Infinite Stratos: (I don't own Infinite Stratos)
Hi all! I'm back and ready to start season 2! This first chapter is going to be set in the first episode. I'm playing with a different style of writing that is going to be exclusive to this chapter. So don't freak out. The chapter will play out like the episode did, but it will be switching between what's going on with the gang and what Zeke is doing at the time. I'm sorry about the vagueness of what's going on back in Japan compared to what's going on with Zeke. I'm writing it like that since Zeke isn't there himself. Enjoy!
The Memory of a Summer's List
(USA)
Breathe in slowly, exhale slowly. Breathe in, squeeze. BOOM! What do you feel when you pull the trigger? "Recoil" I finished my chant, watching as a man's head exploded as the Full Metal Jacket .408 caliber round shattered the bulletproof glass, ripped through a printer and made contact. I racked the Chey Tec Intervention's slide and grabbed the shell that popped out before stowing the rifle in its case and strapping it to the side of my motorcycle. I slid on my helmet and gunned the engine before taking off down the ramp leading out of the parking garage. I was out of the state by the time ballistics came back on the round used to kill yet another scientist who was connected to 3 other murders in the past week all across the U.S. Since neither the weapon nor the shooter were ever captured, the case was shut within a weeks time. If they'd dug a little more, the police would have found that each of the victims had at one time worked for the IS program before it was shut down after the Silverio Gospel incident a few months ago. I was targeting my last assassination by the time a crime technician had taken a look at the file in D.C and noticed that the shooter was never seen, the caliber of the rounds used changed with each murder, but every shot came from a good distance away. The CT tried to get the case reopened, but was shut down from up top on Capitol Hill, from within the White House. In fact, I was listening to the man tell the CT that the case was to remain shut and to not be pursued through a microphone placed in the man's desk. So, someone's actually looking into my targets, interesting. I thought as I dismissed the microphone's playback of the conversation. "We might be able to make use of this, Zeke." Gospel said, stretching her wings as we sat on a building across from the White House. "I know. The question is how...?" I said, raising a hand to my chin. "Let's go back. Nothing is gonna happen over night."
(Japan)
Ichika had just woken up to Laura asleep in his bed, luckily not naked. She offered him a pamphlet that depicted a event going on at a nearby water park. She was blushing as he read it, embarrassed. "Then why don't we take everyone and…" Insert knife being stabbed into the head of the bed a few inches from Ichika's head. Laura huffed and walked out. Ichika was confused, as usual. He got dressed and was walking around outside when he caught sight of Cecilia. He greeted her and she got a faraway look on her face before Ichika was able to get her attention again and hand her the same pamphlet that was given to him by Laura this morning. He smiled at her happy reaction and set off to find one of the other girls to ask them as well. Cecilia was still in dreamland in front of the school. Char was sitting on her bed, lost in her own world as she wondered where Zeke was. She took her phone out and sent him a message, hoping he'd respond to this one. "Well, might as well do something today." She said to herself, getting up and thinking of things to do.
(USA)
"What about police reaction time?" Gospel asked. "Slow enough for me to get away unnoticed. What I'm worried about is the Secret Service. They're already there and usually ex-military. They'll know where I'd shot from and be able to react faster than normal." I replied, shaking my head as I tried to work around this issue. I leaned on the holo table, Gospel standing opposite me in her holo. A 5-block by 5-block square of D.C was displayed with the White House in the center. A skyscraper at the edge of the shown area was highlighted with a red dot on the top, symbolizing me. "Play the scenario again. Follow the shot as it travels, please." I said. Gospel nodded and fired the shot, tracking it as it flew through the predetermined track with weather conditions in play. I watched as the red line signifying the bullet trail made its way closer and closer. "White House security have detected the shot, backtracking now." Gospel said, highlighting big concerns as the scenario continued on. The bullet was just passing through the predetermined window when vehicles and aircraft began to move on my location. "Wow! And I thought the police were fast." I said as I was apprehended by the Secret Service and my target was slumped over his desk, a hole in his chest. "And this is using the most recent data on security?" I asked, looking at my IS. She nodded and I let out a low whistle. Then I thought of something, "Hey Gospel. Wasn't there an event scheduled for later?" I asked, trying to remember said event. She nodded, "Yeah. A big gathering to celebrate the removal of the Silvario Gospel. And a meeting to discuss how to deal with problems like this if it happens again. Apparently, we weren't privy to a new update that had been installed by the Israeli tech group. It was part of why the IS went rogue." She said. "Send a message to the House. Tell them that their representative would like to join them. With a plus one" I said, clearing the plan from the table. "Done. Why exactly, did I do it?" She asked. "How do you look in a dress? Don't answer that, you'll look great." I said, holding a hand up as I started a new idea track. "You didn't answer my question, why did I just tell the Government that you were wanting to attend." She said, pausing all function on the table. I sighed, "Two things. One, I just wanted to see you in a dress. And two, range isn't working out, so we come at him from inside his own domain. We take down the target, act like we discovered it and start a manhunt for the 'murderer,' then slip away after we're clear." I said, finishing the plan up on the now usable holo table. "Use the dimensions of the room and let me know if your IS form will fit inside." "You do know that I can downsize myself, right?" She asked, I shook my head. "I do now though." "Alright, done. How big or small am I getting?" She said, looking at me. I smiled, "My height. I'd like your measurements after you figure it out so I can get you a dress." I said, turning and walking out of the room. I missed the shocked look Gospel had on her face as she figured out what I was planning.
(Japan)
Ichika made his way towards Rin's room to ask her to come with him and the others to the water park. He knocked, hearing her answer. He told her he was coming in. He didn't quite catch what she was saying as he opened the door. Oh! Should of asked if she was decent. Baka! Baka! Oh shi...! It was the last thing he was clearly thinking before Rin, to save some decency, punched Ichika across the hall into the wall with her IS's arm. She covered herself up again before noticing the pamphlet fluttering down between them. She grabbed it and read it.
(USA)
"Ok, don't think about what you're about to do, even if you said you were going to. You need to do it." I said to myself, looking up at the store sign. I wasn't paying attention as to where, but the small text underneath. "Dresses for any and all occasions" (I'm not sure if there is a place that actually says that. I made it up.) I walked in, a note with Gospel's... measurements. I blushed at the implications of a few of these before handing the note over to a store clerk with a suggestion, "She likes green, with a little white in it, if possible." I sat down as the clerk walked around, searching through the store for dresses and hanging them up next to me. I would go through them as she searched and sorted them as the two of us either okayed them or denied them. After awhile, we had come up with a handful of dresses and Gospel made her appearance, acting as my girlfriend who I was buying a dress for a "special occasion." I acted surprised to see her, putting on a show of trying to hide the dresses. She just grabbed them and walked into the nearby dressing rooms. "You could have at least played along a little, now I look like an idiot." I said, sitting down on an empty seat. I glanced around, seeing a few other guys sitting down as well. We all nodded and waved at the other before going back to waiting for our respective women. "Good. It was embarrassing enough giving you my measurements. I'm at least picking what I'm wearing." Gospel replied. I mentally nodded in defeat. She walked out in one of the dresses neither of us was really set on and I shook my head. She nodded, then walked back in. As soon as she walked in, I could hear some of the other girls, "she looked good in that dress, why didn't he like it?" "You need to pay attention to the women too. She didn't like it and he could tell she didn't." "Really? I didn't get that vibe from her." I mentally sent these to Gospel and felt her embarrassment at the attention. She walked out in the final dress I had looked at, one we had both quickly agreed on. I looked her over, the dress hugged her torso and hips, but wasn't tight. It had a slit down both sides from about mid thigh, allowing her legs to move and the dress went down to just past her knees. I gave her a smile, showing my approval. She nodded also. "This/That one!" We said. She walked back in and 'changed' as I waved over the clerk, handing her the other dresses. "We found the one we like." I said and she nodded, calling over to another clerk to ring us up. Gospel joined me at the counter and handed the dress to the clerk who scanned its tag and I paid for the dress. We left and I picked my suit out. I checked my watch as we walked out of the store. "Time to go!" I said, looking over at Gospel. She nodded and we stopped at our apartment, changed and were out the door in record time. We arrived just in time to miss most of the crowd trying to enter. I linked arms with her, "Showtime," I whispered to her.
(Japan)
Ichika rubbed his still throbbing head. He shook it off and made his way to Houkis's room. He was directed farther down the hall to a wooden door. He knocked, hearing Houkis's answer. Not making the same mistake again, he let her answer the door. She answered in a shirt. He feared for his life as he handed her the pamphlet. Her shirt slipped open a bit more and he gulped nervously. She agreed happily and he quickly beat feet away from the shower room.
(USA)
Gospel and I were quickly ushered into the building, given a complimentary security check, then sent on our way. "Why do I feel violated?" I asked as I put my suit jacket back on. Gospel shivered next to me, "Not sure. But if you figure it out, tell me. I feel pretty violated as well after that." We laughed at each other and linked arms again and walked into the main room, coming out on a terrace above the rest of the room. People had already spread out and were mingling all over the place. "Recognize anyone?" Gospel asked me, leaning on the railing. I turned and faced the other way, doing the same as I said, "No one at all. Maybe a couple of the generals, but they aren't who we're here for." I said, dropping my shoulders. "Well then. Let's go mingle, shall we?" Gospel said, grabbing my arm and we walked down the stairs. We smiled at people as they looked our way, waving at some. We went on before being intercepted by, "Mr. Secretary, nice to see you again! What's it been, three years? You were a Major when I met you. I'm Zeke Altec." I said, offering my hand. The man looked at me before he recognized me and shook my hand. "Altec. Yeah it's been awhile. Where've you been?" He asked, looking at Gospel. "And where'd you find this beauty? You lucky bastard." He said, chuckling. I laughed as well, "I've been over in Japan at the IS Academy for the last year. In fact, I'll be headed back there in a couple days. I met Ms. Gospel over there and we kinda just, clicked. You know?" I said. He nodded. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Secretary." She said, smiling at him. He smiled at her, "The pleasure is mine, Ms. Gospel." He said. We excused ourselves, promising to talk again before making our way over to another group. "That was Secretary of Defense John Miller." I said, filling Gospel in as we walked. She was going to continue when I was tapped on the shoulder. I turned to see, "Mr. President. Nice to meet you, sir." I said. The President nodded at me, "Altec, glad to have you in attendance tonight. Glad to have a person who's always ready in the room with the issue of these recent murders. Makes everyone jittery." He said, looking around. I nodded, swallowing a lump in my throat. "Yeah, kinda why I wanted to be here tonight. Lots of important people here, makes a pretty big target." I said, looking around and noticing the Secret Service agents hidden in the crowd.
"Ms. Gospel, the President of the United States." I said, making introductions. He looked at her, smiling. "Nice to meet you, Ms. Gospel." "Pleased to meet you, Mr. President." She replied, flashing him her own smile. He turned back to me, "Heard about what you guys did over in Japan. I guess I have to thank you for that. If we'd known..." "Glad I could help, sir." I cut him off, smiling. "And I'd be happy to help you if you choose to do another project of the like. I have had a lot of experience with IS like the Silvario." I added, basically handing him a résumé . He nodded, "Thank you for that offer, I'll consider it." He said, shaking hands with me. I nodded my thanks. "Hate to chat and run, but I have to be a good host." He said, nodding at us as he left. We waved at him and continued on. "President Alden." I said, leading Gospel to the refreshments. She nodded, "Anyone else?" She asked, sipping on a drink. I pointed, "There's the Secretary of the Navy, Bob Jones. Don't call him Jonesy, even if you know him." I said. She choked on her sip of punch. I laughed and dabbed the punch before it got on her dress. "Behind you is the Speaker of the House, Henry Scott. The First Lady is to your left, Marsha Alden." Other than that, I don't recognize any others." I said, tossing the now wet napkin into a waste basket. "Thanks. Don't do that again." She said. I just smirked. "And the person we're looking for?" She whispered. At that, I frowned. "Haven't seen him yet. Which worries me." I said, looking around again. "How're you holding up?" I asked. She smiled at me. "Besides meeting some of the most important people in the country and talking with them, I'm alright." She said sarcastically. I just rolled my eyes at her.
(Japan)
Ichika was searching high and low for Charlotte. He hadn't seen her all day. And he'd been all over the school today. He sighed, might as well go see if she was in her room again. He got up from the bench he had sat down on at the other side of the campus. No rush. If I don't find her tonight, I can always ask her before we leave in the morning. He thought as he began a slow walk back to the dorms.
(USA)
I looked down on the rest of the room from the terrace again, hoping to find the person I had to kill tonight. Can't believe this has gotten so easy to think about. I've changed since last year. I thought as I looked down at my hands, Hands that have taken men's lives, hands stained with the blood of many men. I fisted my hands and gritted my teeth, Focus, we can think on that later. I looked down and spotted Gospel as she walked through the crowd, looking for the target from the ground. "Anything?" I asked, looking over the crowd. "Nothing yet, although I seem to be gathering a lot of phone numbers." She said unamused. I felt a flare of anger rise in me, Wait, why am I angry about that? I've got Char, I shouldn't be feeling like this! I thought, trying to shake my head of these feelings. Damn it! I looked down, breathing hard before taking a deep breath and walking back down the stairs to the floor. I was just about to go find Gospel when a microphone squealed and I looked around, covering my ears at the sound. "Gospel, where are you?" I asked, looking around. "Right behind you." She whispered, looking at the stage. "Found him." I said, following her gaze and locking onto the man standing at the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I may have your attention please. Will everybody please follow the agents as they direct you to our next item on the agenda? Please." The man stepped down and lead the crowd through the walls of Secret Service agents as they cordoned off restricted areas.
"Right this way please, watch your step." Our impromptu guide said as he opened a set of double doors and walked through. I followed, hand holding Gospel's as we wormed our way through the crowd. We slipped through and found ourselves sitting in the Situation Room, if I was correct. We took our seats and the rest of the crowd did as well. I noticed that most of them were women, IS pilots most likely. "Great. We're in a room full of IS pilots and Secret Service agents with our target. What could possibly go wrong?" I asked sarcastically, feeling pressured at our time frame was shrinking fast. "Relax, take a deep breath, focus. We'll get through this." Gospel replied, but I could feel her anxiety at being in a room full of possible opponents. I was thinking of possible alternates when the man sat down and we began discussing possible fall backs and plans for other Silvario Gospel events if they ever occurred. "Change of plan, we're still doing this from inside, but with a little range thrown in. Can you summon your weapons while still maintaining your hologram?" I asked, while throwing out a couple suggestions to a question proposed for overseas reactions. "I haven't tried, but I can give it a shot. What would you like to use?" Gospel asked, taking my hand in hers under the table. "Give me one of the pistols. How far underground are we?" I asked, feeling the familiar weight of one of Prototype's pistols fill my hand. "Not far enough for what you've got planned. I'll cut the power when you say, give you my optics for the shot and we'll bust out of here with my full firepower." Gospel said, shifting in her chair to face me more and prepped to do as we had planned. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in… "NOW!" I said mentally, rising from my chair as the lights went out and seeing just fine due to Gospel's optics. I felt her form around me as I darted towards the Vice President and jumped, unassisted from Gospel's boosters and fired once, the IS-sized round tearing into him as we flew up towards the ceiling and Gospel fired straight up, creating a hole just big enough for us to fit. "Create a holo of me in Proto flying after us. Makes sense since I would be the fastest to react" Gospel did just that, with the effect of being shot at and we made a big spectacle of fighting before we 'died.' Thanks to a simulated explosion, then our holo took off, headed towards Japan while we followed from far above. Once we were far enough away, Gospel dismissed the hologram and we took off, flying for IS Academy.
(Japan) Zeke's POV now.
I landed at the entrance of the IS Academy, breathing a sigh of relief before running for the dorms. I need to see Char, not sure why though. I thought as I dodged and ducked under people headed for their rooms as I made my way towards Char's room. I slid around a corner and caught sight of her room. Huh, she's rooming with Laura this year. I thought as I knocked on the door. I heard a 'coming' before I was greeted by two… cats. "Char, what's going on?" I asked, focusing on the white cat who looked at me with her head cocked and the ears seemed to move on their own along with the tail. I looked at the other cat, "Oh. Hey Laura. So, what'd she do to get you in this thing, huh?" I asked, looking at a blushing Laura. She shook her head, staying silent. I shrugged, then was tackled from behind by a white cat named Charlotte Dunois. "Ouch. A little warning would have been nice Char." I said, looking at the cat girl now straddling my hips from behind. This time, I could swear that the tail was moving as Char leaned down. "Where've you been, soldier boy?" She asked, looking at my prone form. "Nope, not answering any questions till I'm off the floor." I said, wiggling to see how much moving room I had. Enough I thought, placing my hands on the floor and doing a push-up, forcing Char off as her seat lifted and I flipped around and grabbed my cat girlfriend. Never thought I would ever say that. "Now, mind asking that question again?" I said, looking at Char as her cat ears drooped. "Where've you been, soldier boy?" She asked again. "I've been…" I started before being interrupted by a knock on the door and Ichika's voice coming in through the door, "Char, are you there?" "Yes, Ichika. Come in." She replied. I snorted, "This is going to be good." "What do you mean?" Char said as Ichika came around the door. "What's up?" Then he noticed the girls. "That's what I mean, Char." I said as the girls noticed their current attire. "Those are unusual outfits." Ichika said, hand still raised from his hello. "Hey, Ichika." I said from my place on the floor at the foot of the bed. "A black cat and a white cat." He continued as he waved at me. "You're oddly calm about this whole thing, what've you guys been up to since I've been gone?" I asked. "Lot's of things, mainly today though." Ichika replied. "Oh yeah, tomorrow." He said, digging out a pamphlet from his pocket and handing it to Char. I stood up and looked over her shoulder as Laura stomped off, to which I snickered as it was hard to look angry in a cat suit. "Tomorrow, right?" I asked, clarifying with Ichika as he walked out. He nodded, "Yeah, it's an all-day thing. You should come." I nodded, "I will, I just need to get my luggage and find my room." He nodded and waved goodbye. I waved to the girls and ran down the hall, finding my new room and opening it. I set the things I had at the moment down and ran to the balcony. "Let's go, G." I said as we took off for the base we had made home for the summer.
(USA)
"Ah, home sweet home!" I said as we landed. I started packing and was just about done when an alert went off on one of the consoles. I opened it to see a base had been breached by an unknown enemy. "G, can you figure out what happened while I grab a few more things?" I asked, headed for the door. She nodded and began to trace the alert.
Next day…
*Yawn* "Why exactly are we all here?" I heard one of the girls ask as I stretched from my current resting place. That bench was surprisingly comfortable. "Probably because Ichika was too dense to understand when one of you asked him to go with you. He then proceeded to ask the rest of you to accompany him while forgetting to mention that there were others coming as well. Did I get it all, Ichika?" I asked as said boy walked around the corner to see 5 frowning girls and me smiling on one of the park benches. "Huh?" "Yep, that's what I thought. You've all been had girls." I said as I sat up and stood, leading the girls as they huffed and followed me to the waterpark, Ichika trailing behind.
Hi all! That's it for episode one of Season two! Hope you enjoyed and I'll be explaining things in later chapters. So hang on, and leave your questions in the comment box or my PM inbox. Peace out guys!