Our ships hovered just outside of the Dreadnought's shield. We helped each other up and we all limped to the edge of Oryx's alter. "Colt, you think you could fly our ship? I'm gonna ride with Blake." I said as I rubbed my arm, or lack there of. "Sure." Colt gave a short but sweet reply. We were all transmatted to our respective ship and we finally left that d***ed Dreadnought. "So, what happened to your arm?" Asked Blake. "Well, Phantom shot me with a shotgun. That tore up my arm pretty bad. Then, wyrms ate what was left." I cringed as Blake inspected my arm. "Wyrms? Yeah, we'd better sterilize it then." Blake took a rag and dipped it in a bottle. He rubbed my arm a few times. It burned!! I clenched a small ball and gritted my teeth. Blake wrapped up my shoulder. I looked to my right arm, the plates were bent, broken, or missing. Some of the wires were frayed, causing some of my fingers to no longer move. "... I'm not the tough and brave hunter that I tried to be. I was just trying to impress y'all. Dakota was tough, so I figured fight fire with fire." "It doesn't surprise me. One, you're eighteen. You've seen a lot, but you had to have been scared. Two, you're hunter. That's all that needs to be said." Blake propped himself against the wall. "A**hole. I'm trying to have a serious conversation, here." I scolded. "Sorry." Blake shifted a little. "That's one of the things we learn when training as a titan. It's terrifying going into a fight, not sure that you're going to return. But if we don't fight the battles, who will?... We must be brave and protect those we love from the Darkness." "I thought your girlfriend studied the Darkness..." I said as I snickered. "Alright, jacka**!" Blake pointed at me. I gave a smile. "Karma." I looked out of the cockpit window. "I never finished my training. I learned how to hold a hand cannon and throw a knife. That's it, that's all I learned... I probably should look into that." I said. "Alan, where is your, uh, 'doctor'?" Asked Dakota through the ship's communications system. Blake and I sat down in the seats. "Venus, the Ishtar Cliffs. Lorinski's Robotic Engineering." I said. "Copy that. Setting course for Venus." We instantly slowed down as we reached Venus. A rain storm made the sky grim as we flew over an orange lake. Colt joined me when we landed. "Alan, what were those magazines in your ship?" He asked. Everyone looked at me. They all had smirks on their faces. I swallowed. "Trending Science..." I walked on. "Mmhm." Colt followed me. We walked into the door and we were greeted by a frame. "How may I be of assistance?" "Is Doctor Lorinski available?" I asked. The frame sporadically looked at the different monitors behind the desk before clicking a button. "He will be with you shortly." "Thank you." I said as we took a seat. "Who's paying the medical bill?" Asked James. "Would this count as 'medical'?" Asked Morin. A man in a white lab coat walked into the waiting room. We stood up as he shook most of our hands. "Good evening, gentlemen. How can I help you today?" "A member of my team lost an arm while on a mission." Answered Dakota. "I'm sorry, Sir. This is a robotics lab. I design exos." Dr. Lorinski placed his hands in his jacket pockets. I stepped into sight. "You helped me before, Doctor..." Dr. Lorinski looked at me with a confused look. "Were you the child with Theta-14?" He asked. "Yeah. You made my bionic arm." I said as I raised my damaged and sparking arm. He led us into his lab and called for some doctors to help. I sat on the chair and I was laid back. The doctors put a mask on me and turned on some gas. I looked to my team, they looked like a wreck, and I knew I didn't look much better. My vision slowly faded, and before I knew it, I was asleep. Peace, restful peace, it had to come to an end. I woke up in a dark room, the sun barely peeking over the horizon. I raised my head and looked around, everyone was asleep. Everyone but Colt, he was looking at his own "Trending Science" magazines. I rubbed my face, then looked at my arms. I had both of my arms back, but both of them were metal. It wasn't a terrible dream like I hoped. I tried to make fists, but it was really difficult. Dr. Lorinski replaced the wires in my right arm as well, so I to learn how to work that one again. I laid my head back and took a deep breath. I could feel my chin quiver and tears roll down my cheek. I hoped that this was all a dream. That I was never a guardian. That I never lost my arms. That I never left home. My mind raced with thoughts, and not long later, I had cried myself to sleep. The next morning, Dr. Lorinski came in to check on me. "How do you feel, Alan?" I raised my arms and looked at them. "I'm still learning how to use my fingers again." "Were my calibrations off?" Dr. Lorinski looked at my left arm. "It's a first for all of us, Doctor." I said. "Except for you. This is your second visit." Interupted Colt. "What are you looking at?" Asked Susan as she flew up to him. "Nothin'." Answered Colt. "Are those shelless..." Susan's eye grew big when she saw the cover of the magazine. "Colt?! How dare you?!" Susan started slapping Colt and pushing him out of the room. Colt tried to avoid the abusement that was Susan. "Ow! Holy... Oww! Son of a-" "COLT!!" "Come on?! OW!!" We watched the ghosts fly out of the room. "Sorry 'bout that, Doctor." I said through gritted teeth. "So, those are your 'ghosts', as you call them?" Asked Dr. Lorinski as he looked to Wolf Pack. "Yeaaah. Colt is my ghost." I said. Dr. Lorinski wanted to change the topic. "Well, if you need regular check ups, we can work on the calibrations and get them set properly. Other than that, you are good to go." Dakota stood up. "Thank you, Doctor." He said as he shook his hand. We walked back to our ships. "Colt, I'm gonna need you to fly again." I said as I climbed in. "Oh, yay. Am I your chaperone, now?" He barked. "It's that, or I crash us into Venus before we exit the atmosphere..." I said. "Considering I can transmat myself out, you're the only one at risk." I thought about that for a moment. "Could you just fly the d*** ship?!" "Not with that attitude..." Colt spun away from me. "I'll just fly with someone else..." I said somberly. I boarded James' ship and we launched into orbit.