IS: Valkyrie

Author's Notes: Warning, this contains a flashback. For people who dislike too many flashbacks at once in one too many chapters in a consistent manner (looking at you Naruto) then I have a surprise for you: this one has some explanation to the previous chapter.

YAY!

Without further ado, why's the rum gone?

…

Damn it remix you did it again.

Disclaimer: I do not own Infinite Stratos or do I intend to, goodness me how do you handle the fanservice requests all at once?

During Merle's house arrest, Merle's room

"So that's about it, the boy is safe and all that…don't worry your big ol-"

"Finish that statement and I will fly over to Japan and give you a trashing." Chifuyu warned as she massaged her aching temple, the man smirking deviously at her with a cheeky glint in his eyes.

"Well now, I don't have to try it seems to get a rise out of you." He teased, ignoring her glare as he put his hands up in surrender at the screen showing a truce. "But I can understand your own concerns about this private matter, so I will drop the teasing for now and give you some space…oh by the way, how are things in Germany so far? Got some good bars with the finest alcohol to enjoy?" Chifuyu now smiled, her irritancy gone in an instant as she remembered the first month after acquainting with the German team she would be working with for the year and it wasn't that long before she broke the awkward ice between her and the team, their mood softened and their wariness soon gave way to a respectful attitude with training and soon they invited her to drink and it didn't take long before the German IS operatives soon saw her as someone who wasn't above their reach, a human who's on the same level as the grunts in terms of teaching and making sure they succeeded.

"The bars were great, best beer I ever had."

"Come on, didn't you try the other kind of good stuff?" Merle asked with a raised eyebrow, after she talked with Merle for a while and shared some of her many difficulties with raising her own brother she realized he was quite the listener, holding his tongue to prevent himself from interrupting or even trying to steer her with decisions that she had already considered…he wasn't that bad a person though his aura still yelled out shifty to her even after a while as she shook her head in reply.

"No, I didn't and they wouldn't let me drink to get a decent hangover. Besides I don't drink wine but only beer, it's a joy to stuff that sweet tasting beverage down your throat."

"I don't know how you do it, Chifuyu…seems like you surprise me more than most." Merle commented with a face of slight awe at her as she looked away embarrassed by his compliment, unable to reply to that before a sound from behind her alerted the woman to the presence of a girl stumbling into the room as the door was flung open, raising an eyebrow from the imprisoned young man as he saw silver hair and a dark metal patch covering her right eye shielding him from seeing her full face before the young woman turned to Chifuyu.

"Chifuyu-sama we need you to get to the training ground."

"Sama? Seriously, Chifuyu just what have you gotten yourself into this time?" Merle took his chance to give a fake sigh and shrug of his shoulders, crossing his arms as he did so while his tone changed into a boorish and hostile one as he glanced at the silver-haired girl who approached Chifuyu who had turned her chair to face the girl who was still standing in her spot her posture was that of a military soldier and her hands behind her back.

"Shut it, Merle or I will be the one punching you when I get back after I whip these women into trained fighters…and once again Laura it's not 'sama' it's just teacher understand?"

"Okay, teacher." The voice sounded disappointed as Merle gave Chifuyu a thumb up from behind as he cheekily teased her.

"See you until next weekend when you can, honey…I love you." He switched it off while laughing hysterically leaving Chifuyu to clench her fists while having a bright smile on her face much to the girl's own displeasure of what she heard and saw as she committed the strange man's face to her memory, she would ask Chifuyu about him later once they were done training.

Present Day

"Okay, people hustle over to the arena and we can get this training underway." Merle ordered as the students began to pack, his attention turning back to Ichika as the boy pushed his way past the teacher his glare still there as he moved Merle aside with his hand the older of the two not about to retaliate to his actions watching him leave the classroom with the others. He was soon joined by Houki who had gone to his side, a worried look on her face as she watched Ichika's back turn the corner of the hallway as the class including Yamada who did give a backwards glance of worry for Merle before she followed the girls.

"Houki, you can talk you know…you don't have to ask of me the permission to speak, I am not a superior being."

"What's with you and Ichika?" She voiced her question out loud, the man sighing as he moved to the teacher's desk sitting down at the seat as he eyed her dark eyes with a look that was vulnerable while he scratched his head.

"He caught me and Chifuyu…well, you know." He said with his eyes looking upward at the ceiling when he heard Houki gag on her saliva, the teacher looking down to see Houki's face in utter shock and surprise her hand clasped on her mouth before he re-modeled his statement again to calm her down.

"We kissed, that's as far as I planned to go. She was trying to help me with my own problems, we nearly kissed and next thing we knew was that Ichika went into full-blown 'protector' mode on me while trying to convince his sister it was the right thing to do to not get into a relationship." He said as Houki calmed down visibly, letting out a sigh of relief as she leaned against the desk her eyes falling on the teacher with concern.

"That's good news though, you and Chifuyu together…but what's stopping you?"

"The easiest thing I never gave to them, trust. I need to give them that, and then it will be alright." He replied sadly as he stood up, his hand gesturing to Houki towards the classroom door with a smile at his student. "Well then shall we go to the arena? You won't want to miss the practice battles."

Arena

"You want to have a practice battle, Charles? I'm in the mood for letting off some steam." Ichika called out to his only male buddy in the entire school as Charles turned and nodded, bringing up his hand and summoned his IS suit showing it off for the first time while Ichika did the same lifting Byakushiki to bear it at the French representative brought up the rifle to his shoulder smiling in anticipation.

"Hope you don't disappoint me Ichika, I hear being the first male pilot has a lot of burdens being shouldered."

"Heh, you honestly do not want to see what I have to deal with in my daily life here." Ichika replied before he charged head on at Charles who just moved aside and fired three rapid shots but Ichika managed to fly upwards avoiding the spread and charged again as Charles changed his tactics immediately switching up his rifle to get a sub-machine to fire hitting Byakushiki from the side and causing damage to the shields as Ichika avoided the second burst of fire by flying upwards joined closely by Charles who switched to the rifle and began to fire concentrated shots.

"Man, already taken 100 damage to shields…Charles is good." Ichika muttered as he searched his mind for other options, still making sure he was avoiding the shots as his shields took a graze.

"I can't use the One-off Ability like this, I have to try and lure him somewhere."

"Ichika, are you honestly fighting me seriously?" Charles called out over the shots as Ichika didn't reply, flying to the ground in an evasive tactic and swerved around to face Charles who was about to land on the ground as he charged bringing the katana up while the French Representative realized the action too late, his eyes showed surprise as he tried to pull himself up but in vain as the katana hit his shields sending him flying to the side and into the wall luckily knocking against the arena shields that prevented damage to the structure as Ichika brought his katana up, grudgingly thanking the male teacher for teaching him some tactics while Charles got up switching to dual sub-machine guns and fired through the smoke the sudden action staggering Ichika who took damage yet again, the short distance however made the spread of bullets more effective and soon he felt his shields drain.

"Ho, looks like the Orimura can fight." Ichika felt himself chill considerably as his instincts kicked in, the Orimura immediately dodging as an artillery shell exploded behind him almost knocking him over before Charles rushed to his side, the young teen using the smoke as cover to fly out to him as both boys looked up at the launch ramp on the other side of the arena to eye their attacker who was standing in a jet-black IS with a mounted artillery cannon smiling viciously.

"Laura…Bodewig." Charles spat out the name with hostility while Laura just chuckled darkly.

"That's a Revive Gen 2 right? I never thought the French would be so behind in generation development of there IS suits." Laura shot back meeting the hostile Frenchman with a spiteful gaze before she turned to eye Ichika who was kneeling on the ground trying to catch his breath.

"How pathetic, how you are the brother to Chifuyu-sama is beyond my own understanding and how she could even talk so highly of you, even when you're evidently weak." Laura clenched her jaw as she grinded it slightly, recalling a memory before she wiped it away from her mind bringing the artillery shoulder piece to load another shell aiming directly at them.

"I am going to beat you, and then it will help you pay for past mistakes. That's what you wanted when she lost her place in the Mondo Grosso championship back then, back then…this is the time to pay for that mistake!" Laura yelled as she fired another shell, the projectile headed straight for them as Charles took Ichika and moved out of the way before a laser took out the shell in mid-air, exploding over the sky of the arena to the surprise of the nearby first-years watching the battle take place before a few of them looked up to the sky where a blue IS mobile was floating in the air, rifle drawn.

"Well, looks like I'm not too late. Rin, you're up on taking her down but be careful…Laura isn't like other pilots, I get the feeling of experience behind her." Cecilia warned as Rin nodded appearing out of the smoke and hacked at Laura with her twin scimitars but the silver-haired girl managed to move away from the charge and landed on the arena floor her only exposed eye glinting malice before she moved again as Blue Tears deployed its laser tips to pursue the girl, attempting to trap the slow machine but to no avail making Cecilia narrow her eyes.

"As I thought, definitely experienced." Cecilia moved to the ground, knowing her lasers will not help Rin who was busy trying to get a hit on the black IS as Laura noticed the twin shoulders of Shen Long began to glow brightly, Rin moving back as she fired her air cannons at the German soldier hitting the target head on with dust flying up to create a cloud.

"All right, it hit!" Rin cheered as she eyed Charles already heaving up the downed Ichika to his feet, the boy nodding before two wires shot out towards them Charles immediately pushing Ichika aside as the wires wrapped around his arms pulling the French teen towards Laura who had stomped out of the dust cloud incensed as she formed a laser spear and began to stab at Charles' shield, the boy unable to escape as Rin appeared behind Laura joining her scimitars at the hilt.

"Take this!"

"Not even close." Laura calmly countered as she dodged to the side throwing the Revive at Rin, knocking both pilots aside as Cecilia cursed firing her lasers at the German representative.

"That won't work." Laura held out her hand, a polygon area shield appearing to absorb the lasers Cecilia narrowed her eyes further as her opponent had a haughty look on her face.

"Surprised? AIC, I'm sure you're familiar with that term…now join your comrades!" Laura drew her combat knives and shedding her shoulder piece giving her a little more speed to close in on her opponent, the British representative threw her rifle straight at the German girl using her trump card as the weapon blocked the soldier's vision and fired her rockets sending Laura flying back but not before drawing her wire and hooking it around Cecilia's leg dragging the IS suit down with her as Laura grasped the wire and pulled Cecilia towards her drawing a laser spear and destroyed the last of Cecilia's shields with three well-placed stabs before throwing her alongside Rin and Charles who were getting up and surrounding her, Rin being the first to charge in and fight against Laura who deflected and parried with her combat knives all the while hounded by Charles who would wait until Rin retreated in order to fire her submachine guns in small bursts taking some of Laura's shields. Ichika meanwhile was just struggling to get over the impact of the shell eyeing his shields to see that he was below 50% capability before he would be vulnerable finding it difficult to even move as his eyes were blurry, seeing flashes of color clashing with each other as Ichika brought his katana to his hands lowered at the ground as his head hung downwards.

"I can't move or even see well…"

Meanwhile Laura was besting the two pilots, Charles already gritting her-his teeth in frustration as a combat knife was thrown at him taking out his weapon before Laura used the wire again throwing the Revive towards her and a laser spear blocked Rin's attack before the Chinese girl rushed in unaware of the trap set for her.

"Just fall over and surrender!" Rin yelled as she raised her blades before her eyes caught sight of the Revive being dragged towards Laura, Rin immediately catching on as she stopped in her tracks dissolving her weapon as Laura held Charles in front of her as a human shield using the chance to use her spear to drive it into Rin smashing her shields while throwing Charles at her for the final time defeating both of them.

"Looks like this battle is over, where are you Ichika!" Laura yelled at the spot where Byakushiki last was before a voice thundered above her.

"Right here!" Ichika prepared his laser sword, rushing down at the German girl with all he got before the wires shot out and wrapped his arms Laura beginning to toss him into the group of girls and guy stacked up at the corner of the arena, much to the shock of the male Orimura who found himself going off course and Laura jamming the laser spear into his shields multiple times each time more savage than the last before Ichika's shields ran dry the girl smashing him hard into the ground, Byakushiki starting to twitch as Ichika looked up at Laura who had a sadistic smile on her face the twin laser spears looming over him as Ichika turned to look at his shield level seeing the red flashes in desperation and helplessness.

"Only 1…she's seriously going to-"

"Die, Ichika!" Laura yelled as she let her spears fall upon the poor boy, but instead of hearing a satisfying dying scream from the Orimura her eye widened in shock as a black shadow jumped in front of Ichika and held out a gloved hand, her laser spears dissolving instantly as Laura stared in shock at the same polygon barrier erected in front of her as the light show disappeared allowing her to see.

"What?! You're…!" Laura felt a chill of fear down her spine as she saw the darkened face of Merle glaring hard at her holding back her attack with an AIC, the young teacher dressed in three quarter black pants and a grey shirt while a azure flat cap covered the top half of his face standing defiantly at the IS mobile with an outstretched hand revealing a metallic slick black glove fitting Merle's hand as Ichika's eyes widened further at the display.

"M-Merle…how?" He managed to utter before Merle turned back giving him a reassuring look before he glared back up at Bodewig who had gone still.

"Enough games, Laura Bodewig. I have given you a chance to explain your actions but it seems that you refused to listen to me, all the more even try to kill Ichika Orimura? How low you've gone, Bodewig." Merle chided harshly as Laura flinched a little at his hardened eyes, the AIC still holding out against her before she regained her confidence and yelled back at the assistant teacher.

"Get out of the way, Merle…this man is to be blamed, he is to pay for the mistake he sincerely regrets!" Merle narrowed his eyes as he gritted his teeth, his other hand flexing to punch the girl as he controlled his anger at the situation hearing Ichika slowly go into unconsciousness behind him.

"Not like this, violence makes Chifuyu only go after you to kill you…are you seriously stupid?"

"She won't, she should be thanking me such a weak link is about to be cut off from the face of this earth!" Merle just shook his head, keeping his stern eyes on her as he took a breath and sighed.

"Then there's no choice, I'll beat you down for good. There's no way you're going to get to Ichika without getting through me!" Laura simply glanced at the man, stunned by his choice of words before she began to chuckle soon turning into a mad round of laughter down at Merle who kept his demeanor of calm and control as she eyeballed him.

"Hahahaha…you, a man try and beat me?! Hahhahahha, not a chance without an IS suit could you possibly hope to defeat me!" Merle now had his turn to smile, his free hand clenching as he grinned up at Laura stopping her laughter with his own words.

"Who said I needed an IS?" At that moment, Merle pulled back his glove forming a fist as the shield suddenly disappearing briefly before a purple light shot out at Laura the soldier widened her eyes in shock as she was sent flying backwards into the wall, the barriers once again exposing themselves as Laura groaned as a screen suddenly came to life flashing red with warning, alerting her to eye the number that popped up before her eyes widened again the soldier feeling her confidence shrink significantly as she read it: 50/600.

"W-what is this trickery?! There's no way an AIC could fire back an attack, it's for defensive capabilities!" Laura looked utterly stunned at Merle who gave her a pissed off look, all pretense of his calm disappearing along with his smile as he walked towards her confidently his right gloved hand lifted into the air shocking Laura who was still staggering from the blow as she watched a purple laser spear form in his hand the teacher glaring at her with his dead-like eyes.

"You mean this attack? You know I am rather calm and collected about things like this, but there are some times when you know you pushed your damn luck too far for anyone to forgive you for it…this is one of those times, where you just really took the worst time to piss me off." Merle spoke harshly and in a deep angry tone, Laura unable to react or form her weapons in time as Merle ran towards her IS and with an angry war cry brought the purple spear down smashing the remainder of her shields with a single blow shattering Laura's confidence as she watched her shields shatter into polygon shards leaving her vulnerable before a laser spear jabbed towards her head, stopping at her red eye as Laura began to shiver unable to take her eye off the weapon jammed at her face while Merle growled at the beaten soldier.

"You're angry, I get it. You don't like how Ichika sabotaged your idol and made her quit, fine…but let me warn you that down here you may be the representative of Germany or even the President's daughter, but in the end you are nothing in this legalized rogue state and everyone here is equal. Act superior and someone won't be so hesitant to try and strike you down, and when they beat you…you will feel true humiliation."

"The next time you threaten my students, the next time you try to kill one of them in front of me…I will not tolerate your actions nor hesitate to strike you down and see you disgraced and humiliated in front of the United Nations, post a Youtube video of it and dance merrily while you're stripped of your mobile suit. Are we clear?" Seeing no resistance from the girl or an answer, he felt his anger skyrocket as he brought the tip closer to her face singing the skin of her cheek.

"Am I clear?" Merle repeated slowly as he lowered the laser spear down to her chest, showing his determination to drive it into her heart before Laura nodded fearfully in reply.

"Great, that would be lovely if you behaved. Now, I have to get the others to the infirmary and fast." Mere suddenly switched his personality right back around, shooting a death glare at her momentarily before he tapped his ear calling for Yamada to get the medical teams to the arena leaving Laura beaten and traumatized by his threat before he connected his voice to the speakers.

"Class is dismissed for the entire day today, homework can be pushed until next week so make sure to get some study done before the small class test and also be informed that all duels are suspended until the next tournament. Thank you." He announced as the first-years began to leave the arena, stunned by what they have seen today as Merle just looked back to the wall where he left Bodewig only to see that she had vanished leaving him with the others as he moved towards the unconscious bodies, a look of pain on his face as Houki appeared down the stairs reaching the arena floor and towards Ichika as Merle looked back with a smile.

"Hello Houki, help me move them on their backs so the medical team will not have any more trouble." He said calmly, Houki nodding as she made her way to the bodies of her classmates before Merle tapped her on the shoulder a concerned glance was sent her way.

"Don't. Laura is Ichika's problem now, I was just the buffer keeping him safe until the tournament...give him time and he'll know what to say." He assured the Japanese girl patting her shoulder as he walked off, Houki catching a glimpse of his gloves but said nothing as the medical team appeared from the stairs rushing past Merle who gave them a nod of acknowledgement leaving them to do their work, the assistant teacher giving a long sigh.

"Well damn, Chifuyu is definitely going to flip when she hears about this."

Evening, Merle's room

"She did what?" Chifuyu clenched her hands as Merle looked up at her with a calm gaze, the woman unable to believe what she had heard but her mind was in overdrive as well with the incident suddenly announced by Merle who sat on his bed watching the young ex-pilot pace along the bed.

"I said it before and I'll say it again, Laura Bodewig just tried to kill your brother in a practice battle. I suspended all practice battles until the next tournament to get Laura off Ichika's back for a while and I have spoken to the doctors about our dear pilots…they're fine though recovering will take at least 2 weeks, Houki is going to check on them now." Merle reported as he laid back, Chifuyu nodded as she sat on the bed staring at the floor deep in thought before Merle spoke up from behind her.

"You're worried aren't you? About Laura I mean." He stated as Chifuyu gave no movement but instead lowered her head as she clasped her hands together tightly, silence permeating the room.

"Laura was a tank-bred soldier, one of a kind who had no family or knowledge of the donors who even gave their genes to make her in the first place. I talked with the higher ups before and they said that she was meant to be the perfect soldier, a trained killer and that would have been an achievement if not for…"

"The IS system." Merle caught on, Chifuyu nodding as she turned to eye the kitchen space continuing her story.

"Tabane introduced a better way of warfare, and it was out of desperation that they re-organized her body to be adaptable to the IS system not wanting to let her become a failure but that soon caused problems for Laura, her replanted eye led to interruptions with her accuracy and lowered her potential. In fact she was eventually put into the IS training squad I had to teach for that whole year, but you already met her and spoke to her on a few occasions…heard you got her a gift." Merle chuckled at that, placing a hand on his burning forehead the heat of the fight wearing off while he eyed the gloves lying beside him.

"Yea, video games for the win."

"Anyway, I taught her to be her own person and to not blindly take orders from anyone. I trained her more than any of the initiates in the squad and they knew it, I was determined to see her earn the respect of her fellow co-workers and she did…it made me proud to see her grow somewhat. But then this happened and now, I wonder what she was thinking even during my training with her and if there was something wrong that I did along the way to influence her greatly to the point of hero worship." Chifuyu closed her eyes letting out a breath before Merle sat up, his hand wrapping around her waist as he slowly pulled her to the side as she now turned to look at the teacher with a questioning look at his action before Merle traced a finger under her chin stunning her.

"Well, Ichika can handle her…wouldn't you say? He knows what it means to have other people helping him and how teamwork trumps standing alone, if anyone can hammer the truth in it would be him." Merle said to Chifuyu as the dark-haired woman smiled at him, grabbing his hand and interlocking her fingers with his.

"Yes, he would." She whispered as the two enjoyed the silence of each other's company, a thought suddenly coming to her head as she looked up at Merle with a question.

"You used it, didn't you?" Merle nodded grimly, Chifuyu looking at him for a moment before she asked him another question on her already plaguing mind fearing the answer. "Does that mean that you are...?"

"No, that wasn't a suit. It was just hacking and the genius of one Tabane Shinonono." Merle replied as Chifuyu sighed in relief at his words, feeling more secure and less worried for the young man before she fell silent in his arms feeling the warmth of his body while Merle leaned on her shoulder eyes closed in enjoyment.

With Houki

"Ichika…" Houki looked over the wounded young teen worried, seeing the boy along with the other three pilots lying in their beds still unconscious from the fight as she gritted her teeth her fist scrunching up the bedsheet.

"Why, why can't I protect you from her? All I ever do is sit there and watch, unable to help or even have the power to intervene." Houki recalled the fight, she and Merle reached the arena when the fight was just turning ugly and while she was asked to stand back while Merle reasoned that Yamada could not fight because she was keeping the barriers of the arena up, he jumped in when it became clear that Laura was going to kill Ichika herself and what she saw next was just incredible to even fathom.

"Merle…that technology only belonged to Tabane, no doubt about it but just how did you get my sister's attention? Also, why is my sister so interested in you?" Houki asked the air as she stroked Ichika's forehead seeing him relax under her palm, snoring lightly while he slept the Japanese girl closing her eyes in joy at this moment between her and Ichika forgetting all her questions for the time being and concentrated on staying by the boy's side.

"Ichika…no matter what, I will control my anger and impulsiveness. This I promise you, and then I can be by your side for the rest of our lives." She promised as she felt sleepy, her head drooping to the bed before she gave in to her exhaustion lying beside Ichika's body.

End

Author's Notes: Okay, this is quite an intense chapter but honestly I wanted the fight to go longer so I made the four way fight as long as I could with each girl giving all she had but falling to Laura, and this is just why it is epic.

Also I gave Merle an upgrade, so now he won't be so useless in battle but be warned that his fight scenes will be lesser than the others because he is still a human with a small edge against IS suits which means he can still be killed by an IS if he did try to fight it one on one.

As for Tabane, what is her plan? Why and when did she give him these tools? It will be revealed in the next IS Valkyrie.

VI