Chapter 3- White Ceilings
Inside one of the prestigious IS Academy's many maintenance hangars, lay two ISes in their respective maintenance pods, one was a badly damaged Spectra, which became a topic of interest for the workers in the area, in the other pod rested the Byakushiki Shinkai, belonging to the Ace Interceptor Ichika Orimura, currently running the usual diagnostics, checking if the last sortie did any damage, however negligible to the precious and Sonoda was conversing regarding the recent assault on a civilian institution.
" What sort of damage we are looking at, Ichika-san?" Umi asked Ichika.
" To the civvies' buildings, we can assume something upwards of several million yen, to the civilians themselves…" he replied, thinking to himself how to correctly finish his sentence " Luckily, there were no casualties on the field"
" How about the results for the diagnostics, then?" she asked
"Here's the thing" he answered, his face marred with confusion, he then showed her the results from the diagnostic checks ran to both machines, which came with the following results:
The results for the Byakushiki came with a clean bill, with the damage that can be inferred as a dinged paint job, that can be regenerated within an hour or two by the machine's innate regeneration ability. However, as it was previously damaged by the machine's previous encounter with one of the 33, before he came upon the Spectra, he only managed to salvage the functions he gained from the 2nd and 3rd shifts at a greatly reduced level.
The results of Spectra's diagnostic, however, shocked both Umi and Ichika. The core itself was not marked as one of the 467 widely known to the world, those cores were like crystal balls, shining greyish white, giving a neutral vibe, obscuring the time crystal, Zeitstone, that made the core and technology related to IS. However, the IS core of the spectra came with an iridescent hue, glowing with all its rainbowlike glory. This is a characteristic trait notable only from the 33 cores made by Tabane during the fiasco she caused, due to time that made her unable to apply the core shroud effect.
The fact said fiasco left the northern half of Europe nearly molten with its innards hued deep red; was considered the deepest and darkest of profanity left by a dying madwoman, once more showing themselves to the world, left the occupants in the room with quite a shudder.
" How about the machine, Ichika-san?" Umi asked, clearly trying to divert the attention from the uncomfortable subject.
" The machine itself suffered heavy damage" he read from the diagnostics, "mostly accumulated during its service time, judging from the attempts for the machine to regenerate its wounds. It's mostly fixable, with our tech. But anymore fix, it's all on him is not in a critical condition, that is."
What Ichika said held true to their current situation, sure, the threat of an IS assailant in public was stopped by their intervention, however, that skirmish left their person of interest, Hiroki Mori, nearing death's door, all plugged up with life-support types of machinery, lying in their hospital ward. Umi quickly caught on to his hidden meaning.
The IS Core is rather temperamental and possibly bonded with him. With the user being laid dormant in their hospital, the possibility of the core being rendered near useless was high. They have to wait till Hiroki was able to recover fully before ascertaining the threat level.
" Let's leave this analysis to the Tech department, I'm sure can analyze and fix this thing further than we can," Ichika said as he withdrew the Byakushiki from the maintenance pod, returning it to his bracer form.
Umi agreed with his sentiment
" Looks like you have to explain a lot of things to your wives, Mr. Ichika ." She joked
" Don't do that" he groused " I'll do the explaining myself"
Just before both of them left the maintenance hangar, they told all personnel in the area to apply near maximum security on the Spectra, to prevent one of those pocket apocalypses from being jacked away, from it running away, or from any curious eyes.
Hiroki awoke to a white ceiling. He knew this ceiling was not of his home, because his room was rather small, so this leaves an anteroom for a large building, or he's in some sort of infirmary.
But his ponderings regarding where he is right now are halted by the arrival of a man in a black suit, an attire usually found in secret servicemen, businessmen, or the like.
" I see you are awake, Hiroki Mori," the man said, seating himself near his hospital bed
"Mr. Ichika Orimura, wasn't it?" Hiroki asked for his opponent's name inquisitively " I hear you are quite famous around here."
" That is quite an understatement" Ichika chuckled " But yes, I'm the very first male to pilot this thing we call an IS."
" So, what does Mr. No.1 want to do with me?"
" I want to ask questions, a lot of it in fact." Ichika sternly explained. " Like about the previous attack, or why are you holding an IS, when by all rights you shouldn't be able to."
" Well, I came by it when I was fishing three months ago"
" Fishing for what?"
" Fish, of course! What? Do I look like a squid monger? I do fishing to relax like people use to do when they are in need of a quick meditation"
" Okay then, don't get too snippy with me!" Ichika scolded
' So far the backstory matched with what his recording said when he encountered the core' Ichika thought " So, how come they, Angelus are after you? It can't be they're just after the core right?"
" I really wanna know about that too, if they were just after the core, they'd just take me somewhere secluded and rip it from me. But apparently, they are butthurt about something like they always shouted "For lord Angelus" or something like that, like they are just being brainwashed."
" Anything else?" Umi inquired, as she came in moments after Ichika came into the room
" Err… who's this newcomer, Mr. Ichika?"
" She's Umi Sonoda, my friend in the interceptor force. We are currently collaborating in dealing with this Angelus problem plaguing this world." Ichika explained.
" Why are they, in your words, plaguing this world?"
" You didn't know?"
" I dunno, they want to kill me that badly, so they die. That's it." Hiroki stated without much hesitation.
" Regardless of your killing intent, Mori-kun, I believe we have yet to discern the reason for recent kidnappings done under Angelus' name," Umi explained.
" Wait, kidnappings? I thought those pricks stopped after I cut down their ranks to size." sounded the flabbergasted Hiroki.
' He didn't even hide the fact that he stopped the kidnappings. That explained why the kidnappers look like literally minced meat when we found them' the questioners thought.
" How do you know of the recent kidnappings then, Hiroki?" Ichika asked.
" I was one of the kidnapped. It seemed they are after my bracer for some reason. But then after I came to, I sliced and diced with my recently awakened IS. I even freed the other kidnappees. They seemed to be rather unhappy with the proceedings and sicced many pilots at me. They did not survive the night.:" Hiroki recounted, somewhat proud of his macabre achievement.
" How recent is this kidnapping?" Ichika asked
" One or two months ago, tops."
" How exactly did you learn to pilot like that? No offense, but male pilots are rather uninformed regarding the knowledge of their machines." Umi stated
" It came to me on my own, it's like learning how to breathe."
{ Visiting time is about to end, all non-authorized personnel please leave the patient room}
"Ok, that's it then for the questioning, for now," Ichika stated, " we will continue questioning you at the next visit, so rest up, Mori."
- Outside the hospital
After exiting the premises, Ichika and Umi compared notes regarding the questioning at the hospital. They learned that:
Hiroki wielded that IS Spectra with the core he found while fishing three months ago.
He only wielded it for one or two months, presumably without enough rest.
He was kidnapped by those Angelus-affiliated people
He awakened it during the kidnapping.
He was not aware of its status as one of the 33
However, the kidnappings themselves raised another question. Sure the names of the victims were somewhat on the middle-upper class, some even are of high-class VIPs like the heiress of the Terrazi Corp., and some are even from the lower rungs of the societal ladder. The findings are somewhat worrying for the investigation. The motive may range from human trafficking or organ harvest.
" How'd you find the subject, ?" Umi raised a question
" He's quite the interesting character," he said while rubbing his chin " but far too volatile to be of use in this case."
"Volatile?"
" Yes, volatile. Sure he has the skills to be enrolled in the IF ( Interceptor Forces), but it will be a matter of time before he himself imploded from his own IS."
" Is it because the core is one of the 33?"
"Precisely, considering the last core of that batch made Northern Europe a near inhabitable wasteland without a flesh and blood pilot. I fear that his IS will be his own undoing."
" But don't the IF need the increased manpower, that apocalypse cost us a lot of Representative Candidate cadets. Hell, even some of the reps bit the dust when G-00 made itself known." Umi said
The G-00. Otherwise known as Tabane's last profanity to the world. It was a close combat unmanned unit launched after the fall of her hideout. Such parameters were not of worry for other users of IS. However, the fact that the three spikes on each shoulder blade are arranged like wings and a disc for each shoulder joint showed the world the mistake they are making by underestimating the machine. One by one the RepCans piloting their ISes were felled, either they are corrupted or killed outright. The other interceptors, that is pilots of other machines, be it tanks or planes were destroyed in their place, the destruction was like magic manifested. Ships were sunk on the spot, it didn't differentiate between combatants and civilians. It took him his friends and his 3rd shift just to keep up with that thing, they only managed to defeat it after it destroyed the Northern parts of Europe and sealed it in the Germans' secret facility, guarded by the Schwarzer Hase and the rest of the European IS Committee.
" While the G00 is still a concern, The rampage of the Angelus or their subsidiaries will 'make this year's Mondo Grosso run a concern', huh…" Ichika sighed, "But them having one more of the 33 on their hands will tilt the scales to their advantage."
" I see."
" And explaining this to , that her brother is in intensive care with us will be… intense"
"Good luck to you then, ."
But before Umi can make herself scarce, Ichika grabbed her shoulder, the intent of not letting her throw him under the bus.
" You're explaining this with me. She's a member of your squadron too."
However, after the session of questioning with Ichika and Umi, Hiroki was left with further confusion. Not helping matters was the various cables and IV that found themselves jacked into his body annoyed him to no end, and tempted him to rip off the cables and stop the annoying feeling.
Not only that, the headlines regarding that attack by the Angelus folk made him cringe with all sorts of emotions.
A second man in an IS!? A successor of Ichika Orimura?
The cloaked devil's dramatic unmask!
Angel's attack at the Aomori High. 5 reasons why?
Such was the type of clickbaity headlines found in the news feed from his phone. It honestly made him want to puke from the sheer asininity. The thought of vomiting was interrupted by a notification that said 2 new emails. The email came from a Rouichi Terrazi and one himself.
He decided to read the mail from Terrazi first…
To …
I hope this mail reaches you well. Firstly i want to thank you for saving my only daughter, Ayaka Terrazi. For this, i want to give you something in return. Attached to this mail is a mark that you can turn in for a great favor from us, along with the money as an investment on your progress. Consider this a forward payment for your career with us as an IS pilot sponsored by Terrazi Corp.
May fortune favor you.
Signed,
Rouichi Terrazi
The prospect of waking up to a super lucrative job was a dream come true to Hiroki, but his knowledge regarding IS is limited to instinctual combat maneuvers that were forcibly downloaded by the IS and just the general public knowledge. But the contents of mail no.2 were way more of a shocker to him. He is to be inserted into the ISIF squadron, bypassing the academy altogether effective this year, as per the agreement by the National Defense Forces with the IS Academy-affiliated Interceptors. Any technical knowledge would be taught to him via a series of files. He will be tested by the ISIF during the next month.
He sighed, the questioning was taking its toll on his grip on reality, and this information drove him further into questioning reality altogether…..
'How do I explain this to Kimiko-nee…'
He can only rest for the night. The questions still lingered on his mind.
Somewhere within one of Angelus' base
"How goes your foray, Katsuragi, nay... Meltfire?"
" Terrible Angelus, but Spectra seems to have found her Ichika has yet to recover his 3rd Shift"
"I see"
" I sent you here to scout out the Japanese area for compatible hosts for G00, but i suppose finding a surviving brethren can be seen a good thing also." Angelus said while playing with his drink.
" Don't you need the whole G00 for his resurrection?"
" Can we make it that obvious,Meltfire? While you're busy dazzling the world, we have significant progress researching the G00, although project JEGER gifted us many of the signature weaponries for the inner circle, project CRINALE was halted due to…circumstances."
"The circumstances being?"
" Still needing alot of recalibration for actual use." Angelus explained, " If it's complete, we've a few steps closer from our revelation. Will you do me a favor, and play around with our little ghost here? At least until next month?"
"Your wish is my command, but why next month,exactly?"
" We need a way to do away with our little friend at ISIF and make Spectra a meatier meal, we can't exactly use a third-grade ingredient for a world class need them to be a rather fitting foundations. See to it that this year's Mondo Grosso will be a show for you and for me alike."
" Yes,Lord Angelus"
Soon my friends, soon our time will come. 'Our very own revelation'.
Current Technical Reports:
Byakushiki Shinkai
Maker/Gen : Kamata-Kuromochi/Gen4
Pilot: Ichika Orimura
Battle Type: Close Range Power-Type
Armaments:
Yukihira Niigata: Ichika's signature sword, inherited from Chifuyu Orimura. Capable of using Reiryaku Byakuya, a Shield Barrier-piercing attack
Ouri Energy Wings: Legacy feature from byakushiki's 3rd shift. Enables the use of energy feathers to attack or use as a protective barrier. Noted to be far weaker than the 3rd shift spec.
Code White : Capabilities Unknown
Spectra
Maker/Gen : ?
Pilot: Hiroki Mori
Battle Type: Close Range Power Type
Armaments:
'Kirmizi' Blade: Spectra's often used weapon, morphed from its right arm guard. Capable of using its Sword Mode, and Gun Mode. It is rumoured to be able to damage even the sturdiest Shield barrier
Strike Veil: Spectra's defensive armament, shaped like a cape, able to defend Hiroki with its Shield Mode, or attacking with its Claw Mode.
Rafale-Meltfire
Maker/Gen: ?/ Gen.2.5
Pilot: Meltfire( Real name unknown)
Battle Type: All Rounder
Armaments:
Dragon's Breath Cannon: Can be used for artillery cannon or as a gigantic laser blade
4x Blaze Pod: Auxiliary pods, capable of being used in concert with DBC or without it. Grants Meltfire great firepower regardless.
A/N Well that's that for this chapter. My muse ran out for this chapter. Please give a review or comment on any faults.