Infinite Stratos: Awakening

by H4mmond

The End of an Era is upon the World. Infinite Stratos is being threatened by a new King. For Ichika Orimura, he's about to get personal with the New Era. For Gio Inferno, he's going to have to prove his worth. Our two heroes must survive not only the ISA, but everything that comes with it. Girls, geopolitics, finals, terrorists...it's gonna be a hell of a year.

3. Episode 3: Fight Like Hell

"Deescalate the situation as best as you can, and do not, under any pretense, engage any Hybrid IS mechs with black and red paint schemes." -People's Republic of China's IS Corps Handbook

ISA Arena 6, the next day

Gio twirled his IS's broadsword, his IS fully summoned while he waited for Cecilia to show up. was the day of the challenges. Every student in 1-1 was there, their friends in other classes joining them in spectating the match.

Gio's contacts in the Hammond Intel community had alerted him to the IS that had been given to Ichika earlier that day. With the information provided to him, Gio wasn't pleased. It was the newest Generation 3, possibly to be classed as a 3.5, IS. It could stand toe to toe with any IS in the right hands…but Gio knew that Ichika barely qualified for his spot here. He was given it anyway due to him being a male pilot, much like Gio himself. The only difference was that Gio was qualified to be behind the stick of an IS suit.

'Do we even call it "behind the stick?"' Gio wondered, hard stopping his twirling when he heard an approaching engine. 'Guess we're doing this. Probably should remember what Ms. Orimura told me…whatever that was.'

Cecilia landed on the ground of the arena, her IS also fully summoned. "Well, Mr. Inferno, guess we finally get to see how capable a Hammond Hybrid really is."

"So…Blue Tears…a wonderful choice." Gio stated, his Trebuchet sliding up from the right side of his back and aiming at Cecilia. "Though, it begs the question, will it win?"

"It won't." Cecilia hefted her sniper rifle up, pointing at the Hybrid. "I will."

"Strong words." Gio put his left hand next to his waist, and "sheathed" the broadsword in the "o" he made with his hand. He crouched, his body tense. "Can your strength back them up? Or is the bulldog all bark and no bite?"

Control Room

Chifuyu scoffed at Gio's comments. "Hasn't changed a bit." She turned to Ichika and Houki, who were in the room with her. "You two, pay very close attention to Inferno's movements, his skills, and what he does to counter Alcott."

"Anything specific?" Houki asked.

Ichika looked between the two mechs on the screen in front of him. "Gio's loadout is at a slight disadvantage."

Houki and Chifuyu turned to Ichika. "Oh? Explain." Chifuyu ordered.

"Gio's setup has one feasible long range weapon: the railgun. His chaingun and broadsword are mid range at best and CQC, respectively."

"So…how will he counter Cecilia's range?" Houki wondered aloud, "Unless he has a plan."

Chifuyu smiled. 'They're starting to think.'

Arena Floor

The countdown began, and Gio smirked as the timer approached zero. When it did, he swung his broadsword in a wide arc, thermite flames spewing out in a ranged opening attack. The arc flew quicker than Cecilia anticipated, the thermite hitting her legs as she dodged out of the way. The chemical burned her shields down to 500, giving the first blood to Gio.
"Not so tough, are you?" Gio asked, sheathing his broadsword and pulling out his XO-16. "Let's cut you down to size."

Control Room

"Gio has another weakness." Houki began, "He needs to manually switch his weapons. Other IS models allow pilots to summon and replace a weapon, similar to the Revive. Gio is using offensive moves to give him time to switch from weapon to weapon. The only accessible weapons he has are the missiles and the railgun."

Ichika nodded, "He needs to beat Cecilia back to switch from melee to mid-range. But how is he going to switch back to melee?"

Houki looked over the model on the screen next to her. "Maybe he'll shoo Alcott off with a railgun shot or a missile?"

Chifuyu listened on as the two students debated, a small smile on her face. 'Looks like he's in good hands.'

Arena Floor

Cecilia brought out her sniper rifle, firing down at Gio. He dodged the shots, a couple hitting him in non-vital areas. "Cutting it close here. She isn't here for no reason." He mumbled, loading another drum into his chaingun. He fired back, the rounds going around Cecilia as she deployed small drones around her.

"Fuck, I forgot about the BITs." Gio mumbled, firing at the drones. He took one down, the other three firing at him. As he dodged the shots, he pulled up a screen to see Cecilia. "She's…standstill." Gio understood immediately. "Perfect."

Cecilia's sensors screamed at her to move, and she instinctively moved to the left as rounds began flying past her.

"Gotcha." Gio fired a railgun round, the shell glancing off the side of a missile BIT. Gio internally cheered as the BIT detonated, throwing Cecilia to the ground on her side.

"Clever." She said, standing up. "But the railgun?"

Gio hummed in realization. "You duped me."

Control Room

"She duped him into using the railgun." Ichika put a hand to his chin. "Interesting…how does she know it needs to charge?"

"She doesn't, that was a lucky guess." Ms. Yamada chimed in from the terminal below. "Ms. Alcott made a split second decision, but knowing Hammond tech…I don't think it will pay off."

Arena Floor

The railgun closed, cooling itself. "Wonderful, guess we're going for the overkill." Gio tsked, his missile launcher raising up to aim at Cecilia. "Valiant effort, but the line ends here, Alcott."

"I highly doubt it. I'm still standing, Inferno." Cecilia smirked.

Gio grimaced. 'She has me stuck. Railgun needs time, and the missiles would probably get intercepted by the BITs. She's damaged, but not out. I need a way to get close, considering intel hinted at Blue Tears not being a good CQC IS.' Gio narrowed his eyes, looking over her IS for any glaring weaknesses. His eye caught something, 'That might do it.'

"Shall we continue?" Cecilia asked, and Gio dropped his chaingun. "Hmm?"

"Gotta be lighter." Was all Gio said, before he boosted towards Cecilia. He was in her face immediately, delivering a solid gut punch. Cecilia doubled over, giving Gio time to pull his broadsword out. He slashed, the blade bouncing off the shields. "Shit!"

"This ends here!" She shouted, bringing her rifle around.

Gio caught it with his free hand, locking the two in place. "Hey, guess what?"

Cecilia tilted her head.

"That BIT didn't regen." Gio used the rifle to spin himself around and swing his sword at the blast mark from the Missile BIT that had exploded earlier. Blue Tears went rigid, and shut down, the Absolute Defense system activating and ending the fight.

"...What?" Cecilia asked, staring up at Gio.

Gio sheathed his Broadsword. "The blast mark. It provided a critical spot for me to strike. So when I hit it, your suit's AI made the assumption that the blow could kill you."

"And the Absolute Defense activated." Cecilia finished, looking at the mark. "It seems that you outsmarted the AI…and me."

Gio offered his hand. "Nothing to be ashamed of. C'mon, let's get out of here."

Cecilia looked at the hand, and shrugged. Her IS powered on enough to let her move, and she took Gio's hand.

Control Room

Chifuyu had the ghost of a smile on her face. She was proud of both pilots, but she knew Gio was holding back, something she needed to rectify. 'Going soft is a habit he cannot develop. I'll have to talk to him later. But first…' "Ichika."

The boy looked over at his older sister. "Yes ma'am?" He asked.

"Go get ready. Your IS is here, you're fighting Inferno."

"But he just finished fighting Cecilia! You can't expect him to go right into another fight, can you?"

Chifuyu gave a small hmph. "Considering his career path after the ISA, this is training for him as well as you. He doesn't get the ease of a break after a fight. Now, go."

Ichika sighed, "Yes ma'am." He walked off, leaving Chifuyu with Houki and Ms. Yamada.

"Will he win?" Houki asked her teacher.

Chifuyu looked at Ms. Yamada, who shook her head. Chifuyu looked back at Houki. "He'll do what he can. That's all we can really ask of him with these odds." She looked back to the screen, seeing Gio and Cecilia talk as they walked out of the Arena.

Arena Floor

Gio picked up his chaingun, and joined Cecilia. The two were about to make it to the exit when the loudspeaker activated. "Inferno, your next fight is starting now. I advise you to stay in the arena while Orimura prepares."

Gio sniffed, seemingly discontent.

"I know you're monologuing down there in your head."

'Bullshit.' "Right then, I guess I have to handicap myself for this one?" Gio asked, earning him a smack on the head from Cecilia. "Ow."

"Be nice." She said, glaring at him slightly.

"Quite the turn-around from you. Thought you had a problem with men?"

"Does Hammond document every little thing about people?" Cecilia asked, "I never told you that."

Gio winced, "Er…"

"Don't answer that. Ichika seems like he's trying, and I trust you'll be helping him?" Cecilia interjected, arching an eyebrow at Gio.

"Yes."

"Good, make him like the rest of us."

Gio arched an eyebrow now. "I'm gonna give him gender reassignment surgery?"

"No, you dimwit, you make him good at IS!" She slammed her fist onto the top of Gio's head, lowering his shields slightly. "Jeez, critically think, will you?"

Gio rubbed his head. "Righto, will do."

"Good, now hop to it, Hammond Corps." She walked out of the arena. Before she entered the elevator to the hangars, she looked back at Gio. "And when you're done thrashing him, do come find me in the dorms."

Gio tilted his head, watching as she entered the elevator and went to the hangars. "I see…"

Bermuda (2230 or 10:30 PM Local time)

A man wearing a floral print shirt and khaki shorts raised a pair of high-powered binoculars to look at the east, watching a large fleet of ships moored off coast. He couldn't see exactly what the ships were, but he could see the lights and some superstructure tops. While the average Joe would think nothing of it, the man knew better. He raised his wrist to his mouth, his watch lighting up. "Command, what does the radar or the sonar say?"

"We're positive it's not the fleet we saw leave the Med. It's gotta be the 4th Fleet, they're always stationed near Bermuda. I think they started doing patrols after the CIA and MI6 built this radar station."

"Command, I don't think that's the 4th Fleet." The agent said, taking another look. "There's something big with them."

There was silence on the other end, until there was hmm. "It seems there is. It's…that can't be right. She's in the Pacific."

"Command?"

"Agent Fauzer, can you get me a clear description of the fleet you see?"

"I can't, I only see mastheads and Hammond Naval Flags."

"I think our radar is acting up…or there's…impossible."

"What? Spit it out!"

"Radar and sonar are seeing TWO H-44 hulls in that fleet."

The agent narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure? The Hammond Republic only has one H-44 ship, and Camelot is in the Pacific."

"I see two hulls. I'm getting a drone over there, it won't arrive until tomorrow. Get inside, and stop watching that fleet."

The agent tilted his head. "Why?"

"Because they know you're there." A different voice responded.

The agent opened his mouth, but saw a glint far away, and his vision was met with darkness. The headless body fell to the sandy ground, blood spewing onto the ground.

Onboard a destroyer, a Thunderbird Hybrid IS Pilot lowered her Plasma railgun, smiling at her successful takedown.

Arena, same time

Ichika stared at the sight before him, his IS, Byakushiki, was already powered on. He knew the basics of IS, sure. Houki and Gio helped him a bit before the fights today, but facing down someone who was arguably the strongest IS Pilot at the ISA? He was doomed. He crammed as much as he could before the school year started, and did as much as he could in the simulators, but this was the real deal. There was no difficulty meter, no enemy preset to memorize, nothing. He needed to be creative or Gio would run circles around him.

"Ichika." The boy looked down at Houki, who was next to him. "You don't need to win this."

Ichika sweatdropped at the sentence. "Already throwing away hope for me?"

"Well…he is a Hammond Pilot." Houki scratched her cheek with her index finger. "This isn't an experienced fighter in an Uchigane. This is a military veteran in an IS suit built for wars and destroying other ISs."

"I forgot he was in the Russo-Ukrainian War." Ichika sighed, slouching slightly. "He has a ton of experience as an infantryman, something that boosts his IS ability."
"Well…do what you can?" Houki offered.

"Thanks, Houki." Ichika responded, smiling at the girl. "See ya on the other side."

Houki nodded, and ran to the side to allow Ichika to get ready to be launched.

Arena Floor

Gio stared up at the hangar exit, where Ichika would be launched out of, when a screen opened up on his IS. "Inferno."

"Teach?"

Chifuyu arched an eyebrow on the screen.

"Ms. Orimura?"

"There we go. I want you to fight and win by any means necessary."

Gio scoffed, "Then start the countdown for the fight to begin when he launches."

"...Very well. Do your worst."

Gio waved the screen away, gripping his broadsword tightly. His face split into a murderous grin. "My worst, she says…"

Bosnian Sector, 15 minutes earlier

"Sir, we've detected a launch from Xinjiang. We think there's been an IS flying towards the ISA, based on the object's current trajectory. Scans show that it isn't a PRC IS, and we're reading odd signatures from it." A radar operator reported, turning around to face the captain in the room. "Should we alert Captain Inferno?"

The captain in the room seemed to ponder it, looking at the object moving over the airspace of China and towards Japan. "Negative, alert SpecOpComm to dispatch a squadron of their choosing to the region of where the IS originated. I want to figure out why there's an unknown in the PRC, or why they didn't alert anyone."

Hangar Launch (Present Time)

"Match will begin in three…"

Ichika stiffened, "WaitI I haven't been launched-"

"Two…" The launcher clicked into place. "One…Zero, good luck!"

"Wait wha-" Ichika shot out of the hangar, coming face to face with Gio already swinging at him. Ichika impacted the flat side of the Broadsword, flying off it like a baseball would when hit with a bat. He hit the wall of the arena hard, a dust cloud shrouding him.

"Well, off to a great start." Gio landed on the ground. "I think that's enough of you, Ichika."

Ichika struggled to get up, his shield points already low. "Dammit…that smarts." He stood up, holding up his katana, Yukihira.

Gio smiled, "Surrender, last chance."

Ichika scoffed. "As if!"

Before Gio could aim his Trebuchet, his warning system went off. "Orimura, scatter!"

Ichika dodged to the side while Gio went to the other side as an object impacted the center of the arena. Gio hefted his chaingun at the new target, his defense systems activating full scale now. Ichika raised Yukihira in a combat stance, waiting for the smoke to clear. 'What the hell was that?'

The smoke cleared, and what was standing in the center made Gio grit his teeth. It was an IS, the purple metal wings stood unfurled on the back, the thrusters right above the legs idled, the orange bladed sword held in the left hand, the weirdly clawed fingers on the right relaxed, the simple breastplate, it was all clear to Gio what model this was.

"Teach, better float some tips to Ichika. That's a goddamn Phantom Task model IS." Gio aimed his Trebuchet at the enemy IS. "And she's not here to dick around."

Control Room

Chifuyu gritted her teeth, watching the IS on her screen. "That's a Snake Model IS, 2.5 Gen IS."

Houki, now joined by Cecilia, nodded, "That's the Chinese's newest MPIS. It seems one was stolen by…whoever this is."

"Phantom Task, what are they doing here?" Chifuyu asked, already sending distress signals to nearby security squads.

"Phantom Task? The terrorist organization?"

"Yes, the same one. Are they here for Ichika?"

The IS stood up, and turned to face Gio.

"No, they're here for Gio. Why?" Houki asked, Cecilia nodding in agreement.

"Because the Hammond Republic has a vendetta against them. Phantom Task was at the forefront of the Battle of Split and Zadar Incident. Some say their previous leader was killed by Gio himself, and ever since then Hammond has made it their mission to destroy them. I've seen some reports of them committing what can be called war crimes against them." Chifuyu explained, crossing her arms.

"And people just let that happen?!" Houki asked, turning to Chifuyu.

"Hammond lets it happen. Actually, they encourage their forces to be brutal and unrelenting when it comes to PT." Chifuyu sighed, turning to Cecilia.

"Because they have two excuses: They started it and Phantom Task isn't a recognized state." Cecilia finished, side-glancing at Chifuyu. "Guess you figured it out?"

"What? Figured out what?" Houki asked, looking between the two.

"Shinonono, meet Cecilia Alcott. Gio Inferno down there? That's her boyfriend." Chifuyu answered, Cecilia looking away with a slight blush.

Houki's mouth hit the floor.

Arena Floor

"Well well well…Looks like the intel was correct. You do pilot the Firestorm model." The Snake pilot smiled, her right hand raised to her chest. "And you were fighting the Orimura boy. Excellent. All I need to do…is kill you and take him!"

"That's what you need to do…but all you're gonna do is die!" Gio snarled, the Trebuchet warming up. "You came here to fight me and you brought some goddamn cardboard cutout chinese trash? Fat chance, Phantom Fuck!"

The Snake Pilot laughed at Gio's response. "Awww, what's the matter, Inferno? Am I getting you all hot and bothered again? Like I did in Zadar?"

Gio made a low growling noise. "I guess I finally get to see how far my Broadsword can go up someone's ass. Though, considering every women in Phantom Task has strap-on fucked your asshole, I doubt it's a good control for my experiment." He leveled his Broadsword at the Phantom Task Pilot. "Your last leader did make for a nice trophy, though. The remains of her IS sit above my fireplace."

The PT Pilot lost her smirk and her demeanor. "You brat!" She whipped her arm around, her fingers on her right hand extending out via thick metal wires.
"Shit!" Gio backflipped over the first strike as it hit the arena wall. "Ichika, get out of here!" The PT Pilot pulled her arm back, causing the finger hooks that were embedded to pull chunks of the wall out and use them as improvised projectiles. Gio landed, leaning back to avoid the wall projectiles. His Trebuchet fired, the round hitting the sword arm of the Snake. The round hit at a bad angle, ricocheting off the armor.

"For fuck's SAKE!" Gio snarled, charging at the IS. He swung at the IS with his Broadsword, hitting air as the Phantom Task Pilot jumped back. She whipped her tendrils around, wrapping them around the blade.

"Gotcha bitch!" She shouted, pulling Gio over to her. She pulled him up and over her, but in the seconds he was in the air, Gio pulled out his chaingun, firing rounds at the Pilot as he flew over her. The shot looked like something out of a movie.

Gio landed on his back, dropping the gun. "Fuck…" He turned over, his back to the Phantom Task Pilot. He crawled to his weapon, only to feel something tug his arm. "Oh…right." he was violently dragged back, the Phantom Task Pilot screaming as she threw his Hybrid into the wall.

"You fucking Sperm Box!" She shouted, retracting her tendrils back to her fingers. "You'll pay!"

"You first!" The PT Pilot looked back up, only to be met with the pommel of Ichika's Yukihira hitting her in the face. "Remember me?"

"Orimura!" Her sword arm sliced at him, Ichika blocking it with his weapon. The two exchanged blows, until the PT Pilot whipped her tendrils around to wrap around Yukihira. "Y'know, they never said you had to come undamaged…"

Ichika struggled against the tendrils as the Snake's sword came around. As the blade came down, the momentum suddenly slowed on it, and the blade hit harmlessly against Ichika's arm. "W-What?" Ichika looked up, seeing the Phantom Task Pilot look deathly pale. Ichika looked down to see the sword arm laying on the ground, blood pooling out of it. "O-oh…I think I'm gonna be-"

Before Ichika could even begin to be sick, the PT Pilot boosted to the side as Gio tried to stab her with his Broadsword. "Shit."

"You…you bastard!" The PT Pilot shouted, holding the bloody stump. "You'll…" She looked between Gio and Ichika, recognizing that she was outmatched. "Shit…motherfucking shit…"

"We doing this or…?" Gio asked, his Trebuchet aiming at the IS while Ichika got into a combat stance.

Without a response, she rocketed into the sky, leaving Ichika and Gio in the dust. "Guess not." Ichika said, lowering his weapon.

Control Room

"Guess that's that." Cecilia sighed, Houki looking at her in incredulity. "Shame, he used to be better than that."

"Better? Better!? He sliced the arm off of an IS Pilot and tried to kill her!" Houki shouted, waving her arms in the air.

"Yes, he should have killed her." Cecilia said, not looking at Houki. "Every Phantom Task Pilot that escapes is another problem down the road. No matter how injured the pilot is, they will always come back unless they are, as Gio puts it: Sleeping six feet under."

Houki shivered, staring at the back of the head of the British Pilot. "Y-you can't be serious?"

"Unfortunately for you, Shinonono, this is exactly what Hammond has been training their pilots to do. A Phantom Task Pilot deserves nothing more than a shallow grave with a piss stain on it, in their eyes." Chifuyu explained, "Now, let's get our two boys out of there. You can ask him all the questions you want when he's done in the hangar, Shinonono."

Somewhere in Xinjiang

A PLA Pilot fell to the desert ground, parts of her IS scattering around her. "Dammit…"

"Well well…the PRC has really run out of tricks after that small thrashing in North Korea, huh?" An IS foot stepped on the PLA Pilot's back, keeping her down. "Another loss, another event no one in your country will see or hear. How's it feel, knowing you're gonna be erased from everything and simply forgotten?"

The PLA Pilot looked up at the IS, barely making out the Aquila und H on the chestplate. "Fuck…you…"

The Hybrid pilot smiled, two Acolyte pods rising from her back. "I don't like your…Tone." The pods each launched a missile, the PLA Pilot disappearing in the small explosion. The Hammond Pilot walked away from her handiwork, while her squad of Atlas Titans rounded up other IS Pilot corpses.

"Ma'am," An Atlas walked up to her, the familiar black scheme denoting its status as a Special Operations Titan. "We need to go. Several IS companies are coming our way."

The Hybrid Pilot hummed, thinking. "I agree. Guess they're really pissed we destroyed this IS base. At least we don't have to worry about any more assaults on our refineries. Though, this doesn't answer the question of why there was an unknown around here. Oh well, plant the charges, we're heading out." She turned around, only to have several ISs land around her and her squad. "Ah…I see. These must be the Steppenwolves Russia lost."

The energy shields appeared on the wrists, making a small arena.

"And this kind of showboating and drama means…Phantom Task." The Hybrid Pilot smiled, equipping her 40mm cannon. "Well, don't keep me waiting." From the sky, a massive mech landed in front of the Hybrid. She arched her eyebrow. 'A Hellhound? Only one person operates that…' "Aren't you late for school, Rain?"

The mech stood up, the pilot staring her down. "You have a lot of nerve, y'know?"

"Aww, is someone upset that we destroyed their base and killed their allies? Boo-hoo, I'm in sympathetic tears for you." The Hybrid loaded a round in the 40mm's chamber. "Do I need to remind you that your little POS suit isn't suited to fight Hybrids?"

"I am here to take revenge, I don't care what my suit is rated to fight." Rain responded, unsheathing Escort Black.

"Oh my, did we kill your little girlfriend?"

"No, but you hurt her."

The Hybrid Pilot laughed, "Damn, guess we're gonna have to rectify that. Maybe we'll send her a mail bomb when we deliver your corpse to her, how does that sound?"

Rain gritted her teeth, staring at the Hybrid in front of her. 'Those pods, that regular Atlas Titan armor, the 40mm cannon and the center-backed Trebuchet. I'm dealing with an Audio Hybrid. A Tone/IS Hybrid, one of the common IS mechs in the Hammond Republic IS Corps, but…' She looked over the paint scheme 'Shit, I didn't notice that. She's part of the Special Operations Command.'

"Well? Waiting for something?" The Audio Pilot asked.

Rain raised her hand, "Perhaps my revenge needs to wait."

"Oh?"

Rain sighed, "I may have been able to go toe-to-toe with a regular Audio pilot, but even that's iffy."

"The hell happened to your courage? Now you're analyzing the fight? That's no fucking fun."

"I didn't recognize you as a SpecOpComm Pilot." Rain smiled, "Perhaps another time, have fun with these instead."

The Steppenwolves activated their weapons, the Audio and Atlas Titans raising their weapons.

"Toodles!" Rain lifted off, and the Steppenwolves lunged.

ISA Infirmary

"Your face looks fine, and I'm not seeing any signs of a concussion from the fight. You're clear to leave." The nurse smiled at Gio, signing off on his form. "Try not to go toe-to-toe with any more walls in the future, okay?"

Gio gave a small chuckle, "I'll remember that. Thanks, nurse." Gio stood up, leaving the infirmary. As he walked the hallways, he saw a group of seniors looking at him. One pointed him out to her friends, causing the group to leave. Gio sighed, "Guess word gets around."

"If you're talking about the fight, very few people actually know about the fight." Gio turned around to see Chifuyu walking up to him. "However, word has gotten out about something else."

"And that would be?"

"Very few know about the fight against the Phantom Task Pilot, but everyone knows about you beating Alcott." Chifuyu explained, "We were able to close the crowd seating blast doors before the PT Pilot could do anything against you and Ichika. We've released a statement to the school saying the Pilot fled, thanks to you and Ichika working together to drive her off."

"I see." Gio nodded, "Anything else?"
"Shinonono is aware that you and Cecilia are dating."

"...I see, but less so. Why?"

"Ms. Orimura figured it out." Cecilia walked up, her face neutral. "Shame, I thought we had a good cover."

"You did." Chifuyu smirked, "But I have a lot of contacts. Especially inside of Hammond."

"SpecOpComm as well?" Gio asked, sighing when Chifuyu nodded. "Damn."

"It pays to have those kinds of contacts. I knew about you before your CO did. Had to, else there would've been a small arms race to get to you. Not to mention my contacts in London got me the information about you and Alcott."

The two had small blushes form on their faces. Cecilia cleared her throat. "Ms. Orimura, did you happen to figure out who the PT Pilot was?"

Chifuyu hummed in thought, "From what I could see, she was using a modified Snake IS. She might be a Lieutenant for whoever is the new PT CO, or she might be one of their Hunters. She was coming for both you and Ichika, right?"

Gio nodded, "She was on a bounty for me, but a snatch and grab for Ichika."

"So she wasn't looking to take you alive. Curious. I thought all PT Pilots were ordered to take you alive?" Cecilia interjected, worried.

"Some don't like to listen. They're still pissed over the whole debacle back before I arrived." Gio sighed, "They didn't take too kindly to our military curb stomping them at Zadir."

"So…they're rogue?"

"Not exactly. They're still with Phantom Task, but they aren't going to follow every order to the letter. If it involves me, chances are they will try to eliminate me."

Chifuyu nodded, "So…you're just going to kill them? That doesn't exactly look good on me as a teacher, or the ISA as a university."

"Ms. Orimura is correct, Gio." Cecilia agreed, "What exactly are you going to do if you do have to kill them?"

Gio sighed, "It's been easy to kill them before I got here. Problem is, now that we got people who aren't used to seeing someone else's blood, killing is out of the question. Am I close?"

Chifuyu nodded.

"Well, then they're going to have to get used to it. Some things are unavoidable like that, and I can't risk lives in trying to subdue a PT Pilot that would otherwise be a threat while breathing." Gio stated, defiance flooding his tone. "Phantom Task has one objective these days: the destruction of the Hammond Republic…"

Cecilia smiled, Chifuyu looked worried.

"And I'll be damned if they even get a snowball's chance in Hell of doing so."