Chapter 12; Signs of the Future

Propped up in her bed, Annabelle tried to keep her focus on the magazine in front of her. She had been doing her best to keep her spirits up and not focus on her injuries. She had been hurt plenty of times during her initial training, and she wasn't about to let this sideline her for long. Gritting her teeth, she tried to fight off the depression that threatened to swallow her again. It was so easy to give in; to just curl up into a ball and cry about how her life had been shattered in one evening. Clenching her hand into a fist, she could feel her nails digging into her palm as she struggled to stay in control. I'm not some scared little girl she told herself, I can get through this; I will get through this.

And yet, despite all of the courage she scraped together, she still felt tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes. And why shouldn't they? She had lost the one thing she had wanted to accomplish the most, and it made her feel like there was a ragged hole in her chest. Struggling to keep the sobs in, Anna scrubbed furiously at her eyes with her arm. Before she could crumble completely, she heard someone open the door and walk in. "What is it?" she asked abruptly without looking up, "I'm fine, I don't need any special attention." "If I've learned anything from my sister," an unfamiliar voice said, "It's that there are times when it's best to not leave someone alone."

Looking up, Anna was surprised to see Tabane standing next to her bed and smiling warmly at her. Without another word, she sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled Anna into a hug. She had never been good with social interactions in the past, but her time with Houki and Simon at the Academy had taught her many things. Knowing when someone needed to be held happened to be one of the more important lessons, and she had taken it to heart. While Anna was surprised at the sudden act, she quickly felt herself starting to crumble again. Wrapping her one arm around the woman, she cried into her shoulder, releasing all of her pent up sorrow as her body shook with each sob. Tabane just sat there and gently stroked her back, willing to help this girl through her sadness. She was a close friend of her niece, after all, which practically made her family.

After a few minutes, she had finally run out of tears and was able to breathe easier. Sitting back up, she smiled up at the woman she had heard so much about. "Thank you," she said, sniffling, "I needed that." "Anytime," Tabane responded, smiling back, "You'd be surprised how much it helps to have a good cry once in a while. Just look at my sister." Laughing, Anna responded, "I can't imagine Ms. Orimura crying." "Well, maybe not now. But when she was around your age, she would have moments when she had to," Tabane told her, looking thoughtful, "Although, sometimes she also found emotional release in beating the snot out of Ichika. That seemed to help her, too." This caused the two girls to laugh as they imagined it, and Anna couldn't believe how good it felt to laugh again.

"Anyway, down to why I'm here," Tabane said as she stood back up, "Would you like to be a pilot again?" "Huh?" Anna asked, her brain coming to a full stop. "Would you like to be a pilot again?" Tabane repeated, smiling. "Of course I would!" Anna replied before clutching her loose sleeve, "But what good would I be? With only one arm, I couldn't…" "Who said anything about you being a pilot with one arm?" Tabane asked, feigning confusion, "You need both arms to use an IS properly." "That's my point!" Anna exclaimed, "I can't do it with just one! So, how am I…"

And suddenly, she understood what the woman was suggesting. "No…" Anna whispered, looking at her in shock, "You don't mean that you…?" "I've built machines that even I don't fully understand. I think I can build a prosthetic," Tabane boasted, her smile growing broader, "In fact, I've even come up with one-way time travel. Just need to figure out how to get back." Technically not a lie, since it was an alternate version of her that had done it. Anna just sat there in shock as she tried to fully wrap her mind around this. An artificial arm made by the Tabane Shinonono? Even if it was only half as sophisticated as a 3rd generation IS, it would still be head and shoulders above anything she could hope to get from anyone else.

"So, what do you say?" Tabane asked, extending her hand, "Want to give it another go?" While she had been fairly certain that the girl would accept her offer, she was still surprised by the intense look in her eyes. "Hell yes I do," Anna answered, accepted her hand and shaking on it, "But it'd better be one kick-ass arm." "Anything less would be an insult to my talents," Tabane promised, smiling. Now she just had to figure out a way to get her darling little Madoka back on her feet. If she woke up in time, that is.


Their trip to the airport was rather quiet and somber. No one had anything they really wanted to talk about, so Maylin instead turned her thoughts to her mother. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't made any time to go see her. Even though she was most likely unconscious, it still felt wrong that she hadn't done it. She had had all of two days to do it; she had even spent some time in the same freaking hospital. I hope you're doing okay, mom she thought as she looked out the window.

When they arrived at the airport, their van pulled up into one of the private hangers before stopping next to what Maylin assumed to be their plane. It was a small, twin engine personal jet. While it was definitely a nice plane, it wasn't what she had expected. It definitely didn't scream luxury; in fact it was more like 'above average comfort.' As they all got out of the van, Ludzik couldn't help but comment on it. "I hope your little group is more impressive than what we've seen so far," he said, glancing at Tatenashi. "Always so negative," Tatenashi scolded before gesturing that they go first, "We're going to have to fix that." "You can try," he replied.

The plane was surprisingly nice inside, and it just further reinforced Maylin's theory; it wasn't lavish, but it also wasn't basic. As they all sat down and the plane taxied to its runway, Tatenashi busied herself on a tablet and left the kids to talk. She had paperwork that needed completion if she was going to add them to their roster, even if it was only temporarily. Taking a seat on one of the couches, Maylin looked out the window as they took off and tried to pull her mind out of the dark place it had found itself.

You really enjoy dwelling on things you can't change, don't you? 134 asked, sounding annoyed

This time, his unwelcome intrusion didn't cause her to flinch. Instead she tried to ignore him as she let her mind wander. It's my mind, I can think about whatever I like she thought rather smugly. She briefly wondered what kind of range this link had to it. Maybe she would get lucky and it would go away once they were far enough from the city.

I doubt we'll get that lucky, girl 134 replied, and as for your other point; yes, it is your mind. But your emotions and thoughts back-feed to me, and unlike you I can't go to sleep or ignore it outright.

This caused Maylin to pause. That didn't make any sense. 134 was an AI, but he should still be able to choose to ignore things, shouldn't he?

I may be a fully aware AI, but I don't get to pick and choose what is and is not recorded by my systems he replied, it's like you trying to ignore a powerful smell or bright light by simply telling yourself that it's not there. It doesn't work.

While she would have liked to actually pry some answers out of the AI, since he seemed to be in a giving mood, she was pulled back to the here and now when Karen sat down next to her. "You alright there?" she asked, "You're spacing out pretty hard." "It's just 134," Maylin replied, forcing a smile, "He just keeps chattering away." "You can speak with him without your Stand-By?" she asked, looking surprised, "That's impressive, and it could be pretty useful." "Yeah, but I'm not sure what kind of range it has to it," Maylin told her, "It could fade away once we're in the air."

"Anyway, enough about that," she continued before looking to make sure a certain boy wasn't within earshot, "What's up with you and Ludzik?" The sudden change of topic threw Karen for a moment, so much so that she couldn't keep her cheeks from turning a few shades darker. "I'm not sure what you mean," she said, turning away and trying to hide it, "We're just friends, I think." "Oh, is that all?" Maylin asked, scooting closer and grinning, "You two seemed pretty chummy back there." "It's nothing, May," Karen insisted. "Well, maybe I'll go ask him, instead," Maylin said, getting up. "No!" Karen said, reaching up and pulling her back down. She realized too late that her reaction was all the answer that Maylin needed, and she just tried to hide her face in embarrassment as Maylin grinned at her in triumph.

"If you tell anyone, you're dead," Karen muttered through her hands. Maylin just laughed as she patted her friend's shoulder. "Don't worry, I won't," she replied, "It'll probably be more fun to watch this play out on its own, anyway." "Gee, thanks," Karen responded. While the two girls continued to chat, Joshka decided that he should at least make an effort to get to know his new teammates. Sitting down across from Ludzik, he tried to find something to break the ice. "You need something?" Ludzik asked without even turning his head. "Well, I thought that since we're going to be working with each other, we should get to know each other better," Joshka replied, trying not to let the other boy's rudeness get to him.

"Just so we're clear; you're working with me," Ludzik stated, "And even that's a bit of a stretch. I'm not sure I like getting saddled with so many...other people." "Is that so?" Joshka asked, "We'll see how long you last without proper support, then." "Probably a lot longer than with your support," Ludzik fired back. Before the two boys could go beyond just trading barbs, Erin walked between them and just glared at them both. "You two really can't be that stupid," he said, folding his arms, "We're supposed to be a team. I assume you know what that means." "Well, I know that I do," Joshka replied, leaning back, "But it remains to be seen if our one-man army even knows how to spell it."

Ludzik just snorted before turning and looking out his window again, clearly done with this conversation. "You know, that ego of yours is going to get you or someone else seriously hurt one of these days," Erin said as he walked away. Joshka decided to join him, vastly preferring the American's company to the Russian's at the moment. Sitting across from the girls, he noticed that Karen had a bit more color in her cheeks. "How were you able to stand working with him during the tournament?" Erin asked Karen, leaning back in his seat. "He's not as bad as you might think," she replied, smiling, "You just have to get past his tough guy act."

"Well, if he's just acting like an ass, he's pretty good at it," Joshka commented, glancing back at Ludzik, "How he got into the Academy, I'll never know." "It's because he's almost as good as he claims to be," Tatenashi interrupted, startling them all since no one had heard her approach. Smiling at them sweetly, she continued, "Oh, and Maylin? Tabane wanted me to get this back to you. I can't believe I almost forgot." Fishing around in her pocket for a second, she brought out her necklace and handed it to her before heading back to the front of the plane. Looking at the charm, she could almost feel 134's presence.

So much for testing the maximum range he commented, causing her to scowl.

With a huff she stuffed it into her pocket, ignoring his comments as she focused back on her friends. She wasn't anywhere close to being in the mood to deal with his… abruptness. For 134, this just further proved that his so-called operator had a lot of ground to cover before she could call herself a pilot. As she continued to talk with them idly, he shifted that audio input to a secondary function while he turned his core program's focus back to his other tasks. Tabane had instructed him to run a series of full diagnostics on the Command Link, as well as Grand Hunter, since she wouldn't be able to now.

And as he had initially suspected, there wasn't anything wrong with either of them. The IS had performed as well as could be expected under those conditions, and the Command Link had done precisely what it had been designed to do. Shifting those diagnostics to another set of subroutines, 134 tried to come up with a likely simulation model that would explain his link with Maylin. But after almost 3 dozen different scenarios, he still had no idea how it had occurred. The only likely scenario had been if Maylin had possessed a Neural Lace. But the lack of such an implant left the AI stumped.

As if sensing this frustration, his subroutine running the diagnostic on Grand Hunter sent an alert for his main attention. Turning to the report, he saw that the suit's current configuration had a number of discrepancies in its design. Bringing up the initial blueprints, he compared them to the suit's current layout and saw that they were minor, but numerous. The power buffers and transfer lines had lost almost a 3rd of their mass, and yet they were now functioning at 109% of their initial capacity. The rifle's power efficiency had also been upgraded, resulting in a 17% drop in power consumption but a projected 19% increase in damage output.

As he continued to examine the schematics, 134 realized that this IS had been well on its way to a form shift. With this realization, he set about running a new series of simulations. If his platform was undergoing a shift, he needed to know what it would become. Considering what had already happened with its current upgrades, he needed to be sure that this change wouldn't further complicate things.


Yawning and stretching her arms, Laura felt her shoulders pop pleasantly as she looked around the plane's interior. She and her team had been forced to hitch a ride with a supply transport heading for their Japan facility, and as such they were stuck in the cargo bay since it hadn't been designed with passengers in mind. Laura didn't mind, however; she had received rather thorough military training, and one such skill she had learned was the ability to sleep in a bumpy, loud transport. Most of her team, however, hadn't received the same training and had been sitting in their seats miserably as the plane bounced and shook with the wind

Smiling to herself, she unstrapped her harness and stood up. Grabbing one of the ropes overhead to keep steady, she made her way up the line to the cockpit. After knocking on the door twice, she opened it and walked into the cabin. "What's our status?" she asked the copilot as she glanced out the window. "We're less than an hour from the airport, ma'am," he replied as he checked his instruments, "Weather report says we have clear skies and low wind speeds, so it should be a smooth landing." Smiling, she had to agree with his assessment; the weather looked beautiful outside, and she briefly found herself wondering how her friends were doing.

She had heard about the attack and subsequent destruction of the IS Academy, and if Tatenashi hadn't called her to Japan she would have come here herself. Scowling as she remembered her quick briefing with the woman, she still couldn't quite believe that the autonomous IS had returned. She had been sure that they had destroyed the important ones, since the basic units appeared to lack anything beyond simple combat knowledge. Clearly, she had been wrong, and now they were all paying the price.

Before she could dwell on this further, one of the indicators on the pilot's console started to flash and beep. "What the hell?" he said, his voice rising, "Oh crap, missile lock!" Yanking the controls hard to the right, he punched one of the larger buttons on the console as the plane began to bank sharply. Thankfully, they were in a refurbished military transport, and as such had access to countermeasures. Laura briefly registered the distant thumping as the plane fired off a wave of chaff to confuse the missile tracking systems.

Looking out the left hand windows, Laura watched as a pair of missiles streaked into their cloud of chaff and detonated. She also saw what had launched them; at least a dozen Harpies were accelerating to move within small arms range. While this was a pretty big plane, and by no means fragile, the kinds of weapons those machines possessed would cut it pieces in a matter of moments. Moving back into the cargo bay as fast as she could, Laura grabbed one of the headsets and hit the transmit button. "Listen up, ladies!" she said, her tone getting their attention, "We have hostiles closing on us from behind. I counted at least a dozen, but expect them to have reinforcements. Everyone, move to the bay doors and prepare to intercept!"

It was a measure of their confidence in her as a leader that there was no hesitation. The five of them were out of their seats and heading towards the back as fast as they could, with the two in the lead summoning their IS when they reached the door. Moving past them so she stood out in front, Laura gave the crew chief the thumbs up to open the door. The second he hit the controls, the bay was filled with roaring wind as well as the sound of the engines. Waiting for the ramp to lower all of the way, Laura glanced at her team behind her and nodded, all grim determination. Turning back to the open sky, she took a running start before leaping from the bay.

Laura spent all of five seconds in free-fall before she activated her IS. Her team followed her out in quick succession, with those not already suited up being consumed in flashes of light as their respective machines formed around them. Emerging from her transformation first, Laura activated her flight systems to halt her decent before she sited up on the closest available target. She had modified her IS with additional weapons and shields some time ago, and had decided to remove the single large cannon in favor of two smaller ones. Toggling between her shell types, she waited patiently as the first Harpies got closer. Her team had since taken up positions behind her, all of them ready to fight to the end for their captain.

When they had gotten close enough, Laura opened fire with both cannons before darting up and away. The other pilots quickly broke formation, and for a moment the Harpies were unsure of who to pursue first. Then the two shells were mere feet from them and detonated, scattering a massive amount of smoke and foil shards. This served to disrupt both their conventional optics as well as their tracking systems, leaving the machines relatively blind. Before they could recover in time, missiles, bullets and energy beams cut through the cloud and cut four of the machines to pieces. The rest scattered, forcing the women to engage them separately.

Switching back to conventional HE rounds, Laura deployed one of her wrist blades as a precaution as three of the Harpies closed on her from below. She stagger fired her cannons and sent several rounds down at them, scoring a hit and blowing one into scrap. The other two split and came at her from different directions. Realizing what they were trying to do, Laura couldn't help but smirk in contempt. Turning to the closest machine, she waited until the last moment before raising her hand and stopping it cold with her AIC field. Quickly looking in the direction of the second, she grabbed the pistol at her hip and raised it.

The gun had a long, square barrel that held what looked like several small missiles. Pulling the trigger, Laura sent two of the micro missiles screaming towards the Harpy and watched in amusement as it tried to dodge. The missiles, however, were wirelessly linked to Laura's own targeting systems, and as such were able to keep pace with their quarry easily. The machine didn't have a prayer as they closed the distance and detonated, taking one of its legs off and carving a large hole through its chest. Turning to her trapped enemy, Laura raised the gun again and fired a single missile, blowing its head off before releasing it.

As she returned the gun to its holster to reload, she looked around and saw that her team had already finished mopping up the enemies. Considering how much time has passed, you'd think this would be more challenging she thought, slightly annoyed. Not five seconds after that thought passed, a particle beam lanced up from below and nearly clipped one of her pilots. Looking down in surprise as her team scattered, Laura saw an IS with angel-like wings soaring up at them. Must be their leader she thought as she readied her guns.

The hostile IS, however, didn't try to fire again. Instead, it continued to ascend until it was level with Laura. Looking closer at it, she sat that it lacked any obvious weapons. In fact, it looked like the machine was completely unarmed. Then where did the beam come from she wondered as it spoke. "You must be the fearsome Laura Bodewig," it said before bowing, "It's an honor to finally meet you." "You have some nerve attacking my team like this, machine," Laura responded as the other pilots took up positions. "Well, I heard you were passing by, and I just had to meet you at least once," it continued as it straightened up, "The pilot that almost killed herself to kill Crusade. I've seen the specs on that model, and I can say that I'm thoroughly impressed that you lived."

Raising one of its hands, it continued, "Now, you can do me the great pleasure of dying." Suddenly, the palm of its hand shifted and a beam lens appeared, firing off a shot and forcing Laura to dodge. Her team responded by opening fire, trying to catch it in a hailstorm of bullets and bombs. While the IS was able to dodge most of them, one missile caught its left arm at the elbow, severing it. "Yeah, got it!" the pilot that had scored the hit exclaimed. "You're going to have to do better than that," the IS scolded as it raised its damaged arm.

The metal along that limb seemed to flow, collecting at the elbow and protruding out before reforming into a new arm. The pilots were dumbstruck, and Laura could just imagine the grin this machine would have been wearing. "Perhaps I should have introduced myself," it said as its wings expanded and began to ripple, "My name is Legion, and I am your end." Flapping its wings once, it shed several shards of metal that then formed into small blades. These blades then locked onto the other pilots before rocketing at them.

Their formation was torn to pieces as each pilot tried to evade the incoming projectiles. Trapping one in an AIC field, Laura used one of her cannons to blow it away before grabbing her pistol and aiming at the autonomous IS. This time she let loose with all 16 micro missiles, hoping that destroying it would stop the bits she had unleashed. Bringing its left arm up, the IS let the metal in its hand shift and expand into a disc before extending it to block the incoming attack. While the micro missiles put several holes into the barrier, none of them managed to penetrate clean through. On top of that, the IS just absorbed the shield back into its body, leaving no damage behind.

I guess it's time to get personal Laura decided as she deployed her wrist blades. Her charge was cut short by a cry of pain. Looking up, she say that one of her pilots, Marie, had just had one of those bits embed itself into her thigh. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she tried to dodge the others swarming her as she fired her rifle in vain. "Marie, put everything into your thrust!" Laura instructed as she rushed to her air, "I'm coming!" Turning to her captain in relief, she made the mistake of dropping her guard. She felt a sudden sharp pressure from behind and looked down to see that another bit had emerged from her chest.

Two more impaled her in rapid succession; one in her shoulder and another into her stomach. It suddenly became hard for her to breathe, and when she coughed to clear her throat, blood came out. "C-Captain?" she asked, already starting to succumb to shock. "Marie!" Laura shouted, putting on more speed. She didn't get the chance to help, however. Three seconds after the last bit had struck her they self-destructed, consuming Marie and her IS in a ball of fire and smoke. This stopped Laura dead, and she stared at the cloud that had been one of her subordinates. Turning to the autonomous IS, Laura screamed in rage as she charged it blindly. But as she got closer, the IS just waved its hand at her. Just as Laura got with a meter of it, Laura felt her IS get torn apart in a series of small explosions. Before she could even register any pain, one of the blasts knocked her out cold. All she knew from then on was darkness; darkness, and an incredible pain.

The human IS continue their campaign, striking out against the pilots they know to be a threat. Will Maylin and her friends find themselves on that list? Will Laura and her team be able to survive their encounter with Legion? And what of the alterations to Maylin's IS? Till the next chapter.

To those that expected a long string of down-time chapters, sorry to disappoint you. Hope you enjoyed Legions official intro there, cause it's going to be a major player later. And in case you're wondering if this means that all the pilots from the last story are targets, my answer is; maybe.