[June 20th, 2033. 9:32 p.m.]

[P.O.V. - Narrator]

Two figures sat on a couch in the middle of a cosy looking living room. Personal nicknacks and photos littered the walls, the area was relatively untidy. Overall the place was that of a normal living area for a small family, however the inhabitants were strikingly different from "normal". Of the figures, the one who would be considered the most "normal", was a girl of 10 years old with raven black hair and deep brown-red eyes that held unearthly beauty. The boy to the left of her, who had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, differed far more from "normal". He held the same color hair, though his was unnatural and seemed to absorb all other colors around it. The boy's left eye was the same deep reddish-brown, and showed a wise soul with a thirst for knowledge. In contrast, the boys' right eye was an extremely advanced mechanical replacement, it had the fire of a warrior inside of it. An eyepatch was flipped up above the mechanical eye showing that the boy likely hid the eye from public, but felt comfortable enough to have it revealed in his home.

The petite girl was Madoka Orimura, a mischievous girl with a knack for getting into trouble, sometimes too much and her brother would have to bail her out. The very fact of her last name meant that she already had a defined future (at least in the eyes of the world). Since she was the only sister of the world champion Chifuyu Orimura, she had ridiculous expectations laid on her from the moment Chifuyu won the first Mongo Grosso (a championship between only the best I.S. pilots in the world). Madoka was expected to grow to be an IS pilot on par with her elder sister, something she thought would never happen no matter how hard she tried.

The boy to her left was her brother, Ichika Orimura. He always watched her back and would get her out of the trouble she constantly found herself in. Ichika was a prodigy, a genius among geniuses who, given a few years, would be able to give his one (and only) friend, Tabane Shinonono, a run for her money. As if being able to walk alongside the inventor of the Infinite Stratos as her apprentice wasn't enough, he had already collected many achievements for himself. He was easily the most knowledgeable person in the world on the IS, besides Tabane herself. Tabane needed Ichika just as much as he needed her. Considering she was always making decisions without the slightest concern for consequences, he was constantly finding himself the one making additions and adjustments to her inventions so they wouldn't hurt the people they were designed to help. The Infinite Stratos had been the ultimate weapon, but without young Ichikas' ideas such as an Inertia Canceler (to protect the pilot from the excessive amounts of G-Forces), or the Absolute Barrier (to prevent the pilot from being harmed by the military grade weaponry the IS would be fighting against even if its' armor broke), the IS would've only been a glorified death trap.

The young boy knew that Madoka would almost certainly become an IS pilot, considering his elder sister was the "Brunhilde". Unfortunately, he also knew that he would never become one, as only females could pilot an IS. Not even he nor Tabane knew why only females could use the invention. Knowing this, he refused to be a weight that would drag his familys' stength down, so he had dedicated all of his time to mastering several fighting styles which included mainly hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship. His sword fighting skills were exceptional, as was most of what the boy did due to his extrordinary intelligence.

He had a nigh perfect memory, but with the mechanical eye, he had a literal photographic memory. The mechanical eye was originally a replacement built by Tabane when he lost his organic eye around 5 years ago. He... tried not to dwell on how he had lost his eye.

He wore an eyepatch for many reasons. Firstly because the mechanical eye was extremely advanced, and the government might give him trouble if they knew he had access to such technology. Secondly, the mechanical eye tended to freak people out. However, most importantly, he kept it as a reminder of losing his eye. A reminder of how powerless he felt when it was slowly cut out of his face.

Ichika and Madoka had been raised by their elder sister Chifuyu Orimura, who gave up her own childhood so they could have one and had worked like a dog to give them the childhood she never had. Of course after the invention of the IS, their sister had become incredibly famous as the best pilot in the world, and money was no longer an issue. They had been living with the Shinonono family's considerable estate, but after winning the first Mondo Grosso Chifuyu had immediately bought the house they were now sitting in.

[P.O.V. - Madoka]

Madoka was sitting next to her brother, he was mesmerized by the Television, watching as the final match of the second ever Mondo Grosso was about to commence. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew she was likely the 3rd most important person in his life, and being 3rd on the list of the 3 people he cared for really stung. She would take whatever she could get, and right now being snuggled up to him watching the television, she was about as happy as she could be. That was until she once again looked at that mechanical eye of his, it was entrancing, kaleidoscopic... constantly shifting in color... blue, purple, black, red, orange, yellow, and on and on and on. That wasn't just the light hitting it a funny way, it actually shifted color constantly at random intervals. Something Tabane had added, Madoka had no idea why and the inventor acted like it didn't even exist. It was mesmerizing. She saw Ichika's eye's squint.

"Do you hear that?" He questioned.

"Madoka." She broke out of her trance.

"Eh?"

"Do you hear that?" He repeated, in an odd tone of anxiety. Ichika sat up from the couch.

She listened for a second, but the only thing she could hear was the announcer on the Television. "Er... no?"

Ichika walked to the wall, putting an ear to it.

"Ichika, do you feel al-"

"GET DOWN!" Her brother lunged at her, knocking her over the back of the couch and pushing her to the floor, covering her body with his.

A blinding light suddenly flashed across the entire house and an ear splitting sound followed, deafening her. Her eyes were shut tight from the light as she and her brother were flicked into the air like feathers. She felt bits and pieces of an object cut her all over, shrapnel. Madoka slammed into a wall... and instantly blacked out.

[P.O.V. - Ichika]

A bright light flashed and I immediately closed my left eye out of a desire to, ya know, not go blind, lucky for me I could keep my mechanical eye open. I felt an uncomfortable heat wash over my body as I was thrown across the room, hurriedly tucking myself into the fetal position to give myself the best chance of survival.

"Uugh!" I grunted sharply as I slammed into the pantry, crashing through it and all the food straight into the wall it was placed in front of and in the process definitely breaking a few bones. Bonus! But hey, being right near an explosion and coming off with only a couple broken bones and cuts? ... score!

Luckily, my long concocted plan seemed to be going smoothly, and by that I mean it looks like Phantom Task has finally taken their opportunity of my sister being away to kidnap me. Could they kill me? Yes, but I was willing to bet whoever their leader was wanted my knowledge and skills more than they wanted me dead.

Oh, my plan? Right, I should explain. You see around 5 years ago a terrorist organization called Phantom Task attacked Japan. The how and why isn't important right now, the point is they did it and they almost killed millions. However after their major attack they have continued more minor acts of terrorism around the world; stealing, killing, kidnapping, you name it they've done it. Now, Tabane and Chifuyu are responsible for stopping their first attack, and I've tried to persuade them to stop their further minor attacks, but Tabane is uninterested and Chifuyu is more concerned with protecting me and Madoka. So I have made a plan to take them down, and step one is intentionally getting myself kidnapped. Once I am kidnapped I will likely be taken to a facility of theirs, from there I can escape and hack their mainframe, gaining data of all of their plans and gaining a huge advantage in my one man war. A lot of risks and rolling the dice? Ya. But these people are killing thousands, tens of thousands, maybe more. Someone has to take them down, and if that someone has to be me, I'm willing to pay whatever price is necessary. Although, I predicted they would attempt to kidnap me when I was alone, and I will not have Madoka dragged into my plans.

I looked up at the now destroyed living room, now with a giant hole in the wall directly across from me. The silhouette of two IS suits walked closer. I didn't wait for the dust to settle, I scanned the room for Madoka. She was buried under a little bit of rubble a few yards to my right. Picking myself up, I ran to her an swiped the rubble off of her unconscious body. I easily picked her up in my arms and started running towards the houses' safe room. I had to get Madoka safe, but also had to get kidnapped, not to mention making sure It didn't look like I was TRYING to get kidnapped.

"Get the bastard!" One of them yelled as I rushed out of the room, down the hallway. One IS lunged and I barely ducked under the massive claw. I slid to a halt as I turned, sprinting down the next hallway to the left. The IS that was flying after me slammed straight into the wall, not being able to stop fast enough. A shot from the second IS nicked me on my left arm, but a nick was enough to give me a deep gash with burns. But they were too late. I placed my hand on a square on the wall, it scanned my hand and a secret door in the wall shot open. One IS was still buried under the rubble of what used to be a wall. The second was now flying across the hallway, which would really only take it about a second. It was worth noting that this whole time the two were tearing up the house, they were after all massive machines, they weren't exactly meant to be fighting inside a building.

I threw Madoka into the room and placed my hand back on the scanner, closing it instantly. I leaped to the side to avoid being hit by the oncoming IS. I dashed back across the hallway I had just ran across and turned once more, finding a staircase. Sure I actually wanted to be kidnapped, but I still wasn't just going to make it easy for them. With my and Tabane's inventions I could've easily fought them off, but they were all in our laboratory.

I sprinted up the stairs, almost tripping while I ran up them. The IS that was chasing me landed at the top of the stairs. It grabbed at me, I lunged and rolled under its legs, coming up in a full sprint. I didn't pause to look back as I gunned straight at Chifuyu's room near the end of the hall. At this point the house was starting to fall apart from the damage the explosion and movement of the two IS had caused. With one kick the door flew off its hinges.

Chifuyu's room was very basic. Ignoring the fact that the floor was so covered in dirty clothes (I didn't have time to clean today, alright? Give me a break.), there was only her work desk, dresser, and bed. Above the head of the bed was a sheathed katana, being held in the air by hooks in the wall. I jumped the length of the room and snatched the katana from its resting place, turning back to face the hallway I had come from. My mind processed the IS feet away from me, but I couldn't move my body fast enough to dodge. I was thrown back into the wall. With a sickening CRACK the wall, and what I presumed to be the bones I hadn't yet broken... broke. My body fell with a softened thud onto Chifuyu's bed and I breathed in the comforting smell, which really conflicted with the whole "potentially fighting for my life" thing. I rolled off the bed just in time to avoid an IS hand slamming down and breaking the bed into splinters, as well as creating a large hole in the floor. But before the pilot got a chance to turn and attack, I had sprinted out of the room. They hadn't been using their actual weapons, but I knew that would change once I begin counter attacking. I was still surprised at the amount of violence they were using though, If they were trying to kidnap me and keep me "healthy" for questioning/torture, they were doing a pitiful job.

After a few steps I threw open the door to my room. Instead of dirty clothes, mechanics and bits and pieces of inventions littered the room. Sure it was messy, but I knew exactly where everything was. I grabbed a small piece of an IS arm then opened the window next to my own bed and jumped out, falling into a roll on the ground.

I knew outside any IS would have an advantage over me, they can fly for shit sake. However, in case you haven't noticed they are very large machines, so inside a building (even a crumbling one), I have that small advantage. So, sword in one hand and peice of IS arm in the other, I ran back inside the collapsing house, now back on the bottom floor. I pushed open the door and ran to the living room, ducking under the completely torn up and flipped over couch. Ripping a piece of cloth from it, I quickly tied the katana to my waist and crawled out from under it. While running circles through the crumbling house and dodging the two IS that were hot on my tail, I stripped the piece of IS in my hands. After throwing away the parts I didn't need I reassembled a few pieces. It actually only took about ten seconds, I had been working on IS almost since the day they were invented. In my hand I now held a spare power cell, augmented to explode. The piece had originally been a part of my newly designed AIC (Active Inertia Canceller, a little side project of mine. The Passive Inertia Cancellors I had invented were an integral part of all IS, but no one had ever made a constantly running Inertia Canceller. I designed it and was going to give it to Tabane as a birthday present. We worked together on everything we did, but every year we would make one side invention and give it to each other as a birthday gift for fun. Unfortunately, I was going to and planning on being kidnapped, so that tradition might have to wait until I break out. Luckily, she has the password to my home supercomputer, and could easily get in to get to my designs while I'm "away".) But I digress.

Once I finished fashioning the makeshift explosive I turned around. After all of that I was now in the very destroyed living room. Beams from the house had fallen down, the couch I had been sitting in with Madoka was broken in two. The walls had more holes then I cared to count. The ceiling was collapsing in on itself with every second.

One IS was standing across the room, which isn't saying too much considering it was a deadly machine no more than 5 yards from me. The second IS smashed through the ceiling and joined it's partner, landing only a few feet next to the other pilot. I needed to put on a good performance, and not to brag but I thought I was doing pretty damn well so far.

They gripped the hilts of their massive swords, with a SHING the blades where unsheathed. With my left hand holding the makeshift bomb, I grabbed the hilt of the katana with my right hand. With a flash I drew the blade and readied myself. The sunlight flowing through the holes in the walls glinted off of the sword, revealing the name ORIMURA etched into the magnificent blade. I had expected the pilots would be laughing at me, a young boy preparing himself to fight off two IS. But they looked deadly serious, they must have been briefed on my abilities, although my abilities were already known throughout the world.

I had to play my cards right. I had to do well enough in this fight to look believable, but not hard enough to win, although I doubted I COULD actually win... good thing that wasn't my goal. I could feel my multitude of wounds slowing me. I ignored the site of my own blood dripping to the floor.

[P.O.V. - None]

For a few tense seconds the IS and boy stood still, assessing each other. Breaking the standstill, the boy dashed at the two looming figures. Before even moving their blades he jumped into the air between them, twirling and slicing at both pilots, only for the blade to bounce off harmlessly from the IS shield. Out of his left hand Ichika dropped the makeshift bomb in between them, letting his momentum carry him into a run after hitting the floor. He dived behind a large piece of debris for cover.

A large blast went off, throwing debris across the ruins of what used to be the Orimura household. The two IS had hardly moved from the explosive when it had gone off yet they both looked relatively fine, although the blast probably brought down their shield energy a large sum.

Sounds of falling pieces of wooden beams could be heard as the ruins continued to fall apart. Only remnants of walls stood where the entire house once was, the only untouched part being the large "safe room" Madoka was in. Flames from both explosions flickered across the remnants of the house, licking at the walls and floor. The flames lit up the night sky, rising high into the air.

The young boy came out of the chunk of debris he had used for cover. The flames cast shadows across his body and face, flickering in the moonlight. Covered in soot and adorned with cuts and abrasions Ichika stood tall against his adversaries. Raising his sword once more and twirling it in his hand, he was determined not to go down without further fight.

The two IS turned to face the mere child. They couldn't kill him, they were ordered to take him alive. They couldn't use any energy weapons, they might kill their target, they could only use their swords. But they wouldn't playing games.

The glow of the two IS lit up the face of the boy. They once more readied their blades.

Ichika's knuckles whitened as he gripped his katana's hilt with both hands. His own blood lined the blade and hilt of the sword, it dampened the remnants of his clothes. He shifted his feet. His stance deepened. He took in a deep breath whilst staring down his two opponents.

The pilots would not take any chances this time. They shot forward.

Ichika's breath seeped out of cracked lips. His muscles tensed. He looked straight at the IS flying toward him, mere milliseconds from colliding with him.

Waiting till the last second he rolled to the left, dodging a slice. Coming out of the roll he blocked a strike aimed for his back. A look of surprise dawned on the boys face, he hadn't expected a mere katana to be able to withstand a strike from an IS. A second strike forced Ichika to back up, being pinned against one of the few remaining walls of his home. In quick succession he continued to repeatedly block the heavy strikes of the colossal machines. A large crack appeared on the katana. With every strike the katana obtained more damage, the young boy couldn't possibly match the power of the heavy stikes. He continued to block each strike, protecting the more vital areas of his body while still gaining large cuts on his appendages.

After only seconds of the boy hopelessly defending himself, one of the IS delivered a particularly heavy strike to him. With a look of horror on his face Ichika watched as the IS sword went straight through the katana, stabbing through his chest and pinning him to the crumbling wall behind him. With that, the young boy's efforts ceased as he finally gave into unconsciousness. One of the IS deactivated, the pilot ran to Ichika and began to tend to his wounds, after all they couldn't get any information out of him if he was dead. After a few minutes of cleaning and bandaging Ichika's wounds, the pilot engaged her IS and lifted the body of the young boy into her arms. The two IS flew away, to take Ichika to wherever their boss had instructed, and unwittingly completing the first part of Ichikas' own plans.

[P.O.V. - Chifuyu]

An IS barreled through the air at speeds most would think impossible, a hypersonic boom resonating a second after a flash of the IS crossed the sky. Glass shattered from all the buildings the IS hurtled passed after the loud CRACK was heard of the breaking sound barrier. The world renowned pilot... the now back-to-back champion of the Mondo Grosso, wore an expression that would bring even the strongest of people to their knees out of pure fear. The aura of killing intent rolling off of the pilot had reached the point of being deadly in and of itself. The IS had been flying for hours now, but neither it nor the pilot looked in anything other than perfect shape, in fact they were increasing in speed with every second.

Chifuyu Orimura was enraged. She had been notified straight after her victory that police had been called for an IS terrorist attack on her home, but when they arrived... they only found a traumatised Madoka and rubble. She had demanded further information, but they insisted they didn't have any more information. Chifuyu had immediately begun flying back to Japan, which was taking several painstaking hours. Finally, she arrived... to a horrifying image.

"Ruins" would be an underestimate for the home. Aside from a few bits of wall standing up and the safe room, it was ALL destroyed. Outside of the home stood a ring of emergency workers and onlookers. In one of the fire trucks sat her little sister Madoka, and by her were the Shinonono siblings.

The crowd parted for her as her IS dropped out of the sky, slamming into the asphalt.

"MOVE!" Chifuyu shouted to the crowd in her way, they hastily obeyed as Chifuyu walked to where Madoka was sitting.

Chifuyu's heart wrenched at her chest as she heard Madoka's sobs. After a few minutes Madoka's sobs quieted enough for Chifuyu to question her.

"Madoka" *sob* "Madoka... Madoka look at me." *sob*

She tilted Madoka's head to look at her.

"I need you to tell me what happened, ok? Can you do that for me?" Chifuyu said in the softest tone she could muster.

"I- *sob* I- I don't know I- *sob* We- *sob* We were sitting- *sob* on the couch and- *sob* and Ich- Ichika yelled to get down. *sob* He- he jumped at me a- *sob* and covered me with his body. Ther- *sob* There was a loud noise an- *sob* and everything went black. Th- *sob* then I just woke up in the panic room. Ic- Ichika wasn't there- *sob* and- *sob* and everything was broken. Wh- *sob* where is he? I- *sob* I want Ichika. Where is he?"

"Shhhh Madoka, everything is going to be fine." Chifuyu began petting Madoka to calm her down. "Everything is going to be fine, I will find Ichika but first I need to know if you'll be okay with Tabane and Houki here for a little while?" Madoka slowly nodded.

"Good." Chifuyu wasted no time, she dashed to the ruins of her home and entered the safe room, which was still standing unharmed. The rather large room contained a bathroom, a set of beds, a desk with a computer, and enough supplies to last three people weeks.

She ran to the desk and logged into the computer, searching for the files of security cameras she had placed around the house. Yes, she had planted security cameras in her own home. You could call her paranoid but she wouldn't care, it was paying off now.

With both a growing sense of horror and pride she watched as the events of Ichika's kidnapping unfolded in front of her. The cameras began to cut out as the house was destroyed until only one remained recording Ichika's last stand against the two IS. She was enthralled at Ichika's skill to defend against the two massive machines. Chifuyu could be heard yelling in defiance as she watched the IS stab Ichika through the chest. Out of concern Tabane, Houki, and Madoka came into the room, but before they could watch the tape Chifuyu turned off the computer, not wanting the two younger members to see what was on the recording.

"Tabane." Chifuyu got her attention, then stepped closer to her to speak into her ear. "Ichika has been severely injured and kidnapped, I need you to locate him." Tabane's already worried face morphed into one of anger and determination. She nodded and sat down at the computer, already tying away.

After a few agonizing minutes of silence Tabane spoke up. "Got it! A security camera shows two matching IS flying to an old abandoned warehouse. I pinpointed the location on your IS HUD, now get going!" She nearly yelled. She didn't have to say it twice, Chifuyu ran from the room, summoning her IS and flying off to the location... begging to not be too late.

After what felt like centuries, she had finally reached the location, a worn down warehouse with rust covering most of the outer walls, honestly a place perfect to hold kidnapped victims. Other than the few guards in crisp suits standing in front of the large set of doors, there didn't appear to be any other people.

The Kurazakura hovered high over the building, before dropping like a boulder. A loud SLAM echoed across the surroundings as pieces of the ground where torn up and thrown in every direction as the IS landed in a standing position, weapons drawn. The guards attempted to draw weapons, but in the blink of an eye their bodies laid dead on the ground cut to shreds, the guards' last screams still echoing through the air. Without the slightest hesitation or care for preparation, the IS shot forward, slicing through the doors of the warehouse like a hot knife through butter. Moonlight shone through the gigantic hole made in the door, eerily lighting the room. Chifuyu took less than a second to survey the room.

There was nothing but a chair stained with blood in the center of the room. Untied ropes surrrounded it. She was too late... whoever had taken Ichika here had moved him. The one lead she had lead to nothing. She had killed all of the terrorists, she couldn't get any information out of them. Fate was cruel. Her focus on getting to Ichika would be the final nail in the coffin for losing him. How could she be so foolish?

"DAMMIT!" Chifuyu roared, dropping to her knees as a wave of emotion finally overtook her.

A/N: Hello to any and all who read. Happy New Years! To kick off the year I have published the first chapter of a fanfiction I have been working on for around 3 months. Ya, I probably could have published it much earlier, but I really wanted to make sure it was not only up to quality, but would become a solid part of the story. Ergo, I wanted to make sure I wouldn't have to go back and change the already published chapter. Well, I hope I won't have to do that, but no promises. That being said this is my first try at a fanfiction. I hope you have all enjoyed it to it's fullest and will continue to do so as I update. Next update should be within a week. Fingers crossed.

My thanks to Xenowishes for notifying me of an error in the original upload.

This is AceOfSpades, signing off.