"You guys really couldn't have told me this sooner?" Jonas huffed as they ran back the way they had come, his breath steady despite the pace.
"We were planning to," Sylvia replied flatly as they hurried down the corridor. "After we beat you."
Jonas shot her a look. "Which one?"
"That one." Sylvia pointed ahead and immediately broke into a faster sprint.
They reached the room moments later. Sylvia arrived first and swung the heavy door open with a sharp motion. Jonas stepped inside right behind her, his eyes sweeping across the interior.
The moment he saw it, a smile slowly spread across his lips.
…
Kairos.
One of humanity's chief weapons in the war against the aliens.
Constructed from a material known as living metal, a Kairos combined the strengths of both a machine and a living organism.
Like a machine, it could be built, upgraded, repaired, and modified with new systems and equipment.
Like a living organism, it could evolve.
It could grow stronger alongside its pilot.
Because of that bond, most Kairos riders only ever used a single unit throughout their entire lives. A Kairos wasn't just a weapon or a tool.
It was a partner.
A lifelong companion that fought beside its pilot until the very end.
Which was why it was incredibly rare to encounter one that had never been used by a human before.
This one was exactly that.
Untouched.
Unclaimed.
At first glance, the Kairos standing before them looked almost plain. That was normal. A Kairos only developed specialized equipment, weapons, and external modifications after forming a bond with its pilot.
Without an owner, it remained in its most basic state.
This one possessed only the essentials.
A standard firearm mounted along one arm for ranged combat.
A blade for close-quarters engagements.
And two mobility devices mounted along its waist and back, allowing it to move rapidly through the battlefield.
Simple.
Barebones.
But to Jonas, it might as well have been a miracle.
"I call dibs."
All three of them raised their hands at the same time and declared it.
Silence filled the room.
Jonas, Sylvia, and Ethan stared at each other in a tense stand-off.
A few seconds passed.
Then the twins sighed almost simultaneously.
They stepped back.
Jonas grinned.
"Thank you." He gave them an exaggerated, sarcastic curtsy before turning and walking toward the Kairos.
Stopping directly in front of it, he tilted his head upward.
"Its name…"
His gaze drifted to the section where the name and logo were usually engraved onto the armor.
There was nothing there.
Completely blank.
Jonas shrugged.
"…then I guess I'll call you Fortune."
A grin stretched across his face.
"Cause you're gonna save us."
He reached out and placed his hand against the Kairos.
The moment his palm touched the living metal, the machine activated.
"Cool."
That was the collective thought running through Ethan and Sylvia's minds.
For a brief moment, both of them considered tackling Jonas off the machine and claiming it themselves.
Then reality returned.
They remembered the situation they were currently in.
'I'm still riding it one day,' Ethan swore silently to the heavens.
With a low mechanical hum, the back of the Kairos split open into two sections.
Jonas stepped forward and descended into the cockpit.
According to historical records, the mechas used centuries ago had required physical controls—buttons, switches, levers, and handles.
Pilots had manually operated every movement.
But those days were long gone.
After the development of the neural linkage system, piloting had become something entirely different.
Now, all a rider had to do was connect.
Jonas removed his outer clothing in a quick motion, revealing the black powersuit beneath. The suit clung tightly to his body, its surface lined with countless microscopic connection nodes.
"Activate link."
He closed his eyes.
At the same moment, the thin cables inside the Kairos began to move.
They twitched slightly before extending toward him like living tendrils.
One by one, the wires made contact with the ports embedded in his suit.
The moment the final connection was made, Jonas felt a violent jolt ripple through his body.
His senses shut down.
Then they expanded.
When he opened his eyes again, the world had changed.
Inside the Kairos, dozens of monitors lit up around him. Holographic displays flickered into existence, projecting readings, diagnostics, and tactical information into the air.
At the same time, another perspective appeared.
He could see outside.
Not through a screen.
Through the Kairos itself.
Sight.
Smell.
Touch.
Taste.
Hearing.
Every sense he possessed had doubled.
The machine's perception merged with his own.
For most inexperienced pilots, this was the moment things went wrong. The sudden flood of sensory information overwhelmed them. Their brains struggled to process two sets of sensations at once.
But Jonas didn't panic.
He had already experienced this before.
Blinking a few times, he allowed his mind to settle.
The brief sense of unease faded quickly.
"Hey."
Jonas spoke.
But his real voice never left the cockpit.
Instead, the Kairos' external speakers carried the sound.
"Jonas reporting from Fortuna."
Outside, Ethan and Sylvia jumped slightly in surprise.
Jonas laughed.
"Amazing, isn't it?" he continued proudly. "This is the pinnacle of human engineering."
He placed Fortune's massive mechanical hands on its waist and puffed out his chest dramatically.
"That's nice and all," Sylvia interrupted, pointing upward, "but we have a Khaerix to go kill."
…
"How are we going to get up there?" Ethan asked.
If it had just been the three of them on foot, they could have chosen from several different routes to reach the surface.
But Fortune was enormous.
None of the normal passageways would accommodate something that size.
"Don't worry about that," Jonas replied confidently from inside the cockpit. "Most bases have a dedicated exit for Kairos units. We just need to find it."
Sylvia crossed her arms.
"What should we do?" she asked.
Then she paused, reconsidering her words.
"Or rather… is there anything we can do?"
"No."
Jonas answered immediately.
He could see their shoulders slump.
Their tails visibly drooped.
"Leave this battle to me."
Despite everything, this wasn't something he could allow them to be involved in.
'No…'
'It's something I should never let them do.'
His seniors had always told him the same thing.
Kids were the future of humanity.
They were meant to live.
To grow.
To build the world that came after.
Not to die fighting monsters.
"I'll take care of that thing in a flash."
Jonas grinned.
A low humming sound filled the chamber as Fortune's ioner mobility device activated.
Energy surged through the engines.
Then—
With a sudden burst of speed, the Kairos launched upward.
Jonas shot toward the ceiling.
As the machine approached, the overhead panels split apart with a mechanical roar.
The ceiling slid open.
Beyond it was a dark tunnel stretching upward.
A passage that led directly to the surface.