Openings song: The walking dead of the Dropkick Murphy's.

Second chapter, but I don't think I get the third ready. This is a bit more of info concerning the hackers.

At the academy, they got off the train. Chifuyu Orimura stood at a speaker and everyone followed the signs. The third year students who graduated last spring were replaced by new freshmen. Around 1200 girls and one guy would be taking classes to become pilots. And now they would get 60 young scoundrels who would be taking classes, but not become pilots, but to become the only ones who could defeat an Infinite Stratos.

Ran Gotanda passed Ichika as well. "Heyo, Ichika. How have you been?"
"Fine, thank you." In an instant he fell a murderous aura from six jealous girls. Luckily, Rin remarked that she was the younger sister of their mutual friend in middle school. Houki remembered the girl as well. "Ran. What are you doing here?"
"Well, I'm a first year student at this school. I also have a personal IS. The light green jewel, a third generation type, meant for mid-range battle. I'm in class 1-1."

"That was our old class." Ichika remembered. In a speaker, they heard someone shouting. "Could you morons get in front of this stage, asap? If you have time to waste, you can waste time with running around the school building."
"As expected of Chifuyu Orimura. Let's get to the stage." Everyone assembled and the murmur Ichika heard was mostly concerning him. He sighed. Maybe he rather be a hacker than a pilot as he grinned at the thought. Most men called him lucky, but he didn't feel that way about his life here.

He stood in front of the stage and saw his older sister at the mic.

"Everyone welcome to the ISA, the toughest challenge of your live. Piloting the Infinite Stratos. Despite the attacks last semester, it gladdens me to see that a lot of you are new in this school. This is not going to be easy. Let me that clear."

Ichika couldn't agree more what his sister said. It wasn't easy to pilot the IS and a lot of people were expecting a lot of him, being the only male pilot and brother of the First Brunhilde. "But I'll do anything in my power to get through this. And hereby, I welcome you at the Infinite Stratos Academy."

After a word of Tatenashi, welcoming the new students, they got the announcement of the ship. "Some of you may have seen a airship. It was a hacker ship. Some of you may know the hackers. From now on, these guys will be staying with us in order to have peace in all the world parts. I expect all of you to treat these guys well. Oh and if you value your live, don't laugh when the speaker is on the mic."

She got off the stage and sixty young, rough guys climbed up, not even paying attention to the stairs. The pilots didn't expect to see guys like that and they didn't even knew that boys like that existed. They had hoped on gentle, beautiful and caring boys, much like Ichika and their prenium source regarding boys (yaoi manga), not tough, scarfed and strong guys who were almost full grown and saw a lot of the dark world. They were the complete opposite of the girls.

They also had a different uniform. Unlike the white ISA uniforms, they got blue sweaters with a hood that was pulled up and grey trousers.

At the mic, they saw two hands. The ones at the first row could hear a slight curse in a language they didn't understand. "Erzof, if you could be so kind." A huge boy walked to the kid. With hands, big enough to destroy an wooden table with ease took the little kid up with utmost care. A kid, merely twelve years old, appeared. Ichika remembered him as the one who stopped the women at the monorail and the one he encountered a few times before.

"A bit higher." The kid said. "No, too far." Ichika began to grip why Tatenashi better said not to laugh. The scene was utmost comical, but the guys didn't look like they would take a joke too kindly. The rest of the students couldn't believe it. A guy, one of the most intimidating things they ever seen took up a boy who ordered him around. When his head could reach the mic, the boy began to speak. "Test, test. Ah, it works. " He said it at a nonchalantly tone, not caring about the looks he got from the students.

"Sorry for that. You wouldn't place a stand where a kid could speak through. This is a high school. I can't blame you about it. My name is Anaton Orlejov and I'm the responsable of the sixty guys you see behind me. We'll be staying here as a test for coming semester and if anything goes well, we'll be for this whole year. I'll give you this. We're not pilots and some of you may now us as alternatives used in other countries. We have the same power like you, only we fight in another way. Does someone has questions?"

One of the first years raised her hand. "What in the world is a grade school kid like you doing here?"
"For starters, I'm twelve, meaning that I would be going to middle school and I'd love to, but because my gang members are all fifteen, sixteen or seventeen, I'm not allowed to got to middle school."

He waited and went on, with a less caring tone. "Back home nobody really cared, because we didn't even had school at the place, but because my gang is the strongest juvenile gang, we were somewhat doomed and forced to come to this school and taking my members, meant taking me with them. Don't worry. I got the same education as them, so no problem keeping up. Other questions?"

He ended with his explanation. Ran raised her hand. "What do you mean with gang members? And why didn't you go to school?"

"Ah, I'll begin with the last question. We didn't have to go to school, because we got our teachings from someone else. A teacher who gives you classes back home. We call it a passer. That's a hacker who graduated from schooling, but doesn't fight as a soldier. He teaches youngsters like ourselves. We say that he teaches a gang, but most of the time, a passer stays with his group. That group decides to give lessons to a youngster group like our owns. In my case, well, I got classes from the best. And about gang members. Nanite runners aren't one man's armies like Infinite Stratos. The reason why we can match pilots is because we fight in a group. We call these gangs. They're made up from the same number of close and long range fighters and one or two suppportives."

Another first year raised her hand. "Yes." Anaton pointed at her. "What does close, long and supportive means?"
Anaton sighed. "I have foreseen that question. Just like Infinite Stratos, hackers differ in types. Close and long range fighters match you guys in some ways. Hackers cannot get a full machine like yours ready, they can only transform different parts of their bodies. Another fact is that close and long range fighters don't have access to shield for protection like yours. I'll explain that in a minute."

On his fingers, he counted the groups. "A close range fighter is like your close fighter who use melee weapons for attacks. Those can be spears, swords, axes, bardiches, but claws or in some special cases even fists. The long range fighters are lot more alike the Infinite Stratos. Sniper rifles, machine guns, shotguns, but we have more variety. Some guys could access bows, crossbows or throwing knives. A fact remains that one hacker can't stand a chance against a pilot. That's why we got a number of pacts." He took a breath and went on.

"The first one is a brother pact. A close range fighter links up to a long range fighter. In that way, they got an advantage. That may seem like a tag battle of the Infinite Stratos, but it isn't quite like that. A pact means that those guys can fight in sync. My gang consists of six members."

He pointed his friend behind him with his thumb. "The guy lifting me up is a long range fighter." Ichika and a few others blinked twice. That guy looked like a tank and he was long range.

"Ah, did I mention, we also rely on canons for long range. I think you guys get a better idea in a battle to get what I mean with a brother pact. After that pact, a few of these 'brothers' work together in a group. These things are called packs. If they can find a supportive hacker, these guys got the name gang. Overall are packs more feared than gangs, for the simple reason that they fight much more brutal."

He pointed a thumb at himself. "Suppportives, I'm one myself, are the only 'not aggressive' type in a fight. It just states that we're not meant to fight, but that we're meant to heal wounded, make strategies and deploy shields in a battle ground. Something else?"

Cecilia raised her hand. "Uh, some say that hackers can match Infinite Stratos, but I think that's impossible for you to defeat Personal Infinite Stratos. A mass produced generation, fair so, but a Personal? I highly doubt it."

Before Anaton could react, a guy walked up to the stage. "Well, why don't you find out? The thing that we got a few special powers ourselves. Like you could have personal Infinite Stratos, we can have special programs. In weighs of valuate, a program designed by a hacker leader is ten times more worth than an Infinite Stratos designed and made by Tabane Shinonono. And despite that, a lot of hackers can customize their programs to match their own needs. If you're still looking for something special, than you encountered the right prize. I'm a Nature like all of Anaton's gang are."

Before he could go on, he got a tap on his shoulder. "Are you the responsable or am I the one? Get back, Izolf." The boy nodded. "Like my friend told you, we're indeed somewhere alike that. Customization of a program is not done until a hacker achieve the status passer. Those who can do that when they're schoolers are mostly seen as Personal Infinite Stratos Pilots."

He swallowed and thought about his words. "The Natures are something different. A Nature is not decided, but it's an aftermath of the implementation of the nanites. That means you got a side effect from your powers. Those Natures are extremely rare. The only ones of the fourth generations are Kerlongsj and the Devil's Brigand. In my generation, only seven has achieved a Nature. Izolf said a bit too much, but yes, like the rest of my gang, we're all Natures." He took a breath. "Of course, programs are personal, but a lot of them are alike, so you can see some as Mass Produced. The only thing with Nanites that you don't respond with the machine. It takes a lot more, but do I have the time for that?"

He looked to Chifuyu who gave him a nod. "Well then, you got lucky, but please all sit down, it will take more than a while." Everyone got to sit and Anaton began.

"First of all is that like Infinite Stratos compatibility, which for some reason only women and one lone guy could get, hackers got a chance rate. When that's high enough, they get the nanites inside them. Mostly that send in with a program. Those programs attach to the inside of a body and then you get a hacker. Mostly they are mass produced programs like the Infinite Stratos and most of the time you get hackers who adapt to the program like it was expected."

He crossed his arms and went on. "There are two ways a program can differ. The first example is a designed program like my own, but it's extremely rare you get the chance to have a body for a designed program. Designed programs are to begin with extremely difficult to create, because it takes a lot of time and one of the programs can differ in almost every way from another. A program is as complex as an Infinite Stratos unit with the only difference that you can't adjust the core of a program so you have to make sure that you get everything in a program when you make it. A design can only get a name when you make it from the ground up. You can't take a existing program and update it. Desings are normally never done, except you have a special case."

"The biggest thing unlike a personal IS that was created for you, so you can make the until to your likings is that the program has to like you. Your chance rate has to be 90% if you want to use it. With other words, one of ten thousands can get a designed program. I'm one of those lucky bastards. The second case what's almost the only way to achieve a personal program before graduating is mutation. A program downloaded inside of you, but your body don't react on it like it's supposed to and it began to deform the core. If you're lucky enough to make it through, that's almost 80% nowadays, you can get nice side effects or the program changes into a completely different program than supposed. Now I'll give you an example. Tizof, Thazalof, Jozalof, could you guys step forward please?"

Three guys and two who looked awfully the same stepped forward.

"Joran, activate your Alesia." The boy nodded. He started to hack. "Circle of energy." The name betrayed itself as Ichika saw a huge circle. He couldn't believe that something else unlike an Infinite Stratos could make a defence like that.

"Alesia is a program largely used by Flemish Supportive hackers. One of the greatest examples is Kerlongsj Alesia's. He diverted the program immediately in his body to a 3.0 state. Well then, Tizof and Thazolof both get Alesia as program. Lads, be so kind to show your weapons." The two nodded and Houki got a cocky smile when she saw that one of the two developed dual swords in each hand. The other one created a long bow.

"These two boys, who are one egged twins, both developed an unique program. Tizof is the first schooler who has dual weapons by implementation. Thazalof developed a bow that's unmatched by any other long range weapon. If they have a choice, they rather send him on a sniper mission. Thank you, boys, that's enough."

The three deactivated their weapons and went back. "Like you can see, they try to get as much special guys together and until today we're the second best gang in whole of the legals. And if you wanna ask why we were sent, that's because the ones I talk about are already graduated. For the rest to be so lucky to get a program is just because you have a high sync rate. Are there other things you want to know?" Laura raised her hand. "The hackers, how are they seen in your countries?"

"Well, like Infinite Stratos, we're most of the times used in military, but we're underground works. We act like Special Forces or are used as answer why Flanders doesn't have Infinite Stratos. Does that satisfy you?"

"No, it doesn't." Laura barfed. "You guys aren't military. Scum is a better name for you." Anaton got a harsher tone when he reacted at the insult. "On that we do agree. Unlike the most of you who get a VIP treatment in life, we got it pretty bad. War orphans is for you a name, for us it's reality. We're not nice guys. I don't think you can call us good guys, but we're not scum. If you gonna call us like that, you'll get killed. We're used to that." He chuckeled when Laura stood up. "You think you can take us on?"

"We're trained to fight Infinite Stratos and we're damn good at it. We're a pack of protect each other. Not always out of love, but because we're a group. You don't let each other down."

"It was one of the harshest things I've ever done getting, Hell's Fire in my bones, but I'm glad I done it. And true, we're not exactly an army. We're mercenaries, investigators, spies, assassin's, everything you don't want to be. But we are an army for Flanders or do I have to remind you of the most shameful siege that the Infinite Stratos encountered? You lost a fight and not even to other pilots. Men to begin with. It proves enough." Laura got a blush of shame and just like Charlotte and Cecilia looked away. Ichika got his hand in the air. "Yeah."

"Eh, can women become hackers? Or that only able for men?" Anaton took a sigh, funny question coming from the only male pilot. "We're still experimenting with that. For now, it's possible for women to accept nanites, but not to get the same weapons like us. And the hacker leaders are not too hasty to introduce women as fighters if you think that we're meant to counter Infinite Stratos who're solely women except for you."

Chifuyu decided it was time to stop before the guys and girls would get in a fight. Ichika never reacted on his abusing, but Kerlongsj told her that his guys fought back. She didn't like it, but she understood. Anaton's gang was as strong as Ichika's harem and with a past a lot darker than the girls.

"Okay, Mr. Orlejov. I think that's enough. You can get down and get to the class. I wouldn't like it if you start a fight." Anaton nodded, but the only student who had the gut to defy Chifuyu raised her hand. "What does responsable mean?" Tatenashi had a mischievous undertone.

"Bluntly said, we don't have to take shit from anyone. Not from Student Council, Representative Candidates, teachers or even headmaster. The only one we listen to is Chifuyu Orimura. Kerlongsj gave that as sole condition to send me."
"Oh and why is that he had the gut to ask like that?"

"That's because he's the only thing I have that somewhat a father for me and I'm Kerlongsj's adopted son. That's why." Anaton got off the stage and the rest of the boys jumped off. He stopped in front of Ichika.

"I think you and I have a score to settle, right?"