Infinite Stratos - Summer Mayhem
Chapter 11 – London
First Day - Part 1
The group had no time to admire the sights that London had to offer. Each of them sat in silence as the taxi drove them from the airport. It was Rin's first time into a black cab and she felt a slight buzz of excitement as she sat in the corner behind the driver. Laura sat opposite her on a small contractible seat looking completely comfortable with the change of setting.
"Where to?"
Rin knew enough English to understand those two words but she did not know enough to reply. She looked at Houki who shook her head. Charlotte then leaned forwards but before she could speak Laura interrupted. The military girl spoke quickly and fluently and the driver nodded before continuing out the exit of the carpark.
"Laura you can speak English?" Charlotte asked in surprise. Even Rin had to admit that she was impressed by her skills.
"English is nothing," Laura said shrugging. "Surgery, gun assembly and coding were much harder."
"C-Cooking is a thing right," Rin put in hoping to match her expertise.
"You can code Laura?" Houki asked in interest.
"Elementary Python and C++. You can break most locks with that and pre-armed viruses."
"You've… had a hard life," Rin said gazing at the silver haired girl.
Laura did not reply and Rin watched as the taxi drove through bridges and small twisting roads. The houses were spaced widely apart in some areas, yet cramped into close quarter flats in others. There was an abundant amount of greenery, and couples out in the open holding hands.
Everyone seemed relatively happy.
Guangzhou, was much the opposite. There was just too many people and too little resources, therefore everything became a competition where high status governed law.
If you had no power or money you were basically no one.
So people became greedy…
"Rin?"
Charlotte peered over and was holding a camera. She was taking the situation in her stride as always. No matter what happened she would still smile and carry on. At first it had been endearing, but after hearing about her backstory in Hakone she had slowly began to find it… repulsive.
"I'm surprised you have the energy to take pictures."
"We weren't discussing anything else so, I might as well."
"How about we talk about Cecilia?" Houki suggested.
"Ugh! When I find that dumb blonde I'll kill her! I don't care how posh she is," Rin said hotly.
Rin was more than pissed at the turnout of events.
She personally wanted Cecilia to be with Ichika, and tried to force them together by convincing Ichika about who to choose. Rin wholeheartedly believed that Charlotte would not be a good match for him, both of them being too passive, too caring for others and both broken.
Ichika, the numbskull that will never accept himself.
Charlotte, the idiot that will never let others accept her.
They will never match.
Rin groaned again slamming her head against the interior side of the cab repeatedly.
"Rin, I don't think that will solve anything," Charlotte said lightly.
"Shut up," she replied thinking that it was all the French girl's fault.
"Where are we even going?"Houki asked.
"Leicester Square, there is an area called Soho. It is the best place to gather information," Laura replied flicking through some files on her wrist watch.
Charlotte and Houki began to ask more questions, but Rin ignored them staring into the city centre from the window. People walking around in suits, mostly men, and female police officers patrolling around the streets chatting happily. Everything buzzed of activity as people just continued to walk through congested walkways in fluidly.
The taxi driver stopped by some traffic lights and began to talk to Laura.
She nodded softly and they began to converse.
"What does he want Laura?"
"The exact location, I described it as best as I could."
Around them now swarmed people, as they drove through pedestrian streets slowly, inching closer to their destination.
"I thought to see more blonde people," Houki said tentatively, "but there are a shocking number of oriental people here."
"Well it is a tourist destination," Rin said with a shrug. In truth all around her she could hear Chinese being thrown around as if it was commonplace. However what freaked her out was that most of them were complimenting Houki's bust size and Charlotte's legs.
The phrase cute girls in a taxi were being thrown around as well.
Looks like the English Gentlemen stereotype was dying fast when surrounded by these perverts.
"Rin?"
"Eh? Sorry I didn't quite catch that Charlotte."
"I was just asking you again, if you knew why Cecilia would do such a thing. I mean to shoot at Ichika because she was angry is one thing, but to attack Laura like that…"
"She's crazy," Rin replied with a shrug. "She has her own set of problems though, but she never mentioned what they were."
"We'll have to force it out of her," Laura said coldly. "I have my torture tools ready."
"Laura, calm down…"
"Calm you say? I have been waiting for this moment since the time I set foot onto this cursed island. No one takes my wife and gets away from me," she replied her face darkening.
Rin smiled, she knew in IS combat there was no way that Laura would lose to Cecilia. She would personally also like to witness the English woman getting pommelled. Houki was also grinning maliciously but it was Charlotte who looked worried, and trying to calm the German girl down.
Why was she always like that?!
Her behaviour, her actions, her reasoning… all of it irritated Rin to no end. She shook her head briefly, calming down. She was getting too agitated over this, all she had to do was make sure that Ichika was safe from Shinonono Tabane.
"Do you think the Instructor will be okay? She is going up against the super hacker."
"Laura you worry too much. This is Orimura Chifuyu, she cannot lose," Rin replied but inside she had second thoughts. Houki's sister didn't even feel human. It was the casual way that she had refused to put any weight in people's lives apart from Ichika, Chifuyu and Houki's that made her seem robotic.
She had also apparently tampered with Ichika's emotions.
Just what did she do to him?
"Let's prepare for the worst," Houki said lightly, her expression dark. "Right now we have to find out where Cecilia and Ichika are."
"Hmph, you're all so slow," Laura announced flicking her hair over her shoulder. "I have located her, she has twelve guards on the outer perimeter. No staff are able to operate IS, we should be able to slaughter them all."
"Laura!" Charlotte scolded her. "Calm down, do you want us to get deported?"
"Why must the law always interfere?! They never care when we are in the midst of war."
Rin had to chuckle at the German girl's outburst. She was cute… but just a bit insane.
Then again, getting your military base taken over, taking a stun bullet in the neck as well as seeing your 'wife' get shot would drive anyone over the edge.
"Where are they Laura?" Houki asked patiently.
"Knightsbridge, there is a mansion just beside one of the gardens. We should first set up base here though."
"Agreed. We should hurry though . We don't know how long Orimura Chifuyu will last," Rin said.
Time was running out. If Laura was able to find out exactly where Cecilia was, then Shinonono Tabane would have no problems as well. Orimura Chifuyu though strong had no IS to combat the super hacker as they clashed on the English Channel a few hours ago. She had told them to go on ahead.
So there was no choice but to advance.
She secretly hoped Cecilia would resist so she was given an excuse to throw her around a bit.
Ichika's eyebrows twitched as he controlled his temper. The first thing he had wanted to do was to scream obscenities at Cecilia, but he knew there must have been a reason for her actions. Opening fire on him twice would not leave the best impression and he was sure that Cecilia was not that much of a fool.
"Ichika, would you like some tea?"
Cecilia asked innocently with such a content smile that Ichika almost lost it. But he exhaled and kept his calm. He had woken up only a few minutes prior in this exact position, arms and legs bound to the elaborate dark wooden chair. Opposite, sat Cecilia with the smuggest expression that he tried to pass off as cute.
They were all in a glass dome, surrounded by roses and bushes enclosed within bricked sections. The red headed maid skilfully brewed some tea before pouring it into small decorated ceramic cups. She then placed a layered stand onto the table. Each level had scones, macarons, fruit tarts and small biscuits.
"Maybe some cake as well?"
Cecilia threw another smile and Ichika could only sigh in response to her carefree attitude.
"It's pretty hard to eat and drink when my hands are bound like this," he replied playing along to her game of 'house'.
"Don't worry I'll feed you then!"
Before he could protest Cecilia jammed a scone in his mouth. It was strangely lumpy, hard, dry, gritty… Her hand was still over his mouth forcing him to eat the whole thing without spitting it out.
And spitting it out was what he wanted to do.
More flavours included spicy, sweet, salty and putrid.
There was no doubt about it… she had cooked them.
No one other than Cecilia Alcott was able to produce such toxic waste and label it food.
"Ah, for Ichika to eat my cooking! I'm so happy!" Cecilia exclaimed blushing and clasping her cheeks in pleasure.
"C-Cecilia! What is in it?" he cried out swallowing it out of pity.
"Well flour, eggs, butter, sugar. I made it special though. I know guys like cars so I added some GASOLINE as well."
D-Did she just say -?
"Madam," the pretty red haired maid said. "You forgot to also mention the chili oil, garlic flakes, onion rin-"
"Shush Chelsea," Cecilia said covering her face in embarrassment. Ichika doesn't have to know how hard I worked on it."
Ichika felt that it was more on the lines of, how hard she worked to poison him. Last time he was fed a sandwich which tasted of sandpaper, but this was ten times worse.
The more effort Cecilia put into her cooking, the deadlier it became.
"Do you want another one Ichika?"
He shook his head and jammed his mouth shut. Cecilia however looked delighted as she grabbed the second scone and headed towards him.
"No need to be shy Ichika! You're a guy after all!"
He almost whimpered in response.
"Madam, excuse me," Chelsea interrupted tapping her master's shoulder. "Lord Miller is at the front gate calling for you."
Cecilia instantly turned pale white. Her eyes began to quiver and mouth opened in surprise. He could feel her fear as she trembled. Cecilia hastily retreated, putting the scone back onto the stand.
"Sorry Ichika. Something came up. Chelsea will be with you though," she said mechanically. Her blue eyes were lifeless as she gazed passively at him. "I'll let you know about our plans later."
She walked out the double doors followed by two butlers. Her footsteps were slow and he wanted to call out to comfort her, but no words could be said when he understood nothing.
Ichika blinked in surprise.
Before he could call out words of support without any issues…
Did he really hate her to that extent?
"Sorry about this," Chelsea said taking out a knife. "I might have to disobey Cecilia this time."
They were alone in the domed room, and the maid was approaching him, knife in hand. Ichika could not believe his luck, everyone wanted to kill him lately.
Chelsea cut the binds of the rope and untied him.
She proceeded to unknot sections she could not cut through, rubbing her body against his. It was not the size of her chest that bothered him, but her soft skin which, exposed from the elbow was glistening white. Her lips were perk and small, exhaling with every input of strength and her scent was-
"Done!" she exclaimed clapping her hands in delight. "Hi there, I'm Chelsea Blackett! Cecilia's best friend and personal maid!" She threw out an open hand towards him.
"H-Hi?" he replied taking her handshake softly. Her smiling face frowned a bit.
"Firmer! You're a guy aren't you?"
"Yes!" he exclaimed suddenly grasping onto her hand. She began to wince in pain.
"Too hard!"
What was he doing?
Ichika was always nervous around older girls and he knew now that he needed help. Chelsea moved towards him smiling mischievously. The way her lips curved was cute, like Laura.
At the thought of Laura he felt a sudden wave of sadness.
It felt like his feelings were rejected. Not only that, but he was told that those feelings towards her were fake… But what did that mean?
Would he even realise when he loved someone?
"You're just like Cecilia described. Slow, bit stupid but a kind and strong man."
He was tempted to point out that he was not stupid, but decided against it. Cecilia was much more intelligent than him and to her, he was a bit slow.
"Patient and good tempered too. I wish I could find a man like that," Chelsea grinned.
"I'm sure you can find someone Chelsea. You're very pretty."
Her eyes narrowed as he said those words. It was different from the others, who would all normally look happy or surprised and Ichika was mildly intimidated by this maid.
"You have quite the arsenal there. I can see why girls would flock to you," she spoke levelly. "But I am here to talk to you, not to flirt with you… maybe later though."
"T-Talk?"
"As a symbol of trust as well," she said throwing something towards him. Ichika quickly caught the familiar object and gasped in recognition. It was his Byakushiki activation bangle.
"I could just escape right now."
"I know, but I want you to stay. Cecilia will never ask this of you but I will," she said now looking seriously towards him. Her green eyes fixed onto his.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"How was her scone?"
"Fascinating."
Chelsea let out a short chuckle as she picked up the said item and began to play with it.
"She really did spend 2 hours on it. Don't worry we took out most of the toxic materials when she was not looking. Strange how all her cooking looks normal, but when you taste it… "
"I don't think I can ever eat her cooking again…"
"She'll improve. Do you know how surprising it was for us when she said she wanted to cook? You have changed her quite a bit," she exclaimed clapping her hands in recognition.
There was an extended silence where Chelsea put the food away and looked towards him awkwardly. She wanted to say something to him but was obviously thinking about the future impacts that it would bring. Ichika himself was interested to hear why Cecilia had changed so much. In the IS Academy she had always been spoilt, but mostly she was a kind and thoughtful girl.
Actions such as kidnapping and shooting her friends were just too extreme.
"Don't hate Cecilia," Chelsea said quietly. "I heard from her about what she did and she regrets it. But, she had no choice."
"No choice?" Ichika said. "She could have just asked me to come to London or could have not fired a missile towards me."
"Yes, she had no choice. No event is ever purely black or white Orimura Ichika."
"What did you want to ask of me?"
"Please, help Cecilia. Right now she needs someone with power by her side. Unfortunately I don't have the power, but you do…"
"Why should I help her? She's done nothing but try to kill me."
"Her life will end in 4 months if nothing is done. Are you okay with that?"
Ichika blinked, she was going to die?
"Sorry, my Japanese is not great, my apologies. What I meant to say is that her freedom will be taken away in 4 months."
"Freedom."
"The arranged merger between the Alcott Corporation and the Miller Corporation. She will lose her fortune and… more."
"Money cannot be equated with freedom."
Chelsea smiled sadly but did not continue. Instead she paced around the room in thought.
"I probably can't tell you any more than that. This is not a straightforward story. But in 4 months Cecilia would wish she was dead…"
"What is Lord Miller planning?"
"We don't really know."
"Then what can I do?" Ichika asked already feeling the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.
"What can you do indeed Orimura Ichika?"
"Damn it!"
Chifuyu collapsed to one knee as water rained down around her from the explosion. She had sustained too much damage. Her suit was torn and there were wounds to her shoulder, right leg and upper torso. In her hand was her last katana and it was chipped from two attacks prior.
"Chi-chan~!"
Chifuyu swore in retaliation as three beams of light impacted the sand she was standing on. The island shook from the blast and from the seismic activity the small body of earth would not last. She looked towards her left, pinpointing another area of land and dashed across, running so quickly that her feet barely skimmed the ocean surface.
"It's scary, so scary, so so scary!" Tabane sang intercepting her half way. Chifuyu then dashed to her right into another area of safety and firmly stood her ground as the island she had been on previously exploded in a cloud of magma.
"It's so scary Chi-chan… That you are still human. No human is capable of those movements."
She was close to her limit now but Tabane was still unaffected by this drawn out battle.
Tabane was cheating after all, as she was in her own IS.
A pink IS with las-cannons, short ranged beam sabres, sonic thrusters and missiles.
Her speed made Akatsubaki look cute in comparison.
"You're being awfully careful, to bring in your IS to this fight!"
"Of course, Chi-chan is strong."
The IS materialised in front of her and Chifuyu couldn't even react in time as the beam sabre descended. Time stopped as the weapon closed towards her and she knew she had to do something extreme to avoid the strike.
She jammed the hilt of her katana into her knee buckling her whole body avoiding the death stroke and with her left hand struck her kneecap back into place. Chifuyu leapt avoiding the second blow and slowly backed away from the monster in front of her.
"Ara, that's clever. You dislocated your own bones and put them in again to match up to my speed. You really are reckless."
Chifuyu couldn't afford to talk anymore, the pain from her legs spread to her waist and any energy conserved could be used to focus on her healing.
"No time to rest Chi-chan!"
Chifuyu ducked under a las-canon round and swung her katana to intercept the sabre. The metal creaked under impact and she knew it would only last a few more hits. But the IS was locked into place…
With her left hand she reached towards Tabane's head. The super hacker looked surprise but dodged by rolling her neck-
Chifuyu's outstretched hand snapped back curling around to the back of the pilot's head with such force that the whole IS flew into the ground where she was previously.
She could not stop her attack here.
Her katana hacked the las-canon equaliser and reached towards the sabre but Tabane reacted by doing a full spin, metallic hands flying out.
She saw another chance and curled her finger tips into the elbow interlock. With a grunt of force she tore the metallic arm off. There was a sickening scrape of metal as the wires exploded and popped, forcing a cry of surprise from Tabane. Chifuyu smashed her elbow into the pilot's stomach forcing a cough of blood before tearing out her right metallic arm.
"Impossible!"
Shinonono Tabane collapsed onto the ground, IS suit malfunctioning rapidly. Her equalisers were all but destroyed and Chifuyu stuck her katana into the sand next to her neck.
"This is the end."
"You really are full of surprises Chi-chan… I can't believe you managed to beat me."
Chifuyu was breathing heavily, it had been close and she did not want to repeat the experience anytime soon. The wounds that she had self inflicted upon herself were beginning to ache with exhaustion and it took all her strength to stand.
"Too bad though Chi-chan. You were so close."
Tabane laughed maniacally and Chifuyu tensed her hold on the sword bringing it down like a guillotine.
But it was too late.
Her opponent had propelled herself upright and jumped into the ocean, propelling towards the English shore.
"Not so fast!"
The pain in her knees became almost unbearable as she ran across water to match the speed of the IS. Her katana now was on its last strike. Chifuyu leapt high, sword raised, eyes locking onto the moving shadow below the surface.
She threw her sword.
It embedded its target and a cloud of steam erupted from the IS. Detonation, after detonation as the piece of metal was torn to pieces. The force threw her back onto a sandy ground and she lay there motionless unable to move any further.
Had she stopped her?
"Soooooo close~!"
Chifuyu swore as Shinonono Tabane casually took a seat next to her. There had been no visible damage to her, but her attire was wet. Chifuyu took a bit of pride in that.
"If I hadn't built in an emergency eject function I would have died! Good thing I watched that James Bond movie before making that IS."
"Well we're both staying here. With your mode of transport destroyed you cannot reach England."
"Eh? Who said you destroyed my mode of transport?"
Chifuyu groaned at the thought of more combat. She had been out of shape lately always teaching classes, there was no way she could deal with any more strenuous combat.
"What are you going to do with Ichika?"
She did not reply and Chifuyu felt strength returning to her limbs. Even if she died she would not let anyone lay a hand on her younger brother.
"Calm down Chi-chan…"
"I'm ready for round two whenever you are…"
The false bravado was unlike her. But she was desperate and just saying those words out loud was enough to force her to her feet.
"Sorry Chi-chan but my ride is here!"
Chifuyu swore as she realised that Tabane had another backup. A carrot shaped capsule crashed several metres from them sending a shockwave of rubble. The metal peeled away to reveal another pink IS identical to the one she was fighting moments ago.
"Well with that I'm off. I'll say hi to the others for you. Here's some first aid and supplies as well. I think you'll be stuck here for a while."
Tabane grabbed a large bag from the cockpit of her IS and threw it next to Chifuyu. Anger flared from within as she watched the scientist calibrate and customise her machine right in front of her.
"Watch your back, because I'll be coming to get you."
"Chi-chan, you have always been the one to catch me. It would be terribly boring if you were to fail now."
"Then I'll make it clear right now. Tomorrow I'm dragging your ass back to Japan."
"There she is!"
Charlotte peered from the building around the corner as Cecilia and an older man chatted in front of her mansion. Her eyes focused on who she was talking to. She had seen him before at one of her father's banquets.
Albert C Miller.
The CEO of a powerful company in charge of the third generation development of IS. It was his company which designed the Blue Tears from the French Revive generation one model.
He was nearing his thirties, his blonde hair swept back with a trimmed beard on a defined jaw line. Charlotte did not have any good memories of him, he was a shallow, materialistic and calculating person.
"Who is that she's talking to?" Houki said peering beside her. Charlotte didn't answer as her eyes were drawn to the brick layered palace that Cecilia called her home. It could have been mistaken for a museum from the sheer size. She knew that the Alcott family was powerful… but seeing wealth of that degree was overwhelming.
"Who cares? Let's blast them all," Rin suggested.
"Wait, we need more information," Laura hastily interjected. Charlotte was a bit surprised. For all her words about tearing Cecilia apart, Laura was being very methodical about how she was going to do it.
Calm and collected.
In comparison although Charlotte maintained a cool exterior she almost ran up and hit Cecilia herself… how dare she hurt Laura and Ichika…
"They're going inside now… it's now or never," Houki said dashing out into the open.
"Wait you fool!" Laura shouted. Charlotte noted that the German girl was even beginning to sound like Orimura Chifuyu.
"Might as well!" Rin said also running after Houki. Charlotte sighed and dragged Laura after her to chase them.
"Cecilia! Sorry, were we late?"
Cecilia looked towards them and her shoulders sagged forwards in… relief.
That made no sense…
She was genuinely happy to see them. It did not look like an act. But if that was the case then Cecilia's and Albert's relationship was vastly different from what she expected.
"Guys! Sorry I'm in a meeting right now, but you're welcome to come inside."
"Cecilia why are you being so formal? … you're so dead you bitch…"
"That's right just as Laura said, it's been ages! … wait till we're alone and I'll teach a real lesson about manners…"
Charlotte laughed awkwardly as the threats from Laura and Houki were audible to her even with the hushed voices. Cecilia looked worried once again and turned towards her for support. Charlotte didn't really feel like helping her so she simply grinned back in response.
For some reason Cecilia paled the most from that.
"Miss Alcott, these are?" Albert asked gesturing with his gloved hand.
Charlotte backed away instinctively from him. His eyes were still ice cold, blue lifeless orbs. He also towered above all of them being 1.85 meters in height.
"My apologies Lord Miller. These are my friends from the IS Academy. We have the country representatives from France, Germany and China. The other is no other than the younger sister of Shinonono Tabane."
"I'm honoured," he said gently taking Houki's hand and kissing the back. The Japanese girl instantly withdrew it with an embarrassed expression on her face. Albert did not look displeased as his providence lingered on each of them, giving an acknowledging nod to Laura, ignoring Rin and eyes falling onto herself.
"That is Charlotte Dunois…" Cecilia explained after he continued to stare at her. It was only after the English woman said this that Charlotte's blood ran cold.
How could she forget?
After everything that had happened she had forgotten.
The last time she had met Albert… was as Charles.
Please don't recognise me…
"Strange you have a striking resemblance to Charles Dunois… from the Dunois Corporation."
In the background she saw Cecilia clap her hand over her mouth in shock. It was not intentional and with that the French girl felt a bit more relieved.
"D-Dunois is a very common surname, Lord Miller," she replied politely praying that he would not notice.
"No matter. I'm sorry all of you, but I have agreed to accompany Miss Alcott to dinner tonight. But I'll see you all again, especially you Charles Dunois."
His smile grew distorted, his eyes flared with triumph and tongue tracing over his parched lips.
He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows…
He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows…
He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows…
He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows…
He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows…
He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows… He knows…
And with that she felt her heart shatter.
A/N: Woah quick update! It's 4:30am in the morning here so trying my best to finish these chapters fast.
In this chapter you get to see more of the girls interactions with each other and hopefully a memorable impression of Chelsea.
I think she's a great side character who deserves more recognition in the show.
Also a bit of mystery/not mystery into why Cecilia is acting the way she is XD
Hope you enjoyed this first entry into London and will update soon!
Stay Awesome!