Chapter 1

Military for Peace was a fucking joke, but at least it gave me something to do, since I hadn’t qualified for deployment on the Peacekeeping mission to the Other Side. I guess it was my Nuke ’em All badge sewn onto my uniform that had sealed my fate, but I didn’t care. Let’s see who they would call on when shit hit the fan, and it would, I was sure of it.

Until then, volunteering for this ridiculous initiative was better than being stuck at the base with nothing to do and too much time to think. Ever since the war ended, silence had been my worst enemy.

At least I had been allowed to keep Fenrir for a little longer. Someone at the top had decided that the power armour could be used to clean up the destruction the war had brought to our world. Not a bad idea, to be honest, but you wouldn’t hear me praising the civis for their decision. Even so, I had a bad feeling about it, everyone at the base had. There had been no reason for the Security Council to step down. The military always looked after their own…

Fuck… I blinked and took a deep breath, looking out over the sea of rubble that surrounded me as I sat there. I must have spaced out again. It often happened after piloting Fenrir and opening myself to Tau. The doctors had said I should go on a holiday, but piloting Fenrir was the only time I felt alive nowadays. It wasn’t necessary nice what I felt, but it was better than being empty.

I got up and stretched myself. The sun was slowly sinking into the sea, casting long shadows over the ruined buildings. I started to walk towards the set of prefab buildings that served as the centre of operations for the Western part of Hakodate when a disturbance in Tau flooded my senses.

Instinctively, I hit the ground and scanned my surroundings, and my hand went to the holster on my belt, only to realise I was unarmed. Fuck… To make matters worse, I had stripped off my combat suit after leaving Fenrir.

I glanced towards my power armour. 20–30 meters… I could make it. Just then, something moved next to him. I pulled on Tau, and a burning sensation shot through my body. Without my combat suit and the tech built into it, too much Tau could kill me, but fuck it… They would die too, it was a fair deal…

I looked towards the pile of rubble. They were hiding behind it. I squinted my eyes and frowned when a stinker girl suddenly walked out from behind the slab of concrete. She hesitantly waved at me. Fuck… I got up and tried to disperse Tau, knowing the burning sensation would linger for hours.

“What are you doing here!?”, I called out.

I walked over to her.

“It is an excluded area, go away”

She gave me a shy smile, and her tail waved from side to side as she hesitantly watched me. I frowned. Her oversized clothes were dirty, and, like most of them, she was barefoot. Yet another proof that the civis government was too lenient in teaching these stinkers democracy.

I stepped closer, forcing her to step back as I towered above her.

“What are you doing here?”, I asked again.

She looked away, not daring to meet my eyes.

“I.. I wanted to see the Nightmare...”

Her fluffy ears drooped, and she pointed at Fenrir.

“Nightmare…?”

Her words forced a smile on my face, but it wasn’t a nice one. That’s how they called them? Good, it seemed like we had done a good job… We had called theirs Bastards from the moment they invaded our world. I wondered for a moment if she knew it. I shrugged. It didn’t matter.

“Didn’t you see enough of them in your world?”

“I did…”

Her tail went still and hung down as she shivered, hearing my question.

“But Mai’ri said I need to be strong…”, she whispered, and tears filled her eyes.

Fuck… Bullying a kid wasn’t my favourite pastime, and to be fair, some of them had sided with us from the very beginning, long before the hydrogen bombs taught them that befriending the winner was a smart move. It wasn’t really her fault she was a stinker, but still… She shouldn’t be here.

“Go away, or you’ll get in trouble”

She quickly looked around before going back to staring at her feet.

“I... I...”

She gave a panic glance around.

“We moved here yesterday... I...”

“You got lost?”

She nodded. I frowned, glancing at the buildings in the distance. Someone should still be there, and if not, I could always call the MP and let them deal with it.

“Come”

I started to walk without looking at her, but I could hear her soft footsteps following me from behind.

The compound looked empty, not surprisingly, considering how late it was. I pulled out my phone when I noticed an old, beaten-up Toyota parked at the far end of the compound, next to the big warehouse. The Major was still here? Great, he could deal with it. I glanced at the girl and then continued walking, and she followed me without a word.

Major Takahashi sat at a small desk at the entrance, his uniform dirty and covered in dust. He lifted his eyes from the computer screen and returned the salute before leaning back into his chair.

“Fury, are you still here?”

Of course, he butchered my call sign, but it was still better than trying to use my real name. No one here in Japan could pronounce it, so they all called me Fury. I didn’t mind it, it made things easier for everyone.

His gaze fell on the girl who had finally dared to enter before turning back to me.

“She was wandering around the perimeter. She got lost”, I offered, ready to leave.

“Lost?”

He looked at her.

“What’s her name?”

I shrugged. The Major sighed and took a snack bar from the desk before getting up and walking over to us.

“You want some?”

He smiled.

“It’s green-green, so you can eat it”

He pointed to the package. I rolled my eyes as she accepted the gift. I didn’t have time for this shit, and my body was still burning after touching Tau.

“I’m Takahashi, and you?”

“An’Ri”

“Where do you live?”

“Next to the big red tower. But I don’t know where it is…”

“Am I dismissed?”, I asked, interrupting the show.

The Major sighed.

“She lives close to you, perhaps you could…”

I rolled my eyes.

“The MP will make this into an official incursion. We don’t need the trouble, right, An’Ri…?”

She nodded, making the situation more annoying.

“We should work for unity…”, the Major concluded.

Unity. I frowned. Another ridiculous idea from the civis. I glanced at the three stars tattooed on the Major’s jaw. Taking down three bastards with an Artemis launcher was a feat, especially for someone who could easily be my grandfather, and now he talked about this nonsense…

“The world has changed...”, he said, guessing my thoughts.

“Yeah, it has…”…and it had left me behind with an implant in my brain, opening me to something no one really understood.

“Do me a favour, Fury...”

His voice became softer and almost broke as he said my name. I nodded with a sigh. Somehow, I couldn’t blame him for searching for a new meaning in this idiotic, utopian vision that the new government promoted. Everyone had their own way of coping with what happened.

I gave him a quick salute and looked at the girl.

“Come.”