Chapter 10

It has been 3 months after the mission. No one came out unscathed, each member of the team had suffered in one way or another, it wasn't just physical injuries that occurred; psychological damage was a big factor too. The one that got "hurt" the most was Levy, after seeing all the infected people and almost being killed by that unknown creature they started calling Grinning Madness. It did a number on her.

John tried to help where he could seeing as they were a couple after the events, but Levy didn't budge. She was irritable and overall rude to everyone. When Coffee and Cream came to give news about Nero, her Chasser, still being able to be fixed, she just stared blankly at them and chased them out of her room. John didn't give up though he stayed with her and tried to help her but he couldn't. Slowly but surely, she drifted away from him and he couldn't do anything to keep her close. One day he discovered that Levy wasn't in her room and found a letter on the desk. He opened it and read its contents.

"Dear John I'm writing this letter to you because I can't stay in that place anymore... You were the only one that tried to fix me but you can't fix me. I'm going back to my dome to get away from everything, I'm sorry but I don't want to be with you anymore, when I look at you, I just see that beast trying to kill me. This is goodbye John Grimm and thank you for being with me even though it was a short while, it was still the best."

A mission report was underneath the letter showing that Levy Cross died in combat when heading back to her dome, a picture of her dead body was also shown.

John read the letter and report over and over trying to see if this was a joke or something but it wasn't. He slowly fell to his knees and cried. He stayed in the room for the entire day and let the sadness flow out of him. When he was done something snapped inside of him, it's as if a blaze of fury had lit up in his very soul, he won't forgive the Behemoths he'll kill them all. John looked up with emotionless eyes and a menacing grin appeared up on his face...

He walked to the hospital to see if Thorin was better. Thorin got the most physical damage to her, both her arms got broken and her robot was utterly destroyed.

"Hey how you feeling?" asked John when he entered the room.

"Like both my arms got broken" she said Laughing. Thorin noticed her leaders eyes were red and puffy, he had been crying.

"Have you been crying?" asked Thorin concerned.

"You noticed immediately huh?" said John He took out the report and held it in front of her so she can read It.

Thorin read the letter over and slowly her eyes grew wide, she then looked over to John to see he has his famous blank face on.

"Shit John that's messed up are you ok?" asked Thorin sadness creeping up in her tone.

"I would be lying if I said I was good... No, I'm not all right but I will get over it eventually this is the fate of all pilots" said John

"Don't forget you still got Devon and me left dummy." said Thorin.

She tried to punch his arm but forgot her arms were broken and looked down. John noticed what she wanted to do and brought his shoulder closer and picked her hand softly and moved his shoulder in her hand making her "hit" him. Both laughed at this and John felt a bit better.

"Speaking of Devon, where is he?" asked John.

"Don't you know?" replied Thorin.

"If I knew I wouldn't have asked the question" said John chuckling.

"After the mission was over Devon went to the General and told him he would rather be an engineer than a pilot. Devon might not look like it but he is quite smart actually, so he went to go take the exam and passed with flying colors." said Thorin.

"Wow that's awesome, didn't expect that, is he working here at the hanger?" asked John.

"Yep he is working with coffee and cream as the head engineers." answered Thorin.

After the two talked for a while John bid farewell and left the girl so she can rest. He slowly walked towards the hanger to see his friend and looked up in the sky. The dark sky was lit up with millions of stars. John knew that the sky was just an image projected by the roof of the dome so the inhabitants felt more "natural", but John was outside, he knows that a fake image could never compare to the real thing. When he arrived at the hanger, he heard the voice of his friend ordering people around.

"Is that how I sounded when I ordered you around?" said John a smile on his face.

"John!" shouted Devon as he slid down from the ladder, he was close to and gave John a friendly hug.

"II heard from Thorin what happened with Levy I'm sorry." said Devon.

"It's all right don't worry. So, head engineer what's the damage on Jack the Ripper?" asked John hoping to change the subject.

"Ah well Jack the Ripper received way too much damage to be able to pilot again but the twins and I have been busy thinking of a new Chasser for you." said Devon.

"Is it all right for me to look around the hanger for a new one?" asked John.

"Sure thing, just tell me if you found one." said Devon.

John nodded and started his journey around the maze of sparks and machines. He stopped by Jack the Ripper and saw that it had been completely messed up. Its head visor broke in half, dozens of dents in Its chest and the rest of the body, the right arm missing and the claws on the left chipped and broken off. He looked one more time at his robot and walked away. When he arrived at the Chasser wing he saw the dozens of standard military Chasser's lying around. John defiantly didn't want a military one as those things were just plain weak compared to his previous Chasser.

Around the corner he saw he was at the waste wing part. Skeletons of broken Chasser's and broken weapons were scattered on the floor. Just as he was about to leave, he saw an object covered in the back corner covered in an old grey sheet.

Being curious at what it was he walked towards it and then when he was in front of it, he pulled the cover off. The amount of dust that came off it sent John in a coughing fit. When he recovered, he looked at the object and was shocked. It was a Chasser but an older generation one. The Chasser was an ash grey color with matt black plates covering its fore arms and shins. It had an empty space where the top half of its body joined at the hips, the empty place only had pistons and plates connecting the body. On Its head it had a plate going over its mouth and nose. It had eyes that were switched off but you could see the glass had a yellow tint towards it. There were two pairs of black horns facing forward on the top of its head. John didn't know why but he felt a strange connection to it when he looked it in the eyes, he fished out his holophone and called Devon to come pick it up and fix it, he said ok and that it would take 4 days to fix it.

***

After 4 days John went back to the hanger and saw the 3 head engineers waiting for him.

"C'mon sleepy head why are you so late you over sleep or something!" shouted Coffee.

"Sis I think he just over slept, isn't that why you called him sleepy head?" said Cream.

Coffee realizing her mistake and turned around then hugged herself, then sniffed as if she started to cry.

"Why did you have to fix my mistake in public!" said Coffee starting to cry.

"Nooo I'm sorry sis" shouted Cream as she hugged her sister and they both cried.

Devon just laughed nervously and lead John to the new robot while the twins were busy crying to themselves. When the two of them arrived at the Chasser departure wing, John saw the new robot standing there.

"I got to say John you did find one old Chasser, this is a gen 4, compared to Jack the Ripper that was a gen 6 model. I installed a single cockpit for you cause I'm sure you didn't want to share with anyone, over all this time I have a feeling it won't let you down anytime soon, it doesn't have claws and a giant scissor but he does have one giant sword as you can see over there." said Devon as he pointed next to the robot was a giant black buster blade that was the size of the robot itself.

"So, what you going to call it.

John looked at it and a name came out of his mouth.

"Asura." said John softly.

In the distance the sound of choppers was heard as both men looked outside to see 12 pairs of ospreys fly towards them while every second one is carrying giant iron crates. Inside we see 4 silhouettes looking at the base.

"So pilots from this dome took out Grinning Madness? That means there are really strong people, just thinking about them are exciting me." said a male teenage voice.

The mysterious person groped himself and laughed insanely.