Morning pressed through the cracks in the steel shutters, pale shafts of light slicing across the outpost's concrete walls. Ethan sat at his desk, the Initiate Frame still clinging to his body, its faint hum like a second heartbeat. The alloy gauntlet along his arm glowed in low pulses, feeding him notifications.
Tier 1
Scout Construct
Worker Construct
Initiate Frame
His optics flickered over the crates now stacked around his quarters. They hadn't been there yesterday. Stamped with military insignias, filled to the brim with refined alloys, processed steel, and bundles of raw copper and carbon. Enough material to birth dozens of constructs.
Ethan ran a gloved hand over one crate lid, exhaling through his teeth. They're wasting no time. They want me building an army.
The Gauntlet's scan pulsed. The resources were clean compatible. He could start immediately.
But then.
Knock.
Three sharp raps against steel.
Ethan froze. No one was supposed to come unannounced. He stood slowly, armor plates whispering against each other as he crossed the room. With a hiss of hydraulics, the door slid open.
A woman stood there.
Dark hair tied into a neat knot, uniform plain but tidy, eyes sharp in a way that betrayed neither fear nor deference. She held a tablet under her arm.
Ethan's voice was flat, measured. "If the army or the government has more demands, make them quick. I'm busy."
The woman's lips twitched into the barest smile. "Seraphina Veyra. But you can call me Serap. I'll be your handler from today forward."
Ethan's brow furrowed beneath his visor.
"Not a leash," she replied evenly. "A bridge. Between you and command. They need someone who understands you or at least tries to."
Ethan leaned one armored shoulder against the frame of the door, crossing his arms. "You're young. Too young for the military to just drop into something like this. Why you?"
Serap didn't flinch. "I'll be blunt. I forced myself into this assignment. My mother's a general. She didn't like it, but I insisted." She lifted the tablet slightly, eyes gleaming with a strange mix of hunger and curiosity. "And because I've never seen machines like yours before. I want to understand them."
Ethan's lips curved faintly beneath the mask. "…At least you're honest."
"I try." Her gaze flicked past him, scanning the shadowed interior of the outpost. The crates. The faint silhouettes of automatons standing dormant in the hangar beyond. The faint glow of optics waiting to be lit.
She spoke softer now, words tinged with awe. "I saw them last night. Your machines… they're the most advanced machinery I've ever seen. They move like predators, not tools. So tell me why haven't I ever heard your name? Why don't you exist in the records? With machines like these, you could be..." she shook her head, almost laughing under her breath, "you could be rich. Famous. Untouchable."
Ethan was quiet. The Gauntlet's weight pulsed against his arm, as if reminding him of the truth he could never speak. It's not me. It's the Gauntlet. If they knew…
He exhaled, voice low. "…I have my reasons."
Her eyes lingered on him, waiting. He gave her nothing more.
Finally he shifted, tone firm. "If you're here to watch, fine. But not when I build them. And you don't set foot in this room without my permission. Clear?"
Serap hesitated, lips pressing thin. Then she nodded once. "…Clear."
"Good."
But she didn't leave. Her gaze pulled again toward him no, not him, but the suit. The Initiate Frame gleamed faintly in the morning light, its alloy plates hugging his body, its four mechanical arms folded close. No one had seen his face since he first appeared.
Serap's eyes narrowed slightly. "…That suit you wear. Do you plan on creating more of them?"
For a long moment, Ethan said nothing. The question hung between them like a wire.
Finally, his voice dropped to a murmur. "The suits are... special."
And with that, he stepped back and shut the door in her face.
The latch clamped shut. Silence returned.
Outside, Serap stood still for a moment, staring at the sealed steel. She let out a slow breath, hugging her tablet closer. Then she turned, her boots clicking faintly against the hangar floor.
Rows of automatons loomed in the half-light. Scouts clung to walls, motionless, optics dim but ready. Workers stood like statues, tools folded against their frames. Silent. Waiting.
Serap swallowed, a chill crawling up her spine. Awe and fear mixed in her chest until she could barely tell them apart.
"They're magnificent," she whispered to herself. "And terrifying."
Her footsteps echoed as she walked away, the constructs watching in silence.
---
Afternoon heat pressed against the steel walls of the base, but inside, the air felt colder heavy with the sound of machines.
Serap leaned against a railing overlooking the hangar floor, her tablet in hand, though her eyes rarely left the sight below.
The outpost had changed in a matter of hours.
Scout Constructs clambered along the walls like four-armed predators, their glowing optics sweeping in restless arcs. Workers marched in methodical rows, carrying steel beams, copper coils, and raw carbon that had been hauled into Ethan's quarters earlier that morning.
Every ten minutes, another one emerged from his chamber fresh, gleaming, eyes burning faint blue as if it had always existed and only now decided to step into the world.
She counted in silence. By her tally, at least two hundred scouts now perched across the outpost, and nearly as many workers stalked the floor with industrial patience. The space, once a hollow shell of concrete, had become an embryonic war factory.
Serap whispered under her breath, "God help us if he ever turns them against us…"
The tablet in her hands vibrated. A message from HQ blinked across the screen.
"STATUS?"
She typed quickly, her fingers slightly shaky despite her practiced composure.
"~300 automatons operational. Production ongoing. Pickup ready."
A pause, then another message:
"GOOD. NEXT RESOURCE TRUCK ETA: LATE AFTERNOON OR NIGHT.
QUESTION FOR ASSET: CAN HE ARM THEM? ADVANCED WEAPONS?"
Serap stared at the line a long moment. Arm them. As if they weren't already terrifying enough.
She exhaled slowly, squared her shoulders, and walked toward Ethan's steel door. Her boots echoed sharply against the hangar's floor. Automatons turned their heads as she passed, optics flickering faint light. They didn't move otherwise, but the effect sent a chill racing down her spine.
When she reached the door, she hesitated then knocked. Three deliberate raps, same as in the morning.
The hydraulics hissed. The door slid open.
Ethan stood there, framed in dim light, the Initiate Frame's plates shifting faintly with his breath. His voice was calm but edged with curiosity.
"…What do you need, Serap?"
She straightened, forcing herself not to glance past him into the shadows where half-built constructs surely waited. "HQ asked me to deliver a question."
He tilted his head. "…Go on."
"They want to know if you can arm them. Advanced weapons." She held his gaze, tone firm, professional. "Right now, guns can take out the smaller swarms of insects. But the larger ones? The burrowers, the giant types, bullets barely scratch them. Your machines are strong, yes, but…" She exhaled, searching for the right word. "They're tearing themselves apart fighting in swarms. HQ thinks advanced weapons could make extermination faster. More efficient."
Silence stretched. The hum of the Gauntlet seemed louder in it.
Ethan's eyes flicked down to the alloy bracer on his arm. A faint display pulsed across it.
Tier Advancement: 38% → Tier 2
He stared at it for a long moment, then sighed, almost weary. "Tell them…" His voice was low, steady. "…I'll work on it but it will take time."
Serap studied him carefully, trying to read what lay beneath the mask and metal. He wasn't dismissive he was calculating.
She nodded once. "I'll pass that along."
But Ethan wasn't finished. After a pause, he looked back up, visor glinting faintly in the afternoon light.
"…In return, I have a request for them."
Her brows lifted slightly. "A request?"
"Double it," he said simply.
"Double what?"
"The shipments. The metal. The copper. The carbon. All of it." His tone was iron, leaving no room for negotiation. "If they want weapons, if they want an army that can kill those monsters faster then give me twice what they've been sending."
Serap hesitated, weighing his words. Her instinct as a soldier was to bristle HQ gave orders, assets complied. But this man… this man wasn't really under their command, was he?
She forced her tone level. "That's a steep ask, Ethan. They'll want to know why."
His visor dipped slightly toward the constructs stalking the hangar behind her. His voice was quiet but heavy.
"Because what you see here? It's not enough."
For the first time since she'd met him, Serap felt the raw conviction in his tone. Not arrogance. Not bravado. Just cold certainty.
She swallowed, nodded. "I'll send the request."
Her tablet hummed as she typed the message. HQ. Asset agrees to research advanced weapons. Requests double materials for efficiency.
The line blinked for a few moments before HQ's reply came back:
"RECEIVED. REQUEST UNDER REVIEW. STAY WITH HIM. REPORT UPDATES."
Serap lowered the tablet, exhaling slowly. She looked back at Ethan.
"They'll consider it. But Ethan…" She hesitated, the soldier's mask slipping just a little. "…You're building more than an army here. You realize that, don't you?"
Ethan didn't answer. His optics flickered once, then he stepped back, letting the door hiss shut between them.
Serap stood there a long moment, staring at the sealed steel, before finally turning away.
Behind her, the sound of machinery started again. Grinding. Forging. Another construct about to step into the world.
And she thought, not without a shiver: If he really gets those weapons built… who will command who?