Believe it or not, this chapter used to be like, 6,000 words shorter. What a revision will do to a story, huh?

Walking out of the classroom since it was time for lunch, Laura looked around the hallway for a certain someone. She had been one of the last to exit the classroom, since she had stayed behind to ask Chifuyu a question about the material. Naturally, this had given all of the other girls a head start on luring Ichika to whatever scheme they had in mind for lunch. Not that Laura was any different, since that was her goal as well.

Since it had only taken her a minute or two to ask Chifuyu the question she had in mind, the silver-haired girl was lucky enough to spot Ichika in the hallway. Even more miraculously, he was actually alone for a minute, much to her surprise. She never would have expected the boy to actually be unmolested by any of the other girls, especially not right after class when they had all been in close proximity.

Considering that this was a golden opportunity, Laura wasted no time in approaching him. "Ichika: I didn't expect you to wait up..."

With the boy leaning against a wall, he had to glance over his shoulder to look at Laura. That allowed her to notice that his expression was the exasperated kind he usually wore whenever someone was angry at him and he didn't know why.

"Actually, I kind of just got stuck here thinking, is all."

There was a slight sense of irritation as Laura took in the blatant dismissal of the notion that he had been waiting for her, but ultimately she chose to ignore the feeling. This was just how Ichika was. It wasn't like he was trying to irritate anybody.

"I see... well, I don't suppose you have plans for lunch?"

This question put a grimace on the boy's face. "You too, huh...? Actually, I already promised Houki I'd eat lunch with her alone on the roof today. She went to set everything up already. Sorry..."

The earlier irritation that Laura had forced down resurfaced with renewed vigor. So this was why he was alone out here. Presumably, the other girls had been met with a similar answer if they had asked such a question. Part of Laura wondered if she had any actual grounds to get mad here: what kind of respectable man didn't keep his promises, after all? But then again...

"You probably should have told the rest of us that you had an engagement in advance, Ichika."

With a sheepish grin, Ichika revealed exactly what Laura expected him to. "Oh, well I didn't, actually. Houki asked just before class, so I didn't know until then."

Now Laura felt justified in being a little upset. Keeping a promise was one thing, but making one that inherently shafted a number of people you were close to was another. Ichika was a little dense at the best of times, but surely he had known that making such a promise was going to upset literally everyone except for Houki?

Of course, maybe that was a bit entitled as far as all of those other girls were concerned, but it did send a sort of message, unintentionally or not, when Ichika blatantly favored one person like that. Did he actually care more about Houki than the rest of them, or had he just agreed to a promise asked of him without any consideration for its consequences whatsoever?

Admittedly, Laura was a little aggravated. But she figured she could try to give Ichika the benefit of the doubt. He had made a promise with Houki that got in the way of everyone else: that was fine as long as he was willing to do the same for her as well.

"Well, how about this evening? Surely you didn't promise her both lunch and dinner, right?"

The look on Ichika's face was already answer enough. "I actually agreed to kendo practice too..."

Grating her teeth, Laura tried to give this man one last opportunity to somewhat salvage this botched exchange. "Is there any time in the next few days when you won't be predisposed with Houki?"

Sometimes, Laura wondered if Ichika really was dense or if he was just oblivious to certain social situations. It was hard to tell, considering the excitement with which he answered her query.

"Oh yeah, I should be free in the next day or so. We should think of something for everyone to do together!"

With the last straw pulled, Laura considered getting outwardly angry, but it almost felt like there was no point. After all, there were only a few explanations to his behavior. Either one, he was truly so dense that he couldn't fathom that she wanted alone time with him as well. Two, he viewed her in such a light that the idea of spending time with her outside of a group with friends didn't occur to him. Or three, he just wasn't interested and was trying to gently rebuff her.

Regardless of which explanation was the accurate one, Laura got the feeling that getting visibly upset wasn't going to make a difference. Even if she yelled in his face right now, blatantly telling him that she wanted to spend time with him alone due to romantic interest, the possibility of him responding in a way that accepted those feelings seemed very low. She could honestly see him saying 'but wouldn't it be more fun if everyone was invited?'

Taking all of that into consideration, Laura's frustration with the situation collapsed into an emotion more akin to reluctant acceptance of defeat. That was probably why she sighed.

"Yes, it would be nice to spend time with everyone again. I'll see you some other time, Ichika."

With that, she offered a wave and turned on her heel, hoping that Ichika was going to pick up on her distress and do something, anything about it. Call out to her maybe. Realize that she was disappointed and offer something to make her feel better, ideally. Unfortunately, he didn't do either of those things, instead choosing to speak after her with a goodbye of his own.

"Alright, I'll see you later. Try to think of some ideas for things everyone can do one of these days!"

At this point, Laura considered the possibility that she was the unreasonable one. It hadn't exactly been a secret that Ichika was this type of person when she had first settled on pursuing him. Could she really get angry with him for being himself? That said, she just wanted him to be... sharper? More aware of her feelings, more likely to take her into consideration when speaking or doing things. Why couldn't he just be a little more observant?

Stopping in her tracks as she walked down the hallway, Laura asked herself a question that hadn't occurred to her before. This was just the type of person Ichika was. And she didn't really like it very much, from a romantic point of view. If Ichika would have to act differently from himself for Laura to be happy with him, did she actually love him or was she just in love with an ideal imagined version of him that was of her own making?

Frankly, that question hit her pretty hard. It did, after all, call into question the nature of her first love, and who wanted to do self-inventory of their feelings and conclude that said feelings were rooted in folly?

"Hey, the hell are you staring at?"

Startled out of her dire musings, much to the fortune of her emotional well-being at the moment, Laura glanced to the side to notice that Rin was passing her in the hallway, giving the German a quizzical look. Not entirely unwarranted, considering how rigidly she was standing there. Caught off-guard, Laura was left a little flat-footed.

"Oh, uh... I'm just..."

Likely noting her visible distress, Rin made an assumption about its nature. "Let me guess: did you ask Ichika to lunch or something?"

"...how did you guess?"

"Because, we all got hit with the 'screw the rest of you, I'm going with Houki' bit. What, did you think you were the only one who asked him?"

Since she couldn't really deny it, Laura merely sighed. "I doubt he was intentionally trying to ignore any of the rest of us."

This didn't seem to placate Rin, who had drawn her phone out of a pocket. "So? If you ask me, it's actually worse if it's unintentional! If it was intentional, it at least means he had to think about how it would affect the rest of us, but if it's not, it means none of the rest of us even occurred to him when making that decision!"

Admittedly, Laura could see why that train of thought sounded a little entitled. "Perhaps it's a bit unfair to expect him to make decisions based on appeasing people just for the sake of doing so? Would you not have been upset if he refused a request from you on the grounds that he didn't want to give you preferential treatment over everyone else?"

Rin glared at the girl, mostly because she couldn't deny what was being said. Ultimately, she didn't bother trying to. "Shut up. All I'm saying is, it sure feels like he's always got time for Houki..."

Watching as the brunette typed furiously on her phone, Laura decided to question her. "What are you doing?"

With a pleased grin, Rin waved the device at her. "Just texting someone who I know won't decline lunch with a wonderful girl like me."

It didn't take long for Laura to connect the dots on that statement. Rin had been spending a fair deal of time with Church since he had arrived. Whether that was because they actually had good chemistry, because Rin felt obligated to talk to him after he had saved her life, or just because she liked having a boy's attention for once, Laura wasn't sure.

But as the German considered eating alone somewhere or the alternative, she found that the idea didn't sound bad at all. "You... wouldn't mind if I came along, would you?"

For a few moments, Rin didn't seem particularly happy with the idea, if the way her gaze narrowed was anything to by. But eventually, she simply shrugged.

"Sure, I guess. It's not like we're competing over this one, right? You cool with eating on one of the benches outside?"

While she would not have expected it, Laura found herself relatively pleased with this turn of events. At any rate, it actually did a surprisingly good job of improving her sour mood from before. She couldn't quite place why that was.

"Yes, that's fine with me."

"Cool. Let's go grab what we want for lunch then, I told him we'd meet him down there in half an hour."

With that, Rin pocketed her phone and began walking towards the cafeteria. With her mood moderately improved by their immediate future plans, Laura was quick to follow her.

Church had just glanced down at his phone when he felt the presence of someone looming over his shoulder. Glancing over said shoulder, he was not surprised to see Tatenashi's face up close and personal, the girl clearly peering at the screen of his phone. Naturally, this prompted the boy to shield the text from her.

"Have you ever heard of personal space or privacy?"

Currently, Church was in the R room that he normally went to for the testing that was his cover story. Ordinarily, Chifuyu would be here overseeing such things, but it was both a day and a time that she was busy, considering that she had classes to teach. Frankly, the only reason Church had even agreed to testing today was because Tatenashi had offered to do it along with her sister and Chifuyu saw that as efficiency. Why the two sisters were allowed to skip class that day, Church had no idea.

Either way, it was just the three of them, and Tatenashi had spent more time teasing him than actually doing anything that could be construed as work. Kanzashi was the one who had actually done most of the important stuff related to the Exeter suit, which was once again plugged up to one of the machines in the room.

Tatenashi didn't seem particularly bothered by Church's words. "Come on, what do you have to hide? The fact that you're a playboy trying to nab the hearts of girls out here in a foreign country, even though you'll probably never see them again at some point? I mean, that is pretty low, so I guess it makes sense to hide it."

Church couldn't help but wonder how much of that text the girl had been able to read in a split second. He hadn't even been able to read anything other than the fact that it was from Rin before Tatenashi was behind him.

"I'm in possession of a supersonic aircraft, it technically wouldn't be hard to visit a girlfriend in a foreign country, you know."

"Oh, would you really abuse the power of your position like that? That's a lot of operation hours for a booty call, and someone has to foot the bill."

From her position at the desk that Chifuyu would normally occupy, Kanzashi made it clear how she felt about that, a rigid frown on her face. "He's definitely enough of a pervert to cost the government tax dollars to get with girls."

It was no mystery as to why Kanzashi said that, considering a particular incident. Tatenashi had also been told about that, of course. It was a wonder Church hadn't been stabbed in his sleep by the girl. Oddly enough, she seemed to find the notion of him walking in on her bathing sister more amusing than she did anything else.

"You're probably right, Kanzashi. This fellow is truly that kind of scum."

Even though he knew she was just teasing him, Church took offense. How could he not? "I said I was sorry, alright? It was an honest mistake! And besides, I didn't even see you, Charlotte was the only one whose modesty was exposed!"

This excuse only earned a glare out of the bespectacled girl, but Tatenashi was the one to somehow misconstrue what Church had said. He had no doubt it was intentional on her part.

"Are you implying that being in the same space as my sister while she's nude isn't enough for you to consider it a special occurrence? How dare you insult her majesty like that!"

Kanzashi may have been standoffish with Church at the moment, but the way her sister was talking about her turned the girl's attention to embarrassment.

"Tatenashi, t-that's a little much..."

"Oh, come on, I bet you'd love it if Ichika called you his queen. Though I'd like for him to think of us both that way, ideally..."

Now that he finally had a chance to do so, Church looked back down at his phone to see the message he had gotten from Rin. That said, he didn't miss an opportunity to snipe back at Tatenashi for all of her teasing today.

"You strike me as more of a court jester, honestly."

An absolutely aghast look was all the stunned speechless girl had to offer, something that was made mildly more amusing since Kanzashi actually giggled at her expense. Well, they were siblings, after all. Either way, Church had enough of an opening now to check his messages without interference from anyone nosy.

A quick perusal of the message revealed that it was another invitation to lunch, much like the one a few days ago. This time, however, the message openly admitted that Laura was going to be there as well. Unlike the last time, the message didn't inherently mention that the reason he was being invited was because some sort of plan with Ichika hadn't panned out. That said, Church assumed that was still the case.

Honestly, he wasn't too upset by the notion. Rin could have totally ignored him even if her plans with Ichika didn't work out, and focused on pursuing him anyway in one regard or another. But instead, she was actually content with the idea of simply turning to Church for company. Sure, he may have still been her second choice, but at least he was considered a viable alternative. That was something.

"Well, seems like I have lunch plans again. I'd invite the two of you, but Rin might be a little unhappy about that. Specifically as far as you're involved, Tatenashi."

Still reeling a bit from being verbally slaughtered, Tatenashi nevertheless managed to offer a response that didn't explain much. "She's just too blind to see that such an outfit wasn't right for her figure. I did her a favor, honestly."

Church wanted to ask for actual details about this scenario, but he doubted Tatenashi would actually tell him anything specific. Maybe he could get Rin to share with him at lunch? He knew that she didn't really like Tatenashi, but he had never gotten much explanation as to why. As far as he knew, she didn't feel the same way about Kanzashi, though they weren't friends like she was with the other girls.

Either way, Kanzashi seemed fine with not being invited. "I feel that I should warn them about the dangers of dining with a pervert like you..."

To this, Church merely sighed."You really know how to hold a grudge. You're done with the suit for now, right?"

"Yes, it's safe to disconnect now."

With permission given, Church mentally ordered the suit to disconnect from the apparatus it was hooked up to, and then allowed it to digitize back into nothingness. He couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before that kind of technology was available for the common people. The applications were nearly limitless: no more need for garages, no more need for moving trucks, no more need for hangars... one day in the future, maybe almost everything would be stored in a digital cloud.

Putting those thoughts from his mind, Church waved a goodbye to the Sarashiki sisters, something he was moderately grateful for. Not to sound rude, but he definitely found them tiresome in a way. Maybe that was because one of the sisters seemingly hated him right now, but even if she didn't, Tatenashi alone was a huge handful.

Either way, as he stepped out into the hall outside the R room, he admitted that he would be alright with the notion of not getting particularly close to the siblings. He was already trying to do that with enough girls as it was.

Operator, it pleases me that you actually have some degree of restraint. Of course, my praise falls a little flat considering that you are about to waste time eating lunch with individuals who are not our targets...

Your complaint seems misplaced to me. This method of slow integration with Houki's friends is exactly what allowed us to get closer to her these past few days, albeit slightly.

Cerberus did not seem particularly enthused with the notion. The progress has been quite slight. Moreover, your current position, and even any position you are likely to have in the future, is still far removed from the situation we would need to be in to get the required data on Akatsubaki.

The implication was obvious: Houki had been a bit friendlier with Church ever since he had scored a few points with her a few days ago, but as Cerberus had mentioned in the past, getting the full Akatsubaki specs would require being in physical contact with the I.S. for an extended period of time, even if it was in standby form. He doubted he would be close enough to Houki any time soon to facilitate that.

Still, this was the best plan. Even if it didn't seem like much, just being around the girl frequently allowed him to observe her without suspicion from anyone. That observation could lead to all sorts of valuable information. Maybe there was a time she actually removed Akatsubaki and left it alone for a period? Either way, the more frequently he could observe the girl without anyone questioning his motives, the more opportunities to act would present themselves. The absolute best outcome for this mission was to get the full specs for Akatsubaki without anyone ever knowing about it or even suspecting it. To that end, it was important to avoid drastic measures unless they were absolutely necessary.

I get what you're saying, Cerberus, but this is still our best option. Besides, Umbra Stratum also wants battle data against other I.S., so the fact that the mission timetable is extending isn't all that bad. It gives us time to complete secondary objectives.

We'll see if HQ agrees.

What's that supposed to mean?

There's an incoming transmission from them.

Honestly, Church was a little surprised to hear this. While he was fairly certain there was going to be more communication between him and HQ, he hadn't expected another transmission this early. Since it would look like he was talking to himself if he took the call here, the American agent ducked into a nearby empty engineering room to accept the transmission. Once he did so, a clear image of the base back in Nevada popped into his field of vision, much akin to augmented reality. As expected, one bespectacled Marcus Dougley was dominating the image. It was a little odd how an engineer had become his handler for the most part.

"Hey Marcus. It's a little early for another check-in, progress hasn't-"

Cutting him off, it was only now that Church realized just how panicked Marcus' expression was. "There's no time for that! Church, you've got a big problem heading your way right now!"

"How big? What exactly-"

"There's an aircraft coming your way right this second and it has a missile; a really, really bad missile."

Church was silent for a moment as he rapidly contemplated all of the implications of this scenario. Ultimately, he could only make one reply. "Right... tell me the danger, then tell me how it's Umbra Stratum's fault."

"We received a transmission from Vladivostok base a few days ago. One of their experimental fighters launched without permission, and they couldn't raise the pilot on comms. We lost track of the aircraft since then, but we managed to pick up its IFF on radar a few minutes ago: it's approaching your coordinates as we speak, and it's armed with an experimental cruise missile that could decimate the Academy. You've got to intercept it!"

With little concern for anyone seeing him now, Church sprinted back into the hall from the empty R room he had ducked into: it didn't have any windows, and he needed to get outside.

"Are you kidding me right now, Marcus? An experimental fighter with a top-secret weapon just up and waltzes out of an Umbra Stratum base?! At this point I'm starting to think this organization is just incompetent!"

Over the audio, Marcus expressed his own views on the matter. "Listen, I don't think this situation is as simple as it's being made out to be. But we'll have to talk about it later, there's no time right now."

"Yeah, and why exactly did you wait until now to tell me about all of this if the aircraft was stolen days ago?!"

"There was no reason to suspect that it was going to be used for an attack on the Academy!"

With a frustrated growl, Church barreled down the hallways of the Academy, allowing Exeter to materialize around his body since he was obviously going to need it. Thankfully, there was hardly any reason for anyone to be up on the floors that housed the engineering rooms around lunch, so there was little, though not altogether zero, chance of hitting someone.

Why would anyone want to destroy the I.S. Academy? We're talking a potentially disastrous global incident here! Not to mention the murder of hundreds of innocents!

Operator, are you really that perplexed? All sorts of people would-

OK, let me rephrase. Why would an Umbra Stratum pilot want to do it? Unless he's actually acting on covert orders from the top...

That seems unlikely, Operator. Destruction of this facility would impede Umbra Stratum's primary goal for this operation, and also destroy the Exeter Suit, their ace in the hole. Such a command is entirely self-destructive.

Church couldn't disagree with that, but he couldn't help agreeing with Marcus. Something didn't add up here. Was he supposed to believe some Umbra Stratum pilot just got fed up with his job and decided to go and blow up the I.S. Academy? Unlikely was being too generous.

Still, if the threat was as close as Marcus said it was, worrying about the implications of this incident would have to wait until after he had survived it.

Although, since it apparently wasn't an 'official' Umbra Stratum mission, he could at least intervene without any repercussions. If the Commander even thought of penalizing him for this, the two of them were going to have a serious problem.

Cerberus, I know this approaching aircraft isn't officially sanctioned, but you don't have any sort of programming that would prevent you from helping me stop it, right?

The survival of the Exeter Suit is my prime directive, Operator. I am obligated to help you deal with anything that puts the suit in harm's way.

He was glad to hear that, but there was no time to express any gratitude.

Great, then tell me where the nearest exit is!

Apologies, Operator, but seeing as this is not the first floor, there are no exits. There is no time to ride the elevator, and unfortunately, this floor does not have windows.

Shocking though it was to fathom, the main tower of the I.S. Academy did not have windows on every floor. Maybe some designer had just thought it was too much, or for efficiency's sake, no one thought they would be necessary for this particular floor, which didn't have much foot traffic. Either way, Church wasn't being left with much of a choice here.

Damn it, Chifuyu is going to kill me for this...

Easily picking up on what Church meant, Cerberus helped guide him to the nearest wall to the outside world.

An outer surface wall is exactly forty-six meters ahead, Operator. Your Concussion Fist is the most efficient option for creating an opening, though I would like to point out that our chances of survival are much higher if we flee the premises rather than attempt an interception.

Church began closing the distance between himself and his target, while readying the weapon Cerberus had specified and a mental apology for Chifuyu for destroying yet another wall.

Cerberus, this would be one of the worst acts of terrorism in the past twenty years if it happens. I can't just bail and watch everyone here die from a distance! Besides, something isn't right here and I get the feeling it isn't a coincidence that an Umbra Stratum fighter is attacking this place while we're in it.

I am unsure if we will have time to glean any information on this matter, since-

Church ignored whatever comment Cerberus had to say, focusing on cocking his fist back and launching it at the wall that was now within striking distance. Thankfully the Concussion Fist, while powerful, was very controlled, and the force of its directed explosion blasted the wall out into the open. A clear portal was made, and Church could easily see the blue sky beyond, dotted with fluffy white clouds. Hopefully no one was in the way of the falling rubble from his destruction.

He leaped out of the opening and activated the thrusters on his back, setting course for the incoming unidentified fighter. The approaching aircraft was still out of sight, but with it being tracked by one of Umbra Stratum's satellites, he knew which direction to go. It begged the question though: why was the aircraft able to be detected now if it had apparently spoofed tracking in the days prior? Moreover, what had the pilot been doing in that interval? It wasn't like the plane had enough fuel to remain airborne for that long.

Church had a lot of questions since so much of this was suspicious, but for now, he figured it was better to talk to Marcus about the immediate danger so he could react to it as efficiently as possible.

"Marcus, tell me about this missile."

Having been busy making calculations on his end, Marcus had been quiet for the past minute or so, though he of course spoke up now. "The C-RXB, or Crucible, is a cold fusion nuclear missile. It's only a prototype, but the blast will absolutely level the Academy and probably the entire island it sits on. Church, if that missile hits the tower everyone is dead."

"Hold on, do we even know if that's what this rogue pilot set out to do? He's coming this way but how do we know he's doing that?"

"The stolen aircraft just happened to be the one with Crucible mounted, and I don't buy that as coincidence. It's the only logical assumption!"

Unfortunately, Church couldn't help but agree. "Alright, what's stopping him from firing this missile from miles away? Why hasn't he fired it already?"

"The missile was still in its development phase, so it has limited targeting capabilities. Right now, it has to acquire a lock via a laser in the nose of the craft, so the pilot won't be able to fire it until he's within visual range."

Alright, I want to take this pilot alive if at all possible. Cerberus, I need options for stopping this missile that don't include blowing the plane to kingdom come.

Cerberus paused, as if questioning whether or not it should actually inform Church of the solution he required.

I possess a method, Operator, but you will not like it.

Naturally... lay it on me.

Physically attacking the target poses a not insignificant risk of detonating the deadly missile in question. Therefore, we can not directly engage the fighter with munitions until after Crucible has been launched. If you truly wish to capture the pilot and intercept Crucible after it is fired, you will have to physically come into contact with the missile, because it is electronically shielded and I will be unable to hack the ordnance's electronic components from a distance.

That doesn't sound so bad. I'm sure I can outrun a missile.

At the speed he was going, Church had already put several miles between himself and the Academy. It seemed he would be meeting his foe out on the open ocean. Cerberus still had an explanation to complete before Church could determine whether or not that was a good thing.

That is the easy part, Operator. Once the missile is successfully hacked at close range, its laser guidance systems will be disabled. At that point, it will basically become a dumb rocket, unable to be steered. You will then need to physically push Crucible away from its intended target, the Academy.

Still sounds pretty doable.

Unfortunately Cerberus was not done yet.

According to data I am receiving from HQ now, the missile has a fail-safe air burst function that will cause it to detonate if it misses the target. That way it is still likely to destroy the target if there is a malfunction in the guidance system. As soon as Crucible misses its intended target, it will detonate. And since my mathematical computations are flawless, it is impossible for you to move Crucible far enough from the Academy before the fail-safe detonation occurs. If the Academy is not destroyed, it will at least be heavily damaged, and most of the inhabitants will perish.

Can't you deactivate the fail-safe function too? Heck, why not just disable the explosives themselves? Cut the wires, no explosion, right?

I cannot stall the fail-safe function indefinitely. And because the missile is laser guided by the aircraft itself, it is almost guaranteed the pilot will launch the weapon at close range. This negates the possibility of simply directing it away while it is at a great distance. As for tampering with the actual explosive, it is all mechanical and cannot be hacked. According to blueprints, any attempt to tamper with the mechanical components required for detonation will cause said detonation. For all intents and purposes, once this weapon is launched, it will explode. It is just a matter of how long we can delay it.

Contemplating this option, Church tried to see a good angle for it to work. Unfortunately, he wasn't having much luck.

This is a pretty advanced missile for a fucking prototype! What the hell was Umbra Stratum even going to do with this thing?! Shit…so we're fucked, right? If it hits, we all die, and if I try to push it off course, most of us die. How is this is a solution?

I am still not done, Operator. I cannot deactivate the fail-safe detonation, but I can delay it for a few minutes. If you can get the warhead out of range of the Academy and other civilian areas, we can detonate the missile there. However…

It didn't take a genius to figure out what Cerberus was going to say next.

I won't have time to escape the blast, right?

Correct. Also, the enemy will be in sight momentarily.

Church briefly contemplated the option Cerberus had presented to him, and he found that he didn't quite like the idea. If he died he wasn't actually getting anything out of all of this effort, so he certainly didn't want to do that. All of that money he was making by working for Umbra Stratum would dry up if he was dead, after all.

As Cerberus had predicted, a small speck of black was just becoming visible in the sky ahead. Church magnified his visor optics in order to get a good look at the aircraft: a sleek, twin engine, double finned black fighter that bore the markings of the Russian Air Force. That said, Church didn't actually see any sort of special missile. In fact, he didn't see any sort of suspended armament. Then again, maybe it was all stored in a weapon's bay. Most aircraft did that these days if they could, for better aerodynamics.

Alright, let's try figuring out what the fuck this guy is doing before we start blasting.

"Attention incoming Umbra Stratum aircraft Designation Beta-0062. This is Umbra Stratum Operator Designation Alpha-02. You are on an unauthorized aggressive course towards a civilian installation. Change course immediately."

Church waited a few seconds for a response, but none came. Meanwhile, the SU-60 would be within cannon range of himself in half a minute. He supposed that was a good sign: it could have fired missiles at him long before now if it wanted to. That said, the silence on comms wasn't reassuring.

Did he hear me?

Yes, Operator. The transmission went through.

Shit, one more chance is all he's getting!

Church decided to try a less formal approach this time around. "Beta-62, listen to me. Your target is a civilian installation with nearly one thousand students and staff. Ninety percent of the casualties will be teenagers! Abort now or-"

Church's plea was cut off by the whir of a autocannon and the whizzing sound of passing rounds of a frightening caliber. The pilot of the SU-60 was firing at him, in hopes of either destroying or scaring off Exeter's Operator.

Most of the 30mm rounds missed the small target they were aiming for, but two of them ricocheted off of Exeter's frontal shielding, causing the shield gauge in Church's HUD to drop by seven percent. That seemed like minimal damage, but concentrated fire would have dropped the shields in no time.

The SU-60 blasted past Church, its roar fortunately dampened by Exeter's safety measures. Church reversed the thrusters and proceeded to chase after the jet. Thankfully, Exeter's maneuverability was much higher than any regular aircraft. He was able to turn on a dime without needing to make a wide turn.

Alright, I tried. Let's see him fire a missile when he's spiraling out of the sky!

Operator, it was my understanding that you wanted to take the pilot alive?

I'll try my best to take him alive, but I'm not going to sit around and wait for him to fire. How long until he's in lock-on range?

It would have been about a minute, but the pilot appears to be turning around.

Surprised to hear this, Church locked his gaze on the aircraft, noting that it was using its speed to climb into the air for a loop. It seemed like it was going to come back at Church.

This confused the hell out of the boy: if the primary objective of this pilot was to attack the Academy, there was no point in focusing on attacking Church instead. With speed built up over a long distance, the SU-60 would have been better off just making a beeline for the target and hoping Church couldn't catch it fast enough to take it down, since long range missiles could be handled with flares, chaff, and minor maneuvering.

Of course, there was some logic in the notion of simply defeating the danger and carrying out the mission afterwards, but even a cutting edge aircraft like this one was unlikely to defeat Exeter in air combat, a situation that was akin to a fighter and an I.S. unit. This play just didn't make sense, unless they were misunderstanding what the actual goal of this mysterious pilot was.

As the two craft approached each other once again, Church was stunned to see some missiles forming on the underbelly of the enemy plane: not coming out of a weapons bay, but actually materializing like I.S. weaponry would. Moments after the munitions were formed, they were launched right at him.

Knowing that any missiles fired at this range were likely to possess airburst functionality, Church opted for shooting them down with flak fire from his own end, which caused the munitions to detonate before they posed any harm to him. There was a smattering of cannon fire from the SU-60 as they passed each other again, but since it was a head-on, Church had seen it coming this time and merely spiraled out of the way. Naturally, he turned as quickly as possible to get on the enemy's tail, which was an easy matter for him. Along the way, he figured it was a good idea to ask Marcus a question.

"Uh, Marcus: what exactly was experimental about this aircraft?"

Still on the comms since the transmission had never been ended, Marcus informed him quickly. "It was supposed to be a fusion of I.S. and conventional technology: a fighter with energy shields and a Hyperspace Arsenal of its own, among other potential features normally reserved for Infinite Stratos up until this point. B-but it wasn't this advanced when it left the hangar! The R team from the base stated it wasn't even close to being able to utilize a Hyperspace Arsenal!"

Church glared after the retreating aircraft as he readied radar-guided missiles to chase it down. "Then we have a serious problem. Whoever stole this aircraft has ties with someone with unbelievable resources and developmental ability. There aren't many organizations who could have managed this."

After a radar lock was acquired, Church launched the missiles that had formed over his shoulders. Obviously, they weren't the same size as the ones that would normally be used by an aircraft, since some of those missiles were bigger than he was, but even these miniaturized versions packed enough explosives to disable or destroy an aircraft. After all, jets were actually quite delicate, and even the slightest damage to their control surfaces could be catastrophic.

Unfortunately, the SU-60 deployed a generous amount of chaff behind it as the missiles approached, while also turning away from their trajectory. The missiles locked onto the chaff and missed entirely, though this was not entirely unexpected. Still, the enemy aircraft turning was a good opportunity for Church to catch up with superior speed. As he closed the distance and prepared for a more direct option, Cerberus spoke its mind.

This may actually be good for our situation, Operator. If the Crucible missile is not actually present on the enemy craft prior to materialization, there is no risk in destroying the aircraft until that time.

Church had initially been against outright destroying the target, since it would be better to capture someone for interrogation, but at this point that was too much of a risk. This aircraft was even more advanced than anticipated, and that meant Church no longer had a guarantee of being able to destroy it on the spot without concern. He had an opportunity to end this now before Crucible materialized, and there was too much at risk to gamble. That was why Church materialized an autocannon on his back and unloaded 20mm shells at the target when he was in range to do so.

With an AI helping with firing solutions, many of the shells impacted the target as intended, but they did no damage: instead, they were deflected by a shimmering faint blue field when they got close to the enemy airframe.

Damn, so it does have energy shields! I hope that won't last long under sustained fire!

With mobility that could not be matched by even an advanced aircraft like this one, Church got close to the enemy fighter, staying on its tail. At this point, there was no way it could outmaneuver him: even if it could eventually hit a higher top speed in a straight, which was debatable, it would be destroyed long before that was a problem. It could not outmaneuver him nor out-speed him now that he had gotten close: it had no means of defending itself at all. Such was the current situation for conventional fighters against I.S. and its equivalent.

Or at least, that would normally be the situation. Just before Church was about to take aim at the enemy again, a weapon began materializing on top of its fuselage. Said weapon was small, but it looked a lot like a turret and had four rotary barrels on it. It didn't take more than a moment for Church to deduce its purpose.

Oh, hell.

Almost as though it had heard him, the turret unleashed a withering storm of bullets in Church's direction, forcing him to break away from his initially good vector. He could hear the whirring of the guns as they spewed hundreds of thousands of rounds at him.

It has a mini-CIWS?! You've got to be kidding me!

While this was an unfortunate development, it was one that made a lot of sense considering the new opponents fighters had to face. Rear-guns had died with World War II since fighter engagements stopped occurring at close range, and dogfighting ceased to be a modern element of air combat. But with I.S. posing an entirely different type of threat, and one that was most dangerous due to close-combat maneuverability, the notion of being able to shoot in other directions besides forward held merit once again. Of course, Hyperspace Arsenal technology was the only reason it was possible at all, and even then, manifesting turrets on the fuselage of an aircraft greatly affected its aerodynamics, but when you already weren't going to win a speed or maneuverability contest, it was better to have more effective firepower.

Besides, if the technology kept advancing, jet fighters one would day laugh in the face of aerodynamics anyway, just like I.S. did now.

One way or another, Church barreled into a spiral so he could get underneath the enemy plane and away from its new weapon. Sure, it could roll to get him in its sights again, but he was more maneuverable and could easily stick to its underbelly. Unfortunately, by the time he got there, an identical turret had materialized on that side of the fuselage. The SU-60 was obviously bleeding a lot of speed due to these new weapons affecting its profile, but what did it matter? It had three hundred and sixty degree coverage with not insignificant firepower.

Forced to evade more fire, Church reasserted in his mind the fact that there was something extremely wrong here. Not only had this experimental craft been upgraded far beyond what any R team could have hoped for in much less time, but it even had access to logistics support that included advanced weapons and loads of ammunition. This wasn't the act of a lone rogue pilot: a very powerful organization, perhaps even a country itself, was doing this. That still left a whole lot of questions though.

He didn't have time to dwell on that, of course. Hard as it was to believe, he was now the one being chased, with the enemy fighter pursuing him while firing a seemingly endless horde of bullets. That said, he could have gotten away: he now had an even bigger speed advantage, and extending away should have been easy. But at this point, it was better to just eliminate the problem. Every second the enemy persisted was more time for it to actually use that scary missile it supposedly had.

Of course, the energy shield was a problem: Church had no idea how strong it was, and he really needed to defeat the enemy in a single attack to cut this threat short. Thankfully, the shield in question was probably not the kind capable of stopping physical interference at relatively low speeds. More advanced I.S. shields deflected even low speed physical debris, but hopefully this fighter didn't have even that available to it already.

With this strategy in mind, Church used his superior speed and maneuverability to swiftly pull a one-eighty, before flying right towards the Su-60. He had to dodge a bit of fire along the way, but ultimately, he managed to land directly on the fighter's canopy with only mild push-back from its energy shields. Magnetized grips for his limbs allowed him to stay in place as he reared a fist back to smash it through the canopy. Too many questions needed answering here: they needed this guy alive.

Before he could smash his armored fist through the glass, however, some sort of smaller object launched itself from the bottom of the plane. Supposedly, it had materialized on the underbelly just now. Panicking, Church glanced in the direction of the object.

Shit, was that the missile?!

Cerberus provided a swift response.

Negative, Operator. It appears to be some sort of smaller drone. It is heading directly for the Academy, however.

Worried about what this drone's purpose was, Church considered going after it instead, but he was already here. It was better to eliminate the fighter now. Unfortunately, his moment of hesitation allowed the pilot of the SU-60 to launch the plane into an aileron roll, spinning in place at a speed too fast for Church to hang on. Even with the magnetized gloves and boots, physics had its way with little trouble.

Sent careening off the aircraft, Church recovered as quickly as possible, all the while getting a warning from Cerberus.

Operator, I do not wish to alarm you, but the drone launched at the Academy is of sufficient size to utilize Crucible. It is possible that the enemy intends to launch the missile from this drone while you are distracted with the SU-60.

Seeing this as a not entirely unlikely scenario, Church decided it was a good idea to simply dispose of the drone and ignore the fighter for now. Unfortunately, that drone already had a head-start on him.

God damnit, this is getting ridiculous! What's the estimated time until intercept?

Twenty-eight seconds, Operator.

Maximize thruster output. We have to catch up fast!

Cerberus did as instructed, boosting Exeter's thrusters to maximum output, even at the expense of other functions. Even by best estimates, the enemy drone would be in launching range of the Academy by the time he reached it.

Church pulled ahead of the SU-60, now willing to ignore it for a greater priority. He was well aware of how dangerous it was to fly directly in front of an enemy, but he was hoping it would break off now that it had the chance.

However, when the high-pitched wail of the radar lock alarm began to ring in his ears, he knew it would not be so easy. Glancing behind him, he saw a rack of air-to-air missiles materializing on the underbelly of the craft. It clearly intended to attack him while he was distracted.

You really wanna die that badly huh?! Fine, don't say I didn't give you a chance!

Pointing an arm back at the SU-60 so he could blast it out of the air with a materializing M61 vulcan, Church was shocked to see the pursuing aircraft pull a nearly impossible turn to break away from the line of fire. The amount of G-forces for a nearly ninety degree banking maneuver like that one would have been insane. Maybe it had the tech to allow the human pilot to manage it, but...

That kind of crazy turn... where have I seen that maneuver before?

Operator, need I remind you we are on a tight schedule? The enemy drone is manifesting Crucible as we speak.

With his radar confirming that the SU-0 was flying away in the opposite direction, Church focused his full attention on the problem at hand, cutting power to other systems to push his thrusters back to maximum. In his visor optics was a black, delta shaped drone about half the size of the previous fighter rocketing towards the Academy. A bright orange missile materialized on its underbelly. In but a few more seconds, he would be in range to destroy it...

But it was a few more seconds too late. Before he could close the final bit of distance he needed to be in range with an effective weapon, the missile was dropped from the drone proper, with its propulsion system igniting. Once this was done, the drone as well peeled away from the battle area. Church let it go, because now he had a much bigger problem on his hands: he'd failed to stop the worst from happening, and now he had to deal with the one thing he had been hoping to avoid.

There were but a few miles between the missile and the Academy, forcing Church to sweat like mad the entire time he was closing in on it. He supposed there was the potential solution of shooting down the missile now before it reached its target, but without exact data on its blast radius, there was no telling with certainty if that would actually be a good idea.

Besides, by the time he was done having that thought, the Academy was far too close to risk it. Manual interception was all he had now.

Finally, after an eternity that spanned a few moments, Church came close enough to the three-meter long missile to place his hands on it, with mere seconds to spare.

Do your thing, Cerberus! Make it quick!

Once again displaying its prowess, only two precious seconds passed before Cerberus spoke to its pilot.

Push now, Operator, hard to the right.

With little time to waste, Church did as he was told, pushing with all of his might, greatly amplified by Exeter, to shove the missile off its course for the Academy Tower, which was a mere three hundred feet away at this point. Crucible gradually curved away from its path, but it would still impact the tower at this rate. Seeing that he wouldn't make it quite like this, Church gave a final boost to his engines, just barely scraping by the tower as the back of his thrusters literally screeched against the tower's metal framework.

He half expected the missile to detonate, but he knew Cerberus was keeping the fail-safe detonation on ice. Crucible slowly gained distance from the Acadey Tower, forced to bank right by Church's physical persuasion.

Great, now what?

You must keep physical contact with the missile: the electronic shielding will resume within moments if you lose contact, and then the missile's computer will acknowledge that the target has been missed, at which time the fail-safe detonation will commence.

So I have to keep my hands on it? How am I supposed to do this then? How long can you delay the detonation?

I can delay the fail-safe detonation for approximately five minutes. You must get the missile as far from here as possible. Directing Crucible forty-seven degrees Northeast will avoid any other civilian population centers and should get you moderately over the Pacific Ocean, for minimal damage to landscape and greatest chance of survival.

Wait, why don't I just take it further into the atmosphere?

Your chances of surviving this endeavor are very low at high altitude. You will absolutely not be able to outrun the blast. Trust me when I say the ocean is your best chance for survival.

Unsure if he really had that degree of trust in Cerberus, Church nevertheless heeded its advice. After all, according to the AI, its top priority was making sure Exeter survived.

"Hey Marcus, you still there?"

After a moment of pause, the blonde's voice came over the radio, having been silent as he no doubt tended to aspects of this crisis on his end. "Church, are you alright?! Readings say the missile was launched, what happened?!"

"I caught it."

"You caught it?! What-"

Church cut him off since he had something important to share. "Marcus, listen! The SU-60, I think it was a-"

Operator, there's an incoming transmission from the Academy.

"Damn! Marcus, I have a call from the locals, I'll get back to you!"

"Church, hold-"

Ending the transmission, Church prepared to face the inevitable wrath of Chifuyu. Oddly enough that was about as scary as the situation itself.

I was hoping that they wouldn't notice.

It is a little hard to be oblivious to an air battle occurring relatively close to your installation. Although, it is strange that it took them this long to respond to the situation. This assault may have even deeper implications than we surmised.

Church couldn't help but agree, but he had no time to investigate right now. Opening up the Academy's comm channel, Church tried his best to sound less than terrified by the prospect of dying. It was almost entirely hollow bravado.

"Hello, this is your savior speaking, how may I help you?"

"Care to explain this situation to me?"

It wasn't terribly difficult to discern Chifuyu's voice with today's level of audio technology. Church wasn't sure what he was supposed to say here, but he said something nevertheless.

"Actually, I would rather not: I'm a little busy here. Sorry about the wall, by the way."

"You broke another one? It almost feels intentional. What's your status? What the hell is happening out there?"

"I, uh... really don't have time to explain in detail. Someone shot a missile at you. I'm taking care of it. You should still probably issue an alert and have everybody get to shelter if they can."

There was silence from Chifuyu's end for a moment, but it didn't last. "How did you know this attack was coming? We didn't detect it at all until just now, but you're already on top of it."

Naturally, there wasn't much Church could say that wouldn't be supremely suspicious. Besides, he was on a very tight timetable right now, so it seemed like it would just be better to leave Chifuyu's question unanswered. Not like it mattered anyway: there was a very high chance that he would die soon anyway.

"I'll tell you about it when I get back, Chifuyu. I have to focus now. Over and out."

Church could imagine a certain look from the woman since he had never called her by first name before, but he felt like it would have been a little remiss to stick to 'Ms. Orimura' in this situation. Decorum and whatnot weren't really his top priority right now. Either way, he cut the transmission off with that, instead posing a question to Cerberus.

So what exactly are my chances of survival in this situation, Cerberus? You said they were higher if I went out to sea.

The point blank proximity of the Crucible detonation will likely cause Class-A or even Class-S damage. Almost all systems will be disabled, and depending on where you land, chances of survival vary from twenty three percent to sixty seven.

Depending on where I land?

The ocean or the shore.

Which is which?

The ocean survival rate is twenty three percent.

Because of impact?

Negative. Because of oxygen deprivation. As I said, almost all functions will be disabled. That includes life support. And your armor, regardless of damage, is relatively heavy. I imagine you will sink rather quickly.

Not at all pleased to hear any of that, Church did his best to stay calm, though his next rhetorical statement really just ended up sounding bitter. He even reverted to speaking aloud, something he hadn't done with Cerberus in some time. He couldn't help it.

"Stellar. You do realize that being six miles out to sea means that I can only land in the ocean, right? I thought you said this was going to improve my chances of living!"

Operator, I have directed you to the ocean because without it, your chances of survival are actually zero. If there is nothing but sky around you, you have no hope of outrunning the explosion. You will be vaporized. But with the ocean...

Realizing what Cerberus was getting at, Church finished its thought.

I can use it as a sort of shield, improving my chances of surviving the blast itself...

Precisely.

Perhaps feeling that Cerberus deserved more trust than he had given him, Church also realized that he was coming ever closer to the limit of the AI's ability to delay the Crucible detonation. There was only about another minute and a half before the Cerberus could no longer halt the missile's fail-safe detonation. That being said, he still wasn't at minimal safe distance from the Academy. He had to go farther...

For some reason, Cerberus felt the need to speak here.

This will be quite the ironic way to die, hmm? Saving a plethora of foreigners that you don't even know?

I know a few of them.

Well enough to die for them?

Church did actually contemplate that question for a moment. The whole reason he had even signed up with Umbra Stratum was self-serving. Purely for his own ends. Dying kind of nullified all of that. Even so, he didn't think he'd be able to live with himself if he had allowed this to happen.

Well enough to know that they don't deserve to vaporized during lunch.

Be that as it may, as a machine, I cannot be so pleased with my destruction for the sake of a bunch of humans. I do so hope that we survive this.

With only a one in five chance of doing so?

Optimism is a human's forte, Operator. Try to embrace it.

As the timer came ever closer to the end of its countdown, Church did his best to distract himself from what was very likely his imminent demise. Surprisingly, the ocean blue below him did make him feel a little more at peace.

Kinda sucks to go out like this. Still a virgin and all that.

Well, if it makes you feel any better; if I were a human female at that Academy, my panties would hit the floor for you if I knew you had saved me so selflessly.

That wasn't comforting in the slightest. That was just really weird and disturbing as I tried to imagine what you would look like as a girl. I appreciate the attempt though.

For once, Cerberus replied with something that was not snark or some subtle belittlement.

I'm sure they will all appreciate your sacrifice.

I just hope this doesn't happen a second time. Or if it does, that they'll at least be prepared for it.

With nothing to say to that, Cerberus merely gave its partner the remaining time.

ETA thirty-seven seconds Operator.

With that comment weighing heavily on Exeter's pilot, Church stayed silent as he made the final run with Crucible, allowing another ten seconds to pass without a word. It was only then that Cerberus informed its Operator of the plan.

Operator, it will take approximately six seconds for Crucible's fail-safe detonation to activate after contact is broken. If you can make it far enough underwater before the explosion, the water between you and the blast may significantly reduce the damage to yourself.

Enough to prevent total system destruction?

Enough to hopefully keep life support online, perhaps giving you time to be rescued.

Well, that's better than nothing. Time to roll the dice, I guess!

Maximum distance in ten. Get ready for top speed towards the water, Operator.

Church watched the line in his HUD that was leading him to the point that was the limit of Cerberus' capability while giving him a very small window to put some distance between himself and the explosion. As soon as he reached it, he took his hands off of the missile, and a six second countdown popped up in his vision.

He angled his thrusters again and aimed for the waters below. His only chance for survival here was to maintain life support functions. Without oxygen, he would have no chance of living through this situation.

Six seconds Operator. Should I say something about it being an honor?

Don't jinx us.

Church crashed into the waves below with three seconds left on the clock. He continued to push as far down as he could, in hopes of getting a thicker wall of water between him and the imminent blast of fire and destruction.

At full speed and with good form, he managed to make it nearly a thousand feet deep before the countdown in his HUD reached zero. It turned out that the timer was just a few milliseconds off, for all the difference that it made. There was a distorted roar from above that vibrated through the water. Church felt the huge shockwave long before the blast itself, which slammed down into the ocean mere nanoseconds later.

The engulfing wave of flame either vaporized the water above, or it was so hot that the water did little to cool it. Either way, Exeter's extreme condition shielding was quickly overloaded, bringing the heat down on the suit itself, and the pilot within. The temperature climbed so quickly that Church temporarily blacked out within seconds.

Although his vision was claimed, his nerves were still functioning as they should, and Church felt the scalding heat for what felt like an eternity. The pain never seemed to end, but he was unable to make any cry of agony.

Finally, the blast, noise, and pain both subsided. Church was still blind, but he was aware of the sinking sensation taking over his senses. He knew what was happening, but could do nothing about it until he regained some sense of stability in his own mind.

Every second felt like much longer, but Church fought through his pain to check the operational ability of his suit. He couldn't see, so he'd have to ask Cerberus about it, if the insufferable yet potentially life saving AI was still functional.

Cerberus… what's our... status?

Unfortunately, the answer was not immediately forthcoming. There was a long break, far longer than there should have been, in the question and answer.

L-l-l-l-life su-p-p-port online… damage at s-s-s-seventy ni-i-i-i-i-ine percent.

The stuttering, broken record answer must've have been caused by damage to Cerberus' hardware itself. Who knows what the intense heat had damaged within the suit?

Point was, there was no thruster capability available. Church was just sinking, with no ability to move himself. He couldn't even see anything, but even if he could, he lacked the strength to bring himself to the surface. It briefly occurred to him that this wasn't anywhere near the death he had envisioned for himself in his imagination prior to now. It wasn't heroic, or noble. It was just a guy in a metal suit sinking to the bottom of the briny deep. Pitiful in every sense of the word. And a lot more lonely a demise than he had ever envisioned.

BTW, if anyone is interested in engaging with fellow readers or me, there's a Discord channel for that available on my profile page, among other things. It's just a chill place to talk about the story, or Infinite Stratos in general. Anyone and everyone is welcome, so swing on by if you're interested.