Chapter 1: From Frying Pan to Fire

With dark grey clouds overcast on a school, rain tapped away with a beating rhythm as the sounds of voices fluttered about. Some odd fifty students of class 8-5 happily ate their well deserved lunch break. Few left for the cafeteria, others for friends in other classes, while the rest were content with their own devices.

In the rear two students calmly packed their bags, one with far less finesse and care than the other.

"Kenny, hurry up." came a low and monotone voice.

The dull weather appeared to match the boy's mood. Standing against the frame of a door stood a 15 year old who peered off into the hallway, deep set grey eyes tiredly watched as scores of girls his age emptied out into the hallway. Dark circles clung to his eyes as his mouth opened up to let out a yawn. Messy dark chocolate hair curled its way across his forehead, covering most of his forehead. In his hands he absent mindedly cleaned his rectangular glasses while waiting for his brother.

Making her way past the others, a brunette teen with a short bob cut passed by the teen who occupied a spot near the door as he made space for her. Two other girls hot on her tail. Whipping around she playfully looked at the teen who was now leaning against the hallway wall.

"Hey rich boy, got some spare cash. We're kinda sick of ordering the same old stuff."

"Sure, but it's May's money though, just make sure to put up more of a fight when she comes to collect." He said while donning his now clean glasses, the ends of his lips pulling apart slightly to form a smirk. Her weak attempt at a shakedown greatly amusing him.

"Tch...You can't keep hiding behind her for-"

"And I don't think you can afford to keep pissing her off." The boy interjected as he raised his left eyebrow at her. As the trio of girls dispersed into the deep hallway, he felt a light smack on the back of his head.

"Nate!...Stop riling them up, you aren't some movie or manga hero. I swear you're going to give May a heart attack with how much you make her clean up after you." The voice that lectured Nathan belonged to his brother Kenneth.

"Plus that was a seriously corny line." His brother added, lightly chuckling as the two made their way towards the cafeteria to pick up lunch.

Unlike Nathan, Kenneth's features were more refined than that of his brother. One of the more apparent differences was Kenneth's physical build. Despite being shorter, Kenneth had more muscle mass and a stockier build, whereas the other was comparatively lankier and far thinner. The contours of his face were slightly sharper than his other brother who had a far more rectangular face with soft edges. Kenny's light blue eyes didn't hold the tired and sunken look of his brother's, rather its gentle features laid comfortably on his face. He had a resting smile on him at almost all times. Combined with eyebrows that slightly angled upwards with a gentle curve, his face looked like it was always inviting someone in for a pleasant conversation. A feature that oftentimes backfired and invited trouble.

His hair, a few shades lighter than Nate's, was neatly combed and parted unlike the messy hair of Nate's hair which criss crossed in curls. The gelled hair extended diagonally from the part above his left eye, and ended just above his right eyebrow. Overall Kenny was more formally put together than the messy look his brother pulled off. That wasn't to say that Nate was a slob or didn't care about his appearance, rather his style was more casual and worked well for his features. If Kenny was a business suit, then Nate was business casual.

Returning from the cafeteria, they held three bags of lunch between them as they walked to a classroom that wasn't theirs. Despite the open doors, they knocked twice on the door frame alerting all the other girls of their presence as they entered. Slowly making their way in, they set for a girl their age who appeared to be in a conversation with her friends as she reclined lazily.

Approaching the girl, Nate playfully bobbed the top of her head with the paper lunch bag. A move that drew the ire from the girls that surrounded him and his brother, yet garnered no such attention from the girl with a heart shaped face that leaned her head back to get a view of him.

Looking at him softly were a pair of almond shaped emerald green eyes that belonged to his sister. Her side swept bangs danced above her right eyebrow before just flowing out of the way so as to not obscure her vision. Compared to her soft green eyes, her rich red hair, a combination of brunette with a few shades of red, laid aggressive and confident. Her long and wavy hair ended a little below her shoulder, part of it between her chest and neck while the rest flowed to her back. Like Nate she opted for the purposely casual look, one that made it look like she didn't put too much time in the morning. Strands escaped from the general flow of her hair at various points, sticking and curling about, daring to give her a slight bed head shaggy/messy look. Like her brother she was able to pull it off successfully as it sat naturally on her head. Her radiant smile stood in direct opposition to the dull weather outside.

Like her brothers, her skin was a medium to olive tone. Had an Earther been given a guess, it wouldn't have been a bad bet for many to assume that the triplets were from the Mediterranean. Though the sun bore down hard on Terra, their time spent in the frigid northern parts of Cascadia had shielded them both physically and mentally. Earth's sun had left the three siblings with the slightest hint of a tan as they were now doing regular exercises in the sun.

"No pizza today, so we bought you a grilled sandwich instead." Kenny said as he began to open his paper lunch, leaning against the open rainy window while Nate handed her a sandwich.

"Thanks." She said while re-arranging her posture, the classmate that sat on her desk made space for her other brother to share a meal with his sister. Everyone by now knew that it was best to not come in between the triplets, especially when food was involved.

"Is it really so bad that a guy attends the ISA?" Nate added to the girls' conversation. The hot topic of the entire late January was that a boy somehow activated an IS unit. A device supposedly locked to only women. Everywhere one turned there was a constant hubbub and an unfiltered stream of opinions.

Looking up from his sandwich Kenny shot an annoyed look at him, one that translated into, 'For one day just keep your mouth shut.' The only response he got was a slight grin as the boy he directed his frustrations munched on with a sly smile.

"Well yeah, it's an all girls school. Things are different when you add a guy to the mix." Came May's blonde friend who was sitting atop a desk in front of her. She held her head high as her eyes looked down towards Nate.

"So? This is an all girl's school as well. Yet here we are, so far the school hasn't burned down. So what's the harm?" Nate pestered, earning him a slight tap on his shoe from his sister next to him.

"Oh and do tell us how you two ended up here again? Oh that's right, it's under wraps and none of our concern if I recall correctly." Came from another as she used her hands in air quotes to emphasize her point.

"Yeah my mom couldn't find anything about you guys or how you got in. And she works for the education board." The flagrant showboating did not amuse the two boys.

Truth be told, the fact that Nate and Kenny were attending an all girl's K-University academy in Tokyo geared for engineering wasn't something that could be swept under the rug easily. The school essentially taught girls from a young age all the way up to college, each received a high quality education from the moment they entered the school. Filled with the rich kids, child proteges, and the daughters of politicians, their presence stood out, and not in a good way.

Two years ago, their older brother told them that he had arranged for them to attend school at the prestigious school as part of an exchange program. Despite initial push back from mothers and the school board, the board's opposition withered away leaving many angry and confused. Most confused were the triplets who were separated from the only people they could call parents.

"How we got here isn't related to the fact that we're better behaved than most girls at this school". Nate egged on.

"Don't harass us and don't fail your classes isn't that high of a bar Nate." Came from a brunette with long wavy hair as she took a seat by her classmates.

May inwardly chuckled a bit, the way the brunette and Nate went back and forth reminded her of an old married couple.

"Well I just find it annoying how they want him to attend, like they don't even want him to have to take a test or anything. Men already have enough help as it is getting into higher education. They don't need any more government programs."

"True, accepting him like that would just be robbing a more deserving girl of a prestigious spot. Plus is he even smart enough to attend the school, and finish it? Five years at the ISA is no joke, it's not just a school to beat each other up with an IS suit. Like could he even get past the first year?"

"The IS was made for women, even the creators said so. Even if they discover a bunch more boys that can control it, I still think that only women should be able to use it."

"Yeah there are only so many cores, we're lucky our school has even one let alone two."

The IS Academy may have been the premier testing and education facility for the IS, but that didn't mean that other schools or academies couldn't house their own IS program. Few schools got such cores, but those that did were well connected and well guarded. A robust national IS education system was just as important as sending students to the ISA for many nations.

"Considering that most men can't hold a candle to women nowadays, especially with the AFS in play, he is truly wasting that spot. It's just undeserved attention in my book. At the end of the day, he's just one little boy in a sea of women who can outmatch him both physically and mentally."

The AFS, or Adaptive Filter System, was a scientific breakthrough spearheaded by Terra's GA America and Earth's Kuromochi Machinery Development. Introduced and widely adopted on Earth during the late 1970s, just a few years after Terra and Earth were linked, this system was the first major joint venture between the two worlds. The AFS allowed its users to synthesize and comprehend a large amount of data far faster than any normal person could. Every generation that had used the AFS system since its conception, made it easier and less stressful for the next generation to use the system.

"There are plenty of women whose IS compatibility extends to just activating it. He should have a high compatibility if he actually wants to use it. It's not fair to those who spent their entire lives studying for the entrance exam, only to flunk out because some robot in a cylinder decides it doesn't like you enough." Another voice bitterly remarked, the crowd slowly growing larger as the minutes passed.

"Plus fighting is only a small part of the ISA for most people. There's a lot more studying and theory to it than people realize. Sato-san was telling me that she was overwhelmed when she first transferred. They expect the students to do their own research there. Apparently to graduate they have to demonstrate a physical skill in the IS paired with a theoretical or research paper."

"He's the little brother of Orimura Chifuyu, the first and second Mondo Grosso winner, the first Brunhilde herself, the winner of five entire IS Major Circuits. She's literally the only person on the entire planet to have the title of Circuit Champion. If he has an iota of her skills in him I think he'll be fine." Came an unexpected addition from the usual conflict avoidant Kenny.

Held every two years, the Mondo Grosso is an international tournament in which every country sends up to three National Representatives to fight it out in one versus one arena combat. The winner of such an event is crowned as the Brunhilde. Having won not only the first but the second Mondo Grosso, Chifuyu's legacy was cemented in stone.

Further adding to her achievements was her utter domination of the IS Major Circuits or IS Majors. Unlike the Mondo Grosso, these events were held every year. Similar in format to the Tennis Grand Slam, multiple tournament events would take place every year at different host nations, only the winner of each and every event could be crowned the Circuit Champion. If a woman won a single event, by default it excluded everyone else from having a shot at becoming the Circuit Champion; the best they could do was ruin the winner's chance of becoming the champion at the next event.

Despite its strong military prowess and applications, the IS was barred from being used against any country in offensive military operations due to the Alaska Treaty. Though countries may equip and create military style IS units, their operations were to only be used in a defensive nature. As a result the IS was mainly used for gladiatorial sports officially, resembling Terra's Formula Front League, these events ensured the continued public and shared development of next generation IS technology.

As an added bonus, one aimed at keeping the peace and national interest, Tabane had promised to gift IS cores to a country whenever they won a Mondo Grosso or had a pilot become a Circuit Champion. For many countries it was in their interest to play by the rules and not blow each other up for the shot at more cores, as a result a heavy amount of funding was placed into educational and societal systems for creating new high caliber IS pilots.

Having won countless events, and scored multiple IS cores for her country, Chifuyu Orimura became an icon that many aspiring pilots looked up to across the world.

"Physical operation is only one half of the equation. The challenge is whether or not he can keep up with the other girls. If he can handle the volume of information thrown at him without an AFS, then I don't see why he shouldn't attend." May remarked calmly, taking the side of her brothers.

"Plus those two have been doing well so far. I'd say he'll be just fine. Even without an AFS, it's still possible to learn." She continued while gesturing her head towards her brothers.

"Yes but to learn the required theory for the IS, especially at a place like the IS Academy, AFS is a downright necessity. It's not like the IS is a simple car, the science, theory, and even physical mechanics of it are absurdly complicated." May received in opposition from a classmate.

"Other than the creators, not even regular scientists can fully crack the IS." A young girl's voice came from somewhere in the crowd.

"He might get the basics and a little of the intermediate knowledge, but the moment he has to learn anything complicated, he's beyond screwed." Chimed another

"Sato-san said that almost all her senpais are pulling all-nighters even with the help of an AFS."

"Okay that sounds like they're just making things complicated for the sake of it." A voice chimed in, garnering support from many others.

"Speaking of, are you going to take the test today? We get to use the AFS labs for it but you can't use it right, cause of your disability?" One of May's friends asked.

'She's Terran, not disabled what's wrong with you.' The two brothers mused internally, both on the same wavelength, not sharing the same humor as their sister and her friend.

"I get to take it home and finish it to compensate for my lack of a brain."

"You lucky-"

"Trade you the answers for a week of homework." May quickly replied with a slight smile.

Within seconds multiple girls were up in her face all trying to accept the deal. High class school or not, students were always willing to get out of having to do homework; May was all too happy to capitalize on that.

Two important features made the AFS stand out in impressive ways, the first was that some amount of that data could be retained if the system was configured and used in a certain way. Consequently, teaching and schooling became more advanced as students were able to understand and remember more information.

Secondly, the system would allow its users to comprehend and understand data of varying forms. Information or raw data coming from devices such as optical sensors, radar, telemetry sensors, cameras/pictures/videos and even computers could be synthesized for use. Instead of needing a user interface to translate such complex data, the brain in conjunction with an AFS could process the data quickly. Processing such information however puts more stress on a user's brain, resulting in a slight but acceptable lag time as the brain worked overtime to understand the complex information. Such a limitation harkened back to the stark differences in which computers and humans interpreted and represented data.

The biggest limitation however was the system's incompatibility with anyone of Terran descent and men in general, only women on Earth could use it. For Terran women it proved to be especially fatal as during early testing, multiple Cascadian women died of severe brain hemorrhages. Girls who had both Terran and Earther parents would also suffer from the deadly consequences if they interfaced with the system.

Nations and men at first refused to accept it, some nations outright banned the platform, while others called it unethical. But an aggressive campaign by Cascadia and GA, eventually found the system a small home in halls of higher academia. GA eventually sold its share of the rights when it became clear that the entire system was a developmental dead-end.

Seeing an easy profit, they sold the rest of their research into its combat and weapons application to anyone and everyone. Almost every nation on Earth viciously worked on adapting the system into their military as GA succeeded where they failed. With the East and West in the middle of a pitched Cold War, such technology was seen as an incredible military edge.

A wargame in the United States that pitched AFS and non AFS users saw the AFS force come out on top with interesting and worrying results. Though it wasn't an absolute slaughter, there was a clear and marked advantage for the AFS equipped force when individual engagements were looked at. With Terran weapon systems being sold globally, the AFS was seen as a system that could only serve to improve current and next generation technology and weapons.

Slowly over the course of the First Cold War men in the military found themselves slowly pushed out as women began to replace them with AFS equipped machines. Many men were pushed into the grunt and logistics role, whereas most of the technologically integrated systems were left to women and the AFS. With the fall of the Soviet Union, under strain from the West and Terran influence, corporate interest in the system only continued to grow.

The ramifications on normal society were huge as women were now actively pushed into higher education, often with better results than their male counterparts. A highly educated population of women meant that a country could field a more technologically advanced and AFS equipped army and economy.

Women simply could do more, and as a result their place in society grew as the decades stacked. With near universal adoption at present, women outpacing men in both social and economic sectors was seen as a normal byproduct of the AFS. In a capitalistic world run by big data, computers, the internet, and information, the AFS gave women a commanding presence in modern society.

During the Cold War, entrenched nations for the most part segregated their schools along the lines of gender due to the AFS not being compatible with men; this concept proved to be successful and was continued. Given that men and women now learned at different rates across the board, combining the classroom would have been a logistical nightmare, though there were a few notable exceptions.

This all culminated in an awkward interaction as both sexes were separated for close to twenty years then told to get along in the real world. The passage of decades only made the compounding issue worse. It wasn't outright sexism, but it wasn't comfortable either. Both men and women had problems dealing with each other socially, this effect was especially bad in younger generations and children. Working class adults, with time and experience, were able to slowly overcome some of the barriers that separated the sexes; however it had yet to spread to the majority of normal social encounters. With continual research and advancements into it, the AFS wasn't going anywhere and the mounting societal issues were starting to raise some alarms.

The economic impact the AFS had was massive as it greatly restructured the types of jobs men and women found themselves employed in. The majority of men opted for positions that were service or labor orientated given that most technical employment opportunities favored candidates who could not only use an AFS but had a high compatibility score. Jobs that used the AFS simply paid more compared to those that didn't, an unintentional stratification of society between the sexes arose due to the disparity in wages. Given that the increase in market productivity didn't generally come from their jobs, many men's wages remained stagnant over the course of decades.

Though some complained about the unfair advantages the system posed, its corner stone in the military and gradual societal acceptance had meant that their complaints had fallen on deaf ears. Some government and financial institutions were beginning to project worrying visions of the future in which nearly half of a country could face unemployment or unlivable wages. Such warnings, however, were often dismissed as alarmist. Some went as far as arguing that the non AFS sectors weren't working hard enough and were purposely relying on government subsidies.

Among many other social issues, women were now seen as the frontline asset in any war. Given the technical and beyond visual range nature of modern warfare, only the infantry remained dominated by men. The introduction of the Infinite Stratos completely solidified women's power in both brain and brawn. Any modern war would see the wide scale deployment and subsequent slaughter of women, just like their male counterparts throughout history.

In a sick twist, the AFS only bolstered xenophobia against multiracial Earther-Terran children/families as the decades stacked. Given that anyone with the slightest trace of Terran genetics were incompatible with the system, racists argued that their existence went against the security of the AFS and Earth itself. Some went as far as to call their own countrymen and women traitors, that their children were somehow national security risks.

Disturbing concepts of eugenics and bloodlines slowly reared their ugly heads as some decried that a multiracial population was one that couldn't use the AFS, one that would somehow lead to the downfall of a country. Such contempt, however, was not only reserved for the multi racial Earth-Terran population, some argued against their own country's population.

Given the range of compatibility, some families and circles were obsessed with creating children or a generation of AFS users that had the highest possible compatibility ratio. Racial and societal biases slowly started to come out of the woodwork as groups aimed to create what they considered the perfect human, a perfect woman made in their own vision.

One particularly inflammatory politician likened the new generation of multiracial Earther-Terrans to people born without hands, adding that they were spreading a negative genetic trait in a world dominated by the AFS and were somehow useless.

Despite the controversy surrounding the system, GA and Cascadia were perfectly fine with the way things progressed. So long as their pockets were lined and interests secured, anything went. Despite the rapid passage of years, GA and the rest of the corporations still enjoyed their technological superiority especially on the arms front.

After picking one of her friends to trade test questions for homework, the crowd around May slowly began to trickle out. Lunch was coming to a close, and almost every girl on campus had a test waiting for them.

"You just gonna hang around with your brothers?" her friend asked.

"Yeah we'll probably be in the library."

"Wanna hang after?"

"Nah I've been putting off some homework. It's due tomorrow and I haven't even started." May casually explained, along with casual phrases of self depreciation.

"Tonight's gonna suck." She added with her head flat on its side, resting on the table in a comically exaggerated pouting face.

Lightly laughing at May's short comedy skit, her friend patted her on the shoulder while the bell rang.

"There there, one day you'll find out how to use a planner."

"And maybe one day you'll remember the answers properly." May teased back, sticking her tongue at her friend who was leaving.

As the rest of the classroom filtered out leaving only the triplets, May and Kenny prepared to sprint out of the room. Only their intentions for a speedy escape was intercepted by the ever perceptive Nate.

"Alright, what are you two idiots planning?"

"Damn that has to be a new record Nate…." May said in a comical tone. Her being caught didn't compare to the amusement she felt in how quick she was discovered.

"Considering that you always use homework as an excuse to skip out on things...To do something beyond stupid with him..." Nate said as he gestured his head towards Kenny's direction.

"Plus that paper was assigned weeks ago and I saw you finish it days ago."

"Wow, that's creepy dude." Kenny said in an unsurprised and flat tone.

"Yeah, do you just stare at me all the time? I mean I know I'm interesting and all but….." May teased back in jest, interlocking her fingers and placing them under her chin; giving the effect that she was some princess. Her face and eyes teased in a comical manner as she shot a funny looking look at Nate.

"Maybe this is why you don't have a girlfriend." Kenny ribbed in addition, May's contagious laughter finally infected him while the cracks of a smile could be seen on Nate's slowly breaking composure.

"And here I was thinking that girls liked attentive guys." Nate jested in return while the triplets got their bags and followed May into the hallway.

"I don't know man, pretty sure those grocery store romance mags didn't mean become a stalker." May shot back in laughter as she led her two brothers to the engineering wing.

"Hey if you ask nicely, I'm sure Kenny will give you some advice." She continued.

"Why would I want advice for someone 0 and 1 right now in the dating game?"

"He's right May, I can't really give him advice on asking out girls his age."

May burst out laughing clutching her side while Kenny followed suit, leaning against the hallway and crumpling to the floor in hyperventilating laughter.

"That poor poor woman." May laughed as she recalled the time back in Cascadia when Nate tried to ask for a girl's number. Only the girl turned out to be a woman in her mid to late twenties who was just short and really young looking.

Nate's face flushed a bright tomato red as he embarrassingly recalled the moment that constantly played itself on repeat during sleepless nights.

"Yeah yeah whatever." He sheepishly responded.

"Aw don't be like that." May said as she and Kenny recovered themselves.

"Anyways, where were the two of you headed anyways." Nate said, trying to push the conversation to be anything but him.

Kenny and May locked eyes, staring at each other it seemed as if they were having a conversation through their eyes alone. As if they came to a psychic agreement, May pulled out her school's IS certification card. Essentially a form of identification that allowed individuals to get close to an IS, having one meant that May was directly related to the school's IS. Anyone without one had no business being around the school's two IS suits.

"I requested maintenance time, and…..well Kenny's been bugging me about wanting to get up close and personal to one." Being part of the school's maintenance team, May had access to the school's two IS units.

Given the IS nut that Kenny was, the chance to see an IS up close was an opportunity that he couldn't pass up. No longer content with seeing its two pilots in training or competition, he wore May down for the chance to see them up close.

"And so all the onsite staff and security are busy guarding the students for their certification…Wow that's sneaky as hell May." Nate filled in, casting a disapproving look.

"I don't know you two...This seems a bit dumb. Even by your standards, this isn't like taking Liana's car out."

Kenny was flush with frustration, he was so close. Just on the other side of the door that they finally stopped at, was a hallway that led directly to the Infinite Stratos. The machine that captured his fascination ever since he heard about it. The machine that revolutionized and made history on Earth. For the better part of his life he had been keeping up with IS related news, he knew the stats of different pilots by heart and followed their seasons across tournaments.

His main idol was the first Brunhilde herself, meeting her was on his bucket list. She represented everything that his older siblings weren't even though they were all pilots. Chifuyu, unlike Liana and Jean, was venerated and commanded respect wherever she walked. The woman had put her talents and skills to the best possible use, whereas his siblings seemed stuck in their ways. She was a walking icon, a hero for Japan who accomplished a great deal for her home country in dominating fashion. At times he caught himself drifting into thoughts of what it would be like to have her as an older sibling instead of Liana or Jean.

"You promised…" came a silent whisper.

"What?"

"You promised May...You promised me, you gave me your word." Kenny said as his voice wavered, his eyes planted firmly at the ground.

"I...I..Know."

"You two need to stop, this is beyond stupid and borderline criminal. I get it, you like the Infini-"

"May...you promised me. Are you going to leave me hanging like she did? Are you a liar like him?" Kenny's word's shot like venom.

"..."

"May!"

"Alright, fine!"

Smashing her key card against the scanner, she put her thumb against a fingerprint scanner that verified her before shortly opening the door. She almost completely folded whenever they fought with her, a fatal flaw in her normally tough exterior.

Nate followed an eager and suddenly happy Kenny into the hallway, while casting silent glares of intense disappointment towards him.

"Crawl on the floor, the camera has a dead spot." May silently and quietly addressed her two brothers.

"Alright I'm officially calling-"

Click

The hallway door behind the trio locked in place, ensuring that Kenny got his way.

Dropping to the floor the two boys army crawled behind their sister while she slowly walked to the only door at the other end of the pure pearl white hallway.

"How do you expect to get through top notch security you two. It's not like they just leave these things lying around."

"They do if it's just in the maintenance bay." May said doing her best to alleviate Nate's growing concerns.

"It's a huge security and building design flaw, but only the IS storage facility and vault have the majority of the heavy security systems. Security doesn't matter if the IS isn't in the room with it."

"Great, and then people wonder how terrorists got their hands on cores."

"We're supposed to cart it into the vault when we aren't doing anything with it in the maintenance room, or if there's no one in the room. But there's no proper ventilation in the vault, so heavy set glue and the new coat of armored paint would make everyone sick."

"Plus people are lazy." She muttered under her breath.

"So you just store it in the middle of a maintenance lab? And the teachers don't care?" Kenny asked while crawling with a perplexed face. He didn't like the fact that his favorite piece of tech was being handled this way.

"Who do you think complained about it in the first place?"

"That's how security risks are born in the first place." Nate continued to moan.

Eventually they stopped crawling as May went through a second round of security checks.

Upon multiple beeps and a hissing sound, the thick door swung open. Stepping through the door, she turned to the two boys on the floor who stared back. Both wearing different facial expressions.

"Get in quick, these doors auto lock after 15 seconds."

Bolting in, the door shut behind them rather violently. The large deadbolt shot forward locking the siblings inside.

The maintenance room was huge, multiple tables and machinery dotted the walls of the room. Hoses dropped from the ceiling, designed to suck in any vaporous or light contaminants from the tables and machinery. Between the hoses, recessed rectangular ceiling lights lit the room in a warm yellow orange glow. The stillness of the room gave the boys the impression that they were at a museum exhibit. No windows were present, everything was concrete and metal.

Standing in the center on two raised platforms were two imposing IS suits. Ladders flanked both of them, while multiple cables and diagnostic tools were connected to them. Two laptops on a rollable tool bench read and parsed information. Tools of varying sizes laid haphazardly sprawled about on the floor and tables.

Kenny could only stare in absolute glee, he was like a kid in a candy shop. Nate was also partially interested, though his adoration of the IS wasn't as deep as Nate or even May's. Now that he was here, with the door behind him dead bolted he had no other option than to wait for May and Kenny to finish their afternoon break in.

"I can't believe the school was able to secure two IS cores...These aren't even the battery or single use versions." Kenny began to rattle off facts. Despite having seen its two pilots compete in school and other tournaments, he was still enamored by the suits' beauty.

The two units before the triplets were heavily modified Uchigane units, Japan's most popular mass produced IS suit. An IS suit itself was like a husk or a piece of armor, it was the core that gave life to the suit.

The one to the right of Nate and May had large wing-like slats pointing away from the back of the machine. Multiple thruster ports dotted the rear wing structure, while more ports were found across the bulky legs. It was clear that the design philosophy was that of hyper maneuverability. Two large mechanical like armatures extended from the back of the wings and pointed straight up in their default configuration. The arms allowed the suit to mount a modular weapon's system, such as different types of missile racks, equipment, flares or even light cannons. At present the suit remained weaponless as it was undergoing a diagnostics test. May's design philosophy and influence, one which emulated French Normals, was clearly present.

May typed away at a console while Kenny continued to marvel in awe and take in the fine details of the suit. Soon the platforms that elevated the suits were dropped into the floor allowing easier access to each suit.

Looking around the room, Nate spotted a picture board with various photos of a Normal. The photos all displayed a mech with a diamond/rhombus shaped core with a rectangular box on a beam for a head. The shoulder pads blended into the diamond shaped core that stood higher than most other Normals. The legs and arms were incredibly thin and straight-forward. Bolted onto it's right arm was a cannon with a drum magazine, whereas the left arm sported a belt fed machine gun.

Rear shots of the mech gave way to a large jet engine housed in a sleek assembly with a tail and elevator attached to it.

"Why do you have a collage of the Poids Plume?"

"Inspiration, the pilot wanted a high mobility but modular IS."

"Yeah but didn't the French scrap it because it was a developmental dead end? It couldn't even fly on its own and its weapons were weak as hell."

"They did, but only because the power pack was too weak, and GA couldn't sell the experimental flight core because of Cascadia."

"Wait, why didn't you guys just buy the Revive then?" Kenny chimed in.

"They already bought the suits when I joined." Taking an opportunity to bond with her brother, she indulged in his curiosity and gave him a walk around the winged IS unit.

"The Uchigane kinda sucks hardcore for equalizer slots. Basically you can't add too many pieces to it." She said as she ran a hand across its wings.

"Yeah the Revive would have been a better choice, the equalizers on that are absurd. You should have seen one of the French pilots at the recent Chicago Major. Slower than normal but maneuverable as hell, and she had the bizarrest weapons for her Equalizers; all bazookas, rifled grenades and smoke rounds."

Every IS comes in a basic fashion where it has a default configuration of weapons and overall structure. Equalizers and expansion slots essentially acted like ports in which one could mount additional equipment like weapons, thrusters, armor, and other utilities. However every IS and its suit only had a certain amount of expansion and equalizer slots. The Uchigane had few compared to other production models, thus selecting the right equipment for it was a frustrating balancing act.

"This is a Japanese school, good luck trying to import French equipment here." Nate lightly yelled while he flipped through a sketch book that had numerous drawings of Normals and what they would look like if they were an IS.

Walking to a computer May pulled up a spreadsheet that had a list of all the weapons that each arm could mount.

"We just bolt a weapon onto the arms that you see on the wings. The core is an absolute pain though because it's absurdly finicky about what it can mount on them since it treats the arms as Equalizer and expansion slots. Rules say that as long as it can contain it in its closed form then it's fine for competition."

"So the wing arms are essentially a modular system that you can outfit before a match. Kind of like how you can change the thrusters or armor of an IS frame." Nate observed while flipping through the sketchbook. He had to give it to May, she was certainly a talented artist and designer.

"And so long as the suit accepts it, then its tournament ready." Kenny chimed in.

"Yup, you can't carry any weapons or equipment into an IS match, everything has to be stored in standby form then activated on the field. With this, we can keep our opponents constantly second guessing, though it's more stressful for the pilot since she has to get better with more weapons and all possible weapon combos, plus balancing the Equalizers and compatibility is a nightmare."

"So basically...it's a discount Armored Core." Nate replied while showing her a page with a sketch of an old white Rosenthal Armored Core NEXT with shoulder mounted laser cannons, giving the old war machine an angel like appearance.

Multiple cross hatches, and X marks covered up failed drawings of its IS equivalent on the next page. For the past few pages, every attempt at converting one of the declassified NEXTs into its IS equivalent resulted in May scratching, erasing or crossing them out. There had yet to be a single successful conversion. The majority of Armored Core NEXT information had been lost to the sands of time and had yet to be fully declassified for the general public on both Earth and Terra. These made it nearly impossible for May to make a successful conversion.

"Gotta say though, you'd make one hell of an engineer. Pretty sure there's a well paying job back home with your name on it, don't forget about us lowly folks when you're off making ACs." He added as he continued flipping through the remainder of the sketchbook.

Blushing slightly, Nate's perusing of her sketchbook caught her off guard. She had yet to actually show anyone the sketchbook herself, any designs that she drafted up for public use was re-drawn multiple times on a separate piece of paper altogether.

"Yeah...I guess...The old AC's are interesting designs."

"It's cause they are straight up better."

"Oh please, do you think any rust bucket of an AC could do what the White Knight did? Or do what Chifuyu did at the Mondo Grosso?" Kenny quipped back, displeased at his brother's belief on the AC vs IS.

"The White Knight incident has enough holes that it makes Swiss cheese jealous...Plus Jean could probably kick her ass any day of the week." Kenny's brother replied while shrugging, with arms out to his side, to accentuate his point.

"You should be careful with that…Things like that will piss off a lot of women in the IS sphere. That's just asking for a beating." May replied in feigned concern for her brother who liked to run his mouth off too much.

Dismissing his point, Kenny probed his sister about the other IS and it's features.

The second unit was a stark contrast to its sister unit. Off to the left was a suit that retained the bulky legs of the Uchigane. Two sets of recessed dual heavy thrusters were at the heel of each of the legs. Attached to the sides of each arm was a large pentagonal shaped shield that covered a sizable portion of the unit. The bottom end of the shield was sharpened to a flat fine point. Two sizable circles were grouped at the center of the shield, one larger than the other.

Attached to the underside of each arm was a long bazooka-like tube, a joystick trigger-like device extended from the tube and rested firmly in the clenched hands of the suit. Unlike her mobile sister, this suit was designed with heavy firepower in mind, even the shields themselves were weapons as the two center circles housed rapid fire cannons. The shields it seemed made up for the low mobility the suit observed in matches.

Just as she was about to finish her explanation, Kenny ran his hand across the weaponized shield.

Immediately his hand felt hot while images of an unknown grey and brown landscape flashed in his mind. A large amount of information surged into his brain, giving him a moment of white hot pain.

"What the hell!" He yelled in shock as he took several steps back before crashing into a ladder behind him. Coming straight down onto his head as he fell to the floor. May and Nate rushed to him with concern in their eyes.

"Kenny! Kenny!….Are you okay? Are you hurt?" May shrieked as she pulled the ladder that covered him like a blanket.

"Kenneth….Hey! Kenneth, are you okay man? You feel dizzy or lightheaded?" Nate yelld, using his brother's full name as if he were a mother calling out to her child in a serious manner.

As May helped him to his feet, Kenny just stared at the spot where he laid his hand. Rubbing where the ladder fell onto his forehead, May noticed his unmoving eyes. Despite snapping and waving her hands in front of him, his thousand yard stare soldiered on.

"Kenny…Hey come on snap out of it." May continued pleading, this time slowly rocking his shoulders.

"Did he concuss himself? Should we get a nurse?" She continued with hints of panic in her voice.

"What and get us all arrested, are you crazy? The two of us aren't even supposed to be." Her brother harshly whispered.

Interrupting their panicked conversation Kenny finally stumbled out what had been preoccupying his mind.

"I touched it...A-and it buzzed...My... And my hand it-"

"Shit! Was there armored paint on it?" Nate swore in deep concern, as he quickly checked the unit for any hazardous materials.

"If there was, we'd have passed out a while ago."

Checking her brother's hand she breathed a sigh of relief as it was apparent that his skin was still firmly attached to his body, and wasn't peeling off like some B rated horror movie.

"I saw…The sky was like a dark yellowy white…And-" Kenny's voice and breath soon picked pace as the two rapidly increased in speed.

"And the ground…It was all dark and the clouds were black too and tiny red and yellow lights on the ground and-" Pulling him into a hug, May cut him off as his breathing became dangerously erratic, well past the point of hyperventilation.

Rubbing her arm across his back in a soothing fashion, she shot a pair of shaky eyes towards her brother who was staring at a laptop screen. She hoped that he had something, anything, that he could offer. Unbeknownst to her, his calm exterior was an elaborate show as his own mind was racing at the speed of light.

"Uh…May...You have to see this..." was all he could stammer out as he began scrolling through the console window.

"All the addresses and values…the blocks…They just got mass nuked to default values. It's being rewritten right now. This is…what were you storing in here before." Nate continued, before whipping his head towards May. His eyebrows moved into a confused stance as his eyes were wide open.

The two locked eyes and just stared at each other, May at first didn't want to believe what Nate was saying.

"All the pilot data…It's temporary because it's in testing mode..."

"Does it get reset every time-"

"Only if it's configured to accept new pilots…" Cutting off her brother she answered, her voice shaking and trembling the entire way through.

"There's no way...maybe it was a static shock...or an automated program." In complete denial that his brother just activated an IS like a certain Japanese boy earlier.

"No…" Came the recovering voice of Kenny. Having been calmed down by his sister, he slowly balanced himself with her helping arm.

"What do you mean no...Look I know you've been jealous of that other dude...But get real, you aren't special. We are normal boys, this is an especially sad reach Kenneth." A frustrated Nate scoffed. He knew his brother loved the IS and desperately wanted to fly one, but this was grasping at straws.

"Tell me what kind of static shock or computer program floods your brain with random images and information!" Kenny snapped back in frustration, while casting off the supportive shoulder of his sister.

Slowly and painfully walking towards Nate, his legs bent and shivered as if they were weighed down by weights.

Trying to get back to the IS unit, Kenny hobbled over to the large red shield that he touched earlier. Nate's arm shot in front of his path blocking and startling him as his brother looked sharply towards him. Pushing his arm away, Kenny tried in vain to juke around his skinnier brother. However his jelly-like legs wouldn't comply with his best efforts to re-reach the IS.

"What the hell is your problem, don't go back to it you idiot!" Nate exploded as he began to wrestle with his brother who was acting irrationality. Like a hungry dog, Kenny was doing his best to claw his way past Nate who now used both his arms to put him into a bear hug.

"Stop it you two!"

Nate's lack of strength caught up to him as Kenny eventually wiggled hard enough to send his brother flying hard.

Smashing against the red dual shielded IS, Nate felt a white hot stinging sensation all over his body. Any piece of exposed skin that touched the IS felt as if it were on fire, a head cracking headache pierced his brain with multiple pulses.

With enough momentum, his body pushed the unit down with him. Laying on top of the unit, the suit's arms and legs moved on their own to accept the new body. Like putting on a shirt and pants, the IS suit engulfed him for a mechanical fashion show.

With shut eyes, Nate's migraine got significantly worse as neither the arms or legs moved. The IS frame clung tightly, which forcibly constrained and lightly crushed its new unknown pilot.

The tightly wrapping suit delivered its new found pilot head splitting images. A dark night with heavy rain surrounded Nate as he sheltered in a large hanger, off in the distance amongst the thick and pouring rain bloomed lights.

The unknown images that flashed in his mind disappeared just as fast as they came, only to be replaced by a stream of heavy information. Unlike his twin brother, Nate wasn't afforded the luxury of short term contact with the IS.

Entombed in metal, the IS had no plans of releasing its pilot. Crashing and stumbling around, the pain started to subside as the suit forced a link to his brain. However for Nate, his mind was nearly blank, any agency and control over his body slowly subsided. Every second that passed made it harder for him to think and control his own emotions and consciousness, eventually everything went white.

Running to his aid, Kenny and May did their best to pull him out, but the suit's heavy weight and awkward angle on the floor made it impossible. The metal arms wrapped around Nate's arms as if it were a sweaty shirt on a hot day, clinging and refusing to budge.

"It won't disengage, what's it doing to him?" Kenny asked in frenzy as he tucked his arms under his brother's shoulders and tried to drag him out. Bracing his foot against a piece of the frame, the only thing he achieved was the strain of his own muscles.

"It's trying to register him as a new pilot!" May called out as she began to reattach wires to both the laptop and the IS itself.

"Forget about pulling him out, that thing is designed to cling onto its pilot so they can't fall out of it." She said as the final wire was plugged in.

Immediately the laptop console resumed its stream of memory and information readouts. Tabbing out into a different application she quickly worked her way through the endless menus and toolbars of the IS's external diagnostic tool kit.

As she clicked away at the computer, the door to the room suddenly began hissing open as the deadbolts began to slowly retract.

Flinging wide open two teachers burst in with intent and stern looks on their faces.

"May-San you can't be here without a supervisor!" A tall blonde haired teacher bellowed as she laser focused her eyes on the hunched over redhead teen.

Another teacher silently followed her workmate, both hands in her large jacket pockets. She held a silent and stern look in her eyes, boring deep into May and the room itself.

The moment the blonde teacher laid her eye's on Kenny she began to open her mouth to yell, however she was cut off by her black haired co-worker.

"Is that...is he…." The woman with the jacket stammered as she locked eyes with the tipped over IS with the only other male in the school firmly locked into it. Immediately she pulled her hand out of her left pocket and made a quick call into a flip phone that looked like it belonged to another era.

Light footsteps from outside the hall turned into loud footsteps, and then full on sprinting as five security officers sprinted into the room. Each had their hand on their service weapon, none drew their weapon just yet. Shooting Cascadian children was an express ticket to a diplomatic and political nightmare.

Neither the teachers nor the security staff knew the full extent of the situation, why May decided to sneak her brothers into the maintenance bay when security was light and everyone else was busy with a test. Preparing for the worst, the school staff assumed that the triplets were trying to steal an IS.

Expecting May to be in the suit, they were caught flat footed as now before them was the male triplet of Nate who finally regained some semblance of consciousness. Standing up before them he slowly raised his hands up, through his cracked glasses he could see that he, his brother and sister were surrounded. If there was going to be any shooting, it wasn't him who was going to get hurt. His eyes darted back and forth between the security staff and May who made slow movements, hands in clear view of everyone.

"It's not their fault...m-my idea...I just wanted to show them the IS up close. I dragged them out here, they told me not to but-" May dribbled out before she was cut off by the jet black haired teacher.

"Alright, alright, alright calm down…..let's not do anything rash alright?" She commented towards the teens, the message equally directed to the women behind her with their hands on holstered weapons.

May and Kenny shook their heads in agreement as Nate stood still like a statue in a museum exhibit, hands still above his head.

"Take it easy May…We just want to know what your intentions are…..And we want to help your brothers. Alright?" The other teacher said as she raised her left arm to block the security staff behind her.

"Why don't you start from the beginning, and Ikeda-sensei can get your brother out of the troublesome suit. Doesn't that sound good?" She continued soothingly once again.

Shaking her head in compliance furiously, May and Kenny slowly walked towards the blonde teacher who led them out of the room. All parties breathed a mental sigh of relief as the de-escalation worked out in the end, the jet black haired teacher was immensely relieved as diplomacy and a kind voice dismissed the need for violence from either side.

Watching his two siblings leave the room with half of the guards, Nate felt uneasy as the jet black haired teacher in the trench coat remained with her own escort. Casually walking up to the computer, she removed her hands from her pocket and typed away at the computer.

'Are they just isolating me? Are they going to use May and Kenny as hostages….damnit…..what should I do?'

"Relax kid, you're too young to have high blood pressure. We aren't going to shoot you, not unless you give us a good reason to." The teacher suddenly spoke up as she kept her eyes glued to the computer.

"Uh...okay…"

She began to ask Nate some surface level questions such as his name, what his favorite subjects in class were, what was home like. At one point she even offered to have one of the guards get him a glass of water.

As the time progressed he began to feel more comfortable with her, eventually his heart rate came to a steady and level headed pace. Soon she started to ask him about Cascadia, his life on the other world and people he talked to. After a while the questions began to start probing about how much he knew about the Infinite Stratos, how he and his brother came to accidentally activate it.

Nate sang like a bird, he didn't even realize that he let slip or came to accept that Kenny could activate the IS. The only person in an IS when they arrived was Nate, all the women in the trench coat did was confirm the data from the computer's logs and readout with Nate's testimony.

"So what are you going to do now?" She questioned calmly into the open air.

She repeatedly spammed a few keys giving the impression that she was still typing. In reality she had figured out how to get Nate out a while ago.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you and your brother are now the two other males that can now control an IS….That's a very unique title if you ask me….So what do you plan to do with this new found power of yours? A lot of people, a lot of dangerous people, would be quite interested in you." This time her typing completely and abruptly stopped.

The two just stared at each other for a short while, Nate's once stable heart beat began to increase in frequency. The woman crossed her arms while she slowly leaned back on a table.

"There's a pretty hefty price on your head if you think about it, the scientific value you two possess is immeasurable to the right people. Then there's the social issu-"

"I don't know...I don't-"

Using one of her fingers, the teacher pressed a single button with a strong and audible click. The IS soon opened like a flower petal, and the encased teen fell forward crashing onto the floor.

Within seconds the guards surrounded him, two women propped him up as his legs became like wet spaghetti after spending so much time in an uncomfortable position.

"Let's talk some more after a quick visit to the nurses." She smiled while tilting her head, both her hands returned to her deep pockets. Dragging his feet across the floor, the guards cared little as they hauled him out of the maintenance room as if he were some criminal.

Just as everyone exited earshot range she pulled out the same flip phone from before and punched in some numbers while making her way towards the opened IS suit.

"Hey it's me...Yeah we have a problem. Two more boys just activated the IS...It's a problem because they're both Cascadian. This cannot get out, let's not have a repeat like the first one."

Dropping him unceremoniously onto the bed of the nurse's office, two guards hovered over him while a third stood in the doorway. The walk hadn't been a particularly discrete one as it seemed that the triplets' shenanigans canceled the school wide test. Multiple girls just stared at him as he was limply dragged out of the IS maintenance hall by security, their faces plastered with various emotions of confusion. True he may have been the one of only two boys at the school, but they all knew that the two held themselves on a tight leash and never got in trouble, least of all with the school staff. Especially Nate, who despite being the most likely to push buttons knew where the line was, seeing him carted out by armed security was more than a shock.

His mind raced through a million different scenarios of what would happen to him, his Cascadian nationality only increased the number of unfavorable outcomes that swam rent free in his mind.

Interrupting the doomsday thoughts, a woman with a long white lab coat and brown hair pushed her way past the guards. The woman's unshaking eyes were firmly locked on Nate, towering over him she stared him in the eyes. The sharp look Nate received from her made him want to disappear from the room and shrink like a violet. For the first time in a long time Nate had no quick witted humor or snarky line, it was as if the woman in front of him was cutting him down to size with just the way she carried herself.

The fact that Nate had never seen the lady in his life didn't help his situation any better.

"Now ladies….I don't think you need to be in here, I'll be administering a full body inspection. You know how finicky boys can be with that." Her gaze continued to chop away at Nate's toppling confidence.

"We have explicit orders to-"

"Your orders don't extend to perving on a child, get the fuck out!" The nurse snapped, her knife-like eyes cut down the offending woman who dared to speak out.

Directing her angry gaze to the other two women, they finally got the message.

"We'll be on the other side of the door." The guard closest to the door grumbled.

"You can close the door on your way out." The nurse flatly directed to the last guard who just crossed the door.

"Bitch." The last mumbled under her breath as she exited the room.

Nate felt the last of his confidence walk out with the guard when the door closed with a definitive thud. The impact rang out like a death sentence for the standstill teen who did his best to avoid eye contact with the imposing woman before him.

"How do you feel? Any aches, pain or nausea?" The nurse asked as she walked over and filled a cup of water. She popped open the buttons of her lab coat while waiting for the water to fill.

"Uh...Fine." Came a meek reply.

Opening some cabinets she fished around through a messy box of pills, unsatisfied with her failed search and his answer she turned to the lone boy in the room.

"You, a boy mind you, just activated an IS and all you feel is fine…sigh...Heh. You're just like he said."

Handing him the glass, Nate's hands struggled to grip the glass as his fingers refused to stop twitching.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you kid." She cooed while touching his trembling fingers with her free hand.

Her once harsh and sharp face greatly dulled itself into a far more inviting and caring figure. Once knife-like blue eyes melted like butter into eyes that warmly observed him, paired with a radiant smile Nate composed himself slightly.

With slow and deliberate movements, she took a seat next to him on the springy bed.

"Drink it...It's just water, someone already raided the anxiety meds so we'll have to do this the old fashioned way."

The hot water radiated a warm sensation all the way from his throat to stomach. The stiff tiredness that he felt from earlier subsided ever so slightly as his whole body began to calm.

"Your brother and sister were smart enough to call me when they were hauled off for questioning. You'll have to deal with me for a while."

"Do you work for the school?...I've never seen you before." The lone teen stumbled out with some recovering confidence.

"Yes and no."

"They called you? What about Liana or Jean?"

"Jean's back on Terra, May tried calling but obviously nothing connected. The ISA wouldn't let your sister leave for you...I hear she's been raising all types of hell back there, she sent me here."

"Wait how do you know us, and how do you even know-"

"Easy kid, slow it down...Here, show me your phone."

Logging in with slower speed than normal, he placed a thin smartphone into her extended hand.

Scrolling through the contact she settled on a name, and directed his attention to it. The contact was one that their brother had given the triplets, only to be called in an extreme emergency or a time of war.

Emergency Contact(s):

Avery Anderson

Dialing the contact, her cell phone began to buzz confirming that she was who she claimed to be.

"See? You and your brother and sister are in safe hands." She chuckled in English with a Cascadian accent.

Nate's shoulders and back relaxed from its stiff posture, life slowly returned to his face as the woman before him seemed to be on friendly terms for now at least.

"Are you Cascadian?"

"Nah, I'm German. That's just my cover, this'll have to be our little secret." She flashed a bright smile while winking an eye in a playful manner.

"Shouldn't you not tell anyone about that? You know, being a spy and all."

"Normally, but after today Avery Anderson no longer exists. Me being out here is a one time thing, think of it that way."

"Didn't anyone ever tell you staring is rude?" Avery laughed while pulling the side of her coat outwards revealing the objects that he was staring at with more clarity.

Averting his eyes quickly Nate looked straight ahead as he took sips out of his now lukewarm water.

"It's the real deal, try not to get me into too much trouble though. I only have two spare magazines."

Knock Knock

"Is everything alright in there Lee-san? Should we come in?" Barked a guard from the other end of the door.

'Lee-san? How many fake identities is she juggling?' Nate thought as he tried to put himself in her shoes. Quickly coming to the fact that he wouldn't be able to maintain such a web of lies.

"Everything's alright, and I don't need help doing my job!" Avery hollered, ice in every word as she did a drastic personality change within seconds.

"Lee?"

"And would you believe it? That's still not my real name."

Nate was slowly piecing it together, though he didn't like the image the puzzle was slowly portraying.

"Alright let's get down to business, I can't afford to keep you here much longer. Did they tell you or your siblings anything?"

"No, not really. The head teacher just walked in and asked May and Kenny to go with her. Some lady behind her got me out of the IS I got stuck in."

"What lady? Did she say anything?"

"She had really black hair, wore a big coat. I've seen her in the staff room a couple of times, I'm pretty sure she teaches here."

"Do you know her name?"

"No, I've only ever seen her. I think she teaches some of the upperclassmen, cause I saw her talking to a bunch of seniors and helping them with planning classes once."

"Did she say anything to you? Did she touch or do anything to you?"

"No, she just used the computer to unlock the IS...Although she asked a bunch of questions about Cascadia and the IS."

At those words, Avery bit the bottom of her lips and let out a breath of air. Her rosy cheeks puffed briefly, as she took a moment to think while rocking her head gently.

Turning her gaze towards him she got close and whispered one final question.

"She didn't hurt you right? You can tell me anything."

"No...She just asked a bunch of weird questions about my childhood and growing up in Cascadia."

His answer had greatly satisfied the up close and personal woman.

"Alright! Sit up kid, let's grab you brother and sister and get on out of here." She said as she did some mouth exercises while cracking her neck and fingers.

Throwing her right arm across his back she wrapped her hand around his shoulder as if she were pulling him in for a hug.

"Use your left arm to hold my left shoulder. Pretend that you have trouble walking and follow my lead."

Doing as she said, Nate used her shoulder for support and purposely made himself off balance.

"If I reach for it, hit the floor and don't move around too much. They won't go for you alright."

The line did not help his confidence as the situation was rapidly escalating, Nate wanted off the crazy train but it seemed he was strapped firmly down.

Avery gave one last smile while she gently rubbed his shoulder, doing her best to calm him for what was about to happen next.

Walking towards the door she pounded her fists against it twice, then flung it open with great force. The door recoiled a bit as it smashed against its frame. With all the ice in her veins she stared daggers at the guards who had drawn, their sights trained on the teen boy.

"First you injure him, then you point your guns at him. Poor boy can barely walk!" She hissed

"We didn't-"

"You didn't think! That's always been your damn problem….People like you always have an itchy finger when it comes to people like him. If his mother was still alive she'd string you alive."

The duo began to walk down the hallway, the unusual sight drawing multiple glares from the classrooms with open doors. Two of the security staff tried to get in her way, only to be pushed aside violently by her free hand.

"Get out of my way, we're going to the office. This is a medical issue, don't get in front of my patient ever again!" Her voice traveled down the hallway, some students felt as if they were the target of her scorn even though they were observing from a safe distance.

With a fake limp, Nate and his new found ally burst through the doors of the principal's office. The sight greatly angering Avery, May was in a pitched argument with her principal as Kenny fidgeted with a pen and looked at his lap.

In his lap were two pieces of paper with multiple boxes and lines.

Everyone's head turned to the new intrusion as they saw an unusual sight.

May and Kenny's eyes opened up with confused expressions as they saw their brother and some unknown woman holding onto each other. Two guards tried to pull her out of the room but quick hands slapped them away. She began to speak in a Japanese accent that neither of them recognized.

'Is she the woman? There's no way, she doesn't sound anything like her.' May thought as she observed her sharp face.

Both were uneasy at the sight, only seconds ago the two were being pressured to fill out a refugee request form. When the principal and the black haired teacher's attempt to convince them to fill out the form failed, they resorted to a more aggressive approach. Claiming at first that the Cascadian government would torture or experiment on them, or that a corporation would kidnap them. When that didn't work, the teacher started to make subtle and veiled threats that were directed squarely at Kenny. This immediately set off May as her blood boiled with anger.

"Who the hell are you!" The black haired teacher barked in anger as her argument was interrupted.

"I'm their legal guardian!" Directing her sharp eyes, she stabbed away at the principal's face as the two made eye contact.

"Guardian? Don't make me laugh!" The stern teacher burst out.

"She's not lying. The embassy negotiated it when they approached us for the exchange." Sighed the principal, in fact the woman before her had been one of the women present when she was strong armed into accepting the boys with absurd conditions.

"Why is she here!…Do you just hire any questionable person off the street?" Avery burst out in anger, her voice so loud that even those in the hallway could hear her.

"Lee-san what are you-"

"He told me everything, for a teacher she seemed unnaturally interested in him. Refusing to let him out of the IS until he answered her perverted questions!"

"Wait, that's not wh-" The teacher tried to yell in retaliation, only to be cut off immediately again.

Avery pressed forward unleashing a hail of expletives and accusations, the black haired teacher slowly put her hands up in defense as her face twisted in confused anger. Picking up on her angle, Nate shot downcast eyes towards the floor.

Every eye in the room shot an accusatory look towards the teacher. At that moment it took every ounce of willpower on May's part to not spring out of her seat and physically assault the teacher; her eyes could only see red. The redhead's blind inner range quickly caused her to forget about her earlier apprehensions.

"Would you shut the fu-"

"I should beat you into the ground senseless." Avery seethed at the teacher as she pointed an accusatory hand. Spiking the tension into the room as high as her acting skills would allow it.

"I think it would be best if she left for now..." The tired and agitated principal directed at the guards, who forcibly escorted the dark haired teacher out.

"We have nothing further to discuss, I am taking them. I have the complete authority to do so, and you have no legal power to intern them."

Taking a folded piece of paper from her coat's jacket, she flicked it towards the principal who scanned through it. The creased paper was a formal request from Cascadia to turn over the triplets to the Cascadian Embassy, noting that first and foremost they were Cascadian citizens. At the bottom was a list of references to the contract that the school had earlier signed, each outlined the consequences of breaking the agreement.

"Every second that you keep them here, my boys here, is a stacking diplomatic nightmare for Japan." Avery lambasted as she took and scrunched up the papers from Kenny's lap.

Nate shot an affirmative and agreeing look towards May as the two made eye contact.

The principal began to punch a series of numbers into her landline as she brought the phone to her ear. Avery could pick up signs of an automated response system that sounded like it belonged to some wing of the Japanese government.

"May grab your brother, we're leaving." She said while shaking May out of her deep thoughts of confusion and white hot anger. The principal didn't even bother to try and stop them, the Japanese government may chew her out for it, but Cascadia would make her pay dearly if she laid a finger on the two boys.

"R…right." May murmured as she wrapped her arm around Kenny's.

Her brain went into autopilot as she dragged Kenny out of his seat. She wasn't sure if she should be following the strange woman, but her arms and legs did as the unknown woman ordered. She had some comfort in knowing that she looked out for Nate at the very least.

Walking down the hallway, the group of four were tailed by some of the security staff. Avery did her best to navigate the maze of hallways towards the school's entrance, however she could tell that she was slowly being boxed in. Her left hand moved and readied itself for anything as it rested by her hip. As soon as the group rounded a corner a fire alarm rang out, students poured out of their classrooms as moments later the water sprinklers turned on drenching everyone.

Panicked yells and squeals filled the air as people pushed their way through the hallways. Any lines of sight the guards had instantly evaporated as their targets melted into the sea of sprinkling water and drenched students.

Taking lead Avery corralled the group and pushed her way to the school's entrance. The jumbled horde of students slowly started to thin out as the group made their way to the cramped staff parking lot.

Standing out in the open Avery's head scanned from left to right. Whatever she was looking for, it was as if it disappeared from thin air. Another group of students exited from the main entrance, this time larger in crowd than before.

Grumbling at the situation, Avery was about to say something when she felt a hard and sudden slap at the back of her shoulder.

"I botched it! Follow!"

A blonde Caucasian woman yelled as she sprinted past the group. Letting go of Nate, Avery pushed him forward as if to give him a running start. Her gaze turned to the dawdling twins who stood by her side still.

"Follow her and get in the backseat!"

Nate ran towards the blonde as he overheard Avery's order. Sprinting in stride next to her, he saw her denim jacket ride up revealing a bright red splotch staining her white shirt.

"Are you o-"

"Get in the back and keep your head down!" Was the only response to his concern for her well being.

Slamming into the back of a black SUV, the woman painfully opened the trunk with haste while Nate jumped into the backseat with his siblings only moments behind him.

The two women yelled something at each other for a second while Kenny and May threw themselves into the backseat practically on top of Nate. Swinging the driver's door open, Avery hopped in and started the car. Moments later the passenger's door swung open as two folded boxy and cylindrical objects were thrown in violently. The injured woman practically threw herself in the car as she landed awkwardly in the seat.

Avery didn't even wait for the unknown blonde to close the door, slamming the accelerator and swinging the car out of the tight parking spot and onto the main road.

"Uhh where are we going...what's going on?" May questioned, her adrenaline slowly started to level off as the car continued down the streets for a while, she wasn't even sure if being in the car was the right idea at the moment. The two older women had been conversing in English the entire way through, mostly speaking in acronyms and using strange terms.

The folded objects turned out to be a compact submachine gun and carbine. Unfolding out the boxy gun, it resembled something like an FMG-9 only it was slimmer and far shorter. The cylindrical object appeared to be a barebones Keltec from what May could pick up. The large suppressed barrel truly made it look like someone had taken the general shape of a baseball bat and machined it into an integrally suppressed gun. An obtrusive trigger and magazine stuck out from the middle.

"In a second kid…" The blonde said in pain as her own adrenaline also began to wear off. Sliding magazines into the two compact weapons, she dropped the boxy FMG into Avery's lap while she herself held onto the larger cylindrical gun.

"My sidearm's dry...you have any spares?"

"Take one." Avery responded, her eyes darting between the rear view mirror and the road, as the blonde woman reached into her teammate's coat and pulled out a black magazine. Slotting it into the empty side arm with a satisfying click.

"Fire alarm, was you?"

The blonde nodded in confirmation as she took off her jacket and hiked up her shirt to start applying first aid. Using a bottle she doused the wound with some antiseptic then peppered it with some type of powder. Grunting in pain, she attached a tight bandage wrap and gauze.

"Silencer's still too loud…Wasn't expecting all the guards to be on her payroll. Grazed me, just stings that's all."

"Mhm…You three can call her Cali, as in California, by the way." Avery filled in as she made brief eye contact with the kids through the rear view mirror.

"We have a tail by the way, blue sedan you got eyes?" Cali remarked as she gripped her carbine, inspecting the safety.

"Made three lefts and rights and she hasn't let up."

"Single woman, alone?" Avery continued.

"Alone one hundred percent. Black haired woman, I grazed her when I went for it. I didn't expect her company to be so close. Mag dumped her guards on the way out, just scratched her though. Plus she looks alone based on the rear camera."

"You think she's affiliated?"

"No doubt, she's probably got one on her right now. This has to be clean and quick. We'll do this at the wetlands, I'll take lead."

"Your injured, I should-"

"I'm fine, you need to stay with them anyways." Cali countered while eyeing the scared kids in the rear view mirror.

Pulling out her phone she dialed a number, absolute silence filled the car as no one dared speak. Eventually it connected as Cali brought the phone to her ear and began to talk.

"Hey, you wanted leverage, we got it. Consider this another favor she owes us."

Countless miles turned day into night, and the city into a flat open farmland as two lone cars traveled out of Tokyo into sprawling fields. The rain only started to pour harder, thumping away at the car's roof and drenching the wet farmland. The day's events having greatly tired the two boys left May the only triplet awake, their heads resting peacefully on her shoulders.

The roads sat higher in elevation compared to the sprawling rice fields, sloping banks joined the road to the watery green landscape. Small communities and stores dotted itself sparsely across the countryside, their turnouts hidden between the fields and banks.

The night gave Cali and Avery the perfect concealment that they needed for what they were about to pull off. The car behind them had since long turned off its headlights and increased its pace to remain scarce in the empty long roads. Having radioed their Operations Chief, they informed her of their plan and areas to vector support from if things went awry. The two professionals discussed their plan in painstaking detail as well as contingencies, most of which involving Avery leaving Cali to die, the pair of older women were in absolute sync as to what they were about to commit.

Turning over to the sleeping brothers, Cali shook Kenny's leg gently to wake him up while May woke Nate. With groggy eyes, for a second the two forgot the situation they were in.

"We're going to deal with the person following us, keep your heads down. Under no circumstances leave the car or open the doors!" Avery icily whispered with a harsh voice, her icy gaze aimed at a gas station to her left.

The trio shot backed uncertain eyes, an unholy mix of terror, confusion and fatigue.

"We're professionals, you're in good hands kid. Wouldn't be the first time we've dealt with something like this." Cali whispered to May.

Coming to a slow left turn in the heavy rain, Avery turned into the gas station while the car behind her pulled over to the side of the road a ways back. Jumping out quickly, Cali ran with her carbine and slid down the slopes into the rice fields that flanked both sides of the countryside road. The heavy rain of the night veiled her rapid exit and drop.

The muddy dirt worked its way into the denim jacket while also sloshing about uncomfortably across her legs. Hitting the ground with a wet splat she slowly and miserably began to trudge through the watery bank. The ground was constantly trying to pull her into the cold muddy depths with each uncomfortable step. Dressed in civilian attire, her shoe's were anything but conducive for the slime like muddy water that seeped into her socks and dripped itself on her leg.

Slowly she took a position and laid her back against the bank, giving her as small a profile as she could. Wet water and dirt from the bank stained her hair and gave her back an uncomfortable cool sensation as she waited under a black and blue night. Standing meters away from the gas station, she watched Avery get out of the car and walk towards the nozzle to fill gas. Her back completely exposed to the jet black haired woman who was now walking down the road towards her.

As the unknown woman continued down the road, Cali slowly and quietly inched her way up the muddy bank. Laying flat and angled against the bank on her side, she lined up a shot waiting for the woman to walk into her crosshair. Avery didn't look back, in fact she leaned against the car and closed her eyes while the nozzle topped off her car. The black haired teacher trudged forward, her hands in her brown leather coat as the heavy rain poured buckets on her. The teacher's black hair came together and annoyingly mopped her face as if she were in a shower.

Click Click Click Click Click Click Click

All that could be heard was the sound of Cali's suppressed carbine, the charging handle rocked violently only to be completely drowned out by the loud rain. Nine millimeter rounds stuck home as it peppered the woman center mass, eventually traveling from her chest to her head as they pierced through her body.

Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang

Avery immediately flipped around and opened up with her own compact submachine gun. She squeezed off round after round in controlled bursts as they tore through the woman's body. A hail of bullets caught the woman in a deadly crossfire as she was eviscerated by multiple gun shots.

Bounding towards the body, Cali moved with speed and a low profile while Avery pumped round after round towards the corpse on the ground. Raising her arm and waving it, Cali signaled for Avery's torrent of fire to end. Catching up with her teammate, the two immediately dragged her into the rice fields where they proceeded to search her for anything and everything.

"I got IDs, a 9mm with the serials scratched off and some mags for it. Docs, gum and a small wallet. Smartphone, a flip phone, and a bunch of sim cards that were in the wallet." Avery noted as she laid out the contents of the woman's jacket and pockets off to the side.

Cali just grumbled in response as she gave a pat down and searched through the bullet ridden corpse that once resembled a woman.

Having exhaustively combed through the woman's ears, hair and neck she moved for the legs and feet as she still hadn't found what she was looking for. Pulling off the woman's shoes and socks she settled on a single shining object.

"Sneaky girl...a toe ring now that's something I haven't seen yet."

Pulling it off, Cali showed off a golden toe ring with an emerald stone in it.

Radioing her Ops. Chief Avery relayed the stand down order and gave her the quick and dirty.

"Ops, this is Guardian actual. Target of interest KIA, say again TOI KIA. Positive ID on affiliation. IS in standby form as a toe ring. Never deployed, all in the clear. We are situation normal, say again situation normal."

Crackling to life a pleased older woman's voice came over the radio as multiple phones and sounds beeped in the background.

"Guardian actual, Ops actual, understood...Guardian-2 standby for recovery team and exfil with clean up team. Guardian actual standby at the gas station, prepare for exfil."

"Guardian actual, understood."

Looking at the Swiss cheesed corpse, the two couldn't help but smile at their handy work.

"Well that's one way to deal with an IS. I'm sure Sun Zu would be very proud right about now." Avery sarcastically remarked with a smirk.

"Shoulda deployed it, dunno what she was thinking. I mean I tried to shoot her earlier...but she still never deployed it all this time."

"You know there is a value in being discreet. Plus on paper there was no real threat that required an IS."

"Right…No real threat. She seriously misplayed that."

"It never gets old, the sterile ambushes. It just happens and that's it." Cali continually mused out loud.

"What were you hoping for some grand gunfight?" Avery bantered back as she threw red chemical glow sticks into the ground illuminating the body and its sorted contents.

The wet ground accepted the sticks with a disgusting schloop each time as they were sucked into the watery and muddy earth.

"No, but the way it happens, it's just so clinical and quick. For such a powerful weapon, dying like this is...It feels so out of place, almost pathetic."

"Just how the real world operates, not like anyone's going to fight an IS like they do at tourneys. Either way, who cares, so long as they're dead all's good in the world."

"Just feels off, that's all."

"Shoulda done better in your tests if you wanted to fight them in an AC Cal. Too bad you're stuck killing them like the rest of us lowly humans." Avery chuckled in response as she drew a slight smile of amusement from her friend's mouth.

"It just is…Isn't that what your friend used to say all the time?"

Avery just nodded in affirmation.

"People just die in war, and that's kind of it. There's not much more to it, one moment they're there, and the next they aren't. Simple as that" She said while shrugging her shoulders.

"War...heh."

"A war behind the scenes, it's like the First Cold War. Only exponentially worse in every way possible." Avery thought out loud.

"You two kill an IS pilot and this is the conversation you have? Geez no wonder Clarissa refuses to drink with you two." A man's voice yelled through the rainy night, standing above them on the wet road.

Sliding down into the watery grave, the man tossed umbrellas at the soaked women.

"Sorry Felix, were we too smart for you again?" Cali laughed back.

"Her maybe, you definitely not." The middle aged man jested back as he began to start taking photos of the disfigured corpse in front of him.

"You two okay?"

"All good. Really need to shower off though, this discount mud bath is riding up in all the wrong places." The blonde of Cali joked as she turned her head towards the road.

The sounds of footsteps could be heard as a group of casually dressed women and men approached them. A diverse selection of assault rifles and submachine guns slung lazily across their necks, none actually holding their weapons. Further back a more military style group of men in all black walked with a shallower pace.

Their helmets sported night vision goggles that were in use as the group armed themselves with significantly heavier weapons, amongst them a backpack powered coilgun. Each lugged a large rectangular backpack behind them that reminded Cali of an old World War 2 era backpack radio.

Jogging ahead and overtaking the casually dressed group, two medics reached the two women who had just killed an IS pilot.

"Get better Cal, catch a drink when we're done?"

"Only since you offered to pay." Cali chuckled out as she began to lift her blood stained shirt to show the medics her earlier wound.

The lights in the car suddenly came on when the rear seat door swung open. Peeking in Avery saw three bodies all clumped together, their heads buried into each other's arms. She couldn't see their faces, but she knew that they were terrified out of their minds. No child would be able to trudge through the day's events mentally unscathed, even if they were Cascadian.

Kenny was the first to pop his head up as he was at the top of the human sandwich.

Nate and May's head slowly raised to give full view to a perfectly fine Avery as she slowly propped them up. Their eyes just stared back at her with an unnerving stillness.

"Like she said…You're in good hands." Avery smiled at the trio before closing the door and hopping into the driver's seat and shifting gears to pull out of the gas station.

Just as she had suspected, they were clearly quite shaken up, seeing pictures/videos of war and death paled in comparison to being in the middle of it. Caught as a civilian in the thick of it left them feeling defenseless and vulnerable, the day's events proved to be particularly stressful as well. The afternoon's most pressing concern for the siblings had been Kenny and Nate's activation of the IS, but by nightfall that paled in comparison to car chase and shootout. None of the teens were thinking about the IS, all were in various states of confused terror as they patiently waited to reach their destination.

Fiddling with her phone a song suddenly flowed from the speakers of the cars. Surrounding the teens and jolting them partially out of their trance like state. Gently she threw the phone back, landing in May's lap.

The soft rock that vibrated through the speakers cut away at the thick silent tension in the speeding car. Scrolling through the playlist, May found a wide variety of Cascadian music which intrigued her. Eventually she settled on a particular song, one she never expected to see, clicking it the music changed to a familiar Terran tune that reminded her of home.

'Heh..Nice choice.' Avery mentally agreed, as she ever so slowly rocked her head to the beat while speeding through the empty and dark road.

A/N: And that's the first official chapter done, took a while to get here I know.

For those of you familiar with Armored Core 4/4A there are multiple callbacks so have fun. Some subtle others not so much.

One of the things that was a nightmare to work through was the whole women being the dominant gender thing because of the IS. I decided to explain it with the AFS since it served many purposes for the story, especially on the front for modernizing Earth's army compared to Terra/Cascadia.

As I'm starting to write more, I am slowly starting to become aware of how much I type. Let me know what you guys think about the chapter length. Longer, smaller or keep it as is?

Thanks for all the follows, favorites and comments. And as always, comments, questions and concerns are appreciated.

Disclaimer: I don't own Infinite Stratos or Armored Core.