Ed began to panic. He had nowhere to run. His right arm felt completely numb and was covered in blood. 'Am I going to die here?'
Right as a four-legged mutant was about to jump Ed, a large stream of hot water pushed the mutant backwards. "Groar!" The beast groaned in pain as steam floated off its body.
Thud, Thud, Thud. The ground trembled as a loud sound echoed.
Ed turned to look at the source of the water and sound. It was a steam powered mech suit! The suit stood about 3 meters tall. Its bronze hue shone brightly as it reflected the light of the dancing flames that surrounded it. Each of its two legs had rectangular blocks for feet with large wheels attached. Six exhaust pipes stuck out of each leg. The two arms did not have hands. Instead, there were two holes that were shooting out raging streams of water. On the back of the mech was a giant tank, which fed the arms water. The torso looked like a fat man's stomach and the head consisted of a large round dome. The only vulnerability on the entire suit was the glass porthole near the stomach. A man inside used the porthole to see. It only gave him a limited view of his front but guaranteed a higher degree of safety as a result.
The mech suit continued to slowly walk forward while shooting the high-pressure water. The surrounding fires quickly died down and the mutants started to retreat. When the coast was clear, the front hatch of the mech suit's stomach swung open. A man stepped out.
Ed turned to look at the man and his eyes widened in surprise, "Dad?!"
"I'm glad you're safe, son." The man was tall and skinny. He had curly black hair and a face that heavily resembled Ed's. He wore plain glasses, blue overalls, a white shirt, and black boots. "Get in the mech, Ed. We're getting out of here."
Ed nodded and climbed up into the mech. He crouched behind a big red seat his father sat in. His father closed the hatch. On his father's right and left sides were four bronze levers. Each lever had a bright red button on the top. His father grabbed two levers without pressing the buttons. He repeatedly pushed and pulled them. The mech slowly walked forward one step at a time.
The mech continued forward. Occasionally, it would encounter large flames. His father would stop walking and pull the other two levers. The arms lifted, and his father pressed the two red buttons. Hot water shot out, dousing the flames that blocked their way.
As they continued, Ed heard tragic screams coming from every direction. He saw mutants scaling buildings and dashing through alleys. Some mutants were bigger than the mech suit while others were smaller than an ordinary cat.
"Dad, what are you doing here? Where did you get this mech? How did this happen?"
"One question at a time, son. You didn't return home, and I got worried. I was going to go to your school to check on you when I got an emergency order to return to work. I thought it was just an ordinary mutant flood… but I was horribly wrong."
Ed's father had an ugly look on his face mixed with a bit of fear. "When I got to work, they ordered me into a mech suit. I'm an engineer! The only way they would put me in a mech suit is if the situation was a complete disaster. They ordered us to amass on the west side of the city walls. There were thousands of mech suits there. Over 10,000 steam tanks. Over 200,000 soldiers. I even saw hundreds of espers."
Suddenly, his father went silent. Ed glanced at his father's hands and saw that they were trembling, but they kept moving the levers to keep them walking forward. After a few minutes, he managed to speak again, "It was a nightmare, Ed. I had only ever heard about them. It was so much worse in person. It was taller than the city walls and was covered in flames. Before it even got near us, it scooped up a big chunk of earth and threw it at the city. It was like a meteor shower raining hell upon us. I saw buildings collapse, soldiers crushed, and flames spread everywhere."
His father went quiet again. Ed waited until he couldn't stand the silence anymore. "How did you get away? Did they beat the nightmare back?"
His father's hands shook again as tears appeared in his eyes. His hoarse voice trembled, "I ran. I ran and left them all behind. My friends, my coworkers, the soldiers. I abandoned them right after the first volley of flames the nightmare threw. I ran, and when I turned back, I saw the nightmare crush the city wall like tofu. It looked like a molten volcano. No legs and two arms. Lava pouring everywhere. Its face had four demonic purple eyes that glowed brightly. I don't even understand what it wanted. It had no mouth to eat. It simply destroyed everyone and everything in its path. I watched the people I abandoned be burnt to ash. The espers fought back with amazing powers and managed to slow it down, but I still saw many of them fall. The army ended up serving as nothing but cannon fodder and support for the espers."
Ed's father took a deep breath. "I got away. Fire from the nightmare spread all over the city. It made it easier to reach your school since most mutants avoided the fire. I'm just glad I made it in time."
Ed nodded and looked outside the porthole. It was hard to see due to the smoke limiting the already tiny view. They traveled for close to thirty minutes before they reached a railroad. The mech suit stepped atop the railroad, the wheels on each of the mech's feet attaching to it. His father pressed the two red buttons on the leg levers. The sound of loud pistons rang out. Steam whistled and flew out of the exhaust pipes behind the mech's legs. The wheels slowly sped up before going faster and faster. Soon, they were traveling as fast as a train, the surroundings speeding past them.
"Dad, where are we going? This suit must almost be out of water. We need to stop somewhere for more."
His father nodded, "We'll stop at the next station. I should be able to resupply there."
Boom! The ground shook heavily, and the wheels detached from the railroad tracks. The mech suit fell flat on the ground. "Ow!" Ed banged his head hard against the metal suit. These suits weren't designed to allow passengers. His father controlled the mech arms to push the suit back up and turned it around to see what happened. A giant flaming rock had slammed into the railroad. The mech turned around, looking in all directions.
"Holy shit!" Ed yelled. The nightmare could be seen several kilometers away from them in the direction they were originally headed.
His father frowned, "We need to go that direction. The east is the sea. There's no cities to the south. The west was the original location it attacked and is complete hell. Fuck! The only options are staying here or going north!" He controlled the mech to walk past the crushed part of the railroad and get back on the working part. They continued to head north for a couple of minutes before reaching a station. The mech got off the tracks and walked inside. A large water system was at every station for trains and mechs to refuel. "Wait here, and don't leave the mech." Ed's father got out and grabbed a huge hose. He hooked it up to the tank on the back of the mech. 15 minutes later, it was completely refueled.
Ed's father piloted the mech again. He looked for the nightmare and saw it was much farther away now. "It looks like it's heading northeast. If we keep heading north, we should be able to take the railroad to the next city."
The mech continued forward. The farther north they went, the more flames they saw. Buildings collapsed, and dead humans and dead mutants were everywhere. Because of the fire, the mech had to start shooting water on the tracks to continue forward. They traveled for over an hour. A loud screech rang out and the mech slowed to a complete stop.
Ed's father controlled the mech to step off the tracks. Then he got out and took a quick look. He returned to the cockpit and sighed, "The wheels are shot. Even with the water, the track was too hot and wore them down. At least it can still walk."
Ed nodded. His face was pale, and he was covered in sweat. His breathing was faster than usual, and his head throbbed. He had lost a lot of blood, hadn't eaten in over a day, and suffered multiple injuries. Finally, he completely blacked out.
…
Ed's eyes slowly opened. He saw a bright white light. Then his vision focused, and he realized he was staring at white ceiling tiles. He looked to his left and saw a big window. A lovely garden with some kids playing could be seen. They were playing tag and running around a large tree. Ed smiled then turned to his right. "Aghhh! My arm! What happened to my arm?!"
The door opened, and a nurse rushed in. She pushed him back down on the bed. "Calm down, Ed. Everything is okay now! Everything will be fine. Breath!" She inhaled deeply and continued to speak, "After me, Ed. Deep breaths."
Ed slowly calmed down after some deep breathing. He looked at his right arm, or at least he tried to. His right arm was completely gone. Not even a stump remained. He felt completely shocked. The nurse tried speaking to him, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. He covered his face with his left arm and tears poured down his face. His dream of becoming a mech pilot had been crushed. He was a cripple without much of a future.
Ed slowly calmed down. He turned to look at the nurse. At some point, she had stopped talking and started quietly waiting for him. "Where is my dad? What happened?"
The nurse had an awkward look on her face. "When you came in, your arm was a mess. It had large lacerations in it from a mutant bite. It had also been burned heavily by some flames. If you had gotten here earlier, then we may have been able to save it. Unfortunately, it was already completely infected by the time you got here. We had to perform an emergency amputation. As for your father… He's fine. Someone else will come in to discuss that with you in a little while. Just relax and wait. I'll have some food sent over."
Ed nodded and waited. A few minutes later, a different nurse brought in a food tray and set it down on his bed. Ed ate fruit and a sandwich. It tasted completely bland. He felt like the world was gray and everything was hell. 'At least my father and I are alive. Things will get better… or I hope they will at least.'
It had been nearly two hours before the door opened again. Ed had spent the time counting the number of black marks he could spot on the ceiling tiles. He turned to look at the person who entered. It was a white man in a sharp black suit with a white tie. He wore a black hat with a white stripe. He also had a brown brief case in his left hand. He reached out a hand towards Ed for a handshake, "My name is Mr. Lee. It's nice to meet you, Edward."
Ed shook his hand and nodded. 'Feels awkward using my left hand for a handshake. Why does he want to meet with me? Is it related to the nightmare? There are plenty of victims, so that doesn't make much sense.'
Mr. Lee opened his brief case, "I'll get straight to the point, Edward. This belongs to you, correct?" He took out a large metal gauntlet that had a steam engine welded to it with a broken knife. Ed saw the machine and nodded. There was no point in denying it. They amputated his arm and with it came the gauntlet. It was obvious it was his.
Mr. Lee continued, "This is not something created by a skilled mechanic or engineer. There's no indication of welding, screws, or hammering. It's smelted together into one perfect whole. Tell me the truth, Edward. Did you awaken during the nightmare attack?"
Ed hesitated. He knew he awakened during the attack, but he still didn't have much of a grasp on his powers. He wasn't sure what all he could do with them. He knew the government couldn't force espers to do anything. They still had their full rights as citizens. However, there were rumors of the government doing everything they could to gain control of them.
Mr. Lee noticed Ed's silence and spoke, "I'll skip the pleasantries then. Your father, Mr. Tesla, fled from the battle in Reef city. He deserted his squad and stole high-grade military equipment. Depending on the court, he could be sentenced a minimum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum penalty of death."
Ed's eyes widened in fear. His father was the only family he had left. His dad had faced hell to save him. "What do you want, Mr. Lee?"
Mr. Lee smiled, "Espers who cooperate with the government are granted special privileges. It will be very easy to erase your father's crimes. As you know, the world is in desperate need of espers. They make large contributions to progress through their inventions, crime fighting, and mutant cleanups. Unfortunately, many espers abuse their powers and live a life of crime. The only people who can stop these espers are other espers. Therefore, I want to recruit you into the Hunter Association."
Ed frowned, "You want me to become a hunter? Are you trying to get me killed? Sinners kill hunters in droves."
Mr. Lee smiled, "You'll be part of a training program for awakened youths. We will do our utmost to ensure your safety until you're strong enough to fend for yourself. While it's true that many sinners are extremely vicious espers, there are also sinners that are weak newly awakened espers just like you. Both sides are constantly trying to recruit new espers."
'The last thing I want to do is hunt down sinners.' Ed sighed to himself. Sinners were powerful espers that turned to a life of crime. They committed heinous crimes such as robbery and murder. Stronger ones had even become famous serial killers. Others used their powers to torment or experiment on ordinary people. If nightmares were the embodiment of fear of something far away, then sinners represented the fear that hid right around the corner. He looked Mr. Lee in the eyes. "If I become a hunter, do I have to join missions to stop nightmares?"
Mr. Lee shook his head, "Stopping the seven nightmares will always be completely optional. Even the strongest espers fear them greatly. You'll be required to fight sinners and mutants. It will also include other types of missions on occasion. All of this will slowly come over time."
"One last question. Why do you want to recruit me? I don't even know exactly what my power is yet."
Mr. Lee nodded, "Most powers are weak early on and hard to judge. Some stagnate, while others grow tremendously powerful over time. It's hard to judge them at the early stage. Therefore, we attempt recruiting any awakened espers we can."
'It's for the sake of my father. I have no other choice.' Ed clenched his fist, his fingernails digging into the flesh of his palm. He nodded, "I'll join. In return, my father needs to be pardoned of all crimes. Additionally, I want government protection for him. I've read about the sinners targeting hunter family members."
Mr. Lee smiled and took a contract out from his brief case. He handed it and a pen over to Ed. "Family protection is standard protocol now. We'll also work to protect your identity. We look forward to working with you."