Sigma/Star

Chapter 88: Siren

Porter fell to the ground, sending up a plume of snow around his massive Goliath. This was all calculated though, intentional, as Sigmeund's weapon breezed by harmlessly above the youth. He kicked his legs up, flipping his Goliath back into a standing position while his two elbows came down hard from above on Sigmeund, smashing into his battlesuit's shoulders. The pilot then stumbled away again, staggering and swaying with his falsified technique.

"It's a unique ability you have Porter, to draw from your past experiences as an inexperienced pilot." Sigmeund grabbed the White Storm and pushed it back, creating the separation his lengthy weapon needed in a fight. "It would be useless against so many others though."

"If that is what it takes to beat you then-" Porter was cut off by Sigmeund sweeping his lance outwards, clipping Porter and knocking him sideways. The general sprung up, flying downwards with his weapon poised for the killing strike.

"Never time to talk so much on the battlefield."

"I've learned from certain people you can always talk when you're nervous." Porter calmly lay on the ground, and the spear drove into the ground next to his Goliath's head, Sigmeund anticipating an effort to roll out of the way. Porter thrust his twin blades upwards, letting the points rest against Sigmeund's chest, but not piercing through the armour. "Match."

The Artisan sighed and stood up, stretching out his machine's mechanical joints. "A test of your resolve, your ability to think under pressure and react without delving into your chi to let it take over. It was interesting, unorthodox. Even with an emotional trigger of your father's death you did not back down."

"So it was just a lie, a trick?" Sigmeund froze with his arms lifting up to the sky. The Goliath's head snapped back down to carefully examine the White Storm, as though Sigmeund were trying to look straight through the metal exterior.

"A trick? If that helps you sleep at night you can think of it that way. You can be like so many other people. Hoaxes and conspiracies and lies and games. When you go to bed at night and think about the terror of this world's reality, it is so much easier to believe it is all just a disguise. The world can't really be that bad right? I couldn't have been an Enian, because I am an Artisan now. I couldn't have killed him because when they came to your door they told you a story. When you think of it like that, you close your eyes at night and dream of happy pastures." Sigmeund stopped, bringing his arms back down. The Silver Hawk's head tilted up to stare at the sky, the filters on the visual cameras helping it stare directly into the sun. "My eyes don't close at night Porter. They're always open."

With that, the small Mongoose-class battlesuit took off back up the cliff face, leaping between outcrops and ledges on its way back to Ochenkov. Porter sat on the ground for a bit, running through Sigmeund's words again and trying his best to keep his feelings about his father held deep in his chest. This was not the time for him to have an emotional breakdown. There was a war on the horizon.

* * * * *

"Yo Porter," Chase was walking towards his friend down one of the hallways of the military base. The group had been relieved of guard patrols by Ochenkov and let loose inside the building. "I heard the general was making you do some extra laps out there. Still tripping over your feet in the cold?" Chase smacked Porter a bit too hard on the back, half his friend and half his enemy.

Porter chuckled a little in response, though it was extremely forced. He did it only out of courtesy towards Chase. And because he needed him. "Yeah, you know, Ochenkov just running me around and everything."

"Well, you know what they say right? Life sucks and then you die."

"I think that has a bit of a literal application seeing as we could be massacred at any moment Chase." The teenager paused to reflect on his sentence a bit, his face puzzled and confused, but Porter continued anyways, grabbing Chase by the arm and hauling him off towards the bathroom. "Listen, can we talk for a second?"