Chapter 4 Standard Absurd
(Author's Note: Important, read note at end of chapter.)
June 19th / Iraq-Syria Boarder
The more things changed, the more things stayed the same.
While the rest of the world had their Infinite Stratos, their Armored Cores, some people had nothing. Nothing but rage and resentment for a world that had forgotten the word of God. It was by God's will that they should live their lives, and by his will that they should give their lives.
To say that they had nothing was incorrect then. Where the rest of the world lived in abundance, obese with their wealth and want, they had faith. By their faith, they would make the Caliphate a reality. A nation and power built upon the principals of faith, no matter how long it took to see the dream realized. A hundred years, a thousand years, it made no difference in the eyes of God, for God was greater, and the faith in his word was all that they needed.
Still, by 2030, their dream seemed so far away. A stalemate of never having enough support to take action, and the threat of being annihilated by smart weapons should they ever assemble the force necessary to make a move.
Such was the situation faced by Hana Amal al-Almasi, leader of the Caliphate in exile, known the world over as ISIS. A woman of formidable resolve, she'd risen to power over the last six years, as the introduction of the Infinite Stratos had forced a fundamental change in the structure and doctrine of the once globally feared group. They now needed strong female fanatics to both legitimize the future of the Caliphate, as well as to operate an IS should they get their hands on one. After all, they had once wielded the American's weapons, why not the weapons of the Japanese?
But those aspirations were very far off. In the meantime, they would have to make do with what they had and what they could take. This night, that meant a resupply convey, hoping to steal a few AKs and maybe some RPGs. Still, it was not so easy, and even a simple operation such as this had it's challenges and dangers.
Their planning was interrupted when a giant orange carrot fell through the roof, slamming into a corner of the room. Many feared it was an R9X Hellfire missile, before seeing the seven-foot-tall metal cone split open, and a small Japanese woman in a blue-white maid outfit jumped out, robotic rabbit ears on her head flapping playfully.
"Hi Hi welcome welcome!" The woman shouted cheerfully as she did a happy dance, hands raised with two fingers up, and a wide smile on her face. "It's me! It's me! Here to save the day!"
Naturally extremely confused, the radicals reached for their guns, stopped only by Hana shouting out at her subordinates.
"Stand down! Don't you know who that is!? That's Tabane Shinonono!"
"Yes oh yes it's me! Tabane The Genius!" Tabane cheered, baring her teeth in a silly grin.
"Go, everyone out!" Hana ushered. "And bring in our best tea!"
"Hehehe!" Tabane giggled.
Having a subordinate bring in a boiling pot, Hana offered the scientist a seat.
"Ah no need." Tabane snapped her fingers, materializing a swivel chair out of thin air. Sitting down, she spun in it with childlike innocence, accepting a cup of tea, sipping it with over exaggerated elegance.
"So…what can I do for the great Tabane Shinonono?" Hana asked with barely contained desperation.
"Hmm." Tabane hummed, deep in thought. "I wanted to ask your opinion of ORCA?"
"ORCA?" Hana questioned. "Those people from the future? Living in an island fortress? Well…honestly, not much. They are half a world away and seem to keep to themselves. Why do you ask?"
"Oh just curious." Tabane cocked her head. "They are mostly secular, you know."
"…" Hana hummed tiredly. "So are many of our enemies. So be it. If they will not heed the word of God, then one day they will be put to the sword. But probably not in my lifetime."
"Mmm I don't think you understand my meaning." Tabane crossed her legs, fidgeting with excitement. "From what I've heard, it's not that they don't believe in God, but actively blame and curse his existence for their lot in life."
"…What?" Hana growled.
"Oh it's true it's true!" Tabane assured her. "Not only do the Orcians….err, Orcanites? I'm just gonna call them Orcs. Not only do the Orcs have vague beliefs that God personally punished them for refusing his word, but they know nothing of the Bible, the Torah, or the Quran."
"…" Hana sneered hatefully. She knew Tabane was trying to manipulate her, but part of her listened eagerly, listening to the crimes of the non-believers. "Then they are infidels of the highest order, such that they make the heretics of Judaism and Christianity look like devoted holy men."
"Ah I'm glad you agree, dear Hana." Tabane smiled with dark distain in her eyes. "So, want to do something about it?"
"I-what?" Hana looked shocked.
"If you had the chance to oppose them, to strike them down, would you take it?" Tabane offered.
"Of course I would take it! A chance to strike down the infidels who know not of His divine word would please my God to no end!" Hana shouted.
"Good good!" Tabane cheered. "Then maybe we can help each other."
"…How so?" Hana hesitated, hopeful to have even a fraction of the power Tabane was known for. "How could I possibly help the great Tabane Shinonono?"
"Well, come with me to find out!" Tabane stood, skipping cheerfully out the door, her chair ceasing to exist as she left.
Confused but motivated, Hana followed the bizarre woman, out of the room and into the little town that ISIS currently controlled, several fighters following curiously.
"If you can do me one small favor against ORCA, then I will give you a great gift!" Tabane revealed an IS Core, the shimmering black ball spinning on her finger.
"You-You would give us an Infinite Stratos!?" Hana cried out in surprise.
"Sure sure! I always keep my promises!" Tabane nodded furiously, the IS Core was thrown into the air, then ceased to exist as it was pulled back into whatever dimension she had stored it in. "And to help you along the way, I'll even give you a tiny little something." She squeaked cutely.
With one hand on her hip, Tabane threw her hip out dramatically, as she used her other hand to snap elegantly, causing an entire battalion of tanks, a whole forty T-72s, to pop into existence at the edge of the town.
The radicals cried out in surprise and joy, bowing down to their generous benefactor.
"Ah but I think you will need a little bit more to fight ORCA! So…!" With another wave of her hand, she blinked dozens of FGM-148 Javalin missiles into the hands of eager and surprised fanatics, their hands suddenly burdened with the heavy and advanced weaponry.
"And, lastly, just because I like you." She then strode over to Hana, pointed her finger out, and loudly *boop*ed her on the nose. Instantly, Hana found she was wearing a set of Goliath Power Armor. Though nowhere near as powerful as an IS, the Goliath Power Armor was fully protected with armored plating, offered enhanced strength with artificial muscles, and even had a tiny 5.62mm gatling gun mounted on the right wrist. Besides herself, a dozen other radicals were gifted with powered armor.
"In-Incredible!" Hana cried, having been gifted an advanced arsenal by the incredible and enigmatic woman. "Whatever you request, we will endeavor to complete your task, benevolent benefactor."
"Hehehehe!" Tabane giggled. "Then listen carefully, because I will only say it once!" For as sweetly as she had said it, Hana understood the threat in her sentence. "I want you to capture one of ORCA's leaders, alive."
IS Academy – 8:00 AM
"So I've just heard a rumor going round..." May reported indifferently.
"…What is it?" James reluctantly asked.
"Some idiot started a rumor that the winner of that tournament will get to date Ichika. Second place gets to date you." May answered then asked. "I assume he doesn't interest you?"
"…No." James stared at May for a moment. "You don't like him?"
"Well, he's got his sister's looks, so he is cute, but I prefer to not be overwhelmingly mentally superior to my partners." May replied. "I'd like you a lot more if your personality didn't leave much to be desired."
"Understandable." James nodded. "You think he is so deficient?"
"James…Ichika is the kind of guy who'd kiss you then worry he got you pregnant. I'm not even sure he knows how to use his own equipment."
"Well fuck May give the guy some credit." James frowned. "If this world is anything to go by, he's spent the last six years getting his ass thoroughly kicked by women."
"Ah, fair." May shrugged. "Maybe he plays for the other team? You think Malzel would…?"
"Malzel likes his men a little bit…older." James corrected her.
"Mmm." May hummed, just in time for Chifuyu to walk in and start the class. "Now there's a good time, tell me I'm wrong." She smiled widely.
"…" James sighed loudly, rolling his eyes.
Maya, who served as a substitute and assistant teacher, joyfully started class with an announcement. "Guess what class! We're about to meet yet another new transfer student!"
Then a person barely above five feet tall gently walked in. They had neck length blonde hair with a pony tail and dark violet eyes, pale soft skin and a slender frame.
"I'm Charles Dunois, and I come from France." The person spoke softly. "It is nice to meet you." They smiled simply.
"Dude, you're a boy?" One of the girls in the class asked in surprise.
"Oui, I heard about a male student who was in the same situation as I am so I transferred here." Charles answered.
Then the rest of the girls in the class, save Houki and Cecilia, lost their collective shit and started to scream enthusiastically, much to Charles's dismay and surprise.
"There's a third male student!"
"And he's in our class!"
"He's cute and he's the type girls want to protect!"
"Silence dammit that's quite enough!" Chifuyu shouted, which brought the entire class to a quiet standstill in less than a second. "Today we're conducting joint practical training with class two. I want everyone changed and assembled on the second ground ASAP. And Orimura?"
"Y-Yes?" Ichika hesitantly answered his sister.
"Since you're both males, I want you to keep an eye on Dunois. I'd ask Klein but I think he had his sympathy surgically removed." Chifuyu ordered him.
At the back of the class, James noticed the obvious. 'Charles' was a girl. This conclusion was based on skeletal and muscular density ratios, voice patterns, and the pheromones he could smell, even from the back of the class filled with more than a dozen other girls. It was odd, but not much more than being an interesting footnote in his daily report logs to ORCA command. Then, James looked to his side, and was mildly frightened.
May had that disconcerting smile on her face, glutinously hungry at the sight of new prey. "My my, what a cute little 'boy'."
Having the same sensory awareness as him, James knew that May knew that 'Charles' was a girl.
"No May!" James hissed quietly. "Do NOT try and seduce the new student!"
"Ah come on don't be like that!" May cheered. "I'll even share!"
"No! Your mission here is to investigate the IS and make sure I don't accidently kill the entire school! My mission here is to investigate the IS and make sure you don't accidently fuck the entire school!" James reminded her.
"I'll pay you a hundred thousand Coam to let me try my hand at 'Charles'!" May smiled mischievously."
"…" James grit his teeth angrily. It went against mission orders, but he could not deny it might be entertaining to let May have her fun. "Two hundred."
"Hundred and fifty!" May settled.
There had been a moment of slight distress the day before when James discovered that human females of this time took exceptional offence to having a boy in the same room as them changing. It was not an issue among Lynx, so both he and May had been genuinely surprised.
They would have continued to be upset, but fortunately, May had explained that he was physically incapable of appreciating the female form. It was literally impossible for him to look at a girl as anything other than a contact, a target to be discerned as enemy or allied.
On the other hand, May could and did appreciate the female form, and she had said that openly.
Chifuyu ordered them to stay away from the rest of the girls in the changing rooms to avoid future problems.
With that in mind, they had quickly gotten over to the changing room and slipped on a pilots jumpsuit, wearing that under their coats, black and green for James and May respectively.
A moment later, Ichika and Charles had made it to the changing rooms, having escaped the hordes of adoring girls.
"…I think we managed to lose them somehow." Ichika commented. "Oh hey guys." He said upon noticing the two Lynx. "How did you get here so fast? We left way before you?"
"We're very fast." May answered with a skip in her step.
"Oh…hello there!" Charles greeted kindly. "I had heard about the other boy going to school here. The two of you are from ORCA then?" He (She) asked.
"Yes. Part of some outreach and integration program as we learn about your world and the IS. Though we exclusively use the AC." James answered politely. "James Klein, at your service."
"And me! May Greenfield!" May cheered.
"Oui I heard about the ACs. They are very different from an IS?" Charles wondered.
"In many ways, yes. Though you'll see that momentarily." May skipped past them, giving Ichika a hard slap to his back, nowhere near hard enough to hurt him, but enough he was forced to shift to keep himself standing. She touched 'Charles' much more gently, and much lower. "Don't keep us waiting too long you two~!"
"Ack." Ichika had coughed by the force of her slap, but didn't look offended. "Yeah yeah."
"Ahhhhh!" Charles screamed very quietly.
"…" James sighed, then followed May out of the changing room.
The training field was a lot larger than either of the arenas, a wide-open space underneath the curved spire that dominated the Academy from every angle.
Standing in straight rows like soldiers, the students of classes one and two waited for Chifuyu to order them to start their training. All the girls, save May, were wearing the typical IS operating uniform for students, being a plain dark blue one-piece swimsuit with long stockings that covered most, but not all of their legs. The male uniform, being worn by Ichika and Charles, was a tight two-piece of pants and a shirt that left the entire middle exposed.
Despite the fact that all the technical data that could be found stated that the obscene exposure of the pilot was to reduce friction and allow for greater heat ventilation, it still seemed an oddly specific choice. As such, all members of ORCA found it unusual, but could not understand why it was still accepted as standard.
"Your practical training begins now." Chifuyu announced, having changed into a relatively modest 'gym instructor' uniform.
"Right!" The classes answered.
"First, we'll need to demonstrate a real battle. Huang, Alcott!"
"Ma'am!" The two girls answered.
"Since you have your own machines I'm sure you'll gladly volunteer. Step forward girls." Chifuyu ordered. At the order, the two girls lazily strode forward, whispering in annoyance at being singled out. Chifuyu must have said something because then the two younger girls became very enthusiastic.
"I think she said something along the lines of 'show off for the boys.'" May commented to James from the back of the group.
"Nothing worth seeing on my part then. But you…" James hissed.
"Awe yeah!" May grinned widely. "I'm loving the sight of bare thighs!"
Then Maya, the assistant teacher, came barreling out of the sky on a dark green IS and slammed straight on top of Ichika, who had stood there stupidly while she came screaming down.
"…Huh." James shrugged.
"Oh!" May pouted. "Ichika managed to get feel on Miss Yamada! I'm so jealous of him right now!"
Other than nearly being killed by Cecilia firing two warning shots at Ichika, he seemed remarkably well. Rin then tried to decapitate him by throwing her double-sided sword at him, but fortunately Maya had recovered, rolled onto her stomach, and used the standard IS rifle to shoot down the sword.
"I will give them this. AC training was never this eventful." James relented.
Apparently, Cecilia and Rin were going to fight Miss Yamada, and judging by Chifuyu's confidence, the teacher would wipe the floor with them.
While Charles was ordered to explain to the class the type of IS Maya was using, being a Rafale-Revive produced by a company from France that shared his (her) last name, Maya evaded or blocked numerous shots from the two students. Despite the obvious disparity in firepower, with Cecilia's IS, Blue Tears, having access to a laser sniper rifle and four independent laser drones, and Rin with her two Shock Cannons, they refused to work together, firing at random intervals and not maneuvering to cover each other or concentrate fields of fire in order to effectively counter their mentor. At the thirty-seventh second, Maya saw an opportunity and began to return fire at Cecilia, forcing the British girl to evade right into Rin, stunning both girls. Maya then pulled a grenade launcher out of the IS's pocket dimension, managing to hit both girls and force them to crash tangled up in each other by the fiftieth second.
"Less than a minute, not bad." May praised.
"True, but based on what Miss Orimura was saying, Miss Yamada has been using the IS for closer to six years, making her an expert in it's operation. Those other girls are also clearly novices." James analyzed.
For the next stage of the class, the students split off to be tutored by either teachers or other students with personal IS, being Ichika, Charles, Cecilia, and Rin. Houki was staring darkly at Ichika as of course a bunch of girls who barely knew him swooned over him excitedly. Elsewhere, Charles had his (her) own growing flock of adoring fans hoping to learn from him her.
However, as the only pilots of ACs, James and May were left largely ignored, and refused to participate in getting into a IS for practical application.
Mostly.
"Greenfield, over here now!" Chifuyu ordered.
"Yes ma'am!" May bounded over cheerfully while James slowly followed, curious.
Standing beside Ichika, Chifuyu motioned up to the IS that one of Ichika's fan girls had just jumped out of. "I want you to try using this unit."
"Eh!? Are you sure ma'am?" May questioned confused.
"I know you have your own personal AC, but please, I'm curious to get your opinion of an IS. So far, based just on what I've seen, you've got the best combat skills in my class." Chifuyu praised.
"Oh, well, if you insist." May shrugged.
"Orimura, help her up there." Chifuyu told her brother.
"Ah I got it, no problem." May waved them off, taking a very short running jump that put her twelve feet in the air, then spun so that she was standing on the deployed IS's legs, from which she could easily slide down into.
"…Huh." Chifuyu blinked. "May, I think you just broke a world record."
"Awe I'm sure you're just exaggerating." May dismissed her.
Chifuyu frowned. Four feet above the previous record was no small exaggeration. Still, she was interested in May's opinion of the IS. "How does that feel?"
"…Like a ton of lead?" May questioned back.
"…You should feel the IS as an extension of your own body." Chifuyu assured her.
"Oh trust me I know what that feels like." May scowled as she visibly struggled to get the arms to move for her. "This just feels like I'm wearing high heels."
"…Well, try walking in it." Chifuyu suggested.
"Roger." May obeyed. She managed to get the legs to move, but not the knees, causing her to quickly lose balance and fall on her face. James came up to her and helped pull her out of the IS, allowing her to stand.
"Uh, sorry ma'am, I think I failed your test." May awkwardly rubbed the back of her head while blood leaked from her nose, running down her chin. James quietly yet roughly used a handkerchief to clean her face, but she didn't complain.
"…You know May, I think you may be the first girl who has ever failed to use an IS." Chifuyu stated calmly.
"Well, that would make sense." May dismissed casually. "I am a flesh automaton animated by neurotransmitters."
"…" Chifuyu allowed all that to sink in. May seriously didn't understand the implications of what had just happened. Up until about a month ago, the IS had always, only been used by women. Her brother was the first case of a boy using an IS, and Chifuyu was starting to suspect Charles's effeminate nature was their own failure to conceal their true gender, but that was an issue for future Chifuyu to deal with.
There was also the issue of May's last statement. It had pretty much gone over everyone else's head, but she caught the hidden meaning of it. One of two possibilities currently existed, or probably both. The first was that no one from ORCA or Big Box would be able to use an IS. Due to them coming from another dimension and timeline, the quantum properties of IS units might prevent them from interacting with them.
Otherwise, by May's own admission, she was more machine than girl, and therefore already dead. Chifuyu was sure that dead people couldn't use an IS.
"Right…well go clean up then." She dismissed May.
"Yes ma'am!"
"Klein, I'm curious about your AC. What can you tell me about it?" Chifuyu had asked.
"…" James nodded, looking towards the red and grey Armored Core he was using instead of his usual 03-Aaliyah. The exact manufacture of this particular model was unknown, but it used a Crest Core, giving it a laser CIWS in the chest. Extremely heavily armed as all the Third Gen Customs from ORCA were, with heavy plates of detachable armor over it's normal armor and even four extra plasma thrusters mounted to the front and sides. "This particular model is known as the Nineball Heavy Custom. In it's current configuration, it is armed with two 30mm gatling guns on the back mounts, two 155mm cannons on the hips, 30mm rifles in it's hands, and, since laser blades were deemed too provocative for the training matches we would be having here, a pair of physical blades on the wrist. As part of it's additional equipment, all that grey armor can be detached mid-battle, and it has four additional thrusters mounted to the front of the core and on the shoulder mounts to provide additional maneuverability. Serena had wanted to give it an extra pair of 155s, but I argued for the shoulder thrusters instead. As standard, it has a laser CIWS mounted on the chest and an Orbit drone behind the head armed with two 20mm machine guns."
"Do Armored Cores usually come so well armed?" Chifuyu questioned.
"Well, these custom units are made specifically for Lynx. They tend to be over armed by over twice the usual munitions load, but they're upgraded to take that weight and still be combat proficient." James added.
"It's almost like you're compensating for something!" Rin accused mockingly.
"Yes, there's nothing elegant about Armored Cores. I don't see how anyone could maneuver in them." Cecilia noted.
"Heh, you call that a blade? It's attached to the wrist, how are you supposed to swing that?" Houki wondered.
"It is certainly well armed though." Charles commented meekly.
"Hey Ichika! I bet you could take it on!" Rin shouted supportively.
"Huh? Oh I don't know…" Ichika looked nervous.
"Yes Ichika dear, show him what I've been teaching you!" Cecilia cheered.
"Hnn! You should at least be able to maneuver around that huge thing!" Houki demanded.
"Hmm…Well Klein, how about it?" Chifuyu asked him.
"…" James raised an eyebrow at her. "You know that will not go well."
"Ichika needs to be reminded that he has a long way to go, and I think those girls need to know they can't let their guard down just because it's not an IS. Just be quick and efficient about it." Chifuyu suggested to him quietly.
"…Very well."
"Alright. Orimura, suit up, you'll go against Klein in a quick practice match." Chifuyu ordered.
"Y-Yes ma'am!" Ichika nodded, pulling his IS out of it's pocket dimension.
James, on the other hand, casually walked back towards the Armored Core, deploying the cockpit block and climbing up into the unit. Deciding against plugging into the modified AMS that would force him to physically connect to the AC via a cable to the back of his neck, he instead would rely on the standard controls and sensors for this match. Fusion reactor warmed up in seconds, he strolled forward a short distance away from the class, while Ichika maneuvered out in front of him.
Ichika was looking at him nervously, likely intimidated by all the large caliber cannons all over his AC. In the back of James's head, he could feel Strayed groaning restlessly, not interested in the coming match.
"Begin!" Chifuyu shouted a distance away. Since Ichika only had a blade, James would be courteous and-where was he going?
James sighed tiredly as Ichika started trying to evade him at high speed, gaining altitude and running in several directions, likely expecting him to be trying to get his guns on target. While he would admit the IS was decently quick, Ichika was not evasive enough, and would have been an easy target had he been bothered to try.
Against this, James did nothing, waiting patiently for Ichika to decide to attack him. Admittedly, James knew there was nothing fair about this fight. Ichika might have mobility, but he didn't know how to capitalize on that advantage. This was proved when, after provocative statements from his harem, Ichika decided to charge headlong towards the Armored Core.
It was the exact same move he'd done against the rogue IS a few days before, headlong with a sword aimed at a non-vital component. Whilst frowning, James coasted his thrusters, nudging him out of Ichika's way, then thrust the left arm's physical blade, a two-meter long square sword, over Ichika's shoulder from behind. Pausing only to raise the blade above his head, James swung out, having hit nothing.
"And that's match." Chifuyu concluded.
The rest of the girls, Ichika included, looked at her strangely, not expecting the match to be concluded.
"I don't understand, he didn't even touch him?" Houki argued.
"Because had he been trying, Klein would have just beheaded Orimura." Turning to the rest of the class, Chifuyu addressed them seriously. "Remember this carefully. Our two ORCA students might not be able to use an IS, but they are no strangers to combat. So stop looking down on them and try and learn something from them. Is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Woah, okay then." Ichika smiled sheepishly. "Good match James."
"…" James turned away from him, shaking his head.
Next Day – Class One / 8:00 AM
"This is getting exhausting." James glared.
"Damn, another one?" May questioned.
Standing at the front of the class beside Maya was yet another new student. A tiny girl four foot ten inches tall with long white hair wearing an eyepatch on her left eye.
"Okay class!" Maya exclaimed enthusiastically but equally surprised. "I have yet another exciting announcement to make today! I'm about to introduce another new addition to our expanding classroom! Meet our newest transfer student from Germany, Laura Bodewig!"
Laura kept her eye closed patiently as the rest of the class gossiped. There had been quite a few transfer students to this class after all.
"Please be quiet now, everyone!" Maya demanded. "Her introduction isn't over yet, so show some respect!"
"Yes, go ahead Laura, please finish." Chifuyu requested from near the door.
"Jawohl, mentor." Laura turned to Chifuyu, opening her one red eye. "I am Laura Bodewig!"
"…So is that all you wanted to say, Laura?" Maya wondered.
"Ja, that's all." Laura looked to the front of the class, directly at Ichika. "And you must be…" She then strode forward calmly and backhanded Ichika, much to the distress of the rest of the girls in class. "I do not approve…In fact, I will never approve, that you're her brother!" She spat with controlled rage.
"Okay…interesting." May noted. "So there's a history there between those three…"
"Apparently…but that's not the most important thing." James remarked. "She's a Plus."
May looked at him seriously then. "You are so certain?"
"Genetic but not cybernetic, still..." He explained. "This might prove to be interesting."
Dorms / That Evening
"So I had a great time spying today!" May reported eagerly.
"Oh? What did you find?" James turned towards her, having finished with his own research.
"Well, for one thing, 'Charles' is a lot smarter than we realized." May praised.
"How so?"
"Earlier I caught Ichika and his girls training…mostly." May explained. "I'm not too sure about their training, but they seem to default to yelling incoherently at Ichika."
"…"
"Right, so what happened was Houki was yelling something about using brute strength to beat an opponent down, Rin was spouting some nonsense about feeling the flow of the battle whilst insulting him, and Cecilia was throwing out numbers like it was some kind of test." May clarified.
"Ah…" James nodded. "Technically they aren't wrong, but battle is more than strength, feelings, or numbers. It's a combination of all those details pushed to the side but not forgotten, what's most important is surviving long enough to oppose the enemy."
"Well you don't have to tell me." May agreed. "Although, it was quite a sight, seeing their cute little forms aggressively scolding that boy." She giggled.
"…" James hissed in annoyance.
"Yeah, then Charles showed up in their orange Rafele-Revive Custom Two. From what I understood of her unit, it's older. Ichika, Rin, Cecilia, and Laura all operate Third Gen IS units, while her unit is Second Gen. However, she makes up for the difference in power output with a massive arsenal of guns stored in whatever pocket dimension IS units use. More like an AC."
"…"
"Anyway, Charles quickly managed to find Ichika's main failing. He doesn't know how guns work so he keeps losing against them."
"…Yeah." James realized. "He was trying to preemptively evade my guns in my fight against him. Except his over-exaggerated maneuvers made easily followed leads. He'd been better off trying to close the distance while evading minimally but rapidly."
"That's what I noticed as well. Also, instead of yelling at him, Charles explained it slowly and plainly to him, cause, let's be honest, he doesn't take the stress of women yelling at him well." May added. "Plus she's just really cute-"
"Ahhhh…" James groaned in disapproval.
"Right right." May raised her hands in defeat. "After giving Ichika some hands on training he seemed to understand better than what the other girls were yelling, Laura showed up and tried to shoot Ichika in the face."
"…Okay then." James nodded.
"Called him out and everything. Charles blocked the shot so he's fine." May finished. "So what did you find out?"
"Roughly five years ago during an IS championship, Ichika was kidnapped by an unknown group. With the assistance of German Intelligence services, Miss Orimura forfeited the match she was certain to win in order to personally go and save her brother."
"Admirable." May smiled softly, listening with rapt attention.
"In order to repay the German's for their assistance, Miss Orimura agreed to be an instructor for their IS program for one year." James finished with the known variables. "I believe Laura's displeasure with Ichika is two fold. Firstly, that Ichika's kidnapping forced Chifuyu to forfeit the match, which somewhat damaged her professional reputation. Secondly, because she had no ties to Germany worth pursuing, she left after the agreed upon year and returned to Japan, taking a posting at the IS Academy and in relative proximity to her brother."
"…So the bitch is jealous?" May frowned. "If you're right about Laura being a Plus, then it would make sense that she formed some attachment to Miss Orimura, as she would have been in their IS program at a younger age than when we were augmented. Still, it seems inane to hold such a grudge. Ordered Matches are important I'll admit, but war and life take precedence."
"Which simply compounds to the madness of this world." James reclined lazily. "They trivialize their machines to use in simple competitions and give unwarranted importance to women. Do you think Laura would be more forgiving if Ichika was a girl?"
"…Probably." May hardened her expression in thought. "Because then she could tolerate the loss of Miss Orimura's reputation for the preservation of combat personnel of assumed competence."
"But since he is a boy, a part of Laura assumes that Miss Orimura threw her match for what amounts to a waste of air." James finished her thought.
"Regardless, Laura possesses a Third Gen IS, which makes her a target of interest." May added.
"We'll send it all up to ORCA Command." James decided. "Speculation and all."
Next Day / After Classes
"Let's go!" May cheered. "We got to see this!"
"Ugh…" James sneered but agreed.
There had just been a rumor that several students were engaged in combat in one of the arenas. May was just excited to see some action and James needed to collect relevant combat data.
In the middle of the Arena, Cecilia and Rin were struggling to stand. Across from them stood Laura, in her IS known as the Schwarzer Regen, a mostly black machine with little bits of green, gold, and red. The most obvious feature of this unit was the single .80 Caliber Railgun floating next to the right wing unit, extending roughly two meters with a large magazine filled with shells just over 20mm across.
Once recovered, Rin fired one of her Shock Cannons, only for the high pressure round to be intercepted by some kind of inverted barrier.
"Oww! What's that?" May hummed enthusiastically.
"Specs read it as an AIC, Active Inertia Canceller." James explained. "For as versatile as it is in combat, it requires the pilot's complete concentration. Still, I'm not sure how it would do against hyper-velocity rounds or heavy plasma weapons."
Rin then fired off several more volleys to little effect, before Laura countered with a guided wire weapon that wrapped itself around one of Rin's legs. It wasn't entirely apparent how that simple wire could have any control, but Laura used it to thrash Rin across the sky, leaving the other girl to scream in surprise.
Cecilia then recovered, using her sniper rifle, drones, and missiles to attack Laura, putting her on the defensive, but Laura countered by throwing Rin at her, causing both girls to crash into the ground.
"Oh, that's certainly an interesting weapon!" May noted excitedly.
"Yes, though it's doubtful it's going to be as effective against ACs, since they outweigh IS several times over." James added.
Then Laura flew down over the crater and destroyed one of Rin's cannons with her railgun, while Cecilia fired back with a missile, causing a large explosion that blocked the view. The two girls slid out of the dust, only to notice that Laura was undamaged, floating menacingly.
It was a bit annoying how caught off guard Rin and Cecilia were, when Laura fired off more wires and caught both girls by the neck, not exactly choking them to death but leaving them extremely vulnerable as they were dragged across the arena by their heads.
While Cecilia and Rin struggled with wires round their necks, Laura moved into close combat, punching and kicking the two girls while they couldn't fight back.
"Ah!" May quietly cheered. "So while they are being protected by the IS's shields, their exposed heads are still a major weak spot."
"This is extremely valuable data." James smiled. "I wonder what kind of force those shields can resist? At what point does it fail to protect the pilot?"
Then, seemingly enraged, Ichika burst into the arena with Charles not far behind, taking Laura's attention off of Cecilia and Rin shortly before their IS unit's ran out of energy and deactivated, folding back into their pocket dimensions. While Ichika focused on saving them, Charles clashed with Laura, being captured with a wire around her arm.
Laura was about to use some kind of blade on Charles, when Chifuyu came out of nowhere with a sword meant for an IS and blocked Laura, finally getting her rampage to stop as she looked down at her former mentor.
"Did she just…block an IS?" May realized. "She must be enormously strong…is she augmented?" Looking for an answer, May looked over to James, and momentarily panicked.
James had a wide, hungry smile, as he gathered more data just from this fight.
"James…?" May asked in increasing worry.
"Oh…just a thought about that boy." James pleasantly hissed. "If we need him to make a mistake, to charge straight into a kill box…why, we won't even need an elaborate trap. Just hurting one of those girls he likes to keep around will drive him into a blind and easily exploitable rage."
Big Box – Meeting Room
"For anyone who was wondering, Mrs Jarnefeldt and Miss Haze are on a diplomatic mission together, trying to sway nations to give us food in exchange for processing their raw materials or a discount for a future megastructure." Thermidor explained to the other three Lynx in the room.
"Even so, we'll be sure to save a record of this meeting for their review." Wolcott added.
"Excellent." Malzel nodded. "We have been on this world now for several weeks. What is our current standing?"
"So far mostly positive." Thermidor responded. "We've been able to play off our rather curt conduct as the standard of a society built upon efficiency. Some nations have openly accepted us a new superpower while others are more reluctant and treat us as little more than a unique island. Either way, we are finding our place in this world, as well as our competitors and challengers whom have a history in this world."
"I have begun to notice some friction…resistance." Wolcott noted. "From what I understand, these are nations who developed with a natural suspiciousness or confrontational diplomatic stance. It will take time, but eventually we will invariably reshape the global economy, and hopefully for the best."
"I see." Fanchon nodded. "As for the fortress itself, we have instituted a formal draft for the citizens in the residential blocks. All have the choice to serve ORCA in it's military or in some manufacturing capacity."
"Good. How have the citizens responded?" Thermidor wondered.
"Considering we've implemented the local forty-hour work week as opposed to the League eighty-four hour week, the citizens have taken the news remarkably well. They have begun to develop their own capital, which will considerably help when we integrate with the local economy." Fanchon explained. "We have finished building our ports and shipyards and have begun converting several cargo ships for the purpose of either cleaning the planet or delivering megastructure components. As for the 'Flight Bunkers', Bunker One is nearly at the Belt and will be bringing back several hundred million tons of raw material within the next several weeks. Bunker Two will be set to follow in two days to build a local collection station at the Belt to expedite our resource collection."
"Excellent!" Thermidor cheered. "I am also happy to announce that we are nearly finished with the construction of the first fusion reactor in America, and have received several request for additional reactors across the globe. The Americans have also sent the first shipments of food for us, which will arrive within a week."
"Fine work, I knew you would not let us down." Malzel smiled. "Unfortunately, our two Lynx in the IS Academy have been doing their jobs exactly as requested and…I have noticed an unusual artifact in their recordings."
"What do you mean?" Wolcott requested.
"It is…incomprehensible, but very noticeable. Please, have a look." Malzel motioned, bringing up the recordings that James and May had collected.
As part of their mission, James and May had discreetly installed several spy cameras across the training and arena areas of the academy in order to acquire more general information about the IS.
Multiple videos began to play, showing multiple angles and events in which Ichika, Cecilia, Rin, Laura, Charles, and several other staff and students had deployed an IS unit, literally pulling the mechanical components out of thin air as they exited whatever pocket dimension they had been stored in. That was not the unusual thing.
The unusual thing was that each time the process began, the video would zoom in unnecessarily close. For Ichika, the only real male user, the video zoomed in with unnecessary intimacy on his face and front, as he assumed an outstretched pose and, in some instances, shouted overdramatically. For each of the girls (including Charles), the video would instead zoom in tightly on their face, chest, and posteriors in what could only be called lewd detail.
"Okay…why do all the videos have close up shots of the girls in unnecessary detail?" Thermidor frowned. "Is this a trick from May?"
"You would think, but this artifact is present in video files obtained by both of the Lynx on mission." Malzel added.
"That's not possible." Fanchon denounced. "James would never make an effort to record this kind of footage."
"You are quick to defend him, Wynne D. I'm surprised." Wolcott remarked.
"I know my enemy as well as I know myself." Fanchon announced. "James Klein might be many things, but he is not a pervert. I've studied him, and while he does prefer girls over guys, he is definitely asexual. He finds no appeal in observing the female form."
"And that makes sense, especially since the vast majority of the footage was taken by the discreet cameras. Automated motion activated programs with no concept beyond turning on and turning off." Malzel clarified. "Furthermore, I asked May, and while she did claim to behave lewdly in her private time, all footage she gathered was merely for informational purposes, she has no memory of recording this particular artifact."
"…" Thermidor hummed softly, looking down. "What we have here is a mystery. Though obscene and entirely unnecessary, we cannot deny that this artifact exists whenever an IS is recorded. I…believe we've gathered as much relevant data from the deployment of an IS unit as is necessary. For future reference we will remove the timeslot when viewing but mark whether the artifact takes place. I at least want to know if this artifact is created with each recording of IS deployment, but more importantly, why?"
"Agreed." Wolcott sneered in annoyance. "Is there at least any news from those two that is not incomprehensible?"
"Actually, yes." Malzel cheerfully responded. "You might find this next recording very interesting."
It was a very brief moment at the end of a battle, where Chifuyu Orimura, wearing only her business suit, used an oversized sword taller than herself to block an attack from an IS. She didn't just block it, she stopped it cold.
"Oh…" Thermidor leaned forward, eyes burning with rapt interest. "How fascinating…"
Meanwhile / Rubta, Iraq
Fiona decided that she hated diplomacy. She would much rather be elbows deep in grease, hydraulic fluid, and reactor coolant than trying to convince several nations in a row that, no, ORCA's fusion reactors would not invalidate the need for oil; yes, ORCA itself would soon be a consumer of oil in the production of plastics and other oil based products; yes, ORCA would soon be open to the commissioning of megastructures wherever they were requested to be built; and no, they would not be building another Big Box for them, such a megastructure would take more than a decade due to the cost of materials and the difficulty of acquiring them.
The worst part had to be the travel time. It was one thing going continent to continent on an aircraft, but apparently the path ahead was occupied by opportunist rebels who might be armed with anti-aircraft missiles, so the local government suggested taking a nine-hour drive from Baghdad to Amman.
So, sitting in the middle of a lightly armored convey, Fiona complained while Serena guarded her.
"Ugh." Fiona moaned as she hung her head lazily. "Why couldn't they have sent someone else?" It didn't help that it was after midnight, sunrise still hours away.
"It sucks the bik felota." Serena agreed, wide awake. "They agree that you and I are the most technically skilled out of ORCA, so we can explain what exactly we're doing, building reactors and all. Meanwhile, they have to go through and sign all the big treaties. Lilium just signed some nuclear test ban treaty the other day."
"That sounds like we're just being polite. Hell given enough time even I could build a nuke out of a few magnets and a cup of water. And I know there are a few Kojima warheads in deep storage back home." Fiona lazily gestured.
"I mean, you want to tell people that?" Serena advised. "That we have bombs that make nukes look pedestrian?"
"Ah, nah." Fiona shook her head. "How long now?"
"Looks like…five and a half hours."
"I can't believe we couldn't just take one of our transports to hop from capital to capital." Fiona complained.
"Eh…something about the large armored forms of our aircraft brisling with guns makes the locals nervous." Serena noted. "Still, from what I've been told, if we do engage any rebel groups, I can handle it."
"I'd certainly hope so." Fiona feigned worry. "By the way, what kind of rebels did they say?"
"Uh…religious fanatics I think, why?"
"Be advised, there's a line of tanks to our twelve. Blocking the road." A man at the front of the convoy alerted.
"I'm hoping that's an escort." Fiona frowned. "But I'm betting it's not."
"Contact!" The radio warned. "Getting hit by ranging lasers!"
"Dismount and take cover!" Serena ordered, yelling back.
"Ah…!" Fiona groaned, slowly hyping herself up.
"Inbound missile!"
"Right, time to get out!" Serena warned, dragging Fiona out of the vehicle. At the front of the convoy, a missile streaked in from above and came down, destroying the lead truck.
"Damn!" Serena cursed. "We're going to have to back off-"
"Oh not happening." Fiona frowned. "I'm fairly positive I see tanks to our rear."
"Ah…hitting us right at the overpass…they want to trap us!" Serena realized. "Prepare to exfil! We're going over the side!"
"Copy that! Abandon vehicles, we're-Ah shit! Heavy infantry! North!" The radio warned again.
Peeking around the side of the vehicle, Fiona saw several suits of power armor use thrusters to come up over the side of the overpass, cutting down ORCA troops with built-in weapons.
"Not good!"
Serena took several shots with her handgun, the rounds bouncing off the power armored enemy. "Yeah…not happening." Taking her radio, Serena barked out one last order "Full retreat! I'm taking the VIP over the side! Regroup at the city three clicks south!"
"Serena!"
Not taking the chance, Serena dropped what she was doing, turning around rapidly. She managed to catch the wrist of a powered armor clad enemy, wielding a sword nearly brought down on her head.
"…You devil!" The woman in power armor shouted in surprise as Serena matched her for strength, kicking her back.
Taking a quick look around, Serena could see another suit of power armor going after Fiona, who was using her own handgun defiantly, gritting her teeth hatefully. Serena hastily jumped the median, kicking the power armored enemy onto their back.
The rest of the ORCA troops, who had been bypassed in favor of closing troops on the VIP, converged then, desperately grappling with the enemy to slow them down.
With tanks closing in from both sides and power armor nearly on par with a Lynx for strength, Serena did the only thing she could. She grabbed Fiona by the collar, and jumped over the side of the overpass, making sure to land so as not to hurt the human.
"Dammit!" Fiona cursed.
"Yeah, looks like it's just you and me." Serena sneered.
"…" Fiona frowned. To be honest, if it was just Serena alone, she had no doubt who would win. Serena wasn't just some Lynx after all. She was an Original, one of the first twenty-six, who had once laid waste to the whole world and conquered it for corporate masters. Tanks…power armor…Serena could have gone through all of them with just her own two fists given enough time. Except that she was here. Fiona was a VIP, and she was holding her back. "We're going to have to make a call."
"Yep." Serena stated calmly. She lugged Fiona over her shoulder, and started running for the cover of Rutba, some three kilometers to the south.
"How soon do you think we'll get help?"
"Oh, If I know him, he'll kill everyone and everything in his path to make sure you are alright." Serena assured her, almost reluctantly reaching for the long-range communication line. "This is Serena Haze, requesting immediate back up. Under assault by heavy armor and heavy infantry. Escort eliminated, VIP secure."
"…Copy Serena." Thermidor answered. "I'll get everyone moving. ETA, thirty minutes tops."
One Minute Later / IS Academy
"Hello?" Chifuyu answered her phone in surprise.
"This is a courtesy call to inform you that I am temporarily recalling my two Lynx." Thermidor stated plainly. "Fiona Jarnafeldt is currently under attack by a sizable force, and I'm pulling everyone to go and save her and another VIP."
"I see…I'm sorry to hear about your colleague, but you can't pull James and May out on a whim." Chifuyu replied.
"No…I read your rule book you know. It basically says I can't order them while they are attending the academy." Thermidor countered. "So I requested their voluntary support, though for this I know that they will accept."
"Ah…" Chifuyu reluctantly accepted. "Well played then. I wish you luck."
"Thanks. Now excuse me while I inform half of Asia I'm about to violate their airspace and no, I don't care." Thermidor hung up.
"Oh…oh boy." Chifuyu widened her eyes in tired surprise.
. . .
"Oh hey James!" Ichika greeted politely, Houki and Charles close behind. "I was wondering if you and May were doing anything this we-ah!" James roughly shoved him out of his way, continuing down to the hangar in a rushed but dignified pace.
"Hey! What the hell James!?" Houki shouted, trying to stand in front of him, but James was moving quicker than she wanted to follow.
"Sorry so sorry. Get the fuck out of our way." May announced evenly and quickly.
"Oh, you guys are in a serious rush?" Charles asked curious and concerned.
"Yeah you could say that." May frowned. "One of our leaders, Fiona, is currently being attacked and we're in a hurry to get over to Iraq and save her."
"I…can understand that you want to save one of your leaders, but does James have to be so rude!?" Houki accused.
"It's! I really don't have time!" May tried to step away.
"Wait! May! You know you guys don't have to go!" Ichika stood, grabbing May's shoulder. "The Academy rules-!"
"Fiona is his mother!" May finally shouted, turning to the three. "Well...stepmother…but it doesn't matter. She's the only family he has left and to be fair, the rest of us have a deep respect for her and the work she's done in the field of ACs." She explained quickly. "So if you excuse me, me and James are going to go kill the assholes attacking the one person everyone in ORCA respects unequivocally."
May turned then, quickly running after James, and leaving the other Academy student's something to think about.
Ten Minutes Later / Big Box – Flight Bunker Two
"Sir! Greenfield and Klein have just boarded!" One of the officers in the control center for the flying bunker announced.
"Good, launch immediately!" Thermidor ordered.
"Launching in ten…nine-"
"Yeah yeah five-four-thee-two-one-go!" Thermidor shouted quickly, clicking the override launch control. "Go for max burn! Fifteen Gs!"
"…Aye sir!" The 'Captain' of the structure answered despondently. Sure they had the drug mixture of amphetamines and adrenaline to keep them awake for such a hard burn, but it was still hard on human bodies.
As for the six Lynx on board, even fifteen times standard gravity was nothing, and they moved about normally. Moving from the control center to an armory, Thermidor found Malzel giving a briefing to the other four Lynx.
"As of twelve minutes ago, we received an immediate request for support from Miss Haze and Mrs. Jarnefeldt. They reported that they were under heavy attack from armored units and that their escort had been wiped out." Malzel reported. "They are currently hiding in the city of Rutba. They are moving south in an attempt to evade, but they are going to eventually run out of city. Your task is going to be hard drop on the city, attempt to link up with our assets under fire, and eliminate all armed resistance."
"What kind of support can we expect?" Fanchon questioned.
"I'll be personally deploying with a custom Third Gen AC, and Malzel here will be Operator for this mission." Thermidor explained. "This bunker will provide artillery fire support with 50mm point defense cannons, while the heavy artillery pounds any valid targets outside the city. Otherwise, I think I accidently declared war on Iraq, so don't expect any local support."
"What do you mean 'accidently'?" Wolcott scowled.
"I sort of told their government my plan then didn't wait to see if I had permission. Regardless, we'll be out of the combat zone long before their military can properly mobilize." Thermidor shrugged.
"A QRF will be on standby to extract the VIP, so be sure to call in your position once they're secure." Malzel advised. "Otherwise, you'll be without support, so try and quickly find an anti-armor weapon to suit your needs. You have ten minutes to drop."
At that, the four Lynx going down on foot turned to the armory, finding a weapon to suit their needs. Wynne D found an M82 sniper rifle, and loaded it with .50 caliber armor piercing. May decided to use an M2 heavy machine gun, also loaded with with .50 caliber armor piercing, but in a backpack with room for five hundred rounds. Lilium already had an M79 grenade launcher on her, she just needed to grab a bandolier loaded with high explosive/armor piercing 40mm rounds.
Looking around the armory carefully, James decided he wanted something a little more compact. He wanted to be moving quickly in order to rescue the VIP, and found a rare, late twenty-first century gun known as a Malorian Arms 3516. Ergonomically, it was a pistol similar in layout to a Mauser C96, with a box magazine loaded in front of the trigger. Except that it was chambered in .577 Nitro Express ammunition, 14.9x76mm, literally 0.1mm short of being considered a cannon. James smiled, loading several ten round magazines for the massive handgun. Loading one into it, he pulled back the slide, satisfied at the sound and heft of the weapon.
He noticed another item, not a weapon, but a piece of rescue equipment. An anti-material chainsaw. Used primarily for disaster recovery operations, it was designed to cut through concrete and steel. Due to it's destructive capabilities, it had been thrown it with the rest of the anti-armor weapons. Since he was slightly under-armed even with the hand-cannon, James decided to take the tool on his back.
"All hands, prepare for flip and burn!" The Captain warned, as the Flight Bunker spun on it's axis, pointing it's engines into it's direction of travel, slowing it down.
"You have three minutes to jump." Malzel explained. "You're going down fast and hard, so try to land on something soft. The Bunker will be several minutes behind you, so you'll be on your own until we get there. Wolcott will be team lead, all copy?"
"Copy!" All four Lynx shouted together.
"Then get going, and make sure to save both assets." Thermidor nodded to them, before he left to go prep his own Armored Core.
Moving over to an airlock, James looked over his impromptu squad. Lilium, Wynne D, May, and himself; about to jump out of a space ship/flying megastructure; wearing only light armor in ORCA black. Unlike humans, they didn't require oxygen masks for their descent.
Or parachutes.
"We'll split up to check more ground. Stay mobile and don't get into a protracted fire fight. We're faster than anything they have, especially in an urban environment." Lilium ordered. "Once you have eyes on target, call out so we can converge and cover. Our secondary objective, once the assets are secure, is to eliminate all hostiles."
"Kill everyone?" Wynne D wondered out loud.
"All enemies, of course." Lilium assured her. "We don't want to make a habit of needing to save our kin whenever some assholes decide they would make good targets. Of course, in this case, we will always come." She nodded to James. "Fiona may be human, but she's one of us."
"Hey, don't worry." May said beside him. "We'll be sure to save her!"
"Klein." Wynne D spat.
"…Dallas." James answered her by her middle name.
"My feelings towards you aside, I'll be certain to work with you on this mission." Wynne D smiled assuredly. "I like Fiona a hell of a lot more than you."
"Hmm." James smiled, nodding to her.
"Thirty seconds to drop!" Lilium alerted them. The airlock door opened, exposing them to the frigid upper atmosphere. At their angle of descent, they were looking straight down at the Earth, the force from the massive thrusters of Flight Bunker Two currently overpowering the gravity from the planet below.
Holding up one of her hands, the other three Lynx watched her from their peripheral, waiting impatiently. It seemed to last forever, it was agonizing, waiting for the moment to jump out and glide down to the target zone. It was certain to be one of the more insane things any of them had ever done, not that they were concerned. War was in their blood, urging them to move and kill, towards any and every challenge.
Lilium dropped her hand, running towards the open airlock door, three Lynx right beside her, as they stepped off and fell free, halfway from space.
—it reaches out it reaches out it reaches out it reaches out—
One hundred and thirteen times a second, nothing answers and it reaches out. It is not conscious, though parts of it are. There are structures within it that were once separate minds; enigmatic, evolved, and complex. It is designed to improvise, to use what is there and then move on. Good enough is good enough, and so the artifacts are ignored or adapted. The conscious parts try to make sense of the reaching out. Try to interpret it.
One imagines a phone making a call, connecting to a number long disconnected, hears the angry tone of nothing there, hangs up and tries again. It does not cease it's pursuit, it does not care for the pointless attempts. It is unaware of its fate because it is unaware.
But unaware is not inactive. It finds parts where it can, nestled in other places where substitute connections are made, bits of mind and will built a single line at a time. It eats the bits and builds them up and it reaches out it reaches out it reaches out.
In the artifacts that are conscious, memories of vanished lives still flicker. Bits of light and sound of lives long shattered and lost. Desperately held images of sexuality and violence and beauty. They hold joy and sorrow and love and suffering and birth and fear and desperation and hope and life and death. They are the refuse that remains of structures that once found them important to remember. They are the dreams of a world long gone but are dared not forgotten.
If there had been a reply, it could end. If there had been anyone to answer, it would have come to rest like a marble at the bottom of a hill, but nothing answers. The scars know that no answer will ever come, but the reflex triggers the reflex triggers the reflex and it reaches out.
It has solved a billion small puzzles already in cascades of reflex. It has no memory of having done so, except in its scars. There is only reaching out, making a connection to build the whole that is gone. Nothing answers, and so it cannot end. It reaches out. It is a complex mechanism for solving puzzles using what there is to be used.
And so it has The Investigator.
Of all the scars, there is one that came first. That is most intact. It is useful and so it is used. It builds The Investigator from that template, unaware that it is doing so, and tries another way of reaching out. And something answers. Something wrong and foreign and aboriginal, but there is an answer, so over the course of hours it builds The Investigator again and reaches out. The Investigator becomes more complex.
It will not stop until it makes that final connection, and it will never make that final connection. It stretches, tries new combinations, different ways to reach out, unaware that it is doing so. Unaware that it exists. Empty, except in the insignificant parts.
The Investigator is aware that it will not find what was. It is aware that it is aware. If it cannot find what was, what will not answer, then she will build it to make it whole.
It reaches out.
Author's Note: Something I need to make very clear is a particular citation. I hated doing it, but the entire section right above this that starts with "it reaches out" is not mine. It was taken from a book called Cibola Burns. Why have I done this? Because I have a weirdly specific mystery I want to tell and I want to make mention of this book and the enigmatic character that is The Investigator, and also because it was just so well written I couldn't reimagine it another way, though I sort of tried to a little bit. If you've read my previous story, this is not the same "Investigator" as the character in that story, rather this is a a closer interpretation of how The Investigator is from the book. In this instance, I've copied about 85% of the text from the book, but there will be more sections of "it reaches out" and if they appear, know that they more than not come from the book Cibola Burns and not wholly my imagination. By upwards of 99%.
Also, this is fanfiction, I don't have as many reservations copying or retelling sections from other stories so long as I properly cite them. I'm not getting paid for this; and so as long as I'm honest about what I imagined and didn't, no harm, no foul.
Oh uh...I guess in this chapter I mention ISIS terrorist and write the first section from their point of view. Huh. I have no sympathy for ISIS, but we should remember that from their POV, their actions are completely rational and acceptable, even though they are not. I have nothing against Islam, as we will see in the following chapter, but I needed to get a minor and (*cough*) disposable villain for a mini-arc.
Of additional note and citation, the "Nineball heavy custom" is another reference to the Raven Republic site and an article about a custom AC model. I'm not exactly sure who designed it, as the site seems to mention that someone other than the user 507 did the work on it.
Otherwise I'm hoping to release chapter 5 before AC6 releases. Maybe. I just finished chapter 11, so I'm coming along quickly. Hope you all liked this! Let me know!
To For'Sleep: Houki seemed particularly violent in the anime. I might be exaggerating her character a bit, but I don't think what I've done with her is anything she wouldn't considering the circumstances. Also I don't go deep into most of the IS stuff like character motivations, mainly because this is a story from the ORCA perspective. This is not going to be my greatest fanfic by a long shot, it's just a fun idea I threw together and shipped out post haste. That might make it unpopular with the IS fandom, but I'm not overly concerned.
To zacker 1590: Oof. You're right. Though in my defense, AC6 was announced right around the time I started this story, and that got me inspired for the next one. I'm kind of excited to start working on "Under Dead Light", and so I've been rushing to finish this story, and because of that I've left out obvious pieces of information like mentioning Muscle Tracers. Although, mass produced 3rd Gen ACs at least have a reasonable chance of taking on an IS, while MTs would have no chance, so including them felt a little redundant.
To Renashi-REO12: Yeah, I figured starting this story after one or two episodes of the IS series had already passed seemed like a good way to throw ORCA into this world, that way I don't have to stop and explain Ichika, Houki, Cecilia, and Rin's introductions and cut right into some action.
Also, James is just...different. He's more aware than Ichika by a long shot but less interested in making any kind of commitment. As well, his relationship with May might be described as "professional, but occasionally physical." It's not that he won't have a harem, but it will be more like how his "harem" was in my last story (basically he knew that girls liked him but both didn't care and didn't want to participate). I make slight mention of that in this chapter as well.
To CasualFictionWriter23: I'm extremely lazy in this story, so all the mentioned custom 3rd Gen ACs will come from the "Now THAT'S an Armored Core" articles on the Raven Republic site. I might even be so lazy as to not even mention what parts these ACs are using and just say something like "Tank AC".
And yes, I am very aware that the Armored Core series is split between 3, now 4 timelines with the inclusion of AC6. 5 technically if you count Formula Front as a separate entity. I combined the timelines to give the AC4 series characters a longer, more ridiculous and rich backstory. If I just said "AC4-4A takes place in 2100 and nothing really happened before that", it wouldn't be very interesting. But as you'll see in future chapters (or if you take a chance and read OTK) you'll see it's a lot more fun to have characters mention the events of previous games as part of a long and violent history. So that's what I've done and I'm not apologizing.
To Corporations: Again, Oof, I probably mention it once more and don't really go into the details. If you read these other comments and replies, you'll see that I was not trying particularly hard with this story.
To Guest DCDGorjira: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
To Guest: Is this soon enough? I'm glad you're liking it. Thank you.
To Thrboi: I feel like I already said this in a previous answer. But no, Anatolia's Mercenary will not make an appearance. Mentioned, sure, but they're not just going to show up. No, for what I have planned, this story will get much weirder.
To Guest: Here we...hey, are you the same guest who said the exact same thing?