Icarus 16

It was Wednesday Morning as Ichika, Charlotte, Kaitlynn and Madoka were eating breakfast.

Madoka mentions "Seems Class 2 couldn't take Wyatt's entrance to the tournament sitting down."

Charlotte says "I know, Cecilia, Rin, Rolan, Airis and even Laura went to challenge other pilots for their spots."

Ichika adds "While the Tatenashi and Chifyu are in Okinawa for some sort of promotional campaign."

Kaitlynn says "Guess things are going to be pretty calm for a bit."

Ichika asked "Hey Kaitlynn did Wyatt tell you when he's coming back?"

Kaitlynn confirmed "His plane should be landing about now, But knowing him the earliest he'll come to class would be afternoon classes."

Charlotte says "That's only if he doesn't get distracted by something or takes a nap."

Ichika responds "Yeah that definitely sounds like him."

At that moment the group heard an emergency alarm ring through the building as a teacher announced from the loud speaker "All second years with personal IS units head towards the docks of the island."

Madoka says "I'm guessing this isn't a drill, right."

As Ichika quickly finished his meal, he said "Nope, it looks like this is the real deal."

The group ran out the building as they were joined by Kanazashi. The 5 pilots flew towards the designated area to see 7 IS units flying towards the island. 4 of which had a chrome silver armor and wielded a beam saber in each hand. The other three were a dark blue with a cannon held in its right hand and connected by cables to the right shoulder and 4 disk on its left. Though each pilot were wearing a visored helmet that cover everything above their nose, the group could tell they were males.

Kanazashi says "But that's not possible, I thought Wyatt discovered all the male pilots."

Ichika thought "Guess Wyatt's initial was correct, though were still under prepared."

To the male's surprise, he heard Wyatt from the intercom asking "Dude is everything alright, doc's emergency alarm is acting up."

Ichika's explains "7 male piloted units are approaching the academy."

Wyatt chuckles "Really just 7, this should be a piece of cake for you guys."

Ichika mentions "Our group has basically been cut in half due to them wanting to compete in the Mondo Grosso. So it's just me, Kaitlynn, Kanazashi, Charlotte and Madoka."

Confused Wyatt asked "What about Chifyu , Prez, Even Djbril should be there."

Ichika responds "They went to Okinawa for a promotional event, so they're gone too."

Wyatt cursed "Damn it, I get there as soon as possible. Until then , I've got some back up who can help you out."

Ichika says "Look the freshmen are good, but I don't think they're ready for this type of fight."

Wyatt says "You're right, but there is someone who is." After that cryptic message, Wyatt ended the transmission as the enemy units finally made it to the Island.

Charlotte and Madoka charged their energy riffle to knock two of the chrome colored units out of commission but to the group's surprise, the disk on the dark blue units deployed off their shoulders and created a wall blocking each shot.

Kanazashi takes a close look at the disk and states "It seems their using an electromagnetic barrier to block out attacks."

Ichika says "If that's the case, guess I'll have to get in close." He charged at one of the close ranged units that wasn't being guarded and goes in for a diagonal swing. To Orimura's surprise, the enemy was able to parry the strike and keep up with his attacks.

As he was distracted with keeping up with his opponent's offensive attacks, Ichika was blasted out of the sky by one of the cannon wielding IS units.

While he was descending to the ground, two of the beam sabered units followed him to attempt to finish the job. Though Ichika could block the attack of one, the other was able to force Ichika to crash into a tree.

Unable to take chance to breath , he actives the Setsura's energy claw to swipe at one of the unit's coming in for an attack. Just as the other one attempts to follow through, the pilot was riddled with bullets.

Ichika's turned around to see Chloe's bodyguard from the cafe at Himeji Himeji in a IS unit clad in heavy black armor with gold trimming wielding a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun.

Before Ichika could attack, he heard Ace spoke in a mechanical and monotone voice possibly due to a voice filtering device "Don't worry, I'm here to assist you."

Ichika retorts "Why should I trust someone who I know works for Phantom Task?"

Ace responds "I was working as a double agent, how else do you think Wyatt managed to capture those 4 agents last week."

Slightly aggravated Ichika says "So you're another one of Wyatt's secrets, just great."

A glowing orange jackknife blade flipped forward from the right wrist of Ace's unit, the masked pilot used the blade to defend Ichika from the pilot the Japanese teen slashed with his claws. But to Orimura's surprise not only did he see his claws marks etched into the pilot's flesh but the lack of any blood.

Ichika asked "How is this possible, shouldn't the energy shield protect him?"

Ace answered "These units weren't made with the safety of its pilots in mind, I mean a corpse can't become more deceased ."

Shocked Ichika says "Hold on , you're saying these guys are already dead?"

After managing to knocking the beam saber away from his opponent, Ace fired his gun right into the undead pilot's chest. "He explained "Essentially these pilots are nothing more than simple CPU's. Other than their brain, whatever flesh you see is the only human parts left of them."

Ichika says "Phantom Task has truly gone to far, to turn these guys into living weapons is disgusting."

Ace responds "So for these sorrowful demon that can't feel love, let's send them to an eternal rest."

Though Ichika felt no reason to trust him, something about the masked figure felt familiar to the Japanese boy. Ichika says "You've got it, what's the plan."

Ace looked up and shouts "Get out of the way."

Ichika looked to see one of the canon wielding units diving towards the duo and firing it weapon. At the last second the two managed to avoid the blast as the undead pilot focused his gun towards Ichika. But before it could fire, Ace stabbed the energy generator with his unit's knife.

As the generator began to spark, the duo flew straight into the sky as they watch the unit explode into a large fireball of metal and flesh.

They watched to see the girl's struggling to get past the other cannon wielding unit's defenses until Madoka managed to shot each of the enemy's orbiting disk with her own drone bits.

At that moment Kaitlynn managed to knock one of them out of the sky with a huge javelin of air as Kanazashi used her Mountain Storm missles to take care of the other 3 units.

Ichika says "Seems like you didn't need us after all."

Confused Charlotte asked "What do you mean by us?"

Ichika says "Oh yeah you were busy with the other units…" he looked behind him to see the Mask figure had disappeared from the battlefield.

Kaitlynn says "Did you get hit in the head during the crash?"

Ichika stutters "Y..Yeah, guess I thought me and Wyatt were battling in the woods."

At that moment , a beam saber wielding unit ascended from the ground with one of it's arms hanging by several threads and both mechanical legs completely severed.

Without hesitation, Ichika used his particle cannon to shoot the enemy pilot down. The boy sighed "That was a close one."

Slightly dazed from what she saw , Charlotte says "How is that possible? He didn't have an arm or either legs yet there was no blood."

Kaitlynn mentioned "Yeah it was pretty strange, their movements didn't seem any different from the Golems."

Kanazashi goes down to examine a unit and wearily states "Um guys, you might want to see this."

As the group went down to see that one of the male pilot's helmets had loosened to reveal a full opened skull with wires connected to the brains.

Ichika attempts not to throw up as he thought "No way, Ace was real this whole time?"

Later that day after Wyatt returned to the island, he was examining one of the enemy units within the along with Dr. Maxwell.

The doctor explains "The circuitry is perfectly hooked up into the Cerebellum and frontal lobe. So while technically dead , this machinery allows for certain aspects of the person to stay alive such as military training or other tactics."

Jokingly Wyatt says "If I didn't know any better it seems like your impressed by this."

Dr. Maxwell states "While I can't argue on how this is a marvel of cybernetics, it also breaks so many scientific principles."

Dr. Hoshi and Tetsuya walked towards the duo with some scraped machinery as the former says "We managed to find some more parts that aren't too damaged."

Wyatt asked "So were you able to see if it matches with the unit I saw in Texas?"

Tetsuya responded "It definitely has some similarities but it seems what we're looking at is the new and improved model."

Dr. Maxwell groans "Seriously just my luck to have to deal with this coming back from vacation."

Wyatt says "Either way with Tabane back in the fold, more of these things could be flying around anytime soon. Plus there's still the fact there's a bunch of kids who are being experimented on."

Tetsuya says "All we can do is be prepared for the next attacks. If your source found those kids once, they could be found again."

Wyatt sighed as he rested his back to a tree "I really hope so Testu. So did you hear the news?"

Tetsuya replied "That you're Spain's representative, who hasn't heard."

Wyatt says "Well do you want to join my pit team, I've got a few open spots."

Tetsuya smiled "I've always wanted to go overseas, but I want to know who else is apart of the squad."

Wyatt says "A few people you know and someone that I discovered not too long ago."

Tetsuya extended his hand "Pretty cryptic, but if they got your seal of approval they must be good."

Wyatt shook his friend's hand "Welcome to the CrocoGears ."

Tetsuya sighed "Is there a chance we can workshop that name?"

Wyatt replied "Too late, I've already ordered the jackets."

As Ichika walked to the group, he says "Okay which do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news."

Wyatt says "I'm guessing the good news is no one has been seriously injured."

Ichika says "Yes but it seemed that while we were fighting, a unit came to recapture Talia."

Wyatt groaned "Damn guess the attack was only a distraction."

Ichika says "Speaking of the attack, exactly who is Ace."

Wyatt lead Ichika far enough away from the group to avoid anyone from hearing them. The American says "So you've meet our secret weapon?"

Ichika says "Look man I don't trust him, last time I meet he was Chloe's bodyguard. He could probably be the reason why Talia escaped ."

Wyatt says "He's not, Ace was another male pilot created from the research that made you and your siblings. Unlike the other freshman, he was deemed too unstable for a general classroom. That's why he was sent to collect information on Phantom Task."

Ichika says "Seriously, but he doesn't even seem that much older than us."

Wyatt explains "He has prior military background and with enough connections, it was easy to get him on the inside."

As he tightly gripped his left hand, Ichika says "Seriously I thought were supposed to be equal partners in this operation, but it seems you're constantly doing things behind my back."

Wyatt says "Look man, you might not agree with the methods used, but I'm willing to do whatever's possible to win this war."

Ichika says "Even so, how far are you willing to go. Because once you cross that line, there's no going back."

Wyatt smiled as he placed his hand on Ichika's shoulder "That's why I can do this, because I know you would always stop me before that point."

Ichika says "Even so, try to keep me in the loop with these things. After all , two heads are better than one."

After lightly tapping Ichika on the arm, Wyatt said "I will man, so what else happened since I've been gone."