Chapter 21: IS Student Delivery Service
Disclaimer: The Infinite Stratos and all other references aren't mine and belong to their respective owners.
"Guuhah!" The representative of a multi-national company gurgled as blood gushed from his throat. The last remaining person, the host of the business meet, stepped back slowly. His hand scanned the immediate area behind him for a weapon, any weapon, but there were none to be found to defend himself with. Slowly but steadily the assassin who was responsible for the death of eight mega corporation representatives walked towards the businessman, blade swinging from side to side to remove the blood.
"You'll never get away with this." The businessman said, swinging a knife madly in front of him, hoping to somehow frighten the assassin. Said assassin smirked at her prey, amused at his futile efforts.
"They will find you and they will kill you!" He threw his knife at the approaching apparition, but the knife simply went through. Confused, he went to pick up his knife to find the assassin missing.
"Ha! You wi—Uwaaa…" He suddenly found blood bursting from his neck as the phantom blade shined through the moonlit room. The man clutched his ripped gullet in a vain attempt to prevent blood loss.
"Ju-just…who…a-are you?" The man barely stuttered out before he slumped on the floor. Having done her job, the assassin then felt her ear buzz. Clicking the communication device, the blue flashing light turned green as a masculine voice asked.
"Is the mission successful?"
"Yes."
"Prepare for extraction. Board the chopper 6 miles southwest of here in five minutes. Good work, M. HQ, out."
The girl called as M smiled as she leapt from the window and into the night.
The next day, in IS Academy…
It's been three days since the AIS incident, and the days have been silent lately. No attack or anything special happening. Well, except for the cultural festival, that is. Everyone's excited for it, kinda like that time in the class president tourneys. Speaking of excitement, the class is buzzing with all their ideas. Of course, there were the usual suggestions such as the maid café, the animal café, and a whole bunch of other suggestions. There are also some which are a bit…unique, such as a succubus café. One student even whispered a swimsuit/bikini café.
Half an hour later, Chifuyu entered the class in an unusually good mood. Maya about ten times happier.
"So class, today we will be discussing our plans for the cultural festival. Any ideas?" She said. Though she tried to mask her excitement, the very fact that she's cutting to the chase the moment she entered the class is quite the dead giveaway. But then of course nobody else save a few (like Laura for example) noticed that because they themselves were too enraptured by their own café fantasies. Café-antasies. Cafantasies.
"Aye! A sports café! We can dress up in uniforms of different sports, and of course for each sport there is a special dish!" A girl near the middle shouted as she raised her hand. A bunch of girls nodded to her suggestion. Smacking her hands together, Chifuyu realized something.
"Oh, I forgot. Since you are the class president, come here and write the suggestions, Guevarra." Chifuyu called, handing out the white board marker.
"Okay." Guevarra replied, pushing himself up from his chair and proceeding to the white board, writing the suggestion in English.
"Don't forget the Japanese version." Chifuyu reminded. It may not have been mentioned before, but in the IS Academy there are two main languages being spoken: English and Japanese. The instructions, signs, everything; they are written as such, English on the left and Japanese on the right.
Guevarra stared at Chifuyu with a "Really?" expression.
"Ugh…Orimura, come over here and assist Guevarra. Anyone else?" Chifuyu sighed. Guevarra muttered an apology, but Ichika just laughed it off and told his friend not to mind it.
"How about a jungle café? Animal suits for everyone!" A girl asked.
"Hey, I actually like that…" Guevarra thought to himself. Ichika didn't seem to mind this, and more than half of the class, including the one that suggested sports, were chatting to each other in excitement.
"How about a classic; the maid café!" Once again, the idea was met with boisterous approval, though the main difference between the three are the people and their degree of approval. A certain student may shout in elation on one and just nod on the other. Nevertheless, everyone thought that the three suggestions were excellent and as a whole was having a hard time to decide.
"How about we mix all the three of them together?!" Suddenly, Elaine bolted upwards from her chair.
"We will wear maid outfits with animal ears, tails and paws. Of course, the maid suit must match the coating of the chosen animal. Then, just like in the sports theme, we will also have a theme dish, but this time for each animal! What say you?" She continued. Huh, now that's what you call a mash-up. The reaction of the class to the fusion of their ideas was warm to say the least, what with all the clapping and hooting.
"Well, I think we have a winner."
After school…
Guevarra strolled through the outskirts of IS Academy, bored. Sure, he had three assignments and a research paper to make due tomorrow but…what the hell, he'll just do an all-nighter. While all his friends were busy doing this, here he was doing what he does best; procrastinating.
"What's a bored teenager to do…?" He sighed.
"How about actually doing your assignment, Partner?" Legend suggested satirically.
"Eh…"
While walking, Guevarra noticed a pair of short, Chinese-style swords stabbed to the floor.
"Hm?"
"This is strangely familiar…"
"I know."
Wrapping his hands onto the handles, he looked around first before pulling them off.
"O…kay?"
Suddenly, a whistling sound was heard from above.
"I knew it." He sighed inwardly.
"Hahahahahaha…"
"Ohaiyoooo…...boom!" Tabane appeared from the sky, wearing ancient Chinese armor.
"What the hell?" Guevarra shouted. Sure, it is to be expected for Tabane to do an overdone entrance, but the cosplay is really starting to get to him. Does this woman wear nothing but cosplay outfits?
"I do wear lab coats too, Okami-kun~." She pouted.
"Stop reading my mind. So, why are you here?" He asked, crossing his arms on his chest. He raised his eyebrow at Tabane as she stood up and dusted herself off.
"Actually, Okami-kun, I came here to ask you a favor~!" She beamed.
"Uh oh, this is not good…" He said internally. When Tabane asks for a favor, it's less like 'pick up my groceries' and more like 'assassinate the queen of England wearing a clown suit' or 'get a ton of experimental tech stored in Area 51 buck naked'. What's worse, she often says it in such a way that the mission will seem harmless and easy. That said, Tabane does bail him out of situations where he can't get himself out.
"So, what manner of insanity are you going to make me do again?" He blurted out. Frankly, he did not like the 'surprises' waiting for him if ever he did not ask for the exact details of this mission.
"I want you and Ikkun to pick something up for me~!" She nearly shouted, flinging her hands in the air. Luckily, no one was around to hear her antics.
"More like sneak our way in, realize it's way too many or big to be carried via handcarry, so we have to bust our way out to put them in a truck that you will leave there and get out of the metropolis to hand them over to you personally?" He deadpanned.
"Exactly~!" She said, jumping around. There are abnormally no people around them for some reason.
"I wonder that too…anyway, just go ahead and let me take care of your school stuff~!" Guevarra's ears pricked at the phrase 'take care of school stuff'.
"You'll do all the work?" He raised his eyebrows again in suspicion.
"Yep~! I'll make sure that even Chi-chan won't notice~!" She exclaimed, not lowering her voice.
"How about Ichika?" He asked again.
"He's already done~! He's really good at his academics, especially math." Tabane replied.
"Enough chit-chat, okay?! Now, you'll be going…"
Same time, in a certain English lady's bedroom…
Cecilia paced back and forth in her room. She received a small tidbit of crucial information about her 'man of special interest' from Elaine last night. It seems that one of Guevarra's favorite skills when it comes to a lady is her ability to cook. That, or Elaine's only using that as a motivation for her to improve her cooking without hurting her feelings.
"In any case, it would be for the best if I could learn how to cook delicious food!" She cheered herself silently. Yes, a proper strategy must be formed in order to execute such a plan. Looking at her desk, she noticed the clutter of open notebooks scattered messily on top of her laptop.
"But…first things first." She exhaled excitedly, eager to start her scheme.
Later that night…
"Ready, Ichika?" Guevarra waited outside the pick-up truck. It's been quite some time since his last Tabane-given mission and he's nervous. He's sure that Tabane will be there in case things go out the window but…still.
"Yeah. Where are we going at this hour? Tabane-nee said it was urgent, but…" Ichika asked, a tad bit worried. He was wearing his casuals, as per Tabane's orders. Blue checkered polo and a red shirt with matching blue pants.
"Hop in and I'll let you in on the details." Guevarra said, slipping inside the truck and opening the driver side. He was wearing a black longcoat, white t-shirt and black pants.
"So—" Ichika started, but he was immediately cut off by Legend.
"I have finished laying out the map, Partner. Here are the coordinates." As it finished speaking, a transparent holographic map appeared from the front view.
"So I'm driving, huh. Now tell me what's going on." Ichika asked, starting the vehicle.
"Basically we're going to fetch something for Tabane, meet up with her and give it to her personally." Guevarra replied.
"See here." He pointed at a green arrow in the HUD.
"This is where we are. We are going from here, the IS Academy, up to…here." He continued, tracing from the arrow and following the road trails from the urbans to the sub-urbans, stopping on a large cluster of variously-sized squares that represented buildings. Pointing at the largest square in the middle, he continued.
"Then, we're gonna pick up something here. Tabane said we'll know it once we see it. After that…" He traced again a round route back to the IS Academy, near the back.
"We go here and drop off the thing to Tabane." He finished just as Ichika got into the freeway.
"Seems easy enough." Ichika smiled, thinking that he got off easily in the projects.
Oh, how wrong he was…
An hour and a half later…
"Alright, we're here." Ichika exhaled. Fortunately, the freeways were pretty much traffic-free. Weird, since they just went past a large city. Not minding this glaring oddity, they got off the truck and started their job. Although it's his companion's first time, Guevarra did have enough confidence in Ichika to know that he's up for the job. Hopefully.
"Hm, no people around. Good." He can't exactly put a finger on it, but he was quite sure he was forgetting something. Stopping for a minute, he brushed it off.
"Are you sure this is not illegal?" Ichika inquired.
"Yep. Well, if we can count on Tabane's word, that is." Guevarra shrugged.
"No hostiles in our immediate area, Partner. I can't seem to scan the object of Tabane's interest though. It has some sort of firewall that's nigh-impossible to breach." Legend reported.
"Noted." The duo continued on, strolling casually towards the middle building. It was a typical warehouse, with large steel cabinets lined with boxes full of merchandise both local and international. Several wooden boards hung from walls, pinned with papers depicting deliveries and product lists. The lighting was poor, with only 5 lamps hanging from the ceiling. One for the middle and one for each corner. There was a small white box in the center, just about half the size of the common chair. However, it's obviously high-tech and not made to be sat on. It has black lines running through the square panels like a cross with a lens-like blue circle in the middle. This pattern can be seen in all the faces of the box. Seeing their objective, Ichika jogged towards the item and picked it up.
"Told you it was this simple. There is nothing to be paranoid about—" At the moment Ichika picked up the white box, the blue lens flashed red and rang its alarm.
"Not so simple now, huh?!" Guevarra shouted, hearing voices and guns being readied just outside the building.
"You little kids better drop that shit and hand over your possessions to us! Or else!" A scruffy voice shouted from outside, cocking his shotgun.
"Hi!" The lens this time flashed green. A familiar, mischievous voice was heard from the box.
"Tabane! What kind of trick is this?!" Guevarra shouted angrily.
"So my toy worked? Awesome! Don't worry, they are all expendable~. Just get out of there and hand my toy to me! No cheating using the IS, okay~?" She exclaimed.
"TABANE!" Guevarra roared.
"Don't be so grumpy Okami-kun~, I can make it up to you! You too, Ikkun!"
While Ichika just remained silent, lost at all the sudden proceedings, Guevarra continued to shout at the box the Orimura sibling was carrying.
"F- you!"
"That's a bit too steep, isn't it Okami-kun? So kinky~. Probably a kiss will do~. I can see Ikkun is just AFK over there so…Toodles~!" She screamed through the box, startling Ichika causing him to nearly drop it.
"Wait, what—dammit! Guess we'll have to storm our way out of here!"
"It's just as she said, Partner. I can't access my quantum link interfaces. They are all on lockdown." Legend sighed.
"Dammit. I knew this was coming, yet I brought no guns or weapons…wait, I don't know where to buy one." Guevarra face-palmed.
"You little nutjob, you'll pay for this later!" He gritted under his breath as the "nice people" started to open fire. Ichika's brain then did the most badly-timed reminiscence of his past kidnapping, which was quite identical to his situation at the moment. Lots of gunfire and violence while being trapped in a place, surrounded? He slumped to the floor, nearly getting hit by a bullet.
Guevarra, noticing his friend's untimely dismay, tried to knock some sense in his head via a verbal assault.
"Pull it together, man! I don't need the both of us panicking!" He shouted, panic and urgency mixed in his voice. Fortunately, Ichika snapped out of his despondent trance and got back to the situation at hand.
"Any ideas?!" Guevarra yelled.
Despite his efforts, Ichika himself can't think of a possible way out of here save fighting their way out, and without their own weaponry, that's plain suicide. They're also starting to lose cover, making things worse. Guevarra, on the other hand, considered tapping into the Wild Drive, but how would he explain all the blood on him when they get back? There's also the possibility, the large possibility, that he'll drown in bloodlust again and kill even innocents and allies. He also can't risk being discovered in the public.
Gee, he wishes Laura was here to go Valkyrie on them. The Valkyrie Trace in itself was made for elite spies and commandos, so if Laura triggers it, she should be able to fight her way out of here even without a weapon without breaking a sweat.
Suddenly, they heard a loud motorcycle roar over the gunfire. And also, a familiar whooping voice.
"YEEEEHAAAAAWWWWW!" Stoney howled as the Kawasaki Rouser 150 soared through the night air. He held two MAC-12s, one on each hand, firing more for suppression rather than actually hitting anybody. Driving the motorcycle was no other than who Guevarra thought of just a moment ago; Laura Bodewig. The machine thundered past the thugs as it rode straight through the mess and into the peppered warehouse. Even at first glance it was glaringly obvious that in a minute (or seconds if the attack kept on), the supports will give in and the ceiling will crash.
"Hurry up G, 'Chika, we'll cover ya!" Stoney yelled. Stepping on the gas, Laura gave the both of them a nod before zooming outside and driving a circle, giving Stoney ample range to continue the suppression.
"GO GO GO! LET'S BREAK FOR THE TRUCK!" Ichika shouted this time around.
"Keep your heads down!" Laura screamed through the noise as the two ran for the ebony vehicle. As soon as they got in the truck, Laura tossed four Glock 9s in the front seats.
"Ichika, drive! We'll give you cover!" She shouted before pulling up the front of the motorcycle and roaring on ahead. Picking up a pistol, Guevarra leaned outside the window and signaled Ichika to start.
"Just gun it man, don't worry about the speed limits." He said before shooting a goon…and missing.
"Tch." He muttered. Ichika started the vehicle, leaving some of the attackers in their dust. The vehicle sped past the forest as several dirtbikes appeared out of the bushes and started a drive-by. Luckily, the truck Tabane lent to them was bulletproof.
"HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?!" Ichika panicked, stepping on the gas as hard as possible.
"Ask Tabane!" Guevarra replied while taking another Glock since Laura forgot to throw in some extra ammo. Talk about being careless.
"Yaknow, why don't you get a gun here and help me out?!" He bellowed as he shot at a tire, launching its passengers forward.
"It's hard enough for me to steer in two hands, how much more one?! Why don't you use your two hands to shoot then?!" The driver screamed back.
"Didn't you listen in class? Dual gun-wield is the most idiotic thing conceived! Virtually zero accuracy and then having to focus on two guns at the same time? No, sir!" He reminded annoyingly, popping another tire.
"Eh, it's not as if you're accurate in the first place…" Ichika quipped.
"Now's not the time for that, idiot!" Guevarra continued firing, shooting blanks four out of five shots, the fifth hitting a lucky spot and causing two dirtbikes to crash together.
"They're endless!" Sure enough, the dirtbikes just keep growing in number. Luckily, the truck is slowly outrunning them. Laura and Stoney made sure that there will be a path to follow that's actually a clear coast. Suddenly, a grenade bounced from the direction of their guardians, exploding on four bikes.
"Eh-EH?!" Ichika panicked again, swerving uncontrollably.
"DAMMIT MAN! PULL IT TOGETHER!" Guevarra wailed as the third Glock flew away from the truck and bumped onto a cyclist's head.
"IT'S NOT AS EASY AS IT LOOKS!" Ichika wailed back, but as he tried to fix the truck's momentum, it only bucked worse.
"YOU CAN DO IT! USE THE FORCE!" Guevarra cheered. Well, as far as one can cheer while being shot, that is.
"OKAY SURE YOU WANNA TRY?!" In his dilemma, Ichika didn't see an unintentional ramp, made by a large wooden plank and three large, round concrete…tubes?
"LOOK IN FRONT OF YAAAAAAAAAAAAA—ugh, ugh, my throat…" Guevarra shouted again, but it started to take a toll on him. The point wasn't lost however. Good news? Ichika did look in front of him. Bad news? Too late.
" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" "
Down below, some meters in advance…
"Well, guess they lived." Stoney grinned, reloading. There doesn't seem to be any of those trouble here, but just to be sure, he readied his guns.
"Yes, as expected of Instructor's younger sibling and the Alpha. Don't try any funny business, Tony." Laura reprimanded, brushing off a stray hand off her stomach.
"Hey, hey! I was reloading!" Proving his point, he showed the gun on his right hand and the empty clip on the left hand. After a few minutes of clear forests, Laura decided to stop and killed the engine. Getting off, she jumped on a tree branch and sat.
"So…?" Stoney got off, sitting on the forest floor.
"Yes, we will wait for them here." Laura finished. Fishing in her pocket, she found a military knife and started flipping it in the air like one would with a coin.
"Always prepared, eh Laura?" The black teenager sweat-dropped.
Suddenly, they can hear a large object falling along with screaming voices.
"Yep, that's them." Stoney nodded to Laura.
"Valkyrie!" She commanded, removing her eyepatch and throwing it to the bike. Sprinting faster than a car, she left for the cliffs.
"Heh." Stoney chuckled.
Back to the falling duo…
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DAMMIT, UNLOCK THE DOORS ICHIKA!" Guevarra panicked, kicking the doors as hard as he could. Unfortunately, it was too tough for any ordinary person to kick open.
"I, I CAN'T!" Ichika kept mashing on the lock button, but it wouldn't budge! The cliff walls whizzing by wasn't very comforting and the sinking feeling in their stomaches weren't helping, either.
"LOOK OUT! WE'RE GONNA GET WRECKED!" The boy in the black longcoat screamed, the wind distorting his voice. While he did get the window open, jumping out of the window is just suicidal.
"It's been a pleasure, Partner…" Legend trailed off.
" "SHUT UP!" " Both teenagers roared. The same teenagers missed it, but Legend's sensors picked up Laura speeding towards their landing site.
"It seems to me that your lives have been extended, dear gents." the AI quipped, the wolf trinket's eyes and gem flashing golden yellow with each word. Turning around, they saw Laura, or rather, the golden trail the light of her Trace eyes left behind.
"OH YES! Laura can use her IS to—" Ichika grinned. However, a quick glimpse below gave him second thoughts. A few meters above the floor, the vehicle fell in alarming speeds as Laura kicked the ground with all her might and tumbled directly below the truck. Landing in a kneel, she raised both her hands and summoned the AIC in a smooth, fluid motion.
"LOOK OUT!" Ichika warned, anxious beyond all reason that she will be crushed. Meanwhile, Guevarra, in complete confidence of Laura's capability, decided to put his head out of the window to feel the rush of air. Genius. Activating her weapon, Laura stopped the truck just in time, the bumper stopping a mere three feet above her hands. The initial force of the truck caused her to kneel, but otherwise she was fine.
"Whoo….ooohhh….pueeehh" Guevarra leaned back and exhaled a whirlwind before puking his stomach out. Even now, his heart is still pumping like crazy and his head is spinning from all the rough tumbling. Ichika, meanwhile…
"Zzzzz….." He fainted. Thankfully, both of them only had minor injuries. Ichika from the flying debris and Guevarra from the missed bullets. Slowly, Laura set down the truck, carefully levitating the vehicle back to the ground. As she let go, a resounding thud is heard.
"We have now successfully landed! Please unlock your seatbelts and don't forget your personal belongings! This is Emmanuel Guevarra from Laura Flights and we hope you have a good day!" Guevarra cheered. Leaping off the truck, he kept patting the ground and shouting praises, although he stopped instantly when another wave of nausea hit him, once again puking on the forest floor. Laura was speechless. Apparently, her Alpha changed a lot in the few years they weren't together. Before, he'd shake these off and walk away as if nothing happened.
"Stop degrading yourself, my wife." Laura face-palmed.
"It's…husband…dammit…" Guevarra replied, retching for the final time.
At that moment, Stoney came with the bike.
"Don't worry dude, the ground won't go anywhere." He laughed. At that moment, they heard a whooshing sound, like something fast is falling from the sky.
"YAAAABOOOMM!" Out of the night sky came the eccentric genius, Shinonono Tabane, wearing the same Ancient Chinese armor she wore earlier. She was carrying a large white suitcase with her. On the suitcase was the logo of a red stuffed rabbit enclosed in a red circle.
"Ara? Ikkun is asleep?" Tabane mused, putting her right index finger on her lower lip.
"Ta…ba…ne…!" Upon hearing her voice, Guevarra charged to tackle her.
"Okami-kun! Stop~!" She exclaimed, catching her friend's face just in time. One normally would not expect such agility from a person like Tabane.
"Ugh…what's the point in this?" He stopped and dusted himself.
"Please stop screwing with us next time." He sighed.
"Ooh, but I needed to test that new stealth system~! Anyway, where is it?" She asked excitedly.
"Treating me, or rather us, as guinea pigs again? Sheesh…here." Guevarra said, fetching the box and giving it to Tabane. The moment she touched the box, it became as small as a sugar cube.
"Well, I have to go~. Oh, and I did your assignments already! The truck is yours if you want, by the way. Goodbye!" She then summoned a jetpack and zoomed away.
"Geez…" He sighed, scratching his head in mild annoyance.
"Let's get back to the Academy as soon as possible, then." Laura announced as she wore her eyepatch back and turned off the Valkyrie.
"Then what are we gonna do about Ichika? The truck? We can't just leave it here, and four people won't fit on a motorcycle." Guevarra pointed.
"Fortunately Partner, Tabane has unlocked my, and in extension, everyone's systems. It seems that the box, whatever it may be or contain, is the one that locked our systems via a code. However, the vehicles can only be dealt with in two ways: Destroy them or hide them in the Academy for repairs. I'd recommend the second option simply because these vehicles can be useful for us in a later date. The truck did shrug off a considerable amount of light gunfire while the motorcycle is visibly faster than its market counterparts, which makes me curious as to where Miss Bodewig got it from." Legend voiced out.
"Machines can be…curious?" The three organics doubted.
"It's not exactly the same as what organics have, but it's the closest term I can associate with. Just in case we need these kinds of transportation, it will be an advantage if I get these vehicles' source in my database. The truck was left behind by Tabane, if you're wondering that." It explained.
"Understood. I don't really recall to whom exactly this is, I just rode it the moment I saw my tracker on Alpha beep—"
"Hold on, hold on. You have a tracker on me?" The teenager in question asked incredulously.
"Yes—"
"Where?"
"I'm not saying."
"Please remove it."
"No. Furthermore, I am also considering putting cameras in your room. After all, you have no roommate—wait, that's it! The moment we get back, I will ask the Instructor to place me in your room at once." She declared, pumping her two fists in a guts pose.
"Please remove the tracker. I treasure my privacy. Forget about the cameras too." He replied, crossing his arms in unease.
"Anyway, as the Schwarzer Hase reported to me, I leapt from my room window and—"
"Window?" He interrupted again.
"Of course. As I landed, I saw Tony here and asked him to come with me—"
"More like 'follow me or I'll knock you out' actually…" Stoney trailed off, whistling nonchalantly at Laura's burning glare.
"After that, I rode the nearest bike, hotwired it and sped off." Laura finished, clearing her throat.
"This is a complete shot in the dark, but I'm guessing that Tabane took care of the schoolwork you two have?" Guevarra continued, deploying Black Legend.
"Hm…no. It's no problem though. I only need to activate Valkyrie and I can finish all those in thirty minutes at most." Laura smirked. Having this power has its perks.
"Cheater." The three of them laughed.
"Hey, um, Laura. Just a thought, can you carry that truck without an IS while using Valkyrie?" Guevarra asked.
"With a bit of difficulty, but yes. Why do you ask, Alpha? It's not as if you don't know these things." Laura deadpanned as if it was the most obvious things in the world. She then deployed her IS, the Schwarzer Regen, placed the bike on the pick-up truck's compartment and picked the larger vehicle up. Stoney followed suit and deployed his own IS, G.I. Joe.
"Aren't we going to wake up Ichika or something?" Stoney asked.
"Nah, let him be." Guevarra replied as the three of them flew to the skies, with their fainted friend in tow.
Same time, Laura's room…
"Finally!" Charlotte exclaimed. Her eyebrows were already burning with the amount of schoolwork, and at last her efforts paid off. Four hours of schoolwork and two hours of reviewing it, revising it in case of any mistakes, and finally she has some time to relax. In her zealous commitment to the mountain of information however, she didn't notice Laura was already gone.
"Laura?" She called out. It was already forty-five minutes past nine and still the silverhead is outside? She's not worried about her getting into any trouble, just concerned exactly why would she be still outside. She tried checking the baths and the comfort rooms, but she was not to be found. As she was about to check the next floor, her phone rang. The caller was tagged as "Laura".
"Laura! Where have you been?" She asked worriedly, almost shouting at her roommate.
"I'm on my way back to the Academy together with Tony, Alpha and Ichika." Laura replied casually.
"Be there in thirty minutes max. Ah, is the Instructor patrolling?"
"No, not really."
"Got it." She finished before hanging up. Realizing that she's only being paranoid, Charlotte sighed at herself and left for her room.
Back to the four…
"So, what now? Dropping it in using our IS is just plain stupid and the guards won't let us in with cars like…this. Maybe the bike, but not the truck." Guevarra asked, giving them smoothies they ordered from the fast food joint just behind the pay-n'-spray shop, where both the truck and the bike are being fixed.
"Maybe we could ask Dan to keep them for us." Ichika suggested. He woke up when they were flying. Surprisingly, this time Ichika did not panic, rather he gave some ideas about the situation when Stoney explained it to him upon landing on the nearby park's helipad (which even Ichika did not know why it was there).
"Yeah, that! Go ask Dan." Stoney urged.
Brrrt brrrt! Brrrt brrrt!
"Hello?" Dan answered on the other side of the phone.
"Hello. It's me, Ichika."
"Oh, did you need something? Hey, did you know that—"
"Not right now, Dan. Does your garage have enough space for a pick-up truck?"
"Sorry Ichika, our family car fits just right in and there are space for only a few bikes to spare."
"Bikes as in mountain bikes, that kind?"
"Yeah, sorry. Why did you need the space anyway?"
"Ah, nothing. Now, what were you saying?"
"Oh, it's this. I came to school earlier today right? And then…" Ichika turned towards the trio and shook his head before listening back to Dan's story.
"Any other ideas?" Laura questioned between sips of her cookies-and-cream smoothie. While they were all thinking, Guevarra suddenly shouted.
"I got it!"
"Dammit, man…" Stoney, in his surprise, spit out his coffee crumble smoothie. Laura's eyes then drifted towards her Alpha.
"I'll ask Elaine if she knows anything." Guevarra said before bringing it back down instantly.
"What?"
"No load. You have, Stoney?"
"Nah, I'm out, man." Upon hearing this, Laura fished for her own phone and tossed it to Guevarra, who barely caught it. She smiled at him and finished her drink, feeling the cold, night air sweep her platinum hair.
"Ah, thanks, Laura." He smiled back. Dialing his friend's number, he did not expect Elaine to be in Laura's contacts. Tapping the screen, he made the call.
"Hi Laura! What's up?"
"Hi um, apparently Laura grew taller, had black hair—"
"G! Sorry if I haven't been hangin' around lately. Prez dumped a lot of paperwork."
"The Basketball Prez? I thought she was easygoing—"
"President of the Philippines, G." There was an uncomfortable silence between the two until Elaine decided to break the ice.
"So, what did you call? Having a hard time at math? Confused with physics? Got somebody pregnant?" She asked in a singsong voice.
"Um, none of the above. Just wondering if you have parking space somewhere."
"Oh, just what I needed! You see, my dad bought a membership in a country club just a few miles outside the Academy and the space reserved for him in the garage is unoccupied. So I'll just give him a call and you're all set. I'll send you the address."
"Nice! Thanks, E. Wait, you won't even ask what for?"
"Nah. You won't do anything stupid with it at least. Before I forget, where the hell are you? Been looking for three hours straight after dinner. Ah well, we can hang around next time. Got to get this Everest done, so…bye!" And with that, she hang up. Instantly after that, he received the text.
"Well, let's get going and get to Academy before midnight. Shall we?"
"Truck's fixed!" The mechanic shouted, rolling out the new pearlescent orange truck.
"Thank you Michigo-san." Ichika bowed, handing over the money.
"You teenagers be safe now." He waved goodbye as the four got on and went on their way.
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