Inside a bedroom, a couple was quickly packing their bags.
Anxious, the woman turned to her husband.
"Let me pack yours, help our children."
After hearing this, the man turned around, left for the hallway, and entered another room.
The place was a mess, with fallen pictures, open drawer dressers, and various items scattered over the beds, along with a nearly packed suitcase on one of them.
"Are you done, son?"
Sitting on the floor, a child, about five years old, held a toy in each hand and, with a thoughtful look, shifted his gaze from one to the other.
In one hand was a samurai robot, in the other, a dinosaur.
"I don't know which one to take."
The father, feeling a growing anger and despair in his heart, controlled himself, stopping at the last moment.
Letting out a sigh, the man calmed down.
Kneeling beside him, he used a loving tone of voice.
"Son, we don't have much time. Instead of choosing, why don't you take both?"
The child, with a look of disbelief and joy, turned to his father.
"Can I!?"
"Yes."
But suddenly, the child's expression grew sad.
"But it won't fit in the suitcase, and Mom and Dad told me not to take too many toys."
"Put one in your backpack and carry the other with you."
As if he had found the solution to something complex, he became cheerful again.
"That's true! Thanks, Dad!"
With an innocent smile, the child picked up the dinosaur and placed it in the suitcase.
Watching this scene, the father felt a strong anguish in his heart.
"What's wrong, Dad? You look like you sucked on a lemon!"
Finding it funny, the child started to laugh.
"Yes… that's true."
With a depressing smile, the father stood up.
Grabbing the suitcase in one hand and the child in the other, he ran to the garage.
There, his eldest son was putting a suitcase in the car.
"Have you packed all your things?"
The boy, who hadn't noticed his father's presence, jumped in fright. Turning to face his father, he looked at him with utter terror.
Seeing this, with a conciliatory tone, he repeated.
"Son, have you packed your things?"
The boy, a bit startled, stuttered his response.
"Y-y-yes."
"Get in the car."
Opening the door, the father placed the younger child in a seat and fastened the belts.
"Wait here, I'll be back with your mom."
As he ran back through the hallways, when he passed near a window, a fighter jet roared over the house, causing a sonic boom. The glass, unable to withstand it, shattered over the man, along with the blaring alarms of several cars in the neighborhood.
Dazed, the man tried to recover. Looking out the window, he saw the chaos engulfing the city.
On his street, his neighbors' cars sped out of garages, accelerating to get away quickly. Looking to the horizon, he saw a large plume of smoke rising to the sky.
"Honey!"
Snapping out of it, he looked ahead and saw his wife struggling to carry both of their suitcases.
"What's wrong?"
"I need your help."
Going to her, he took both suitcases and returned to the car.
Placing the luggage in the trunk, he closed it.
"Get in the car, honey."
He got in as well, opened the garage gate, and drove out.
"Are we going to be okay?! Where are we going??"
Frightened, the boy in the backseat asked.
"Don't worry, son. We'll be fine. We're going to your grandparents' house."
Accelerating the car, they soon left the residential area and reached a highway.
"A traffic jam!"
A line of cars was stopped while a fire truck tried to extinguish the flames of a jet that had crashed onto the road.
"We'll have to wait…"
The man, anxious, gripped the steering wheel tightly.
" Looks like they're changing lanes!"
Up ahead, half of the road had been cleared. Turning the wheel, the father began to switch lanes.
In the back seat, the child, playing with his samurai robot by the window, noticed something.
"Look, a truck!"
Though spoken in admiration, he didn't realize how fast it was moving.
"Damn!"
Inside the cabin, the truck driver desperately tried to stop the vehicle, but to no avail.
"It's going way too fast!"
The father, looking at the scene, quickly panicked. He considered speeding up, but looking ahead, he saw that all the cars were at a standstill.
There's nowhere to go…
With no escape route, the man glanced one last time at his family, overwhelmed by guilt and anguish for being unable to save them.
Just then, a giant machine fell from the sky right in front of the truck. Struck by the vehicle moments later, the machine was pushed back several meters but stopped just centimeters before hitting the car.
Feeling a wave of weakness and terrifying relief, the man lost his strength momentarily.
The machine, releasing the crushed cabin, observed parts of the driver's body entangled in the mangled metal. Turning to the two children in the back seat, it grabbed a piece of the wreckage to cover what was visible.
Facing the car, the machine knelt down to see the passengers more clearly. Then, a human voice emerged from within.
"Are you all okay?"
The parents, still recovering from the shock, couldn't even manage to respond.
"Wow! A juggernaut!"
Unlike the adults, the younger child in the back seat, unable to grasp the gravity of what had just happened, marveled at the large machine beside the car.
Regaining her composure first, the mother, tears streaming down her face, expressed her gratitude.
"Thank you… thank you so much!"
Using her trembling hands, she wiped away the tears that wouldn't stop falling.
"It's nothing. Where are you headed?"
Looking at her husband, the woman sought an answer, but he was still a bit dazed.
"North… to the northern sector."
"Don't go there. A fire has spread out of control after a gas station explosion. Head to the northwestern sector instead. There's a military convoy scheduled to leave in a few hours to escort civilians to the new rear lines."
As the machine cleared the road, the cars began moving again.
Just as the juggernaut was about to stand, it was interrupted.
"What's your name?"
Inside the car, before leaving, the man looked at the machine with a serious expression.
"My name is..."
Before the name could be spoken, an explosion erupted from a nearby building. Something had struck its middle, and the structure began to collapse.
"Get out of here now!"
"Thank you so much!"
Accelerating, the car sped away.
Unable to bear the weight, the building's structure gave in, crashing to the ground. A cloud of dust and debris shot into the sky.
Standing still, the machine simply watched the wave of debris approach. When it was caught in the cloud, it sustained no damage—only a few pieces of cement, metal, and glass struck its exterior harmlessly.
"Infrared."
"Yes, sir."
Responding to him, a female voice emanated from within the machine. If not for the fact it came from the juggernaut, it could have easily been mistaken for a human voice.
Scanning the road, the juggernaut saw the car moving away safely.
Letting out a sigh of relief, the voice spoke again.
"Good… I hope they make it out safely."
Remembering the two children in the back seat, he felt an urge to go with them.
" No."
He knew he couldn't do that. He had a mission: to hunt down the infiltrators who had made their way into the city.
"Were you thinking of going with them, Major?"
Once again, a completely human voice echoed from the armor.
"Yes."
"I'm sorry we can't go."
"Let's move on."
Though it might seem strange for a machine to express regret, he didn't see it that way.
"Yes, sir."
Of course, he was aware it was just a computer program, but after so many years fighting together, a sense of camaraderie had formed, making her feel truly alive.
Gripping his weapon, he began moving in the opposite direction of the car.
Each step he took shattered the concrete beneath him, not just because of his weight but also due to the sheer force he exerted.
"The Colonel is going to be furious if he finds out you're damaging the highway."
Leaping, he grabbed onto one of the overpasses above him.
Smirking, he replied:
"I know. The key is just not letting him find out."
"And why do you think I won't report you?"
"It's impossible to believe my dear copilot would betray me!"
"I'll think about it, whether I'll keep—"
Stopping abruptly, she changed the subject.
"Major, I've received a distress signal."
"Where?"
"On a street relatively close to here."
"Let's go."
Jumping from his position, the juggernaut left the highway and entered the cluster of buildings.
The area was empty. As a commercial district, it had already been mostly evacuated long ago, leaving very few people behind.
Looking at some stores, he felt a surge of anger as many of them had been looted.
"Major, your heart rate has spiked suddenly."
"Just as I thought."
Thanks to the armor's enhanced capabilities, they reached the designated location in no time.
"Too late."
Scattered across the street, the bodies of more than thirty soldiers lay lifeless on the ground.
"Access their LSS."
Through his visor, life support system data from each soldier appeared, confirming they were all dead.
"Damn it."
"They were taken out too quickly. The infiltrated group must be relatively large."
"Can you locate them?"
"Trying."
Through the visor, he noticed her analyzing the environment, searching for clues using recordings from the soldiers' cameras and footage from nearby establishments.
As she searched, a siren started wailing across the city.
"That's..."
In disbelief, the Major froze.
"The front line has fallen. The invaders have entered the city."
"That's impossible..."
"They're ordering all military personnel to leave the city. They're preparing to bomb the area."
"What's the status of civilian evacuation?"
"..."
Pressing her again, he demanded,
"Elise, what's the status of civilian evacuation?!"
" 40%."
" Only that much?!"
"Yes."
"Where are they starting the bombardment?"
"For now, in the southern sector, to delay the enemy's advance."
"Let's help evacuate the civilians. Where's the largest concentration of them?"
"Southwest."
" City map."
"Major, you're putting yourself at risk by not following orders to retreat. There are soldiers in these areas helping with evacuation; there's no need for you to go."
"The troops still inside the city—how many juggernauts do they have?"
"... None other than you.
" The sentinels can slow down the enemy's advance, but they can't assist with evacuation. With me in those areas, I can increase the number of civilians evacuated."
"You're aware there's a high number of infiltrators, and as a pilot, you know you'll be a priority target with high chances of being taken down."
" Maybe so, but if I was afraid of that, I wouldn't even be fighting."
"..."
Though she could argue further, Elise knew it wouldn't change his mind. She knew him well enough to understand that.
"Marking the areas with the highest civilian concentrations on the map."
"Thank you."
"Let's see if your luck holds, Major."
" Hahaha, I've never died since I was born. I'm pretty sure I'm immortal."