"Protocol dictates that Hammond SPECOPCOMM units encountered in the field warrant a mission termination and immediate withdrawal from the AO. If SPECOPCOMM units knew about it before you did, there's a high chance that they already know you're there as well."

-Excerpt from Central Intelligence Agency's Handbook for IS Field Operations

Class 1-1, ISA

'Surprise, surprise…the 1-1 trope comes true. The two IS males, the British Representative Cadet, and the younger sister of the IS Inventor herself. All taught by the Mondo Grosso champion, who happens to be the older sister of one of the male IS pilots.' Gio sighed, jotting down some more notes from the lecture. 'It seems to be shaping up to be an interesting year.'

"Inferno." Gio looked up, only to be smacked with a clipboard. "I can sense you monologuing."

Gio rubbed the spot where the clipboard had connected with his head. "My mistake, ma'am."

"Just because you know this knowledge already doesn't mean you can slack off. The last thing your country needs is for their best to be beaten." Chifuyu scowled, walking back to her side of the classroom.

'Chifuyu-'

Chifuyu turned around.

'Orimura Chifuyu.'

The woman nodded at the mental correction.

Arguably the best IS pilot there is. Hammond pilots haven't tested their mettle against her, but she hasn't had any reason to fight us. SPECOPCOMM deduced that if…' Gio turned to Ichika. 'That if we left Ichika alone, she would leave us alone. We had one issue with a pilot wanting to draw her out…that poor bitch got the firing squad.' He turned back to taking notes. 'SPECOPCOMM is probably still assessing her threat level and capabilities. She saved Japan during the White Knight incident…so the possibility of her being able to go toe-to-toe with us all is likely. The winning side…'

The clipboard slammed down on his head again.

'...is anyone's guess.'

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The rain was starting to come down, as the people of Amsterdam started going for cover from the weather. The rain pit-pattered on the pavement as a lone figure in a brown overcoat and a black fedora walked along the now less busy streets. They arrived at a coffee house, and sat down at a table under an awning. Another person joined them, wearing a gray overcoat but no hat, the short cut, red hair exposed to the elements.

"In the darkness." The first one said,

"There will be light." The red head responded.

"You the contact?"

"Depends, what happened to the last agent?"

"He's been reassigned to the Isles, need to keep an eye on a project there."

"I see. You are?"

"John Ulmond."

"Agent Callahan." The red head responded.

Both of them knew that those weren't real names, but the business of intelligence was always like that.

"So, Ms. Callahan, what can I do for you? The Hammond Intel Community rarely calls a meeting, much less to us in the CIA." Agent Ulmond started, his green eyes narrowing at Callahan.

"It's about Phantom Task." Callahan answered, "Is the Director still wanting heads to roll there?"

"Of course. After the incident with Pearl Harbor, we need all hands on deck to destroy them. We also know that Hammond delivers on their promises to 'fuck shit up' when it comes to our problems that we can't handle." Ulmond responded, taking a deep breath and sighed before asking, "What did you find?"

"That your allies…" She brought out a folder and gave it to Ulmond. "...haven't been very truthful to you. Russia recently lost a battalion's worth of Steppenwolf MPISs, and have yet to tell everyone. Try as they might, their special forces won't find them. I doubt we could either."

"Steppenwolf ISs are Russia's answer to the Rafael Revives, correct? Didn't Hammond share some tech with the Kremlin to help jumpstart that project?" Ulmond asked.

"I know what you're thinking, but we only shared some programming and a single weapon schematic. We can't track it since they used our examples to build their own weapons. It's not our tech."

Ulmond cursed.

"I do have one lead. A team from the Albion Division found a warehouse in what used to be Tehran. It looked recently used, and there was a wrecked Steppenwolf. I had to pull some strings, but…" Callahan pulled a data chip from her pocket. "I got the black box data. I didn't dig into it, figured you Americans wanted the first dibs at it."

"Much appreciated." Ulmond took the chip. "Anything else?"

"Nothing else. You know the drill." With that, Agent Callahan left the table, leaving Agent Ulmond to look at the data chip he had been given.

'What are you up to now, Phantom Task?'

ISA Hallway, in between Class sessions

Gio rested his head on his desk, sighing in boredom. "I can't believe I have to sit through this stuff again. I can hear Sergeant Tialan laughing at me now."

"Ahem." Gio looked up to see Cecilia Alcott standing in front of him. "Inferno, was it?"

Gio stood up, if nothing else to be polite. "Ms. Alcott."

"So, at the very least, you're civil."

"I find it better to be civil in certain situations." He handed her his IS textbook. "This is one of them. I have a certain degree of understanding in this area already, so I want you to take my copy."

"You think I don't?"

"You mean to tell me that if you took a cumulative test for this entire semester's curriculum, you would pass it?"

Cecilia sighed, "I will admit, I wouldn't." She took the textbook. "Thank you, guess some Hammondians are civil."

"Uh-huh…so, still wondering why two men are here at this all-girls school?"

"Not so much anymore. One is the first male, and the other is the Representative Cadet and just happens to be male. Coincidence, really, though you are more skilled than Orimura."

"Weird compliment, but thank you." Gio gave a half smile. "So…the question on both of our minds…"

"Indeed." Cecilia raised her chin slightly. "You first?"

"Is that what you wish?"

"It is."

Gio sighed. "Can't disappoint, then. It's a Hybrid, called Firestorm. A mix between a Legion and Scorch Titan, with IS technology mixed into it."

"So, it's strong in both defensive and offensive."

"Yes, equipped with a regen shield and the normal defense points of an IS/Titan, it comes equipped with thrusters, extra armor, and a radar. Its weapons are the XO-16A1 Chaingun, the Trebuchet railgun, a Ronin broadsword, and the Mark 17 missile rack/launcher kit."

Cecilia looked slightly incredulous at the description. "All that? Impressive, though the ISA isn't a big fan of the Hybrid?"

"It's a rule for all Representative Cadets to have their own IS or be able to assemble one. I have my own, so the rule requires that I keep it. The ISA can't stop me." Gio tapped his glove. "The Hammond IS Corps taught me well."

"Well, since you told me about yours-" The bell rang before Cecilia could start. Before she could speak, Gio waved her off.

"Another time, perhaps when you trust me more."

She nodded, and walked back to her chair. Gio sat back down as Ichika and the sister of the Inventor walked back in. 'Houki Shinonono, if memory serves.'

Chifuyu walked back in. "Before we start the lesson, there's a small matter we must address."

Ms. Yamada followed her back in, taking her spot at the front of the class. "We must choose a class representative."

There were numerous nominations for Ichika, to no one's surprise. What was a surprise was when Gio got a nomination.

"I nominate Gio Inferno." The whole class turned to see Cecilia Alcott standing up, declaring her nomination for Gio. She looked at the Hammond pilot, her stance defiant. "You can talk all you want, Mr. Inferno. Can you back your words?"

Gio smiled. 'That's your game, huh? Very well.' "I would be happy to do so, Cecilia Alcott." Gio stood up. "I nominate Cecilia Alcott to the position."

The class broke out into whispers and gasps. Ms. Yamada looked worried, while Chifuyu smirked."Very well, looks like we have a three way."

It took some willpower for Gio to not snicker at the statement.

"Guess we're gonna have a decision through combat. This is an IS School, after all." Chifuyu looked at Cecilia and Gio. "You two will go first, since you both have your ISs. Tomorrow, your fight will be in the morning."

"What about class?" Someone asked.

"This will be an example to you of IS combat. Both contenders are experienced fighters, and have differing styles of fighting. It will do you some good to see how they fight. Perhaps help influence all of you on your own styles." Chifuyu explained.

Cecilia and Gio stared each other down, both sporting some level of a smirk on their faces. Ichika looked on, realizing he would need to throw down with the winner of this fight.

"Oh Ichika…" Gio heard Shinonono mumble.

IS Dorms

Gio fell back first onto his bed. "You seem nervous."

Ichika, who was doing some studying on his desk, looked over at the Hammond pilot. "You would be too, if you were in my shoes."

Gio didn't argue with that. "Relax, I doubt Chifuyu would throw you against me unprepared."

"You make it sound like you'll beat Cecilia."

"Of course I will." Gio waved off Ichika's statement. "It won't be a cakewalk, I admit, but I have more experience and better weapons than she does."

"Not to mention you have a regen shield and heavier armor than a regular IS, Third Gen or not." Ichika sighed, defeated. "And it is like my sister to throw me against you unprepared. She would make it a lesson to the class about being prepared."

Gio sat up. "Oh don't be like that, you've seen my IS already. What's the harm of a little scrap between the only two IS male pilots?"

Ichika seemed to ponder the idea, while Gio opened his phone to look through some emails. "Would it be televised?"

"Hmm?" Gio looked at Ichika. "Probably. Be a great money maker. The two IS males, duking it out in a fight." Gio motioned his hands as if he were putting words on a matinee. "Fight between Titans! The War of Nations! Japan versus Hammond! God, could you see that?"

Ichika laughed, "Sadly, I can. Definitely something this place would do."

Gio laughed as well. "Yeah…I don't think they would do that, in all seriousness."

"True, true." Ichika nodded. "Hey, can you help me with this?" He pointed to a topic in the textbook.

"Sure." Gio walked over, but was interrupted by a sound outside their door. "Hmm?"

"What is it?" Ichika asked.

"You didn't hear that?" Gio turned to walk towards the door.

"I thought it was something in the walls, like the heating?"

"No…it sounded like it was in the hallway." Gio placed his gloved hand on the door, feeling for vibrations. He felt something, like someone was holding something to the door. He turned to Ichika, and mouthed 'We have listeners.' and told him not to respond. He grabbed the door handle gingerly, and opened it quickly.

Three girls he had never met before spilled into the room. Ichika stood up quickly, while Gio stared down at the groaning pile. "Good evening, ladies. What brings you to our side of the dorms?"

"We came for Ichika." One of them answered, but Gio recognized their uniforms. 'Third years, probably trying to pull a fast one.'

"Ichika is right over there, but he's busy at the moment. Is there anything I can help you out with?" Gio answered, throwing on a polite but fake smile.

"We've come to teach him. We figured, unlike you, he has no experience with an IS. So we were going to teach him about IS."

Gio pondered the idea. 'Not a bad idea, but…' he saw the look in their eyes. 'Teaching him is the last thing on their minds.'

"Alright, on one condition." The girls tilted their heads. "I want you three to beat me in a fight."

The two in the back paled, but the one in front of them scoffed. "Alright, when are we doing this?"

"Eager, huh? We'll do it tonight." Gio smiled, "If your two friends want to back out, I'm cool with you being their representative."

"They'll be fine. They have to show that they can handle teaching Ichika, don't they?" The lead girl smiled. The two behind her nodded, though they were still nervous.

"Excellent, it's safe to assume you all have ISs?"

They shook their heads.

"Huh, okay. Meet you in the arena. Ichika, you're welcome to come watch this unfold." He turned back to his roommate. "I'm sure the combination of different styles here will give you some preliminary experience."

Ichika sensed the tone in Gio's voice. 'Taunting them? Interesting.' Ichika got up from the desk and followed Gio out.

Arena, Later on…

Gio stood on his side of the arena, while the trio of third years gathered on the other side. They were permitted to don Uchiganes while Gio flexed his gloved hand in anticipation. 'The purple haired one is the leader, while brunette and ginger are the lackeys. Knock out the leader, and the other two will fall.' "Ready over there?" Gio called out.

The trio nodded, getting into combat positions.

"Ichika, count us in?"

Ichika, who was off to the side, nodded. "Three…"

Gio's IS materialized around him, the Trebuchet and the Missile Launcher pointing at the third years.

"Two…"

The trio stared down the Hybrid, the purple haired senior's grip wavering on her katana.

"One…"

The Trebuchet powered up, a glow emitting from the back of the weapon.

"Go!" Ichika shouted.

The Trebuchet fired, and the three seniors dodged in different directions. The round hit the spot where they were a half-second ago, an explosion throwing up earth and dust.

"Holy-What did he fire?!" The brunette asked.

The leader grimaced. "Scans show it was a high explosive round. Surprised it detonated on contact with the ground."

"Ahem."

The trio turned, only to find Gio in the air. While they were distracted, he had leapt into the air and was bearing down on them. His sword was in his hands as he swung down. The trio dodged again, Gio hitting ground and causing fractures to form.

"Tsk." He turned to the brunette girl. "You first." He put his broadsword back on his back, and brought out his chaingun.

"Huh?" She turned around as she landed, and suddenly was hit with bullets as Gio charged at her, guns blazing. He reached her, and was met with a swing from her sword. When she swung it around again, managed to hook the blade in the trigger guard, and pulled the weapon out of Gio's hands. The chaingun flew into the air, and the girl pushed her advance. Gio jumped back, dodging swing after swing. He caught the blade mid-swing, his grip steady and slowly crushing the blade.

"That's the best you got? Swinging a sword like you're batshit insane and some cheap tricks?" Gio scoffed, "There are toddlers in my country that know more than you."

"Shut up!"

"Afraid?" Gio tightened his grip, and shattered the blade. "Good." He followed up with a right hook to her face. She staggered back, only for a Trebuchet round to directly impact her chest, blowing her IS off her body and knocking her out.

"Perfect, now…" Gio looked around, "Where's my gun?" He suddenly got a chill on his left side, and boosted back to avoid being shot by his own gun. "What!?"

The 'leader' of the group was holding his chaingun. She smirked, staring Gio down. "If there's something I've learned about your country, it's that anyone can pick your Hybrid weapons up and use them."

"So you know that secret…" He caught the blade from the other girl, the ginger, and turned slowly to face her. "However…" He gripped the blade tightly, and pulled it towards him. The IS suit armor around her arms went with it, leaving her hands exposed. "I know more about you than you know about me."

The ginger fell onto her ass, as her suit went into lockdown. The 'leader' gritted her teeth as she finished reloading the chaingun. "So you can rip our ISs apart. There's no technique here, no style."

"So?" Gio turned back to the leader, unsheathing his broadsword. "If technique is so good, why are your two lackeys down for the count?"

The leader glared, but didn't respond. She fired the chaingun, forcing Gio to dodge as bullets flew past him. Gio waited for the bullets to stop flying, and he charged the senior. She scrambled to reload, until Gio slammed the flat side of his blade into her hands, knocking the gun away. She boosted back, grabbing her katana, and getting into the ready position.

"Oh honey…" Gio twirled his broadsword, "That's not gonna fly here." He boosted towards her and thrusted his sword at her. She spun to the left, slashing at his side. The suit blared an alarm at him, causing Gio to grit his teeth. 'Or maybe it will.'

"C'mon, Flyboy! You thrash two hopeless seniors around and falter at the sight of real skill?" The senior taunted. She raised her blade to strike again, but on the downward slash she felt wind slice her knuckles as the blade bounced off of the Hybrid, which was now facing her with the sword in the air, as if it had finished a swing. She felt the cool air breeze on her fingers, and looked down to see that her IS had no hands, just the wrist area where her controls were.

Gio had sliced clean through the armor, and had only scratched her knuckles.

"Big words, but bigger openings." Gio smirked, only to bring his broadsword back down in an instant, slicing the IS open. The senior fell out of the nearly bisected suit, landing unceremoniously on the ground. She was relatively unharmed, but in mild shock. "It appears this is over."

"Y-yes…" she looked back at her suit, which shut down and began to emit sparks. "Y-you win, Mr. Inferno."

Gio smiled, "Now…tell me, what exactly can you teach Ichika that I couldn't do on my own?" He leveled the end of his broadsword at her face.

Sicilian Coastline, Italy

Beachgoers stared in awe at the sight before them as a fleet of ships moved past them in the waters. Many of them recognized the hulls, they were everywhere during what they had called the Crisis Years: the time when Hammond was forming into its own. The destroyer hulls of the Valiant class and the cruiser hulls of the Governor class surrounded the two center capital ships. The two newest capital ships, as a matter of fact.

Those watching stood in shocked silence as the massive tri-pointed hull of the giant warship, known as the Aquarius class Aviation Battleship, began to leave the Mediterranean.

Meeting room, somewhere in Langley

The gathering of agents in the room watched on a video screen of the Hammond fleet moving through the Mediterranean, some grimacing as they already knew it was heading for open waters through the Gibraltar Strait.

"They built two?" Someone asked, "We only saw one being built from our satellites, how'd we miss the second one?"

"The eggheads downstairs think they built it inland and moved it once it was finished." Another answered, "Considering how extensive their infrastructure is, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm actually happy we even saw they were building this in the first place, even if we only saw one."

"What do we know about it?" The agent at the head of the table asked.

"Director, our intel suggests that this is the first successful combination of a battleship and a carrier. It has three airstrips, and the central bridge structure has the main armament of eight triple barrelled 40.6cm guns. It boasts impressive anti-missile defenses through CIWS guns and multiple laser systems."

"Armor?"

"Unsure, definitely a Titanium alloy, but we don't know how thick."

The Director sighed, "We don't want a repeat of the H-44 incident we had a few months back. Get me as much intel as you can, we need to find a weakness."

One agent leaned to the left of him. "H-44 incident?"

The other nodded, "The prototype battleship Hammond developed. It's got railguns and a bunch of other sci-fi shit on it. They only made one, but it's currently in the Pacific Ocean with the Hammond 4th Fleet."

"So they went from the battleship and straight to mashing the two capital ships together." The Director mused, "ONI is not going to like this. The amount of CIWS weapons on that thing, combined with the laser systems, nothing is going to get close."

"Especially since these two ships probably carry a small contingent of Hybrid-IS pilots, we can rule out any sort of IS attack. It's the perfect ship." An agent mumbled to the person sitting next to them. "Did Ulmond have any success with our friend?"

An agent nodded, "He has hard intel that Russia's been covering their mistakes. A battalion's worth of ISs were snatched from their armories in Volgograd. We've contacted them, and they've responded by saying they've been searching this entire time."

"Phantom Task?"

"Yes sir, we need to be ready in case something happens."

"Keep an increased watch on the ISA. They'll likely strike there soon." The Director ordered, "Now…" The Director picked up a photo of the Aquarius. "Have SATINTEL keep watching the fleet. Let's hope they don't play any games with us in the Atlantic."

Rostov

T-90 tanks fired over and over again at the advancing Titans, their Sabot rounds taking a couple out, but most disintegrated on the Titans' shields. Infantry engaged in firefights with Hammond soldiers as they tried to desperately hold off the advancing elements.

"Sir! We've got Paladin battalions blowing past our lines! The enemy is surrounding us!" a radar operator shouted.

"Have the 116th Anti-Armor intercept them! We can't let them advance any further!"

"Captain! Multiple MLRS signals! We got Mortar Titans!" As soon as the communication finished, a hailfire of rockets streamed overhead, impacting somewhere behind the line.

"Tank groups 1-5 are down! They have us dialed in hard!"

"Move all units back!" A railgun round hit a nearby T-90, igniting the ammunition and causing it to explode. "We need to get to our defensive encampments further east!"

"Fast movers! We got enemy fighters!" Two Wasp jets flew over, 30mm bracketing the infantry line as more enemy fire hailed down on the armor line.

The captain shook off the haziness, only to be hit across the face by a rifle butt. "Fucking ruskie!" The Hammond soldier shouted.

The line had been pierced, Hammond soldiers now were moving across Russia freely.

Afghanistan

It had all gone to shit.

The Phantom Task pilot stared at the grisly scene in front of her, as her comrades were barely putting up a fight against their attackers. She barely felt the body of a Steppenwolf IS fall to the ground behind her.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The Phantom Task pilot froze as the sound of metal footsteps came up behind her. "We do this song and dance all the time…and yet, you think the ending will change." The hulking form of an IS/Hybrid could be seen in her peripherals. "Honestly, with how little your organization progresses and how much we advance, you still think you hold a candle to us?"

"We can win…" The pilot mumbled, not really believing it.

"Keep dreaming." The barrel of the 40mm cannon pressed against her temple. "I'm sure it'll become real soon."

The cannon fired, and the blood splatter against the nearby wall.