Infinite Stratos: God of Thunder
By: The 483
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Infinite StratosFranchise.
Spoiler Alert: Warning: Light to mild spoilers for the Anime may be included herein.
Consequences
Houki was vexed when she tried to open her hotel room door, and it did not open. She thought she might have gotten the wrong room, but no, the card reader had glowed green, and she had heard the lock disengage. Needless to say, she was surprised when she heard a second lock click open, and the door cracked open and Tatenashi's smirking face appeared.
"Oh, hello there, Houki! What brings you around tonight?"
"What brings me... to my own room?" She asked with a snippy tone and raised brow.
"Of course. Where did you think you were?" This pissed Houki off, as evident by the pulse visible at her temple. The fact that Tatenashi could kick her ass was all that kept Houki from trying to force her way through the door.
"What I mean is," Houki forced out from behind clenched teeth, "was, why are in my room, and why are you keeping me locked out of it."
"What? Tatenashi feigned surprise. "Didn't I tell you... no, I guess I didn't get a chance. I am going to be sleeping here tonight, so you get to sleep with Ichika." Her deliberate phrasing had the intended effect.
"S-s-sleep with him!" She did a dry spit take, which looked painful, and turned instantly red.
"Oh, Houki." Tatenashi giggled mischievously. "Get you mind out of the gutter. I merely mean that you and I are switching beds for the night. I already got the go ahead from Miss Orimura. If you choose to take the initiative and migrate one bed further, well, that is your business, and for tonight, none of my concern." She flipped open her fan and covered her smile with it, the key to her own room sitting in the middle of the fan. Houki both liked and dreaded the idea, but her suspicious nature asserted itself.
"Wait... why? Why now?"
"Well, for one, now that the matches are all over, and Africa has won, there is little chance we will be attacked, so I am not needed at his side."
"Not good enough. You would not let me have the room back before I got a new roommate, even when we knew the school was safe. So what is the real issue?" She heard a tired sigh come from inside the room. Tatenashi stepped aside so Houki could see Catherine's head on the pillows of her bed, covered to the chin in the sheets.
"Because I asked her to switch for tonight. I wanted it to be a pleasant surprise, because, like I promised, if you beat Ichika in the match for RC, that I would give you a good fight. But all this came up, and after my match, I won't be fielding again for at least a week. So I asked if Tatenashi would do me this favor. Is that okay?" Houki looked strained. She was eager, sure, but worried, too. After all, he had gone out with Cecilia, and Rin, and both had been mad at him, too. She didn't know the score, and that made her want to not push her luck.
"Please, Houki Pokey?" Catherine said, in her least-most wheedling voice. Houki went rigid, fixed Catherine with a murderous look, and snatched the key from Tatenashi violently, turning on her heel and tossing her own over her shoulder. Tatenashi just managed to catch it on her fan before closing the door. Tatenashi looked down on the bed ridden woman with actual surprise.
"My goodness! If looks could kill, I think she would have leveled this hotel." Casey smiled, almost a grimace.
"Yeah. Poor Houki, she needs to watch her blood pressure. But, Anger is a clear trigger, though she doesn't seem to know it." Tatenashi sat on the side of the bed, and smiled.
"I am impressed. I thought that I was manipulative, but you had her stepping to like she was programmed, and you haven't even known her as long as I have, or had access to the records I do. How'd you do it?" Casey looked guilty, but almost smirked.
"Tats, never confide in a friend. It just gives them ammunition on how to bug the hell out of you for later."
"Spill it, woman." She replied tartly, smacking at Casey's stomach with the closed fan. Catherine turned her head, and did not respond. "Tell me, or I will start calling her that, and tell her you told me to do it." Catherine's head snapped back up, and she actually looked worried. A bigger response that expected. Tatenashi's eyebrow crept up slightly. Afraid of actually pissing off her friend? Was Catherine so sparse with friends that she need worry about losing one? No, that couldn't be. She was her friend, and they got along famously. And she was surprisingly tight with Cecilia too. And the girls that worked in the pit liked her too. Plus, she obviously knew the Brazilian and Russian RC's very well.
Perhaps it was just the people who knew about the scarring? That would be Houki, herself, and Ichika, if she had been being honest when she told about how she had popped out of his bath. She would ask for elucidation on that part, though she doubted it was the case.
"Okay, okay. Geez." Casey got serious, and glared. "But if you tell her I told you, or ever call her that and I get blamed, I will drop you." Tatenashi's other eyebrow shot up. She was really worried about it. Interesting. She did not like being bested, even at being someone's friend. "Okay, Houki Pokey is what Houki's sister calls her sometimes. Almost like a pet name. And, since she is mad at her sister for being genius and stuff, it irritates the hell out of her. It is, I imagine, like a dash of cold water to hear it from someone else. I... might have crossed the line a little by doing it."
"Alright. Casey, why are you self conscious about your scars?" Catherine looked like she had just been splashed by a bucket of ice water herself.
"That was... abrupt." She glowered. "Um... well, hell, you won't judge me. Right?"
"Well, I agreed to talk Miss Orimura into letting me and Houki swap places, for what I now an assuming because you do not wish Houki to see you all crippled up." Casey flinched.
"Well, yeah. She worries, and I wasn't hurt. The final defense works perfectly, when you don't power down before you get shot." Catherine was laying in bed, unable to move her twisted left arm, which was contorted under the pressure of her contracted, almost spasmodic, muscles. Her leg, though only the upper part was scarred, was dead to the knee, so while she could feel her shin, calf and foot, she could not move it.
"So then, is it just vanity?" Catherine looked disgusted.
"Pfft, hell no! I am not ashamed of the shape this meat-space avatar I pilot is in. Beside, these marks give me a kind of uniqueness that is literally unique. Nobody but me has these scars, and when I kick off, I plan to donate it for study, in hopes of helping in a time when such things are not a singular event."
"Oh?" Tatenashi was interested in it more now. "I had thought they were just really bad burn scars, from a fire."
"In a sense, yeah. But They do not fret me. I kind of like them, when they aren't hobbling me, like they are now. Like, a last gift from my brother, kind of thing. I think there are probably even a few atoms of his burned in there, along with a few feet of concrete and some steel reinforcing beams. But that's beside the point."
"It is? Sounds like the kind of thing I would like to hear more detail on." Catherin shook her head, and brought her right arm out from below the sheets, and waggled a finger.
"Nope. You wanted to know why I hide 'em, not how I got 'em. I am a one story per favor kind of gal. So, I have established that I do not care, aesthetically. But you have seen them all. What's the first thing you think when you see someone like that?" Tatenashi placed a hand to her chin and thought.
"Probably... holy crap, that person is messed up!" She looked to see if that would be taken as offensively as it sounded, even though it was an honest, gut reaction. Catherine nodded.
"Okay, that's fair. But I was thinking more along the lines of "How can someone with those burns be an effective IS pilot?" And, yes, I guess there is some credence to the thought, considering my current state, and just goes to show I need more exercise. I usually don't crap out this bad, but Illesia made we work out hard today, and I guess the injured muscle just wasn't up for it. But what I was going for was, that when someone see's all the damage I have, that they think, "how the hell can someone like that work in life, much less pilot am IS?" I don't want to deal with that, and the government already wants to get my ass out of there and put one of their own in. So, it's just easier to keep it to myself, and avoid that whole mess."
"Ah, I see. And I bet it doesn't help your own argument when you are crippled up like this." Tatenashi added. Casey scowled and poked her in the spine.
"That is why I mentioned that in the beginning. This is just temporary, no lasting harm."
"Alright, Alright. No need to get testy." Tatenashi set her hands on the bed behind her, and leaned back, smiling faintly. "I will say, it was fun to watch Houki oscillate as her territoriality and desire to seize a mate fought each other for control."
"Aw," Catherine said, poking the other again, "be nice to Houki. She's a sweetheart, she just doesn't know how to balance her hormonal balance and goals yet. I keep telling her, if she gets too nervous, trying to talk to Ichika about what she wants with him, that she should just take a few minutes and take care of herself. Then she'll be much calmer for a while."
"An interesting bit of advice. I wonder..." Catherine cut her off with a single digit sign that was universal. Tatenashi shifted to looking thoughtful. "You know, I bet it would be fairly easy to smother you with a pillow when you only have one arm and leg to defend with."
"Then I will die the way my ancestors did."
"Fat, drunk, and afraid of communists?" Tatenashi replied airily. Casey smiled.
"I like when you're snarky. So much better than just uncut bitchy." Further retorts halted as another series of knocks were heard from the door.
(...)
Houki was pissed as she walked a short way down the hall, viciously swiped her new key, and pushed the door open. Ichika was inside, still in his street clothes, watching television, and didn't seem surprised to see her. In fact, a bundle of her night clothes were sitting on the neatly made bed closest to the door.
"Hello, Houki." He said, with a normal, nothing is wrong smile. One benefit of her being pissed to this degree was that her anger pushed other emotional reactions aside, so she wasn't as self conscious as she otherwise would have been. "What's wrong?" He said, still politely, when he noticed her expression, and tried to think if he was the cause.
"Oh..." She built up... and then deflated. "nothing. Those two just delight in messing with me." She sighed.
"It isn't just you." Ichika said under his breath. Houki apparently didn't hear it, for she sat softly on the edge of her own bed, and seemed to visibly calm. She looked over at him.
"I haven't had a chance to say anything, because the last few days have been so busy, but you looked really good out there, Ichika. You've shown a marked improvement. I was really quite impressed." He grinned stupidly.
"Thanks! I am just sorry I lost so hard. That woman...uh.. Kimbe? Yeah, Kimbe, she just moved so fast, I couldn't keep track of her. She just seemed to appear. It was crazy." Houki nodded emphatically.
"I know! I didn't even know an IS could move like that! And not just her. Casey and Jimenez and Chenkov, they were all so much more... one with their machines, I think. It's like they are in a different league then us. I mean, I always thought Laura and Cecilia were good, but these others... it's almost like their a different type of pilot."
"So... you're not mad that they made me the RC still?" Houki flinched slightly at this. She had not been mad at him for that, per se, when she had won the sparring to decide, and he had been picked anyway. It was more that he was spending more time with the other girls and almost none with her, and that he had taken Rin out two nights prior. Houki had been giving him the cold shoulder for a week or so.
"I wasn't really mad about that..." He cut her off.
"Really, Houki, as much as I wanted to be the RC, you should have been it. You won the match." He sounded genuine, which didn't matter, but Houki still appreciated it.
"Oh, it's okay. It makes sense. We were both about even, and even I will admit that, from a show off standpoint, only male pilot is cooler than first Mark 4 IS. Besides, I saw you train for it as hard as I did. No hard feelings. Honest." She smiled, one of the first honest, unguarded smiles Ichika had seen from her since they were children. He had to fight not to get caught staring. She went from pretty to stunning in the one movement of facial muscles. He believed the word for what he felt was something along the line of "heartgasm." Houki didn't relax her posture, but seemed to shift into her relaxed mode. She reached up, and let her hair down, scratching the scalp where the tie held it up.
"I hate to impose, but do you care if I take a quick shower? The stands were shielded, but I still feel like I got all dusty from the match today."
"Take as long as you want. This is your room, until Tatenashi tells me otherwise. Or we leave after the event closes. I know the awards banquet is tomorrow night, but I don't know if we are leaving after, or the following morning." Houki rummaged through the bag, pulling out what she needed, socks, bra, night shirt, and some soft shorts, but halted when she found her last garment.
"Huh... look at this." She held up a swatch of fabric, black and lacy and stretchy. And more importantly, not hers. Ichika blushed slightly, and looked back at the T.V.
"Yeah... those are... yes." He said.
"Well, they aren't mine." She said, part irritated, part curious. She didn't have panties that were this...frivolous. She tended to show on the panty spectrum between utility and mildly cute. These, which were in the sexy range, possibly high, seeing as parts became translucent when they stretched, and they were fairly small to begin with, were not hers. Ichika, sensing she was not going to yell at him yet, took another look.
"Oh, I think those are Tatenashi's." Houki's brow shot up but Ichika continued before meltdown could occur. "She's been mixing them in with my clothes sporadically since she first moved into my room at school. She has a lot, and so many different designs and color and...why would someone need so much underwear?" He started wearily, but got more intense at the end.
"What? Well, you can't just wear the same pair all the time... right?" The last part was pointed.
"No. NO." He said, waving wildly at the insinuation. "But even so, I have like, maybe a dozen, and they are nothing special." Houki shrugged.
"Don't know, then. I guess it's just like any other piece of clothing for normal girls. We like to feel pretty, even if no one else is going to see it." She could think of three such pairs she had, whenever she was feeling low, they made at least that part of her feel pretty. She decided that it must have been Tatenashi's, because tucked inside was a small paper that just said "you're welcome." She briefly toyed with the idea of wearing them just to show the bitch that she wouldn't be ruffled so easily...but knew she lacked the courage. She thought of telling Ichika to tell her that he had seen her in them, and how good she looked, but that dream was just as futile. She tucked them back in the bag, and found her own, from the cute side of the scale, and decided Casey was looking out for her.
"Alright, then I'll go now. Thanks." She started, then came back, and dug out the bottle of shampoo she brought with her. Like Cecilia, she had far too much hair for those dinky little hotel bottles to manage.
She was under the stream of water, washing her hair and humming to herself when it hit her. She had just had a conversation with Ichika, and about underwear no less, and it was easy, and not awkward at all! That hadn't happened in longer then she could remember, probably before she first had a crush on him, way back when they were little. She smiled to herself. Maybe this trip wasn't so bad after all.
But, alas, that would appear to be the case only until they returned to the school.
(...)
It was an old style pajama party. Catherine, who came from the warm dry climate of Southern California, and was usually chilly, with her thin frame, had been helped into a large, gooey hoody, and was under the thick covers not just to hide her crippled state, but because she found the 16 degree Celsius French nights too damned cold. On her stomach was a flat pillow with an odd, red and blue and black geometric design stamped into it, and on that, the head of Illesia Cherenkov. Tatenashi had her own head resting on Illesia's thighs.
Illesia was an interesting sight. She wore her hair in an odd style. Her hair was shoulder length, but the left side to the part was shaved, leaving just minor fuzz. Her hair was dyed blond, but the dark brown roots showed clear through. Her skin was pale, but not sickly, and her eyes were a bright, alert brown set in sockets that looked like sleep was a concept not often put into practice. The rest of her was hidden in a large sweatshirt a deep, almost black shade of red, and white, light pajama bottoms.
"You two seem cozy. Have you even met before? Ills, are you making friends you are not tellin me about?" Catherine chided, almost unable to see from her sunken position. Illesia rose suddenly, and with a bucking of her thigh, got Tatenashi to sit up. She did a dramatic, but underwhelming leap onto the carpeted floor with a dull thump. She moved quickly to the door, and opened it, spoke rapidly in Russian to the two men who stood outside the door, fished around in her bottoms pocket, and removed the key to her room and handed it to one with another burst of Russian.
"Spasebo, Gospodin." She said, and closed the door, locking the dead bolt. She flicked off the lights, and move back to the bed, suddenly ripping the comforter, and thhen sheets and blankets from off the crippled woman.
Catherine was undismayed. She had meet the ...odd woman years and years back, and knew her habits enough not to be more then amused at single minded actions like these. She would respond when she got around to it. The mind of a genius was a fickle and odd device, and had its quirks.
"Scootch!" She said pointedly, and then began pushing Catherine bodily as far over on the bed as she could, all while Tatenashi gave Casey a bemused, and curious glance having understood Illesia telling her Guards that she was sleeping here, and that they could sleep in her room, as she would not be leaving, and they could pick her up at 7:42 the next morning. She added, when she delivered her key, that they could find a sizable compensation for each of them, and their handler inside the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom. Catherine rolled her eyes at her, as Illesia moved to the other bed, absorbed it's makeup, and stripped the bedding off it. A quick examination of the piles of bedding, and she scrambled into it, procuring her pillow, which she returned to Catherine's stomach.
"You, lay here." She pointed to Tatenashi and placed more pillows before instructing her to lay next to Catherine. Casey nodded, and Tatenashi did so, with an air of good humor. Next Illesia, who was much smaller then Tatenashi had expected, just over 5 foot 3 inches, then used a blanket to form a sort of nest in-between the two girls, before systematically and carefully re layered all of the sheets and blankets and comforters over the two girls, tucking down the sides. She climbed onto a night table, and then tranphered to the pillows between girls, before burrowing like a hedgehog into the space between girls popping her head out onto the pillows, looking very pleased.
"No. I have not met the Sarashiki woman before, but she is friendly, and seems well designed and tempered for snuggling." She answered, her words English with the slight tint of a Russian accent. She responded as if Catherine had just asked, rather then having done so several minute prior.
"Oh, that she is. So, what's with the guards?" She asked the question Tatenashi was hinting she should with her eyes.
"The Tsar is worried that I may fall victim to intrigue while I am outside of the Capital. He wishes to remain in power, once the war starts and is more focused on getting me to design for his IS's then to continue my work. He will only give me the recourses I require, if I continue to produce designees every few months for him to fabricate. It is infuriating! How will we ever get a colony on Mars, or cheap travel to the Luna, or Extra-Solar travel, if I am not allowed to focus!" She said angrily, completely missing the bomb of a coming war that she had absently dropped.
"Hold on, what do you mean War?" Tatenashi asked, suddenly alert. To her knowledge, Mother Russia was not aggressive toward anyone at the moment. Illiesia, popped out of the sheets like a ground hog, looked at her with focus for a whole three seconds.
"Are you a fool?" Catherine put a hand over the other girls face.
"Ills, behave. She is not a fool, but not in the swing of things anymore. What's obvious to you, is not to us mere mortal intelects." Illesia sputtered as Casey pinched her nose, and she shrunk under the covers. She reappeared shortly.
"Sorry. But it is quite evident to anyone who has ever studied history of engineering. For a quick example, in the 1940's, the American's crack the secret of splitting the Atom, and creating Nuclear Fission and Fission based weapons. They were secure in the belief that they would be able to hold on to that secret for 20 years, if not indefinitely. Other countries had it in less then 5." She sniffed loudly, then sneezed.
"It is a basic axiom of people. What one man can make, another can as well. Once something is known to be possible, others will do so." She stopped talking, and it took a minute before Tatenashi realized she was done.
"So, you're saying we are facing a nuclear war?" She said, not being too familiar with Fission, as all the current nuclear materials she was aware of were being utilized in the Fusion Plants that provided safe, cheap energy to the planets, or was used in some of the engines Illesia had designed to drive the Europa Drill."
"What? No. Of course not. That would be primitive and unviable. Tabane Shinonono's safeguards and alarm circuits are genius, do not get me wrong. In fact, the safeguards on the IS Cores are more impressive then the cores themselves, from an engineering standpoint. But all they have done is by a few years time." Catherine sighed.
"Illesia, your being obtuse. What is it your saying, in stupid talk."
"Simple, Casey, Tatenashi. Within 1one to two years, there will be a conflict, probably globally, using mass produced IS cores not created by Tabane Shinonono." She stated flatly.
"And your evidence?" Catherine asked, calmly, while Tatenashi stared open mouthed.
"You have not noticed? The reorganization of several countries armed forces, mostly the U.S., South Africa, China, Russia, and Great Brittan, to raise quota's of Female Soldier Recruits and train them as pilots and officers. The 5-12 time increase in the manufacture of IS components in all of these countries. The rise in stock prices of Platinum, Gold, Carbon Nano-tube, and Medical Grade liquid nuclear runoff? Although the Nano-tube spike could be related to the new proposals for the Orbital Elevator Projects. All of those are key components in IS Core manufacture." She snuggled closer to Catherine, tired and feeling sleep tug at her.
"It's all quite obvious. These, and probably more, believe they are close to cracking the secret of the IS Core. My guess, is they plan to have a stockpile of semi-secret units ready to go as soon as they have Cores ready. Which I would be surprised if it takes longer than 4 months. Then as soon as they have enough units, there will be a worldwide coup attempt, and the IS war will open." And in the stunned silence she left in her wake, Illesia Cherenkov fell asleep, warmed by the closeness of one she thought of as close.
End 9