Grimsley sat on the outside of a large humvee with his chin resting on his knee. It was depressing knowing there was a battle going on just outside town that he could have no part in. All that military training and for what? Well in actuality the militia training he had received had been quite light but it could certainly be enough when he was fighting next to those incredible machines.

Not to mention the thoughts of sweet Raven drifting through his head, flowers swirling around them as they danced through fields of lovely dandelions. It would be through heroic deeds in war times that he would win her heart and he couldn't commit these deeds if there was no war at hand! Instead it was a waiting game for something to happen, either the return of victorious Goliaths or an invasion by enemy ones.

During all of this, Gretta sauntered over and propped her elbows on the side of the vehicle, staring up intently at her brother. "Whatcha thinkin 'bout Grimsley?"

"You know what I'm thinking of Gretta." Grimsley's eyes took on a distant look as he stared out at the horizon where the sun would dip and where the battle was surely taking place at that moment.

"You're thinking about Raven right? Or no wait, maybe it's the war? Or perhaps you're thinking of going and buying some more bread for the house because we're out of it." She gave him a poke to tease him but found no reaction out of her brother. He simply sighed and again continued to look away. "Boy you're really hung up over that girl aren't you?" Gretta put on a little pouty face and mock attitude. "What's so special about her anyways? She's just a flower head!"

Grimsley sat bolt upright at hearing this. "Don't say that Gretta! She's a wonderful, beautiful girl with a head full of knowledge and thinking...and...and science..."

"You don't know anything about her do you?"

"No." Grimsley hunched over his knees in a sulk. "But all girls love heroism don't they? Military men and brave soldiers?" Gretta simply rolled her eyes at him in response. Grimsley sat up a little again to look over at where the assumed fight was happening. "I just wish I could do something to help them. Even if it wasn't for Raven. You saw them Gretta, they're all practically my age, forced to fight in the most dangerous type of combat possible. I mean at least I can't really be hit by a Goliath, unless it steps on me. I'm just too insignificant. But they have to deal with each and every weapon the enemy has. And piloting those things! Whew, that must take a ton of energy."

"Well I mean you could always help them..." Gretta's voice trailed off and she started to look around the town square as inconspicuously as she could.

"What do you mean by that Gretta?" Grimsley spun to face his younger sister, as he had done many times before when confronting her over a secret she had been keeping from him.

In her trademark style, Gretta began to tap her two index fingers together while looking down at the ground sheepishly. "Well I mean we own a tank called a 'Goliath-killer.' You could always help them by using it right?"

"It doesn't work Gretta. It's just like a model in a museum." Gretta looked away to avoid meeting Grimsley's cold gaze. "Right Gretta? It doesn't work, right?"

"Umm...well..."

"Gretta!" Grimsley frustrated cry caused Gretta to leap up a little before returning to her cowardly pose.

"Well it's just that the other day I was working on it and I checked the ignition to see if I could get anything and the whole thing just kind of...kind of turned on. I've done some tests on it otherwise...it's fully functional and it even has a few rounds still loaded inside of it."

"Why didn't you tell me this?!" Grimsley had leapt off the humvee and was shaking Gretta with excitement, nearly dragging her behind him as he raced for the motorcycle. "I can use the tank! I can go help them out. I can be a hero! And Raven will certainly love a manly action hero such as myself." He pictured himself standing tall atop a tank, the sun setting behind him, shirt open to his chest, with a flag waving in the distance and a smouldering Goliath lying before him, with Raven down at his feet, stretched out across the top of the tank in full admiration of his abilities.

"I just..." Gretta stopped just off the motorcycle while Grimsley got on and started it. "I couldn't...I didn't want you to go Grimsley! I don't want to lose you just like papa!" Tears streamed from her eyes and she jumped up onto Grimsley with a cry, smothering him. "Please don't Grimsley, I don't want you to die like he did."

The brother's heart warmed, he gingerly lifted his sister and moved her around until she was sitting in the passenger seat and gave her a soothing stroke through her hair. "I'm not like dad was Gretta. I'm not going to die on you, I promise you that." He gave her the warmest smile he could muster and a little kiss on the forehead and the two were off, racing towards their house.

Grimsley couldn't get there fast enough and nearly flung them over the front as he braked too quickly outside the door. He raced off the bike and threw open the barn doors to see the ageing tank resting inside. He fumbled for the keys on one of the workbenches and nearly threw them inside the ignition as he scrambled to get into the fray just over near the horizon.

The old machine roared to life in response to its switch being turned on and, with gentle care, Grimsley managed to pull out of the barn. At first the controls were sticky and tough to manoeuvre but he had studied the tank's design for an incredibly long time and felt fairly comfortable with it once the steering had worked out the rust in its gears.

He popped back out of the tank through the port in the top and jumped down in front of Gretta, whose cheeks were still flushed from crying and her eyes red-rimmed. He knelt down to her level and forced her to look into his own eyes, again giving her that reaffirming smile. "I'll come back Gretta, don't worry. In the meantime you just have to come up with some new weapon designs and improvements for this thing when I bring it back. I'll make sure not to put too many dents in it." Grimsley gave out a hearty laugh that caused Gretta to giggle a little along with it because of its contagion.

Grimsley looked up to see Aunt Shauna standing behind Gretta, just outside the door to their little farmhouse. Her face was iron set as it always was and Grimsley moved past Gretta to go confront his aunt. He stood his tallest in front of her and the two had a long stare. In the background there was a lonely bird singing a little tune and Grimsley thought he saw Raven looking out at him through the kitchen window. He didn't get a chance to confirm though as the cast-iron of a frying pan smashed into his left jaw, then swung across and came back onto the right side, sending him reeling through the air to land on his chin, eyes spinning.

"The legendary double slap style," Gretta murmured in awe. Grimsley shook himself off and looked up to see a tear rolling down his aunt's leathery, old cheek. She scooped him up off the ground and gave him a nearly bone-crushing hug.

"Don't follow in my brother's footsteps. His blood runs in you but let his fate not be shared as well." Aunt Shauna put Grimsley back on the ground as she finished her piece of wisdom, and Grimsley looked past her to see Raven in the window again. He nodded at her and she blushed and ducked away. For his sister, his aunt, but mostly for the girl, he would come back to them alive and a hero.

Grimsley hauled himself back on top of the tank, and with a wave to his remaining family, he dropped down into the vehicle and began the drive to the warzone...

* * * * *

Marian stood up from his chair at the entrance of the final guest to their war meeting. Currently they were onboard the General's ship as it hovered over Narrius, the battle having been put to rest momentarily after the retreat of the Artisans. It would not last forever but it gave them a good chance to regroup, while they held the upper hand over the enemy. But it also gave Marian a chance to vent his anger over an unexpected visitor.

Sigma stood at the far end of the table, having arrived last to greet the war room and missing much of the strategic discussions. Marian signalled to the last remaining chair. "Take a seat Sigma, please. It is so rare for us to be honoured by our country's most powerful experimental war machine."

"No thank you, General Marian. I am content to stand."

"Suit yourself. You missed all of our chats earlier Sigma. Had you been present you would understand the strategies we are going to be using so you could follow them."

"With due respect sir, I find the strategies of an army irrelevant in a situation where a single unit holds the capacity for victory. Would it not make more sense to use your best weapon as quickly as possible?" Sigma's voice was hollow and metallic, echoing not only in the room but inside of Sigma himself. There was an emptiness to it that chilled all who heard it, devoid of emotion it sucked up the energy of a room like a vacuum, creating an eerie feeling and uncomfortable sensation among the different men sitting at the table.

"This is why you are the weapon Sigma, and not the wielder." Marian slammed his fist down on the table as his anger boiled over. "We cannot afford to let you loose on the enemy so that they may analyze you and thus find a way to defeat you, or worse, to copy you. Small doses, quick flashes, those are key, and those are your instructions and orders. Just because we possess an unrivalled military power doesn't mean we should use it wantonly! We must preserve our forces, especially our most valuable ones. I do not understand how a machine of such incredible processing power cannot understand on its own the importance of keeping your usage to a minimum."

Sigma stood for a moment as the final words reverberated around the room. His irises rotated as they refocused on the General, data streaming by and being collected on the environment in continuous fashion. At the same time, satellites were being hacked to watch over the enemy and Sigma was sending out signals towards the Kaiser's building for further instructions. "This machine cannot understand it because this machine was created for the sole purpose of being put to use in war. With that opportunity arisen, you choose instead to disallow it to act within the battle and thus this machine cannot comprehend your logic. Why build a weapon to not use it?"

Marian sat back in his chair with an enormous sigh. His age was starting to show on his face and he rubbed his temples a little for a moment in thought. "Some weapons are just too great to be used, even on as terrible an enemy as the Artisans. You will have your time Sigma, one day. But for now you must understand the importance of a traditional battle. From here on out you will serve primary function for reconnaissance and Intel, as you are faster than anything else we have and have the capacity to acquire information at an alarming rate, as you proved with your little demonstration earlier involving the ships weapons.

There was the faintest motion of a smile twitching at the corner of Sigma's mouth but it was gone in an instant and the face returned to its blank, forward stare. "The problem with your theory, General Marian, is that the weapons you speak of do not have a mind of their own and are not in control of themselves." With this, Sigma lifted his hand up and squeezed into a fist. "I, on the other hand, am something entirely different. What happens when your weapon does not wish to comply? I hope you never see that day." Sigma turned and was gone out the door before Marian could respond.

The rest of the table collectively turned to look down at where the general sat, but he placed his fingers on his brow and dismissed them, staring out from under his hand at the door where Sigma had made his exit. Just what are you planning Sigma? Show me the rules to this game, he thought.

* * * * *

There was another beep on the machine beside the bed. It did that on time, every time, in a perfect pattern throughout the day. Ochenkov knew this for he had listened to it for many long hours as he lay in the hospital.

His time here was drawing to an end though. It would not be long before he could leave the bed and would soon return to the battlefield and up to the wilderness of the north where he belonged. Curses upon Christian and his secret methods! Ochenkov would show him how the tribes of the north dealt with unsavoury characters!

Kaiser Namio stepped into the room at that moment, removing his long coat and hanging it up at the wall, revealing a very simple white outfit underneath that made him look like any other commoner. Ochenkov did his best to nod at the Kaiser in respect but was instantly waved off as Namio pulled up a chair and sat down. "You know that is not necessary old friend."

Namio reached down and squeezed Ochenkov's hand. "Seeing you is much joy Namio. Many sleepless nights spent here. Wishing I could have laughed more of them with you." Ochenkov's thick accent was on full display, as part of his northern heritage. He never made the slightest attempt to patch up his words when he was speaking to the Kaiser.

"An honest man Ochenkov. You always were." Namio paused a moment as he looked at Ochenkov's elder face, full of scars and wounds. "I truly am sorry for what happened to you Ochenkov, and your men. It was just...I mean it was the only way and while I put it off for so long-"

"I understand what happens Kaizer. The head of state must put country before friends sometimes."

Namio winced out a smile. "It is not the course we want to take but the one we are forced to. I had a lot of faith in you though Ochenkov. If anyone could stand up to that machine, I thought it might be you."

"I am ashamed of self also. But there is pride in losing a fair fight to skilled opponent. He beat me Namio. In my homelands, that is nothing to feel sorry of for too long. Only sad I could not win for my country. And for my men."

"Yes and I do apologize for what happened to them. Needless to say the strike was quite effective in flushing them out of their hiding spot. You may have lost a battle, Ochenkov, but you have helped win a war."

Ochenkov rolled his head away from the Kaiser a moment and looked out the window up at the sky. There was a mild snowfall happening outside and so the sky was blotted over with thick, grey clouds. "But at what cost Namio? My men are what I fight for. Some are gone now. I never lost men before. I feel...how do you say? Incomplete?"

Namio patted his friend on the chest. "I understand how you feel Ochenkov. I have had to lose many, sometimes because of an errant decision I myself have made. It is a tough life to live but the one that we choose in this case."

"You would not know, Kaizer. Not unless you lose someone closer. Like sister dying." Ochenkov's words became distant as he spoke them, as frostbitten as the world outside and Namio sat up a little straighter upon hearing them. His head flitted with images of Nami hugging him as she went off to the academy.

"Well I hope I never feel that pain Ochenkov. I am sorry I cannot take it away from you."

"What you want Namio? You not visit me in age. Only now that I am crippled hero of war I find you at bedside? I do not believe in it. It is Christian is it? Even in the north we have snakes and rats, Kaizer. Less of them, but more dangerous. I fear you have same problem."

Namio went through a great exhale as his head hung low for a moment, pondering the next move in this game of verbal chess. "Ochenkov, I just...listen Ochenkov I just need to know...what did he say to you, when you battled?"

"My men are dead Kaizer. They lie on snowy mountain where blood mix with machine. Nobody give proper burial to them. Their Goliaths still warm and all that you want is to know what was said. Petty words are nothing in battle. Anything was said, and everything."

"Ochenkov, I am asking you not just as your commanding chief, but as your friend. For the sake of this war and your country, I urge you to tell me what was said!" Namio's patience was beginning to wear out and he was clenching his fists tighter to resist an outburst.

"Ha! I have no country. Not one made by your boundaries. My heart lies in the north alone, where we do not bow to kings who drink the poison of the adder! Return to me my men and you will have your words Kaizer. When you do that, I talk." With that, Ochenkov began to cackle, his laughter breaking through the walls of the room and carrying throughout the entire hospital.

Kaiser Namio rose from his seat and returned his coat to his body in a hurry. "I cannot raise the dead Ochenkov, only increase their numbers."

A/N: As one finds relief, tensions rise amongst others. Will Grimsley make it in time to save the others? What is Sigma planning behind those lenses? And what exactly was said in the battle of the north?!?! Who knows when you'll get the answer! Can't wait for next chapter!

Thanks to everyone who has supported the story so far. It is through your inspiration I keep it going so please don't stop with the feedback!