GTA

By the time my grandpa came back my own outburst was already under control, I had already washed my face to disguise my crying and I had May promise me to not tell anyone what happened.

My problems were my own. Even if I was weak and powerless, no, exactly because I was weak and powerless that I couldn't afford to have what was left of my family involved in this mess. If I were to throw my pride, I would have nothing left, so I felt I had to protect it no matter what happened to me.

Eating some food helped calming me down a bit, but that was far from enough to make me let go of all my worry, so while everybody was happily talking about the latest happenings and joking around, I was lost in my own world, creating the perfect plan to prepare my Titan the best I could before the time was up.

The Titan's tests showed even better results than what I expected.

By mobility and balance alone, my Titan was comparable to most last generation Titans, losing only to the current gen and the ones specialized in mobility.

In a matter of armor, one couldn't as for much as it was all recycled material from scraps manufactured by hand. Even so it's legs were quite strong and it's layered armor design allowed my Titan to tank plenty of damage before falling to the ground.

As for weapons, I only had a laser rifle that I crafted on my own. I had no idea how good it was compared to the commercial counterparts and maybe the worst part was that the aiming system had yet to be installed in the Titan's O.S. and there was no way to perfect it in this short period of time I had left.

After the tests were done, I urged my grandpa home saying I was not feeling well. Maybe grandpa noticed something was truly wrong with me and didn't protest or question me why, just agreed to my request and took us home as fast as he could.

As soon as I arrived home I ran to the bathroom where I vomited three days worth of food down the toilet. I never expected my lie to turn into truth but maybe that was the price I had to pay for deceiving him. No matter what, I only left the bathroom thirty minutes later, with a weak trembling body and pale face.

"Son, do you feel any better? Maybe you should rest in your bed for a bit?"

My grandpa words of care almost made me break in tears again. I was quite unstable now and my emotions were floating like crazy. Using all the will power I still had, I forced it all in and smiled.

"I'm okay. I will feel better by getting distracted doing some work..."

"Joel, it's weekend, you have already worked on it for half a day, maybe you should take it easy now."

"Don't worry grandpa. I just want to check a few things..."

Waving my hand to him I left to the garage again.

My Titan was still in the truck, but this worked well for me as I wouldn't need to load it again when going to school later at night.

"First things first. Let's download the aiming system!"

Jumping inside the cockpit I turned on the Titan's console, then, after pressing the keyboard to enter maintenance mode, I set up the connection with my house's WiFi.

With maintenance mode active and internet connected I typed the commands to download the aiming system in the command prompt. A ton of lines started to fill the screen, file after file were downloaded at an incredible speed, but the whole process would take some time so I took advantage to this time to pack the rifle into the truck with the help of the machines available in the garage.

After making sure the rifle was safely loaded and tied to the truck I went back to the cockpit and watched the download finish with a bored face.

[70%]...

(All right, only 30 percent left, in half an hour it should be finished...)

30 minutes later...

[90%]...

(Well, a bit delay is expected, but another ten minutes or so it should end...)

20 minutes later...

[99%]...

(Finally it's on 99%!!! Only 1% left! Come on!!!)

10 minutes later...

[99%]...

(It's only 1%! Why are you taking so long!?)

20 minutes later...

[99%]...

(Did this thing get stuck or something? Maybe I should reset?? No, pressing reset in the middle of setup is dangerous, it could corrupt something, let's wait a bit longer...)

30 minutes later...

[99%]...

"Fucking damn it! Won't you finish already!?"

[100%]

"...!? Finally!!!!!"

After restarting the O.S. the setup was finished. I tried starting it in normal mode to see if there was anything different but to my surprise I only saw a little memo saying the aiming system was installed successfully.

"Will this even work? Damn, I want to test it but taking the whole Titan out of the truck now will take too much time."

Checking the time, it was still 22:07. Just then I heard steps coming closer.

"Son, are you there? Did you fall asleep inside the Titan again??"

Such event only happened once in my life, but grandpa keeps reminding me every time I work until late.

"I'm here grandpa. I was just finishing installing the aiming system. I didn't think it would take this long."

"See? That's why I always leave it installing through the night. Now let's go home, it's already late."

"Sure!"

We went back home and had some light dinner, then walked to the living room to watch the news.

As the news report ended, it was already 23:00, so grandpa said goodnight and went to his bedroom. I waited fifteen minutes just to be safe and sneaked to the kitchen where the keys were located.

"Truck keys.....here!"

Sneaking out of home I felt quite a bit of guilt for betraying grandpa's trust but at the same time I couldn't help but acknowledge that part of me was feeling excited doing this.

I speed up my steps, going back to the garage, then I opened the gate slowly to not make any noise and entered the Truck, siting on the driver's seat. My heart speed up as I put in the keys and turned them, turning on the truck's motor, then, after taking a deep breath, I switched the gear and accelerated the truck slowly.

As the truck slowly got out of the garage and I started driving on the road a shadow jumped out from the seat behind me, closing in to my ear and speaking in a sweet voice.

"So, big bro, where are we going tonight?"