"Yes two fifteen year old boys did take down an I.S. in Africa on a sanctioned military operation. You know that because recognize half the news organizations in this press conference form when it was announced in the first place…What?...Ma'am please calm down…What? Arrest them? For what? Returning fire when fired upon, by an I.S. that wasn't even supposed to be there? Let me tell those boys out there they don't even care about the I.S., they're just soldiers fighting to survive on the battlefield. Their astounding victory was only a means to an end.
It's about time you people realized that the I.S. isn't a protector of peace like you wish it to be! It's weapon like every technological advancement before it and any that will come after it. It's very powerful weapon that is now in the hands of a organization that has no problems hurting innocents to further its own goals. And right now those two boys are our best protectors against them!
The Colonel answering a radical feminist group representative, during a press conference. Notably that representative had to be restrained and forced out of the room after his response.
[…]
"Well this is a fine mess!" said Mike exasperatedly as he fired his silenced ACR at two masked terrorist. "Why the hell whenever we try to be sneaky it blows up in our face!?"
"Well at least we got the hostage before everything went to hell!" Said Gray. The two teenage operators were taking cover behind an armored vehicle. appropriated from the motor pool belonging to the numerous enemies around them. Next to them was another teenager about their age and of Japanese descent. He was keeping his head down has bullets flew over him.
Right now they were on a rescue mission taking place in small airbase high up in the Japanese mountains. They tried to be stealthy at first managing to steal numerous weapons and munitions, and put into a commandeered vehicle. Mainly because they wanted too. They also managed to save the hostage before the alarm was tripped.
"Oh shit, Gray heads up!" said Mike as he squatted down to reload and saw something in the distance.
"What?" yelled Gray as he fired off a few rounds killing some enemies.
"We have two I.S.'s incoming!"
"Are you shitting me!?" asked Gray, he ducked and saw where Mike is looking and saw two exo skeletons flying at their location at high speeds despite being a ways off they probably only had five minutes. Had either of them cared enough to study popular I.S. designs they would know they were called Raphael's. an I.S. of a French design popular among the I.S. military units for it being equipped with very many weapons.
"We need to think of something." said Mike. Both of them looked around to figure something out. While these two have already taken down a single I.S. and are both incredibly proud of that fact. They also know it was a pain in the ass and nearly died (many times) pulling it off. They'd rather not face one again especially when they have to protect someone and there's two of them.
Gray seemed to have an idea.
"Okay I have an idea, but you are not going to like it." Said Gray. Mike flashed back to their first encounter with an I.S.. after Gray said those words he lit a parched brush on fire in order to hide their thermal signatures which escalated into a full blown wildfire. It got them away from the I.S. but they nearly died in the process.
"At least give me a heads up this time." Sighed his partner in reluctant acceptance.
"Avalanche." Said Gray straight faced. Picking up a panzerfaust 3, that they looted from the enemy arms room.
"Avalanche!?" said their rescuee in surprise. However the two ignored him.
"You know I would argue with you on how bad of an idea that is." Said Mike "But I know better, alright cover us to that snow mobile and then do it." He gestured to a snowmobile sitting on the edge of the runway in front of path they used to gain entry.
"Oh shit, I didn't even think of that, nice catch man." Said Gray. Mike just sighed.
"On three" said Mike "1…2…3! Go, go, go!" as Mike grabbed the rescuee and practically dragged him to the snowmobile
"It's Havoc time!" said Gray, he's been trying to think of a battle cry for their team, he popped up with the rocket launcher the sight of which caused most of the hostiles to scatter he fired it at the face of the mountain on the other side of the airbase.
The effects were exactly what Gray had hoped for as a massive amount of snow was coming down the cliff towards them. He then ran to the snowmobile that Mike and the HVI were already on. Apparently Mike also had the foresight to fashion a some hemp rope in form of seatbelt for the three of them.
Gray hopped on the tail end with an M79 grenade launcher ready facing back. Another weapon he looted from the base.
"DRIVE!" they took off just as the avalanche began to reach them. Mike floored it the steep hill making them gain speed very quickly. That's when an high caliber round hit very close to them
"I.S.'s are on our ass." Said Gray plainly not really surprised.
"Yeah, what'd you expect?" asked Mike rhetorically.
The I.S.'s were on their tale firing a hail of bullets at them but thanks to Mike's evasive driving and plain dumb luck none of the shots hit. Gray shot his grenade launcher while it didn't hit something else amazing happened.
"Holy shit!" said Gray surprised.
"What?"
"One of the I.S.'s just got buried when it dodged my shot!" said Gray.
"Nice!" said Mike "now deal with the other one!"
Easier said than done the other I.S. learned from what happened to her partner and was more careful.
"We have a crevice coming up!" called back Mike, their HVI seemingly able to understand English.
"So jump it!" yelled Gray.
"You don't have to tell me twice." While Mike is one who keeps the two of them from going overboard on insane plans. That doesn't mean Gray hasn't rubbed off on him, and the fact he recognizes it's too late to turn and if they slow down they're going to be killed by either the I.S. or the avalanche.
When they reached the crevice there was a bunch of packed snow making a jump ramp there and the snowmobile launched into the air.
Gray launched grenade at the I.S. just before they got into the sky and it met her right as she reached the cliff and was blown back into the avalanche as the trio launched into freedom.
The two members of Havoc team were laughing their asses off at the thrill of their stunt, while their HVI had his arms wrapped around Mike screaming in terror as he was having troubles staying on the snowmobile evident by how his feet were in the air.
All in all if this image was captured on camera it would make a great poster if a movie was ever made about them or a cover for a book.
When the snowmobile landed on the other side of the crevice it bounced once slid on a rock spun out of control and slammed sideways into a log sending the three boys flying into a conveniently placed snow bank.
"Whooo!" the two boys of Havoc team jumped up excited from their death defying stunt. And high fived each other in celebration. The HVI decided to keep laying down trying to figure out if things were better when he was captive.
"Wow we make one hell of mess!" commented Gray unapologetically.
"Probably why the colonel named us Havoc team." Agreed Mike with smirk.
"Yeah…" said Gray as they calmed down from the adrenaline "So, what are the odds the I.S.'s got destroyed in the avalanche?"
"I think we both know the answer to that…" replied Mike as a serious mood came over them.
"I can hope right?" asked Gray. "But I'm sure they are pretty pissed right now!"
Back up on the mountain where the boys just escaped from two I.S.'s burst from the snow, both obviously enraged.
"What the hell was that?" asked one of the pilots. A woman with long black hair going down to her mid back. "Those were unlike any special ops group we have had to deal with."
"I know." Said another this one had short crimson hair. "They had skills being able to hold out against the security forces." Phantom task recruits from former tier one units in the world or PMC's with skills matching it. "but other than that everything else was reckless especially since this was a rescue mission. I mean they caused an avalanche when they saw us coming to escape. That could have killed them easily!"
"What are we dealing with here? A couple of lunatics?"
"You guys are a couple of lunatics!" yelled the HVI.
"Oh hey, he speaks English." Said Gray not fazed by the accusation.
"Makes our job easier." Said Mike with shrug "and there were two I.S.'s coming towards us, we can't pilot an I.S. like you can."
"Yeah, speaking of which." Pondered Gray "How is it out of all the I.S. pilots which typically have supermodel class looks we could have saved, how did we get the only one in the world with a dick between his legs!?" he pointed a finger at the HVI in emphasis.
The HVI was indeed the world famous Ichika Orimura. The first male to ever operate an I.S.. he was on the opposite end of the spectrum for his notoriety than Havoc team. Where he made headlines for flying one, theses two made three billion views(and counting) in a youtube video for taking one down.
The briefing for this mission went as such.
"Alright Havoc listen up!" said the Colonel sitting behind his desk as the two boys stood in front of him "Phantom task has abducted an I.S. academy student, while the student didn't have an I.S. on their person this still is a serious problem." The Colonel paused "we managed to track them to a small hidden airfield high up in the mountains of Japan. Your job is go there bust out the HVI and tear shit up on the way out…something I'm sure you two will do as collateral anyways. Make your way to an abandoned town for extraction. I shouldn't have to tell you if there's an I.S. on your tail extraction will be denied. And regards to the HVI keep him safe!"
The two boys walked out.
"Alright time to save us a princess." Said Gray "Rescuing a distressing damsel is a surefire way to get a girl!"
"You and your movies…" said Mike amused before realizing something "Wait…did the colonel say keep 'him' safe?"
"…huh?"
And that's how Havoc team began their mission. They were outfitted with advanced gear in the form of a new combat jacket. While it looked like a hooded sweatshirt and cargo pants, both of these articles of clothing were made out of and lined internally with bullet resistant material it can stand up to pistol rounds and most of the light rifle rounds like 5.56, 7.62x39mm, 5.45, and 6.8mm like some special ops groups are using. However heavy caliber rounds or dedicated armor piercing rounds will get to it. However not instantly since it's padded and disperses some of the kinetic impact.
It covered their entire bodies and was much lighter than a single Kevlar plate. Their particular combat outfit was modified to be invisible to sensors so they can hide from radar. Namely an I.S. hyper sensor, and other enhanced optics.
The way an I.S. hyper sensor works is that it sends data to the pilots brain which lets them perceive 360 degrees. However their outfits hide them so even if a hyper sensor is used directly on them it will look like they aren't even there.
Aside from that most of their gear was pretty standard. However they lost their rifles and stolen grenade launcher in the snowmobile chase, and were now left with their P226's.
So here they were on a snow capped mountain, down to a handgun with a few mags, two I.S.'s out for their blood and any enemy patrols that didn't get buried in the avalanche. And to top it all off they had to keep their HVI alive. This is a considerably worse condition than their previous mission.
"So who are you guys anyways?" asked Ichika as he got up.
"I'm Mike he's Gray." Said Mike "We're Havoc team, of the UN child soldier study project."
Ichika looked at them confused.
"We're the two badass SOB's who took down an I.S. a few weeks ago." Put in Gray. Ichika's eyes widened at that. He saw the video he knew what they pulled off. In fact everyone at the I.S. academy has seen the video.
They were raised their whole lives believing the I.S. was invincible, and being trained to pilot it only reinforced that. Then these two happened. Two boys taking out a rogue I.S. in Africa. Some of the more egotistical girls were angry that these two pulled it off. Some were a stunned and interested in them. Others were terrified. Some radical pro I.S. talk shows, were claiming these to two utilized the power of hell.
"We are also here to take you home." Explained Mike.
"Well I guess you know who I am." Said Ichika getting up.
"Ichika Orimura, first male I.S. pilot, student at I.S. academy and our current objective." Said Gray. That's however where the official information "You currently have the interest of the entire student body, five, no wait…seven you have become particularly close with, two are sisters, two are childhood friends and the other three you became close with due to differing circumstances regarding your status. All of them a have a personal I.S….sounds like a pain in the ass… and try to kill you in jealous rage due to a misunderstanding at least once a week."
"You scare me when you do that Gray…" said Mike looking incredulously at his partner.
"Was that all in my file?" asked Ichika surprised at the accuracy of the analysis of his life.
"No, it's just something he can do." Explained Mike "He basically pulls a story out of his ass about someone and it ends up matching perfectly."
"You also recently met someone who you think to be a long lost twin or possibly younger sister." Continued Gray "Who also happens to be a part of the terrorist group whose base we just buried."
"That's quite a plot twist…" said Mike.
"Right?" agreed Gray "This led you to question your sister…who happens to be your homeroom teacher due to you believing that you were abandoned when you were little. She however basically blew you off and you two never spoke of it again."
"That's just freaky…" remarked Ichika stunned
"Imagine my reaction when I first met him." Said Mike.
"But wait there's more!" Said Gray "You also found out that at least five of those seven girls I mentioned before have some pretty lewd fantasies about you… that must have been a shocker to discover… since then you have been rather detached from them and rarely talk to them anymore…and that some girls think have closer than should be relationship with your sister because of their big yet oh so fragile ego's."
"Okay there is no way that last part was in any government file!" said Ichika astonished at Gray who was beginning to think he might be psychic. "How do you even do that?"
"Like Mike said, I pull a story out of my ass about someone I've met." Said Mike "I don't even try either once I start talking the back story basically writes itself."
"Anyways we should probably move on before the I.S. we escaped from recover." Said Mike
"True, should probably ditch the snowmobile too" agreed Gray "Too much noise."
"Agreed." Mike then took out a canister and pulled what seemed to be a white cloak out from it and tossed it to Ichika who looked at him for clarification. "It's made from a fabric that's invisible to radar and other electronic sensors, it should hide you from an I.S. Hyper-sensor."
*CRASH*
"Or it would if the I.S. didn't already find us!" said Gray as he an Mike took out their handguns and opened fire on it, a futile effort. But it makes them feel better. Case in point the I.S. stood there not really affected, until their clips ran dry.
"Are you done?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. The two looked at each other drawing a blank on what to do seemingly having a wordless conversation with their facial expressions.
"One last thing." Said Gray and tossed a flash bang before the two grabbed Ichika and jumped off the edge of the raised ground they were on, and took off running while the I.S. began firing wildly as the effects from the flash bang threw off her aim. The two took cover behind a large boulder quickly throwing the sensor resistant blanket over Ichika.
"Well that plan went to shit." Said Gray "How about we sneak around and get the snowmobile and try to outrun her." As if trigged by his words the snowmobile they used to get down the mountain crashed just behind their hiding spot. The three just looked at the wreck "…Okay…plan B."
"C…at this point." Said Mike "And I have a plan…we kill that I.S.."
"Bitching, how we do?" said Gray all for it. This moment of reckless insanity actually conceals a deep level of tactical assessment.
They know they can't out run it.
It has them severely outgunned.
But they can hide.
And they have a once in a life time accesses to an expert on the topic…at least compared to them.
"Alright mister HVI." Said Mike "At any moment in time is there something that got past an I.S. any type of device prohibited from use."
"Well equipment that doesn't inflict direct damage on a person gets through shield." Explained Ichika.
"Like…" asked Gray.
"Probably something against the senses like flashbangs. Because the one you threw obviously affected her." Said Mike picking up on the explanation. "Though that won't stop her, it will just pause and piss her off for a few seconds."
As if the to prove a point and enraged yell was heard from pilot.
"AAAAAAAAGH, WHERE ARE YOU BASTARDS HIDING!?"
"Case in point." Said Mike rolling with it. "So non-lethal attacks work, eh?"
"To bad this can't be as easy as pressing a gun barrel to her head and pulling the trigger." Said Gray jokingly. However the other two looked at him surprised.
"Actually no one's ever tried that before."
"Gray you magnificent bastard." Said Mike inspired by his partners offhanded comment.
The I.S. shield protects the pilot from harm, recognizing any lethal object, whether it be a projectile laser or some various sharp and pointy object. However a gun despite being a lethal weapon was not lethal by itself. It required ammo. Without it was just piece or metal and plastic, or wood if you can find an older model. The theory these two have begun to explore was that if they can get a gun barrel pass the shield and pull the trigger it should act like an injection needle going through skin.
Gray also seemed to realize this.
"Alright now we need to a plan so one of us can cap that bitch."
"One of us distracts it while the other gets on its back and blows her brains out." Put in Gray.
"If we can lure it back here one us can use this mound to get some leverage."
"Sounds good now who does what?" asked Gray. The two glanced at each other. The air became tense as the two both got stony faces as if an unspoken declaration of war was made between them.
All of a sudden their fist flew at each other. Ichika was almost sure that these two were going to have fist fight over this issue. And for him that proved to him that these two were lunatics!
However their fist stopped just short of meeting and made two gestures. Gray kept his fist clenched while Mike had his finger outstretched and pressed together. Apparently that was just an overly dramatic set up to a game of rock paper scissors.
When these two were being trained as a team and were told that neither of them would have higher authority than the other. So the two had the foresight to come up with a way to solve and disagreements they'd have in the field. They decided on rock paper scissors.
Ichika comically fell backwards at the mood killer.
"Dammit!" said Gray groaning in reluctant acceptance. "Alright, time to be bullet bait." And with that he walked off in search of the I.S. hearing a few trees fall down was a pretty good indicator of where she was. With a hardened resolve he walked off.
"Is he going to be okay?" asked Ichika.
"He'll be fine." Said Mike totally confident. "There's a reason I wanted him to be the bait other than the fact I don't want to get up close and personal with an I.S."
"Really?" asked Ichika.
"Yeah." Said Mike "That guy has amazing reflexes and spatial awareness compared to most people. Every time we practiced breaching he was always able to acquire targets faster than the others than the rest of us the moment that he charges into the door he already has everyone targeted. If anyone could dance with an I.S. it'd be him…not to mention he's pretty good at pissing people off."
Ichika was amazed at the amount of trust Mike had in his partner.
*BANG**BANG*
Two distant gunshots were heard.
"Kiss my ass bitch I'm immortal!" yelled Gray off in the distance.
"I'm going to bury you!" came the pilots reply.
"Like we did to you and who I'm pretty sure is the girl your trying to bang?" taunted Gray "Don't worry I don't judge."
"Shut up!"
"Point proven." Said Mike with a knowing smirk. "Anyways time to hide."
Gray ran back to their hiding spot with the I.S. hot on his tails. He pressed his back against the wall and looked at the I.S. in a sort of cocky defiance.
"I'm going enjoy killing you." She said menacingly taking her time believing to have him cornered.
"Bet you, you can't." said Gray.
"Bet you I can." She replied.
"Bet you, you're a skank."
"That's it!" she yelled enrage and plunged her I.S. claw at him. Though Gray was prepared and dodged it. She tried a few more times but Gray proved more agile than she expected. He eventually worked his way around so now her back was to the mound they were hiding behind
"Told you, you couldn't." Gray said with smirk.
"Well looks like I'll have to try harder." She took out a .51 caliber machine gun and aimed at him. Grays just lifted up his hands with his fingers in an L-shape mimicking a gun. "Really?"
"I'm not the one who needs to pull the trigger." Said Gray.
That's when the pilot noticed a shadow over her and before she could react a wait landed on top of her frame, she was about to try and throw him off but then she felt something being pressed against her head.
It was a gun. She knew it was a gun. But that shouldn't be possible.
She was in the world's most advanced weapon right now. It was suppose to be untouchable, having more value placed on it than a nuclear missile.
So how could there be a gun pushed into her head.
She looked at Gray who still had his hand in the shape of an L.
"Bang." Was all he said.
*Bang*
And she knew nothing more.
The I.S. fell and the two boys regrouped.
"Finally a plan of ours actually works." Said Mike as they fist bumped "That was smoothly executed."
"Yeah, who knew taking down an I.S. could have been so easy?" Said Gray.
"Well we had the benefit that she didn't actually decide to use her flight ability for whatever reason." Said Mike looking back on the battle.
"Well I'm not complaining." Remarked Gray. The two decided to save any questions until later
Ichika walked up to the two stunned. Yes, he knew these two have taken down an I.S he entire world knew that. But seeing them actually do it in person was something else. Being in a country that idolizes the I.S. and the fact his sister is considered the best pilot ever gave him the idea of an invincible machine. Then he met these two. He was starting to doubt his life now.
"So we were told that if we took down an I.S. we were suppose to recover the core." Said Mike "I don't know how we're getting this thing back base." The two looked at the I.S. which was still deployed, they were under the impression that that an I.S. would go back into storage after the pilot died.
Apparently not.
"Do you have any C4 on you?" asked Mike
"No they didn't let me because they I would cause an avalanche." Said Gray.
"Well that obviously didn't stop you from causing one anyways…" said Mike.
"Well just shows to go people shouldn't underestimate us when we want to cause some Havoc!"
"Do you stay up at night thinking of ways to incorporate our name into something?"
"Sometimes…" admitted Gray
"Well anyways to you have any idea busting out an I.S. core"
"We could try breaking it out with large rocks!" Said Gray.
"Well it's a start." Said Mike the two young clueless operators grabbed tow decently sized rocks and her bout to attempt to bust out the core which they believe to be in the back.
"Um…I can manually eject the core from the I.S." said Ichika, the two looked at him.
"Well why didn't you say so?" Said Mike
"Yeah, we were about to caveman style this thing!" said Gray.
"Anyways." said Mike "You can get the core out."
"Yeah I learned about it at the I.S. Academy." Explained Ichika "They have this feature which breaks apart the I.S. in case the pilot needs to eject quickly due to injury or is incapacitated and the quantum storage unit doesn't work the only problem is that it breaks the entire I.S."
"Well we don't have to worry about that." Sais Gray "Crack this thing open!"
Ichika knelt down next to the I.S.'s gauntlet. A little apprehensively since he's not use death and pulled up a holographic interface. After a few moments the frame shattered. And glowing sphere was found in the wreckage.
"So this is core?" asked Mike Picking it up.
"Looks like someone put black hole into a glass orb. And added lightning." Said Gray "Very Sci-fi." Mike put it in his assault pack and the trio moved down the mountain.
"The intel says there is road on the mountain." Said mike "I think our stunt with the snowmobile put us far enough down mountain to where we can find it."
"Having road so close to a terrorist base sounds dangerous." Commented Gray.
"This why you read the intel Gray!" said Mike "There's one town on this particular road it's abandoned mining town."
"We should probably take shelter there for the night. Because the temp drops and we don't have any NVG's on us." Said Gray.
"Exactly what I was thinking." Said Mike. It was late in the day the sun was already tinting the sky orange.
She has no idea what is happening now. First two brats cause an avalanche and buries the base they were assigned to. Then she finds out her hyper sensors can't track the boys, which is why they split up to look for them. Then she loses contact with her partner abruptly, only to find out from a surviving patrol that she was dead.
Yes the avalanche caused a significant portion of their shields to drop but now where near enough allow whatever those two had on them to be lethal. Least of all to an I.S.. Plus she had a reading on her shield strength thanks to a tactical data sharing feature on her HUD it was still in the hundreds when she was killed.
She doesn't know what those two boys are but one thing is for sure, they brought a certain kind of madness to this mountain.
Though this may be the opportunity she was waiting for.
Havoc team and Ichika made it to the town without encountering anymore enemies. After scouting around they decided to take refuge in the basement of what was local bar. Mainly because that was one of the few buildings that wasn't caved in from heavy snowfall and the basement offered good concealment.
The trio was currently around an electric heating unit, it's orange glow almost simulated a fire. It was one of the pieces of equipment they brought with them on the mission. In the case the mission went sideways and they had to camp out for a night.
The heater had a battery life of twelve hours. So it should last them through the night. Along with that they also found blankets and mattresses that were there as a convenience incase the bars patrons were too drunk to make it home.
The town was abandoned in a hurry in the seventies due to a particularly harsh blizzard coming into the town. The town was safely evacuated but since the mine wasn't that profitable no one decided to come back.
Right now despite today's events the trio was trading stories about their lives.
"…so that was how I got two thousand dollars and got rid of the local marijuana farm." Finished Gray "All the 'cool dudes' in the high school hated me after that. But I didn't care loser hipster stoners were going end up in their parents basement anyways."
"So what did you do with the money?" asked Mike.
"Bought a gamming console some games and pretty much spent a week indoors while the police tracked down all the pot heads dealers and stockpiles. After that I had most of the games played through so used some of it pay for hand-to-hand combat lessons from this ex-special forces veteran who lived near me. That's also probably what started me on my want to join the military."
When he joined one of the Delta Force operators decided to refine his combat style to be more lethal and incorporate handguns.
"Well that explains you're above average reflexes." Said Mike. "And look at you now."
"Yep living the dream." Replied Gray happily then turned to Ichika. "So woman empowered man, what crazy adventure do you have from your past?"
"Well… I was kidnapped at one point." Said Ichika
"Seriously!?" shouted Gray as they both looked at him surprised.
"Yeah it was during the second Mondo Grosso. A group of people didn't want my sister win and took me hostage, so she would drop out." Said Ichika. "She did drop out for my sake and flew to where I was being held and freed me."
"Well that is a surprising back story." Said Gray.
"Wait you didn't know?" asked Ichika.
"No, why?" asked Gray confused.
"Well don't you have that weird history reading power?" asked Ichika.
"Oh that." Said Gray "That's basically the mental version of a fart. I don't know what's going to be like when it comes out, how loud it'll be or how much it'll stink. It's just there and I release it. I'd chalk this up more to some incredibly stupid luck rather than some weird psychic power that I might have."
"Well then…" said Ichika a little put off by Gray's crude way of explaining. "That's some crazy luck then."
"Yeah. Too bad it all goes into that freaky ability of his or helping us get through whatever consequence when he gets one of his idea's." said Mike dryly.
"Hasn't failed me yet." Said Gray proudly then he caught something. "Wait minute…you said you were kidnapped before…and now you've been kidnapped again." Mike seemed to eye him with pity. "You have some pretty crappy luck man."
"Yeah…" said Ichika finding himself unable to disagree "and both times were by the same people."
"Wow…" said Gray "These people must either really like you or really hate you."
An awkward silence came over the trio.
"Anyways we should probably get to sleep." Said Mike "I'll take first watch we'll do two hour shifts. I'll take first watch."
"I got second" offered Gray. He then turned to Ichika "oh yeah if you have to piss at any given time during the night just use the far corner."
"…What!?" said Ichika surprised at the direction.
"Good thinking." Said Mike "Can't have him getting grabbed with his pants down."
"Are you two serious!?" Asked Ichika in disbelief.
"What we're all guys here, plus I guarantee you, you won't have been the first to do it in the corner even if this place was still open." said Gray casually. "they're must be some pretty aggressive girls on that island school of yours if your this protective of your man parts."
"You have no idea…" said Ichika, remembering several attempts by students to see him change.
"Hmm…"said Gray.
"What?" asked Mike.
"I feel like I should be jealous, but that school sounds like a bigger pain in the ass than it's worth." Said Gray. Ichika however had pleased look on his face.
"Finally someone understands…" he said happily.
"Okay…" said Mike as both he and Gray were bit surprised at the reaction "How about we go to sleep were going to need our rest."
The two other boys agreed and took their spots.
When Ichika woke up he noticed that the boys of Havoc team were noticeably absent. It made him uneasy but didn't feel need to worry just yet
*BOOM*
The obvious sound of an explosion sent Ichika into full alert so he ran up the stairs that lead into the main level and ran outside. He found Gray and Mike but also two SUV's that were probably more armored than they appeared. One of which was currently a fiery wreck.
There was also a few dead bodies around.
"What…what happened here?" asked Ichika.
"Oh hey you're up." Greeted Gray.
"Enemy patrol came into to town a me and Gray spent the last hour picking them off silently." Said Mike.
"What…how? I didn't hear a thing." Said Ichika surprised, also getting bit fearful at the two in front of them. They were about the same age but these guys didn't seem to have problems killing people.
"Suppressors and sub-sonic ammunition." explained Gray holding up his hand-gun which now had a long cylindrical attachment on the muzzle. "When you want to kill something without disturbing the neighbors."
"Delta force mentor?" asked Mike inquiring where he got that phrase from.
"Yep." Confirmed Gray.
"Anyways we blew up the vehicle so we can get remaining I.S. to come to us." Said Mike.
"What, Why!?" asked Ichika with his face pale.
"We figure instead of playing cat and mouse down the mountain. We decided to play mouse and mouse trap." Explained Gray taking note of Ichika's expression. "…we're the mouse trap by the way."
'These guys are definitely lunatics!' Ichika yelled internally. 'To face an I.S. when cornered is insane, but bait one into coming here so they can fight it is suicide!'
"Gray we need to get to our positions." Said Mike has he picked up a Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle. He looted the weapon from the patrol.
"Right." Said Gray readying a P90 they also looted and going into one the other buildings.
"Wait what are you guys thinking?" said Ichika following him into the building which appeared to be a hardware shop.
"Basically it's like what we did to that other one but less improvised." Said Gray. "the plan is simple, I.S. comes into town, moves into the ambush point I throw flash bang and then run out an pop a cap in her."
"You think it will be that easy?" asked Ichika in disbelief.
"I hope." Said Gray with small laugh. "But if things go sideways I got that eagle eyed mofo watching my back."
"You believe in him that much?" asked Ichika.
"Hell yeah I do!" Said Gray "Whenever we went up to a firing range that guy always had the best groupings and accuracy not to mention almost always gets hundred percent of the targets. This onetime the instructors put a quarter just outside our weapons effective range and said if we could hid it we'd get a surprise…Mike got it on the first shot. Surprise turned out to be bullshit though since they actually didn't expect us to hit it."
Ichika was silenced by the amount of trust these two placed in each other. Though considering the stunts they pulled in the past few days it was probably one of the main reasons why they were still alive.
"Hoo, boy there she is." Said Gray peeking out the window. Sure enough the I.S. came to investigate and landed in the middle of town right where they were. "Mike you see her."
"Yeah I see her." Came Mikes reply over the radio.
"Alright let's get this started." He said prepping a flashbang. He then looked at Ichika "Incase this does go sideways you should probably hide…"
That did not fill Ichika with confidence. So he did as suggested.
Gray primed the flashbang and threw it and waited for the bang. He then ran out and charged pistol at the ready. However he noticed something.
This pilot had helmet on.
Which was weird since she didn't come in with one. So that probably meant she did it to protect herself from the flashbang. Gray noted she didn't look to affected.
'Craaaaaaap…this lady is bit better than the last one. ' he thought, he noted that she didn't seem to notice him. Which was weird since he was literally out in the open. 'holy crap this lady does not know that I'm here…that probably means she can't see us with the helmet on.'
He knew Mike was watching them so he probably was thinking the same thing he was. Gray stealthily crept away and contacted his partner.
"Mike…" he said in hushed voice.
"I saw." Was the reply "That's interesting isn't it? It's probably linked with her hyper-sensors so it won't register us."
"So how do we do this?" asked Gray.
"All you need to his get a gun barrel pressed against something vital." Said Mike "Just do what you do best and I'll cover you."
That was all the invitation Gray needed. It's time to improvise.
"It's Havoc time!" however before he could do anything the I.S. burst through the wall and tried to stab down on him he dodged. "Shit! Havoc time started too early!" this prompted another jabbing attempt which he dodged. 'the hell… she knows where I am but she's as blind as a bat .' He paused as realized. 'oh shit, she can't see me but she hears me.'
The I.S. was probably equipped with an audio radar or something along those lines.
'Fuck it' thought Gray 'let's see how this plays out.' He raised his P90 and fired a burst this did little more than prompt her to rush him. He dodged as she crashed through the wall back out onto the streets.
"This going nowhere." Said the pilot in frustration as she dispersed the helmet. "That's some pretty sophisticated stealth gear you boys have." She gave wry.
"What can I say, you never know what you'll find on e-bay." Joked Gray. He took this time to examine her. She was not much older than himself maybe two to three years. Had a nice body and a pretty face with shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes 'Holy crap, this lady is actually hot!'
"Funny one aren't you?" she said amused. "No wonder my partners vitals were rising, you were probably pissing her off a great deal, before you killed her."
"Well some people just don't have a sense of humor." He said tensing in case this was going to lead up to a rush attack. "Sorry about your partner."
The pilot shrugged.
"Eh it was either you or her." She said seemingly not angry. "Plus I think she was trying to sleep with me…"
'Well hit that one on the head.' Gray thought thinking back to their previous engagement.
"But I'm glad it was you." She said an oddly friendly smile came over "This presents me an opportunity."
"Gray we got company." Said Mike over the comm. "enemy convoy approaching, four SUV's loaded with troops!"
'Shit is going south!' thought Gray.
"I want to make a deal." Said the pilot as her I.S. took flight she materialized a rifle which seemed to be a heavier caliber then the ones on TV had.
Gray thought she was going to try shooting him.
However instead she turned towards the approaching convoy, and fired four rapid shots. Each one hitting a vehicle causing them to explode. After she was done she slowly lowered herself, and to his surprise shut down her I.S..
"I want to defect from phantom task." This time she was serious.
"What?" asked Gray surprised and confused at revelation.
"What?" asked Mike similarly confuses.
"We should hurry there are two more patrols heading this way." She said, as Gray listened to something Mike was telling him over the radio.
"Alright but my partner wants to know how we can trust you." Said Gray "I mean you did just try to kill me."
"Come now I could have used my grenade launcher and destroy the entire building if really wanted you dead." She said with a knowing smile.
"Geh, can't argue with that." Said Gray realizing she was right 'Did not think about that!'
LATER.
A black SUV pulled inside warehouse which had a makeshift command center along with several men armed with compact rifles. One older than the others stepped forward as the vehicle parked.
The doors opened and three boys stepped out.
"Hey Colonel, were back!" said Gray. "Operation: Avalanche was a complete success!"
"that was the highlight of that entire mission wasn't it?" said Mike dryly. "Anyways yes mission successful HVI recovered along with a defector."
"So you've told me." Acknowledged the Colonel. "Where is she?"
A young woman then stepped out of the car. And walked up to the group the guards had their rifles trained on her.
"So you're our defector" said Colonel eyeing her sharply "Tell me what you can give us and why we should trust you."
"She voluntarily gave up her I.S." said Gray holding up the bracelet that was a stored I.S.
"Also we have the core from the other one." Said Mike holding up a glowing sphere. The men around them were in awe, amazed they were able to take down another I.S.
"Keep up the good work you two." Praised the Colonel with a small smirk. "But I think it's about time you Mr. Orimura home there's a boat waiting outside by the docks, you need him to get in there unnoticed he's suppose to be on vacation so if he comes back looking like that through normal means people will ask questions or any agents phantom task has inside the school will try to interfere. Also turn in the I.S.'s to the principle at the school."
"Ninja our way into the academy, got it." Said Gray as they exited.
The Colonel had a small smirk as he watched the two exit. It gave him odd sense of pride like a father would have to their son, at what these boys can do. He dropped it an looked back at the girl.
"Now back to you." Said the Colonel prompting her to reply.
"I can give you the locations of several phantom task hideouts, some of their supply routes and good estimate on how many I.S. they have."
"It's a start." Said the Colonel smirking once again.
The Next Day.
Chifuyu Orimura former ace I.S. pilot, and teacher at the I.S. Academy. She normally seems to keep a stoic face but internally she has been worried about her younger brother. And it showed she hasn't had much sleep over the last few days and her work has been suffering because of it.
Only her and her little brothers harem knows about the kidnapping and they were seemingly also worries.
Right now she was being called to the Principles office to supposedly talk about the last week. She knocked on the office door and waited for the permission to enter.
"Come in." came the voice, despite the popular belief the principle of I.S. academy is actually a man named Juuzou Kutsuwagi, though for appearances the outside world is told that his wife runs the school. He was kind old man with amazing work ethic. "Ah Chifyyu, I've been waiting."
"Principle." She greeted. "I'm to assume this is about how my performance has been slipping this last week."
"No, no." said Juuzou in a kind tone "Nothing of the sort, you are our best instructor here at the academy, and I'm sure that anyone would be worried if their family is taken. This is about your brother." This piqued her attention "I have just been told that internationally sanctioned paramilitary unit, tracked down your brothers kidnappers launched a rescue mission."
Chifuyu was now on the metaphorical edge of her seat. Very few governments acknowledge that phantom task exist let alone authorize an operation against them. Whatever organization pulled this off is either very brave or very foolish
"From what I've been told they succeeded." Said Juuzou, Chifuyu felt a massive amount of relief overcome her. This almost like the Mondo Grosso incident all over again, only this time she wasn't the one to save him.
"Did they say when he will be back?" asked Chifuyu, a crack forming him her stoic expression.
"Well that's the odd part." Said Juuzou not sure how to explain this next part "they said that he and his escort are already on the school grounds but I've checked the surveillance cameras none of them have caught anyone who isn't student or staff."
Chifuyu immediately assumed the worse. Phantom task could have recaptured him, or the group that helped him had their own interests…or any other worst case scenario.
However that's when they heard a thumping noise in the ceiling.
"Oh shit! Mike I think I found it." Said males voice in English in a North American accent from the…ventilation system?
"Are you sure?" came a another's males voice this one had an Irish accent. "I'm tired of crawling through these air ducts, seriously how did you even come with it."
"Hey, in movies the ventilation system is the number one way to move around the building without being detected. No ever thinks to look in here." Said American voice.
"That's because it's stupid idea!" said the Irish voice.
"Well it's worked out so far." Retorted the American.
"Whatever, just get us out of here!" apparently the Irish voice ran out of patience.
"Alright fine." Said the American. That's when something started banging on the ceiling vent. Eventually the grate broke free.
*CREEEAAAKKKK*
"Wait, what was that?" said the Irish voice a bit cautious.
*SNAP*
"Oh shit!" said the American voice startled.
That's when the ceiling gave way probably due to weight issues and two boys fell from it. Both seemed either fifteen or sixteen.
"Ouch! My face!" shouted one of them as he hit the ground face first, he was the American.
"You just had break one last thing before we finished the mission." groaned the one with the Irish accent while he was on the floor too..
"Well it's kind of our title." Said the American.
"Who…are you?" asked Juuzou, not really angry that his ceiling was destroyed but more curious and confused as to why they were up there. "And why were crawling around in the air ducts"
"We're Havoc team part the UN child soldier study project my name is Mike O'Brian." Said Irish boy as they stood up. Both he and Chifuyu noted that they were both armed with P90's and where wearing some pretty sophisticated tactical gear.
"And I'm Grayson Hale, we are here to bring him home." Said the American pointing up. The other two occupants in the room looked up and saw…
"Ichika…" breathed out Chifuyu. He jumped down from the ruined ceiling landing on his feet as opposed to the other two boys. Chifuyu walked toward him and stopped in front him
"Hey Chifuyu-nee sorry to worry you-" he said but was interrupted when she pulled him into a hug. Ichika was surprised at first but returned it.
"You idiot…" she said happily "Always making me worry"
"Sorry…" he replied smiling.
The other occupants watched the heartwarming reunion.
"So I'm guessing that's his sister…" said Gray.
"Not now Gray." Said Mike not wanting to let this moment be ruined.
The hug ended and the two parted. Chifuyu turned to Havoc team.
"Thank you for bringing my brother back to me." She said with a truly grateful smile. The two boys were stunned felt heat rising at to their cheeks. Both thought Chifuyu was beautiful woman but with that smile she was breathtaking.
"No problem…" said Gray looking in a random direction.
"Don't' mention it." Said Mike
"Well, now this is an interesting revelation. I never thought I would meet the famed I.S. slayers." Said Juuzou with smile "Or that they would bring our lost student back to us."
"It was our job." Said Mike.
"Yep." Said Gray "Takedowns on super powered exo-skeletons is just a part of it."
"Speaking of which, Gray?" said Mike holding out his hand Gray instantly knew what he wanted and took out the non-deployed I.S. handing it to him. Similarly Mike took out the I.S. core they recovered. "We have orders to give these to you upon making contact."
"What where on earth did you get these?" asked Juuzou stunned. Defeating one I.S. was miracle but providing evidence of two more victories was borderline insanity.
"Same place we got him." Said Gray pointing at Ichika "Long story short two I.S.'s came in as hostile reinforcements and we dealt with them."
"Incredible." Said Juuzou "Though you still haven't answered the question of why you were in the air ducts."
"Well the person who I guess you could call our commander said to enter the academy undetected for operational security reasons." Explained Mike "This moron decided to take a page from an action movie and crawl around in the vents."
"Who's the more foolish, the fool or the one who follows the fool." Said Gray remembering a quote from star wars.
"Smartass." Replied Mike with slight smirk. "Anyways we should probably get going."
"Yeah going more than twenty four hours without sleep is brutal." Agreed Gray walking towards. "Just want to get back to base and go to sleep."
"Well I'm sure no one will say you haven't earned." Said Juuzou. "And please do give the good Colonel my regards."
Hallway.
A group of five girls marched towards the principal's office with a determined looks on their faces. These were the girls who have gotten particularly close to Ichika. They loved him, and were distraught when he was kidnapped.
The first was Houki Shinonono, she met Ichika in elementary school and became attracted to him after he helped her with some bullies. She has a personally built I.S. from her sister who is the creator of the I.S.
Lingyin Huang, otherwise known as Rin, the Chinese cadet representative she met Ichika in middle school and is attracted to him for similar reasons.
Cecilia Alcott, The United Kingdom's cadet representative. Became attracted to Ichika after he impressed her in a duel at the beginning of the year.
Charlotte Dunois, the French cadet representative. Became attracted to Ichika after he discovered that she was sent here to spy on him by her father (notably she was against this) but instead of ratting her out he helped her stay here and be out of her father's reach. Another notable fact is that compared to the rest of girls who focus on seducing or charming him she rather focuses on how to make him happy, but wouldn't mind it if he returned her feelings.
Laura Bodewig, Germans Cadet representative. Born of a German super soldier program which was overshadowed by the I.S. upon it's reveal. She originally hated Ichika due at the time worshipped his sister and though he was her one weakness. Ichika proved himself, and she fell in love with him. Notably she is a lot more aggressive than the other girls mainly because she has a lack of common sense due to her upbringing.
They met up that morning and resolved that they were going to go save him themselves with or without permission. They rather have the permission though. Punishments from Chifuyu were terrifying. They walked up to the principal's office and were about to open the door in a dramatic fashion prepared to demand to being allowed to go save him.
However an unexpected event happened. The doors opened and two boys about their age who they didn't recognize but seemed familiar. The boys didn't notice them and walked down the hall away from them before exiting out a window this made the girls oddly suspicious. However those thoughts were quickly forgotten when the next group came out, consisting of their incredibly intimidating teacher and…
"Ichika!" they all exclaimed at once.
The boy in question looked at them.
"Hey guys!" he greeted as if they are only friends. Which sadly is all he sees them as due to being dense.
"Wh..what are you doing here?" asked Houki "I thought you were captured!"
"I was but then two that left before us came and broke me out." Explained Ichika. Several other girls came up to talk to him about his series of events away from them. Each one of them glad he was safe.
With their mission completed Havoc team exited the school as stealthily as they entered. Onto new missions and more crazy stunts.
[...]
And done, so now you get see more of the characters depth. The hardest part was trying not give Gray more of the spotlight than Mike.
This is a chapter that was suppose to show where they stand with main cast of the series.
The hint for next chapter is going to be called Operation: Die Hard. So I'll leave it to you figuring it out.
Also a lot of changes in here than what I originally had planned. It was originally having them kill off both of the I.S. pilots but instead I decided to show that note every phantom task pilot is a total bitch in this story. And that not all of them are happy with their organization. Spoiler that defector is going to return later on with a name and back story.