Finding pants and a shirt was not that hard. It appeared John or Rick had gathered a set of Hulk purple shorts with a $120 price tag still on them and one of the white tee shirts from the tie-dye place for him. Getting to a bathroom was something of a long pursuit, but within fifteen minutes, he was back in his chair and closed his eyes.

As David slept he first felt himself in an empty void of nothingness. No blackness or whiteness. No nothing. All that was there was him. Alone by himself. With no one and nothing around. Feeling vulnerable... VULNERABLE!!!

[Hack resistance lvl 1 triggered]

Instantly David found himself in his Dreadnaught armor with his minigun at hand.

“ You are good to go.”

David turned to find John smiling at him and Rick giving him a thumbs up. A memory of them together appears behind them. The most prominent of them was a conversation shortly after the three of them were accepted into their respective schools. The three of them were at his place with pizza on the coffee table and game controllers in each of their hands.

“ You know what would be cool?”

David and Rick gave John a look as they started waiting for the next match to start.

“ I bet we could build power armor now. I mean the tech is there. It's just a matter of design and programming.”

Rick gave a hearty laugh before grabbing a fresh soda and popping its top.

“ Yea, and what? I build it, you program it and David pays for the entire thing?”

Rick jokingly soft punched David in the arm, and he responded by immediately rubbing it. But that did not stop him from thinking on the actual question.

“ You know Rick, you can be an ass sometimes, but when your right... Well, we all might just get laid...”

After that, the three of them laughed and quickly grabbed their controllers as the next match loaded in.

As the memory faded, moments of them talking about the joke more and more until it stopped becoming a joke and started becoming a dream. A goal.

A warden is those of the first rank. The initiate. The apprentice. The foot soldier.

Suddenly memories of the day before appeared. But different. Instead of him being in bulky slow power armor. He was in a much faster and lightweight suit. Instead of a minigun, he had a carbine rifle and shot the head of the zombie that killed the woman first in the backstage area. He pictured himself then running into the other room and beginning to fight the ever-increasing horde beside Kyle pretending to be Master Chief and the marines.

A spartan is a quick action force. Quick to move, quick to adapt, quick to be the vanguard.

His dream moved him further into the day. His armor was heavier now, but much better than it was when it really happened. He had a shotgun in one hand and his Stargaze in another. He was a whirlwind of death, protecting those under his guard and remaining safe and protected. When he joined Charle's cosplayers, he would join their wall, knowing those at his side he could call brothers.

A juggernaut is a force to be reckoned with. When they work together, anything is possible. Even the impossible.

Then the scene changed to something he pictured to be out of a movie. He was in a steel wall facing outwards with his minigun filled with anticipation. Out in the distance in the desert expanse seemed to be an endless army of bugs. Without looking backward he knew what he would find behind him. Those he would protect. Those he would give his life for. Even if he did not know them. As he gripped the rotor trigger he smiled knowing they did not bring enough fodder.

A dreadnought is a guardian unmatched. Outnumbered is their motto. For they are the guardians. The last line...

[hack resistance has leveled from 1->2] [You shape your own destiny!]

Suddenly David was woken with fright as he tried to stand to better defend himself but failed miserably. To such a degree he put weight on the left side of his lounge chair to get up and found it giving way and him falling on his side. It took him a moment more to realize his two friends were laughing.

“ All right sleeping beauty. Up and at ‘em.”

David saw Rick’s offered hand and grabbed it. Within a moment he was back on his feet. John meanwhile looked at the broken chair.

“ Cheap piece of crap. You could still sit on it, but not sleep.”

David took it anyway and as he sat back down, realizing how annoying having the armrest broken is, decided to focus on what his nose was smelling.

“ Is that pizza? Where? How?”

Rich chuckled as he lowered the box to allow him to take a piece of homemade pepperoni.

“ Place across the street. Some of the anime guys went scouting last night. They found some cops and all kinds of emergency services flooded in last night. Not only cops, but firemen, doctors; not just first responders, and even off-service soldiers. Like those retired or on leave. Captain York kinda took over. Does not like all the civs with weapons, but with what going on in the city...”

There was a pause as David sat down the half-eaten pizza on a nearby table and grabbed a bottle of water.

“ How bad?”

Rick put the pizza on the table and shook his head.

“ Warzone would be the news headline, but bloodbath would be more accurate. It is not just here either. Almost every major city has just lost about half their population in a night.”

Rick then gestured to someone standing nearby. It is the ‘brownie’ guy from before.

“ This is Jake, he was a UPS driver before this. And a former marine.”

The former marine stepped forward and saluted, and David offered him a hand instead.

“ Been out of the service for two years. Still not used to it,” he said as he grabbed David’s hand.

“ I made a few phone calls last night after...”

He paused and David let him have his moment.

“ New York looks like something after a fight with Superman and Doomsday...”