Mecha System: Harem in The Cockpit

Lakenheath

Wherever the recruitment officer was taking me, it definitely wasn’t in London.

The jeep had broken the outskirts of the city at least a half hour ago, and now we were plugging through the winding roads of the countryside. 

“Where exactly are you taking me?” I asked, feeling the itch to activate my exo suit and simply get myself out of the situation before anything could go terribly wrong. 

“My sensors are not detecting any form of aggression from anyone in the vehicle,” The AI responded to my question mentally before the military man had even opened his mouth to reply. 

Was there anything the AI couldn’t actually do? How did you even detect aggression using sensors? Could the exo somehow read minds other than my own, or was it just able to get a read on hormones. 

“We’re taking you to a secret temporary staging location just outside of London,” Officer Blake said, “From there you’ll be introduced to your commanding officer and we will conduct a series of tests to gather your abilities. This will tell us how much of a help you will actually be in the fight for the cause.” 

“The cause?” I said, I hadn’t been aware that there was a supposed cause to rally behind. 

“Of course, the cause of protecting the people of this country from harm,” Blake replied, “both from the threat of those from above, and the threat of those with powers misusing them.” 

“Ah, I see,” I replied, settling into my seat so I could watch the countryside roll by out the window, “That’s a cause I think I can get behind.” 

We were both silent for the rest of the journey. 

As we drove I was content to look out of the window of the car. It helped to give some true scale to what had happened. 

The news reports had said that the ships had come down all over the planet, but actually seeing the smoking craters even out in the countryside as we drove helped to hammer that home. 

This was a moment of disaster for Earth, for the entire Human Race, and if nothing was done about it who knew how the world would end up over the coming weeks, months and years? 

The drive went on silently for just under an hour. 

In usual circumstances, I was sure it would have taken much longer, but the car was moving in excess of a hundred miles an hour the entire journey and the roads had been cleared ahead of us by some kind of police squad. 

Before long the countryside gave way to a village, and then past the village a large army base. 

This was our destination. 

The car drove through the main gates without any hassle and continued up across a runway, the far end of which had an airfield with at least ten fighter jets on standby. 

“Welcome to RAF Lakenheath,” Blake said, “This is the primary base of operations for our new unit, and where we’ll be conducting your power evaluation and training going forward.” 

“Training?” I asked as the car rolled to a stop. 

“Of course, you didn’t think we were just going to let you run wild like a vigilante all over the country, did you?” 

Blake stepped out of the car, leaving me with my own thoughts. 

Had I been expecting that?

I suppose I hadn’t really known what to expect. 

Joining the military had never really been one of my career plans, the idea of military training was one that had never even crossed my mind. 

I exited the car, grateful for the chance to stretch my legs after the hour-long drive. 

“You didn’t mention anything about training or power evaluation when we were back in London,” I remarked, jogging a few steps to catch up with Blake who had already begun to walk toward the main building of the complex. 

“Well, like I said, we weren’t just prepared to let you and others like you run around like vigilantes,” Blake reiterated, “That’s an easy way to get yourselves and others hurt. This way we can make sure you actually know what you’re doing.” 

I wasn’t sure if there was anything out there that could actually hurt me in my exo-suit armour. 

I’d manage to take out the two villains I’d encountered so far without much threat, and going by what the AI had said, these exo suits had been specifically designed to take on mutated life forms with incredible power sets. 

“That doesn’t mean that you should start getting all cocky about things, though,” The AI pointed out, “You’re strong but you’re not invincible. Some training, and some better understanding of what the other people your military have picked up to join their fight would serve you well.” 

If my AI was saying it then the chances were that Blake wasn’t wrong. 

Some training might not be a bad thing, anyway. So far my fighting style had pretty much just been to swing my fists until my enemies stopped swinging back. 

With some actual fighting ability backing that up, then I’d have a much easier time taking down my enemies. 

“What does this so-called power evaluation mean, then?” I asked, uncertain of how they were actually going to go about testing the efficiency of my power armour. 

“Well, we thought about that for quite a while,” he said, “In the end we figured the best way to test your strength would be to put you through the ringer a bit.” 

Blake opened the door to the building and held it open, ushering me through the door and inside. 

“Through the ringer?” I replied as we entered a corridor. 

“We figured the best way to rank your abilities and your strength would be to set you up against one another,” He explained, “That is to say, we’re going to hold a little bit of a tournament so that you can all prove yourselves.”

A… tournament?

My life was becoming more and more like an anime with every passing day.