Friendly Fire is On

Three - New Perspective

The cool spring breeze brushed against Daiya's hair, while the warm sunlight rested upon the exposed skin of his arms. The chirping of birds was a great addition to the calming atmosphere that surrounded him.

Yet, it was strange. Daiya's first thought was that he was back at headquarters and sleeping on his bed. If this was the case, why could he feel sunlight upon his body? The last time he checked, his bed was nowhere near the window.

This minor irregularity made it difficult for Daiya to comfortably continue his slumber. He needed to rid himself of this mental conflict so that he could go back to sleep.

Slowly, his eyes opened to see the clear blue sky. He shifted his head to see an endless field of green grass. The view was surreal, a scenery he never expected to find inside his room.

To further recollect his thoughts, Daiya pushed himself upright on his resting area. He had hoped that by doing so, the familiar sight of his home would naturally come into view.

Instead, standing silently in front of him was an Ameise; its singular red camera stared directly at him.

"AAAAHHHH!" Daiya could not resist his urge to scream at the top of his lungs in horror and disbelief. He screamed, rejecting the reality before his very eyes and praying that his loud cries would awaken him from this nightmare.

However, no matter how many times he emptied his lungs, the scenery never changed...Daiya could not escape this nightmare.

The Legion standing before him was real.

Then, just as sudden as his screams of terror, Daiya's eyes rolled into the back of his head. He fell back onto his mattress, like an unconscious sack of potatoes. He gladly accepted the darkness that greeted him because it was a hell a lot better than seeing an Ameise mere inches away from his face.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, Daiya was shaken awake from the feeling of his bed frame scraping against rocks. He slowly inches his head forward to see an Ameise dragging a wooden construct. The same construct Daiya was laying on.

Instinctively, he tried to escape. Quickly he got on his feet, but only to fail horribly and tumble out of his moving mattress.

It was only after he stopped tumbling on the dirt floor did he realize that his left foot was missing. In its place was a stomp. Just looking at his missing appendage brought up memories of his most recent battle against the Legion and how he was hit by a new laser weapon.

Recalling this recent memory allowed Daiya to see the futility of his situation. His attempt to escape was a spur of the moment. Even when he tried to escape and tumbled onto the ground, he knew it was impossible for him to escape. Now, seeing his missing foot, his fantasies of freedom dissipated.

To make matters worse, his little performance caught the attention of every Legion unit around him. From every angle, Daiya could see the red eyes of the Legion. Both he and the machines silently stared at each other, waiting for the other to break contact.

Finally, an Ameise took initiative and walked towards him.

Daiya could do nothing but fear for the worse.

Yet, his worst fears didn't materialize. Instead, the Ameise pushed a brown sack towards Daiya using its front leg.

"Huh?" Daiya raised an eyebrow at the machine's actions, but made no move to do anything besides sitting on his little spot on the ground and shaking in fear.

Daiya's confusion continued to grow when the same Ameise tapped on the sack to signal him to do something regarding the object.

"You want me to open it?" Daiya hesitantly asked. His question was met with a nodding motion from the Ameise.

Slowly, Daiya moved his hand towards the sack and opened it. To his shock, he saw cans of food and metal cases filled with old medical supplies.

"Is this for me?" Once again, Daiyo was met with another nod.

For lack of better words, Daiya was utterly shell-shocked. He has never heard of the Legion helping people. Especially, when the same group of Legion units had first tried to kill him before saving him. Usually, fresh living humans would have their brains ripped out and integrated into the Legion network. Perhaps, they were trying to keep him alive to keep his delicious brain fresh, like a glorified refrigerator.

As to further deviate from common sense, a different Ameise moved his mattress (that's sitting on a sled) to his side as if telling Daiya to get back on the makeshift open-roof carriage.

Hesitantly, he reached into the sack to bring up a can of old bean soup. The steel can was cold to the touch. This small sensation was enough proof that he was not dreaming--that the fact that he was being taken cared of by a group of Legion was real.

"Thank you...I guess." Daiya could say nothing else, but these simple words.

Daiya could not comprehend what was happening. He could not believe this was real.

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Alright. At this very moment, Daiya was deadly sure everything that was happening to him was real.

*BOOM!* *SHOOM!* *PITNG*

Gunfire and explosions rocked Daiya's eardrums.

Daiya hugged the ground, making himself as flat as possible to avoid getting hit by stray bullets. For further protection, three Ameise Legion units formed a defensive circle around him.

Things have been calm...If a person could consider being kidnapped by a group of Legion robots as being calming.

The cans of food were old, but edible after cooking them over a fire. Daiya didn't expect the Legion to understand the necessities of human survival, but they did seem to try to put in the effort in making his life comfortable. When he needed to cook or get warm, an Ameise would deposit an unused bullet so that Daiya could extract the gunpowder to start a fire. When he asked for a bit of diversity in his diet, Daiya would receive a bird that's gunned down from the sky.

He was also able to properly disinfect his wounds and bandage his leg thanks to the supplies gathered by his capturers.

All in all...If he ignored the detail that he was held captive by the Legion, he was living a pretty nice life.

He still didn't trust these machines. That's a fact that'll stay true forever. Hell, he didn't even know where they were taking him. For all he knew, he was being taken to a Legion research facility to be tortured and experimented on. Though, he wouldn't deny that this unique group of Legion units were keeping him alive.

The event that truly convinced Daiya that this particular group of Legion units were special was when they shot at their fellow kin. In other words, Daiya's entire attitude towards the Legion changed when a firefight--the one that's occurring before his very eyes--started between his little group against another Legion squad.

Maybe, he was truly being saved by rogue Legion robots that somehow rebelled against their former masters and kin. Maybe, the fight that occurred in Zaka Village was a misunderstanding. Perhaps, they were allies trying to help him in their misconstrued way.

This theory grew more evident as more of the hostile Legion units were mowed down by rogue Legion units led by the scorpion-like machine he had never seen until the battle at Zaka Village.

Maybe, at the end of this journey that this rogue Legion group was taking him on, he could get back to his friends alive and well.