Chapter 5 Designed to Defile
June 22th, 2030 / Rutba, Iraq
The point where James ended and Strayed began was not always so clear. Although, jumping out of a building sized spaceship at 80,000 feet and diving into a combat zone at Mach speed tended to be a good transition point.
Diving headfirst out the door, the four of them, Lilium, Wynne D, May, and Strayed all had a moment of realization, that they had never done anything like this before. Sure, they all knew the theory of HALO jumping, though in this case the proper definition would be HAHL. High Altitude Hard Landing.
Due to the heavy burn Flight Bunker Two was under, it was actually going slower than them, angling to land past the target city. It was certainly a sight though, it's massive plasma plume turning the night below into day.
At their current altitude, it would take five minutes to reach the ground, so Lilium, Wynne D, and Strayed stayed focused on sticking near enough to each other while also keeping an eye on the slowly approaching ground. May on the other hand, while she did stay near, was clearly enjoying herself, playfully spinning in free fall, bouncing between the other three Lynx, her giggling barely heard over the rush of air.
Her antics aside, once bullets started flying, she was renowned for her commitment and support on the battlefield.
One minute, two minutes, three, and four. The breaking plume from the Flight Bunker above them gave them enough light to make an accurate map of the city they'd never seen before. It had two major points of separation that intersected each other, two dry riverbeds that twisted through it, and Highway 11 dividing north and south. Structurally, it was divided into three districts. All thirty thousand of it's residents awake as tanks rolled in from the north and a mountain of steel fell from the sky.
Based on Serena's reports, she had run down Rutbah Road, through the northern district, and would likely be hiding with Fiona in the southern middle district, moving slowly southward away from the main force that had attacked her and Fiona. As such, the four falling Lynx moved to land along the length of Highway 11, so they could immediately begin moving and fighting.
Five seconds from landing, each Lynx had their landing spot locked in, and drew in their legs under themselves, knees bent to take the impact. The roar of the braking thrusters from the falling Bunker was as loud as a jumbo jet at half it's altitude, and it continued to get louder the lower it got.
The ground came up quickly at nearly three hundred kilometers an hour, each of the Lynx nearly falling to their knees, but easily survived the impact. Now in the middle of a combat zone, they were ready for war.
The bright light from above illuminated everything in blue-white, brighter than day in spite of dark night. Lilium, Fanchon, and May saw that they were all clear at the moment, and started moving south through the city.
With typical luck, Strayed landed right in front of a main battle tank, a T-72, fortunate at least that the crew was focused on the mountain sized space ship slowly coming down from above. The Lynx's crash landing did catch their attention though.
Knees bent from impact, it jumped forward, towards the tank and up it's forward slope before the crew even knew what to do. Seeing it as a good opportunity to test that new hand cannon they had picked up, Strayed drew the weapon, firing several times into the engine block of the tank, mobility killing the armored vehicle. Still, mobility killed meant there was still a live crew, and that couldn't be allowed. Putting the 3516 handgun away, it grabbed a Glock 90, a fully automatic .45 caliber handgun, holding it ready as the tank commander opened their hatch, trying to bring an AK-47 on target.
Firing once at a target fairly close and immobile was easy and the commander was dead, bullet in the head. Strayed paused a short moment, amused smile tracing their features. This was the first person they'd killed in this new world, and it seemed like they would be nowhere near the last.
Needing to eliminate the other two men in the vehicle, as well to deny the asset of the immobile tank, Strayed grabbed a grenade, dropping it in through the commander's hatch, then jumped off and quickly started moving south, already several buildings past into the city by the time the grenade had detonated and sent the turret of the tank tumbling skyward.
Having noticed several of the tall structures during her descent, Wynne D made a straight line for the closest one she could find.
It was during this time that she noticed the enemy. Men and women in non-standardized black garb, mostly armed with AKs but some M-16 or M4 variants. With her large sniper rifle hanging at her chest, she used her handgun liberally, taking out every armed combatant that she could find.
What was a concern was two suits of Goliath power armor that suddenly blocked her way. From what she had read, these suits had been built by the Americans prior to the invention of the Infinite Stratos.
They'd intercepted her at such a range that conventional wisdom said that she wouldn't be able to get her sniper rifle up in time. So, still moving rapidly, she fell backwards, setting herself behind her rifle, and raised it up towards the first enemy. Firing rapidly, she walked the rounds up, hitting the first enemy in the stomach, then the chest, and finally the face with armor piercing ammunition, killing them.
The second suit of power armor was leveling their wrist mounted gun towards, her, so she dropped her rifle, it's sling keeping it close to her body, and spun to face the enemy while kneeling close to the ground. Using strong, augmented legs, she leapt towards the enemy, hands reaching behind herself for a pair of High Frequency knives, which she hilted into each side of the head of her enemy, lobotomizing them.
Removing the enemy from her blades, Wynne D made her way to her chosen elevated position, finding it was a holy site of some description beneath her concern. What she cared for was the tower that would serve as a snipers nest, so that she could provide overwatch and look for their allies, as the city became a warzone.
Finding two tanks moving down a road with infantry in support had prompted Lilium to intervene and take them out. Jumping up to the roof of a building, she got her grenade launcher out, using it one handed as she fired, the round arcing down to hit the engine deck of the rear tank. Leaping to the roof of the next building, she quickly reloaded and fired the break-barrel again, disabling the lead tank.
Her attack had prompted a response, and two enemies in power armor used thrusters to launch themselves up to the roof. They raised their right arms to get their guns pointed at her. But Lilium was far too graceful and evasive, quickly grabbing two grenade rounds and throwing them in two directions, towards and away from the enemy. Reaching for her handgun she shot the first grenade round out of the air, detonating it and disorienting the enemy. Jumping towards the other round she had thrown, she snapped open the grenade launcher, catching the round with the weapon and snaping it closed, then fired off a shot into the chest of one of the heavily armored enemies, the round punching through their armor and killing them.
Both explosions had disoriented the remaining armored enemy enough that Lilium was able to run up close to them, grab them by the head, and twist it all the way around, breaking their neck.
If she was being completely honest, she didn't like this at all. All the extra ammo she had was only slowing her down, and she couldn't wait to use it all on these worthless and weak enemies.
"Aww, is that all?" May mocked to herself as the enemy deployed two technicals against her, the gun trucks armed with 23mm twin-barreled anti-aircraft cannons. Though it was a caliber actually large enough to kill her quickly, it would take them a moment to set the guns into position, a weakness she did not possess.
Walking towards the enemy with her own .50 caliber machinegun firing away, she destroyed both trucks, their crews reduced to messy piles.
Hearing the sound of an enemy landing behind her, May spun on her heel and charged, coming face to face with two power armored enemies. Running towards them faster than they could respond, she used her forehead to dent the metal faceplate of one of them, disorienting them. She then grabbed the other armored enemy, lifted them over herself, then slammed them into the ground. Using her heavy machinegun again, she pointed it down, executing the enemy she had just thrown with armor piercing ammunition. Spinning back around to the remaining armored enemy, she grabbed them by the dented faceplate, ripping it off. The enemy's face exposed, she wasted no time as they shouted in surprise, and quickly put the barrel of the heavy machinegun into their mouth. Lifting the gun into the air, she fired till there was no longer any weight hanging off the weapon.
Done playing around, she went forth to finish the mission she was given.
It had started several minutes before as an unusually bright star on the distant horizon. In just those few minutes, that star had shot up to directly overhead, and turned into the long braking plume of Flight Bunker Two, bathing the whole city in blue-white light.
"See that!" Serena smiled. "Calvary is on it's way!"
"Let it never be said that ORCA doesn't know how to make an entrance." Fiona smiled hesitantly. They were still in a combat zone, after all.
Seeing as Serena was mostly bullet resistant, she took the lead and used her hands and knives to tear through any opposition waiting for them. Fiona took most of the ammo for the handgun she was using, staying to the rear and supporting Serena whenever she threw herself against multiple enemies at once.
"I'm starting to regret not getting any combat mods." Fiona complained. "All I've got is a stupid hard drive to help with designs."
"Hey now don't sell yourself short." Serena complimented. "You fight pretty good…for a human."
"Pheh." Fiona sighed. "So what's the play now?"
"Once that bunker lands we should be getting artillery and air support, though I suspect most if not all the other Lynx jumped out already, and are either on the ground or coming down soon. We just need to find one of them and we'll be out of here in no time."
"Okay, good. Cause for a sec' there I thought maybe we'd lost control of the situation." Fiona remarked sarcastically.
"…Heads up." Serena noted as another enemy squad started advancing on them.
"Alright, go do your thing." Fiona shrugged as she crouched behind cover, firing opportunistically with her handgun as Serena drove forward, to rend the enemy apart with hand and blade.
"One minute to touch down!" The Captain of the Flight Bunker shouted.
"We are in range with point defense cannons!" The Tactical Officer reported.
"Excellent." Malzel nodded, looking over a holographic display of the battle. "Doesn't look like much for us to do then. Hold fire 'till we touch down."
"Copy!"
"Operator to Thermidor, you want to jump out and start slowing them down, that would be nice." Malzel advised.
"Copy Operator, AC E2, launching!" Thermidor, down in one of the hangars, jumped out, using thrusters to coast down to the northern half of the city, where several tanks had managed to enter, getting in between buildings and not optimal for engagement by the bunker.
The E2 AC, another heavily customized Third Gen, was a white and grey machine armed with a 30mm rifle in the left hand, a heavy plasma rifle in the right hand, reserve blades on both wrist, and twelve missile launchers with forty missile cells. Additionally, it had a chest mounted laser CIWS and a back mounted Orbit Drone armed with twin 20mm cannons.
For this mission, it was overkill, but a good chance for Thermidor to stretch his legs.
"Twenty seconds from touchdown!" The Captain shouted again.
"Attention all units, be advised, Flight Bunker is plus ten seconds from touchdown. We are landing two clicks outside the city. Brace for shockwave and sandstorm." Malzel advised to all of their deployed units.
Firing from behind the counter of a phone repair shop at the corner of an intersection, Fiona continued to keep several enemies at bay, as Serena was busy.
Two powered armored enemies had cornered them here, and Serena was fighting them hand to hand, keeping their attention off Fiona.
Every punch and kick of hers dented metal and wounded the enemy within, but she was not able to get her hands around either of them for long enough to kill them.
Fiona reached down for a disappointing number of remaining magazines, reloading the handgun. Serena threw one power armored enemy through the window, and pushed the other through a wall.
It was fortunate then that May jumped down from a building, landing on the power armor that had been thrown outside, her weight crushing the person within, and used her machinegun to waste the remaining attacking enemy.
"Hey guys!" May cheered. "I found you guys first! I win!"
The other power armored enemy stumbled forwards out of the wall, then fell forward dead as an explosive hit them in the back.
"It was never a competition May." Lilium chastised her as she stepped out of the same hole in the wall, reloading her grenade launcher. "But good job anyway."
"Good to see you!" Fiona shouted tiredly.
"About damn time. I though I was going to have to kill every damn bastard myself." Serena complained.
The light from the landing Flight Bunker passed below the tops of the buildings, the roar of it's plasma thrusters easing somewhat. A moment later there was an earthquake as a half billion tons of metal touched down roughly three kilometers away. Then, a sandstorm hit the city, just as quickly taking the formerly unnatural day and half-moon night into even darker blight.
"Wolcott to Operator. VIP One and Two secured. Requesting extraction." Lilium called out.
"Copy." Malzel smiled, looking at a map of the city. "Head west one hundred meters, then south three hundred meters, you'll find a multi-level school you can use to call in the evac bird. Launching cover now."
"Copy Operator." Lilium responded promptly.
"Operator to Thermidor, be advised we'll be launching drones to paint all valid targets for your missiles. Until then keep engaging tanks."
"Copy Operator." Thermidor responded eagerly.
"Commander, we have lock on twenty enemy tanks outside of the city." The Tactical Officer reported.
"Deploy PDCs and engage." Malzel ordered.
All along the tall length of Flight Bunker Two, dozens of 50mm gatling guns deployed from near seamless armored housings, angling down to engage the tanks far below. A one second burst instantly fired dozens of rounds from each gun, leaving long lines of tracers to lance out their targets.
"All targets destroyed. Remaining tanks are too close to residential areas to engage."
"Commander! Enemy infantry are firing missiles against the bunker!" The Radar Officer reported.
"…Seriously?" Malzel frowned. Shoulder fired launchers had no chance to do any damage against the meters thick armor of the Flight Bunker. "Hold fire, but mark the targets for our infantry to deal with."
"Copy. Marking targets."
Moving carefully down the streets in search of targets, Thermidor glided forward with plasma thrusters roaring. It was a conscious effort to avoid collateral damage to the surrounding city, something the enemy made no effort to avoid.
Thermidor stopped when a tank round went past him, striking a nearby storefront. With a huff of annoyance, he raised his plasma rifle and fired, a heavy bolt of superheated gasses melting through the tanks armor and detonating it's ammo, sending the turret skyward.
Going airborne, he got multiple alarms for inbound anti-tank missiles. The laser CIWS in the chest of the Armored Core swiveled as far up as it could go, shooting out bright green beams to melt and destroy the missiles in-flight. The system had a low success rate in it's original configuration, so the upgrades ORCA had added to it made sure it worked every time.
Having spotted another tank from the air, Thermidor boosted over towards it, cutting thrust as he fired down with the 30mm cannon, multiple rounds punching through it's upper armor and destroying it.
Another two tanks were spotted repositioning at the end of another street, and Thermidor locked on with a pair of missiles, destroying both targets a second later.
One more tank pushed through a building, attempting to ram him. Placing one foot of the Armored Core on the frontal slope, Thermidor stopped the tank, then lanced it straight down with a laser blade, blowing it up and causing minimal damage to himself by being nearly on top of the explosion.
"Operator to Thermidor, be advised. Targeting drones have identified remaining tanks in city and marked them. Slave firing control of missile systems to me." Malzel demanded.
"Copy. Slaving fire control. Fire when ready." Thermidor responded calmly, only slightly upset that the fight would be over so quickly.
With fire control of the Armored Core's missiles under Malzel's command, he fired twelve of them vertically, spreading them out to efficiently destroy the remaining tanks with minimal effort.
"All heavy armor in AO destroyed." Malzel announced. "Thermidor, make your way back. Rest of the targets are too small to warrant your attention."
"Copy that."
"This is Hotel One, coming down for VIP exfil. ETA, thirty seconds." The pilot of a F21C Stork, a super heavy twin-rotor helicopter with armor to rival that of a tank, announced.
"Copy that, we're popping flares to mark our position." Lilium responded, taking a moment to throw more flares across the roof of the school, marking an impromptu landing zone for the inbound helo.
Serena was guarding Fiona closely, keeping in cover and out of the fight. May was doing her own thing, standing on the edge of the roof, firing long burst to keep the enemy at bay. Wynne D was snipping targets that got too close, her accuracy perfect even from the better part of a kilometer away.
Lastly, Strayed was in the western part of the city, attracting as much of the enemies attention to itself as possible while it trusted it's former enemies to protect it's stepmother.
The massive helicopter came down slowly, it's long slanted rotors clearing the air of dust and sand that had been kicked up minutes before by the landing Flight Bunker. It spun in place, opening it's rear hatch, revealing two crew members; a gunner on a mounted gatling turret, and a Loadmaster.
The ramp coming to rest on the roof, Serena urged Fiona forward, up the ramp and past the Loadmaster.
"Good to see you are alright Mrs. Jarnefeldt!" The Loadmaster shouted above the whine of the engines. "Orders are to evac you and Ms. Haze back to the Flight Bunker! Stat!"
"Good!" Fiona nodded, being approached by another crew member, a medic.
"Come back for us after we give the all clear!" Lilium shouted after them, staying on the roof.
The Stork took off then, climbing with unusual grace for an aircraft as large as it was. It popped off flares and chaff in it's wake. Even if it had the armor to take multiple anti-aircraft missiles, there was no current desire to test that theory.
"Alright, VIP is airborne. That was the hard part." Lilium assessed.
"Yep!" May shouted back. "I just ran out of .50 cal."
"Operator to deployed Lynx. VIPs are secure." Malzel announced over radio. "Now, proceed with next mission objectives. Leave none of the enemy alive."
"Okay, you heard the man!" Lilium ordered. "Greenfield, with me. We're going to clear the south. Fanchon, stay in your spot in the east and provide overwatch. Strayed, stay to the west and do your thing."
"Copy!" All Lynx replied.
Different world. Same shit. At least these targets were armed.
Such was Strayed thinking as it tore through enemy infantry, using the auto Glock and hand cannon to make a mess of the men and women attacking it.
It was already well acquainted with the Glock 90, consistent rapid fire of .45 caliber ammunition at close range doing horrible things to people. Strayed's strength such that it felt no recoil from the weapon.
The hand cannon, on the other hand, was heavy and kicked like a mule each time it fired. What it did to human enemies though was so terrible and unspeakable, making puddles out of limbs and heads…it was perfect.
Emptying the last of it's .45 caliber rounds into the barely breathing wounded who tried to struggle away, it stalked away, hand cannon held high in it's right hand.
There was a kid then, roughly a year younger than the students it knew at the IS Academy. He tried to bring his rifle to bare, but Strayed caught the barrel, pointing it down and away. Though it had a thing against killing kids, he was armed, and dressed in the colors of the enemy. There was no hesitation then, just a single, overly large caliber round to the heart in reply.
Leaping back from a burst of gunfire, Strayed looked up, seeing four suits of power armor, staring at it with hatred and desire. It narrowed it's eyes in defiance, smiling back.
The four enemies jumped down, and Strayed leapt forward, hand cannon up and firing. Once, twice to the enemy on the far right, both shots hitting center mass while they were still falling.
Three left.
They landed in front of it, one of them trying to raise their right arm to use the gun on their wrist. Strayed fired twice more, both in the face, killing them instantly.
The remaining two had swords out, lashing out against it. Strayed dodged the first then drew a knife, blocking the second. It thrust the gun forwards into their chest, firing twice, then pointed it up, firing once into the enemies chin. The round went through the armor, leaving their form intact in spite of the blood pouring out of their wounds. Unfortunately, the hand cannon locked open, magazine dry from previous encounters.
Strayed spun, arm raised in defense while it stepped back, rightly predicting the enemy trying to use their sword. The enemy pressed their attack, sword swung against it's raised arm, and-
Ow. Strayed hissed, dropping the hand cannon. That hurt.
Sludge like blood flowed slowly from the wound on it's arm. That wasn't supposed to happen. Assessing the situation quickly, the enemy must also have access to High Frequency blades. How annoying.
"You ORCA devils!" The power armed enemy, a woman, shouted. "I'm going to kill all of you godless freaks!"
"…" Strayed snorted, remembering the ridiculous thing it had on it's back. Might as well use it. Reaching behind itself, it pulled the large chainsaw into it's hands. Ergonomically, it was a poor choice of weapon, but it was either this or the High Frequency knives to use against the enemy, as neither ORCA nor The League had thought to make swords for their Lynx to use in ground combat.
Pulling the cord to the chainsaw, the tool roared to life, momentarily frightening the woman as the sound assaulted her ears. It gave her no respite, pouncing on her with violent abandon.
Sparks flew as their blades met, the chainsaw, despite being a mere tool, being of a much higher quality than the short sword in the hands of the enemy.
"W-We'll kill you all!" The woman boasted. "Take all your heads for the world to see!"
"…" Strayed pressed hard with it's chainsaw, forcing the woman back.
"Y-You! Bastard!" The woman cursed it. "There is no way you are human! How can you overpower me in this armor?!"
"…" Strayed maneuvered the chainsaw into a reverse swing, using the handle section to bash it against her armored faceplate, fracturing one of it's optics.
"Ah!" The woman stumbled back a step. She struggled to recover, holding her ground against it. "I'm going to tear you apart to find out why! Infidel! ORCA dog!"
"…" Strayed smiled widely. Now there was a name for itself it hadn't heard in years. Dog. The League had called it their dog, their lowly and insatiable hunter, taking any job in spite of it's indignity. Wading through rivers of blood of it's own making. Ah…the good times.
Done playing with it's prey, Strayed stepped to the side, and quickly brought the chainsaw down on her right arm, High Frequency teeth cutting through armor and bone alike, taking it from her.
The woman screamed, stumbling back as she clutched her stump. She turned to run, to get away from the enemy she could never best.
Strayed would have followed her, except for the sound behind itself. Turning on the spot, the first armored man it had shot in the stomach had barely recovered, struggling to stand, but had gotten his right arm up and on target. Strayed lowered it's stance, ready to evade and kill this enemy too.
The enemy's head snapped to the side, followed by the report of a heavy rifle a half second later. Strayed sneered disappointedly, looking in the direction of the shot.
"Fanchon."
With the enemy down, Wynne D recentered her sight on James…no…Strayed's face. Through her scope, she could see it sneering back at her, daring her to take the shot it knew she had.
Eagerly, she traced the trigger, knowing exactly how much weight she would need to send a round down range. It was a long shot, as Strayed would see the shot coming and respond in time. Still, a rifle loaded with armor-piercing ammunition, pointed right at their head…
"Boom." Wynne D hissed, raising the rifle disappointedly.
"…" Strayed signed quietly, turning around. There was still an enemy alive. That could not be allowed to persist.
It had been a long shot, attacking ORCA as they had. How were they supposed to know that they could have reinforcements anywhere on the planet within half an hour? How were they supposed to know that their fortress was absolutely covered in guns that could fire at any angle?
How were they supposed to know that those so-called Lynx super-soldiers were in fact monsters beyond comprehension?
All these thoughts and more swam through Hana's head as she grasped desperately at her stump, running towards the one place she knew she could find safety. She cursed her luck and the name of Tabane Shinonono with all the hatred she could muster. Damn foreigner using her for their own ends.
Stumbling up the steps of the one place Hana knew she was safe, she let her legs give out under her, taking a moment to get a breath. It was a weakness of the enemy, one that their organization did not share. For, if the enemy attacked this place, it was automatically a war crime.
Hana laughed sickly, hoping the rest of her brothers and sisters were able to get away and hide, to wait for the day when they would rise again. Now though, having sacrificed hundreds for an objective not their own, she had to wonder, just how far off was that day now?
The churning sound of angry teeth slowly clawing at air caught her attention, causing her to stand fearfully. No…no…there was no way they would attack here…no sane nation dared.
The idle chuckle of an industrial tool laughed at her from beyond the doors, and Hana fearfully stepped back. No No No No No No No No No!
Pushing the doors open with lazy and passionless desire, Strayed stalked forward, head held low, chainsaw held barely above the ground.
"No!" Hana shouted fearfully. "You can't be here! You can't hurt me here! Don't you know that!? This is a Mosque!"
Strayed kept coming forward, barely faster than her, dragging the chase on far longer than it needed to last.
"No! Stop it! Get away from me!" Hana begged, knowing that it would not stop. She fell backwards as her steps became uncertain shuffling.
Standing over her with intent made clear, Hana witnessed in her last moments a horror that had once terrified a whole world. Two perfect rings of burning orange light, filled with a pitch black void in their center. A ravenous, glutinous void, knowing only rage and hunger.
James smiled so terribly wide, chainsaw held with both hands, as he desired to reduce the enemy before him into so much ruined meat.
Twenty-Four Hours Later / Big Box – Meeting Room
"The official after-action report for the mission to save Mrs. Jarnefeldt and Ms. Haze will now begin." Thermidor announced.
Malzel stood, having just gone over the relevant notes. "At approximately 0300 hours local time, a hostile force consisting of the radical terrorist group ISIS moved to intercept and capture our diplomatic convoy in transit. The escorting force of twenty lightly armed infantry attempted to resist, but were wiped out in totality. Ms. Haze decided to evade the enemy and protect Mrs. Jarnefeldt to keep her from being captured or killed. Less than thirty minutes later, the rest of us Lynx arrived on station and systematically annihilated all hostile forces in less than twenty minutes."
"What were the total enemy casualties?" Wolcott questioned.
"Enemy casualties stand at four hundred and seventeen combatants. I am happy to report that there were no civilian casualties, and that we were able to minimize collateral damage to the city. I recommend we offer to pay reparations for all damage caused, whether it was caused by us or the enemy." Fanchon reported.
"Agreed." Thermidor reluctantly accepted.
"Do we know why they went after myself and Serena?" Fiona questioned.
"ISIS is known as a radical religiously-motivated terrorist group, so at this time we do not understand why they found it relevant to go after our personnel." Klein answered.
"I looked over relevant intelligence to their organization. There is a noted inconsistency." Greenfield spoke up. "While the number of casualties is roughly consistent with their known members, their equipment was not."
"Please elaborate." Wolcott requested.
"Some of the weapons they had, notably their tanks, anti-tank missiles, and power-armor, were not known to be in their possession at the time of their attack. There was no record of that much ordnance being controlled by them in any recent time." May continued.
"That's not the strangest thing about their equipment." Malzel added. "We brought back some of their equipment for study. Besides what we expected, there was one detail that makes no sense. All of their heavy equipment was the same unit."
"…Can you explain what you mean by that please?" Thermidor scowled.
"Each tank, each missile, each suit of armor was a perfect copy of one unit. I'm not saying they were the same model or production line, I mean that they were literally a perfect copy, right down to the serial numbers, scratches, and manufacturing defects. I even analyzed the units down to the atomic level, and found the same thing. Perfect copies of one unit, in such a way that isn't possible." Malzel explained.
"…" Thermidor sighed, frowning. "That…is odd. It would certainly explain why there was no report of this potential enemy having as much equipment on hand as they did, but that is an entire mystery in itself. Unfortunately, I have bad news for the four of you on the rescue team."
"Oh?" Wolcott cocked her head, as Fanchon, Greenfield, and Klein all looked at him intently.
"This is mostly a case of 'how could we have known?', but apparently all of you committed war crimes when you attacked the enemy at holy sites known as Mosque that were scattered around the city."
"But…that was where we found the enemy? We simply assumed that was their prearranged fallback positions." Greenfield questioned.
"From what I have been told, it is illegal to attack an enemy inside a holy site." Thermidor explained uncertainly. "It doesn't make a lot of sense to me either, but Iraq is more upset about that then the military intervention we preformed by landing the Flight Bunker in their territory. Speaking of which, they are especially upset at you two." He said, pointing at Fanchon and Klein. "Apparently, you used a Mosque as a sniper nest, and you butchered a woman and repainted the carpets with her."
"So?" Klein sneered back.
"…Do you intend to punish them for that?" Fiona wondered.
"I could…but why?" Thermidor shrugged. "I don't think it makes sense either, and we have no laws against war crimes as The League never implemented such laws either. Even if it might appease those nations, I'm not about to make examples out of my own people for breaking inane rules even I didn't know existed. They were the enemy, they attacked us, and they deserved to be wiped out, no matter where they hid."
"It's unfortunate, but I think we might have to kiss any projects in that region goodbye." Fiona shrugged.
"So be it." Thermidor agreed. "At the very least, we have made our position very clear to the world. Attack us, and prepare to be wiped out."
"Well said." Malzel smiled. "If I may then, we have acquired new and insightful data from the spy cameras in the area of the IS Academy."
"Very well then, since we are all here, lets watch that together." Thermidor nodded.
The ordered match that played then was of Ichika and Charles versus Laura and Houki. Though the battle lasted several minutes, there were several interesting events and notes to be made.
Despite her immense skill, Laura's hatred against Ichika blinded her in the two-on-two match, such that she even assaulted her own teammate just for a chance to cross blades with him. While Ichika alternated being on the defensive against Laura and Houki, Charles moved freely, first overwhelming Houki with excessive firepower, then disabling Laura's railgun and beating her senseless with a pile driver.
It was a brilliant plan, and despite whatever shortcomings Ichika might have, he'd managed to hold his own long enough and distracted Laura easily enough that Charles had been able to do all the hard stuff and would have definitely won them the match.
Except that Laura's IS then melted around her and turned into…a four-meter-tall metal Chifuyu?
"…The fuck?" Klein voiced for everyone.
Sure enough, instead of Laura and her IS, it was a slightly larger metal Chifuyu wearing a slightly larger IS. The metal Chifuyu surged forward, striking Ichika and forcing his IS to deactivate in two hits, causing the boy to stumble to the ground without it. Several instructors in their own IS units then surrounded the anomalous IS cautiously.
"Okay…what the fuck is going on now?" Fanchon complained.
For some reason, Ichika decided he needed to personally stop the anomalous IS, and Charles helped him by transferring his (her) remaining power to Ichika, who was then able to resummon his IS's right arm and sword.
Somewhat anticlimactic, Ichika was able to then parry the blade of the anomalous IS, and struck it once across the chest with his hybrid physical/laser blade. Then Laura fell out of the machine barely conscious while it melted away again into black metallic sludge.
"Okay, seriously, Malzel, what the fuck was that?" Thermidor rubbed his face tiredly.
"After some research, I believe that was an illegal piece of local technology known as a Valkyrie Trace system." Malzel explained. "As you are all aware, IS units are minimally sapient, in order to protect and adapt to their pilot. However, the Valkyrie Trace system is able to materialize the desires of the pilot when under duress and stress. In this case, I believe Ms. Bodewig desired to be as strong as Ms. Orimura, and that illegal system then adapted the IS to fulfil that desire."
"…The more we learn about the IS, the less we seem to understand." Fiona frowned.
"Which is why it is imperative we acquire more data directly." Malzal surmised. "Which of course falls on our two youngest Lynx."
"Ya hear that James! We are critically important!" Greenfield cheered.
"…I'm going to kill every one of those fuckers." Klein rolled his eyes.
June 24th – Monday – 8:00 AM/ IS Academy – Class One
They knew it was going to be a long day when Ms. Yamada announced, not so much a new student, but a new beginning still.
Charles walked up to the front of the class wearing a short skirt and a light amount of makeup, and the name that showed behind them was "Charlotte".
Then all the girls in the class started to gossip loudly and confusingly, sharing the critical piece of information (for them) that the boys just had a private bath facility made just for them, and the implication that Ichika and (Charles) Charlotte had shared it the previous evening.
Then Rin burst into the room with her IS, breaking down the door and part of the wall.
"AH! ICHIKA!" She screamed while arming one of her cannons to fire at him. It seemed like Ichika was finally going to die, except that Laura of all people had deployed her IS, and had used it to defend him.
"Laura! You saved me!" Ichika shouted in surprise. "Thank you I-"
Then Laura grabbed Ichika and started to aggressively make out with him.
"Now, I have decided that I am going to make you my bride." Laura declared. "That is final and I will not accept any objections from you."
"What!?" The rest of the class shouted.
"Wha…Ah!" Ichika screamed.
Though she did enjoy the absurdity a little bit, May smiled sadly, confused and wishing for something more simple. When she heard quiet laughing, she looked over to see James, slowly loosing his mind.
"…I'm going to kill every one of those fuckers." James cackled madly to himself.
"…Yeah." May patted him on the head. "Probably."
—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 feels no frustration, though parts of it do. It is not a plan. It is not even a desire, or it is only a desire without knowledge of that longing's object. It is a selective pressure pressed against chaos. It does not think of itself because it does not think.
It reaches out.
The Investigator pressures those parts that it finds, finding what was or what will be. Patterns begin to match patterns, but there can be no recognition because it is not conscious to recognize. It touches something, and for a moment, a part of it that can feel, feels hope. It is unaware of hope. The reply does not come. It is not over. It will never be over.
It reaches out.
The phone that rings the phone that rings the phone that rings that will not answer. A clock that ticks ticks ticks yet refuses to move forward. The knowledge that it knows everything yet is unaware that it knows anything.
It does not experience the wariness, but the wariness is part of it. It reaches out, rushing into the new possibility space, and something deep in it, wider than it should be, watches it reach.
Doors and corners. It reaches out it reaches out it reaches out. Doors and corners.
This could get ugly, kid.
Author's Note: Welcome back, hope everyone is excited for the release of AC6 in a few days. I know I am. That's why I hurriedly finished writing chapter 12 so I could get this one posted ASAP. I'm going to do what I can with chapter 13, but expect uploads to slow down slightly.
Just to be clear, I have once again copied Cibloa Burns for the "it reaches out" segment, though in this case I think I cut it in half.
Also with the release of AC6 means I will start working on "Under Dead Light" slowly but surely. I'll be sure to finish this story before I start to release that one though.
Also, random note, but the city of Rutba, Iraq might also be known as Ar Rutbah. I'm not sure which it is or if I was looking as the wrong maps, but that seemed to be the implication.
Hope yall have enjoyed and can't wait for the next one. See all of you then!
To For'Sleep 3rd: James keeps his emotions "mostly" under control, but lets his rage slip out a little when it's about something he cares about. He's not perfect. And yeah, Tabane has no respect for ORCA or the ACs. That surely won't be a problem in the future. Admittedly, it's hard not to bash Ichika. Just...wtf is this anime?
To zacker1590: Yeah, pretty much what happened. Though building any more Arms Forts is a tall order, I did say early on that they have 3 mostly completed Land Crabs within Big Box. By my estimation, Arms Forts range from tens to hundreds of millions of tons, and there are plenty of other projects they could be working on in the meantime.
To ProcrastinationStrikes: Just watching the anime and reading into her wiki page, I have the impression that Tabane doesn't care what consequences her actions have so long as it looks cool. She's less of an evil master mind and more of a toddler given unimaginable power. Don't worry though, her actions will have consequesnces in this story.
To Guest: Thanks! Glad you liked it!
To Icy Wiener: Ah I guess you can make that assesment. ORCA actually cares about it's future and the future of the world they live on. Tabane was only ever concerned about making the IS look cool.
To Zero: Admittedly that's what makes him great. He's the kind of guy you want to get behind and support.
To Johnny: It might be a long time coming, but we'll get there.
To Boshwa: So...yes, you are correct. I'm not sure if I've said it here, but technically I messed up a long time ago when writing my other story. There is a popular image online that falsely states that 1st-3rd Gen ACs are 5 meters tall. In actuality, only 5th Gen are 5 meters tall, with 4th Gen being ten meters tall and all the rest being roughly 8-10 meters tall. For the proposes of this story however, please assume the 3rd Gen ACs are 5 meters tall, so that the 3 meter tall IS units don't feel absolutely overwhelmed, since the "Golem IS" units they fight in some episodes are also about 5 meters tall. That being said, 4th Gens are still 10 meters tall, and ORCA has 6...
To Guest: I intend to finish this story, just give me a year-ish at most.