Cameron frowned as he looked down at the helmet Aurora had handed to him belonging to the Physilight Projection System. He turned it over in his hands, fingers running over the striations and grooves cut into the hard plastic, identifying the slots from which the various wires and connecters would run out in order for her to monitor his vitals. His eyes cut to the chair where he was expected to sit, allowing his consciousness to drift away so it could be projected onto the field in front of them.

  "This is dumb," He mumbled.

  "What is?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow.

  "This," He said, motioning around the space to indicate his meaning.

  She sighed, giving her eyes a half roll before stopping, chewing at her lip as if choosing her words carefully, before responding earnestly, "We've been over this Cam,"

  "Yes," He said, "We have, and my answer hasn't changed anytime it's come up. I'm fine. I don't need to be put back on training wheels, just because you guys think different."

  "It's not training wheels," She shot back, exasperation clear in her voice, "It's just us covering our bases. You went through something so royally fucked, that even Logan isn't sure if you're okay for field work."

  "And why the fuck are we going by what Logan thinks?!" He said, pointing to the opposite end of the arena, where Logan was setting up his own station, "It's not Logan's problem! It wasn't Logan who survived a death sentence! It's not Logan who's worried about the implications as it pertains to a family he can never see! It's me! Shouldn't we take into account what I think considering I'm the one it happened to?!"

  She scrunched her face, pouting as she chewed her lip more. Cameron could tell by the reddening of her cheeks and brow that she was getting increasingly more irritated, and he felt a pang of guilt twinge at the back of his skull, causing his mood to sour even more as Aeia scolded him in his mind.

  'Be nice,' She said, 'It's not her fault. Nor is it Logans. You should be happy they care enough about you to make sure you're in fighting shape.'

  'Fuck off Aeia,' He thought back, his inner monologue growling as he did so.

  A sharp pain racked the front of his skull as he finished his thought, causing him to pinch the bridge of his nose in pain, dropping the helmet on the smooth supple leather of the chair as he yelped with pain.

  "Gah!" He said, wincing as he squeezed his eyes shut.

  "Cam?" Aurora asked, her tone suddenly filled with concern as she rushed to his side, "You okay?"

  "Y-Yeah..." He said, waving off her worry, "I'm fine. Just a headache..."

  'Stop fucking doing that,' He thought to Aeia, 'You're making me cause a scene.'

  'Stop throwing a tantrum and I will,' Aeia said without so much as a pause.

  'You're supposed to be my Co-Pilot, not my babysitter.'

  'I can multitask,' Aeia said, giggling faintly, before fading into his subconscious, leaving Cameron to nurse a splitting headache, while Aurora's voice brought him back to reality.

  "You've been having those headaches more and more often, Cam," She said, speaking softly.

  "Yeah..." He nodded with a pained sigh, "I uh... I got a lot on my mind."

  Aurora nodded, looking at him sympathetically, "That's why we want to do a dry run. It's not to punish you. It's not because we don't care. It's the opposite, if anything, we care too much I suppose."

  That much, even Cameron could tell. Ever since he'd woken up, everyone had gone out of their way to care for him in one way or another. Logan had emphasized the need for rest and relaxation, while Sybil had taken care of him in the affection department, nearly attached to his hip as the group sat together, planning their next moves. Marcus, to his credit, always seemed to be around at just the right moment when Cameron had been on crutches, willing and wanting to retrieve anything he'd needed. And now, even Aurora was doing her best to not bite his head off whenever he whined or complained, which thanks to Aiea pointing it out, was frequently.

  Cameron nodded, looking over at her and smiling, "Trust me, I can tell. It's been two months and you've hardly called me a shithead once."

  Aurora laughed, her cheeks flushing as she pushed his shoulder away with half the strength he was accustomed to from the young mechanic.

  "Oh fuck off," She said, smiling back, "I can always go back to being regular ole me if you prefer the bitchy side."

  Cameron grinned, and looked at her for a long time, studying her face. Despite her youth, he'd always viewed her as someone... older. Maybe it was her permanently exasperated outlook, or the way she carried herself. Maybe it was her appearance, with her wild blue hair and barely applied makeup. All he knew is that... she'd changed, at least in his mind. Now, even with the harsh fluorescent lighting shining overhead, he could see her for what she was. What she was doing her best to hide from everyone else. She was a girl, out of her depth, caught up in something she didn't want to be, and just barely treading water. They all were. Who was he to make things difficult, just because his pride was at war with his logic?

  He watched her eyes gaze up, looking into his, only for a second, before she blinked, looking away quickly, casting her gaze downward.

  "Sorry..." She said softly, barely above a whisper, "Still getting used to em."

  He shook his head, placing a hand on her shoulder, "You and me both. Don't worry about it. It's all good. And... for what it's worth... I'm sorry."

  She looked up at him, eyebrows raised in surprise, "Sorry? For what?"

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  Cameron shrugged, "Sorry that we're here. Sorry that everyone has to make concessions for me. Sorry that it takes me so long to pull my head out of my ass. I'm just.... I'm sorry in general I guess. I'm not the easiest to live with at the best of times, and I'm sorry."

  Her cheeks flushed again as a smile tugged its way across her lips, "Ah... you're not so bad. At least you haven't tried to feel me up at all since we've been working together. Can't say the same for the other pilots Logan's brought on in the past. I'll take a spoiled shithead over a creepy psychopath any day of the week."

  "Fair enough," Cameron chuckled, putting the helmet on his head as he took his seat, "Well... enough stalling I suppose. We're gonna do this thing whether I want to or not... may as well get it over with, eh?"

  "Sounds good to me," She said, making her way over to the console, grabbing the lever, "Ready?"

  Cameron nodded.

  "Have fun," she said in a sing-song voice, before flipping the switch and sending Cameron into a world of darkness.

  ***

  It took a minute for Cameron to feel the weight of the Headsman's wireframe model spawn into reality, but as it did, and his eyes opened to view the arena from his unit's field of vision, he felt... at home.

  The weight of euphoria that blanketed him now almost made him want to laugh with delight. Not even considering the first time he'd threaded in had something felt so... right.

  'Holy dopamine,' Aeia said, surprise in her tone, 'You alright there?'

  'Hell yeah...' Cameron thought back, 'Can't really explain it, but I feel fucking fantastic.'

  'It's probably mimicking the feeling of threading in with an A.I.' She hypothesized, 'We're programmed to sync up with our Pilot's emotions and physiological responses, amplifying them in order to promote a more neutral, logic based approach to combat. I figured I'd explain this when you did it for real, so this came as a bit of a shock.'

  'Hold up...' Cameron thought, 'I thought the system couldn't imitate AI or VI?'

  'This is true,' She began, 'But I'm not coming through the system, I'm in your head. I'll have to figure out why it's working the way it is. Even with me being here, it shouldn't have any effect on what you're feeling. I'll have to do some further testing though, so maybe we can do this a few more-'

  'Oh no,' Cameron interrupted, 'I'm not staying here any longer than I need to be. Let's just get this shit done and worry about that later.'

  'Fair enough...' she said after a moment, 'Then you'd better make sure you impress.'

  Almost as if on cue, Cameron watched as Crusader sauntered it's way to the center of the arena, lumbering its massive weight with ease, as it hauled its mace to rest on its shoulder. A crackle came from its speakers and Cameron heard Logan's voice call out to him.

  "Everything alright over there?" He asked, the speakers popping with simulated static, "You two were talking for a while."

  "Yeah, everything's good," Cameron said a moment later, turning on his own speaker, "Just going over how long we'll be doing this until we can go out in the field and start actually doing something useful."

  Logan chuckled, "Whether you think so or not kid, this is useful. And we're gonna do this until I'm comfortable with you being in live combat."

  Cameron smirked, "Alright then boss, What do I gotta do to prove that?"

  "Simple," Logan said, tightening the steel grip on crusader's finger, causing its metal haft to scream in protest, "Show me what you got."

  Cameron could feel his grin widen as he reached back and gripped his sword, whipping it off his back and holding it out with two hands in a wide defensive stance, "Age before beauty, boss."

  Logan chuckled again, "If you say so. Let's see if I can make you regret saying that."

  Without another word, Logan leaned forward, the massive boosters strapped to Crusader's back flaring wide as he dashed towards Cameron, hauling back with his mace, angling to bring it down in a destructive diagonal blow.

  Cameron smirked, lowering his stance, bringing the width of his blade eye level.

  "Too easy" he muttered, taking a step, readying to dodge at the last possible minute.

  At least... that was the plan if he were facing Logan. But as the massive hunk of metal rocketed towards him, everything changed. No longer was he standing in the arena, piloting the wireframe model of his own mech while sparring with his mace wielding mentor. He was back on that asteroid, vision hindered by smoke and a sunless, starlit sky, fighting for his life as a thin, all black A.R.M.S. unit angled for an opening with its twisted clawed gauntlet.

  "Wh-" Cameron started to say, shifting oddly on his back foot, caught off guard by the sudden vision. It was only there for a second, before flashing back to the present. He tried to shift his body weight, tried to readjust his blade to cause the strike to angle off.

  He was too late.

  WHAM

  Logan's mace cleaved into the shoulder of Cameron's Headsman with the force of an exploding star, sending him shooting across the arena, skipping like a stone going over a hundred miles an hour until he crashed into a barrier wall. Pain shot through his arm for the briefest of seconds, before numbness took over, the projection system doing its part to limit his discomfort as he struggled to get to his feet.

  "W-What the fuck..." He strained, struggling on shaky legs to orient himself. He looked through tunneled vision at Crusader, its massive form stalking over to him like a predator would a wounded rabbit. He wondered if Logan was saying something sarcastic, but he wouldn't have mattered. His ears were too busy ringing with a high pitched whine. It was only when he'd raised his sword once again, signaling he was still eager to continue, and Crusader dashed in for a follow up that he *did* hear a voice. Except... it wasn't Logan's, but it was a voice who's words he'd never forget.

  "You're not as good as you think you are... Pellyn."

  Another flash in his vision as Crusaders swing reached its apex, and once again Cameron was back on that asteroid, being picked apart from that same shadow of death.

  WHAM

  He felt his leg go now. The right one going numb as an explosion and metal and oil came into his vision, swiftly followed by the tiling panels that made up the arena's floor as he crashed down to it.

  "You're not as good as you think you are... Pellyn."

  That same wicked voice cackled again, taking pleasure in his suffering as it reduced him to nothing but scrap.

  WHAM

  "You're not as good as you think you are... Pellyn."

  WHAM

  "You're not as good as you think you are... Pellyn."

  Cameron screamed in terror, mouth opened wide as a blood curdling wail of anguish left it. Fear had taken its hold now, flaring from the core of his being and flooding the rest of his body. He tried to pull his arms out of their protective cuffs, tried to yank his very threads out of his body.

  "Let me out! For fucks sake LET ME OUT!" He cried, begging as tears of fear and perceived pain streamed down his face as his vision seemed to flash in and out of the past and present.

  Cameron didn't see when the system shut down, sending his consciousness back into his body. He didn't feel Aurora's hands frantically undoing his helmet, nor her frantic words of worry. He wasn't aware of how he'd fought her off with all her strength, tossing her tiny frame into a stone pillar. He didn't feel Logan tackle and restrain him as he'd tried to run and crawl away from his perceived attacker. The only thing that seemed to register to him were the same ten words, playing on a loop over and over.

  "You're not as good as you think you are... Pellyn."