Chapter 1

A young man sat watching a documentary on the T.V. Images of pristine fields and wide open ocean slid across the screen. A deep, monotonous voice came over the speakers, "This is the area around New Tokyo in the year of 2665." The fields and ocean were replaced by charred wreckage and dead bodies. "This is New Tokyo in the year 2666. In one day, the entire city was invaded by a hostile race of monsters." Blurred pictures of fast moving creatures and behemoth demons scrolled over the screen. "They came through this," another image flashed up on the screen, this one showing a massive door, cracked open and pouring monsters out into the city. "The appropriately named Demon Gate. For nearly seven years man has poured its every resource into stopping the onslaught. Finally, just three years ago, in the year 2673, it seemed the unstoppable wave of monsters ended. But the gate still remained. Now, today, the year is 2676, and we have a new weapon to stop the gate. Six weapons actually." Another picture, this one of a set of six giant humanoid machines, paired off into three groups. "Meet the robots of S-cubed. The S-cubed project is divided into three groups. Project Sword, designed to take the fight beyond the gate, Project Shield, whose purpose is to provide a permanent defense against further invasions, and Project Staff, the most ambitious of the three. Project Staff's purpose is to shut the Demon Gate completely." The young man sighed. "Ha, even you have to admit, Project Staff is hopeless!" The young man turned silently in his chair, and looked the other young man who had spoken in the eye. "Not as hopeless as Project Sword."
"Why you....!"
"Michael, Allen, knock it off." Michael leaned back in his chair and brushed his long silver hair out of his face. Allen huffed and dropped into another chair, running his hand through his spiky red hair. "Much better, why can't you two get along?" Mina had her hands on her hips, leaning forward as if to throw her words at them. Her blonde hair hung past her shoulders, and of the three girls present, her figure was the most curved. Helen, another one of the girls, stood up from her chair. Her short cropped black hair gave her an athletic look, and her thin lean build added to it. "Lay off Michael, he didn't start it!"
"Please, ladies, don't fight." The timid Shinji tried to get in between the argument before it got ugly. His pale green hair was a product of Project Shield’s genetic alterations. Of the three guys, he had the kindest face, while Allen was built like a powerful fighter and Michael was incredibly suave and slick, and cool under even a great deal of pressure. "We're all here for the same reason, so shut up and calm down." The quiet voice of Hisana cut off everyone else in the room. Her shoulder length blue hair was hanging down over her bespectacled face. Finally the sole door into the room they occupied opened, and three adults entered. "Hello, we are..." Michael stood up abruptly and interrupted the man speaking. "We know, you're the heads of the S-cubed projects. Major Ivan Kalasdozki, director of Project Sword, Doctor Michelle Iuzumia, the head of Project Shield, and Professor Jonathan Hanson, the leader of Project Staff."
"And you must be Michael Samson, the male subject of Project Staff, a pleasure to meet you." The bent over old man hobbled forward and shook Michael's hand. Michael shook back absent mindedly, looking over the others, trying to figure out who his team mate would be. "Now, which one of you lovely young ladies is Mina Disandes?"
"That'd be me!" A stiff military man stepped forward. "Allen DeChevalier, Helen Ashton, step forward." Allen and Helen stepped up to the big man. "You are under my command now, do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Yes, sir." Lastly a middle-aged woman in a long lab coat with a kind face beckoned to Shinji and Hisana. "Come on you two. No need for formalities between us. Or do you want me to call you Shinji Fusakata and Hisana Asayumi?" The six eighteen year olds were lead out of the room and down a hall. "I'm sure that all six of you with find S3 headquarters more than comfortable."
"Where are the weapons?"
"Keep quiet, DeChevalier."
"Yes, sir."
"We will get to them in a moment, Allen. In the mean time, the housing is down that way, you will each be given your own apartment. If any of you have family that you requested be brought here, they will already be housed." Michael relaxed slightly at this, something only Helen noticed. The three lead on. Professor Hanson pointed out the research areas, the education center, where they would be attending along with several other students from the local area, and the repair bay, where any damage incurred to the mechs would be fixed. Finally they came to the long awaited hangar. The hangar was a huge, cavernous open area. Along one wall was the set of six humanoid machines. "These are the machines of the S3 project. You will be briefed on your specifics of your projects later..." A siren sounded, droning in a high pitched whine. "It seems we don't have time for the specifics. Follow Major Kalasdozki to suit up. After that, you will be shown to your units." The doctor and professor left quickly, leaving all six of them with the Major. "This way." He led them quickly down the hall and to a solitary door. "In here you will find combat suits, strip down and then get suited up."
"Wait, strip down? Like, naked?"
"Yes, the suits won't seal properly if you have any garments on under it, including underwear. Is that a problem?"
"But, we're girls, and they're guys!"
"If you're shy, there are stalls you can change in. Now get in there and get suited up!" The girls tried to protest, but the guys just went in and began striping down. Mina and Helen averted their eyes, but Hisana just looked at the guys with a factual gaze. Shinji hid himself, but Allen and Michael weren't shy at all. Shinji noticed that Michael was covered in scars. Allen was extremely muscular. Shinji looked over his own body, noting the clusters of needle marks. Shinji slid into his suit, and glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Hisana taking her shirt off. He felt blood rush to his face as he spun on the spot and looked away. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, Shinji, you have a thing for Hisana?"
"Uh, um, well, I, well, uh, I...."
"Ha, so you do like her." Shinji tried to deny it, but Allen drifted off and left him alone. Following instructions Shinji pushed a button on the suit's collar and the suit fit itself skin tight to his body with a slight hiss. Michael and Allen did the same. Mina and Helen came out of two stalls, and Shinji's face turned red again. Michael didn't react and Allen let out a wolf whistle. Mina blushed and Helen hit Allen, while Michael snickered. Hisana came around the corner and looked at the others. A door behind her opened, and two men in hazard suits came in. "This way. Your suits are color coded to the color of your mechs. Please get in them at once." Michael looked over his suit, and saw the pitch black lines that were different colors on the others suits. He had black, Allen had red, Shinji had green, Mina had yellow, Hisana had blue, and Helen had white. They each approached their machines. The blue and green units were bulkier and heavier than the others. The red and white units were heavily armed, filled to the brim with weaponry. The black and yellow machines were very different units from the others. While the others had the sharp angular lines of an ordinary machine, the black and yellow were shaped with smooth curves. Of the six, they were also the most humanoid. Each of them stepped into the control units of each mech, and sat down in the specially designed seats. For Hisana and Shinji, tubing and needles attached to them, while electrodes and wires adhered to Michael and Mina's suits in specific points. Michael slid his hands into the controls, and flexed them, watching on the video screens around him as the robots hands moved slightly after his did. He pulled one hand out and tweaked more controls, and then flexed his hands again. This time the hands moved at the same time. He glanced to the side and saw the others performing similar checks. "Unit Black Staff, move out first. You will be followed by Red Sword and Green Shield. After you three are out, Yellow Staff, Blue Shield, and White Sword will follow." The locks holding Michael's machine in place popped off with bursts of steam. After a few moments of wobbling, Michael was able to walk confidently toward a large elevator like construct built for their robots. He stepped onto it and waited for Allen and Shinji. Allen was able to move well enough, but Shinji had trouble working with the bulky unit. "Shinji, you remember I told you about the rollers, right?"
"Oh, yes mam." A set of four wheels popped out of slots in the sides of each foot. With these Shinji was able to move much easier, literally skating across the ground. To stop, he retracted the wheels, and skidded along the ground with the sound of metal scraping metal. Shinji handled the next few steps to the lift better than he handled his first ones. Once all three were in, the lift began to ascend. "Why do you think the girls had to stay behind?"
"Simple, this lift probably can't handle the weight of all six units. Besides, I want a shot at this bastard before anyone else."
"Get in line, Mike, this one is mine, I'm gonna prove that Project Sword is the only one that will be effective."
"That's all you care about? You just want your project to be the right one?"
"Of course."
"Then I doubt we will ever understand each other." Michael went silent after that. Finally the lift reached its top, and the large gate slid open. Shinji glided out, one arm up to block. Allen dashed out with several guns bristling. Michael walked calmly out, and in a graceful motion lept onto a nearby building. He scanned the horizon, looking for anything moving that shouldn't be. Suddenly shots rang out below him. Allen unloaded into a demon about half the height of his mech, which fell over, oozing orange blood. "HA, got him!"
"No, that was just a lackey. Be careful, the big one is just that, big." Allen dashed off again. Michael continued to look about. He saw the green block that was Shinji, and the red one that was Allen. His radar informed him that the girls had reached the surface and were sticking together. "Good. They'll need each other to handle this." Michael jumped to another building, and continued his search. He glanced at the radar, seeing that Allen and Shinji were moving even further apart. "Red, Green, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Black, what's up?"
"Stick together; we don't know what this thing can do."
"Whatever." The radio clicked off. Michael gritted his teeth as Allen ignored his advice. Suddenly a large shadow covered him, and Michael was bowled to the ground far below. Helen saw a black object being attacked by a monster, and saw them both fall to the ground. "Shit! Michael, Michael, do you read me?!"
"Roger, but keep it down, I'm busy, arg, damn, bastard!" Allen nearly went head over heels as he tried to turn on a dime. Shinji had to come to a full stop in order to turn fast enough. Hisana, Mina, Helen all shot of in Michael's direction. Allen ran full speed, and fell into an ambush by demons. He killed several easily, but they were winning by shear numbers. Shinji changed course and went to help Allen. The girls also can into an ambush, but working together they destroyed the ambushers with ease. They kept moving, and came around a corner just in time to see something black shoot backward and slam into a building. A spike of bone followed, and ran through Michael's mech's arm, pinning it. Finally the demon itself, nearly twice as tall as any of them, strode into view. It looked at the girls out of the corner of its eye, but focused on Michael, proceeding to beat the motionless machine back and forth. Mina opened fire, trying to draw the monster away, but it just swatted her down with a casual motion of its arm. IT pulled the arm back, readying another punch. It threw the punch, but the fist stopped short of Michael's unit's torso. It was held back by Black's loose arm. Over the radio, everyone heard a deep guttural yell as Black lifted the demon off the ground and threw it through the air. Black ripped the spike out of its other arm, and tossed it aside. On its back, two fin-like protrusions opened, revealing rotating rings inscribed with glyphs. The rings began spinning fast, and short sparks of energy jumped off of them and onto the rest of Black. Michael roared again and rushed the demon. The creature tried to fight back, but Michael ripped its arm off easily. The Demon flailed, trying to protect itself, but Black Staff, and Michael inside, were unstoppable. Before long the Demon was missing several large chunks of flesh, and Black's hands dripped orange blood. The girls were frozen with shock as Michael continued to rip the demon apart barehanded. Finally Black gripped the blade hidden in its thigh and sliced the demon in half from head to toe. "Oh my god." They could all hear Michael's ragged breathing over the radio, but it suddenly stopped. "Oh, no! He's gone into cardiac arrest! Girls? Do any of you know CPR?" Helen shook herself out of the shock and responded. "Good, you're going to have to exit your machine and then find the emergency eject on his machine and activate it. From there you should know what to do." Helen did as instructed, and opened the control unit for Michael's mech. She pulled him out and began performing CPR, but she was hindered by the rigged polymer of the suit. She pulled a combat knife that had come with each suit from its holster and cut open the top half of the suit. After that she was able to revive him. He coughed and spluttered as he cleared blood from his lungs. He sat up stiffly, and looked at Helen. Without a word he leaned into her and kissed her on the cheek before passing out.
"Amazing. He was able to take on a chief-class demon single handed and win."
"But don’t' you think it's unfair to push any of them this hard? He nearly died."
"True, we shouldn't expect them to do so much, but still, the fact is that if we can push all of them to this kind of level, then shutting the gate and stopping the demons would be a very easy reality."
"I still don't like it."
"Don't worry doctor; we won't be doing anything in the near future."
Helen was sanding outside of Michael's apartment, trying to decide whether or not to knock. Just as she decided against it, and turned to leave, Michael walked up behind her. "Helen, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, um, well, nothing."
"Big brother, who are you talking to?"
"A friend Jana, come out and say hello."
"Okay." The door opened behind her, and an eleven year old girl stepped out. She looked like an ordinary little girl, except that her irises were completely white. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jana Samson. How do you know my big brother, and what do you look like?" Her hair was silver just like her brothers, but her face was kind and sweet. She smiled. "Well, I have short black hair...."
"It'd be easier if you just let her feel you, she's just trying to be polite."
"Big brother, don’t be so rude!" The little girl stamped her foot. "So, you're blind."
"Yep, for as long as I can remember."
"Why don't you come in? Then you two can get to know each other and I can make all of us dinner, what do you say?" Michael cocked his head to the side and smiled. He almost looked like a normal teenager. "Oh, I don't know, I don't want to impose..."
"Nonsense. Jana, show her in please. I'll get dinner started." Jana felt for Helen’s hand, which Helen gave her. The little girl tugged Helen into the apartment, occasionally stopping to feel a wall. "I still haven't memorized where everything is yet, so I might ask you to help...."
"That's okay." Helen saw that the home was sparsely decorated. Se understood why it wouldn't matter to Jana if the house was empty, but she expected Michael to have something. "In here!" Jana pulled Helen into one of the only brightly lit rooms in the apartment. An electric fireplace blazed quietly on one wall, and a television sat on two cardboard boxes against another wall. There was a couch and a chair, both of which were old and moth-eaten. From the kitchen she heard Michael shout, "Alright, what do you want for dinner?"
"Pizza!" The little girl jumped with glee. "No, we had that last night. How about spaghetti?"
"No, not that....what about chicken?"
"Chicken sounds good. What do you say Helen, chicken alright with you?"
"Yeah, sounds great." Michael came out from the kitchen with and apron on and carrying another over his shoulder. "Hey, could you help me out, an extra pair of hands would really speed things up."
"Sure, no problem." Helen had trouble tying the apron, so Michael helped her. She was surprised at how quickly he could cut the ingredients. "The real reason I wanted you in here was so we could talk."
"What about?"
"I...I wanted to thank you."
"Oh, no problem, don't worry about it."
"I do. If it hadn't been for you, Jana would have been on her own. I owe you."
"Like I said, don't worry about it."
"There was one other thing. About that kiss..."
"Don't worry; I won't tell anyone, it was probably nothing, probably."
"Actually, I was going to ask, well I thought that, maybe..."
"He wants to ask you to go out with him."
"Jana! How many times have I told you not to eavesdrop!?" Jenna giggled and skittered out of the room. Michael, focused on the vegetables he was dicing, had a slight red tinge to his cheeks. Helen looked at the floor. "Sure."
"What?"
"Sure, I'll go out with you. Actually, I kind of had a crush on you since we met." Michael smiled sheepishly, and finished the meal. "Alright, chicken soup."
"Aw, I wanted chicken fingers!"
"Well you've got soup." Jana smiled, and Helen could tell this was a common occurrence. They ate and talked. Jana would occasionally reach out to feel one of them, just for some kind of reassurance. Jana finally got a good picture in her head of what Helen looked like. Helen noticed that Jana didn't know that she or her brother had silver hair; she thought their hair was blond. "Alright, bed time!"
"What!? No! I don't wanna!"
"Don't wanna, but gotta, get to bed."
"Meanie!"
"Oh, I'm hurt, oh no, I'm hurt bad!"
"Okay, I'll go, but don't you stay up all night with your girlfriend!" Michael brought Helen back to the living room. "So, how did you end up in S3?"
"My parents, they were killed in an attack by the demons. I lost my left arm from the elbow down, Jana lost her eyesight. We only had enough money for one procedure, and Jana was only one year old. I needed my other hand to do any kind of work, so I decided that I'd just take care of her to repay her for giving up her sight so I could work to feed the both of us. The day after they died, our hair turned silver. Only a month ago, I was contacted with an offer to come here. It was an opportunity to give Jana and myself a good education, and the pay was better than the best, so it didn't take me long to decide. The problem is, Jana’s become too used to being blind. According to doctors, she might not be able to handle the shock of seeing again. Damn it, I'm a pathetic older brother."
"No you're not. You're one of the best older brothers I've ever seen. You did all of this, put yourself in danger, just to give your little sister a chance at a better life." Helen scooted closer to him on the couch, leaning against him. "Maybe, but I can't help feeling like I don't deserve this, like I've chanced into someone else's life, or that this is all a dream."
"What? You're saying I'm a dream?"
"You're every guys dream, at least the sane ones." They kissed for a long time. The sun had already set. What happened next was a blur in Helen’s memory. She remembered kissing, and walking to Michael's room, and spending a wonderful night.
Helen awoke the next morning, naked under the sheets of Michael's bed. She found a shirt, and put it on. It was just long enough to cover her decently, which meant it was likely Michael's. She walked out of his room and was blinded by glaring sunlight. "Hey beautiful.” Michael stood. “Don't worry; Jana’s already gone to school."
"It's not her I'm worried about, it's you." Michael knew she was teasing him, but he played along. "Well, I'm not the type to kiss and tell."
"Problem is we did a whole lot more than kiss."
"Don't worry. As long as this doesn't affect our performance on the battlefield, no one will care."
"Allen will, he was eyeing me up since he first saw me, shallow prick."
"Don't worry, if he causes problems I'll take care of it. I'll do whatever you want."
"What I want right now is a kiss."
"You got it." Helen returned to Michael's room and got properly dressed. Michael was still walking around in a towel tied around his waist. "Why don't you get dressed?"
"Because none of my pants are big enough for the..."
"Whoa there big boy. I get your point." Michael laughed. Helen looked at him, taking in all the scars it had been too dark to see last night. "So, all of those scars are from..."
"Yes, the bastard demon that killed my parents and blinded my sister. He even took my arm, you can't see the reattachment scar anymore, unless you look real close." Helen grabbed his arm and pulled it close to her. She could faintly see the thin line that ran in a perfect circle around Michael's left forearm. She looked up at his face, which was blank. She knew he was hiding his emotions, trying to protect her, dissuade her from asking for details. It didn't work. "What happened?" Michael frowned. "Are you sure you want to know?"
"Definitely." Michael sighed. He rubbed his forehead with his free arm; Helen was clutching the other tight. "We, my parents and I, we used to live here, in this city. Like I said, Jana was born a year before the-the Demon Gate opened. We only had time to hole up in our apartment before everything went dead. We stayed there for a week. My-my parents, we were running out of food, they knew we had to find more. God damn it! Th-they opened the door, and right there was a Demon. I managed to cover Jana’s eyes just-just before it killed them, but I didn't have time to look away. It-it killed my father first. I, please, don't make me tell you about it." Helen held Michael's arm even tighter. "It's okay. Skip that part, if you need to." Michael suddenly changed. He had been shaking just a moment before, but now a new, cold resolve came over him. "My father, he was ripped limb from limb. It only took moments, but it was long enough for me to hear him scream. My mother, if you can use the word to refer to a demon, it killed her rather quickly. It just, just crushed her head, like one of us might squish and ant. Then it came after Jana and me. I tried to stop it, but, well, what the fuck could an eight year old do against a demon? The big thing took my arm off like it was brushing off some dirt. Hurt like hell, but I was more worried about Jana. The thing stood over her, looking right at her. Next thing I know, the monster it a big bloody stain on the wall, my arm isn't bleeding anymore, and Jana’s eyes are white." Helen paused. "What happened, did you find out?" Michael nodded. "This happened." He lifted his free arm, and in his right palm, a sphere of flame formed. Helen was speechless. "The professor thinks that my genetic code reacted to the presence of the demon, and activated something that had been long dormant. The best term he can think of for it is magic, but I prefer to think of it as..."
"Please, just let me think its magic." Michael grinned, and nodded. She felt something poking at her chest, and looked down, seeing Michael's finger. "Perv."
"Hey, I can't help it. It's kind of like trying not to touch a beautiful flower that you love with all your heart."
"So, you're comparing my breasts to flowers." Michael laughed again, and then kissed her. "No, I'm comparing you to a flower, a very beautiful flower."
"Careful or you might have to sleep with me again."
"I've got no problem with that." Helen grinned and ended up under the covers, naked again. This time Michael was next to her, however. She could feel his warmth right next to hers. She felt incredibly content.