Beta: Flashfire Freak
Author's Note: Thank you all for waiting patiently for this chapter. I've had a lot on my plate the past few weeks, so this hasn't been a huge priority lately. As always, any reviews, whether good or bad, will help me craft a story that you would want to read.
Disclaimer: I do not own Infinite Stratos or anything in the universe. This is purely a work of fiction, created by a fan, for fans.
Author's Note 2 (added 1/2/2020): This series is on indefinite hiatus. The chances of me ever coming back to this story are very slim, but I don't want to rule anything out entirely.
Chapter 2 — The Mission
As the girls hastily left the room, Chifuyu sighed and turned to look at her ailing brother. "Just what on earth happened to you out there?" she wondered. "So, how are you doing?" inquired Chifuyu. She was met with a wall of silence as Ichika struggled to move his head.
A few minutes passed with no further movement attempts. Seeing the state Ichika was in, it wasn't all that surprising. After all, bandages covered Ichika practically from head to toe. Chifuyu gave Ichika one last look and said, "Right… Well, we can talk later. I have to head back to my office now. If you need me, just send for me. Get better soon." Chifuyu quickly stood up, turned around, and strolled towards the door. As she was leaving however, a soft voice froze her in place.
"Chi…fu…yu…" muttered Ichika. "Phan…" And with that, Ichika drifted back to sleep.
Chifuyu stared at her brother, gently nodded, then stormed out of the room. The walk back to her office seemed shorter than usual, as Chifuyu was lost in thought over her brother's parting message. Phan…? Could he be talking about Phantom Task? It can't be. He's just out of it from that medicine they've been giving him. But… I can't just disregard the possibility either.
She sat down at her desk and pulled a folder from its resting place on the shelf above. Staring the mission briefing before her, Chifuyu carefully studied it and replayed the operation in her head:
CLASSIFIED — We have reason to believe that a warehouse off the coast of Japan is housing some umanned IS units. We aren't sure who exactly they belong to, but our source tells us a new shipment is coming in this evening. We request that one of your students be sent to this warehouse to observe the proceedings. They are not to engage the individuals involved or try to interfere in any way. This is strictly a reconnaissance mission. The assigned student may defend himself/herself if necessary, but otherwise they are strictly to gather information."
After careful consideration, the council decided to send Ichika. I guess they figured that it would be good to give him some experience, but I would have preferred someone like Tatenashi go instead. In any case, Ichika was sworn to secrecy then briefed on what to expect. We had open comms with and visuals on him the journey to the warehouse. Everything looked normal until a barge showed up. Workers quickly rushed to the docks and unloaded some sort of metallic body. All of a sudden comms were cut and our visuals disappeared. We immediately sent out a rescue squad, which found an unconscious Ichika lying face down on the docks. He was barely breathing, so we rushed him back here. We have no idea what occurred during that gap of time—only Ichika would.
As Chifuyu replaced the missing folder, the bell rang to begin the afternoon's classes. Well, that'll have to wait. I have class to teach, and it's not like Ichika is in any state to help right now. With that, Chifuyu headed off to Class One.