Fortnite: Project Mecha

Chapter 1: What Once Was

The air was cold and bit into the Imagined's bare skin as she stared up into the lonely navy blue sky. Sanctuary had clay grey buildings, topped with azure blue domes as their roofs. It was said that it used to be full of life. Now, the cold could be mistaken for ghosts breathing on the living as the location was completely deserted other than the Imagined and the Origin.
The Origin wasn't evil, but he had done evil things in his past that had led to his grumpy personality and pessimism. He wore a blue which matched the roofs of the Sanctuary buildings with stone grey armour pieces elsewhere and a dead black underlayer. Like most of the other Seven members, the Orign chose to wear his helmet and his visor was patterned with triangles and arrows in a burning red.
"Imagined, I don't know how many times I have to tell you. Wear your helmet." the Origin spat.
See? Grumpy. The Imagined didn't know much about his past but she did know that the Foundation had found him after he had escaped from an IO prison. Back when the Paradigm had still been around, she had been in that prison and had been broken out of it by her fellow Seven members.
Speaking of the Paradigm, when the Imagined had once believed that she would die during their Zero Point containment mission, she hadn't died but had instead been rifted (warped) to a location that was very... very... very far away. The Imagined was determined to find her someday. Maybe if she was lucky, she would.
"Put it on!" the Origin growled impatiently.
"I don't even have it with me." the Imagined sighed, her thought train evaporating into thin air.
"Why not?" the Origin shook his head disapprovingly.
"Becuase I don't."
Really, there was more to it than that. The Imagined had last worn her helm when she was launching the rocket to contain the Zero Point. Maybe the Paradigm was still out there but the helmet still bought back too many melancholy memories and stress so she often avoided wearing it.
"This is about the Paradigm, isn't it?" the Origin folded his arms.
Damn it.
"Yes! Is that what you wanted me to say? Does my suffering bring your twisted mind happiness?" the Imagined shouted, frustrated at the Origin's mindset, "You're never like this about my sister."
The Imagined's sister, the Order, was the Imagined's exact opposite. Whilst the Imagined was happy but felt trodden on by some of her fellow Seven members, the Order was serious and also a highly decorated hero, even outside of the Seven. It made the Imagined feel bitter thinking about how much better her sister was than her.
"Firstly, keep your voice down, soldier!" the Origin hissed, "Secondly, your pain does not make me happy. We're a team, even if we're not friends. Lastly, the Order is allowed to take off her helmet because she sometimes has to wear it for long periods whilst she spies of the IO."
The Imagined looked down at the floor, defeated.
"Actually, I have something else I'd like to say. Do not bring up the Paradigm, she's a criminal. And an enemy of the Seven, including you." the Origin propped his gun (the Scientist's creation the MK-Seven Rifle) onto his shoulder and walked the other way, looking around idly.
"She's only a member of the Seven because you made her that way!" the Imagined grabbed the Origin's shoulder and twisted him around sharply.
"Me?"
"Yes, you!"
"Well, if it was specifically me then I must've had good reason." the Origin scoffed.
The Origin then went on doing all of his surveillance officer activities. Looking around. Acting like he was a fundamental part of the team. It really drove the Imagined insane how the Origin was so against the Paradigm, despite her doing nothing wrong. He had no real reason!
Oh wait, he did have a reason. People cared about the Paradigm enough to save her from the IO prison. And when the Origin was saying about his unspecified 'good reason' as if he had forgotten, he was talking about that. The Origin was a massive grudge holder and it could be enough reason for him to openly avoid someone.
The Imagined remembered when she'd actually first met the Origin. She thought about it as she made her way towards Sanctuary's white sanded beach. He had arrived in a prison suit, his pastel blue eyes glaring into the Imagined's soul like the judgement of a god. Maybe he was a god. He had had another name before, a name associated with power.
Cube King.
The Cube family had the power to control cursed violet cubes, all driven by an insane desire to tear all of the island's inhabitants to many unrecognisable pieces. Seven. IO. The loopers. They were impartial.
The Origin had once been the father in the powerful family of three. He had married a lady known only as the Cube Queen and they had had a boy. Only the Foundation and for some reason the Scientist had clearance to who the boy was; it must've been a massive secret because they had even restricted the Origin from this news. He would know him when he saw him, though, as would the boy with the Origin. In her head, the Imagined referred to him as being the Cube Prince.
The Paradigm had never had that god-like power however. She was down to earth, even though she was once a mayor of a city known as Neo Tilted. The Imagined had never been there. Throughout its short lived existence, the Imagined had been needed elsewhere.
But the Imagined had known her even before she'd gone into the mayor business. The Paradigm had been on the island for half a year almost when the Imagined had been transferred over with the Scientist and exploration officer the Visitor, who was shy and understood the Imagined's pain about not seeing the Paradigm.
She wished that everyone could.
"Do you hear that?" the Origin whispered. He'd crept up behind her at some point.
"Hear what?" the Imagined's pulse quickened ever so slightly.
"It's... tyres?" the Origin thought, "I'm unsure."
Suddenly, the Imagined found that she could hear the bass rumbling of vehicles too.
"Cars?" the Imagined pulled out her MK-Seven and got down behind cover.
"Maybe. Let's keep an eye out." the Origin instructed, "And maybe also move off this beach, it's unsafe. Do you see why you need your helmet now?"
"No." the Imagined scrambled through the sand to get behind Sanctuary's walls.
"We need to get an aerial view. Climb the stairs of this building." the Origin passed the Imagined and climbed the building's interior's stairs.
"What else are we going to see?" the Imagined asked as the Origin found his way to the roof.
The Origin gulped, "That those are not cars, those are tanks."
Ten tanks crushed the grass beneath their long, weighted tyres. Each tank had the IO logo plastered on in a white-grey, corresponding and contrasting with the tanks' black surface. The moon's beams reflected off of the tanks' surfaces and blinded the Imagined.
"What are they trying to do?" the Imagined asked, now wishing for her helmet.
"Cause a ruckus." the Origin aimed in his rifle.
The Imagined rolled her eyes, "Yeah, duh! But like wh-"
The tanks fired their cannons simultaneously and each of their projectiles hit the massive statue of the Foundation out in the water with precision. The statue was placed on a mini island away from the main island. Beneath it was a small base where Seven members accumulated when they got spotted. The statue definitely hid it very well (sarcasm, of course).
The Imagined racked her brain to try and think who was in there. The Foundation was, certainly. The Imagined knew that there were others but she couldn't... quite... remember... and then she could. Her heart leapt into her throat as she realised that the Scientist was hiding there too.

To be continued...