I was always in his view for days, training my control constantly, and I had thought of hiring my own mercenaries to better emulate him. In the end though, the choice was taken from me.
My dad had six robots that he had created himself to function as his defense and offensive capability, and with his destruction, they had lost purpose. First was Battle Knight M, he arrived and immediately resumed his programming, protecting Collation and attacking his foes. I tried to tell the machine that I was not it's creator, but it scanned me, then resumed it's guardian position, which amused Delta to no end, he just stood there, shrugged his shoulders "Accept what you can't change kid, it's not like they are going to go away." So now I have them. It took me time to build up the nerve to control more than one of them at a time, they may have been built by my dad, but I was not him and not so comfortable controlling them at first.
I took on a second one a bit later, and as I grew more confident with those two, I added Proteus Knight shortly after, now I control them all.
Each has it's own quirks, which I think was made intentional by the original Collation. Battle Knight M sticks close to me at all times, sometimes even to the point of his own disablement, he only says few words, and battles with less emotion than your average toaster oven. Battle Knight E is a hothead, when battles are too long, he runs towards the enemies, forgetting he has all ranged weapons, and attempts to subdue them with his fists, admittedly his hits are pretty hard, but he isn't indestructable... I rebuild him alot. Battle Knight W is always bored until I give him an order, he has stood in the same spot for days and not so much as twitched a servo motor until I wanted something done. Proteous Knight is the healer, peacemaker, and generally a good guy, if that term applies to robots, he spends most of his time rebuilding the others, occasionally getting into a fight when he has to. Protean Knight loves explosions, I don't let him near the fuel tanks in the KoH base for fear he will ignite them just to watch them explode. Last but not least is Assault Knight, and I am sure the name says it all. His usual answer to any obstacle is a large blast followed up by a swarm of missiles, another blast, and then more missiles. His usual comments are short, sweet, and to the point, usually along the lines of "DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!".
With their help, I have advanced in the Knight's of Heaven, I had a choice with them on what I wanted to do, and I chose to put my all into advancing the organization, helping where I could, taking care to make sure everyone was if not always happy with everything, at least content. I was promoted to the rank of General in a short time, Tidis said my dedication was they key to me being given the responsibility, and that I could decline if I wished. Delta had gone off again, he does that periodically, and so I accepted with no input from my mentor.
With those original words taken from Collation XII, things have changed more and more. He has since become a shadowy figure, only showing up once in awhile to help out his friends, and make his enemies aware of just how inadequate they are to the task of containing him.
Most children are born from parents small and screaming into the world. This was not so for Collation XII. This is the tale as I have learned it from the subject himself.
Darkness consumed everything, and there was my first smell. It was burning circuits, and the odor has never left me since I first caught it. The world around was burned and blackened, and as my eyes adjusted, I saw the devastation that had been the result of my birth. I was not horrified, scared, happy, or any of the other emotions I have learned about as all children do in time, instead I was merely fascinated. I had vague images from my "parents", they had been fighting over something, in the process they had destroyed each other and created me. How the darkness that was controlled by one parent managed to meld with the hellish metal that made up my other parent, I will never know, but it did.
I felt a wind stir against my metallic skin, and I heard the faint sounds of something coming, growing louder as it close in upon me. I was quickly surrounded by several people in clothing that at the time was unknown to me "Halt police!" were the first things they said to me before they raised weapons, I understood the words, but not the context, and I knew the weapons could hurt me, I was frightened. I don't know what happened, but a darkness seeped out of my outstretched hands, when the darkness touched him, he slumped forward a little. I felt the darkness enter me again, making me stronger. They opened fire upon me, screaming something I didn't hear over the sounds of their firearms discharging in me. Each hit hurt so badly, I reached out again, and the blackness came forth once more, but the strength it gave me back was not yet strong enough to overcome their relentless assault. As I screamed for help and covered my newly opened eyes with my arms, I heard a crunching sound, as if somethings large and metallic had slammed into the pavement. I was hit once more and dropped to the ground unconscious.
I awoke in a cell, at a place everyone around me called "The Zig", and since at that time I had only really been alive and conscious for about twenty minutes, the place terrified me. The people looked at me oddly, I didn't know why then, but now, as young as I was, I already was an adult physically. It wasn't long before someone came to talk to me, I was told they were my attorney, and that I was being charged with attempted murder, assault on a police officer, obstructing an investigation, destruction of public property, reckless endangerment, and discharging a power in an unlawful manner. I didn't understand any of it, and my lawyer took my innocent questions and straightforward answers as me being evasive with him. I didn't know what they wanted from me, and when they asked questions, I answered truthfully, that ended with me being taken to court, and left in The Zig.
I was really starting to hate these people, they had threatened me, and when I had defended myself, I was tossed in a small cell with a truly hardened criminal.
My first months of life were of being surrounded by people who I was considered one of by the justice system, and who hated me because I was not one of them at all, I was something different. They tried to attack me themselves, but the darkness came again, a bit stronger each time, until they left me alone mostly. Then something new happened, Lord Recluse sent out some teams to free what he calls "Destined Ones", and I was in the cells with them. They asked few questions of me, freed me from my cell, and gave me a purpose for a short time. Then they took me to the Rogue Isles and left me in the care of Kalinda. I hate that woman, and though she says I am one of the few she calls friend, I would kill her if she were not so well protected. She used me for her own gain, sent me out without regard to what I wanted. I do not forget that, and cannot. I am myself, the one gift my parents had given me was self-awareness, and everyone kept trying to take it from me. I did what I was told for a time, until I found a way off of Mercy Island.
I had heard of the group my dad had joined, Knight's of Heaven, a super group that was dedicated to balancing out the evil and goodness of this world, so that neither would become all encompassing, and thereby destroy creation. I went to them for aid since they had once been friends and colleagues of my dad, and Tidis, the leader of KoH took me in.
For weeks I was unable to master the growing power within me, it was spiraling out of control and taking my sanity with it. Someone else in KoH helped me then, Delta 24, the last one I would have thought to do such. He is considered a mastermind, his troops of choice are mercenaries that he hires himself, arms, and supports in combat with his own innate darkness powers.