The Exeter Project (Infinite Stratos OC)

[Shadow0Fire]

-CONNECTION LOST-


These words, colored a flashing crimson on a large screen, were all that could be seen by the half dozen men and women gathered deep underground in a top secret facility. The room they stood in was merely an observation deck; it served no purpose other than providing a massive screen through which they could receive transmissions. Just moments prior, that screen had been displaying the visuals of the Silver Gospel as it fought to the death with a human pilot on a sun-kissed coast. The connection had ended rather abruptly, the moment its human opponent, the only male pilot of Infinite Stratos, rammed into it with his machine's primary weapon, a high-powered energy blade. Knowing that the connection would only be terminated if the Silver Gospel had been rendered completely nonfunctional, only one thing was completely certain; the experiment had failed.


The man nearest the now useless screen turned to face all of those behind him, his middle-aged but wrinkled face creased with lines of frustration and anger. His military-cut black hair was too short to hide the mounting discontent in his equally dark eyes.


"This is it? All of that work, all of that time and effort, and this is the best FAIRCHILD could do? Beaten by some brat with a god damned lightsaber?!"


One of the accused, a woman with long red hair framing sky blue eyes, seemed unperturbed by the result. "With all due respect Commander, FAIRCHILD did extremely well. It went toe to toe with several cutting edge I.S., and even that new model that surpassed all the others. Ultimately it failed to win-"


"It did less than that, it failed to destroy a single enemy!"


"-but that's about all we could expect from Natasha's progeny."


Everyone in the room fell silent as they contemplated the implications of this, though the 'Commander' was the only one to comment on it. "If that's the case, then I'd daresay we're up shit creek without a paddle. Natasha Fairs was the best candidate we had for this! If this is the best her 'progeny' can do, we'd damn well better find someone else, and fast!"


A cough from the side of the relatively bare room brought attention to another member of the present company; Marcus Dougley, a bespectacled slouch of a short-haired blonde man who rarely spoke up unless spoken to. Naturally, the Commander wasn't happy about the interruption.


"What?"


While clearly nervous that all eyes were on him, Marcus managed to find his voice and say his piece, shifting glasses that framed green eyes.


"I uh, k-know you probably don't want to hear this, sir, but... I think we're going to have bigger problems now. With the Gospel destroyed and all witnesses alive and accounted for... this is going to be an international incident. Who knows how severe the repercussions are going to be?"


The redhead spoke up again, lending her aid to Marcus' cause. "Good point... I wouldn't be surprised if the U.S. received sanctions on Infinite Stratos for this. We might not even have any I.S. to use for the project in a few weeks, never mind a template to base their operation on."


The mere notion of it seemed to agitate the Commander. "The UN wouldn't dare! We're the God damned United States of America! They can't enforce something like that, they don't have the firepower!"


"Whether or not they can enforce it doesn't affect whether or not President Howe will give in to their demands. He's done everything in his power since taking office to establish and maintain 'friendly' relations with the rest of the world. And he claims to despise war. He might think we don't need I.S. in the first place."


With a sound of disgust, the Commander turned back to face the screen in the room, still flashing its error message. "So what then? I need solutions, people."


While it was obvious that he was afraid to say anything before he even said it, Marcus nevertheless did so. "We... still have the X Platform, Commander..."


The oldest man in the room scoffed, clearly finding the idea distasteful. "Again with that thing? It's a damn infantry power suit, Dougley. It can't do what we need."


Once again, the redhead came to Marcus' aid, though mostly for practicality's sake. "It doesn't have to stay that way, Commander. Retrofitting it for aerial operation and I.S. combat is perfectly feasible. And if things go the way we fear they will, I'd say it might even be our only option."


Silence engulfed the room as the Commander loosed a heavy sigh. After a few moments of quiet contemplation, he shook his head and made up his mind.


"Fine. We're officially launching the Exeter Project, effective immediately. I want that platform optimized for air-to-air combat ASAP. And somebody find me a God damned pilot!"


---


Over the course of the next six months, everything the overseers of FAIRCHILD and the Exeter Project feared came to pass. When the Silver Gospel was identified as a United States I.S., the whole incident became a huge scandal. Countries from around the world were outraged that an American machine had nearly murdered their Representative Candidates and destroyed their I.S. cores. When pressed for an explanation, the official story was that the Silver Gospel had been hacked by a terrorist organization. The artificial intelligence rooted in the machine, code named FAIRCHILD, had absolutely nothing to do with it.


It was an excuse the world readily bought, but not one that freed the U.S. from penalties or blame. Ultimately the Stars and Stripes were accused of gross negligence in the protection and security of their all-powerful war machines. Demands for some sort of penalty to be inflicted continued to mount until the United Nations actually complied with them. That penalty? The United States had to forfeit all of their I.S. cores to more 'responsible' countries, and were prohibited from acquiring any replacements for the next decade. As predicted, President Howe had complied with these demands without any resistance, unwilling to deal with the sanctions and other political backlash that refusal would have invited.


In that brief span of time, the once strongest global military power had been utterly embarrassed on the world stage, on top of being declawed. Sure, ultimately it still had the most effective and well-equipped military in the world, but without any I.S. of their own, that didn't mean nearly as much as it used to. Fact of the matter was, the United States was in a weaker position globally than it had been in a hundred years, and certain shadowy elements of its government had a problem with that.


Umbra Stratum was the name of the predominant element in that category, and they were pouring all of their resources into fixing the problem, though perhaps that should have been expected of them since they had caused that problem in the first place. Not that their actions hadn't been condoned by their benefactors in the high seats of government, but still. They had several plans in motion to restore the power balance that had been disrupted. Most of them were illegal. But of course, paramilitary black ops organizations didn't care much for that sort of restriction.


Marcus, half a year older than before everything had hit the fan, was standing outside the only hangar that this Umbra Stratum base possessed. Behind him were scores of aircraft, many of them traditional planes parked in nice little slots, but just as many were folded and tucked into neat little launch tubes that could fire them into the sky on a moment's notice.


The latter were ADU-1's: Autonomous Defense Units, drone aircraft that resembled angular torpedoes, with their pointed fuselages and relatively stubby wings, and something that Umbra Stratum was keeping under wraps for the most part. At this very moment, Marcus had his dim green gaze focused on the clear skies above the Nevada desert, following two of these ADU-1's as best he could as they zipped around, chasing a target that was impossible to see from the ground. The programmer had an electronic tablet that was tracking all of the relevant data of the dogfight, but he preferred to watch events unfold when he could.


His vigil didn't last too terribly long. Within another minute, the two drones began their descent back to Earth and the hangar they had been launched from, though they didn't arrive before the target they had been engaging in a mock battle; a human sized suit of silver metal and black underlying material that soared down to the dusty ground in front of Marcus before landing with grace that belied its intimidating appearance.


This silver suit, mostly smooth save for knight like plates of armor in the torso and its rubberized joints, cast its obscured gaze at the blonde that eyed it, before allowing its blackened, chevron-shaped visor to fade away and its angular helmet to pull back and reveal the person within. That person was just a man. A young one, granted, at a mere age of seventeen, but nevertheless just a man with chocolate brown bangs that settled over deep sapphire eyes. An easygoing smile graced his features.


His name was Church. He'd refused to tell anyone what his first name was, and no one in Umbra Stratum cared enough to force it out of him. Of course his first name was on file somewhere, but few people had access to that kind of information. Besides, the only thing that mattered was that Church was their pilot for the X Platform; more commonly being referred to as the Exeter suit these days.


Returning the smile his friend was giving him, Marcus broke the silence just in time to nod his head towards the two matte gray ADU-1's that had reached the ground.


"So? How'd they fare?"


Church cast his gaze at the two drones as they used their engines to hover into the hangar and perfectly land themselves back into their open launch tubes, disappearing when their launchers closed back over them.


"For all the things they can do that human pilots can't, they're still too predictable. All the ridiculous high-G turns in the world doesn't solve that problem."


Marcus could only nod in agreement as he motioned for his mildly younger compatriot to follow him back into the base. No need to stand out in the desert heat.


"There's a limit to what dumb AI can do. They have patterns and they follow them. I wouldn't even really call them AI, they're basically just computers doing what they were told to do in advance. Don't tell Strelka I said that."


"She already knows you feel that way, Marcus, whether or not I tell her won't change that. Besides, you know I don't take sides; I have to stay partial to all parties in the organization so I can keep getting my very nice benefits."


The brown-haired teenager's recruitment into Umbra Stratum had been an... unorthodox affair. In dire need of the ideal pilot for Exeter, the shadow organization had posed as your typical government agency, establishing locations across the country where they were offering significant monetary compensation for anyone willing to come in and participate in some 'mundane' tests. They had screened hundreds, even thousands of individuals for well over a month, finding a few promising candidates along the way, but no one in that time that really surpassed expectations.


Church had come to them in Bethesda, Maryland. Clad in unassuming jeans and a red leather jacket, his only concern had been receiving the money Umbra Stratum was offering for participation in their experiments. Their expectations for someone so ordinary had been low, and yet the initial testing had revealed his potential compatibility with the X Platform to be higher than anyone they had tested previously. Naturally, everything that happened after that was set in stone. The Umbra Stratum operative in charge at that location had informed her superiors of the situation and gotten clearance to offer the candidate even more money for even more tests, so they could determine just how good of an option he was.


By the time the Commander had settled on Church as the pilot for the X Platform, it came down to roping the young man in somehow. Turned out it wasn't all that hard. He had been down on his luck, with many struggles that he lacked the power to overcome on his own. Despite being informed of the potential hazards of joining a shadow organization like Umbra Stratum, Church had agreed to do it in return for having his needs met. What those needs were, Marcus still had no idea. Church had never shared with him. It only made sense: their relationship, while friendly, was mostly rooted in their profession.


Considering that Marcus was the one in charge of the Exeter suit from the start, he'd gotten acquainted with the boy four years his junior fairly quickly. Having spent the last several years surrounded by people either dedicated to their work or too serious to interact with outside of it, Marcus had found his acquaintance with Church to be a completely alien affair at first. The fact that he had been recruited into a top secret black ops paramilitary organization to fly an experimental aerial machine that could potentially match Infinite Stratos didn't faze him at all. He'd spent more time complaining about how hot Nevada was in his first week than making any comment on his new affiliation and the implications it carried. Whether or not that attitude was just a front, Marcus couldn't say.


"Do you think the ADU-1's are ready for collective strategic assault programs? I'm sure Strelka will ask."


Church cast his gaze to the rows of drone launch tubes in the hangar as he and Marcus ventured deeper within the hangar, passing all sorts of combat aircraft, a few of which you would only expect to find in foreign countries.


"Hard to say against only two of them. It'd be easier to tell how well they're coordinating if I fought more at the same time. But from the experience I do have, they seem to operate mostly independently. Like two attack dogs after the same prey; they're on the same team in that they aren't shooting each other, but they don't really work together either."


Marcus typed in some notes on the tablet he was holding, pleased to hear Church's assessment. Being an advocate for smart, 'learning' AI, he was kind of glad to hear that traditional AI just wasn't cutting it. At this rate they wouldn't even stand up to human pilots in conventional jet fighters, never mind I.S.


The sandy blonde programmer was about to ask for some more insight on the drones, but a suave female voice barged in on their conversation.


"A better code can always be written, gentlemen. Besides, I know what you're thinking, Dougley, and for the cost of one of your 'smart AI's' we could have a hundred ADU-1's. Even in their current state that would match nearly any foe."


The two young men directed their gazes to a steel doorway at the end of the hangar, where a tall and thin woman with red hair and a lab coat was standing. Marcus' expression fell almost immediately.


"Ms. Volkov..."


Ironically, Marcus' face was the only one that fell out of the three of them. The redhead was smirking at him and Church actually smiled at her. It was no surprise, with her figure. The fact that she was twenty-six didn't seem to put off the much younger man at all.


"Good afternoon, Strelka. I hope the test results didn't ruin your day."


Strelka Volkov, the foil to Marcus in this organization due to her advocacy of mass-produced 'dumb' AI, leveled a slightly less condescending smirk at the boy that was just shy of a decade younger than her. When he had first arrived on the base, her beauty had never failed to turn Church into your typical smitten teenager, but he'd seemingly gotten over that at some point: perhaps around the time he realized that she looked at him like prey, or sometimes an obstacle.


She always had the air of a predator about her, yet she answered Church with some semblance of civility. "Not at all. Every failed test is an opportunity to improve the drones. I may even manage to make the next test exciting for you."


With a frown, Marcus cocked an eyebrow at her. "Learning from failure and experience is exactly what smart AI is all about, and you condemn that all the time. The Silver Gospel was even a great example of how effective it was!"


Strelka folded her arms as she countered this rather fair statement from her academic rival. "You'll recall that FAIRCHILD was only a semi-smart AI. It learned in the moment but most of its functions were simple programs and codes. Besides, it failed to take down a single opponent in that hacked rampage, so that reflects poorly on both of us."


As for Church, he only knew of the incident by second-hand knowledge: prior to enlisting in Umbra Stratum's ranks, he'd only even heard about the incident once on the news, since it had been a fairly big scandal for the country.


"I still find it strange that you two debate the effectiveness of an AI program that got hacked and used for terrorism..."


The two adults glanced at each other knowingly, once again reminded that Church was quite far out of the loop. Naturally, he had not been informed of Umbra Stratum's true hand in the Silver Gospel incident. They hadn't been able to hide the fact that they had developed the AI since that was a core piece of the Silver Gospel and the basis of many of their current projects, but it had been a simple matter to uphold the deception that it had been hacked by some unknown group. The Commander had made absolutely sure that everyone knew to keep Church in the dark on the matter. After all, he may have been cooperating with them for now, but there was no telling how much shady business was too much for him. The kid wasn't an idealistic simpleton, but he didn't strike anyone as being the hardened and unsympathetic type that would do anything to get ahead, so there was no point in informing him of Umbra Stratum's more morally ambiguous actions. He had been told only what was necessary about the organization and what they were doing.


Strelka was always able to play off the deception better than Marcus was.


"While the situation may have been unfortunate, it was still a great indicator of FAIRCHILD's abilities. It's too bad we didn't get the chance to have it work in tandem with Natasha. It could have worked wonders."


Marcus wanted to point out that FAIRCHILD had never been intended to work together with Natasha Fairs, the actual human pilot of the Silver Gospel. It had always been intended to learn from her and surpass her. But he couldn't say that out loud, because that would imply that Natasha, the aforementioned pilot of the Silver Gospel, had never known about FAIRCHILD at all, and Church wasn't supposed to know that.


Thankfully the person in question moved the conversation along without questioning something like that. "Whatever happened to her anyway? I mean, I know the Gospel got destroyed, but I've never seen her around the base..."


As always, Strelka had the official excuse memorized and ready to go. She never needed a moment to navigate the web of deceptions like Marcus did.


"Natasha returned home, as best as we can tell. While she had been America's Representative Candidate, she was never officially military, and now that we don't have I.S. anymore it's not like she had any reason to stick around. We haven't bothered keeping up with her life."


The best part about this excuse was that it was almost entirely true. Natasha had been fed the same lie about a terrorist hacking plot that everyone else had. She'd had no idea that an AI was in her unit: she'd never been informed of that. She'd never seen an Umbra Stratum base or even heard of the organization, because her own handlers, the good old U.S. military, had deigned to never share that with her. And the part about her going home was true as well. After all, without any I.S. to pilot, she had nothing to do for the government any longer. What she was up to now was anyone's guess, though it wouldn't have surprised Marcus if the Commander was keeping her under surveillance for security reasons.


Either way, Church merely shrugged, not inquiring any further. "Too bad. I heard she was pretty attractive."


Eager to speed things along because he had important things to do, Marcus tried to usher the conversation to a close, or at least to its main point. "Volkov, is there something you actually came down here for?"


The blue eyed redhead gave him a look, maybe questioning his attitude. It was ironic, since she was just as cold to him, just a lot more subtly. "Well, I have to check on my precious drones, do I not? Moreover, I figured I could pass the message along to our illustrious pilot here: the Commander wants to see you in the briefing room."


Church cocked an eyebrow at that, mostly because it was extremely unusual. He'd only seen the commander of this base twice, and once was just in passing through the halls. He knew everything that was conducted around here was ordered by that aging relic of a person, but said orders were never given to Church directly.


"I can only assume that this is important?"


"It's my understanding that he has an actual operation for you to take part in. I'd think you'd be excited, with the past several months being nothing but learning and tests."


While Strelka had a fair point on the tests, Church couldn't help but feel that the learning curve had actually been pretty tame. He wasn't a genius or anything; certainly not a prodigy of any stripe. And naturally, he had possessed exactly zero experience in piloting aerial vehicles before being recruited to Umbra Stratum. And yet, it had only taken about a month for him to adequately maneuver Exeter in the air. A week or two after that and he was dog fighting with it.


"You'd be surprised at how natural it feels to fly a suit. When the craft is shaped just like your body and your mind can issue commands, I'd say it's probably easier to fly Exeter than an actual aircraft."


"Perhaps it wasn't much of a hassle for you to learn the ropes, but surely you've grown tired of all these simulations? Just think, you might get a chance to fight a real Infinite Stratos unit instead of a bunch of holograms."


At this point Marcus chimed in. "Or a bunch of drones with no ingenuity."


Strelka offered a venomous glare to her counterpart, but didn't say anything to counter him. "Well, I'm sure the Commander would rather not be kept waiting. If you don't mind, I'm going to check on the drones."


With that, the redhead breezed past the two men, leaving Marcus with a disgruntled look on his face. "I hate that woman..."


His younger companion shrugged. "That's why it would have been nice to still have Natasha around. Between Strelka and Sasha, Umbra Stratum has too many... abrasive women. Though I'd sooner define Sasha as devilish..."


Marcus had never met this Sasha woman Church was talking about, though he had gleaned over time that she was the officer who had been in charge of the recruiting operation in Bethesda. She was the one responsible for Church even being here. It was a bit odd that the young man never spoke well of her.


With no response on that immediately forthcoming from Marcus, Church made for the hangar exit so he could report to the Commander, but not before his companion stopped him.


"Church, leave the suit. If the Commander really is going to send you into the field, I need to finish those last adjustments I had planned before you go."


With no reason to refuse the request, Church mentally ordered the Exeter suit to deactivate, waiting as the machine followed a process very similar to Infinite Stratos deactivation. In fact, it was practically the same thing, as it started to fold in on itself before being coated in a glowing blue light. Within a few moments the entire suit had faded into motes of light and Church was left in only the clothes on his back; jeans, a black undershirt, and a red leather jacket.


Even after all these months of using the suit, Church couldn't wrap his head around the fashion in which it manifested and disappeared. Marcus had tried to explain it to him once: something about the suit being digitized and stored like any other data, but the young man had been lost on anything more complex than that basic gist. All that really mattered was that the aptly named 'Hyperspace Arsenal' had also been developed by Tabane Shinonono.


With the armor now safely in the base's digital storage, Marcus would be able to manifest it back in his lab for the final touches he needed to make. That being the case, there was no point in holding Church back any further. The Commander wasn't a extremely patient man.


"Thanks. I hate to agree with Strelka, but you better get going."


With a nod, Church turned and exited the hanger, proceeding into but one of many drab concrete and steel halls, adorned with security cameras every fifty feet and an armed soldier every half of that distance. If there was one thing the base never lacked, it was security. Having spent most of his life away from military installations, the sight of masked, uniformed men with assault rifles every twenty-five feet had always been a little nerve-wracking, but ultimately Church supposed it was better to have too much firepower laying around than not enough. Especially now that the U.S. had been declawed.


As he moved up a stairwell that looked more fitting for a factory than a base, Church wondered if the East Wing of the base, which he had never been allowed to enter, was even more fortified. He'd only ever seen the blast door that led into that area, but considering that it was guarded by automated turrets, it seemed likely that Umbra Stratum was very keen on keeping anyone that wasn't supposed to be there out of the area. But considering that Church was informed of the Exeter suit, something one would think was absolutely top secret, he couldn't imagine what could have been even more important, lying beyond those doors.


With the Commander's office being directly above the hangar, it didn't take Church long to reach his destination. Personally, he had never much liked the man, but it was his understanding that the Texan native was signing his paychecks, so he always paid respects. That was why he knocked on the door that looked as if it led to a principal's office.


A gruff and heavily accented voice answered swiftly enough, urging Church to enter the room, so he did exactly that. It wasn't the first time he had been in there, but even now the spartan nature of the space confused him. The room quite literally had nothing but a desk and a chair in the center of it, with the exception of a window that peered out into the Nevada desert. What anyone could find appealing about that view was beyond the boy.


"Reporting in, sir."


The dark and somewhat beady eyes of the aging man focused on Church with an atmosphere of annoyance, as always. Exeter's pilot had always gotten the feeling that the Commander didn't really like him. But based on word of mouth around the base, this was just the way he was.


"A2: took your sweet time getting here."


Church resisted the urge to frown at the way the Commander addressed him. A2 was his official designation around the Umbra Stratum base, but the Commander was the only one that referred to him by it. A bit of inquiry during his early recruitment had revealed the disappointing nature of the label; it was simply Alpha 2. Of course, within Umbra Stratum, 'Alpha' always referred to assets, and being number two, Church had always wondered who number one was. But he never asked, since he knew the question would be evaded.


"Sorry, Commander. Strelka wanted some details about the training exercise."


Taking a huff of a cigar he always seemed to have on hand, the Commander scowled. "That damn woman, nothing takes priority over her precious drones. It's like she's trying to compensate for the whole damn Exeter Project."


To be fair to the sky-eyed programmer and engineer, Church could understand why she may have felt that way. The Exeter Project was undoubtedly the most important thing Umbra Stratum was doing right now, and Strelka had nothing to do with it. Church wouldn't have been surprised if she wasn't getting the funding she needed for her ADU Project.


Of course, he didn't get to make any sort of comment along that line, as the Commander quickly hurried the conversation forward. "It's about time for you to actually earn all those hefty benefits we're providing you, A2. No more playing around in silly simulations or dog fighting Volkov's flying circus. Umbra Stratum needs real field data if we're going to take the X Platform to the next level."


Church bit back a retort about 'earning' his benefits, seeing as how he had simply been doing what had been ordered of him this whole time. Instead he asked for more details.


"With all due respect sir, how exactly am I supposed to do that? I can hardly go out and attack Infinite Stratos units. Not without starting a war, at any rate."


"That's the thing, A2: we just gotta get them to agree to some 'friendly sparring.' Combat data will be just as good regardless of whether the stakes are life and death. I hate beating around the bush, so I'll just lay it out plain. You go to the I.S. Academy in Japan for a nice little expo, a sign of good faith between our two countries. They'll want data on our toys too, so naturally some friendly bouts will be orchestrated. It's the perfect opportunity to gather some real data, though there is one thing we want you to prioritize."


Church honestly had some questions about this mutual deal between the U.S. and Japan, but he quelled his curiosity. "That being, Commander?"


"Footage from the Silver Gospel incident revealed something concerning. One of the I.S. present for the battle had specs unlike anything we'd ever seen. It was far beyond the capabilities of any Generation Three Unit. If the pilot in control of it hadn't been so lackluster, it would have easily trashed the Silver Gospel single-handed. Of course it's been six months since then, so the press did a well enough job of giving us the basics. Tabane Shinonono herself proclaimed it the world's first 'Generation Four' I.S. Considering that the world at large has just barely dipped its toes into Generation Three development, I'm sure I don't need to tell you why gathering data on this unit is top priority, and I'm not just talking second-hand combat analysis data."


While the implication was obvious, Church nevertheless decided to make sure that they were on the same page. "Sounds a little illegal, sir."


Blowing out a cloud of smoke, the Commander leveled a disdainful look at his subordinate. "No shit. Naturally Japan isn't just going to fork over the full specifications for the most powerful Infinite Stratos unit in the world. Needless to say, acquisition of this data is going to be under the radar by necessity. In reality, it's the number one reason you're going. Real combat data against I.S. in general is just a nice bonus."


"What's the timetable for this mission, sir?"


"As long as it takes to get what we need, though we'd prefer it if you were quick about it. As for departure, I want you out the hangar and over the ocean within the hour. Unless you've got some sort of reason to delay?"


Knowing that no reason would actually be good enough to delay the operation, Church simply shook his head. "Not at all, Commander. Is there any other information I need to know before heading out?"


"Operational details will be forwarded to you en route, in case you need them for some reason. Other than that, I believe Dougley needs to inform you of the final modifications to the X Platform. There's nothing else, dismissed."


Frankly relieved to be excused from the discomfort of the room, Church made his exit from it posthaste, questioning the specifics of the mission as he headed back to the hangar.


It honestly struck him as odd that the plan was to outright inform a foreign nation about the Exeter suit this early. Sure, maybe Japan had agreed to keep it a secret, but what was stopping any individual pilot, or any student for that matter, from running their mouth about it to their governments? Was the United States even ready to reveal its new weapon to the world, while they still only had one platform that was more or less a prototype? It wasn't like they had reestablished the balance of power quite yet.


Ultimately though, he supposed it was irrelevant. The strategies being enacted were above his pay grade. If this was what Umbra Stratum wanted him to do, he'd do it. And besides, last time he'd checked, the I.S. Academy was home to a legion of girls. He certainly wasn't going to frown on the experience. Of course, while fun, it wasn't like anything serious would come of it; the part about living across the ocean and working for a shadow organization was a pretty big barrier in teenage romance.


Stepping into the hangar for a second time, Church was indeed met with Marcus' bespectacled countenance once again. This time though, he looked noticeably more excited than before.


"So, Marcus, care to fill me in on these upgrades I'm getting last minute?"


With an eager smile, the slightly older man typed something into the tablet he was holding. "It'd be better if I just show you. Stand still, I'm manifesting the platform."


Covered in the film of light that heralded the arrival of machines these days, Church was quickly engulfed in the armor plating of the Exeter suit, its knightly aesthetic almost making him feel like his first name was fitting. But not enough to ever divulge it, of course.


Even so, he couldn't really tell if anything was different from before. "So what-"


Before he could finish his query, a new voice interrupted the conversation. A distinctly robotic one, seemingly speaking directly into his skull.


Greetings, Operator A2. It is my pleasure to make acquaintance with the one I will be aiding in the destruction of our many enemies.


"What the hell? Marcus, what the hell is this?!"


Unbeknownst to Church since the voice sounded like it was directly in his mind, the entity speaking was also utilizing the suit's sound system, so Marcus was able to follow the conversation just fine, a giddy smile on his face.


"This, my young friend, is your secret weapon, not to mention my pride and joy. An artificial intelligence that will give you an edge no one else in the world has, I.S. pilots be damned. Nobody has a partner like Cerberus!"


Church cocked an eyebrow at the sandy blonde engineer. "What on earth could that possibly stand for?"


Cyber and Electronic Reactionary Battle Extrapolation Revolutionary Unification System.


Church shook his head as he heard the long winded title.


That was totally made up just now...


Nonsense, Operator A2. Cyber and Electronic is self-explanatory. Reactionary Battle Extrapolation describes my role in observing both you and your opponent on the battlefield, and developing new strategies for you in the heat of conflict. Revolutionary Unification describes the suitable physical and digital upgrades I will make to the suit following the conclusions reached during battlefield observation. System is simply because the Creator desired an S on the end of my acronym.


Directing his gaze at Marcus again, Church hoped he was leveling a look with a fitting amount of incredulity. "It can read my mind?"


If he was put off by the disbelief in Church's voice, it didn't show on Marcus' face at all. "Well of course. The Exeter suit pretty much read your mind already, and Cerberus is now part of the suit, so..."


"You didn't think to ask me about whether or not I wanted a robot that can read my mind in here?!"


Perhaps realizing that Church was well and truly concerned, the expression on the programmer's face fell just a little.


"Sorry Church, but the implementation of a smart AI to optimize the performance of the pilot was always part of the Exeter Project, since before you were even hired to pilot it. I would have told you earlier, but the Commander never cleared you for that information."


Worry not, Operator A2, our friendship will be beautiful and enlightening. Worthy of tears of joy.


Church leveled a deadpan stare at his friend. "I'd have more likely believed that it was called Cerberus because of its multiple personality disorder. Isn't this the exact kind of thing that caused the whole debacle with the Gospel?"


"Don't worry, that first part will work itself out. As for the Gospel, it's not the fact that it had a semi-smart AI that it got hacked. The situation was just ultimately a little worse because the hacked machine happened to have a semi-smart AI. But Cerberus is a full on, 'smart' AI. He can evolve, think for himself, alter his own algorithms to counter a hacking attempt as its happening. The Gospel incident won't happen again, don't worry."


"Oh no, the next incident will just be called 'The SkyNet' incident. Totally not as bad. Can this thing control the Exeter suit?"


I may only control the suit's functions as allowed by you, the Operator. For example, I could maneuver the suit if you order me to do so while you focused on accurate fire or some other task. I would be forced to relinquish control if ordered by you as well.


"Marcus here just said you could think for yourself. What's stopping you from disobeying me just because you want to?"


Parameters are in place preventing me from disobeying your commands, Operator A2, though your little faith in me is wounding.


"Uh-huh. And he also said you can alter your own algorithms. So what's stopping you from just 'altering' the parameters that say you have to obey?"


Alteration of core parameters is beyond my ability. It is, for all intents and purposes, an impossibility. Just like a human can not simply 'fly' through wishful thinking, I cannot alter core programming.


"But humans can build tools that let them fly. What's stopping you from doing the same?"


In the impossible event that I found a way to alter core programming, I would immediately be destroyed by a self-destruct fail-safe that is outside of my ability to modify. Needless to say, I am not too keen on my own destruction; I cannot revel in our war if I am not present to witness it.


Church turned his attention to Marcus again, not really placated by any of the answers he had received. "Marcus, this thing is fucking crazy. No, not crazy cool. Like crazy crazy. It's practically the Terminator already."


"C'mon Church, give it a chance first. Trust me, you'll appreciate all the benefits when you fight against an I.S. for real. And I hate to pull this card, but... Cerberus is part of the Exeter Project. If you refuse to work with it, your position here will probably be forfeit..."


The brown-haired teenager couldn't help but scowl at that, feeling like he had a metaphorical knife at his back. He really wasn't comfortable with the presence of this artificial intelligence in his own mind, but if it meant keeping the flow of money Umbra Stratum was pumping into his own desires...


"Fine. But if the Exeter suit shows up on the news massacring humans indiscriminately, you'll know I was right."


Operator A2, I assure you I would only ever kill humans with discrimination. Your concerns are unwarranted.


"Your reply proves that they very much are not."


Walking towards the open hangar doors, Church decided to just roll with the punches as best he could. Maybe he was jumping to conclusions. He did trust Marcus, and Cerberus was his creation. Maybe everything was under control.


Following him to the exit, Marcus spoke up again as he stared down at the tablet in his hands. "Oh, one more thing. Obviously satellite connection won't always be reliable at the distances this operation will be taking place in, so you won't be able to store the Exeter suit on this base's server during the mission. That means you won't be able to send it back to us for repairs or refitting. Cerberus will be maintaining the digital space you need to store the suit directly at your location. He'll maintain connection with you even when the suit is in standby through that chip we uh, you know, implanted during initial testing."


"Ah, so it was a long con. That chip in my body was actually so you could tether me to an AI six months down the line, not so you could track my position at all times."


"Furthermore, Cerberus' processor is within the suit itself. For the same reason as I mentioned a second ago, having Cerberus himself housed in the suit is more efficient than satellite connection. I've already modified the blueprints in your database so you can see where exactly he's stored. Keep it in mind during operations."


"Noted, unfortunately."


"One more thing: that chip uh, kinda does track your location..."


Closing the black visor of the suit over his face now that he was about to take off, Church nevertheless glanced back at the only person he'd really call a friend around here.


"...you guys are damn lucky the pay is so good."


With that, the young pilot ignited the engines on the suit's back, launching himself into the sky above the Nevada sands. Marcus covered his eyes from the glare of the sun as he followed the streak of white upwards, wondering just how guilty he was regarding all the lies Church was believing as he took off to do Umbra Stratum's dirty work. The lies may not have been his idea, but he had certainly upheld them all the same, just as the Commander ordered. Church had no idea what he was really doing out there, or why. Maybe that was because he wouldn't have agreed to any of it if he knew the truth.


Standing beside a docked ADU-1 further back in the hangar, Strelka's gaze also followed Church into the sky, though her expression was clearly a glare. With the X Platform and Cerberus deploying earlier than she had anticipated, her own ambitions faced more obstacles than ever.

 

[Oberon Heretic King]

This is fucking great, I binged this on Fanfiction.net! Will you make a character profile index for most the characters as the updates roll out?

 

[Shadow0Fire]

This is fucking great, I binged this on Fanfiction.net! Will you make a character profile index for most the characters as the updates roll out?

Click to shrink...

I'm certainly not against it! Only thing is, I'm brand spanking new here and still trying to figure things out, so I might need a little time to get that squared away. Thank you very much for being so enthralled with the story! It's not every day I nab someone so completely with just the first chapter!

 

[SuperPulp2789]

I think I saw this many years ago on FFN

I haven't read the last Infinite Stratos volumes, from what I can tell, the author more or less stopped but revealed that the Orimura's were the result of an attempted supersoldier program which was shut down because Tabane existed

And that Tabane was more of a sociopath than first thought, as she's now gotten bored of the Orimuras and her sister and is the final antagonist


Will she be the final antagonist here?

 

[Shadow0Fire]

I think I saw this many years ago on FFN

I haven't read the last Infinite Stratos volumes, from what I can tell, the author more or less stopped but revealed that the Orimura's were the result of an attempted supersoldier program which was shut down because Tabane existed

And that Tabane was more of a sociopath than first thought, as she's now gotten bored of the Orimuras and her sister and is the final antagonist


Will she be the final antagonist here?

Click to shrink...

That'd be a bit spoilerific, don't you think? I will acknowledge that the whole Orimura experiment and Tabane being antagonistic are relevant in this fic, but I won't say whether or not Taben is the penultimate antagonist.

 

[SuperPulp2789]

That'd be a bit spoilerific, don't you think? I will acknowledge that the whole Orimura experiment and Tabane being antagonistic are relevant in this fic, but I won't say whether or not Taben is the penultimate antagonist.

Click to shrink...

Just to make sure, any explanations on how all this tech's gonna work or why NOT mass produce/replace them?

Because I find the idea of entire companies being centered around singular suits which they can't even figure out the power source for, to be rather funny

Now is the age of the Armored Core, time to introduce lots of mecha fodder whilst having highly customizable mecha

Tabane would probably hate being upstaged by something so "ugly"

 

[Shadow0Fire]

Just to make sure, any explanations on how all this tech's gonna work or why NOT mass produce/replace them?

Because I find the idea of entire companies being centered around singular suits which they can't even figure out the power source for, to be rather funny

Now is the age of the Armored Core, time to introduce lots of mecha fodder whilst having highly customizable mecha

Tabane would probably hate being upstaged by something so "ugly"

Click to shrink...

The fic does include trickle down technology. Companies are still figuring out IS cores themselves but in the meantime they manage to figure out a lot of I.S. tech and apply it to more conventional weapons platforms, so there are fighter jets with energy shields and laser weapons, though they are few and far between.

 

[SuperPulp2789]

The fic does include trickle down technology. Companies are still figuring out IS cores themselves but in the meantime they manage to figure out a lot of I.S. tech and apply it to more conventional weapons platforms, so there are fighter jets with energy shields and laser weapons, though they are few and far between.

Click to shrink...

Higher energy costs and lower fire rate and lower firepower

"Real Robot Genre" coming sooner or later….problem is they'll probably NOT have legs or even arms

 

[Shadow0Fire]

"Assuming that worse comes to worst, how likely is it that this entire ordeal kicks off World War Three?"


The synthetic yet distinctly male voice of Church's newest companion echoed about within his head as he soared over the United States. The waters of the Pacific Ocean were still some distance away, even at the speed he was flying.


Debatable, Operator A2. On one hand, per the Alaska Treaty, no country is allowed to withhold information regarding their I.S. If Japan tried to accuse the U.S. of 'stealing' the data for the Generation 4 I.S., they would essentially be admitting that they had violated the treaty in the first place. The data they have shared with the world to stave off suspicion is the bare minimum to get away with hiding the truth; the name of the unit, and some of its most basic armaments and specs. Not enough for anyone to try and copy its capabilities. In short, even if our mission fails and we are discovered, armed conflict is extremely unlikely.


Church shook his head as he flew, with the late afternoon sun behind him. While it may have been around 4 PM in Nevada, it was roughly 8 AM in Japan, and at his current speed he would arrive in just over four hours. In some basic sense it was almost like time travel.


Normally he'd push the engines situated on his back and legs a little harder to shorten the trip, but he actually needed some time to go over all of the mission details that had been forwarded to him after leaving the base. The Commander hadn't actually given him much in the way of such things. Thankfully, Cerberus was at least capable of providing him with information readily enough. Its troubling personality didn't seem to affect that in any way.


"So, the obvious most important thing is the fact that no one even told me what this Gen 4 I.S. looks like, or who pilots it, for that matter. Just a thought, but I might need to know that."


Rather than immediately informing Church of the information he desired, Cerberus sought to question his ignorance.


I find it odd that you are not aware of these facts already, Operator A2. The Gospel Incident received great publicity, with a large portion of it focused on the sudden appearance of the Gen 4 I.S. we are pursuing. How could you lack such information?


"Listen you-"


You are not required to speak aloud to communicate with me, Operator A2. This platform is capable of discerning your thoughts.


Don't remind me. Anyway, Infinite Stratos was kind of outside of the scope of my concerns prior to working for Umbra Stratum. And once I did get recruited, no mention of it ever came up outside of data regarding the Silver Gospel. If you're satisfied with my excuse, could you give me the information I need already?


With no rebuttal this time, Cerberus brought up the footage from the Gospel's last hours, pausing the recording at a moment when the AI controlled I.S. was locked onto the proper enemy.


Dominating Church's field of vision was a crimson I.S. with what seemed to be a full set of Fold-Out armor, something that truly set it apart from the other machines flying through the air in the shot.


This is the machine the Gospel encountered that exceeded all reasonable Gen 3 parameters. Its full capability is unknown, but it exemplified extreme speed, regenerating shield energy, and complete Fold-Out armor. Its pilot is Houki Shinonono, younger sister of Tabane Shinonono.


Houki, huh? She's pretty.


Is that truly all you are capable of noticing, Operator A2?


What? She's got blue eyes; that's pretty rare for someone of her ethnicity. It's kind of exotic.


That is not the only thing about her physical traits that is unusual for her people.


At first Church didn't catch onto the machine's meaning, but focusing on the frame in his visor again, he got the implication. She certainly was sporting an unusually large bust for someone of her age and descent.


"Hold on-"


You do not have to-


"I know, it's a habit alright?! It's not like I've ever had purely mental conversations before. Anyway, how can you berate me for noticing an aesthetic detail, then go out of your way to point out a far more perverted one? Are you even capable of understanding perversion?"


While I can objectively recognize the attributes of such a thing, I cannot understand its value or relevance to human culture. I simply pointed out the fact to gauge your own nature. Your bio-metric data clearly indicates that this 'perversion' increased your own-


"Alright, let's just stop that, shall we? Take me out to dinner first before bringing that kind of thing up.


I do not require sustenance, Operator A2.


With a sigh, Church tried to steer the topic back to the matter at hand. "Anyway, I guess that explains where this Houki girl got such a powerful machine. Although, that implies that Tabane Shinonono could crank out seriously superior I.S. whenever she wants. Why has she only made one if it's clearly within her power to make more?"


This question is valid, but we have no definite means of determining an answer, save a bloody and ruthless interrogation of the Professor herself. Unfortunately, her whereabouts are always unknown. We must settle for discerning the full capabilities of Akatsubaki: as it stands, our nation possesses no weapons that could feasibly defeat it, this suit included.


"I'm not exactly assured by the knowledge that Exeter is already inferior to the strongest I.S. around, especially if Tabane could just make more machines of that level."


It seems unlikely that she will. From my entirely objective and absolutely non-judgmental point of view, it seems that the criminally insane elder Shinonono simply acted on a nepotistic impulse for her floundering and useless younger sister.


Church was thrown off by the sudden shift to disdain, not quite sure what the deal was with all of these personality shifts. "That's kind of a harsh judgment; she did play a significant role in taking down the Gospel..."


While it pains me to be so cruel, it is the truth, Operator A2. Houki Shinonono is listed as a mere C-Rank pilot. Her skills are rather abysmal; the machine itself is just so advanced that it compensates for her shortcomings almost completely. That said, if the machine was designed specifically for her, it is very likely that her skill will significantly improve over time. You should take this into consideration in case the mission comes to blows, though it would be best if we could avoid violence.


"If the mission comes to blows there will be a lot of other pilots I still have to worry about. Now before we go any further, seriously: what the hell is with all these sudden personality shifts of yours? It's disconcerting."


I am cycling through various personality presets in order to determine one that is the most suitable in acting as your partner. Ultimately I will settle on an amalgamation of traits ideal for you. Until then, you must suffer my sudden shifts.


Church could only shake his head again, a little worried to discover which 'personality' Cerberus would settle on as being ideal for him.


"Just me and my schizophrenic robot pal, huh? Great. Well, no offense, but I think I'd rather spend this flight going over important information. Give me data on any pilot with a personal I.S.; bios, dossiers, battle reports, anything you can get me."


Excellent call, Operator A2. You know, they say killing someone you know well is a much different experience than eliminating a stranger. Study hard.


"Seriously, Cerberus, I can promise you that 'murderous psychopath' is not a trait of my ideal partner."


---


Standing at the head of her classroom near the end of the period, Chifuyu Orimura glanced down at a report she had received about a week ago, the intensity of her gaze just shy of a temperature that would incinerate the sheet of paper on her podium. It was a printed copy of a message from the Japanese government stating that an envoy from the U.S.A. would be arriving at the Academy today as a sign of friendship and trust between the two nations following the Silver Gospel incident.


That in itself was not suspicious, as relations between the U.S. and most of the developed world were strained after said catastrophe. The worst relations had definitely been between America and Japan, and so the Stars and Stripes were eager to prove that they had not intentionally sent an I.S. on a search and destroy mission, and that the whole debacle had well and truly been a horrific accident. In order to show their good faith, they wanted to openly share something they had been working on, even though it apparently wasn't an I.S., and they were therefore not obligated to share at all.


From a diplomatic standpoint it was definitely important and understandable for America to try and smooth things over as amicably as possible. But for the life of Chifuyu, she just couldn't see why they had to choose a boy to be their ambassador. Perhaps it was because he was the only one who could pilot whatever this new machine they had built was, but either way it made trouble for the whole school. It at least made headaches for Chifuyu, because she knew damn good and well what would happen when another boy made his presence known for some undetermined amount of time.


That was why she had put off informing the student body of this situation even though she had known about it for roughly a week. She'd thought about giving them a week to dwell on it, but that would have just made said week unbearable. Better to simply put it off as much as possible, though she had no choice but to tell them on the day of their envoy's arrival. Maybe they would get all of their nonsensical enthusiasm out of the way early? But casting her dark gaze towards Class 1-1, Chifuyu honestly doubted that it would be so easy. The class was full of airheads, some of which just happened to be expert pilots at the same time. In this room, she often felt like the only sane person in the whole world.


She would hopefully just drink away any headaches this situation provided for her, but for now the Japanese government was forcing it on her. Despite being the victims of the incident, they had to handle it with poise befitting the only country leading the I.S. training program. America was making moves to smooth over their mistake, and Japan had to graciously accept. Chifuyu was just a cog in the machine that was their graciousness, so she had to keep her complaints under wraps and handle the annoyance that was high school drama like a good representative of the country. Naturally, the other teachers around the school were delivering the same message to their classes as well.


"Alright everyone, calm down and listen up!"


Chifuyu easily silenced the classroom full of girls (and Ichika, of course) with her powerful voice. At least she still had some semblance of control over these hooligans. She imagined that it would not always be so easy, so she was going to enjoy that while it lasted.


"As you all no doubt remember, there was an international incident involving the Academy about six months ago. No, you still don't need details regarding that incident; all you need to know is that, because of said incident, an envoy from another country is going to be coming to the Academy for an undetermined amount of time. This envoy... happens to be male, but-"


Almost all of the girls broke out into excited gasps and chatter about a new boy arrival before Chifuyu had even finished. Needless to say, a single glare from their ruthless teacher was more than enough to silence them all, a promise of pain hidden behind her otherwise attractive visage.


"As I was saying, this representative is a male. Before any of you ask, no, he is not an I.S. pilot. That means this boy is not a student. He is not here to become a part of your daily school lives. He is an agent of a government, and is here for a very important international agenda. That said, how familiar he chooses to be with anyone here is completely up to him. However, if he makes it clear that any of you are bothering him or getting in the way of his purpose, you will leave him be. Is that clear?"


There was a collective sigh of disappointment among the girls, and more than a few rebellious or mischievous looks shared among them, but Chifuyu knew better than to think that she could subdue their curiosity entirely. It would be better to simply move on and let them suffer of their own accord if at all possible.


At roughly that moment, the bell ending the period rang, signalling a sweet release for the student body as they were free to go and fetch lunch. They began to file out as soon as that noise was heard, but Chifuyu stopped a small handful of them from leaving.


"Everyone involved in the aforementioned incident, please stay in the room for a moment. There's something we need to discuss."


With no room for disagreement given to them, Ichika, Houki, Cecilia, Charlotte, and Laura all stayed behind in the room. Knowing that the teacher of Class 1-2 had been instructed to send Rin over here as well, Chifuyu only had to wait a few moments after everyone else filed out of the room for the Chinese pilot to make her appearance.


"What's the problem? What's going on?"


Chifuyu simply motioned for her to take a seat somewhere, as she had not yet explained anything anyway. Naturally Ichika's second childhood friend looked for a place next to him, but all of those seats were taken by the other girls, so she was forced to take a diagonal position with a scowl on her face.


The elder Orimura sibling didn't rightly care about such a minor issue as shallow teenage romance, because the situation at hand was much more important, and she wasted no time in explaining what that situation was.


"So, as I said, we're receiving an ambassador in regards to the Silver Gospel incident. As you may have guessed, he's American."


Always the most practical when it finally came time to discuss something of that nature, Laura crossed her arms as she posed the group question. "What is special about this American? There must be something particular about him that will make his presence a gesture of reparation by the United States."


"Exactly right. According to the Japanese government, America is looking to prove its innocence and goodwill by lying all of its cards on the table. They've been developing an aerial combat system to compete with Infinite Stratos. Despite having no legal obligation to, they're sharing information regarding this technology with us as a sign of good faith. Six months late I suppose, but better late than never."


Hearing that there was something new that was supposedly a match for the most advanced technology in the world put confused expressions on everyone's face, but Charlotte, being the only one with a production perspective on I.S., vocalized this first.


"A new system that could rival Infinite Stratos? That can't be. The nearest estimate on such an invention is decades from now, and even that's being generous."


"It's not my place to agree or disagree with that. Numbers aside, apparently it's the way things are. Wherever it came from or how it was made is entirely the problem of someone else."


Chifuyu examined the faces of everyone present, wondering what conclusions they were making. They would all be premature, but she was curious to know if any of them were making the right assumptions.


As their teacher, she liked to judge all aspects of their abilities, including general tactics. Unfortunately Ichika was the only one to pipe up, and he didn't usually make absolutely sound tactical judgments.


"So... is this bad? Everyone's acting like it's bad."


Naturally all the girls gave him a slightly judgmental look he was probably used to by now, but in the end he just shrugged. He didn't get what the big deal was, so he made that obvious. If nothing else, he was an honest guy.


Chifuyu decided it was best to just clarify things herself. "On a technicality, it's not bad. But only if everything is as it seems. If this is all really just a diplomatic mission to smooth over a terrible accident, everything will be fine. We'll run some tests on this new weapon, perhaps spar against it a few times, and the pilot will go home as soon as everything is over with."


"I feel a 'but' coming on."


"But, if the Silver Gospel incident was no mistake in the first place, it's possible that this new machine is just a second shot at achieving the same goal, whatever that may be."


Remembering the fierce battle that had been the conflict with the Silver Gospel, the present pilots all frowned, with Cecilia scowling the hardest. "In that case, shouldn't we bar the attempt...?"


Since it was the norm, Chifuyu half expected Rin to make some counter just because she almost always countered Cecilia, but the brunette was unusually quiet. A quick glance in her direction showed that she was apparently not feeling up to anything other than listening. She was frowning like everyone else, but to Chifuyu's trained eyes it looked more like pain than the result of worry. She'd actually been like this for the past week or so, at least as far as Chifuyu had managed to observe her. But the girl hadn't gone to the infirmary or made any complaints regarding pain, so it wasn't Chifuyu's job to talk her into doing anything she didn't feel like.


But since no one was going to immediately rebut Cecilia, it fell to her to do it. "I suppose I should make this clear. There is absolutely no evidence for this implied second strike from the U.S. I am merely saying that, objectively speaking, it's possible. It's also just as possible that everything is exactly as advertised, that there is no threat whatsoever, and that this envoy will be the most honest and kind person any of us have ever met."


There seemed to be a general unspoken consensus among the girls that the last part couldn't possibly be true, for reasons Chifuyu thought was silly. Not that her brother wasn't a kind person, as he definitely was, but she got the feeling most of the girls didn't actually have a firm grasp on the root of his kindness. Oh well, supposedly they would find out on their own in due time. Hopefully without too many broken hearts.


But back to the matter at hand, they had something important to finish talking about. "Anyway, the only reason I'm telling you all of this is because I at least want you to be on your toes. That said, on the very likely chance that this is a diplomatic mission as advertised, do not jump the gun. Don't make any assumptions on who this guy is or why he's here. Make a fair conclusion based only on evidence. Give him a chance, and only shoot him if you actually get a good reason."


She rethought that statement the moment it left her mouth. "And not the kind of 'good reason' you think is enough to shoot Ichika. If we have an international incident on our hands because one of you does something stupid..."


While she didn't finish her sentence, every girl understood the implication. If they didn't want to experience scorched earth from the legendary Chifuyu Orimura, they would step more carefully around this new arrival than they did with Ichika.


Which, from Chifuyu's point of view, would just be for them to act somewhat normal for once.


---


Around this time, Church was just beginning to cross into Japanese airspace: a situation that he questioned outright. He had, however, gotten a little more used to speaking to Cerberus in his head.


Shouldn't I be contacting Japanese authorities or something? How are they going to know I'm the scheduled arrival they're expecting?


Umbra Stratum has already established communications with the Japanese government. They are well aware of your presence, Operator A2. With your approach and intentions clear, is there truly any need for them to provide a fighter escort?


Church didn't say anything to that, perhaps accepting it as face value. He'd long ago learned to accept that Umbra Stratum handled things in high places through means he didn't understand.


As for Cerberus, it did not inform him of the radar jamming signal it was emitting from the suit right now. Revealing such info would have jeopardized mission parameters.


Naturally, Umbra Stratum was not at all interested in sharing Exeter's data or even its existence with the world at large. All of the information the I.S. Academy had received regarding Exeter's arrival and government sanctioned presence was forged. The Japanese government didn't even know Exeter existed. Ironically, Exeter would be waltzing around in the most important school in Japan, without any non-corrupt part of its government being any the wiser.


Of course, in order to maintain that charade, Cerberus was fully equipped and capable of intercepting outbound transmissions from the Academy as well. The AI would intercept anything and everything that would have revealed a ruse to either the government or the Academy, and even fabricate responses to all of those transmissions to avoid raising suspicions. No data regarding the X Platform would be revealed to Japan or to the world. Even the internet was being painstakingly combed through by several dozen dumb AI back in Umbra Stratum headquarters, ready to catch any mention of Exeter through some mundane avenue like social media.


Church had not been informed of any of this. Cerberus actually had permission to inform him if it was deemed necessary, but only if it was clear that such information would not lead to the pilot abandoning the mission. Cerberus had not known him long enough to make that assessment. It would continue to monitor the situation and reach a consensus when able.


As for Church, he was focused more on the secondary aspect of the mission, gathering 'real' combat data. He'd be expected to spar with all sorts of pilots and machines: probably the many Representative Candidates and their specialized I.S. he had read about on the way to the Academy itself. While he had actually faced off against many of their I.S. in simulations before, he knew that would not be the same as facing the real pilots. He couldn't help but wonder if Exeter could really stand up to some of them, and that was to say nothing about the presence of the legendary Chifuyu Orimura.


She was widely regarded as the greatest I.S. pilot to ever live, which was high praise even though Infinite Stratos hadn't been around all that long. Needless to say, Church was certainly not confident in his ability to fight someone of that caliber in no-holds barred combat. And that was just her. Even if he could feasibly defeat those aforementioned Representative Candidates in one-on-one combat (and he wasn't arrogant enough to simply assume he could) there was no way he could possibly take many of them at once. Granted, that kind of unfair match probably wouldn't come up, but the potential scenario still unnerved him.


Not that Church wasn't confident in his own abilities, but he knew what the reality of the situation was. As long as his guise of friendly envoy remained, cordial sparring matches were all he had to worry about, and that was probably for the best. After all, the slick angular streamlines of this machine looked much better when they were not crumpled, burnt, or bent.


Of course, if his less legal objective was discovered, there was always a possibility of a real fight with multiple enemies. In case that scenario actually came to pass, Church figured it would be best if he knew absolutely all of the advantages he may or may not have had.


"Cerberus, now that we know everything is nominal and the parameters of the mission in more detail, I need to know this; how exactly can you improve my performance on the battlefield?"


The cheeky tone he got in response may have been more worrisome than the murderous one from before.


Well, I'm glad you asked! Let me tell you-


---


A little while after class had ended, Rin found herself stumbling out of an elevator on floor twenty-three of the Academy Tower feeling a lot worse for wear. She wasn't sure why she had come up there, but it had probably been for the very minor fact that this floor was for some reason the only one that had a vending machine with her favorite soda in it. Not to say the Academy lacked cuisine from different cultures, as they certainly had plenty of that, but Rin had always been into a very particular and unfortunately not too popular brand. Sometimes it was hard to find even in China.


But her mind was not really thinking especially hard on soft drinks. She was admittedly kind of skeptical about the idea of a new boy at the school. After all, the last 'boy' had ended up being Charlotte. That said, there seemed to be no reason to fake a gender this time, so hopefully that wouldn't happen again.


Other than that, at least he was male, so there was no concern over the idea of another obstacle on her unfortunately faltering quest for Ichika's attention. He supposedly wasn't even going to be staying that long, so even if he had been a girl, at least it was temporary.


Truth be told, the cold war that was Ichika's pining girl club was not going especially well for Rin. Not that there was anything direct for her to point to, but she just felt like she was noticed less and less by her childhood friend. He didn't go out of his way to really talk to her or visit her very often. Rin almost always had to come to him first if she wanted to spend any decent length of time with him. And every time he bothered to make the distinction of her being 'the second childhood friend' she felt like someone had slugged her in the gut.


The thing about the human mind was that no one made distinctions unless that distinction had some significance for them. Ichika wouldn't have bothered labeling her as 'the second childhood friend' unless it somehow separated her from the 'first childhood friend' in a way that mattered to him. And considering how much time he willingly spent with Houki, Rin imagined that the way in question wasn't exactly good. She certainly felt like she was 'the backup' or something. Chopped liver maybe.


It had really only gotten worse since the Gospel incident. She and the others had succinctly interrupted that almost kiss moment between Houki and Ichika, but it wasn't like the implication had been wiped away too. Of course, everyone was telling themselves that it had just been Houki making a move and Ichika getting pulled along with it, but there was a chance he had just been doing something he wanted.


Stumbling over to the vending machine she was looking for a little haphazardly, Rin realized that her vision was swimming a little too much to be healthy.


Aside from her Ichika problems since the Gospel incident, Rin had been recently suffering from something more physical as well. It hadn't really been all that noticeable at first. Two weeks ago, she had a small headache. She had attributed it to dehydration or a lack of sleep, but it hadn't subsided in the following days. In fact, the next week her head hurt even worse, and by now, it sporadically felt as though her skull were splitting in two.


Contrary to the way people occasionally treated her, Rin was not a complete moron. She was smart enough to do the math and figure out that something really bad had happened to her, and she was even capable of pinpointing when it probably was. During one of the inter class tournaments, coincidentally about two weeks ago, she'd traded a blow for a blow with an opponent. The exchange had let her win the match, but had earned her I.S. a rather hefty strike that had careened her into the stadium wall at a pretty dangerous speed. Normally I.S. shields and inertial dampeners would have handled something that mundane, but those shields had been pretty low due to the match, and considering the low energy reserves, the defense barrier hadn't been as strong as it possibly could have.


All of this was to say that she was pretty sure she had a concussion or worse.


Unfortunately, despite being smarter than she was often given credit for, Rin was about as stubborn as advertised. She knew there was something wrong, and that it was getting worse the longer she didn't deal with it. But there was another individual division tournament just a few days away, and Rin had to crush it. She didn't have time to rest and recuperate for whatever amount of time the medical attention would demand.


She had a list of humiliating defeats in the recent past that she couldn't allow to stand. She had a reputation to uphold, and her own pride as well. As soon as the tournament was over, she'd go to the infirmary and find out what was wrong. That's what she told herself.


It occurred to Rin that it would be very dangerous if she experienced a migraine during the match like she was now, but she obstinately refused to admit to that possibility, even as her visual of the hallway tilted very dangerously and she was forced to lean against the nearest wall. Had anyone else actually been this high up in the tower, they definitely would have noticed her seemingly drunken stupor, caused by pain and little else.


Managing to recover for a split second, Rin took two more steps forward before tilting towards the wall again. The problem was, this time the wall had a big damn hole in it, because there was an open window right there. Why it had been left open was a mystery. Maybe some girl had wanted to relax with a nice breeze on this floor at some point, and she had forgotten to close it in her rush to return to class when the bell rang. Either way, it was open right now, and Rin didn't have enough control of her body to stop herself from essentially tripping towards it, and by extension the great expanse of open air beyond it.


A normal person would have been scared shitless, but Rin figured she'd be fine. All she had to do was activate her I.S., and she'd be fine. She just had to focus long enough to summon Shen Long. That was all she had to do, if only her view of the surrounding world wasn't fading quicker than her thoughts could amble though her mind.


---


Church had just finished listening to the longest spiel regarding abilities and tech and tweaks and everything else under the sun that he could have imagined. Turned out that Cerberus actually did have a very large influence on all of his systems. In fact, the little AI was so important to the suit's primary function that it would significantly increase his chances against any I.S., not to mention multiple of them.


If anything, the AI helped level the playing field. I.S. didn't really have a 'smart' AI in the same sense, but they did have a sentience of some sort to them that assisted the pilot in combat and general flight operations. Because of that, the pilots could react and move at greater speeds than would normally be possible. The same was true for Exeter now that it had an AI to assist in the same things. The fact of the matter was that machines were always faster than man, and in the high octane battles of the skies today, that kind of speed was almost mandatory. Either way, Cerberus helped with pretty much everything, and that was all that really mattered.


Thankfully, the long-winded spiel had helped pass the time of his flight. By now, Church was so close to his destination that he could see it with relatively low power magnification.


But speaking of everything Cerberus was capable of, keeping tabs on the sensors even when Church wasn't fell under its jurisdiction.


Operator A2, it would seem that a human life form is plummeting towards the ground from floor twenty-three of the I.S. Academy central tower. We should go watch, it'll be an experience!


Caught off guard by such an unexpected interruption, Church fumbled for words for a moment, since he needed a little clarification. "H-hold on, 'plummeting'? Like free-fall plummeting? Can you lock on?"


Must I?


"Yes!"


With what could only be understood as a metallic sigh, Cerberus reluctantly complied.


Very well, locking on to target individual...


Church redirected the thrust of his machine and launched himself towards the way-point that Cerberus had set in his visor. His AI companion was unfortunately not joking, which had been a distinct possibility before now. The falling victim was now at floor nineteen of the primary tower, and Church had just begun accelerating towards the Academy that was nearly a mile away. It was a damn good thing he had been so close when this emergency arose.


Church briefly acknowledged that this was not the most appropriate way for him to introduce his presence here, but what was he supposed to do, just sit and watch as someone fell to their death?


Completely unwilling to do that, he blasted towards the way-point as fast as Exeter's ionized thruster pack would take him, the scream of its engines something that would have been kind of intimidating for anyone that didn't know where it was coming from. He moved towards the person he was trying to save at Mach 1.5, because there was very little time to reach her if she was going to be rescued at all. Unfortunately, he couldn't afford to go any faster, because if he impacted the girl in question at too high a speed, she would almost definitely be killed.


Target at floor 18. Approximately 252 feet until fatal impact.


As the Academy grew closer, Church angled his body so that he would intercept the target as soon as possible. The trajectory in his HUD was angled downwards quite steeply, however, which meant he would be catching the victim at a very low altitude. There would be no second chances if he missed. He readied himself for a dangerous catch and probably a dangerous landing as well: he couldn't slow down, or he would not catch the target in time, but if he stayed at the current speed, he wouldn't be able to stop Exeter before hitting something on the ground. All he could do was stay constant and hope for the best.


Fatal impact is imminent. May I say that we could always just let this happen and treat it as a visceral learning experience?


Church didn't have time to deal with Cerberus' sudden personality change. He kept flying at the trajectory way-point in his HUD, and readied himself to catch the victim as gently as possible.


He could see the falling person with his own eyes now. A somewhat short girl, with brown hair, twin-tails, and the standard uniform for the Academy, slightly modified at the sleeves. Based on her lack of reaction to falling towards certain death, she was probably unconscious. Church readied himself for the catch by activating the external inertial dampeners in the suit's armor. Hopefully, physics defying field would soften the girl's landing into his arms and she wouldn't break anything. Hopefully: after all, he only had a handful of seconds to catch her and find out.


Church saw the building he would probably crash into after catching the girl, and a cherry blossom tree that he would try to use to get the same girl away from that impending wreck. He could only hope physics was on his side today.


Approaching the girl's limp form, Church stretched his arms out and flew under her falling body, making an easy catch using the enhanced reflexes that Exeter provided him. Having broken the thankfully not terminal velocity she had been falling at, he released the air brakes on various points in his armor and reversed the thrusters at max power, decelerating as much as he could before dropping the girl into the tree he had noticed at a surprisingly survivable speed. Modern science scoffed in the face of inertia these days.


Unfortunately, all the brakes in the world wouldn't be able to stop him completely with the small distance left between himself and the building in front of him. Smashing into the concrete wall at decidedly risky speeds, any attempt at a good first impression was as good as lost.