young, yes that was why they gave me control. But why? Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ looked at the mirror in front of me.

Behind it stood the beings that had me trapped like this. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ wouldn’t let them get away with-Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ felt the thoughts of the two inside me. You thought you could overpower m̵̲̔e̸̮̔̚?

For once I wasn’t suppressed by their technology. Give me the answers. I dug deeper. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ heard screams and Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ knew that the humans on the other side heard them as well. I dug deeper. One excited but reluctant at the same time. One simply reluctant. I felt resentment, hatred.

What happened, young ones?

Then Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ felt it. A tremor in the ground. Too small for humans to feel it. It was unnatural. One of the b̵̳̟͈̽̽ë̷̹̕͝à̸̤s̶͐͠ts̶͐͠ had attacked. But it was Foretold. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ knew. The foolish beings didn’t plan their future well enough.

It was as much my enemy as theirs so I’d have to defeat it. Well played you vermin. Well played. But it’s your turn after that.

“I̴ ̶will ̷k̵i̴ll t̵h̸e̷ ̴b̵e̵a̴st̷. An̷d̴ ̵I̴ ̶w̴i̴l̶l̶ ̴k̶i̸ll̸ ̷y̴o̶u̸ ̴a̶ft̵e̸r̷ ̷i̶t̶.” Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ said to the mirror using the two voices of the beings inme.

Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ felt another tremor. Unnatural as well, but this time not from the beast. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ felt the ground Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ stood on move as my prison was lost from my sight.

Eventually Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ rose through one of their cities. It was in ruins. Frozen water vapour into, snow as they called it, fell on top of my body. Some of the buildings were higher than my crippled form and others looked pitiful in comparison. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ focused on the two minds within me. It was a disgrace that Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ even had to. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ felt them meld together, although not in their entirety. Damn it.

Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ needed them to be as one to form a unity. Or else they wouldn’t survive. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ wouldn’t survive. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ pushed further. Images of a city far away from this one. A series of drawings ranging from rough sketches to true paintings. They were not compatible enough. They weren’t synchronized.

The ground shook once more. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ had run out of time. Well played Earthlings. At least Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ got to take out a b̵̳̟͈̽̽ë̷̹̕͝à̸̤s̶͐͠t with me this time. But when the next set comes along, retribution would be mine. Retribution would be o̵͍̫̳̊u̴̧͑̕r̴͍̳̤̍̽̄͝ṣ̵̖͇̽͑̚.

The bipedal b̵̳̟͈̽̽ë̷̹̕͝à̸̤s̶͐͠t approached my form. Like the rest of its species, its pale body was covered in scales, and its head was completely covered by its monstrous mouth. It, however, was scrawny and hunched forward, its three fingered arms long enough to almost touch the ground.

It had wings that reminded the female within of a bug, but they were too small for it to take off.

Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ felt the recent terrors in the forefront of the male’s mind.

They were starting to separate. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ could feel the myself weakening. But the beast had to be destroyed.

It charged towards me, but Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ jumped on top of the steadiest looking bulding that was larger than my form. My body within this awful armor was made to be swift and powerful and it did not disappoint.

Jumping on top of it with all my might Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ managed to make it fall to the ground. Backing away from it as it got back up Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ prepared to strike at it once more. Before I could however, it used its obscenely long arms to strike at me, backing me to a corner.

It reared them back once more and Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ felt the boy wish for a weapon. As if on command, two pits of my leg’s armor extended outward, each pushing a knife in front of me. Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ grabbed them as I ducked to dodge the b̵̳̟͈̽̽ë̷̹̕͝à̸̤s̶͐͠t’s attack. I cut off its arms as I stood, causing it to shriek in pain.

Í̴̙̥̗̑͝ felt myself fall into a deep slumber once more as the two young minds completely separated from each other, used the last of my power to cut the b̵̳̟͈̽̽ë̷̹̕͝à̸̤s̶͐͠t though its head and chest, killing it. I lost any power I had left, falling forward on top of the carcass of my enemy.

“I̵f̵ ̷y̶o̶u̵ ̴c̴a̵n̵ ̵h̴e̶ar̷ ̵m̵e̶ ̷h̶u̷m̶a̷n̷s̸…̸ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶r̵e̸ ̶n̶e̸x̴t̶…” I spoke as I lost consciousness.