Author's Notes:

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

Still trying to get a job, so it's getting a little hectic at my side. T.T

I like to thank "Blackops" for the Iron Man references, it really helped me out a lot. Maybe I can work your username into my story somewhere…

Also, some of you were wondering about the base that "Raptor" supposedly took down, I will tell you that I would be explaining that part after the Rescue Arc, so be patient with me.

Without further ado, let's start the chapter!

=Chapter Start=

Part 1

"What did you just say, Carl?" Fenix's eyebrows were twitching madly as he glared at the radio, as though he could change the content of the message by looking at it. "Sanchez did WHAT?!"

"Sanchez is doing his stupid thing again." Carl's voice blared through the radio with a notable tone of resignation and irritation. "It seems that Sanchez was attempting to attack one of the hostages when one of the female security guards bit his hand. So he's going to start with her apparently."

Fenix closed his eyes and tried to let the irritation out in a sigh. Judging from the number of swear words that were flooding his brain at the moment, it was not very effective.

"Please tell me you guys are keeping an eye on him." Fenix massaged his forehead a little harder than normal, the pounding seemingly getting a little harder to get rid of.

"I am currently following him right now, Chris and Dickson are still with the passengers." Carl replied back. "Thing is, it seemed that he knew one of the passengers personally, Anita Anderson."

Fenix arched an eyebrow as he sifted through the information in his head. He recalled Anita's profile and thought that may explain a little about Sanchez's choice of attacking. He had to admit, she had a really terrific figure for a mother in her 40s. "I see."

"Yeah, turns out she was supposedly his next target, but her husband stop him from doing so back then. He was actually the guy who got Sanchez" Carl snorted through the radio. "Don't mind me saying, but if that guy were alive, I would shake his hand gratefully".

Fenix could only nod in agreement. When it came down to it, no one really wanted Sanchez at all. And the fact that it was Anita's husband who managed to stop that maniac, now that was something worth giving a medal to.

Fenix sighed as he looked out of the window. He could see the small groups of pilots gathering at the far end of the plane. Guess that earlier demonstration worked quite well; they were trying to be as far from the plane as possible, thinking under the assumption that the increased distance would reduce the effect.

Well, they may be right on the effect reducing by distance, but they are wrong about the safety limit. They would need to be a lot further if they wanted to escape. Looks like the next demonstration would be in play. But as for the immediate problem with Sanchez…

"Okay then, Carl. Go after Sanchez, make sure he does not harm the hostage." Fenix gave the order before heading outside to call the guard to change places. He already gave his word that the hostages were to be safe, and he was so not going to let Sanchez break that word if he could help it.

'Okay, this is going to be a problem.' Cynthia thought lamely in her head.

Currently, she was being forcefully led down the corridor with Sanchez keeping a tight hold on her hands. It was hard enough to move as it is, but with him being particularly close, it was all Cynthia could take to stop herself from shivering every time she felt his breath on her neck. Judging from the smirk she caught as he steered her to a corner, he knew the effect he had on her and was enjoying every minute of it. She still had her equipment, but it was still in locked-down mode, and she could not think of how to remove the red rust that had settled.

At the very least, she managed to ensure Annie did not become Sanchez's next victim immediately. She could not do much currently, but Cynthia could count on Catherine to get them out of the current situation.

Cynthia blinked to get the blood out of her eyes; that earlier hit made her a little groggy due to the loss of blood. It was not life threatening, but in the present situation, she did not want to leave things to chance. Currently she was trying to slow down her breathing in order to better regulate the blood going through her system, but that was proving difficult with Sanchez pushing her at certain corners.

Quite honestly, she was still trying to wrap her head around this entire situation, what with hijacking, the equipment not working, Annie being Sanchez's target, and now the fact that she herself was about to become his next target before her.

She really needed a proper vacation when this was all over.

"Watch your head then." She barely registered those words when her head hit the metallic door frame, earning her a curse and a few stars in her vision. Before she could react to the pain, she got twisted around and shoved, landing on a very hard and uneven surface. She shook her head to try and rid of the stars surrounding her vision while trying to see where she was. Judging from all the luggage that was around her, she was in the cargo hold, and most likely she was lying on some suitcases.

"Now then my dear, where were we again?" Sanchez leered as he directed his attention to her. Cynthia could only cringed in shame as she realized the state she was in; she was lying on a couple of large suitcases laid on their sides, with her suit lifted to show a tantalizing view of her belly, and her buttons undone at the top to show her cleavage.

Now Cynthia was regretting not listening to Catherine's advice and just tided herself up.

"When I'm done with you, I will be known as Diablo 24" Sanchez sneered at her as he slowly drew his knife from his belt sheath and angled it such that Cynthia could see the light glinting from the edge.

Cynthia could see her own terrified reflection in the steel.

Cynthia shut her eyes while trying to control her heartbeat. But when she opened them again, it was to the sight of Sanchez now leaning over her with the knife's edge being extremely close to her face. His other hand held a firm grip on her head while positioning himself such that her legs were pinned under him.

"Let me tell you something, my dear." Sanchez moved the tip of the knife just so it was barely touching Cynthia's cheek. "This is the same knife I was planning to use on Anita Anderson to commemorate my freedom from prison, so be honored you will be the first one to get a taste of it."

With that statement, Cynthia's fear got taken over by the hatred that was boiling over inside of her. There was absolutely no way she was going to let this guy get Annie in any way!

With another maniacal glint in his eyes, Sanchez moved the knife slowly to her exposed belly and pressed its flat side gently on it, making Cynthia shiver uncontrollably at the promise of cold steel in her flesh. Then, turning the edge towards her, he began to saw through the fabric upwards, slowing reaching to the chest region. Cynthia could only glare at him with tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Sanchez, stop that!" A sudden shout made Sanchez stop his movements and an annoyed expression replacing the look of lustful anticipation on his face. From her position, Cynthia could barely see a soldier raising his weapon at Sanchez.

"Tch! So Fenix sent you?" Sanchez scowled as he turned to face the soldier, who was looking very angry at him. The scowl on the soldier's face went deeper when he saw the state Cynthia was in with her blood and her torn clothes.

"We have given our word to the pilots that we would not harm any one of them. So if you don't mind, I would say you let her go now." The soldier grasped his firearm tightly and aimed it such that he could shoot Sanchez if he attempted any sudden moves. "Oh come on Carl, lighten up, why don't you?" Sanchez sarcastically waved his hands while rolling his eyes.

"It's not just that, Sanchez." Carl narrowed his eyes further. "You know damn well we are not to come here at all during this operation, where 'it' is. Are you so brain-dead that you can't even register that order in your head?!"

"I don't really care about what Fenix, Gregor or anyone says for that matter." Sanchez dropped his act to give a glare at Carl. "I only agreed to follow along so that I could get out of that joint. So you guys can take that plan and shove it up your…!"

Whatever he was about to say, no one would know as Cynthia suddenly grabbed the bar hanging above her and kicked with her full strength at Sanchez's back, sending him tumbling into Carl, before she turned around and made her way among the different stacks of suitcases lying around, disappearing shortly.

Sanchez was not idle from that attack though; before Carl could react, Sanchez pushed him further back to the doorway and slammed it shut, before shoving some of the big suitcases against it so that Carl can't open the door.

"Oh so you want to play hide and seek now heh?" Sanchez cooed as he gaze around the cargo bay. "That's fine with me, after all" he gripped his knife tightly. "It's not much fun unless my prey puts up a fight."

"Damn it!" Cynthia cursed her luck as she continued huddling behind the suitcases. She was thankful that she managed to remove enough of her bounds to get her hands free on time. Oddly enough though, the person who checked her bounds earlier should have known that her bounds were loose enough to get her hands out. Privately she wondered if the guard purposely overlooked it in order for her to get away from Sanchez. She would worry about it later.

In any case, it was a combination of that and Carl interrupting Sanchez that she was finally able to remove the bonds on her wrists and get a jump on them. Now as she peeked out from her corner, she quickly thought through of different ways of getting through this situation. Something she was not looking too pleased about.

Firstly, her equipment was still in lock-down mode, so she can't use even the smallest weapon without getting shocked from the feedback. Secondly, Sanchez was clearly better at hand to hand combat than her, and considering her current state, she was in no condition to take him on properly. What she needed was an edge! What she needed was…

Her eyes fell on the circuit board that was located at the far end of the cargo bay and traced the cabling to the hatch door, before looking the other way to where a red lever was situated near the cargo door. If she recalled correctly, most of the current plane models require a secondary control at the cargo area just in case the main controls at the cockpit do not work, and an emergency lever to override the circuits.

'That might just work.' Cynthia thought as a plan slowly took shape in her mind. Maybe she could try to break the circuit, or at least threaten, in order to get away from that guy.

But if taking out the circuit meant opening the hatch door…

It was a risk, to say the least. One major issue about her equipment was that it was meant for ground protection, so there was nothing meant for aerial combat, meaning no gyroscope or floatation devices to help. Not that would help in the current situation; from what she had gathered, it seemed that the jamming equipment was in this cargo hold. So even if she wanted to, she probably won't be able to use it at all.

Further thoughts were interrupted when the suitcase behind her got shoved violently. She barely moved out of the way in time for the luggage to fall to the ground, then she saw the distorted face that looked at her hungrily.

"There you are, poppet!" Sanchez yelled as he raised his knife to stab her again. Cynthia cursed again as she dived to the ground, barely dodging the knife that hit the wall loudly. Cynthia continued to stumble while evading Sanchez's attacks, which seemed deliberate in their attempts to just miss hitting her vitals and seemed more to cut her clothes lightly. One final evasion and she slammed against the wall with a loud grunt, twisting her body gently to keep an eye on Sanchez.

"Nowhere to run now, little poppet." Sanchez twirled his knife as he studied her closely. Her clothes were now in tethers, her white inner-shirt barely protecting her modesty and her suit was almost torn completely at the right sleeve, her pants also having tears from her earlier near-misses.

"Come on, make it more interesting for me." Sanchez gripped his knife reversed edge and raised it above him. Cynthia panted while shifting her weight a little. 'Just a little more…'

"Say good night, little poppet!" Sanchez brought the blade down in a wide arc towards Cynthia, who barely moved to the side in time to evade it…

… And thus letting Sanchez embed the knife deep into the circuit board behind her.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Sanchez's pained screams filled the cabin as the deadly voltage surged through his body, making him spasm uncontrollably as he attempted to release his grip from the embedded knife. A few seconds later, the circuit board gave out a few more sparks before letting out a small explosion, sending Sanchez flying against the opposite wall.

Cynthia's moment of relief got cut off by the sound of alarms blaring and the blinking red lights. The difference in volume was all the indication that she needed to grab onto the nearest railing bolted to the side before the hatch door started opening slowly, the difference in air pressure forcing some of the smaller bags to squeeze through the gap.

A yell made Cynthia turn her head, in time to see Sanchez clutching vainly at the ground as the hatch door opened wider, letting out more air from the room. Sanchez grabbed the handle that was closest to the door and glared at Cynthia one last time.

"DAMN YOU BIT..!" Sanchez's scream got cut short as his grip finally lost out to the extreme forces of vacuum and he got flung out of the jet. Cynthia did not give it much thought as she clung on to the railing for dear life, her diminishing strength and numbing pain threatening to make her release her grip.

"Come On! Just a little longer!" Cynthia wrapped one of her arms around the railing and tried to use her other hand to grab the manual lever. But then, in a twist of bad luck, the railing she was hanging on to started to buckle under the strain of her weight and the suction of the high pressure. Then just as she was able to touch the lever with her fingertips, the entire railing broke at one end of the hinge.

"OH SHHIIIITTT!" Cynthia yelled as the railing finally lost out to the vacuum effect, and she got flung out of the plane and into the open sky.

Ichika sighed heavily as he hovered in the air with Houki and the others. This situation was so not going to be resolved anytime soon.

It was going past noon when they flew out of their escort plane and back into the open air, where Ellen communicated with the mysterious voice again regarding the release of some of the prisoners. They remained close to their respective escort planes while maintaining a distance of 320 feet from the jet in order to avoid the same incident again.

They only had limited success regarding the release of the prisoners asked by the terrorists; as Ellen put it subtly, "some of these men have rep-sheets that would make Hitler proud." A couple of the governments involved were strictly opposed to releasing 3 of the prisoners asked, as apparently they were the types who could bring entire nations to their knees if let out.

That went both ways for the situation. On the one hand, the speaker seemed understandable that they won't be able to get all the prisoners out; on the other hand, they only have another 10 minutes to release the remainder, in addition to a new requirement added: the return of the soldiers from Iraq.

'Honestly' Ichika let out another sigh, 'This is going to be majorly impossible to complete!'

"Getting tired, Ichika-san?" Ichika lifted his head to see Ellen's smiling face up close. Without him noticing, she managed to sneak up on him and get real close to him. A little too close for his comfort, considering her position that made it somewhat erotic and the armor that emphasized her figure.

"Erm, a little bit, Ellen-san." Ichika twisted his head to hide the blush he was having while boosting backwards to gain some distance. He quickly thought of something to distract his mind. "I'm just not used to these types of hostage situations at all."

"Ah, that's understandable." Ellen nodded as she straightened herself up. "If I recall correctly, you only just started using an IS for a few months now, and you are not considered a true representative cadet like the rest, so you are not exactly entailed to many of the duties that are expected of pilots and those related to the governments."

Those words made Ichika remember what the speaker had said earlier about the supposed dealings their governments did in the dark, and more specifically, the part where the speaker said Ichika should prepare himself for what's to come.

Does that mean he had to prepare himself to handle some of the more shady deals the Japanese government would give him in the future? He remembered he was kidnapped as a kid and that in exchange for his rescue, Chifuyu had to go Germany for a year or so to train the cadets to pilot IS. He also suspected that he was currently in IS Academy so that Chifuyu could keep an eye on him safely.

Some of his thoughts must have translated onto his face, because Cecilia came up, does her 'ojou' impression and said, "You should not think about what that person said. I know my government never makes any backdoor deals that would discredit us at all!"

"At least, none that I know of" Cecilia added in a soft mutter through the intercom for Ichika to hear. He smiled at the attempt that Cecilia tried to cheer him up. "Thanks Cecilia, I needed that."

"Hmph! O.. Of Course! We can't have you down on this situation!" Cecilia stammered while blushing lightly. 'Is she having a fever? The sun is rather strong right now.'

"So then, as a gentleman, you must repay my kindness with some service. Maybe later we could go to my room and …" Whatever Cecilia had planned, she got interrupted by a very loud voice.

"Wait a second there, Cecilia! Don't you dare get ahead of us?!" Rin exclaimed as she came up to them, followed shortly by Houki, Charlotte and Laura. "You better not be trying to pull a fast one on us!"

"That's right, you do not go and jump the queue!" Houki said as Charlotte and Laura nodded. "If anything, I as his childhood friend gets repaid for his kindness!" That line got the attention of the other teams who were waiting around, and started to converge to see the commotion.

"Hey, if it's childhood friends you are after, then I'm the one who should be getting it first!" Rin glared at Houki as she said that.

"He's my wife, so none of you get to claim him!" Laura crossed her arms as she claimed that, earning her yet again another set of odd looks from the other teams that were near.

"Erm, maybe we should not be doing this now." Charlotte tried to diffuse the situation, but only succeeded in making herself a target by the others. "Don't act innocent, you of all are perhaps the most dangerous one of the lot!" Rin said while the others nodded their agreement.

"Kyu!" Charlotte let out a cute sound while cringing at the opposition.

"Oh my, you really are popular" Ellen put up a hand to vainly attempt hiding a teasing smile as she watched the girls argue among themselves with Ichika looking very dejected. "Must be pretty hectic back at the academy huh?" Now she was downright smirking with her team-mates giggling at the situation. Ichika could only hang his head in embarrassment at the sight of the 5 girls arguing while remembering the craziness that the girls in the academy seemed to possesses whenever he passes them. It's not like he's not grateful of them trying to cheer him up and everything, but what was with them always arguing around him?!

Honestly, what was with the girls around him?

"Something is happening at the plane!" That line interrupted the small comedy that was unfolding in front of them. Ichika turned in time to see the door leading to the cargo area starting to open, with small cases spewing out from its end.

"Did they open the cargo bay for some reason?" Ichika asked Ellen, who was looking at the plane intently. "I'm not too sure, for that matter why would they need to do so?" Ellen replied back while narrowing her eyes further.

"GUYS!" A pilot shouted while pointing. Ichika zoomed in further in time to see a body being shot out from the door. Before anyone could react, a second figure appeared out of the door and started plummeting to the ocean. Ichika zoomed in further before realizing that it was a female that got shot out this time, the first being a male where some of the closer pilots were attempting to keep up.

'Crap! Somebody save her?!' Ichika thought as he immediately activated Ignition Boost to catch up with her, ignoring the cries of Houki and the others. It was risky, considering no one knew how far or how strong the signal could affect IS units, but if he could just reach her on time…

As if to reply back to his desperate call for help, a loud sonic boom reverberated in the wide open area.

"Miss Orimura!" An operator called out to Chifuyu in a strained voice. "I'm getting some weird readings here! I think we got bogeys incoming!"

'Oh Great, just what we needed: more crap!' Chifuyu thought grimly as she walked to the operator's table. Currently she was in the communications room again with a few extra personnel and helpers from other companies to help with the situation. She had managed to keep a handle on the situation, though things were getting intense due to some unknown element introduced by the terrorists in the form of some Disruption Wave that targeted the IS units, making some of them reset to default settings and unusable for possibly the entirety of the mission.

"Can you tell who they are?" Chifuyu asked while placing a hand on the table to shift the screen to her side.

"I'm..." The operator hesitated as she typed a few more commands into the system. "I'm not quite sure what they are. They are way too small to be aircraft, and they are not giving off the same type of signatures that can be associated with any of the current military equipment or IS Units. Furthermore, the signals tend to disappear every few seconds, so I cannot be too sure. What I can say is that there are currently 3 of these signatures and they are moving straight for the plane at high speeds, nearly Mach 7!"

Chifuyu frowned at that information she was digesting. 'Something that cannot be detected properly and moving at Mach 7? What type of thing would be able to do that?' Chifuyu's thoughts came to a halt as she finished processing the information. All the details she had learned for the past few days added up to one thing.

"Get one of the spare surveillance cameras and widen the scope range!" Chifuyu quickly gave orders to a nearby table where other operators were working. "Focus on the general area where those three signals are approaching. The last thing we need is to have any party crashers coming for the ride." The operators set about to dedicating one of the screens for the satellite feed, eventually displaying the area where the signals were supposed originating. Chifuyu prayed that she was wrong about her idea as the image started to get more focused. The last thing she needed was...

"Miss Orimura, something is happening at the plane!" One of the few male operators for the operation called out to her as he called up the image to the main screen, just in time for Chifuyu to see the cargo door open slowly, the different luggage spewing out from the door due to the sudden vacuum effect. As they continued watching, a male body suddenly appeared from the back-end of the plane, followed shortly by a second body, this time a female. Chifuyu cursed at the timing of this situation as she watched some of the pilots dive for the girl.

What else could go wrong?!

"There!" One of the other operators pointed to the smaller screen after the image cleared. Chifuyu turned to the screen to see the source of the signals. What she saw made everyone take a few steps back from the look of the scowl that was forming on her face. Only one word could summarize the situation she was facing and feeling at that point.

"Fuck."

'Great, so I guess this is it for me, huh?' Cynthia thought in a deadpan tone as she plummeted through the clouds towards the ocean surface. 'Well, at the least I managed to buy some time for those pilots to get to the jet.' She mentally gave a sigh as she noted the distance shortening with each passing second. She was remarkably calm considering she was plunging to her death.

'Too bad, I was hoping to get a boyfriend or at the least, help Catherine get one. She definitely needs a boyfriend to settle down.' Cynthia gave a chuckle at that thought. Here she was falling at nearly 150mph to her death, and she was thinking that she could not tease Catherine of getting a boyfriend.

"Boom!"

Her musings got interrupted by the loud sounds of a sonic boom that could be heard from her side. Before she could react, she heard the sounds of a jet heading for her. She twisted her head in time to see her wrists grabbed by metal clamps, before metal platings start covering her arms and torso.

"What the!" was all the words Cynthia could shout before her vision went dark.

Ichika was not sure what had just transpired.

For a moment he was trying to accelerate in order to catch up with the falling woman, then he suddenly heard a sonic boom that came from behind. Next thing he knew, two blurs flew past him, followed by a gust of wind that knocked him hard at the side and sent him tumbling about. As he regained his bearings, he zoomed in on the two objects that flew past him, just in time to see one of them taking a nose dive towards the falling body.

Ichika gasped as the human like object reached the woman before going spread-eagle on top of her. A small cloud briefly blocked his vision, but it cleared in time to see the machine doing a somersault and blasting its thrusters downwards, thrusting itself upwards until it reached his height before stopping, and started hovering while it turned to look at him.

Ichika took a while staring at the machine that was staring back at him. He was not sure of what it was, but he was certain of one thing: that was not a typical IS frame. The machine was completely armored in smooth red platings with a gold chest plate and golden stripes on its arms. Its head was basically a red faceplate with golden head antennas and eyes that were glowing bright green. The biggest deviation came from the legs; compared to the unit's lean frame, the legs had huge thrusters attached to it, giving it a somewhat unbalanced look. In the center of the chestplate was a big circular object that was glowing very brightly which could be seen even at the position he was at.

"Ichika, are you okay?!" Houki's voice blared through the intercom, breaking his thoughts. He completely forgot that he was in the middle of a hostage mission, and that the others were near him. Even now he could see the others closing in on his position. He looked quickly around the area to try and spot the falling body, but he could not find her.

"I'm okay, there's no problem." Ichika answered back while watching the machine, which seemed to be content with just watching him while hovering closer to him. He noted the white particles that were issuing out from small vents in the leg thrusters and how they were surrounding him and the machine. It would seem that the machine was keeping an eye on him to ensure he did not pull off anything that could be seen as an attack.

"I see." Houki paused before continuing her questions. "But what about the people that flew out of the plane, and who is the one piloting that weird unit?" On his screen, he could see that Houki being the closest was now able to see the machine in the distance.

"Honestly, I'm not sure." Ichika could only reply lamely. To further his confusion, the machine tilted its head to the side, as if to ask what the problem was. "But I guess someone on our side, to say the least. As for the people…"

Ichika suddenly heard a "Ping!" and checked his system, to find a blinking icon of an unread message. "Wait a minute, I'm getting a message of some sort." Ichika opened the message and stared. It was a very short message but to the point.

[M17: Hostage saved. Resume operation of taking back jet and subduing terrorists, Orimura Ichika.]

"Wait, I did not see you grab her! I need proof! And for that matter how about the other one?!" Ichika did not mean to say that out loud, but the appearance of the unit and the suddenness of the events were throwing his logic out of the window. In response of his statement, the faceplate of the unit split between the mouth piece and the eye region and, with a hissing sound, opened to reveal a woman's face. That expression on her face suggested that she did not take the high altitudes and the sudden turn of events rather well; she looked ready to pass out any minute. Apart from that, she was safe.

[M17: Does that answer your question?] The machine replied with another message as the faceplate went back to its original state. Ichika could only nod to show his acknowledgment. Another "Ping!" prompted him to open another message.

[M17: As for the other one, that is one of the terrorists who had taken over the plane. Chances of survival are minimal, virtually zero.] That left a knot in Ichika's stomach, but further thoughts got interrupted by one last message.

[M17: If nothing else, I will be seeing you later.] With that, the unit turned around and directed its thrusters backwards, and with a resounding burst of sound, flew towards the direction where the jet was. Ichika just continued hovering there, waiting for the others to get to his position, while thinking of one thing:

'What the hell is going on here?'

Part 2

"What the hell just happened down there?!" Fenix yelled into the radio, ignoring the pilot wincing from the loud shout from his side. He was on his way back to the cockpit to ensure the plane took the course he had designated when he felt the plane lurched suddenly. All thoughts ranging from air turbulence to getting attacked went through his mind when the alarms on the plane started ringing one after the other. When he made his way to the cockpit where the pilot nervously told him that the cargo hatch was opening, his heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. That was where they had stored Corruption Overload before they took over the plane!

"Sanchez, that's what happened!" The person on the other side of the radio yelled, his voice barely audible with the sound of wind in the background. "He went to bring that guard to the cargo bay to do that sick hobby of his, and somehow or another he managed to blow out the circuit board leading to the hatch door!"

Fenix swore loudly in the cabin. Of all the times and places for Sanchez to do his damn crap, he had to do it now, in the cargo room where the jammer was! If he was not so pissed, he would have to consider going for the bloody lottery!

"At least tell me that the jammer is safe, Carl?!" Fenix gripped his radio tightly as he asked that question. "I don't know! I can't even get through the door without getting sucked out!" Carl yelled through the radio. "I'm going to try and get to the manual switch!" Fenix cursed even louder as he contemplated the situation.

What else could go wrong at this rate?!

"Fenix, this is Benson! Do you copy?" Another voice blared through the radio as he was thinking of options. "What is it?" Fenix replied while barely restraining his anger.

"I'm picking up something on visual! Think you may have a few bogeys coming up to your tail!" Benson answered in a strained tone. "Thing is, I don't think they are IS pilots!"

"What do you mean by that?" Fenix's anger got momentarily stifled by the anxiety that was displayed in Benson's voice. There was already the issue about the plane slowing down from the open hatch, and the possible loss of the jammer. Last thing he needed was more trouble heading his way.

"Exactly that! I was scouting the area, making sure those pilots don't get anywhere near you when 3 objects flew past me. I'm currently in pursuit, but they are really moving! They are doing Mach 7, dang it!"

"The fuck!" Fenix looked at the radio as though it had a mouth saying the weirdest thing of them all. What type of machine goes around doing Mach 7? Not even the current IS units are able to reach that type of speeds; due to the extreme G forces, the IS units were designed to go at most Mach 3, but most pilots go at Mach 1 to ensure they don't turn into mash.

"You sure about that?" Fenix asked incredulously. "Aye, I'm sure." Benson replied in a deadpan tone. Fenix could only shake his head at the craziness that was descending on him. What next, flying pigs?!

"Carl here, I'm closing the hatch now!" Carl's voice rang through the radio. "There, that should do it! We should be able to..." There was a small pause in the statement that made Fenix tensed for a second. "What's the matter, Carl? Did Sanchez…"

"WHAT THE... AHHHHHHHHHH!" The soldier's scream filled the entire cockpit, making Fenix drop his radio in shock. For a while both the pilot and Fenix stared at the radio on the floor with their faces going pale. Fenix could not tell what could have made Carl scream out like that; Carl was not the type to be afraid of anything. Could he have been sucked out of the plane due to the vacuum effect, or something else happened to hurt him?

"Fenix, what the heck just happened over there?!" Benson's voice came through, a note of panic evident in his words. Fenix quickly got over his initial shock and grabbed the radio. "I'm not sure what happen; Carl just screamed all of a sudden!"

"Oh crap! Don't tell me it was because of that!" Benson replied back. "Because of what?" Fenix asked noting the trepidation in his voice.

"I was trying to call in earlier! One of the bogeys went straight for the plane, and I'm currently engaging the second one! I lost the third one!" Benson's words made his heart drop again. "These are definitely not IS. Call me crazy, but I think we got some robots joining in on the party!"

'Robots?!' Fenix struggled with the idea of machines gate crashing in this situation. How the hell can robots get into this mess?! It's not like some mysterious units…

Fenix paused as he backtracked a little. Mysterious units, capable of doing Mach 7, and just popping up from nowhere to crash into the hostage situation?

Oh crap.

"All troops be on the lookout for anyone or anything suspicious! We cannot depend on the jammer for now!" Fenix gave the order to the others through the radio. "Also, be advanced: there may be a pilot or some machine that had gotten on board the plane, so you have permission to fire at will! And when I say machine, I mean those machines!"

After taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Fenix brought the radio back to his mouth. The order he was about to give was one he hoped he did not need to give at all.

"Benson, continue seeking and destroy those units that are still outside. And if the IS pilots try to stop you," he paused before continuing, "You have permission to shoot them down as well."

"You guys heard that?!" Chris turned to the other soldiers with him, an expression of nervous anxiety apparent on his face. "You stay outside the room, Dickson will come with me to check on Carl at the cargo area."

Catherine winced from the sound of feet stomping and the door crashing in their frenzy of searching the plane. It seemed that the situation has taken an unusual twist.

Catherine was still trying to remove her bounds quietly while listening in on the soldiers' conversation when the plane suddenly shuddered violently. Confusion and fear spread when the alarms started ringing in the rooms. After a while, the alarms stopped in time for the soldiers to get an update from Fenix and the other person called Carl.

Catherine's heart plummeted when she overheard on the radio that the cargo hatch was forced open due to Sanchez attacking Cynthia and hitting the circuit box instead. That meant that there was very little chance of her surviving the fall to the ground unless she held on for dear life. That particular news affected everyone who knew her, but for the three sisters and especially Villian, it was absolutely devastating.

As much as Catherine wanted to mourn for her loss, now was not the time for it. Since the guards went outside, there may be a short amount of time for her to cut through her bonds quickly and help the others a little before they could surprise the guard.

"So how far until you get the bounds off?" Catherine paused in her attempt of cutting the bounds to turn her head, where she noticed Genaro had managed to crawl his way to her side. It seemed like he too understood the severity of the situation; his face was set stonily, but his eyes betrayed his emotions regarding the loss of Cynthia.

"Almost there, sir." Catherine frowned as she struggled with the last few bits of rope. The soldiers did a fantastic job of ensuring no one could get away easily from their bounds; Cynthia was lucky that she could cut through hers easily with the bigger piece of glass. Catherine only had time to hide the smaller piece she had when the soldier came to her area to pick up any loose stray pieces.

"Let's hope those guys don't come back too soon." Genaro turned his head to face the door as he said that. "Well, I almost got my hands free, so a few more seconds should…" Catherine's words were cut short at the sound of a loud scream from the other side of the door.

"AAHHH!" A guy's scream followed by the sounds of shot fired from an automatic were quickly stifled from outside the room. For a moment, everyone held their breath as they listened tentatively. Then softly, Catherine muttered, "What the hell was that…"

"CRAAAANS!"

With that and a loud yell, the soldier guarding the room smashed through the door and sprawled on the ground motionless. Before anyone else could react, heavy metallic stomps could be heard getting closer to where they were. Everyone held their breath as it got closer, then after a few seconds, a foot could be seen followed by an arm grasping the door frame, then the rest of the body came through and stood there, turning its head at them.

Catherine was not sure what to expect, but she was fairly certain this was not what she had in mind.

The unit that was studying them while standing at the entrance could only be described as "Tall"; it was roughly the same height as Genaro, around 6 feet, but the lanky frame gave the impression that it was even taller than him, further exemplified at the fact the head was almost scraping the ceiling with its head antennas. It was completely covered in grayish-white armor platings, with blue stripes at its arms and legs. It had a small shield on its left arm and a beam rifle that was currently being clamped to its back of its waist.

But perhaps the most notable features were the circular object that was glowing at the center of the chest-plate, and the vent on its back that was currently spewing out small amounts of white particles in the room. If there was any doubt of its identity, one thing was certain: this unit had connections with the other units that had appeared in the past.

"Hold it right there!" Everyone turned to see Chris and another soldier barged in through the big hole where the door used to be. Chris looked around and saw the soldier who was sprawled on the ground.

"Shit!" Chris cursed before lifting his gun at the unit. "Let it have it, Dickson!"

"BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!"

Everyone winced as the soldiers let loose their ammo on the unit. Despite that, the unit just stood there while letting the rounds ricochet off its armor. It only took action when some of the people screamed as the rounds started to come to their side. It turned around and walked back out of the hole, before raising its right arm towards Chris. There was a small circular object embedded in the center of its hand, which started to glow and emit a sound.

With a "PIIIII... POOM!" Chris got blasted to the wall. The unit did not bother to check as it turned to its left while lifting its left arm towards the second soldier, who paled at the sight of another circle glowing brightly. With another "PIIIII... POOM!" the solider got blasted along the corridor and hitting the open door at the far end. The unit turned again in time to see the earlier soldier starting to get up while clutching his head. The soldier looked up in time to see the unit raising both its arms and aiming the repulsors at him.

"PIIIII..."

"Don't even think about it!" The guy shouted as he grabbed Villian by the collar and dragged her up, wrapping his arm around her neck and putting the gun to her head. "No! Villian!" Annie screamed as she strained against her restraints in vain. "Let go of her, you!" Genaro roared as he attempted to get up properly.

"Shut up all of you!" The soldier yelled at them as he held the struggling girl in its arm. "Drop them now or she gets it!" The soldier pressed the gun onto Villian's head as he glared at the unit.

For a tense moment, the unit continued pointing its repulsors at the soldier who moved Villian in between to ensure he was shielded. Then slowly, the unit lowered its arms while powering down the weapons. Despite that, Catherine got chills going down her spine as the unit continued staring at the soldier; she was not sure of what, but she got the distinct feeling the soldier was going to regret his actions soon.

"Hahhah! That's right, you don't do anything but listen to what I say, got that?!" The soldier said hysterically as he continued to stare at the unit. "Now here's the deal, you will step out of the unit and this girl won't get hurt! Do I make myself..."

"PEEWW!"

The soldier did not get to finish his statement, as he got shot in the head by a small projectile that was launched from a hidden compartment on its shoulders. It was so sudden that the others could see the look of surprise that was on his face as he struck the wall. For a moment, Villian stood unsteadily on her bound legs, before she started fall to one side. Before the others could react, there was a sudden burst of wind and then they saw the unit had reached out to catch Villian before she hit her head on the ground.

"Erm..." Villian stuttered as the unit continued staring at her while holding her. Then slowly, the machine turned her body around before directing its repulsors towards the bonds on her wrists. With a soft "PEW!" the bonds on her wrists dropped to the ground. A second blast removed the bonds on her legs, temporarily making Villian stagger a little due to lack of blood circulation in the legs, but otherwise able to stand properly.

After supporting her to the table, the unit turned and made its way to Catherine's side, where it did the same for her and some of the security guards. As the others stared at it while massaging their limbs, it pointed to the rest that were tied up. The message was clear: they were to untie the rest.

Ignoring the complaints by some still tied up and the soft murmurs of appreciation of those released, it made its way towards the computer system present in the room. It stopped in front of it and twisted its head sideways as if to study the system, before lifting its left arm in front.

"CHI-CHK!"

The others stared as a small compartment on the back of its hand opened to allow an USB attachment to protrude and connect to the drive. With a loud "Beep!" the big screen on the wall flickered to life and started to stream different types of coding and schematics which Catherine recognized to be that of the jet, with a huge progress bar in the center.

After a few seconds, the progress bar filled up and turned to blue, accompanied by a loud "Bing!" to acknowledge its completion. The progress bar then got replaced with a small message.

[Hacking complete. ID Confirmed. Readjustments to flight course added. Redirecting plane back to Okinawa Airport.]

"Wait a minute!" Catherine continued staring at the machine as one of the occupants recently freed gasped. "Did you just hacked the jet?!"

In response, one of the smaller screens next to the big screen flickered to life, then displayed a simple message.

[Yes. Authorities have already been notified of the situation. They should be arriving shortly to the airport as we speak.]

Catherine could only gulp as she continued to untie the rest of the passengers. She was grateful for the fact they got help, but seeing how it effectively took down the guards and took over the plane, it still begged the question.

How would the machine react if it found out that they were going to investigate and possibly capture it in the future?

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

Here's part 2 of the Rescue Arc! Things are really hitting up now.

In case you guys are wondering, here's the inspiration for the different units:

Mark 12: Dual

Iron Man: Mark 2

Gundam: Dual Gundam from Gundam Seed

Mark 17: JetStream

Iron Man: Film version of Silver Centurion

Gundam: Gundam Astrea and Gadessa's Leg Boosters from Gundam 00

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