Yo, JaphetSkie here! I said Laura will get in next chapter, but I wasn't able to do that. Anyway, this chapter is about Xero and Tatenashi's friendly spar. Enjoy!

I don't own Xionic Madness and Infinite Stratos

Chapter 10: A Match and a Discussion

At one of the academy's Arenas…

"Hey, you made it! And here I thought that you were too busy to go or that you backed out." Tatenashi beamed as she saw Xero enter the arena.

Today is the day he and Tatenashi were supposed to have a friendly match. He really didn't want this, but he have to if he wanted them to trust him some more. And he knew that she intended to fight him so that she could know more about his fighting style and tactics.

That's too bad, since he's pretty damn sure that he can beat her without much effort at all.

He then grumbled, "Have you ever seen me back out from anything, brat?" She pouted at his remark. "I am not a brat…" she muttered.

"Yeah, and I'm your ancestor reincarnated." He sarcastically replied. "What?"

He quickly said, "Nevermind. Let's get this over with." Tatenashi then deployed her IS, hefting a lance and pointing it at him. He began to use his analysis ability.

"She will mostly use her lance in melee combat, but since that thing's also a gun, she'll try to shoot me if I give her a window of opportunity to do so. Sheesh, she won't last long enough like the other pilots I've fought earlier. And she wanted me to go all-out? I'll get serious if you can blow up an entire city block in one casual attack like Kary could."

"Hey, don't space out on me! Suit up!" She called on to him. He couldn't help but sigh as he materialized his armor and readied himself, teleporting some meters away from her.

She went still in shock at what he did as he never saw him move like that, even in the footages. "No way. Is he that fast? Wait, the ground wasn't disturbed, which means…"

"Did you just teleport?!" She incredulously asked him. His only reply to her was to equip his Aeroblade, his sword hand ready to draw the blade at any moment.

She finally relented in his silence. "I'll take that as a yes, then." Before she readied herself.

Both were staring each other down, weapons drawn, bodies tensed. Each one were waiting for one another to make their move…

Then Xero vanished in a red and blue blur.

Tatenashi's eyes widened as she lost sight of her opponent. Looking around in caution, she quickly turned behind and fired rapid bursts with her lance's built-in gun.

Xero's armor shrugged off the bullets as he charged at her, drawing his Aeroblade and went for an overhead slash that Tatenashi blocked his attack with her lance.

He didn't let up as he kept on dashing in random directions, relentlessly slashing at her. She tried to block as many attacks as she could, but he was too fast that he's actually managing to hit her a few times already.

"Is this all you've got?" he mocked. She merely smirked and produced a whip sword and counterattacked, forcing Xero to go switch to a defensive.

"Oh, so you've got another weapon then." He thought as he flew up, with Tatenashi chasing after him. "Hey, come back here!"

"Uhhh, how about no?" He then created a Petrol Silhouette to distract her before warping in 3 explosive variants of his Nightstar shurikens. He threw the shurikens that homed towards the unaware Tatenashi, who just slashed at the clone Xero made with her whip sword.

She never noticed the Nightstars until they were too close for her to intercept. She could only mutter one word, "Crap." Before they exploded in close proximity.

Xero looked at the smoke cloud, cautiously observing for any movement. His eyes widened when something struck at him, which he wasn't able to dodge. Thankfully, his armor can take point-blank explosions in a nuclear scale, so he's fine.

He took a glance at Tatenashi and saw that she's somehow controlling the water. "Troublesome. There's nanomachines in the water. That's why she can control it. No matter, it's nothing I can't handle." He thought as his visor scanned the water Tatenashi is controlling.

"Well I got nanomachines too, but in my blood." He smirked as he dematerialized his Aeroblade and began to use his Bloodwires after so many years.

One thing about his Bloodwires is that they've got significant upgrades. Unlike the previous ones he used that are only synched with his blood, these ones are actually made out of his blood with the aid of nanomachines, making them live up to their namesake.

He used the Bloodwires to create a screen to shield himself of Tatenashi's frenzy of water-based attacks ala Walter Dornez as he approached her. Tatenashi tried to keep a distance from him, but he used his Bloodwires to try to entrap her. She futilely tried to keep them from doing so, but one of the wires managed to snag her by the legs which distracted her for a second.

That one second is all Xero needed as he then eventually entangled her with his wires, effectively immobilizing her. "Geez, I never saw you use that before. Not even in the footages."

"What's he gonna do next, I wonder." Tatenashi thought to herself. As if answering her question, Xero called in one of the heaviest weapons in his arsenal: the Obliterator, a minigun that fires corrosive energy rounds that on impact, explodes with the force of an HE round. And it shoots 4 rounds at the same time.

"Is he trying to kill me?!" she frantically though as she tried to get away from the gun's barrels that begun to rotate, which she was able to do thanks to her IS's water manipulation ability that cut the wires.

She quickly flew away the moment she broke free and shielded herself with the water as she went, but Xero trained his oversized gun at her and fired.

The energy rounds slammed to her water shields, withstanding much firepower for a few seconds before they were finally breached and the deadly stream finally hit Tatenashi until her IS's Absolute Defense function activated, signifying that she lost.

The two then went down to the ground and Tatenashi deactivated her IS, while Xero dematerialized his armor. She then stormed off and bombarded him with questions. "Geez, are you trying to kill me? Just what are those rounds made of? And what are those wires? Do you have more tricks in your sleeve?"

He chuckled, "One: I'm not trying to kill you. Two: Energy rounds with corrosive properties that explodes with the force of an HE round. Three: Those are wires made out of my blood and controlled using nanomachines. And Four: I'm yet to use 19 out of 33 weapons in my inventory."

She doubled over in the last statement. "T-thirty three weapons, and you haven't used 19 of them?!" He nodded in confirmation. "Any more questions?"

"Y-yeah, um…Did you create those weapon and your armor?" He blinked. "Uhh, yeah I did. Have to use my connections for the resources, though." She seemed to have bought his lie.

"Well I can't just tell you that some random being revived me, fixed my armor, and gave me those weapons now, can I?"

As they chatted for a while as they walked out of the arena, he saw that Chifuyu was just waiting by. "You really did live up to your title, Xero-san." She commented.

"Umm, thank you?" Xero said, unsure what to say to her. He then heard Tatenashi say bye and saw that the girl went on ahead, which leaves just the two of them.

Chifuyu looked at where the Representative Candidate of Russia went to and said to Xero, "You were holding back against her. Why?"

"Damn, she's quite observant." He thought. He then said his reason. "I can't go all out on her 'cause I'll kill her if I do. And if I use my strongest weapon, this island would be wiped out."

This tidbit greatly alarmed Chifuyu, but she doesn't want to believe him. "Wipe out the island? What, you have a palm-sized nuke or something?" Xero shook his head and warped in said weapon.

It is a combat knife of sorts, with a blue color scheme and a blade at least a foot long. "A knife?" She raised an eyebrow. "I can tell from his face that he's not lying, but I just want to be sure. But since the things he said were true…"

"It's called the Longinus Knife, or Loner as I called it. It's originally designed as a suicide weapon, but I improved it so that it can be used for offense. It works by overloading anything with energy and make it explode violently. In the case of an IS Core, it have enough energy to wipe this island off the map in the case I stab one with this."

"But what if you happen to stab yourself with it while wearing your armor?" she inquired. "Well, an entire city will get wiped out if I did." She gulped. "And that was originally intended as a suicide weapon." She thought to herself.

"That all?" he asked. "There's still some questions I want you to answer." He raised an eyebrow, but he motioned her to continue as he remembered it.

She started. "How did you meet Madoka?"

"I was raiding a Phantom task base at Cairo when I fought her. I kinda heard things about her and decided that I could try to stop her from going on to the path of revenge."

He then remembered. "Anyway, you haven't answered my question days ago. Was Madoka really a clone or no? Some of my informants tend to get their info wrong."

"She is, in a way. That's all you need to know." His next question threw her off a bit.

"Was Ichika…the same case as she is?"

She hesitated for a few seconds before she sighed. "Y-yes. But that's all I'm telling you."

"Understandable. Your turn to ask."

"How were you able to fight against an IS? I know your weapons are advanced and I'm not gonna ask about them, but how did you even manage to dodge that beam attack and survive being punched twice, by an IS no less?"

He kept a straight face. "Heavy applications of Cybernetics all over my body." Her face wrinkled at that. "Cybernetics. Okay, but which modifications are they in particular?"

She regretted asking him after she received the answer.

"Implanted Neural Computer in the brain that assisted me in and out of combat."

"Artificial eyes with advanced sensors and different visual modes that helped me have the world record for marksmanship."

"Lungs that can filter oxygen underwater and purge deadly material in the air I breathe."

"Digestive system with significantly improved nutrient absorption that I can get 100% of the nutrients of what I eat."

"Bones made out of carbon-based material tougher than titanium alloy that is also resistant to extreme temperatures and pressure."

"Muscles replaced with organo-synthetic nanotubes that allowed me to significantly exceed record breakers in terms of speed, strength, agility, and endurance."

"Nanomachines in my blood that gave me accelerated healing and immunity to all diseases."

"And finally, a heart that can automatically control blood thorought my body without beating, which in turn nullifies my presence in heartbeat monitors."

She was then horrified as he cited the things he went through to become what he is today. She then began to wonder in utter disgust as to who would be willing enough to do this to him.

"Whoever did this are nothing but monsters. I don't care whether he's willing or not. Doing those things, just for him to become an instrument of death and destruction. Unforgivable!"

"I know what you're thinking. You're wondering why or who wou-" He was then interrupted when Chifuyu suddenly hugged him out of the blue.

He spluttered, "Wh-what are doing? Why are you hugging me all of a sudden?" She then replied. "I…I just can't fathom how you remained a good person despite losing a part of your humanity."

This stunned him. Even though Chifuyu never truly knew him, she's the only person to genuinely consider him as a good person aside from Enid and his team.

Even though his squadmates never called him a good person face-to-face, their actions and attitude towards him are enough to tell him that they're at least grateful to him for being their teammate , despite his crass and rude personality.

He just decided to let her comfort him for a while. He's settled not to tell her the whole truth, for her own good.

"Will you still consider me as a good person once you find out the horrible things I've done, Chifuyu? The heinous crimes that not even I could remember?"

AND CUT! That's 2.1K words for you. Sheesh, I haven't gotten to Laura yet. Anyway, I've been kinda worried that this fic might go nowhere, because this fic only went as an idea and I simply wrote it without any planning. Just wrote the chapters on the fly. And some observant readers will notice that in the first few chapters, I've been writing in paragraphs, which slowly progressed into the current writing style I use. So I'm gonna have to revise the other chapters as I said back at Chapter 9.

As for all of Xero's 33 weapons, along with explanations in case you don't know:

Longinus Knife – explained just now. All members of Bolverk Squad have one.

MBORF Spartan-issued Riot Shield – riot shield that can shrug off a direct rocket hit. Used by MBORF's Spartan units.

Painkiller – explosive stakes that can be detonated on contact or remotely. Was once Askad's.

Sticky Death – plastic explosives that can be used as a mine, grenade or timed bomb. Askad used them.

N8 – timed bomb with enough explosive yield to take out a city block. Was Askad's but he was killed at XM1 so it was Xero who deployed it.

Armadillo – already explained and showcased on previous chapter. First owned by Askad, then Omega before Xero had it.

Joy v1 – Omega's pistol that shoots twelve .65 rounds.

Joy v2 – improved version, can shoot sixteen .50 rounds.

Joy Colt – explained on previous chapter. Was once Omega's.

Ballistica – explained and showcased in previous chapter. Was once Omega's.

Arctic Empress – Worse than the one Ichika have. It freezes in Absolute Zero. Was once Omega's.

Executer – Again, worse than the one Ichika have. Has more kinetic damage than Ichika's. Was once Omega's.

Closer – Omega's multi-barreled shotgun. Has 12 HE shells and can switch firing mode between 1 shot, triple shot, or all 12 at once.

Terminator – Omega's lever action shotgun that shoots rounds that are a mix of a slug and 00 buck round, making it good for close to medium ranged combat.

Watcher – explained and showcased at previous chapter. Was once Omega's.

Red Fang – can project an energy blade but requires blood as fuel. Whether it's his blood or his enemy's doesn't matter.

Aeroblade – showcased just now. Its windslash ability wasn't used 'cause it's overkill. It can create a wave blade attack out of wind and Xero combined it with his inhuman speed and reflexes at XM3 to kill multiple enemies at once.

All-Purpose Sword/APS – explained in previous chapter.

Light Arrow – explained and showcased in previous chapter.

Obliterator – explained and showcased just now. Was once Omega's.

Bull – quad-barreled pump action shotgun that shoots energy pellets that are as powerful as an HE shell, all four barrels shoot at once. Was once Omega's.

Red Hill – Similar to Red Fang, but it releases a shockwave.

Slicer – Xero's first sword. Made out of strong alloys (technically a phlebotinium) and can cut through many known resilient materials.

Blue Shark – Worse than Ichika's. Xero's have more kinetic damage 'cause the blade shoots faster.

Boomknives – already explained and showcased on previous chapter.

FGM-148 Javelin Custom – long-barreled and upgraded version of the original weapon. Impossible to be wielded by a normal person. Can take out a building in one shot. Used by Omega once.

Ripper – chainsaw-sword used by Xero for anti-armor roles.

Hollow – Xero's Ninjato that could turn invisible.

Bloodwires – already explained and showcased just now.

Sawer – Shuriken with a chainsaw-like mechanism, can return to thrower.

Nightstar – showcased just now. It can home to target. Robo-Askad once used an explosive variant.

Grudge – Upgraded Watcher. Now semiautomatic and the rounds can ricichet 5 times in mid-air.

Bloody Doll – explained and showcased on previous chapter.

And in case you're wondering about the last statement, it's because Xero cannot remember his past and his identity before he became the fourth member of Bolverk Squad. He only knew the declassified info about him, like how he was trained by ninjas and did some unsavory things for them before he was defeated by Bolverk and captured by MBORF, before they wiped his memories and turned him to a cyborg.

That'll be all, folks! JaphetSkie, signing out.