Chapter 4; Echoes and Promises

The following Monday witnessed an… interesting development. Maylin's class had just finished for the morning, and she was heading to the hangers for the practical class when she overheard two people yelling at each other. Rounding the corner, she saw that it was Madoka and the silver haired boy. "I don't give a damn what kind of respect you get in your country!" she said, getting in his face, "Don't expect me to just roll over because you can pilot an IS." "And why not? You're clearly used to doing it in a fight, from what I've heard," he shot back, not backing down, "Two matches in two weeks, and miserable loses in both. If you had REAL skill, you would have mopped the floor with that child." "Excuse me!?" "Of course, I can't say I'm surprised," he continued, ignoring her, "You're using a Japanese IS, after all." Before it could go any further, Maylin called out, "Madoka, we're going to be late. Hurry up."

Glaring at the boy one last time, Madoka turned and joined Maylin as she continued to the hangers. The boy, meanwhile, just glared after them before turning and heading towards one of the stadiums. "What was that all about?" Maylin asked after they were a safe distance away. "Just some smart-ass that had an opinion on my fighting style," Madoka replied, huffing in annoyance. "Wait a minute, you have a fighting style?" Maylin asked, receiving a punch in the arm from her friend. She just laughed as Madoka tried to stay mad with her.

When they arrived at the classroom, it was to the sight of Simon talking with a blue haired woman over a set of blueprints. She had glasses and a pair of hair pins that looked like metal Vs in her hair, as well as striking red eyes. "Wow, your dad has good taste," Madoka said, receiving an elbow to the side. Noticing the kids filing into the room, Simon said something quickly to the woman before rolling the plans up and handing them back to her. Her reply was quick, and she bowed slightly before she left the room, smiling at the students she passed. Before class started, Maylin slid up next to her father and asked, "Dad, who was that?" "I'll tell you later, alright?" he said as he pushed her towards her seat. The next two hours were spent learning more about IS power systems. Maylin was honestly surprised that there was more than one, since she had always assumed that the cores were responsible for the power.

"Actually, the cores have almost nothing to do with the power supplies aboard an IS," Simon answered when she said as much, "Their purpose is to process all commands in the suit, as well as manage when it undergoes its shifts in response to the pilot. The only time it ever interacts with the power supply directly is when the IS undergoes a shift. And before you ask, no, I don't understand everything that goes on when that happens." This met scattered laughter as they continued the lesson. Privately, Maylin was surprised that her father didn't know, since she had always assumed that he knew everything there was to know about the IS. He worked with Tabane Shinonono, after all, so he had to know a hell of a lot more about the systems than anyone else.

When class was dismissed, Simon held Maylin back, saying he had something to discuss with her. "To answer your earlier question," he said as he went about reorganizing the work table, "That was Kanzashi Sarashiki." "Kanzashi? You mean the head researcher for the IISA?" she asked, stunned. The International Infinite Stratos Agency was an organization founded several years ago to monitor IS usage across the world. In short, their job was to make sure that they didn't fall into the hands of dangerous people, and that no one was using them for illegal experiments. It was the brain child of three of her father's closest friends; Tatenashi Sarashiki, her sister Kanzashi, and Laura Bodewig. "Why was she here? Are we in trouble for something?" she asked, concerned for her father. When he laughed, however, she relaxed. "No, no, nothing like that," he said, waving his hand, "She had an idea for a new scanner and wanted to run it by me." "She thinks that highly of you?" "Well, I did help get her IS in working order a number of years ago."

Maylin just puffed her cheeks in annoyance. Her father had been using stories like that for most of her life, and it just served to highlight her annoyance over a particular thing he hadn't done for her. "But enough about that," he said, bringing up one of the smart tables and projecting a 3-D blueprint, "This is what I wanted to show you." It took Maylin a moment to understand what she was looking at, but once it clicked in her head, she gasped. It was an IS design. It had a double-barreled rifle in its hands, and its wings looked like large shields. At a gesture from Simon, the model went into motion, two roughly rectangular slabs breaking free from each wing. As they floated around the IS, she realized they were bit weapons. She also noticed that the rifle had disappeared and that the IS was now holding a pair of sword handles. They quickly lit up with energy blades, looking like light sabers. Watching the IS design going through some basic moves, she was rendered speechless as she stood there. Simon, meanwhile, just smiled as he watched her reaction.

"Allow me to introduce your IS," he said after a minute. Maylin just looked at him, at a complete loss for words. "Of course, this isn't the final design," he continued, walking around the table, "I still have a few things to work out before construction begins. More importantly, I wanted to know if there was any kind of equipment you wanted to have on it." "I-I don't know," Maylin managed finally, "Where would I even begin?" Picking up a book from his desk, he handed it to her, saying, "This is a list of some basic IS systems. Look through it and see what catches your eye. It doesn't even have to be something in this book. Just give me a good explanation and I'll make it happen." Looking at the book in her hands, Maylin tried to keep her emotions in check. She had been convinced that her father would continue avoiding giving her a personal IS, but now he was prepared to put one together from scratch, and he wanted her input on it.

"I-I don't know what to say," she said finally, looking up at her father. "How about 'thank you?'" he said, smiling when she stuck her tongue out at him. Turning to leave, she replied, "Only if it's an amazing suit." Simon just laughed to himself as she left, realizing again that she had definitely inherited his attitude. Not necessarily a bad thing he thought as he turned back to the design. He felt bad admitting it, but this design borrowed heavily off the design of a certain 4th generation IS he had known. Privately, he had hoped that Maylin's skills would develop along a different line than the other girl, but recent events had proven that wrong. So, he had gone about trying to build a 3rd gen version of the Blue Angel, hoping that it would be just as effective as its 4th gen predecessor.

Once outside the hangers, Maylin told her friends about her father's surprise, and was almost knocked down when Anna hugged her. "That's great, May!" she exclaimed, ecstatic for her friend. Madoka watched them and laughed softly, while Erin flipped through the book Maylin had been given. "Any idea what kind of support systems you want on it?" he asked when his sister finally released her. "Uh, not yet," she replied, smiling sheepishly, "I think I'll need to read through that book first." "Good luck with that," he replied, handing it back, "Half of those systems are so far above my head I'd need a telescope." "But I thought you were a genius IS engineer?" Madoka said, smiling as he glared at her. "Genius in training," he corrected, walking back to the dorms. This didn't spare him from more teasing from Madoka, who thought it was kind of cute how much pride he took in his trade.

Before they could make it back into the building, however, they ran into a familiar face. The silver-haired boy passed them as they entered and mumbled something under his breath. While everyone else ignored it, Madoka rounded on him and asked, "What was that?" Turning around and looking bored, he replied, "Nothing the likes of you need to know about." Maylin hadn't noticed it before, but the boy had striking purple eyes, something she had never seen before. I wonder what that's from she thought as Madoka got up in his face again. Before anyone could stop her, she continued, "You know, I've had just about all I can stand of your attitude. What say we settle this?" "Duels are for warriors," he replied, turning away, "And you're not one. I won't waste my time." "Excuse me?!" It took Maylin and Anna grabbing her arms to keep Madoka from strangling the boy as he left. She was still fuming when she returned to her room with Maylin.

"Who the hell does he think he is?!" she demanded after they had closed the door, "Talking to me like that. I ought to kick his ass from here to the mainland!" "Well, you may just get the chance," Maylin told her, getting her attention, "I heard that my father and your mother sponsor a two-person team tournament between the dorms twice a year. The first one is coming up in a month. We could enter it as a team." Madoka just stood there, thinking about that one for a while as Maylin started flipping through her book. "You think your IS could be ready by then?" she asked finally. Shrugging, Maylin replied, "We can hope. If it comes down to it, you could pair with one of the Steffens. Maybe you could get some alone time with Erin." "Me, alone with him? Ha!" she replied, flopping down on her bed, "I'd eat him alive."

The second the words were out of her mouth, she blushed rather badly and glanced at Maylin to see if she noticed. Unfortunately for her, she had and was now giving her a fiendish look. "Oh, would you now?" Maylin asked, her tone playful, "I'm sure he would love to know that." "You wouldn't!" Madoka said, bolting upright. Maylin just laughed as she replied, "I don't know…" "Maylin, I'm warning you…" Madoka said getting up. Before she could move, Maylin was up and out of her reach. "I never knew you were so bold, Madoka," she teased, dancing out of her grasp as Madoka lunged at her. "Come here, you little…" Madoka said, trying to stay mad, and not succeeding.


The next day, Maylin was excused from her classes and standing in one of the maintenance bays with an assortment of IS parts lying before her. There was also a fully equipped tool station to one side and a diagnostic terminal to the other. Looking back at her father in utter confusion, she asked, "What is all this?" "Well, I thought this would be a good practical lesson for you," he replied, walking over and grabbing a pair of tools. "We're going to actually build it?" she asked, shocked. When he nodded, she continued, "You know I'm not the best when it comes to the technical side, right?" "Oh, I know. I'm your teacher, remember?" he replied, laughing softly, "So, I thought what better way to teach you then to have you build your IS."

Sighing, Maylin brought up the design they had agreed upon. She had made several modifications to the design based off what she had read and was surprised that her father had gone along with them all. As they began to assemble the suit, starting with the torso, Maylin payed close attention to where everything went as it slowly came together. She also noticed that the IS core Madoka had been charged with dismantling, and had failed to do so, was being installed into this machine. By lunch, the main body was maybe a third of the way complete. This left Maylin feeling an odd form of satisfaction. She hadn't really done a whole lot of the physical work, instead walking her father through where each part went. However, watching one of them being put together gave her a new understanding of what it took to build one of these machines. She had a new respect for Erin after that, since he was determined to make this his field of expertise.

"I'm not sure we'll have this done by the tournament," Simon said as they ate. Rather than head to the cafeteria, he had brought them lunch for the day. "I know," Maylin replied, her brow furrowing, "We don't seem to be making much progress." "Maybe we could get that boyfriend of yours to help?" he offered just before ducking under the nut Maylin tossed at him. "Erin's just a friend, Dad," she replied, huffing, "Besides; I think Madoka might have a thing for him, anyway." "Speaking of which, how's she getting along with Ludzik?" "Who?" "Ludzik Vasilyevich," he clarified, "He's one of our students from Russia; male pilot, silver hair, purple eyes." "Oh, yeah. Him," Maylin replied, taking a bite from her sandwich, "I think those two might kill each other before too long. He seems a little stuck-up." Simon just nodded in agreement, since that was the impression he got from the kid, too. He was definitely intelligent and had no problems on the assignments. But, he was very proud and didn't mingle well with most of the students. Oh well, it'll come back to bite him eventually Simon thought with a smile, remembering what had happened to Laura when they were at school here.

"Well, this might make you feel better," he said, standing up, "Did you hear what the winners receive as a reward?" When Maylin shook her head, he grinned and continued, "The winning team gets to make one request of the dorm heads." "Wait, really?" she asked, stunned. She could already think of a laundry list of ways students would abuse that privilege. There's no way her father would allow something like that to be a reward, and definitely no way Aunt Orimura would go along with it. "Yep," he said, his grin growing wider, "But there's a catch." "There always is," Maylin groaned. The look her father had on reminded her a little too much of the look described on his friend Rin's face when she used to tease him and her mother. "Whichever team makes it to the end has to fight the dorm heads for the reward," he said, "So, we better make sure this IS is ready to go." Turning back to the machine, he could only imagine the look his daughter was giving him right now. She had just walked straight into a trap, and she knew it. With a huff, Maylin got up and kneeled down next to her father, helping assemble one of the control circuits. "Of course it's going to be ready by then," she said, smiling, "And then I'm going to kick your butt."


I am well and truly screwed Devin Carmine thought as he scrambled to collect his things. He was the president of the third largest tech company in the world, a title he held proudly considering that his company had never involved itself with projects involving the Infinite Stratos. The fact that such a thing had been introduced at all was still a sore point with him. Not only was it the brainchild of some know-it-all woman playing at being an inventor, its operation was restricted to the weakest members of the human race; women. That girl had handed over enormous power to a group of people that barely understood it, and hardly deserved it. Never mind that men were slowly gaining the ability to use them, it would always remain a field dominated by women. It had taken Devin nearly 20 years to build up his company, but when the IS came about and he flatly refused to have anything to do with it, he found that he was losing contracts left and right.

His own R&D just couldn't compete with the pace of discovery of other companies actively working on the IS. This only served to prove his belief that this was all just a clever tactic to root out the true men in the world, to try and put them all down once and for all. As he watched his company, his entire life, sliding towards bankruptcy, a savior appeared before him. She claimed to be a representative from a party interested in seeing him succeed, and had offered some interesting data to legitimize her claim. Devin had been skeptical at first, sure that this was just someone trying to take him for all that he was worth, whatever that was at that point. However, when his lead research team came back with the initial results of the data, he was dumbstruck. What he had been given would allow him to produce composites superior to what the military had available, and was head and shoulders above what the IS used at the time, at a fraction of the cost for either. He had called the representative back that night and told her, "You have a deal. Name your price."

All she had said was that they wished to control a generous stake in his company, and that they would continue to pass along useful data as it became available. Within a month, his company had not only stopped its fall, it had rocketed back towards the lead. It had grown so fast and been the source of so many breakthroughs that initially people were suspicious. Several investigations, both private and federal, were launched, but failed to turn up any results. As far as anyone knew, Devin Carmine had just hit a rough patch, but had come out of it swinging. Two years later, his company's growth had plateaued at its current level. Both he and his sponsor had agreed that it was a good place to stay, and that it allowed them both to avoid undue attention. Then, about a year ago his sponsor had begun asking for favors and offering him contracts. He had been more than happy to oblige, these people had pulled him back from the brink, after all.

A month after he began to do this, his head researcher, Merrick Orinaga, came to him with some…concerns. He had been looking into the origin of the research they were doing, on his own time, and had uncovered enough to make him uneasy about their new bedfellows. Now, Merrick was a close friend of Devin's as well as one of his chief advisers. When he said that a particular area was too dangerous to go into, or that they needed to back a certain development, Devin had always listened to him and followed his advice. However, when he came into his office and laid out his suspicions, he was skeptical. "Surly this must be a mistake," he had said, looking at what Merrick had uncovered, "Besides, half of this is just hear-say and rumor. Nothing solid enough to justify cutting ties with them." "I know that, Devin," Merrick had responded, sighing, "I just wanted you to see what I've found, and to tell you to tread lightly. I don't think these are people we can trust." "Alright, I can see where you're coming from," Devin said, "If you can find me definitive proof, I'll consider cutting ties." They had shook hands on that, although privately Devin wondered if he would even want to. This mysterious sponsor was a constant supply of ideas and innovation and was single handedly keeping his company afloat.

Then, two months later, Merrick vanished. There was no sign of foul play, either at his office or his home. His cars were still were he had left them, and when the police had searched his home they had found everything was still in order. By all accounts, it looked like the man had just up and disappeared. That, more than anything, rattled Devin. He knew Merrick, and he knew that his friend wouldn't just vanish like that. Not only wouldn't, but couldn't. He wasn't a sneaky man; he was outspoken, loud and honest. It was why Devin had made him head of R&D. Merrick wasn't afraid to call him on bad ideas, and it had kept them successful. About a week later, a letter arrived for him. It was signed "From a Friend," and contained a simple memory stick. When Devin plugged it into his personal computer, he had discovered that it was a collection of Merrick's findings on their business partner. What was in the files was astounding, to say the least. But, not wanting to jump to conclusions, Devin had gone about verifying the information himself. He had taken great pains to cover his tracks as best as he could, but the more he learned the more anxious he became.

It turned out that he hadn't just made a deal with a devil, but it was a devil worse than what he could have imagined. And now they were coming for him, he was sure. The main building's network had recorded a breach earlier that day. It was a small one, barely lasting a second, but it happened just as Devin had brought up those files on his work computer. It couldn't have been a coincidence. Now, as night approached, Devin was making frantic preparations to try and leave the country. If he could get someplace safe long enough, then maybe he could turn over what he had to the proper authorities. The potential backlash from having worked with these people be damned, he had to warn someone about this. As he finally switched his computer off, he got up and gathered his coat and briefcase before turning to the door. "Going somewhere, Mister Carmine?" he heard from the shadows to his left. Stopping cold, he turned just as a figure stepped forward. For a brief moment he thought that an angel had appeared in his room, but then he saw the sheen of metal and realized it was an IS. How did it get here, past all the security he wondered as he took a step back. "Wh-who are you?" he asked, trying to sound confidant, "What do you want?"

Taking another step forward to reveal more of itself, the IS responded, "I am your sponsor. Well, one of them, at least." Now that he got a better look at it, he saw that it had several unique characteristics. First, its wings were shaped like a bird's, although the feathers were more just solid slabs of metal with flat endings. They looked like the kind of wings a child would make. He also noticed that nothing of the pilot was showing; the entire thing was one suit of armor rather than the exoskeleton design of the normal varieties. "You're the ones sending me that research data?" he asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. Despite what he thought of the technology, he knew that they were killing machines and that the one before him could render him a mess on the wall with a flick of its wrist. "Yes, we are. You've been very helpful to our cause, Mr. Carmine," it said, "The cost of research on our own had proved too much, and the resources you sent our way were most welcome." "So, what do you want now?" "Oh, it's actually quite simple; we want the same thing we wanted from that friend of yours."

At this, another figure stepped forward, seemingly materializing from behind the first IS. It was also an IS, although a radically different one. Its wings looked like a skeleton's, and the entire design of the body gave him the impression of a feral wolf. The claws on its hands, and the blades it had sheathed at its hips, didn't help the image. "What did you do with Merrick?" Devin demanded, finally finding his courage. "Oh, you'll know soon enough," the first IS responded, flicking its wrist. Before he could even blink, the second IS was next to him, one hand on his wrist and the other digging its claw into his shoulder. It went clean through the fabric of his suit, the skin and muscle before finally scraping the bone in his shoulder. He cried out in pain as he dropped to his knees, but the IS just knelt with him, keeping its hands firmly in place. Then the other machine advanced, holding a syringe with something clear in it. In too much agony to speak, Devin just watched as the machine leaned down and stuck it into his neck before injecting whatever it was into him.

When it had withdrawn the now empty needle, the other IS let him go and he collapsed to the ground, clutching his wound. Then, he began to feel drowsy, his mind fogging over as he looked up at the two machines. "Wh-who are you p-people," he slurred, his vision already blurring. "We are the future," the angel IS responded as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Life continues on at the Academy as Maylin and her friends start to meet representatives from other countries. Sparks will fly in this upcoming tournament as teams battle for a free-pass with Simon and Houki. But who are the IS that attacked Devin Carmine? And what kind of change are they about to usher in? Till the next chapter.

Well, I guess this is one possible perk of no internet; plenty of time to write. I'm also taking this forced down time to review my previous story and correct some minor grammar errors. I realize that's not much of a cliff hanger with this one, since most of you probably think you know what's coming. Allow me to assure you, you really don't. :)