When they arrived back at the encampment, the wounded were immediately taken into the field hospital. It was a small heavily reinforced building next to the encampment, where experienced medical staffers from the training yard had posted up. A team of doctors, nurses, and orderlies quickly got into action as they took in nearly a couple dozen wounded. Many of whom had suffered concussions and contusions, while some were struck with broken bones and fractured skulls. All of them were traumatized, and the psychologists did their best to ease their minds. They couldn't shake the fear the armored mecha had caused when they tore them apart. They felt helpless against a strength of that magnitude, and their confidence crumbled under such a heavy weight. Most eventually rec

Eva sighed as she and her unit dashed eastwards towards the front line. Her mind was filled with thoughts about the synthetic cadets, and of terrorism itself. People using violent means against each other wasn't anything new. Homicide. War. Genocide. Ethnic Cleansing. Terrorism. In her old life, terrorism had been around for hundreds of years, if not thousands. The term itself appeared during the French Revolution, when François-Noël Babeuf first coined it. He used it as a derogatory term against the anti-royalist rebels (spoiler alert: they won). It existed in some form before then, and certainly existed for centuries after. In fact, although it evolved over the years, the core of it always remained - terrorists were people who performed politically-charged violence against others.

The dead and wounded were extracted from their mecha and immediately rushed off to the hospital back towards headquarters. The dead far outnumbered the wounded, but even the "lucky" few survivors were on the brink of death themselves. Some were missing portions of their torso, or even their entire lower half! Blood gushed from their open wounds as they screamed in agony. Terrible pain coursed through their bodies. The doctors and nurses scrambled to save the lives of their cadets. Everyone was given incredible amounts of painkillers to dull their senses as they were stitched back together. But they barely worked, and their screaming had not abated. Despite the doctors' best efforts, almost all of their patients had died. Their trauma was too great, physically and mentally. The pain and suffering that they went th

Sunflower's warning immediately got the cadets' attention, and everyone quickly swarmed towards the front. They forced themselves to remain calm and collected as they double-checked their weapons while they looked for cover. Not everyone was right up at the very front - their drones had taken those spots, so as to absorb the brunt of the enemy's first attack. There were some cadets up on the front line as well, but they kept to the sides and acted more like lookouts rather than direct combatants. Everyone else was staggered all over the streets behind reinforced cover, shield walls, and other fortifications. The melee wings were crouched low and hidden at the frontline flanks, Eva among them. They were itching for a fight, but needed to wait for the right time. Going out there right at the start would only lead t

Mia cried out in anguish when her brother was killed, but now she was all alone with no-one to comfort or console her. Her sobs echoed flatly within the confines of her core. She had already prepared herself for this moment, but it still struck her hard. Experiencing loss was nothing new to her. It was something she became familiar with the moment her Father came into her life. But Darius was different. She grew up next to him, and together they had played and laughed and bonded for pretty much all of their lives. They were together, even when Father was teaching them or preaching his manifesto. Their bond was strong, and his sudden absence left a gaping wound deep within her. As the chaos of battle ensued all around, th