Infinite Stratos: Old IS, New Plans

by zeke9051

Zeke's out of prison and is making his way to Los Angeles. Charlotte has taken a job there and the US Government has offered Zeke a job teaching the new pilots at a local IS Academy. There's a looming threat on the horizon. The question is... Is anyone ready for what is coming?

8. I'm Seriously Pissed Off!

Ichika's POV

"ZEKE!" We all yelled as we lost sight of him in the explosions. Charlotte was about to rush in herself, but Zeke's request flashed through my mind and I grabbed her before she got too far out of reach.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" She yelled, IS clawing at my gauntlet.

"Believe me Charlotte. I want to help him too." I replied. She looked back at Zeke's last known location. The area was shrouded in dust and steam from the impacts. We all slumped or lowered our heads as worst case thoughts ran through everyone's heads. Charlotte fell to her knees, tears crashing to the arena floor.

"Wait, do you see that?" Cecilia asked, activating her Hyper-sensor and looking closer at the dust cloud.

"What is that sound?" Laura asked as well, drawing attention to a thumping sound.

"What. Is. That." Rin said, pointing up. We all looked up and I could vaguely make out a shape hovering in the air. Charlotte hadn't moved from her curled position on the ground, in denial.

"Stand up, Charlotte." A familiar voice said. We all looked for the source, but all that was visible was the shrouded form above us. Char stopped crying and froze. She slowly raised her head before dropping it back towards the ground.

"No. You're dead. There's no way you lived. There's no way." She mumbled, just loud enough for me to hear. I watched as the form slowly dropped towards the ground.

"Stand up, Charlotte." The voice repeated. Charlotte shook her head.

"It's not real. He's dead." She muttered. The form landed and started walking our way, wings flared and... Wait, wings?

"Stand up, Charlotte. Don't bow to these glorified cowards. You're better than that." The voice continued, gesturing to the Task members hovering around the Academy. Charlotte shook her head again, denial written on her face. Laura stepped forward and placed herself between Charlotte and the unknown.

"Who are you? What is your purpose?" Laura demanded, {Rail gun} lowering into position. Rin twirled her scimitars. Houki and I looked on, unsure.

"Who am I? I'm not even sure anymore, Laura. My purpose, that's a good question. I'll have to talk to Tabane later about that. All I know is," the figure paused before striding out of the dust shrouding their appearance. "I'm seriously pissed off." Zeke said, grinning as he strode out of the dust cloud, Keiko in his arms.

The next story, Infinite Stratos: Phoenix, will start from basically right here. It isn't completed yet, so bear with me.