Author's Notes

Hey guys, here's the new chapter for Iron Stratos.

Without further ado, let's start the chapter!

=Chapter Start=

Part 1

Catherine Beal suppressed a yawn as she stretched her arms, hearing the joints pop softly in the cabin they were in. She would have preferred to walk around to get her body loosened, but since the plane has just finished its pre-flight procedures, she had to stay in her seat a little longer before the captain gave the all clear after they got into the air. She and her companions were currently in a cabin that was reserved for VIPs, and she had the seat right next to the window, so she could see the airport just a few feet away.

She was quite a sight to behold. She had long blonde hair extending past her shoulders, and had a gentle face with soft features to show her French nationality. Her body was perfectly curved in all the right areas, and she was considerably well-endowed for a lady hitting early 20s. As part of her job, she was currently dressed in a black suit with a white inner shirt complimenting the look. It was meant to look professional, but with the suit hugging her body, she would not look out of place in a modelling agency. But perhaps the one feature anyone would notice before that would have to be her eyes. They were a soothing emerald green that gave the feeling of being in an open field in a breeze, and could capture the eye of any guy.

"Oh dear, are you getting tired, Miss Beal?" A voice brought her attention to the person sitting in front of her. The person she was escorting was a woman approaching her mid-40s, not that you could tell that by looking at her; she had long wavy brown hair that was even longer than Catherine's, and her face was well-rounded with soft features and her eyes closed. She had a very curvy figure that Catherine admitted to be a little jealous of, with a bust to match hers. She was dressed simply with a white shirt and a pink blouse, which revealed a tantalizing view of her legs. With that image, anyone might mistake her to be a noble girl of Catherine's age, even younger, and not a 40-odd year old mother of 3 daughters. And certainly not one would associate a member of the IS Council.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Anderson. I guess I'm just not used to being stuck in one place for too long." Catherine apologised with a wry smile. They took an hour or so driving to the airport, stopping briefly to freshen up before boarding the plane. Then they had to wait for close to half an hour for the pilots to do the pre-flight procedures, since there were other passengers on board.

"Hmm, I guess that is the case." The brunette placed her hand on her cheek as she huffed softly. "Also, I told you, please call me Annie, Catherine. It makes me sound so old when people call me so formally." Catherine had to supress a giggle at the sight of Annie pouting. Really not the image of a person who held a place in the IS Council.

"Forgive me, but I am on the job right now." Catherine gave that reply, now desperately trying to hold back her laughter at the sight of Annie pouting ever further. It had only been a couple of years since she started working for Annie, but they had gotten close enough to call each other by their first names. That said, Catherine made it a point to be professional at work, so she insisted on calling Annie formally when guarding her.

"Don't bother about it; she is way too uptight about it." The two of them turned to see the other occupant in their cabin. Sitting one seat apart from Catherine was a girl reading a magazine in a rather haphazard manner of sitting. She was also an attractive girl, but can be considered as Catherine's opposite in that manner. She had short bob black hair that covered her ears neatly, and a face that spoke of her Ukraine nationality. She had a figure that could match Catherine's any day, and she wanted to emphasise it in a rather uncouth way of dressing. She too was wearing a black suit and a white inner layer, but deliberately left some buttons undone to emphasise the cleavage that was peeking out of her white shirt, and the belly button showing underneath. Adding to the pants worn dangerously loose, she looked like she was practically asking for men to attack her.

Currently, she was sitting with her legs stretched to the seat in front of her while lying down on her seat to the point she could potentially fall off it. "Please tidy yourself up. I would prefer you can be a little more professional in your job, Cynthia Aleston. We are after all protecting a member of the IS Council." Catherine frowned at the sloppy position and manner her fellow companion was in. "Don't worry, we will be fine." Cynthia replied back while flipping the page. "Seriously, you got to loosen up a little. That's why you can't get a boyfriend."

"Phht, doing a job properly has nothing to do with getting a boyfriend!" Catherine nearly screamed that reply out before covering her hand over her mouth and turning to face the window with her face blushing furiously. "Ara, ara. You really shouldn't say things like that to her." Annie said disapprovingly while wagging her finger. Cynthia merely waved her hand to show her reply.

"But speaking about boyfriends, what do you girls think about the only male IS pilot?" Annie asked with a glint in her eyes. Catherine sighed at this side of her, though grateful for the interruption. Annie was one of the few who enjoyed a bit of gossip when it came to Orimura Ichika. Unlike most of her generation who did not like the implications of a male pilot showing up after the IS, Annie was fairly interested in the idea that more could come after him. She was one of the very few who did not mind having males in charge of certain areas and even tried to encourage the notion that both sides can coexist. Something that was sadly not appreciated by a fair number of her peers, who enjoyed the privileges that came after the IS.

"I don't really have any opinion about him." Catherine replied while shaking her head. She had heard about Orimura Ichika from the American Representative Natasha Fairs, but she did not feel too curious about it. In a way, he was too young for her taste; she wanted someone around her age, and admittedly, she wanted one who could take care of her. But alas! Due to the current social status, there were no good men around. Most were either too weak to stand up for themselves, or were creeps who just wanted to 'get it on' with her.

"Hmm, don't really care too much about him." Cynthia replied back lethargically as Annie once again gave her usual pout at the lack of gossip from them. "But it would be interesting to see how he reacts around women, considering his current situation. Who knows" Cynthia gave a teasing smile. "If he's cute enough, perhaps I should try him out."

"Please refrain from saying such things in front of Mrs Anderson, and especially in front of the children!" Catherine blushed at her friend's desire to ensnare the boy while looking towards the cabin door. The 3 daughters were currently situated in a cabin next to theirs, and the last thing she wanted was for one of them to come in and hear Cynthia said that. She really did not need them to get a bad influence from her words.

"Please, you seriously need to get a boy and settle down, Cathy." Cynthia said while calling Catherine by her pet-name. "At this rate, you are going to get a few wrinkles at places you don't want to show. Not to mention growing white hair at an early age" There was a slight underlying tone of teasing mixed with those words, which ended up riling up Catherine.

"Can you stop saying that, Cynthia?! My job has nothing to do with getting a boyfriend!" Catherine was practically going red with both embarrassment and anger; Annie marvelled at the fact she hasn't passed out from supposed rushing of blood to her head. "I just don't like the insinuation about you trying to seduce a young man, not to mention passing that influence to Annie's daughters and giving them bad thoughts!" She was so flustered that she actually forgot to be professional and just called Annie by her given name. Seeing the two of them arguing, Annie could only put her hand on her cheek and sigh at them. It looked like a good time for a change in conversation, now that the plane was already moving down the runway, and would soon be in the air.

"So, what do you girls think about the recent sightings of the unknown units?" That simple question snapped both of their attention to her. Part of the reason why she wanted to make a stop in Japan was to try and make contact with some of the officers there. Specifically, Annie thought of asking Orimura Chifuyu to be a liaison for the IS Academy side, since she was the Brunhilde from the first Mondo Grosso. It was a very serious topic; Annie opened her eyes to reveal a serious edge in her magenta eyes, Catherine stopped blushing and sat at attention, Cynthia even sat properly and straightened out her clothing to give her undivided attention for the matter.

"To be honest, I really do not know what to think of those units" Annie started the topic in a serious tone. "So far, it would seem that they have been helping us deal with matters that most would not do or at least handle. Indeed, if it was not for 'Raptor', we would not have Dakota anymore." Cynthia and Catherine nodded grimly; recalling the details given in the report after the task force in charge apprehended the terrorist group, they were lucky the nuclear bomb did not do its job.

"However, the fact remains that they were built by someone who has yet to own up for the actions. And as far as investigations have gone, no one has the type of technology displayed by those units" Annie frowned a bit as she continued. "Not to mention, for some of the incidents, someone clearly had information to know where and when it happened, and we were only notified after the units came to stop them."

Cynthia crossed her arms and looked down while Catherine gave a thoughtful expression. They had heard from their individual contacts about them, but even they had no idea about their sudden appearance or reasons, apart from the capabilities they displayed.

"Could they have been built by Shinonono Tabane?" Catherine asked warily. She had heard a little about the woman's 'eccentricity', and in a way would make the logical choice, since she was the only one who could make IS units. It would stand to reason that she probably created those units out on a whim and just send them all over world.

"We had considered it." Annie nodded her head while talking. "But there were some who believed that a different company may have built those units with whatever knowledge they had on IS units. It may seem ridiculous, but considering the circumstances, we had to look at every option."

Catherine and Cynthia looked at each other with an expression of grimace. The both of them were Representative Cadets before going into the security sector, and though they were not given IS of their own, they were issued special equipment that bared a close resemblance to deal with hostiles. Their equipment were basically a skin-tight plug suit with a metallic exoskeleton with some weaponry and a small battery power source, enough to handle small scale hostilities for a few hours and a full-on assault for 15 minutes tops. The manner of storing the weapons in the form of data was applied to their equipment for easier transport.

But it was limited, and unlike IS units, theirs would not go into second shift or possess an AI capable of helping them in combat. Their equipment merely possessed a tenth of the strength of what an IS unit can do at a mere 1 hundredth. That was mainly due to the IS Core, that served both power and intelligence for the IS Frame. Without it, a IS Frame was basically a huge piece of scrap metal.

So the idea of someone other than Tabane was able to recreate the cores was a major cause for concern. For one thing, that person could become a one-man super power and take over any country. It was even more so with these units, since they have proven their strength against IS Representatives and other military strength.

"How about the companies who were tasked to research the IS Cores?" Cynthia asked. "We had considered those companies, so we had informed them to come to the meeting." Annie said while pulling out a piece of paper from her hand bag, before passing it to the others to view. "We would be meeting some of the representatives of those companies once we made a stopover at Dallas."

That was the other reason for going to Japan. After making a quick pit stop at Dallas to pick up the other members of the council, they would head there to have a discussion with Chifuyu and some of the known companies related to IS research, to see if any of them had a clue to the current situation. Hopefully they could get something out of them.

"If I recalled correctly, 3 of the representatives are already in Japan, since two of them are based here." Annie put her finger to her chin thoughtfully. It was a rather cute gesture of hers, seeing her with such a thoughtful look despite the gravity of the discussion. "And the third?" Catherine asked after taking a brief look at the paper with names of the representatives.

"Oh, that one would be the CEO himself coming along." Annie beamed at the thought of a man willingly coming along to do something himself rather than relying on representatives. "Apparently the young man is having a short vacation there in Japan, so when he heard about the meeting, he agreed to meet us." Catherine and Cynthia could only stare at Annie as she made that remark. That was something new, a CEO of a company specializing in IS research actually being a young male.

A soft beeping brought everyone's attention to the top where a blinking light showed they could remove their seat belts. They were apparently so engaged in their discussion that they did not notice they had left the runway and were in the air.

"Ah, looks like we can finally move around." Catherine stood up slowly, wincing as her legs gave small pangs of numbness and pain from the long seating. She did not realize that they had gone up in the air until the pilot gave the all-clear. Guess she should thanked Annie for distracting them; they were not frequent flyers like her, so they had slight air-sickness each time they flew. The last one ended in a manner she wanted to bring that secret to her grave. "I'll just check on the rest then, Miss Anderson." Annie nodded while smiling and closing her eyes. Cynthia went back to reading her magazine. There was no point worrying about it for now.

As she opened the door, she nearly bumped into one of the male attendants on the way out. "Ah, I'm sorry, Miss" The guy nervously bowed his head down while apologising. "Oh, it's okay; it is my fault as well." Catherine bowed as well before moving along, taking note of the attendant as he walked to the back of the plane. He was wearing the airline's standard uniform, but his overall appearance made him a little out of place, what with the ponytail and a tattoo peeking out of the collar.

'Guess there are still men who are getting desperate for a job.' Catherine noted as she went to briefly checked on the three daughters. She had absolutely no idea how right and wrong she was.

Part 2

Ichika sighed as he dragged his feet out of the Council room and started going towards the dormitory. It was close to midnight, and he rather not be caught by any of the teachers out on patrol. He had barely managed to get through the paperwork left on his desk, and despite knowing Chifuyu wanting the plans for the upcoming sports fair, Ichika seriously needed the sleep to get back some of the energy before he could tackle it. He was at least thankful that the paperwork for the visiting big-shots did not get finalized; otherwise he was going to need another two days to deal with.

His thoughts drifted to the earlier conversation he had with Chifuyu. Phantom Task, the group that wanted to take Byakushiki from him, and the group where 'M' or Orimura Madoka was a member of. Quite honestly, he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact he may have a potential family member living somewhere, but he knew better than to mention it to Chifuyu. When it came to matters regarding their past, specifically their parents, Chifuyu would clam up and just walk away. It was something he could not remember, but it was something really major to make Chifuyu get rid of every single photo that had their parents' faces, and to get angry at the mere mention of them.

Shaking his head, Ichika focused on the idea of Phantom Task attacking the visitors coming to Japan. Probably wouldn't be the first time they did something like this. If they could infiltrate IS Academy so easily, what's to stop them from trying to attack and kidnap them?

Finally, he thought about the photo with the supposed IS Unit 'Raptor'. He did not know what it was, but it had to be really important to be classified, and to be talked about in the meetings. Ichika frowned at that bit of information. Why would the faculty spend all that time discussing about that unit? Did they believe the group that sent the Black Golems created this unit as well? Ah! He wished he could ask Chifuyu, but knowing her nature, she would probably be tight lipped and most definitely smack him in the head.

"Smack!"

"Ouch! That seriously hurt!" Ichika nearly shouted as he turned while massaging the spot on his head. That look of pain quickly turned into one of sheepish fear as he laid his eyes on Chifuyu, who was currently massaging her forehead while holding a flashlight in the other hand. Of all the people he had to run into, it had to be his sister!

"You were thinking why me of all people, right?" Chifuyu said without opening her eyes. Darn it, why was it she always know what he was thinking?! Seriously, does she have some technology that allows mind reading?!

"So why are you out so late?" Chifuyu sighed as she opened her eyes to look at Ichika. "I have been handling the paperwork all day and night, Orimura Sensei" Ichika said while still rubbing the bump on his head. "You too, huh?" Chifuyu sighed as she said that. "Honestly, all these meetings and paperwork are getting on my nerves." Ichika could only smile in sympathy for her as she shook her head.

"That said, Orimura" she directed her eyes at Ichika, who dropped the smile at the look in her eyes. "Staying up late is prohibited, even if it was meant for work." 'Oh Crap!' Ichika gulped as he quaked under the intensity of her glare. He was so going to get it!

"Excuse me." Both of them turned sharply at the voice, to find a spectacled lady standing just a few metres behind Chifuyu. Aided by the flashlight, Ichika could see that the lady had her hair tied up in a bun, and she had a small beauty mark under her left eye. She was dressed in a brown vest and a short blouse to complement that look. She was carrying a small tablet that was apparently switched on. 'Seriously, won't her eyes get strained?' Ichika thought privately. On cue, the lady turned to him and gave a small smile. Ichika felt his heart skip a beat at that expression. 'Damn it, older women are formidable!' He thought before feeling a chill down his spine. Turning slowly, he nearly panicked at the sight of Chifuyu glaring at him with a look of disapproval. 'Oh Crap!' Ichika thought again.

Before Chifuyu could say anything at him, the spectacled lady leaned forward to whisper something through Chifuyu's ear. It must have been important, as her eyes shot up and she looked to the lady as if looking for confirmation, before turning back to Ichika. "Orimura, for now I will let you off. Go back to your room and get a night's rest. Also, you can give the plans for the sports fair later this week." With that, Chifuyu turned around and walked back into the dark corridor with the spectacled lady, leaving Ichika standing in the dark and thinking of one thing.

'What was all that about?'

"Are you certain of your information?" Chifuyu asked that the moment she entered the communications room. This room was built six stories underground in the event of any attacks on IS Academy, so it took a while for her to get to the room. The room was filled with the type of equipment that would make the Air Force, the Navy and NASA want to chop their arms off to have: state of the art sonar-equipment, satellite controls, heat detection systems, etc.

"Yes, Miss Orimura. We just got confirmation that one of the units was sighted flying towards Norway." The spectacled operator accompanying her replied back as they walked towards the end of the room, where there was huge flat screen for all to view. "Based on its flight directory and recent checks of the area, it seemed to be heading to an unknown base that was previously hidden from the sensors. The only reason we found out about it was because we checked the entire area with everything we had, and we were able to detect a high heat signature from that area."

Chifuyu made her way to one of the monitors where another operator was typing at a blinding pace. "Put it on the big screen." The operator nodded, typed a bit more before pressing the enter button, displaying the live image on the big screen. What was shown made a few of the personnel gasp loudly.

The image showed the smouldering remains of what must had been a very huge military installation. Chifuyu could tell some of the equipment destroyed were bits of IS frames and tanks. There was no way anyone could have missed such a huge base all this time, what with the army based there during periodical sweeps of the area, and them checking the area with their satellites for any heat signatures and unusual activity.

Hovering in the air was a greyish looking unit holding a rifle in its hand, its back turned towards the camera. Despite that, Chifuyu got the confirmation she needed by seeing the jet pack, the military camouflage and the odd glowing particles that were emitting from vents at its sides. "Raptor" Chifuyu muttered out the name as she continued watching it. As if it had heard her, the unit started turning around and twisting its head to the sides while continuing to hover, like it was seeking out the voice that called it.

After turning a full 180 degrees, it hovered still for a moment. As everyone wondered what it was looking at, the unit suddenly lifted its head and showed its face. The effect of it staring right at them was instantaneous; it made a few of the operators stumble backwards in shock, another to drop and break her cup in surprise. Chifuyu herself was startled, but managed to hold back her emotions and settled for her fist clenching tightly.

'That was absurd of me to think that it could hear me, it is at the other side of the world for crying out loud!' Chifuyu chided herself mentally as she studied what had to be the unit's 'facial features' It was definitely not like the IS models she was accustomed to seeing; even the Black Golems had features that identified to their relation to IS. This one however was drastically different; it seemed to have a face plate, with what seemed to be head antennas with a crystal in the middle. With the supposed 'eyes', this was perhaps the most human like design she had seen.

The other bit she noticed was the frame's design. She had heard testimonies about it being form-fitting, but looking at it first hand, she thought the description was lacking. The entire frame was covered in armour, but completely stream-lined as compared to current IS Models with the limbs being the most armoured, thus giving it a more built look. The frame seemed to have emphasized even further for the expressed purpose of flight; the legs had small flaps at the knee regions that would suggest they would lock themselves in a straight manner during flight, and it would appear to have small openings around the chest plate which suggested air vents for thrusters.

Lastly, her attention was brought to the center of the unit's chest plate, where there was a circular object glowing very brightly. Chifuyu had heard about the theory of it being a power source of the unit, and judging from the particles that were surrounding the unit, and the amount of destruction shown on camera, she would have to agree on that part.

Still, it begged the question: could this unit be considered an IS? There were elements of IS Infrastructure, that much was certain, but if one were to put it next to an actual IS unit, it would appear more of powered armour; if anything, it reminded her more of the comic book character Ichika used to read about as a kid. Oddly enough, the design made Chifuyu think that if this was a unit meant to be piloted by anyone, it would have to be a male to use it. There was no other way to put it other than calling it 'muscular' as compared to the IS Units known. Apart from the first Black Golem attack, the second had units that resembled female pilots. This unit's frame was definitely a lot taller than most, and it had more build in terms of design.

All further thoughts were interrupted by an operator pointing at the screen. Chifuyu directed her eyes to see 'Raptor' bring up its free hand slowly in front of it, and to everyone's shock, started wagging its index finger. That small act of wagging its finger was evident in the silence that permeated the room; no one could tear their eyes away from that simple gesture. Chifuyu herself was getting a little light-headed at the implications that the unit knew someone was watching it.

The silence got destroyed by a loud beeping sound that shocked everyone in the room, some clearly affected more by the dropping of documents and chairs getting shoved. Everyone turned to the operator handling the screen, who looked a little sheepish as she busily typed some commands on the keyboard. That look quickly got replaced with that of extreme anxiety.

"Miss Orimura, someone is hacking the server through the satellite!" The operator desperately tried stopping the operation to no avail. "Disconnect it!" Chifuyu yelled as she pushed her way to the operator's table. "I CAN'T!" The operator lifted her hands in exasperation. "Whatever or whoever it is, the program is going all the way through!"

"Then shut down the power!" Chifuyu ordered her. When the operator hesitated, Chifuyu practically screamed the words out to convince her. "NOW, DAMN IT!" Chifuyu grimaced as she watched the operator type a few more commands before going to another desk to shut down the system. She understood the hesitation, because by shutting down the power, they would lose the connection to the satellite, and possibly any hope of tracking 'Raptor'. But it was either that or risk losing the entire system to some virus being sent from god knows where.

With a final push of the button, the entire system shut down, leaving the room in darkness for a short while before the emergency lights kicked in, bathing the room in an eerie red. Several of the personnel sighed loudly as the tension got released slowly; Chifuyu however made her way to the operator's table and asked: "Has any of the systems been compromised?"

"Thankfully, no", the operator gave a quick check on the monitor as she typed a few commands. "All systems are good to go, we just need to reboot it and we are fine." Chifuyu let out a small sigh of relief. If their systems got compromised, the amount of damage to repair extended to more than just fixing the equipment. The information on the systems was too valuable to lose, otherwise IS Academy would be open to attacks from every country. It looked like the worst was over.

"Wait a second!" The operator's sharp words brought a stop to everyone's moment of relief. "There seems to be a message that was sent during the transmission." The operator started checking all the firewalls before she scanned the message for any virus. From their point of view, the operator looked like she was about to suffer a stroke when she did her last check and opened it. "What does the message say?" Chifuyu said in a soft tone, noting the tenseness in it. The operator wordlessly typed some commands before pointing at the big screen. Chifuyu sucked in a deep breath as she looked at the message displayed on the big screen. She should really scold herself for tempting fate.

'It is not nice to spy on others, please refrain from doing it again.'

=====Author's Notes=====

Hope you enjoy the chapter, and I get a new chapter out soon!