(September 23rd, 2017)

Astralis International Strike Team Alpha - Unit: Alpha-One

It has been a few days since I have met Justin and his fellow crusaders. Since then, I've been on many missions aiding the royal army in defending their country from the invading empire. After my last mission, I was ordered back into the base along with my team, where we had no additional orders and were left to our own devices. I sat in my room, contemplating the beauty of the earth from our base in outer space aptly named: The Fortress. A ginormous base floating near the orbit of the earth, where many units are located and can easily dispatch to and from the earth.

Recently, I have been experiencing abnormal issues that have caused a massive shift in my overall performance. I have become more energetic and less focused on combat. I started to show more emotions as of late, as well as curiosity towards the peculiar group known as the Dragon Crusaders. I was surprised when Ethan, the knight, told me that they would like to contact me. I did not hesitate to give them an untraceable tablet that serves as a communications device between the two of us. Acting without orders, I have issued them an untrackable tablet so that no one, not even our director, can track it. I have never felt any sort of attachment or interest in any individual or thing before. It all happened when I felt a strange awakening deep inside of me. It was after that that I spotted the fabled deity fighting against the imperial forces, decimating them effortlessly. That was the first instance where I started to feel more emotion and an even bigger attachment to the white ring on my left finger.

After that, when I was at the funeral of the late king, I began to experience a weird sensation towards our director. It was an overwhelming feeling of power that connected me to him and his family. I additionally started to feel that I am closer to the director than I previously have thought, a sense of familiarity that differs from what a soldier would feel towards their commander. A more intimate feeling that has no correlation with my position as a soldier under his direct orders. It is not a secret that my teammates have noticed my change in behavior. They kept bringing it up all the time, even in front of the crusaders. Before, I used to feel annoyed at the fact that their focus was not on the task at hand or that they were speaking in a disrespectful tone towards their captain. However, as of late, I started to feel an even bigger connection with them and felt personally hurt when they talked down to Justin and questioned my behavior. Despite expecting it, I was even more hurt when I realized that they reported me to the director.

My shift in behavior felt very unnatural to me. However, I felt oddly comfortable to it, as if I was meant to be this way. My curiosity showed itself when I stumbled upon an abandoned room near the director's office two days after the awakening. I did not have the authorization to enter that section of the headquarters. Still, despite my loyalty to our director and the fact that I do not disobey orders, I entered that part of the base and found myself in a dark room filled with possessions of a young girl. I felt free to look around and inspect the hidden room as I felt a sense of familiarity towards it and the items within it, as if I happened to be there at some point and recognized the room all too well. I found a videogame console and comic books near a TV and some clothes in a closet. I looked throughout the room but found nothing that gives me a clue to whom this room belongs to. No photos, no diaries, nothing. After giving up on finding the identity of the girl, I indulged myself in her comics and played two videogames. I spent a total of five hours inside the room before I realized the time and made it back to my teammates, explaining my absence by a sudden maintenance test before returning to the Fortress.

And as I remembered my first experience in the room, I received a call from the director himself. I was shocked when I experienced an unexpected sense of joy upon seeing his ID. Rarely did he contact me in such a personal manner, but in this instance, I felt a sense of happiness that I would not usually experience. All of my orders came through my operator and I rarely felt the need to speak to the director, but as of late, I am experiencing the need to talk to him more and be around him. I answered the call, feeling oddly nervous. "Sir!" I greeted the founder of our organization.

"Alpha-One. Report to my office as soon as possible," He commanded. I got off my chair and walked to the director's office, feeling that he might have discovered me accessing the abandoned section of the headquarters on the moon. It felt strange that he came all the way from the moon headquarters to the fortress and contacted me personally. That fact alone made me feel very tense. Usually, I do not feel these emotions. I have never felt fear, joy, grief, boredom, or even nostalgia. Everything that went through my mind was training and the mission. Those were the only two things to bring me satisfaction, the only sensation that I previously believed to be programmed into my systems. I was the least expressive of my team and did not have anything to share except for orders. Everything I experienced after the battle of the capital came at me all at once and was too overwhelming. I felt uncomfortable and excited at the same time to see the director in person, something that I have never felt before. That itself made me unsure of what to do.

"Alpha-One, reporting!" I announced as I entered the director's office. Benjamin Astralis, the founder of our organization, sat on his chair and stared me in the eyes. I started to feel the sensation of power that I once felt before, accompanied by a feeling of happiness and inner warmth. I felt like I wanted to embrace him in a warm hug, a feeling that absolutely shocked me once I realized it. A strong sense of connection that only humans are supposed to experience. In addition to that, something within me told me that the director is happy to see me, contradicting the stoic, emotionless expression that was evidently displayed on his face.

"We don't have much time, so I'll be brief. Your mission is to infiltrate an imperial installation on earth and destroy it. It's very simple and straightforward. However, due to recent reports, this will be a solo mission," The director stated, much to my surprise.

"A solo mission, sir?" I asked, surprising the man behind the desk.

"A1 did you just... this is weird," He commented about my question.

"I-I apologize, sir."

"No, it's fine. I'm just surprised that you actually didn't immediately agree and set out. To answer your question, yes. This will be a solo operation. Something happened at the battle of the capital, right before the destruction of the imperial mothership. I want to see if my suspicions will prove correct," He explained, making me feel annoyed at the fact that it was obviously a test that he wanted to conduct after my teammates reported me. But then, he said: "I want to see if what happened had any effect on you, as well."

"As well, sir?" I asked in utter shock. "Are you alright?"

"Alpha-One, you seem to be expressive of your emotions today," He stated. I felt a slight hint of happiness in the surprised tone of his voice. "Anyways, I'll explain. I received reports that all the soldiers present at the capital felt a burst of power within them after the dragon god presented himself and slaughtered the imperial forces. I don't understand why, but I felt it, too, despite not being present. I wanted to see if it may have occurred within you. So answer me, Alpha-One. Did you feel something awaken inside of you at that moment?"

"I... I did, sir," I answered truthfully.

"You did?!" The director sounded astounded by this news.

"Yes, sir. I apologize for failing to report it, as I did not fully grasp it. I believed it to be an issue in need of maintenance," I stated. However, it was a lie. I felt overwhelmed and scared, so I did not tell anyone about it. I did not want to have whatever it is checked, fearing to be put on an operating table to be cut open and having my hardware examined.

"In any case, prepare to set out in ten minutes. I will personally oversee your performance"

I approached my mechanized war unit. The one that I call: Golden Dawn. I entered the mech and launched from our base to the enemy installation, destroying the enemy dropships and drones that they positioned to defend against my attack. I used my sword to slice away at the enemy robots before firing my machine guns at them. I destroyed as many as I could before blowing a hole in the base and entering it, exiting my Golden Dawn and approaching the enemies while using my swords and laserbeam attacks to destroy them. I noticed that my combat felt more alive than it did before the fight at the citadel. I felt a sense of satisfaction from destroying the enemy while running throughout the base, drawing as much attention as possible.

"Alpha-One. It appears that there's a human in that base. It is unclear whether they're friend or foe, but check it out," The director spoke to me from the fortress. I followed the beacon he placed for me that leads to the human entity in the base. As I ran, I noticed that the imperial forces have deployed their bipedal mechs, so I activated Golden Dawn's automated battle mode and made it provide escort and take out the enemy robots. After slicing my way through the installation, I made it to the top of a large structure within the base where the beacon led me to the human. I stumbled upon a man with red hair wearing a sleeveless silver jacket and brandishing a prototype imperial rifle. He appeared to be an amateur in his teen years.

"Ooh! Hello there, beauty!" He spoke. "Nice weather."

"Who are you?" I asked nonchalantly, rolling my eyes at his comment.

"Me? Oh, I'm just a guy looking for some cool weapons. What about you, hot stuff?"

"That's classified, I'm afraid," I replied. He arrogantly walked towards me, showing his excessive pride.

"How about you, and I find some stuff in there and share the loot? I could also take you to dinner. What do you say?" He suggested.

"Thanks, but I'll pass. I'm on duty," I replied. "It's too dangerous to be here. I suggest you leave right now."

He waved his finger around and said: "Hey, babe. I wanna make as much money as possible from these tin cans down there. So, I'll give you two options. Either you join me so we can have some fun looting, or you can scram. Which will it be?"

"I'll take option three. I'll take that gun away from you, and you'll go away. With or without injuries, that's for you to decide," I replied.

"Oh, yeah? I like tough gals like you, but stay in your lane and watch your mouth, okay?" He replied before placing one hand on my chest in an attempt to push me, only for me to grab it and push him away. Shocked, he pulled out a baton and tried to hit me. I dodged his attack and punched him in the face, causing him to take a few groggy steps backward. He grabbed his nose and fixed it back into place while laughing, surprising me with his healing powers. That is when I noticed an oddly-shaped glowing tattoo on the back of his right hand. It glowed a bright blue as he realigned his nose and stopped as soon as the nose returned to place. He fired his rifle in my direction, but I rolled away from his attack and fired back with my tiny drone, only to be left taken aback as he jumped and ran away. I ran after the looter, intending to stop his mischievous plans.

I watched as more robots activated, slowing both of us down. He jumped over a wall and stood on a watchtower, watching as I took care of the enemies below by turning them to scrap. He laughed as he got his entertainment from watching me fight. After finishing them, I ran after him and watched as he ran away. I dashed in his direction, closing the distance between us while dodging the robots and destroying any that got in my way. I chased after the elusive daredevil as he jumped from place to place and ran in between robots. Soon enough, I lost track of the man and watched as I got surrounded by a horde of machines. I summoned my Golden Dawn and used it to fly around the base to destroy more robots and locate the looter.

Soon enough, I managed to track him down and found him stealing imperial weapons. I fired missiles from my golden dawn around the area where he was located. He took off, climbing over debris and running away from where I struck. I chased him down and blocked off all his exits, leaving him cornered atop a tower. I exited my mech and walked to his location, only to get ambushed by a giant mech the size of a four-story building. I ran in the opposite direction of the robot, trying not to get caught by its hands that rose from the ground and tried to grab me as I ran on a large bridge. I called upon my Golden Dawn and took to the skies before targeting the robot with my gunfire. When it jumped after me, I fired missiles at it. Two missed while another two hit it in the right shoulder area and blew off its left leg. That's when I dove down and impaled it with the Golden Dawn's sword and then sliced it in half vertically.

I landed on the same tower as the thieving daredevil and exited my robot to confront him. I watched as he applauded me and laughed before firing a shot at my head that I sliced with my sword before it could hit me. Seeing my skill, he gasped and shook his head before readying himself.

"Girl, I don't know who you are, but you remind me of my best friend. But gosh, you're making me fall for you even more!" He exclaimed. "Show me what your majestic body can do!"

He pulled out a sword he found and rushed at me. I did the same, and our swords clashed. The sound of the clashing metal was like music to my ears. I began swinging my sword at the surprisingly talented mercenary and watched as he dodged and fought back with good footwork and balanced swings. He kept alternating between guns and his sword while trying to land a hit. I charged my sword with magic and sliced his weapon in half. Then, I did the same for his rifle before kicking him on the ground and knocking him unconscious. Before leaving, I looted his body and grabbed fifteen hundred bucks as a memento for beating him. I took notice of the marks on his body that appeared closely similar to the one on his right hand, but distinctly different. Each of the symbols supposedly symbolizes something. It also appears to grant the man some abilities. But soon after, I felt his hands around my neck as he tried chocking me. I noticed a red dot on his forehead and quickly moved him before a bullet could penetrate his head before punching him one last time. I looked at the direction the shot came from and saw a sniper wearing a stealth suit. But what took my by surprise, even more, was recognizing the gear as one of our own.

"Stop!" I shouted. "I don't want to hurt you!"

The android did not stop but continued running while her rear being the only prominent feature aside from her all-black uniform. I chased after her throughout the now destroyed facility and managed to corner her on the empty landing pad of a carrier. I raised my hands to announce myself as not a threat and watched as she slowly removed her helmet, revealing none other than Alpha-Two, much to my shock. Her short white hair with red highlights was immediately recognizable alongside her disappointed face.

"What are you doing here?" I asked my partner.

"I-I can't say," She replied without looking at me.

"What?! You spied on me and were going to kill an unconscious human! Plus, since when do you wear a stealth uniform?!" I asked my partner.

"I sent her after you," The director spoke.

"S-Sir!" I stuttered. "What's happening?"

"I wanted to monitor your performance. You have been acting quite strange recently, A1," The director stated.

"Your exchanges with that mercenary were quite strange. You are not the talkative type, Alpha-One. You're certainly not the type to knock someone unconscious instead of killing them, either," A2 said before looking away with her shame clouding her senses.

"S-Sir, I..." I did not know what to say.

"I'll let Alpha-Two say what she wanted to tell you." The director ceased communication after that.

"I... You're acting strangely, captain. I'm really worried about you. The director did not assign me so that he can spy on you or test you. I asked him to because I care about you!" She confessed before looking away once again, clearly hurt by my actions. But I did not harbor any resentment towards her, as seeing her being invested in my well-being was admirable. "Such a sudden change in behavior is something completely unexpected from us androids. You are the strongest android in the force. You never act like this; you were always a calm and stoic leader that did her job and spoke a few words. One day, you start to change, and you don't tell us... me... about it!"

I watched as a tear rolled down her face, it was the first time that she has ever opened up to me and confessed how she felt towards me. My team is more expressive in their emotions that I am, but I was still shocked to see this side of her, as she was shocked to see this new side of me.

"What happened to you, captain?" She asked, her voice weakened by the weeping.

"I... I'm not sure myself," I answered honestly, staring at the ground in shame after making her worry about me.

"I-It's not that I don't like your new personality, I just... I'm worried. Not just as a teammate, captain." Her voice became calmer and spoken with a hint of shyness. "I... I want to be your friend!"

Our team was always like this. On the battlefield, we focus on the mission and let nothing distract us from it. But when we're at the base, I'm the only one who feels nothing and retains my cool and distant nature. Sometimes, it felt that I was crashing their party whenever I arrive with a new mission. Now, when I look back on those moments, I regret not letting them have fun and enjoy their break time, or even joining them for celebration whenever we return after a successful mission. I clearly missed out on a lot of things with my team and I wish I could have gotten to know them better before. Alienating myself from the team was one of the worst decisions that I have ever made.

"Alpha-Two. I'm sorry for worrying you, okay?" I said, smiling at her and watching as she wrapped her arms around me. "I don't want you to be worried all the time, alright?"

"Y-Yes, captain," She replied after breaking the hug. "I apologize."

"That was not an order. We're not on a mission now. Can you... can you call me A1 when we're not on missions?" I asked, to which she nodded and hugged me once more.

"I'm sorry about the mercenary. I was not expecting you to keep him alive. I thought he was going to kill you."

"No worries. Can you do me a favor and deliver him to the nearest royal army installation or police station?" I asked before calling Golden Dawn.

"A-Are you going somewhere?" She asked.

"Alpha-One. My acquaintance at the royal citadel informed me of his majesty's interest in operating by your side. Feel free to aid him as you see fit," The director stated.

"Thank you, sir!" I replied. "I request permission to freely deploy and return to and from the fortress."

"A1! What are you asking?!" Alpha-Two exclaimed. "You're going solo?!"

"Permission granted," The director replied immediately.

"Sir? What's going on?" Alpha-Two asked.

"The Dragon Crusaders must see their mission to the very end. That is our top priority. Otherwise, nothing will be able to stop what's coming. My bloodline has been fighting this evil for millennia. Trust me when I say that we need to act now. I trust in Alpha-One and her ability to help the group, and so I'm sending her on this mission, despite only just hearing of this. As for you, Alpha-One, your team is always at your disposal."

"Thank you, sir," I replied. "Now, A2. I must leave. Get that guy to the authorities and return to base to await further orders."

"Yes, captain!" She said with a bright smile on her face.

I got inside Golden Dawn and flew over the area to look for anything to do before I could contact Justin and the crusaders. That is when I spotted a clothing store and something within me compelled me to purchase a civilian outfit. I parked my mech just outside the store and entered the place. Inside was a horrified saleswoman. I greeted her with a smile and told her that I was looking to spend some money as if I did not just land a gigantic war robot outside her shop and enter while wearing a cutting edge skintight outfit. I ended up buying a crop top, a jacket, ripped jeans, and some shoes. I placed my uniform in the bag and put that bag in a storage repository in my Golden Dawn. After that, I contacted Justin.

"Hello?" The blonde boy said.

"Justin?" I asked.

"Alpha-One?! Is that you?" He said as he saw me. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. I just want to ask if you are available. I'd like to join your party for a while,"

"Oh, sure! You can track us through this thing, right?" He asked.

"Yes. I'll arrive at your location in a few minutes," I replied.

"Great! I'll tell the crusaders!" He said before he said his goodbyes and hung up.

I flew from the store to their location, which was a 10-minute flight from that store that I found and landed my mech a few feet away from their camp. Before I left the robot, I transformed it into an aircraft and left. It activated its camouflage mode to blend it with its surroundings before I walked to the tent. I spotted Alex practicing with his gun, pointing it around and rolling on the floor while making gun sounds.

"Pew Pew Pew!" Alex exclaimed as he rolled around like a cute little kid. He did not realize that I was there until he jumped around too much that he slipped on a rook, and his head landed safely on my chest. He shook as he slowly raised his head to see who it was and jumped back once he realized that it was me.

"A-A-A-A-A-A-ALPHA-ONE?!" He exclaimed.

"Yes. It's me," I replied while chuckling at his silliness.

"So so so so so so sorry!" He stammered, to which I smiled and told him that it is okay. The away his cheeks turned red was adorable, giving me a sensation that I also thought I'd never feel.

"Oh, hey! You made it earlier than I expected!" Justin said as he arrived.

"I was close by," I replied. "How are you?" I asked.

"I'm great. Nice outfit!" He replied.

"I just bought it, thanks!"

"Is that who I think it is?!" Mia exclaimed as she ran towards me, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. "Alpha-One! Alpha-Uno!"

"It's Alpha-Una," King Zachary replied as he approached us.

"Your majesty!" I said, bowing.

"Just call me Zack, please. We don't do that here," He stated.

The group began to show me around the camp and telling me all about their adventures and what their quest actually was while sitting around the campfire at night. I sat and listened intently and gave my take on their situation and their quest. I've also told them about my journey and where I fought while they fought their battles. Then the topic quickly changed after I mentioned the awakening and was told that Justin was the cause of it, much to my shock.

"So Justin was the one who caused everyone to power up?" I asked. "I thought that it was some sort of a coincidence, but... I'm not so sure anymore."

"Yes. There is no reason to deny it. But what strikes me as odd is that you and your director experiencing the same thing as well," Zack stated.

"I'm not sure why. He was not present in the battle, and yet he was affected too. I think it did something to me, too," I stated.

"Oh yeah?" Mia asked. The group started looking at each other, clearly bewildered and astonished by what I just revealed. However, I felt that they knew more than what they were letting on, but I decided not to dwell on it.

"If it weren't for this awakening we experienced, I don't think I'd be here right now, talking to you guys. I'd be... I don't know. Probably on a battlefield somewhere, commanding my team to fight without thinking of their lives. It... It did something to me. No one understands why, though." I ate another piece of the clementine I had in my hands.

"So we can rule out the fact that this awakening was a shockwave effect with a radius," Alex stated. "We can also rule out it affecting those you only know."

"None of us had met the director at that point," Zack stated.

"So, Alpha-One. About that ring on your finger," Justin said as he pointed towards my middle finger. "I don't know, but I think I saw one like it somewhere."

"I don't know anything about it. The only thing I do know is that it means a lot to me, and I can't afford to lose it." I gripped the ring in my hand and stared at it, examining the armor ornament on it. The ring had a knight armor decorating the crystal in the center. "I remember once waking up and having it on my finger. When an examiner tried to force it out, I punched them and broke a tooth or two."

Alex swallowed and replied: "Now that's what I call overkill..."

"Did anything affect it during the awakening?" Justin asked.

"The ring itself? I don't think so. My attachment to it grew immensely, however," I replied. "I'm starting to think that it has more to do with me than I already thought if it makes sense. I believe that the awakening must have fixed some deep malfunction in my algorithms."

"That, uh, could be the case," Justin replied. "All I'm hoping for is for you to be comfortable in your new state."

"Anyway, I'm gonna go to sleep. We're gonna need to be in tip-top shape if we're gonna battle that Daemonsaur." Zack proceeded inside the tent after saying that and went to sleep.

"I'm gonna go, too." Justin got up, followed immediately by Mia.

Alex did not say a word and remained seated on his chair. His gaze was fixed on the ground without saying a word. I realized that there was something wrong with him and decided to ask, and so I said: "Alex?" He did not answer. "Alexander? What's wrong?"

"Actually, It's short for Alexios. Nothing, I'm just... just wondering about stuff," He replied.

"I've been wondering about a lot of stuff recently, too. If you want to talk to me about it, I'm all ears." I sat closer to him to close the distance As I sat on the opposite side of him.

"I... I didn't tell you about what happened to me back at the citadel. I was trying to make it to the citadel and fight alongside my friends. When I arrived, my friends got caught by the enemy soldiers and were going to get killed, that's when I jumped in and took the bullets for them... and died." I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand.

"What?"

"I died. I was killed, A1. I died right then and there. But due to my friends' resolve, they brought me back," He explained. "And gave me this." He raised his golden bionic arm.

"I... I didn't even look like this before," He stated, removing his golden arm to reveal an organic one. His hair turned into a light shade of brown, and his eyes no longer had their golden spark. Instead, they turned into an aquamarine color. He looked breathtaking, and I couldn't help but stare at him and admire his handsomeness.

"You... You look cute either way," I stated, making him blush and look the other way.

"Y-You think so?" He asked. "But that's not what I'm trying to say. I want to say that after what happened, I discovered that we don't always remain who we are. Some of us slowly change over time, slightly change, change dramatically. Sometimes overnight. Do you think that you changed because of the awakening, or were you different and are changing again?"

His question made me pause to collect my thoughts. What he just revealed was very thought-provoking and made me question whether or not I am who I think I am. However, I have already looked at my data and the date of my creation alongside the maintenance logs. Before my creation, my memory banks didn't even exist.

"I'm not so sure. I was created nearly a year ago. I don't know what to think about this. To tell you the truth, I discovered a secret room in our moon base that has many different items and belongings. When I read through the comic books and played through the videogames, I felt a weird sensation of familiarity," I stated. "It was not just a simple Deja vu, but a feeling that I knew what I was doing and that it felt completely normal and familiar. I felt that I was going through my own belongings, oddly enough. But I know for sure they are not mine. Everything in that room is older than I am."

"What videogames were there?" He asked.

"Some RPG games and action games. Additionally, I saw some racing games but did not play them. I also read some superhero comics and some shonen manga," I stated. Suddenly, an idea came to my head, where I asked Alex to come with me. I took him to where I hid Golden Dawn and deactivated the cloaking mechanisms. He gasped and held his face in his hands.

"Whoa! Th-This... This is a spacecraft!" He exclaimed.

"This is my mech that you saw before. It can turn into a spaceship to transport stuff and people easily and to consume less power."

Alex swallowed. "At least you can cloak this thing. Having it out on display to anyone passing by is dangerous. The empire would have surely taken notice of a large spaceship landed in the middle of nowhere."

"Still less conspicuous than a giant mech, don't you think? Come on. Let's hope in!" I grabbed him by the hand and took him inside the transformed mech. He was flabbergasted by the sight of the many screens and buttons in the cockpit and felt the urge to explore the entire thing. He even took out his phone and took pictures of the interior. 

"I feel like a kid inside a hypercar, times a million!" He exclaimed.

"I'm not sure I understand, but okay." Alex sat next to me and watched as I helped him with his seat belts, harnessing him tightly. I sat in the pilot seat and launched to outer space, heading to the moon headquarters.

Alex indulged himself by recording the entire launching process and our exit to outer space on his phone. I giggled to myself when I watched his intense excitement as the planet got further and further away. I watched as he couldn't contain his excitement and jumped around in his seat. I paused the warping preparations and deactivated the artificial gravity before releasing our seat belts, allowing us to fly freely inside and have fun as we laughed together, something that I never expected to do or enjoy.

"This is awesome!" Alex exclaimed. "We're in outer space!"

It was great so see an outsider's perspective on something so mundane and earthly as traveling through outer space is for me. Seeing Alex's enthusiasm about being in space like this made me see my job in a new light. I never saw my traveling to and from the earth as something other than regular work, but experiencing it with Alex made me appreciate what I do. It was also the first time that I experienced having aimless and pointless fun that I could enjoy with someone. I never knew how fun it is to play around with someone until I experienced it.

"Come on, let me show you the bright side of the earth," I said before flying Golden Dawn to the daylight side of the earth, where the sun's light formed an arc at the edge and caressed the blue planet with the stunning morning light. Alex immediately pulled out his phone and took pictures of this beautiful spectacle.

"Isn't it beautiful?" He asked.

"Yes," I replied as we watched the planet together before leaving to the moon base.

I was not sure that bringing someone like Alex to the moonbase is authorized, but I wanted him to see what I discovered and enjoy it with me. As someone who knows his way around games and comic books, he is the best choice. Aside from that, I could sense a connection between us, as if we were similar in some ways. Alex also seems to enjoy my company the most. I grabbed a cloaking ring from my locker and gave it to him. I watched as he placed it on his bionic arm, where it blended seamlessly. He activated it and went invisible before deactivating it and jumping around like an adorable kid. Soon, we arrived at the moon headquarters, where I took an invisible Alex throughout the base. We passed many androids and humans that failed to notice Alex due to his invisibility and silent movements. However, most of them gave me weird looks.

"Your peers look so cool!" Alex stated in a whisper. "I wish I had outfits like this!"

"I don't think they allow cyborgs to join," I stated.

"Captain?" The voice of Alpha-Three spoke as he, along with the rest of my team, approached me. "You arrived as well?"

"A-A-Alpha-Three?! What are all of you doing here?!"

"We could ask the same question, captain," A4 replied.

A3 then asked: "Why are you wearing human clothes?"

I forgot that I was wearing civilian clothes and wondered why everyone was giving me weird looks. "Who, me? Is it wrong to uh, try to blend in?" I stated, not telling them that I found the shop and wanted to change outfits because I like the clothes I found.

"Don't worry about tall boy over here, A1. You look great!" Alpha-Two complimented me and gave me a thumbs-up.

"I agree. This outfit suits you well, captain," Alpha-Six stated, smiling at me like her teammate, A2. "Our mechs are currently undergoing some maintenance."

Alpha-Four gave me an indifferent look with his hands crossed while A3 nodded with a smile, agreeing with the girl. I noticed that the rest of our teammates, from Alpha-Seven to Alpha-Ten were not present. I looked away to hide my blush and thanked the rest of the group before leaving in a hurry, making the entire group wonder about my sudden behavior.

Soon enough, we arrived at the secret hallway. But to my shock, it was locked and with high-security clearance needed to open the door. I sighed as our journey was forced to come to an end. That's when Alex thought of an idea and said: "Try to use your clearance."

"Huh? You think it'll work?" I asked the cyborg.

"I mean you're the one who stated that free-roaming from earth to the moon and back is one of the highest clearances. Maybe you could try to use it here. It's not like we'll be losing anything," He explained. "Besides, the journey here with you is what counts."

I placed my hand on the door, and to my shock, it opened. We were free to go inside and access the rooms in the unauthorized section of the base. I took Alex to the secret room where I found all of the stuff and showed him around. I watched as he examined the comics and manga while taking a look around, telling me a lot of things about it and sharing his geek knowledge about it all. I found myself feeling that I was being reminded of the information Alex shared instead of learning it for the first time. When we finished reading manga, I activated the console and TV, where we played for a while and enjoyed each other's company. Once again, I experienced a strange feeling of familiarity that came with a deja vu of everything that had to do with the games we played.

"I'm surprised someone like you would be into nerd culture and memes," Alex stated. "You're also a pro when it comes to games."

"Yeah, I'm surprised too," I stated before watching Alex yawn and lay on the bed.

"This bed is so comfy," He stated. I got curious and rested beside him, making him jolt upward as I stretched my body.

"What? You said it was comfy," I said.

"I-I-I..." He stuttered.

"Come on. No one's gonna come." I winked at the boy, feeling entertained by his embarrassment.

He sighed and lay next to me. I couldn't help but feel the need to tease him more, and so I rested my head on his chest. I could feel his breathing intensify as he felt increasingly uncomfortable by what I just did. Alex could not see the smug face I pulled while teasing him with my actions. I understood from what Justin told me was that Alex is very perverted, second only to Mia and her love for teasing. I was not sure why she told me to tease Alex while we were at their camp, but I enjoyed it. His body was also very warm and made me feel the need to relax on him, giving me more reasons to stay beside him.

"Why don't we stay here for the night?" I suggested to the guy who stuttered with his words.

"A-Are you sure i-i-it's okay?" He asked.

"No one's here," I replied.

"B-B-But-" I cut him off by putting a finger on his mouth. Then I pulled myself to his level and relaxed on the pillow next to him, smiling at the sight of his beautiful golden eyes with embarrassment within them clear as day.

"Do you not want to stay with me?" I asked, making him look away before looking back at me, not knowing what to say.

"I-I-I-I-I... Aren't you a super-serious super android soldier who's too busy for s-stuff like this?"

I chuckled and winked at him. "What's wrong with taking a break from all that for once?"

I felt an odd feeling of satisfaction when messing with Alex and seeing his reaction. I also, for some reason, enjoyed his company and wanted to spend the day with him more than anyone. I started getting used to feeling more emotions and having human desires despite not knowing where they originate from or why they are there at all. I decided that I'll start embracing my new personality and enjoy this gift. Soon enough, I deactivated my supplemental energy supply and fell asleep next to him.

"A1? A1? Oh, gods..."