Marilyn
"No, no, no! It can't be!" A dozen different warning lights flashed before my eyes, signaling the failure of the heat shield, the electromagnetic shield, the armor plating, the supersonic thrusters, the guided missiles, the railgun, the autopilot, the directed-energy laser weapons, the sonic weapons, and so many other state-of-the-art systems. And the cause of it all... "It can't be, not someone like you...!"
A MECHA half the size of my own, a metallic abomination cobbled together from parts of various different models; it was hardly more agile, armored, or powerful than the war machines of the last century, as primitive as a child's toy compared to my Elvis. In fact, a single glancing blow from my atomic vibro-blade had exposed the pilot's cockpit without the slightest difficulty. And yet, it was my machine down on its knees, while she loomed over me.
Just a little girl, she was impassive, cold-eyed, her face like a stone sculpture, perpetually expressionless.
"Surrender your MECHA, and your life will be spared" the little girl said, indifferent to the destruction and the burning bodies around us. Her primitive machine had a 40mm machine gun aimed directly at my cockpit.
"It can't be... not someone like me" tears welled up in my eyes as I bit my lower lip. Through my blurred vision, I could still see the millions in the crowds who watched my military parades, the ones who roared at every word of my speeches. What would they think of me at this moment? "Green Hell, damn you!" I shouted, kicking the ejection lever repeatedly, desperately trying to unjam it.
"Then die" the little girl replied indifferently, about to pull the trigger.
"No, no!" A masked soldier interrupted, climbing up Green Hell's leg. "In a situation like this, you have to scream 'Elviiiis!!', you know? Like rivals."
"I... do?"
"You sure do. I mean, you two are arch-enemies, right? You're going to feel relieved after you beat her, aren't you?"
"I feel nothing toward her, and completing this mission isn't essentially different from any other" I bit my lip until it bled upon hearing the little girl say that.
"...That's no fun. Think of it this way: she's like the Anti-Spiral, and you're Simon!"
"Ah" a flicker of emotion crossed the enemy pilot's face. Furrowing her brow with difficulty, like someone who had never done it before, the little girl stared at me again, then feigned anger. "E-Elviiiiis" she shouted, devoid of emotion.
"YOU COLD-HEARTED, WRETCHED BITCH!" I shot back.
And she pulled the trigger.
▲○X■
I stared at the smear of lipstick staining my exposed tooth; my hand had automatically applied makeup to a part of my lip that no longer existed.
I didn't know why I was so distracted that morning, turning over old memories like a total loser.
"Ah-haha. What great star hasn't had a scandal? I lost a little ol' mecha, big deal" I smiled, wiping away the smudged makeup. "What matters is that I successfully escaped back then, and later returned to destroy Green Hell. I've almost got the crowds back on my side; I know it."
I just needed to complete one more mission, just that one ridiculous mission, and I'd be adored and loved by everyone all over again. Having infiltrated the company that distributed the hardware running "Vanguard", I was already halfway there; I had even installed system modifications, crafted by the nerds back home, into the lobotomized MECHAS, granting myself special advantages both in and out of the game.
As long as I could shore up my alibi and spend a few more hours playing with Legiano, I would be a heroine once again.
"And for that, I just need to deal with one meddlesome girl." I winked at myself in the mirror, already picturing the camera flashes awaiting my return home with the glory I deserved.