Chapter Text
KQ-4501 thundered through the battlefield, firing his rockets and caving the cockpit of an opposing vanguard.
His pilot cursed, dodging a flame core as more titans appeared. Since when did the Militia have so many titans? Not like it mattered, the IMC still outnumbered them 3.6 to 1, and had better training.
The tone dashed as an enemy scorch barrelled at them. He knew what to do, and his pilot was on the same wavelength.
“Firing Salvo Core, pilot.”
The rockets slammed into the opposition, igniting them in explosions as they collapsed into nothing more than a pile of scrap.
“Nice job, Kilo!” He could hear his pilot’s grin.
“The kill was yours, pilot. However, your praise is much appreciated.”
His pilot laughed at the titan’s modesty, a joyful sound despite the battle raging around them. It was something Kilo had come to admire greatly about his pilot within the short few weeks they’d been linked.
Unfortunately, this joy was short-lived as even more Militia titans showed up, ready to put up a difficult fight for the pair and the other IMC titans.
“They really just keep coming, don’t they?”
Kilo put up his particle wall, his voice soft in contrast to his pilot. “Correct, pilot. But that does not mean they won’t eventually fall.”
The titan and pilot immediately fell into their combat routine, dodging cores and firing rockets, dashing between cover and marking foes with the 40 millimeter.
They currently focussed on dealing with yet another vanguard, this one having taken an ion’s loadout. Kilo leapt out of the way as they fired their laser core, flanking around a massive pillar of the IMC facility, appearing from behind the enemy titan and doing a swift execution of both the titan and the pilot.
The tone let out a chirp as his pilot cheered, having gotten yet another small victory over their enemies.
His pilot disembarked, and was busy boasting about his victory to the dead Militia pilot, something they likely would have seen as a mockery.
Kilo, however, remained silent. His sensors were detecting something, an energy signal he had no data on, one that was getting stronger at an alarming rate. It was worrying.
“Pilot, I suggest we-”
His warning was cut short as the ground below them suddenly got ripped apart. The entire planet breaking beneath them.
Kilo felt his pilot’s panic spike on his end of the link. He grabbed his pilot, shoving him into the cockpit as swiftly as possible, willing to do anything to delay what his protocols were screaming at him in warning.
“KQ? What’s happening?”
“I am unable to determine the cause, but the planet appears to be in the process of being destroyed.”
He felt his pilot’s fear increase, and much to his dismay he could do little to soothe it.
Sensors still blared warnings, detecting that unknown energy signature continuing to rise, becoming increasingly more powerful. He could only brace as everything turned into white static.
—
“No, no, no, no, no, no!” Independence Walker’s thoughts hurtled into panic. “This can’t be happening… IT CAN’T! I’M SO CLOSE! I CAN MAKE IT!” His heart raced as he sprinted, going as fast as he could, despite the pain his body protested. He was so close, he could make it, he had to!
Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.
He collapsed to his knees, all energy spent and hope dashed in one single instant as he saw the extraction shuttle take off into the sky, quickly disappearing as it returned victoriously from a successful mission.
He did not share in this feeling of victory, like he knew he should.
How could he? They had left him behind.
His thoughts promptly started spiralling. They abandoned him. Liberty herself had tossed him aside as discard, and now he was going to die here.
He didn’t even realize how much he was crying until his vision blurred and he tasted salt.
Not like he cared. Only death's ever-patient gaze could watch him here.
Or so he thought.
He froze when he heard a distorted static, almost like a voice behind him. He knew exactly what that was, and knew it wasn’t something he could fight.
He stumbled to his feet and ran. His body screamed at him to stop, but he wouldn’t, he couldn’t. He knew death was coming for him, her greedy maw ready to swallow him whole. He wasn’t ready for that, desperately trying to escape. Even if it was for only another second, he wanted to live.
He sprinted as fast as he could, his heart pounding in his chest, his breathing ragged and desperate. The red lights behind him would not cease until he was an unrecognizable body displayed on their outposts or a corpse left to rot, he knew this. He had seen their cruelty before and had no intent to be their next victim.
He wasn’t fast enough.
He choked on his own gasp as he got flung into a rock, an explosion having stopped all momentum he had, and any chance he had at continued survival.
His vision swam, blurred from his pain, blood, and tears. His eyes strained to see the hulk approaching.
His body was limp, all of that desperation having been as fleeting as his time as a helldiver. At least he had tried? He chuckled to himself, his voice only displaying the agony he felt.
Regardless of all of his emotions, Independence knew one thing: This is where he died.
He closed his eyes, unwilling to look death’s messenger in its red glared stare. If he was to die, might as well make peace with it.
And yet, instead of the hungering jaws of death, it was the sound of metal tearing and bullets firing as darkness claimed him.
—
22 minutes earlier…
His pilot was dead. He had failed.
Kilo had known eventually the day would come where he would fail, as many titans did.
But like this? Nothing he could have done would have prevented this, and it hurt so much knowing that truth.
It hurt even more knowing that for some unknown reason, he had survived. Why him? He was a machine, a weapon, nothing more than a tool to be used. He was the outer shell that should have blocked his pilot from any and all harm. So why was he the one to survive, while the person who guided him did not? Did the universe deem his pilot less important?
He pushed the unfamiliar feelings aside. He needed to figure out where he was, it was the first priority. He had no data on his surroundings, and to make it worse the only clues he had of the location were the ice covered rocks and the ancient remains of what was once a creature of leviathan-sized proportions.
It was little to go off of.
The tone beeped in frustration. He had failed his last protocol and was now lost on top of that? It wasn’t just infuriating, it was humiliating.
His attention was taken off of his predicament when he noticed a blue beam appear in the sky. It was distant, but there, nonetheless. His processors whirred, calculating what this beacon could potentially mean.
He settled on a distress beacon. It was unconventional, sure, but it was the most logical answer.
Kilo buried the remains of his pilot, the only peace he could give him in this unfamiliar place, keeping a ping of where that location was before stomping in the direction of the mysterious signal.
He had a new mission.
—
Independence opened his eyes, his surroundings blurry as he tried to process what was happening.
He wondered if he was dead, but why would he still remain in this ancient graveyard if he was? Maybe Liberty truly had forsaken him, even beyond the grave. He shook that thought away. It didn’t make sense.
He attempted to stand, only to wince from the sharp pain it caused, giving up once he realized his leg was broken. Definitely a sign that he wasn’t dead.
He was trying to think of what to do, knowing he couldn't move when the question hit him. Why hadn’t he died?
His thoughts tried to find an answer, and he could find none that made sense. Had the automatons just spared him? If so, why? Would they toy with and torture him, or were those communist scum leaving him to run in a game where he was the prey until he died? What a cruel joke that would be.
His thoughts promptly halted when he felt the footsteps of something big. His response was immediate, as he attempted to move as much as he could without making any noise, which was, much to his dismay, little due to the severity of his injuries.
What appeared was unlike anything he had seen before or expected.
It was a machine, that much was clear. Yet it didn’t look like any automaton he had ever seen before. It had more rounded shapes on its chassis than hulks, and even then it towered over the height of almost any bot he had ever seen, the only exception being the factory strider or maybe a war strider if he was being generous with their height. He guessed it had to be 20 feet tall. The most notable feature of this machine was the spherical ‘head’ it had, perhaps some kind of camera array, holding glowing optics that turned right at him.
He froze, terror keeping him as still as possible as this thing just stared at him, unmoving and unspeaking. What did it want from him?!
He heard a mechanical whirring, once again unlike any bot he had ever heard, before it picked him up gently. He gasped in fear, immediately trying to struggle, despite the fact that he lacked the strength to do so properly.
“I do not mean you harm. Please allow me to assist in relocating you to a safer location.”
His struggling stopped, shocked to hear the clear, masculine voice. Bots didn’t speak like that. Underneath his helmet his eyes narrowed. Could he really trust it? It wasn’t like he had a choice, so he begrudgingly agreed.
The machine seemed to take his response positively, and a hatch he hadn’t noticed before hissed open, revealing a cockpit that he was gently put inside of before it shut closed.
Independence remained tense, not liking how tight the space was, or the fact that he was now trapped with a potential threat.
“I apologize for any fear or discomfort I may cause you.” the machine chirped, causing him to jump.
“N-No, it's fine.” he lied, his nervousness palpable. The machine seemed to notice, but did not pester, instead continuing to walk, wherever it was going.
He hoped he hadn’t made a mistake in trusting it.