Logan found himself at a crossroads as pried Cameron’s hands off of his collar and took a step back. He held up a hand as if to signal that he needed a moment, before turning his back and pacing, stroking his goatee as he contemplated. On one hand, a pilot’s desire to be in their unit was as if not more important than the unit itself. Passion and drive were powerful factors that would carry Cameron far, especially when it would come to learning a mech new not to just him, but to the greater Fleet as well.
But that latter point was what concerned him. The Headsman was a variable that he, nor anyone he knew had seen before. Sure, the description sounded awesome on paper… but what about in practice? What if the reason the pilot never came back, wasn’t because they died, but had come to their senses about such an idiot premise to build an A.R.M.S. on? He needed more information.
“What other metrics do you know about the think Morty?” He asked, turning to face the man as he spoke.
“Logan are you nuts?” Aurora asked, stepping forward to look at him with concern in her eyes, “You can’t seriously be considering this?”
“I am,” He said with a nod as he looked over to her, his voice becoming sharper at her questioning, “And unlike Cam, I know what I’m doing, so unless I ask for your input, keep it to yourself. There’s too much going on right now without everyone chiming it every two seconds with their own little comments.”
Her eyes widened for a moment, before she nodded, sucking her teeth as she took a step back, holding her hands up to acquiescence. “You got… boss,” she said, saying the last word like a curse.
Logan sighed, feeling a headache coming on. The girl was rough around the edges, that much was for certain. But she had a point in her objections. At the end of the day, she was seeing this as Logan should be seeing it… Like an investment. Still, he wanted to know more, and she’d get over it… he hoped.
He turned to face Morty who greeted him with a questioning look. Logan simply replied with one of his own before giving the merchant the floor, “Anything else you care to share about this thing? Any defenses? Or is it just full tilt with zero counter measures?”
Morty blinked, then looked back down towards his tablet, trying to find his place in order to keep shilling the mech.
“Let’s see here… defenses,” He said quietly, as if only to himself, while he scrolled with his thumb.
“Ah, here we are,” He said after a few moments, giving it a quick read before looking back up, “Alright, so to answer your question, yes, but also no.”
Logan raised an eyebrow, “Care to expound on that, bud?”
“I can certainly try, you see, the sword isn’t the only thing that contains tungsten carbide,” he said, walking back towards the railing and pointing up to the claw tipped fingers that held the massive black blade.
“The palms of the gauntlets are plated with tungsten. Being a hand and a half sword, the idea is to have one hand grasping the hilt, while using your free hand to deflect and guide strikes away from unit and… trust me, you’re going to need it.”
“Well why do you say it like that?” Cameron asked, earning a glare from Logan, who eventually gave Morty the gesture to continue.
“We-Well,” Morty began, pulling at the collar of his shirt, suddenly looking fidgety and uncomfortable “It has to do with the units proving scores. Erm… see for yourself.”
Morty pushed a few buttons on the tablet, and the screen at the center railing glowed to life, information passing across the screen rapidly before settling on a Chassis Proving Synopsis. Logan made his way towards the screen, but he hadn’t even cleared a few feet before Cameron piped up again, coming to the Headsman’s defence.
“Logan,” He said, his eyes pleading as he spoke, “Look… no matter what that screen says, I know I can pilot this thing how it should be, I can feel it. So please, please, regardless of the line scores… give me a chance with it.”
Logan looked at Cameron for a while, eyeing the boy up, before scoffing and shaking his head, leaning in so only the two of them could hear his words.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Kid, I know you’re in love with it. But you need to realize that this and you an extent, YOU are investments for me. I’ve already put my neck on the line to get you here, now I need to make sure I can get a mech for a decent enough price for that investment to bear fruit,”
In all honesty, Logan hated saying that to the kid. Was it true? Absolutely. Did he need to know it? Not at all. He felt his stomach squeeze itself in disgust from sounding like some corp rat. But to his surprise, the kid didn’t even blink. His face didn’t fall into sadness or despair. If anything, Logan thought he could see Cam’s jaw set in firm understanding, before he retorted.
“If you want to protect your investment, then you’ll let me pilot this thing. They can’t kill me if they’re already dead.”
Logan blinked, trying to understand what had just been said, then he grinned, a deep, hearty laugh erupting from somewhere deep in his belly as he clapped the kid on the shoulder, “Alright, alright. I get it. Let me go take a look and we’ll go from there.”
Seeing Cameron’s nod of acceptance was enough for Logan as he approached the screen, leaning down to analyze the Headsman’s stats. He’d only made it a few lines before he stopped, reading and re-reading the same line.
“What the fuck…” He said under his breath, reading the same four lines over and over trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
“It can’t be…” He muttered, smacking the screen to make sure it wasn’t a glitch. But it wasn’t. What Logan was seeing was accurate, and it made it even harder for him to believe.
“Aurora?!” He called, excitement and concern in his voice, “Get over here. Now.”
He could hear her footsteps echoing the warehouse as she approached him from behind.
“What’s up?” She asked, leaning in close, “ Regretting your - oh my god what the fuck?!”
“Good, glad I’m not the only one,” He said, a smile forming on his face as he watched her slap the screen once again like he had just done. When nothing change, her eyes grew even wider than they were before.
“That’s not possible,” She said under her breath.
“Apparently it is,” He said, clearing his throat and turning to Cameron who looked for lack of a better term worried. He was chewing the nail on his thumb, bouncing eagerly on the balls of his feet as he waited for a decision. Lucky for him, Logan had made one.
“You sure you want to pilot this thing kid?” He asked,
It took Cameron a moment, a questioning look crossing his face as he looked around before finally responding, “Well… what’s the scores say?”
“Not what I asked,” Logan called back, “Yes or no?”
Cameron didn’t even hesitate, nodding eagerly as a smile dared to form at the corners of his mouth, “Hell yes,”
Logan smiled and nodded, turning to Morty and giving him a nod in affirmation, “Get the paperwork ready bud, figure out if you want it in silver or trade.”
“You got it,” The merchant said, scuttling off before anyone would say otherwise.
With that done, Logan turned to Cameron and gave a shrug, “Remember kid, you asked for this.”
Cameron’s eyes went wide and he threw his arms in the air, letting out a celebratory whoop, before Logan held up a hand to stop him.
“Before you get to excited. Go check out the line scores.”
Cameron didn’t need to be told twice, jogging up to the screen and squeezing in next to Aurora to study the details of his very own mech.
Logan smiled as he watched the kid go. His smile grew even wider as he heard Cameron’s yells in quick succession, already knowing what had been transcribed on the screen.
“Holy shit…. HOLY SHIT… wait…. WHAT THE FUCK?!”
Model: HAI-01 Headsman
Manufacturer: Harbinger A.R.M.S. Industries
Height: 10 Meters
Weight: 70.01 Tons
Variant: Assault
Proving Scores;
Speed: 8.2
Agility: 10.0
Output: 10.0
Armor: 0.8