Mecha System: Harem in The Cockpit

Jobless

I collapsed into my armchair with a heavy sigh. 

It had been a long and arduous day. I’d done a lot of good, a lot of stopping mutated villains, a lot of helping people on the street. 

Honestly, even though the world was ending and there were certain things that I was definitely avoiding thinking about, I was pretty sure that the day had been one of the best days of my life so far. 

Maybe having a super powered mecha from outer space wasn’t the worst thing in the world after all. At least not now that the world was such a messed up place. 

It really was a messed up place, too. 

I’d learnt over the course of the day that there had in fact been a grand total of thirteen spacecraft that had impacted various locations throughout London, and uncounted hundreds if not thousands throughout the rest of the country. 

In every location that one of the alien craft had landed there had been destruction and death on levels that hadn’t been seen in the city since the Blitz bombings of the second world war. 

People were scared. Really scared. 

While I had been assured by my suit’s AI that Earth’s orbit wouldn’t take it through the field of dead ships ever again, no one else on the planet knew that and it wasn’t like I could go around telling everyone that it was the case either. 

At the end of the day, that wasn’t even really what most people were scared of at this point. 

They were scared that they would hear a member of their family had passed away in the shipfall. 

They were afraid that they wouldn’t have a place to stay while repairs were made to their buildings. 

They were terrified that they would come across one of the new mutated people that now stalked the streets. 

Because there were a lot of those. 

Now it was important to note that not all of the people who had been mutated were villainous. It wasn’t like the powers that people were granted directly affected their psyche’s, not unless the power they were granted had an ability like that. 

No, it was more the fact that a lot of the people who were granted powers had been downtrodden all their lives, and now they had a little bit of power under their belts they were more than willing to use it to get the things that they had been denied. 

Honestly, I almost felt bad for some of the people that I had taken down and handed over to the authorities over the course of the day. 

Oh well. They’d made their choices.

They could have used their newfound abilities to help others as I had. Instead, they used them to help themselves, violently. That could never be allowed to pass. 

I sighed and sank down into my chair. 

I definitely wasn’t going to feel guilty about having fun playing the role of a superhero. Not one little bit. 

With a flick of my remote, the TV that sat on a small cabinet on the other side of the room flickered into life. 

I tabbed through all of the channels until, eventually, I made it to the news channel. I was curious as to whether I had made the news or not. 

“-And the ongoing disruption from the so-called spaceships that have landed all over the world has continued in the United Kingdom today,” said the reporter behind their news desk. 

As they spoke a video feed of burning ships exploding into pillars of bright white light and fire played on a screen to their left. 

“Businesses and the government have both promised to provide aid in the form of temporary camps for those who have been afflicted by the explosions across the country,” The news reporter continued, “But many individuals who have been granted strange and unexplained abilities by the events have been taking that newfound power into their own hands to try and improve their situations.” 

The screen next to the reporter changed, showing a very familiar scene. 

Shaky cam footage, no doubt captured by someone from inside one of the shops that had lined the street that I had fought my first battle of the day against the elastic man and the laser hands guy played on the screen. 

“Not all of the newly enhanced individuals have been operating under the guise of chaos and selfishness, however,” The reporter went on. “Some have been using their newfound abilities for good, such as this armoured individual taking down two would-be bank robbers.” 

The video feed enlarged to show my fight in all its glory. 

“This unnamed individual declared himself to be a hero for fun and managed to take down two criminals with ease after they had brutally killed a group of soldiers,” The reporter narrated over the footage. 

The footage of my fight faded from view as the news channel switched things up on the screen, showing three faces now. Two people I didn’t recognise, and the news reporter was in the middle. 

“Joining me this evening is a member of her majesties government, the Minister for Crime and Policing, Ken Milthouse,” The reporter said, “As well as a member of the royal army, who have been brought in to assist the police across the country in this trying time.” 

I tabbed away from the news report, allowing my television set to fall dark and silent. 

I didn’t need to watch two supposed experts debate over my actions. I knew that what I’d done was the right thing to do. 

I had the power, people were misusing their own, which meant I had to step in to do something about it. 

The only thing that concerned me was my newfound lack of a job. 

It wasn’t like being a hero could pay the bills or anything like that, and I wasn’t some billionaire playboy who could throw a bunch of cash at the wall until the day I died. 

I needed a solution before I ran out of food and before the rent became due. 

That or I’d need to find a new job. 

Fast.