Tumbling

Infinite Stratos Year Two: Wing

Chapter 6

By Warrior Seadra

A broad sword deflects off the shield on Adriana's right arm. She thrusts her upper-right and mid-right wings past the sword towards the female, silhouetted drone.

The drone lets go of the sword and drops down to the side. As it evades below Adriana's beam tipped wings, it materialises a small, chrome pistol.

Aiming to redirect the barrel, Adriana cuts at the drone's wrist with her katana while arcing her lower-left wing towards the main body. Before the katana can connect, Adriana is enveloped within a blinding light. The light continues as a beam crashes against the training arena's wall.

"Adrian!" Ichika cries, disengaging his drone. At his [Byakushiki's] warning, Ichika looks back to his drone. He sees a broad sword swing down for his neck. The sword stops and trembles, only centimetres away from him.

"Worry about yourself!" Adriana's voice carries from beyond the blade. Ichika looks past the sword and finds the drone impaled by Adiana's six wings. "How did yo-?"

Ichika's question is cut as a beam blasts past him and envelops Adriana.

"How annoying, it's just like a cricket." Laura comments, joining Ichika's side. She fires her rail-gun at the drone while saying, "We've already defeated one, I'm here to provide support."

The two separate as a beam of light crosses where they levitated.

"Ichika!" Adriana calls from the side as Laura continues firing her rail-gun. She makes eye contact with the teen and charges the drone.

Ichika joins Adriana and focuses his eyes on the drone weaving around Laura's bombardment. As the two males ready their blades, the drone materialises a second, chrome pistol.

Adriana sees the light from the barrel and enters hypersonic speed. She rams Ichika to the side as two beams fill the spaces they occupied. Adriana leaves Ichika behind and loops around the beam, flying along it towards the drone. Instantly appearing before the drone, Adriana thrusts her upper wings through the drone's head. The drone convulses and goes limp, dropping its pistols.

Adriana spreads her wings apart, cutting them out of the drone's head. She turns her back to the falling drone and searches for her next target. She instead finds Charlotte, Rin, Houki, and Cecilia standing in a circle, panting. She ignores the defeated drones and descends towards the group.

As Ichika, Laura, and Adriana join with the group, Ichika asks, "Is anyone hurt?"

Adriana ignores the question. As the others respond, she glances at the remains of a drone.

At the sound of the arena gates opening, the seven turn their heads. Twenty faculty members rush onto the field and separate into groups around each drone. As they begin sorting through the wreckage, Yamada-sensei breaks away and addresses the group.

"I'm glad to see everyone is unharmed. For now, report to medical bay seven. I'll be there shortly to hear your reports." Yamada-sensei says, dismissing the students. As she walks, taking notes on a tablet, she stops and says, "Oh, and keep this incident confidential."

…..

In their school uniforms, Ichika, Charlotte, Houki, Cecilia, Rin, Laura, and Adriana meet in the corridor. Together they leave the training arena and enter a nearby building. They walk down a corridor to the medical bay.

"It's odd. Usually these attacks happen during some sort of Academy event." Adriana comments while glancing though a window.

"That's what bother's you?" Rin slaps Adriana's back.

"No, she's right." Laura agrees, "The I.S. Academy's security has been increased during those days, but remains vulnerable the rest of the year."

"Laura-chan, Adrian only looks like a girl." Charlotte sighs.

Laura gives a non-vocal comment as the group turns at a corner. They ascend some stairs as Rin says, "But did anyone you see that idiot watching from the stands?"

"Is that who you were shouting at?" Cecilia asks, glancing towards the Chinese girl. "And here I thought you finally lost it."

"We're fortunate not all them had that weapon." Houki comments as Rin complains to Cecilia.

"They were hard enough without them." Ichika agrees.

Adriana, despite her disagreement with Ichika's comment, remains silent.

They reach the medical bay. Ichika holds the door open for everyone to enter. As they finish their examinations, they leave the medical bay and speak to Yamada-sensei in an office across the hall.

Adriana passes Houki as she enters the office. She sits before Yamada-sensei and answers her questions.

"Then you don't believe this was from the organisation?" Yamada-sensei asks.

"No," Adriana responds. She looks directly into Yamada-sensei's eyes as she speaks, "The organisation would never make a female type drone. Also, with the stratos they produce, everything connects back tot he main body. My wings are the same, they directly connect to the armour on my back."

Yamada-sensei leans back in her chair mumbling "I see..." She looks down writes a note on her tablet.

"One more question, Adrian." Yamada-sensei looks back to the girl. "Why didn't you respond to any our communications."

"I didn't receive them." Adriana answers. Yamada-sensei almost drops her tablet in surprise.

"You didn't? But that's impossible! All I.S. are connected to one another through the core network. As lon-"

"Stratos' core isn't connected." Adriana cuts Yamada-sensei. She speaks casually, as though stating an obvious fact. "I cannot receive any messages over the system."

"Wait," Yamada-sensei leans forward. Her frowns in confusion as she holds up her hand. "I've seen you speaking with Ichika-san and the others. Have you connected your core with theirs and created a miniature, private core network?"

"No." Adriana responds, "Stratos recognised their cores and created the network himself. I had no direct involvement."

"I see... I suppose this is another of the core's mysteries." Yamada-sensei responds. She purses her lips, lost in her thoughts. A shutting door resounds from the hall and Cecilia's voice pierces the, air demanding an apology from someone. Yamada-sensei jumps in her seat. As she catches her breath, she turns to her notes and notices Adriana seated before her.. "A-Adriana! I-I'm so sorry, I forgot you were here. Ple-please, you're free to go now."

"Oh, no worries!" Adriana grins as she hops to her feet. She bows and rapidly waves her hand. With a smile, Adriana says, "Well then, I'll be going. Bye bye!'"

Yamada-sensei feels a pang of guilt watching Adriana hurry to the door. Her guilt deepens the moment she hears Adriana calling out to Ichika and the others.

…..

"The way your personality flips is so weird." Laura comments as Adriana joins the group.

"Don't you feel embarrassed afterwards?" Houki asks as they begin walking back to their dorm building.

"I haven't really given it much thought." Adriana grins. She tilts her head while poking a cheek. "But who cares about the trivial stuff."

"N-No... Adrian," Ichika lifts a hand in disagreement as Adriana twirls her hair, "a drastic change in behaviour like this isn't something trivial."

"Well, there's absolutely nothing I can do about it." Adriana declares, puffing out her chest. Stomping her foot, she says "If that doesn't count as trivial, then I don't know what does!"

"If you're going to put it like that..." Rin trails off with a sigh as she places a hand on her head.

"Right," Adriana clenches her fist before herself. "it's still to early for dinner, so should we go over videos of the attack earlier today? Or maybe we could watch videos of when those boys attacked. Well? How about it?"

"That would be a good way to conclude our training." Laura replies.

"What more?" Rin complains. "Come on, live a little. We should just watch a movie instead."

"Oh, I know a great movie we could watch." Cecilia continues. "Based off England's greatest detective-"

"Sherlock Holmes?" Ichika questions, "It's alright, but I've seen it."

"What?" Cecilia gasps, "Not only do you have the audacity to interrupt a lady while she speaking, but you even look down on her country. That's an insult I just cannot forgive unless you get on your knees an-"

"I'm not really interested in that movie either." Houki cuts off Cecilia.

"How about a romance movie?" Laura suggests, much to everyone's surprise.

"Maybe we should watch something with more than romance." Charlotte says. "Ichika, what kind of movies do you like?"

Ichika, Cecilia, Rin, Houki, Charlotte, and Laura argue about which movie they want to watch as they return to the dorms. Adriana watches, returns to normal along the way and watches them argue.

"Adrian, is there a genre you'd like?" Houki asks.

"Not really. I've neve-"

"Hey, you!" A girl calls out.

Adriana pauses, feeling she's the one being called out.

"Oh, excuse me." Adriana hears the voice mumble as the owner's footsteps get closer. As Adriana turns to face the girl who called out to him, a sharpness whips across her face. Adriana blinks in surprise and looks at the girl who slapped her.

The girl glares at Adriana. Her eyes are full of contempt. "You're such a liar!" She cries and storms away.

"Who was that?" Rin asks.

"That's Katie Thalis from Australia." Charlotte responds. She turns to Adriana and asks, "How do you know her?"

"We were room mates."

"What, is she mad that you really a boy?" Rin tilts her head. She raises her hands and shrugs her shoulders saying, "Shouldn't she be over this by now?"

"Does it really matter? She isn't a candidate representative." Cecilia says, running her fingers through her hair. Shocked looks of disgust flash across Houki, Rin, Charlotte, and Ichika faces.

"No, she looked hurt." Ichika comments, turning back to Adriana. "Adrian, did you say anything to her?"

"She wants to be a pilot. I agreed to help her develop a stratos with the goal being that her country might give her a core. But that was only a cover for my mission. I never intended to keep any of the promises I made when I first enrolled here."

"Adrian, if you make a promise, you have to keep it." Ichika scolds.

"Go and apologise to her." the girls demand.

Adriana, being shooed away by her friends, walks after Katie.

…..

"You're right," Adriana says while leaning against a wall. She holds hold a thick folder against her chest.

Katie jumps at Adriana's words. She turns over on her bed and faces the intruder, "A-adria-"

"I'm a liar." Adriana stops Katie saying her name. "I've been lying since the first time we met and still am."

Adriana steps forward and places the folder on a desk. She taps the jewel on her ring and is encompassed in a glow. As the light fades, Adrian stands before Katie. "Due to my circumstances, I never intended to keep any of the promises I made when I first enrolled. However, if you still desire assistance in creating a stratos, then just come ask." Adrian places his hand on the folder and turns to leave the room.

Adrian walks down the corridor for the cafeteria. As he rounds a corners, he sees a door being closed. He ignores it and continue when,

"A-Adrian?" Ichika stumbles over the name.

Adrian looks over his shoulder and sees Ichika gaping at him. Adrian flicks his palm at the teen as a wave.

Ichika, with his jaw dropped and eyes wide open, shakes his head. He walks to Adrian, saying, "What made you decide to fix it?"

"The truth." Adrian responds as Ichika joins him. Together, the two teens continue walking to the cafeteria.

"Revealing your gender is how you're intending to apologise?" Ichika asks. He slaps his forehead. "Adrian, tha-"

"Hey, wait!" Kaite's voice mutes Ichika's sentence. "What is this?"

"A report." Adrian responds. Pausing, he fleetly glances at Katie over his shoulder. Adrian steps to continue walking, but a tug at his wrist keeps him.

"I can see that!" Katie cries out. She pulls Adrian's arm closer to her side saying, "What, are you suggesting I make? An I.S. constantly engulfed in electromagnetic energy? You read this, that'll roast me alive!"

"Adrian, what are you planning?" Ichika asks from the side.

"A third generation stratos." Adrian replies.

"That's theoretical technology still being researched all over the world! Even with this report, how do you expect me to do that?" Katie stamps her foot.

"Redesign already existing technology. If you don't understand something, just looks for more information."

"Adrian, what exactly's in that report?" Ichika asks, feeling sweat run down his neck.

"A shield generated from focused electromagnetism. The report states that if the electricity synchronises with the right frequency, it could disperse energy gathered in beam weaponry. Other than that, the energy can be concentrated to fire a highly powered railgun or electro magnetic pulse." Adrian explains to Katie and Ichika, "America has already developed most of the technology. However, mid way though, they froze the research to purse project, Butterfly System. This should all be in the first page."

"Speaking of which," Katie lowers her voice. "this should be highly classified information. Where did this report come from?"

Ichika gasps. He covers his mouth as terror washes over his face, "A-Adrian... please tell me I'm wrong. You didn't-"

"I didn't do anything outside the capabilities of the Academy's systems." Adrian cuts off Ichika. "Some of the labs here are perfectly designed for information gathering."

Adrian finishes speaking and turns for the cafeteria. Ichika and Katie stare at him dumbfounded as he walks away. Ichika repeats, "Nothing outside of the Academy's capabilities..."

…..

"Tell me, how is our guest doing?" Kutsuwagi Juuzou, the principle of the I.S. Academy, asks. Using his elbows for support, he leans forward on his desk while keeping his fingers linked before himself.

"At the moment, he seems to be helping his fellow students. Other than training the problem group, he is also helping Katie Thalis from Australia create a personal unit. They acquired one of the Academy's scraped units for a base, but the original coding and armour has been completely re-written. I haven't found anything suspicious in it's development. Although, the two of them are ambitious. If I understood correctly, they are attempting to create a generation three model." Agent K reports, standing across from Kutsuwagi. As Kutsuwagi sips his tea, she continues, "Other than that, he also stopped cross dressing. Shame really, that stoic expression he made as Adriana was quite cute."

"Why the sudden change in his appearance?" Katsuwagi asks, putting down his tea cup.

"From what my sources could gather, it seems he tired of lying about his gender." Agent K shrugs her shoulders. "How are things on your end?"

Katsuwagi leans back on his chair and sighs. "Those American's refuse to give up. They insist on protecting the "Academy's future". Truthfully, I've only barely been able to repel their actions. We're lucky the previous incident happened quietly. This reminds me, when can I expect the results from your little project? You called it, Shuriken? "

Agent K smiles. "Yes, everything is already in place."

"Good." Katsuwagi dismisses Agent K. Once alone, he looks to the ceiling and closes his eyes, deep in thought.

…..

"I finished upgrading the program, so it should respond better now." Adrian says from behind a computer. "Once you wear it, I'll start the fine tuning."

Katie, walks to the middle of a room. The space is empty save for a table with a tiara and three black disks scattered on the floor.

Katie sighs as picks up the tiara, "Seriously, why did you choose a tiara?"

"Does it matter?"

"It's girly!" Katie complains.

Adrian glances at Katie, "Just change it later." Adrian resumes monitoring the computer screen.

"Yeah, of course. Easy..." Katie mutters under her breath as she puts on the tiara. She concentrates on three, black disks laying on the floor. One of the disks trembles, giving a spark. It slowly rises up. Upon reaching a meter, the other two disks follow.

"It-It's working." Katie announces, her voice straining to remain audible. While holding her head, she waves her free hand to the side. The disks hover towards the opposite direction.

"Hold on," Adrian calls while typing on the key board. "I'm adjusting the values."

Katie breathing eases and she lowers her extended hand.

"Ye-Yeah," she pants in relief. The disks twirl around before her as she says, "They're moving better now."

She lowers the disks to the ground and removes the tiara from her forehead. "How'd you create a program for thought control movement so fast? I only made the suggestion of making them plate sensors separate from the main body a few days ago."

"I didn't. The plates movement derives from Britain's [Blue Tears'] bits. Activating and manipulating the electromagnetism was adapted from Russia's data on the [Mysterious Lady's] ability to control water." Adrian responds. He stops typing and turns to Katie, "How's your head?"

"Exhausted." Katie collapses on a chair next to Adrian. "Just thinking makes me dizzy."

"That's probably form the repeated testing. Will you be able to control all the plate sensors once they're developed?"

"You mean once the program is completely adapted to my thought patterns?" Katie reaches for a bottle of water on the table. She drinks the water and asks, "The better question is if I can keep track of eight individual plates."

"Of the eight, you'll only actively use a set of four." Adrian explains as he leans back on his chair. "Of that set, you will only need to control one. The others will react accordingly. The second set, if deployed, will be programmed to float around. However, you will be able to individually manipulate each plate if you choose."

"I don't know what's more impressive, you're I.S. capabilities or your information gathering." Katie comments. "No wonder Argentina made you their candidate representative."

Adrian turns from Katie and resumes typing.

…..

"Looks like I'm your partner for today, Ichika." Charlotte's voice drifts into Ichika's ears. The teen turns and sees her smiling as she breaks away from Houki, Laura, Rin, and Cecilia. A chill runs down his spine as the four girls get into position.

"Let's work hard together, Ichika." Charlotte says from the teen's side. She takes his hand and gives it a squeeze.

"Right..." Ichika responds, feeling himself standing at death's door. The click of a rifle being loading rings in his ears.

Ichika investigates the sound and sees Cecilia aiming her rifle at his head. He receives a heart chilling smile.

"Ichika, hurry and deploy your I.S." Charlotte elbows the boy. She proceeds to step forward and deploy her [Raphael Revive].

"Yeah, Ichika!" Rin shouts from across the field within her [Shenglong]. "Hurry up so we can start already!"

Ichika sighs as he calls out his [Byakushiki].

…..

"You look exhausted." Adrian says, glancing over his shoulder. He examines Ichika who's entering their room.

Ichika merely looks at Adrian as he collapses on his bed.

"You should try running in the mornings." Adrian continues. He shifts his attention on the bookshelf before him. He slides some books aside and places a stack of papers in the opening. "It's a good way to build stamina."

Not hearing a response, Adrian looks back to Ichika. "Already asleep... Isn't sleeping this early bad for your health?"

…..

Adrian partially deploys his [Stratos'] right arm and fires the wrist blaster. The beams carry across the training field towards four floating, black disks. As the beams enter the opening between the disks, electric sparks discharge. The energy within the beams struggle against the magnetic field and disperse.

"It works!" Katie jumps with joy. She raises a hand to her forehead protector and concentrates. The four plates spiral in a circle.

Adrian fires his wrist blaster a few more times and lowers his arm. "That's enough." he says, fully returning his [Stratos] to standby mode.

Katie has the four plate float to her and lays them on the ground beside Adrian. The two crouch before the plates and examine them.

"Not a scratch." Katie states, running her hand over a plate, "Those were full powered shot, right?"

"We can confirm the ability to block the average tiered beam weaponry with this." Adrian states as calls a computer from his [Stratos]. He types a command and the four plates, along with Katie's forehead protector, vanish, digitising into a hair extension.

Katie tugs at the red hair extension on the side of her head and asks, "That'll stop once I get a core, right?"

"Basic functions of a stratos can only be activated remotely when there is no core." Adrian explains, returning [Stratos'] computer to standby mode. "This is how early research and development is tested."

"So then." Katie grins. "It's ready now, right?"

"No further tests can be done at this moment." Adrian shrugs. "All that is left is to submit a repo-"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Katie pounces onto Adrian, preventing him form finishing his sentence. She hugs him as tight as she can as she says, "I'm finally going to be pilot, thank you, thank you."

Katie steps back. She grips his shoulder and says, "Thank you so much! Come on, we're celebrating tonight!"

Katie locks her arm with Adrian's. As she begins leading him to the exit, the ceiling explodes. Adrian turns to cover Katie, breaking free from her grasp as he deploys [Stratos].

Within the smoke surrounding the dome ceiling, Adrian detects an unknown stratos with his sensors. "Take cover." He says to Katie.

The smoke dissipates slowly.

From the legs Adrian realises the statos is unmanned.

A sword extends though the smoke on the unknown stratos' left.

The right forearm is equipped with a guard of sorts. On the ovular shield, three spike like objects extend across it.

From behind floats a large golden ring with with four long, thin, forearm wide, banner like objects extending forth. There are two on the left and two on the right.

Most importantly, this drone also has a feminine body.

Adrian appears before the drone. The drone vanishes, leaving Adrian's wings to slash empty air. A blow from behind sends Adrian tumbling, but something pierces through his leg and jerks him back into place. Using [Stratos'] camera, Adrian finds the drone slashing at his back. He breaks free with a pivot and blocks the sword with his upper-left wing. Adrian uses the opening and thrusts his two, top right wings at the drone's torso.

The drone disappears. Adrian spins in place and fires his wrist blasts.

The drone's banners snake before the blasts and repel them. The banners spread apart and float before the drone like a veil.

As Adrian narrows his eyes, the drone rushes him. Adrian dives to his right, but is again jerked into place. The three spikes on the drone's right arm had launched forward like a scorpion's tail and are jabbed into his shoulder armour. His shoulder, although injured, is sparred due to the [Absolute Defence Energy Barrier].

Adrian clicks his tongue as he iaido draws the sword from his lower-left wing.

The drone blocks Adrian's cut with its left wrist while impaling Adrian's chest with the sword of the same hand.

The blow drives Adrian away, only for the stinger's grip to stop him. As he's jerked back into place, the four banner whip across Adrian's body. The blows knock Adrian way, his [Stratos'] armour tearing through the grip on his shoulder. Unable to regain balance, Adrian crashes into the ground.

Adrian flies from the dust covered crater. He positions himself at the opposite end of the ring, as far as possible from the enemy drone.

'It knows my weaknesses,' Adrian recalls how the drone used its wrist to deflected his katana. He does a quick analysis of the damage done by the drone's scorpion spikes, 'and programmed to counter my combat data.'

Adrian thrusts his arms forward, and fires his wrist blaster. As the drone deflects the attack with it's banners, both it and Adrian disappear.

Adrian and the drone charge charge each other at hyper sonic speed. He deflects the scorpion spikes by thrusting his katana at the drone's right hand. Using his left hand to keep himself free, Adrian blocks the banners with his three left wings and upper right wing while his remaining wings cut into the drone as he passes by.

Not disengaging, Adrian rotates as he passes and continues along with the drone. He punches at the drones face with his free hand and fires his wrist blaster. As the drone is hit, Adrian's six wings thrust forward to impale the drone's sides like teeth. A force rams into Adrian's front before his wings can reach their target.

The attack forces Adrian away. It stops and allows the momentum to crash Adrian into a wall.

Adrian pants, ignoring the blood on his chin as he floats away from the wall. He stares at the drone levitating in the middle of the arena. Four spheres circle around the drone and implant themselves into the golden ring.

'They were testing us...' Adrian's memory of the drone from earlier that month imposes itself over the new invader.

…..

"Die, die, die, die!" Rin cries. She flies after a four armed I.S. drone while repeatedly firing her [Impact Cannon]. The drone evades the attacks and appears before Rin, ready to impale her with a pile-driver. It disappears again as a beam cuts through the space it occupied.

"These are stronger than last time." Houki says. She digitises her [Thousand Pierces] blaster rifle and draws her katana. With a kiai, Houki engages the four armed drone.

"We'll pull though," Ichika reassures everyone. He parries the rapier from a drone and cuts at the extended arm with his [Yukihara Nigata], "there's only three of them."

"Agreed." Laura states. Black cables fly her I.S. and surround the enemy engaging Ichika. The drone spins to face Laura. It lowers its rapier.

Laura lays on the ground with her [Schwarzer Regan] pierced in various places. Her black cables lye scattered around her.

"Laura-chan!" Charlotte cries, disengaging the drone she's fighting. She summons a pair of gattling guns and fires at rapier wielding I.S.

The drone Charlotte broke away from targets the disracted girl. The zanbato it wields grows longer and wider, more than tripling in size. The drone swings to cut Charlotte it half, but has the trajectory of its sword shifted into harmlessly passing by her side.

"Really, Charlotte," Cecilia says while looking through her rifle's scope, "you can't ignore an enemy like that."

Cecilia lowers her rifle and smiles. Her [Bits] fly from her side and begin firing at the drone.

…..

Adrian wields a katana in each hand as he and the drone charge each other. With his right hand's katana, he deflects three of the drone's spheres. Adrian twists to maneuver around the final orb. He ignores the pain as it rips across his torso and thrusts his left hand's katana to parry scorpion stinger.

The stinger pierces the shield on Adrian's left forearm. While the outer spikes pierce though Adrian's shield to lodge themselves next to Adrian's arm, the third spike is repelled and held above the skin by the [Absolute Defence Energy Barrier]. The heavy strike forces Adrian to release his katana. Caught, Adrian's arm is jerked.

Adrian not once removes his sight from the drone. While blocking the drone's snake like banners with his four upper wings, he digitises his [Stratos'] left arm. Free, Adrian continues forward and impales the drone's sides with his two bottom wings. Holding the drone with his wings, Adrian forces the drone to stay with him.

Adrian release the katana in his right hand while redeploying the guard on his left arm. He punches both hands forward and fires at the drone with his wrist blasters.

Adrian flies the drone into the ground and continues firing. With half the energy in his arm guards depleted, his [Stratos] notifies him, Target no longer functioning.

Adrian ceases his attack. He stands over the drone and closes his eyes as he places [Stratos] into standby mode.

"Is it over?" Katie's voice carries over from within a field entrance.

Adrian looks to Katie. While trying to regain control over his breathing, he asks, "You're still... here?"

"Locked in."

"Typical," Adrian sighs, "they should be open now."

"That's right." Agent K's voice comes from behind Katie. She steps forward, followed by about twenty operatives. As the operatives begin gathering the remains of the drone, Agent K continues, "As usual, we'd like to keep this secret."

Adrian and Katie approach the gate where Agent K stands as the operatives walk past with their collected drone parts.

"Listen up," Agent K begins. "Fir- Get down!"

Agent K dives onto Katie. With her own body, she protects Katie as bullets spray around them.

Adrian stands before the two, blocking a scythe with his wings.

"Well, well, well," Duo comments. "What do we have here?"

Duo repels Adrian with the bottom of his scythe and charges him. "It's a lamb rip for the taking!"

A/N: This seems like a good stopping area. Adrian's life seems pretty interesting, it's one battle after another for him. After the drones comes the GW team. Then again, the operation might not be progressing as the GW team planned either. Well, this is enough foreshadowing, let's move on.

Dispute the difficulty in writing this chapter, I like how it turned out. The first scene, however, feels weak. I wanted Adrian and everyone else to over power those drones. They were only there to collect data on everyone's combat capabilities so that the next batch would be even stronger. There was also another character within this chapter. One besides Katie. If you need a clue, the person appeared/ was referenced at least five times. Please, tell me if you noticed said character.

On a side note, as you can all tell, I write in present tense. What are you opinions on it? Is it awkward, or was it something you got use to?

Thank you for reading and reviewing.

Warrior Seadra