Does anyone remember Archetype Breaker? Did it get cancelled already? I'm pretty sure it wasn't particularly popular. Shame.

Roughly two days after their botched attempt to capture the members of Phantom Task, Church was sitting at a table in the Academy cafeteria, experiencing exactly what he had predicted several days prior. Here he was, just trying to enjoy his breakfast, but unable to do so because Rin was a hair's breadth from punching him in the face.

Thankfully she was refraining for the moment, but only because she was too busy yelling at him to cock a fist back.

"Are you completely insane?! What the hell were you thinking, going out there to fight a bunch of I.S. owning terrorists by yourself?!"

Mostly weathering the tirade, Church wondered if his exhausted expression was being completely ignored, or if it was even being noticed. "I had Chifuyu-"

Rin slammed her hands on the table that stood between them. "I don't give a fuck who was with you! Especially since she got hurt too! Do you even realize what it means if Chifuyu of all people gets injured?! Everyone involved could have died!"

Mildly irritated by now, Church glared at the Chinese girl across from him. "Well, doesn't that make it obvious why I involved as few people as possible?"

While logical from his side of the argument, the effect his words had on Rin were the complete opposite of what he wanted.

"Oh, I see; I'm the delicate little princess who you couldn't possibly bring into battle, huh?"

"Really, Rin? You can't be mad that I went because it's dangerous and also be mad because I didn't invite you to take part in it. Pick one or the other."

Rin looked like she was going to erupt even further, but for some reason she caught her own tongue, even though her heated glare didn't diminish in the slightest. Ultimately, she finally chose to sit in the chair available to her, with a huff that didn't go unnoticed.

"Ugh, men..."

Church scoffed in return. "Ugh, women."

In the end, they both just glared at each other in relative silence. After all, while they weren't saying anything to each other at this point, everyone in the cafeteria could hear Houki ripping on the girls that had come with Church on the mission. It was odd, seeing Houki get so worked up over anyone's health besides Ichika, but apparently even she understood just how dangerous of a situation her friends had gotten themselves into.

Laura and Charlotte accepted the criticism graciously, or perhaps they were just completely ignoring it. Either way, they offered no riposte in their own defense while Houki said something about completely empty skulls.

Church found it amusing mostly because he knew that all of the girls that were angry about the event were only feeling that way because they had not been brought along. And thinking about that, Church realized that maybe Rin's feelings on the matter were somewhat understandable, as she was probably misunderstanding the nature of her exception from the mission.

"Rin."

The brunette didn't answer his initial call, choosing to stare pointedly off to the left instead. Of course, Church had no idea why she thought this tactic would deter him.

"Rin."

There was a certain amount of venom in her reluctant answer. "What?"

"I know what you're thinking."

"Oh? Enlighten me."

"Well, to be fair, you said it yourself. That I apparently don't trust you enough as a pilot to bring into dangerous situations. That's not why you got left out."

Mildly interested in whatever excuse he had to offer, Rin focused her gaze on him once again. "Then why, huh?"

Church shrugged, deciding to give the honest answer. "Because you didn't know. Honestly I wasn't planning on bringing anyone along. Charlotte found out because the whole plan kind of hinged on her help. Laura just eavesdropped. If Charlotte hadn't forced my hand and Laura hadn't found out, I would have tried the whole thing by myself. It had nothing to do with a matter of trust, I just didn't want to drag anyone into a potentially lethal situation."

Rin looked at him with gentle eyes as she took a deep breath. "So, what you're saying is... you're a fucking idiot."

Needless to say, that was not the response Church had been expecting. "Ah... maybe?"

"No, it's definitely. You're definitely a god damned idiot. That's something Ichika would do, and you apparently like to think you aren't like him. So these Phantom Task guys thrashed you, Laura, Charlotte, two other pilots, and Chifuyu, and you were gonna take them on all by yourself. Yep, you're saying you're a total moron, that's all."

Obviously, Church wasn't very happy to be receiving all of this scorn, even though Rin wasn't entirely without a point at the moment. "Now hold on, I had no way of knowing how strong or skilled they would be prior to facing them at least once! Obviously I wouldn't have tried to go it alone if I knew they were that good!"

"Even if you didn't know, why would you risk that?! It's simple tactics, you don't just charge into battle without any intel!"

"I don't need to be told that by you of all people!"

"Excuse me? What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"I'm pretty sure you know-!"

The argument was brought to an immediate close when Church felt an presence take up residence over his shoulder. Weirdly enough, he was able to tell who it was that had arrived before she even spoke.

"Using a girl's lack of intelligence as an argumentative point is low, Church."

Glad to be getting support, Rin gloated, but only for a moment. "That's right, there's nothing lower than-"

Her expression shifted to aghast offense when she realized that Chifuyu wasn't actually denying anything about low intelligence. It kind of stung, actually. Was she really that stupid? Surely not.

Either way, Rin subdued her inner turmoil to instead take in the almost regal figure of Chifuyu Orimura, even marred as it was. She had returned injured from the fiasco Church had orchestrated, though the wound had been shallow. So shallow, in fact, that Chifuyu had refused anything other than typical medical care to take care of it. Her right arm was bandaged to some extent, but Rin couldn't tell since she was still clad in her usual business top. The only evidence of an injury at all was the white wrapped around her right hand, along with an expression that was slightly more disgruntled than usual.

In Rin's eyes, the fact that Chifuyu had even been scratched was just evidence of how dangerous things had been. Everyone had been relatively tight-lipped about the actual fighting that had taken place; neither Church nor the girls had given any details other than the fact that they had been soundly defeated. That being the case, any one of them could have come really close to dying for all Rin knew, and that didn't sit well with her at all. She'd have never forgiven herself if one of her friends died and she wasn't even there.

That said, maybe Church had a point in what she was really angry about. "Chifuyu."

Hearing Rin, who was usually a bit intimidated by Chifuyu's presence, say her name so sternly was surprising. Even so, Chifuyu managed to conceal that surprise as she answered. "Yes?"

The brunette leveled an emerald gaze at Chifuyu that left no room for dispute. "The next time my friends are going into a life or death situation and you know about it, you will tell me."

For his part, Church couldn't stop himself from gawking at his romantically estranged Chinese comrade. She had essentially just given Chifuyu Orimura an order. It certainly had not been a request. Did she want to die?

And yet, Chifuyu didn't get angry or irritated. In fact, she looked kind of appreciative of Rin's guts. Or maybe it was her stupidity. Honestly, Church couldn't tell.

"As you wish."

Church's mouth fell open even wider as Chifuyu left with that. He forgot to wonder why she had made an appearance in the first place as he questioned how Rin had emerged from that situation unscathed. Not that he had very long to think about it, because Rin's victory had apparently bolstered her confidence somewhat.

"And you! You ever try to hide something like this from me again, and you happen to make it back alive, I'll castrate you! Got it?!"

For the first time that morning, Cerberus piped up.

Not the type of thing you wish she was thinking of in regards to your genitals, eh, Operator?

Church didn't even have the heart to tell him to shut up.

Surprisingly, all of the girls were allowed to skip classes that day, courtesy of Chifuyu herself. Apparently, even she understood the gravitas of the situation with Phantom Task. It was still unclear what they wanted; but it was clear that their goals would be in direct opposition to the safety of the Academy and all of its students. That being the case, Chifuyu was willing to prioritize; when Phantom Task showed up again, they needed to win. She wasn't totally comfortable with resigning her students to serious life or death combat, but they were the best pilots around, and probably the only ones in the world that could actually do anything about Phantom Task in the first place. After all, they were piloting the world's strongest I.S.

Or at least, the strongest I.S. outside of the ones Phantom Task themselves were flying.

The machines they had faced were so advanced and dangerous that it was a mystery as to where they had acquired them, and from who. Chifuyu had some ideas on the matter, but for now she didn't want to entertain them. She really didn't need a second reason to kill Tabane right now. She still got flustered thinking about the first reason.

For now, she was working together with Yamada to input all of the data that had been recorded from their battle with the enemy, to help create a combat simulation for the Representative Candidates. After all, sparring against each other wouldn't help. None of their machines had the same abilities and threats that they needed to practice against. While a simulation wasn't the best option for training, it was the only one they had available.

They would still be able to use the arena at least, since all that was required for the simulation was the I.S. themselves. Their advanced visual systems would be able to coordinate with the whole team and present the same holographic image of the enemy and their actions. To the observers it wouldn't look like they were fighting anything, but everything would still work out the way it was supposed to. The pilots would see the enemy projections, and those projections would fight virtually. No real rounds would be fired on either side, but the math would still add up. It was sort of like I.S. laser tag.

Of course, Chifuyu and Yamada weren't done programming the whole thing yet, so the girls plus two were simply standing around in one of the standby areas, having already donned the proper attire for operation. Under normal circumstances Church might have been inwardly appreciating all of the skin tight sync suits, but his mind was focused on the true situation at hand. He and his friends were under serious threat; there was no time for anything other than preparing for it.

Perhaps his countenance was a little too severe however, because it certainly did not go unnoticed. Charlotte noticed it before anyone else, and commented on it as well.

"Um, Church? Are you worried? It's just a simulation..."

Turning his thoughts away from battle strategies and maneuvers, Church wiped the scowl from his face. "I'm not worried about the simulation. Just about how well it'll prepare us for round two..."

Naturally, both Charlotte and Laura understood his concerns. Naturally, the others did not. Cecilia was the first to make that obvious.

"I find your concern to be entirely unnecessary. There's no way these 'Phantom Task' pilots could take on all of us together! They stand no chance, especially now that you have me at your side!"

Church refrained from mentioning that Chifuyu's doppelganger had been piloting Blue Tears' superior in every way. Cecilia would find out soon enough in the simulation, and there was no need to crush her spirits this early. They did need to believe they actually stood a chance.

And besides, surely they did. Maybe Squall and her attack dog had bested them in their first encounter, but Church's team had been under-powered and operating with no prior intel. Now that they knew what they were up against, surely they could win if everyone came along for the fight?

Ironically, Church had to admit that the very reason for his initial presence here was likely their best weapon. Houki's Akatsubaki was definitely the most powerful machine at their disposal. With its blinding speed and seemingly infinite supply of energy, Church couldn't see their opponents overcoming it through conventional means.

Of course, that didn't mean it was safe to hedge all of their bets on Houki. Akatsubaki may have been formidable, but it was hardly invincible. On top of that, Houki herself was unfortunately a rather average pilot. Prior to obtaining her personal I.S., her skill level had been rated at C: the textbook definition of average. She was supposedly an A level pilot now, but only thanks to the capabilities of her machine. Being completely fair to her, Church knew she wasn't as combat gifted as any of the others. Even Ichika, dense as he allegedly was sometimes, possessed a great deal of tactical acuity. Houki on the other hand was extremely straightforward, and she rarely considered strategy in the slightest.

That said, the unfortunate reality was that their best weapon was under the control of their least skilled pilot. And even though the I.S. Phantom Task were using may not have been as outright amazing as Akatsubaki, their skill as pilots would probably be more than enough to compensate for the variance in technological ability. It was for this reason that relying too heavily on Houki would probably just result in another defeat.

Chifuyu's voice came over the intercom, telling everyone that the simulation was ready and it was time to deploy into the arena. Church couldn't help but wish that Chifuyu could be the one to pilot Akatsubaki. Surely no one in the world could stand up to her like that.

Unfortunately, the world's greatest pilot was not the one who had received a personal machine from Tabane, though Church couldn't imagine why. Of all the people who could benefit from having one, Chifuyu was the obvious choice. On top of that they were supposedly best friends, so what reason was there to hold back anyway?

Soaring out into the arena among six other machines, Church quickly laid eyes on the two holographic projections that would be their opponents for this trial. Other than the slightest shimmer to their forms, they looked exactly like the real deal. As for the girls that hadn't been present for the first fight, their attention was mostly focused on the Golden Dawn; it was by far the more intimidating member of the duo. But Cecilia ignored it entirely, her shocked gaze focused only on the Silent Zephyrus.

"T-t-that's-! There's no way you faced this machine in battle!"

Ever the factual one, Laura informed her that it was indeed the machine they had faced. "I can assure you that it is."

"But that's impossible! Even I wasn't able to achieve high enough synchronization for it! No one can pilot the Silent Zephyrus!"

Before anyone else could interject, Chifuyu's stern voice once again came over the intercom. "Contrary to what you might believe, Ms. Alcott, there are pilots far more skilled than yourself in this world. Rather than refusing to admit that, dedicate your efforts to surpassing them."

While Chifuyu's words cut as deeply and quickly as ever, it was easy to note that she wasn't exactly putting anyone down, which was kind of a rarity for her. She was still telling it like it was, but at least she was trying to assure at the same time.

Naturally Cecilia still didn't look even mildly placated, but she did at least drop the notion of impossibility regarding the operation of the Silent Zephyrus.

Following Chifuyu's stern admonishment, Yamada's more gentle yet still serious voice came over next. "Let me know when you're ready to start the simulation."

While they had not possessed any ability to plan for the specific enemy units in the real encounter, Church was glad that they had gained proper intel on their enemies without suffering any major casualties. At least now they could make plans and stratagems for attack.

For now though, it was best to get firsthand experience on both ends, so Church put forth a suggestion. "I think Laura, Charlotte, and myself should fight against the Golden Dawn. We didn't get much experience against it. The rest of you should take a shot at the Silent Zephyrus."

Under normal circumstances a group of strong-willed independent women wouldn't like being essentially told what to do, but since Church's suggestion was quite reasonable, no one offered any dissent. And that being the case, Yamada wasted no time in starting the simulation.

The Academy pilots broke off into the aforementioned groups, each of them heading for the opponent that they had decided to face. For now they weren't employing any particular strategy, as their current goal was to simply gain a better feel for their future opponents.

However, even as the projected Golden Dawn engaged its real opponents, it occurred to Church that practice like this would only go so far. For one, the only data they could use for the simulated enemies was what they gleaned from their one engagement with the real pilots. Considering that it hadn't really come push to shove for Phantom Task that day, it was very likely that they had not used all of their arsenal. That meant their training here wouldn't prepare them for any of the weapons they hadn't used. On top of that, they couldn't well and truly simulate the behavior and thought processes of the real talented pilots. The projections they faced now just weren't up to par, and that would hold them back as well.

Even so, Chifuyu had not held back in the projected skill level of their foes. Holographic training simulations like this weren't used very often, since she believed real sparring was a better alternative, but in this one instance she was making sure that the difficulty of their foes was at the maximum that she could provide. That probably explained why the Golden Dawn managed to avoid all three attacks from Church and his friends as they made their approach, and even managed to knock them all back with a swipe of its tail.

It was odd, since obviously there was no force behind the holograms; the real machines simply reacted to what was 'supposed' to have occurred as per the simulation, which included being knocked back and sustaining shield damage.

The projected Golden Dawn unleashed a storm of its signature orbs at its foes, a problem that had made itself fairly obvious in the real encounter as well. This golden energy it used was ridiculously versatile, providing an overwhelming offense or a nearly impenetrable defense. That said, the real question was whether or not it could do both at the same time. Church wanted to tell himself that its energy couldn't be limitless, but then again, wasn't Akatsubaki exactly like that? Who was to say there couldn't be others?

Nimbly evading the shower of energy projectiles, Church quickly judged his chances of success at both primary combat ranges. Close quarters had already been established as a risky move, especially with that tail, so he was only left with his long range armaments. And while he had quite a few of those, none of them possessed the raw firepower he felt would be necessary to get through the Dawn's shielding, save for Niddhog, which he couldn't use for obvious reasons.

Hell, now that he thought about it, did the Golden Dawn have a regular I.S. energy shield beneath that ridiculous flexible one?

As he launched a few missiles from a shoulder rack, he realized that there would be no way to tell until the next real encounter. No one had managed to penetrate that outer layer of defense during the real battle, so it was anyone's guess as to how sturdy the Golden Dawn was beneath that.

While Church's many missiles were all evaded by the projection, Laura made use of her tried and true tactic of blasting the target while they were busy evading something else. Her Blitzkrieg round naturally did not make the massive impact it usually did, since it was only fired virtually and all, but said hologram reacted to the hit appropriately, making all the necessary physics calculations to spiral out of control in a realistic manner before recovering.

Church was positive that Squall would have managed to block such a blow with her special defense, but the hologram had not. As expected, it was obviously just a shadow of the one they really faced. That said, it was at least unlikely that the projection would fall for the same maneuver twice, since it did 'learn' in a sense. At least it provided a challenge that couldn't be easily exploited when it came to that.

Apparently settling on a new attack pattern, the Dawn projection accelerated at Charlotte with the obvious intent to engage in melee. It was anyone's guess as to why it picked her, though it was probably some sort of calculation based on the likelihood of success. The Rafale Revive wasn't as difficult to hit as Exeter and it wasn't as sturdy as the Scwharzer Regen. Attacking Charlotte was only logical, and that fact was an unfortunate realization for Church.

Though he hated to say this of one of his friends, Charlotte was a weak link among them. Her I.S. was not lightning fast like Houki's, a tank like Laura's, or even as versatile as Cecilia or Rin's. In reality, the Rafale Revive had nothing but disadvantages; other than carrying a very large number of weapons, it had no real strengths, especially since nearly all of those weapons were projectile types of the same nature.

Charlotte was a great pilot, but that wouldn't offset the many weaknesses of her machine in the fights to come against technologically superior enemies. That had been proven well enough in her bout with the Silent Zephyrus, and the example was even clearer thanks to Chifuyu's battle with Squall, if one could even call it that.

They needed upgrades; they all needed upgrades, save Houki, whose machine had been built from scratch just a short time ago. Laura had gotten ahead of the curve with her advanced railgun, but it was obvious that Phantom Task still had the edge. Thing was, if Tabane knew what kind of danger everyone was in, why hadn't she done anything of that nature yet anyway? What was stopping the genius that had invented Infinite Stratos in the first place from giving them some wicked upgrades to crush Phantom Task with? Moreover, why hadn't she already invented seven perfect counters to this stupid golden energy that was flattening Church into a wall right this second?

The more he thought about it, the less sense it truly made. In fact, there were only two real explanations that could be accepted. Either one, Tabane was secretly in league with Phantom Task, and therefore not willing to help the Academy pilots get the upper hand, or two, she was just an asshole who cared more about her personal entertainment than the lives of anyone that wasn't in her immediate circle of friends.

Honestly, Church was betting on the latter.

Either way, it occurred to him that even three on one, he and his allies were having serious issues. Just like before, they were all being pressured and contained by just one I.S. The Dawn projection kept Charlotte occupied with its melee capabilities, continuously prevented Church from even taking the time to aim with a hail of golden energy, and had no problems whatsoever avoiding Laura's sporadic heavy weapons fire. Even now, they were all being outperformed by a god damned hologram, which was more than a little insulting.

And unfortunately, Squall had clearly been capable of this level of multitasking in real combat as well, the one time they had faced her when she wasn't even taking it seriously. If they couldn't even beat a shadow of her casual piloting abilities and tech, how the hell were they going to succeed at all in the future?

Their tactics were ineffective, their weapons weren't working... was there any alternative other than swarming her with more than three or four I.S.? Obviously, if it were like that victory would be easy, but Church doubted that they would ever encounter Squall on her own. That Chifuyu doppelganger was probably at her side more often than not, and there was that Autumn chick as well. Even if they still outnumbered Phantom Task, the odds were even at best and skewed at worst.

Noting all the disadvantages of their new war brought a certain question to Church's mind as he tried to distract his artificial opponent from its onslaught on Charlotte.

Cerberus, how long would it take to design another upgrade package for Exeter?

Operator, it has not been very long since the Starstreak package was completed. It's a bit greedy to want another one already.

Well unfortunately, the Starstreak doesn't have a big scary gun, which is clearly our best bet against all this bullshit shield technology Phantom Task has.

After pelting the projection Dawn with enough bullets to grab its attention, Church soared away from it, subconsciously registering how far he could go while still avoiding contact with the second team and the Silent Zephyrus. All while maintaining his brief exchange with Cerberus, of course.

You do in fact have a big scary gun, Operator. You also have a small scary sword. Both will likely be effective on the Golden Dawn if you just work out the tactics to make contact with them.

Church had to admit that Cerberus may have been right there. A direct hit with Niddhog would probably do significant damage to any I.S. defense, and Chrysaor usually made quick work of the standard energy shields most Infinite Stratos units made use of. If he combined his most powerful weapons with the Starstreak's speed, he could possibly make quick work of the Golden Dawn single-handed.

He'd only have one shot at that though. If Squall survived the attempt there's no way she would leave an opening for it a second time. A pilot of her skill would only grow more formidable with every encounter she survived, learning the techniques, strategies, and faults of her foes. The safest bet for everyone was to kill her in the very next engagement at all possible.

Church was 'caught' by the Dawn's tail, Cerberus forcing the suit to pretend to be grabbed as per the simulation's requirements. Honestly Church was only half paying attention to the fight at this point anyway; Cerberus was doing a lot of the work while he pondered the most effective means of neutralizing his new enemies. After all, sometimes brainstorming was just as effective as actual physical practice.

That was why he let Cerberus take over for the moment, recovering from being launched into the wall by Exeter's own propulsion. It was kind of funny actually. If the holograms weren't visible at all it would like they were all being beaten by ghosts.

There was a part of Church that didn't really want to kill Squall. He kind of liked the way her persona reminded him of Chifuyu, and of course, she was a smoking hot bombshell of a blonde. It was kind of criminal to take good looking women out of the world, but a little reluctance wouldn't ultimately stop Church from doing the deed. When he thought about the possibility of his friends dying, he was certain he could kill anyone to stop that from happening. He'd blast anyone into oblivion if it meant protecting the people that had become important to him.

But even if he was determined to protect them, it didn't change the fact that he could potentially fail. Any one of them could still be killed in their next encounter with their new powerful foes. And though it wasn't the best time since he was in the middle of fighting a shadow of said foes, Church considered the validity of his decision to deny any type of romance. After all, if he could die during any particular battle, he would certainly have wanted to at least kiss a girl first. On the flipside, he could only imagine the regret he'd have to live with if something happened to the girl he had such strong feelings for before he finally decided to give into them.

And besides, did it even matter at this point? His original reason for avoiding any type of romantic commitment was because it would ultimately end in fruitless pain when he had to return to the States. Truth be told, he wasn't sure if he would go back anyway at this point. He was pretty certain that Umbra Stratum was up to no good alongside Phantom Task, and he didn't want to help them.

At the same time though, he wanted to try and stay in their good graces as long as possible. After all, Umbra Stratum was the one providing Church with the one service he valued above most other things. If he went rogue on them, that was definitely forfeit. But then, was it really the only way he could make those ends meet? If he stayed in possession of Exeter, surely there were plenty of people that would pay him lots of money to work for them.

Although, Umbra Stratum knew where she lived. If Church did fully commit to betraying them, they could do any number of horrible things to her. Hopefully, they wouldn't do that as long as Church remained in possession of Exeter, but there was no guarantee. Frankly, he didn't want to think about the possibility too deeply at the moment.

Point being, Church was pretty sure he could have a girlfriend without any serious consequences whatsoever at this point. He highly doubted Umbra Stratum would be willing to give him any shit for getting frisky with a girl, and on top of that, his concerns regarding distance were almost entirely moot: they both had access to machines that could fly several times the speed of sound. It wasn't like it would take very long to visit even if they were continents apart.

In short, Church kind of felt like an idiot for conning himself out of what could have been weeks of make-out sessions with Rin, who had been so into him at one point that she was going bra-less around him, for the sake of a few poorly conceived arguments that were easily shot full of holes when he thought about them for two seconds.

There was a loud buzzing noise across the arena that drew Church out of his musings for a few moments. The projections stopped their maneuvers and attacks, not because they had necessarily been defeated, but because Chifuyu was calling it quits for the time being. Turned out that she had a class to attend to, but she wanted to actually be present for these training exercises that her closest students were undertaking.

With the fighting over, Church panned his gaze towards the pilots in the arena in some attempt to see how they had fared. The beaming smile Rin and her team sported implied that they had gotten the best of their Silent Zephyrus shadow, while Laura was gracing him with a mildly concerned and contemplative look, probably noticing that he had not been devoting his full attention to the battle at hand.

From his position at the far end of the stadium, looking on the girls that had become his friends, Church found himself wrestling with a new problem.

He had no idea if he could actually choose. And now that he was determined to actually pursue some sort of romance, he was certain the decision would consume him even more than the entire situation with Phantom Task.

When the girls returned to their classes for the day, Church took to the skies for even more time to himself than he usually had. Once again, he rested on the very top of the spiral tower that was the center of the Academy campus, magnetically attached to its surface by his armor.

For once, he was not up here to dwell on international crises or morality or secret covert operations. For once, he was just being a normal boy who pondered normal things, that being relationships, and relationships with girls most of all.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Cerberus had been mostly silent, and Church was mildly aware that the AI was becoming slightly more respectful of his inner musings.

That, or it just had no interest in such plebeian mortal affairs as romance.

On one hand, it was kind of relaxing to just worry about normal things for once, but on the other, it was still worrying nevertheless. The problem was that he was logically trying to weigh his options on a set of scales, but he personally couldn't accept such judgments.

Logically he could tell himself that Rin had a nicer ass and Laura had better thighs, or that Cecilia had a bigger bust than either of them. He could tell himself that Rin always made it easy to laugh and smile, but Laura was comforting and more relaxing, or that Cecilia could buy literal fucking jets to appreciate. Logically he could pick out and weigh the things he liked about each of them, but the end result was exactly the same.

He really liked them all in different ways. None of them were 'better' than the others, just different. And this wasn't even considering Charlotte. She was taken as far as Church knew, but that didn't actually rule her out of the theoretical exercises. She had a lot of unique things to appreciate as well, and honestly, Church didn't get the sense that her relationship with Ichika was airtight. In other words, it wasn't a complete impossibility, and it at least warranted some thought.

And not only did Church like them all in some way or another, aside from Charlotte, he knew for sure that the others liked him back.

Never would he have considered the idea of having some of the most amazing girls in the world attracted to him a problem, but here he now stood. Of course, that wasn't really that heart of the issue; he wasn't trying to rationalize who he liked more for his own personal pleasure. He was worried about who he would hurt and how badly depending on what choice he would make.

Thing was, he had already kind of led Rin on. He'd made it painfully obvious to her that he was romantically interested, and had merely pretended to be too shy to act on it in that initial daring passion of hers. He hadn't done any such thing for Laura. Sure, he had told her she was attractive, but at the time it had been as assurance first and foremost. He hadn't been specific, and in that light she could have interpreted it as no different than the way he thought about any of the others. After all, all of the girls were attractive in some way.

That being the case, it was possible from a logistical standpoint that he would do less harm to his friends if he just pretended Laura was nothing but a friend and tried for Rin. But unfortunately, the idea of making that decision on such a reason felt pathetic and dishonorable somehow.

And of course, there was Chifuyu...

Well, that was probably just wishful thinking. Chifuyu wasn't really an option so much as a pipe dream. He wouldn't dare try to garner her affections, it just felt disrespectful to have that much gall. It felt audacious to even think she would feel that way about a younger man like him. And yet, when they had talked that day following the incident with Tabane… he couldn't help but get the feeling it wasn't a completely far-fetched idea…

Even if he was being humble, Church knew that Chifuyu opened up to him in a way she didn't with others. She was strict, stern, and no nonsense with everyone else. But when they were alone together, she often relaxed a bit: allowed herself to be more casual, more comfortable. That he was one of the few people she did that with had to mean something. Church just didn't want to assume it was romantic. Although, she had blushed a few times when he had complimented her as a woman, so was it completely impossible…?

Operator, I may have held my tongue prior to now, but I feel as though you are wasting too much time with this particular line of thought. It's practically an impossibility.

But not technically an impossibility. For all you know she's just waiting until I'm a little older before snatching me away from the common women of the world.

Cerberus either did not get the joke, or he simply chose to ignore it.

Operator, it's already painful enough to sit quietly through your musings on the pointless nature of human chemical impulses. At least focus on the one situation you can actually affect, lest it never be solved.

Church let out a weary sigh as his thoughts returned to that very situation. Well, it might never be solved anyway, unless you have some sort of amazing plan.

Harem.

What?

Just make it a harem. You've already ensnared them, just lay down the law and tell them it's all of them or none at all.

Church would have leveled an incredulous look at his conversational partner if only there was someone to look at.

There's a guarantee that an ultimatum like that will end up with 'none at all'. I know you're new to this whole feelings thing, but girls do not share.

It may be more likely than you think, Operator. Can you honestly not imagine Bodewig being perfectly fine with such an arrangement?

In all honesty, Church actually could see Laura just rolling with such a situation. She at least seemed to be the most likely to still accept such an arrangement even if it did rub her the wrong way or irritated her from time to time.

Unfortunately, he sure as hell couldn't see Rin even daring to consider it. If anything, she would be furious that he would suggest such a thing, probably be insulted and even hurt. Cecilia probably wouldn't take it well either.

Still, maybe it would just be about the way he worded it. Most of the time, girls had serious issues with sharing because it usually wasn't sharing; it was usually the male being a dick and cheating on her behind her back for his personal pleasure. In this particular situation Church just wanted everyone to be happy. Happy with him, sure, but at least he was still putting them before himself. Perhaps that was all it would take to make the difference?

Of course, perhaps this really wasn't the right time to figure this out, considering the entire situation with Phantom Task, but this was their downtime before a theoretical second engagement, so why not?

Though Church could actually tell himself why not. With the skill and danger of their foes, the last thing anyone needed was to be unsure of themselves when the next fight came. If anyone was agitated or depressed by whatever decision ended up being made at the point in time the next battle occurred, they wouldn't be at their best, and that was something no one could afford against Squall and her cronies.

Truth be told, Church could honestly admit to himself that this was an excuse; they were just regular girls in a lot of ways, but when it came to being pilots they were talented and capable. In a life or death fight against Phantom Task, he doubted that any of them would allow themselves to be distracted by their personal lives.

He was really just putting it off because he didn't have any other answer besides the one Cerberus had provided. And while the idea of having several gorgeous girls at his side was more than a little appealing, he was much too afraid to even dare ask a question like that, lest it ruin his friendship with them. He didn't quite know what he wanted, but he knew for certain that he didn't want that.

Coming to a decision only in the sense that he had not reached one at all, Church peeled off of the structure he had claimed as his perch, slowly descending to the surface and allowing his thoughts to return to more practical matters.

It's been a long time since we last heard from Marcus. I know we were waiting for him to reach out to us just to be safe, but I'm getting worried. This long without any word is way too suspicious… try and send him a message.

As you wish, Operator.

Content with that, Church had barely made it to the ground before Cerberus was upon him again, and not with one of his usually unwelcome quips.

Odd. There's no response.

You literally just sent the message, of course there isn't an answer just yet.

You misunderstand, Operator. There's a special handshake between the computer my creator uses and devices of his own making. This process is carried out before communication of any kind, but it is somehow entirely absent.

While Cerberus made this sound foreboding, Church wasn't sure he got the severity of the situation. So? Aren't there plenty of reasons that could be absent? Maybe he's updating the systems of his computer?

Somehow even Church knew what he was saying made no sense, even though Cerberus still iterated that fact clearly. Operator, you know the creator well enough to also know that he would never leave anything of personal value unprotected. He is too paranoid.

Yeah... yeah I know. Damn it, what does this mean? Did Umbra Stratum catch him digging around? Or could it be something else?

I'm afraid your first assessment is probably the most likely, Operator.

Unfortunately for Church, there wasn't much he could do about this bad situation. He could reach out to the Commander and ask why he was unable to get in touch with a friend back at base, but that could raise suspicions. He didn't want to think that anything bad had befallen Marcus, but if the organization knew that he was suspicious of them and looking for dirt, well…

That could mean a lot of other things besides killing him though. It was possible that he had just been removed from the engineering team, despite being its leader. For all Church knew he had simply been fired and sent on his merry way.

But that was unlikely at best. You didn't really get fired from shadow organizations like Umbra Stratum. There was too much sensitive intel that had to be kept suppressed no matter what. That said, it was very likely that Marcus wasn't sipping martinis on a hefty pension right now. He was either dead or being kept under lock and key, assuming that this entire situation wasn't just some big misunderstanding on Church's part.

Regardless of what had really happened though, the question remained the same; what the hell was Church going to do about it? He obviously couldn't contact him remotely. Cerberus could still send messages through, but the person on the receiving end was obviously not Marcus. He also couldn't just fly back to the States to drop in and check on him. Despite his penchant for disobeying them, Church was still technically under orders. He could safely deviate from his assigned course so long as it still appeared like he was following it, but to do that he had to take actions that were still relevant to the mission. If he went back to the U.S., it would be obvious that he was entirely AWOL. Not only could it muck up his deal with Umbra Stratum, but it would run the risk of losing control of the Exeter suit to them.

It was theirs to begin with, of course, but it didn't really matter whose name was on the license if someone else was flying it. Exeter was the only leverage Church had; without it he had nothing on Umbra Stratum that could force them to comply with his demands, should it come to that.

This left him with almost no options whatsoever. Outright asking about Marcus' fate was the only choice he had, but there was no way he would get the truth out of them, and it would just reinforce any niggling suspicions about Church's loyalties.

Even now, Church realized that his little charade would be impossible to maintain in the long run. He could continue to be on Umbra Stratum's side for now, but eventually the truth of things would force him to take a side. When he discovered the truth of all of this 'Aggregate Paragon' secrecy, he had no doubt that he would have to make a hard, immutable decision to side with one faction or the other. It was just too bad that the faction he needed assistance from was probably the bad guys.

Is there any conceivable way that we can find out what happened to Marcus?

Cerberus wasted no time in answering, for once sounding defeated. Not from our current location, Operator. No amount of technology in the world will make me psychic. I cannot deduce what has occurred.

You can't... I dunno, remotely access the security cameras back at his facility or something?

I likely could, but if anything underhanded was carried out there is no chance that the recording of the incident remains intact.

God dammit... shit, we'll figure something out, somehow...

I can only hope that you are correct, Operator.

Now with more serious worries plaguing his mind, Church nevertheless did his best to put them on the backburner for now. It was still the early afternoon, and there were many things to be done that day yet.

First and foremost was talking with Chifuyu.

Despite his initial attempt to take on Phantom Task single-handed, he had unfortunately roped in all of his friends as well. Even though his friends all considered this a joint venture they all had stakes in, he had been the one to elevate things to this level of severity.

Now that he knew the conflict with Phantom Task was going to be a war rather than a battle, he was banking on Chifuyu's experience to massively impact their chances at victory. It'd be even better if she could convince her ditz of a friend to get her an I.S. as well; Tabane wasn't doing any of the right people any favors.

But even so, Church had realized already that he was putting too much stock in Chifuyu's prodigious abilities. She was an amazing pilot of course, and a talented warrior in general; but she was still only human. It was unfortunate, but Church knew now that she wasn't going to be their trump card against Phantom Task. She was beyond exceptional, but she wouldn't be able to carry the whole thing by herself, even had she been armed with a personal I.S.

Even the strongest warrior in the world couldn't fully overcome the drawbacks of mediocre equipment.

Even so, he knew relying on her would be necessary regardless. He needed her help if he was ever going to take on Phantom Task in further confrontations. The problem was, he wasn't sure how invested she was in the idea of pursuing them. Based on today's training exercise, she obviously wanted them to be prepared for another eventual conflict, but that was no indicator of her willingness to attack a second time rather than defend.

Of course, there was no point in wondering about it when the only way to actually determine the truth was to ask. With that in mind, and considering the fact that it would be roughly twenty minutes before the next class, Church headed back to the main area of the Academy, hoping that he would be lucky enough to find Chifuyu in her office. Even when she only had a brief period of time to herself, she almost always returned there to get some sort of work done. Church couldn't help but wonder if she ever got to relax for more than ten minutes at a time.

Unfortunately, there was no way to get through the school building without encountering a plethora of teenage girls on their break, but Church managed to avoid distraction by gently shooting down attempts to talk with him. He felt really bad about brushing off so many girls, but he had a limited window of time to do something much more important than flirting. Besides, he had already zeroed in on the girls he liked, so it was really too late for these other students that he had never even spoken to before.

Unlike Ichika, who often had a swarm of girls just trailing him around, none of the students followed Church to his destination. Aside from making it clear that he didn't have time to interact with them, the purpose of his movement made it obvious to everyone that he had a serious goal in mind and was not in the mood to entertain any shenanigans.

Church made it to his destination mostly unmolested, and thankfully with no tag-alongs to show for it. The door to Chifuyu's office was closed of course, but knocking was an easy solution to see if the raven locked beauty was in there.

He didn't receive an immediate reply, even though the door was opened within seconds of his attempt. Perhaps that was because no one ever actually knocked on Chifuyu's door. None of the students had the guts most likely, and Tabane never bothered knocking in the first place.

And since that was so, Chifuyu was not surprised to see who her visitor was. He was really one of the only people she could think of that would bother her on her break between classes aside from Tabane, who, naturally, never knocked. Ironically, Church was also one of the only people Chifuyu could think of whose presence she was willing to entertain at such times.

And yet, before she could ask what his purpose was, he stated it clearly. "I need to talk to you, Chifuyu."

The straightforwardness of his statement made the older woman don a slightly perplexed expression. "People these days sure are getting bolder with me than they used to be."

"Come on, that was nothing like what Rin did this morning. I'm surprised she's still alive."

"She was worried about her friends and unwilling to be left out of their protection a second time. I won't condemn her for that. Regardless, if you want to talk there's only a few minutes before the next class starts. What is it?"

Since time was short, Church wasted none of it in getting to the point. "I need to know where you stand on the situation with Phantom Task."

Seeing that this was going to be a more serious discussion than she had planned for, Chifuyu sighed before motioning for Church to follow her into the office. If they were going to hold a long conversation, they might as well do it sitting down. She spent all day standing as it was.

"I'm not quite sure what you mean. There's only one side I can possibly be on."

Naturally, there wasn't a second chair in Chifuyu's office, since she didn't exactly do meetings there. But Church was willing to stand as it was.

"I know that. What I mean is, how do you... you know, what's your stance on it? It's obvious you want us to prepare for another eventual conflict with them, but maybe you're against the idea of actually seeking them out again. I'd like to know how much support I can expect from you as I move forward with all of this."

Chifuyu leveled one of those discerning gazes at Church. "You say that like this is a personal crusade or something."

"Well no, but... I am the one who started it. I feel like there will be some expectations of me from the others to take the lead on some of these decisions."

Chifuyu folded her arms at this. "Is that so? As opposed to me, who is supposed to be keeping her students out of danger?"

Church returned her gesture. "I am coming to you, aren't I? Besides, you agreed to the first attempt."

"It's not like I could have actually stopped you. I have no authority over you in the first place. And since Laura and Charlotte already knew about it, there's no chance they would sit back and stay here while you ran off to fight, even if I told them to. Coming along was really the only way I could protect any of you."

For some reason Church felt like they were on the brink of an argument. Maybe it was the hint of tension in the air, entirely different from the kind that had existed on the day of Tabane's scheming. This was a lot less sexual. Weird, how they could go from a conversation like that to one like this in just a few days.

"Alright, that's fair. But then, I need to know if you'll do the same for future actions. If you only came along because you felt it was the best way to keep everyone safe, will you do that again? Or was one time going on offense too reckless already?"

Chifuyu's gaze remained stern and discerning, and she didn't answer Church's question. "You've taken a very keen interest in confronting Phantom Task, Church. Why is that?"

Naturally the nature of this question made Church uneasy. After all, he did have ulterior motives. "For the exact reason I gave you the first time we had this conversation: they've already targeted us before. They're probably going to do it again. And considering that they shot to kill in Bath, I don't want to sit around and wait for them to ambush us again when we aren't prepared. The sooner we get rid of them, the sooner everyone can be safe."

"I do believe that is one reason you are doing this. Likely even a very big one. However… I can't help but feel that there's more to it. I'd love for you to tell me that I'm wrong, but… I'm not, am I?"

Sensing that they were at a critical point, Church sighed, wondering if he should just tell Chifuyu everything. If there was one person he could trust and rely on to aid him in his complicated role as an agent of many stripes, it was her. She was wiser, smarter, and more experienced than him. She might be able to help him with everything; Aggregate Paragon, betraying Umbra Stratum, finding out what happened to Marcus... surely a woman of her resourcefulness would be of great help in all of that, and there were no logical drawbacks.

And yet, Church couldn't bring himself to tell the truth. Not for any practical reason, as there was none. He was just scared that she would turn against him. It was obvious that she was a woman who did not blindly trust those around her. To have granted it to him, only to find out that he had been deceiving her from the very first day of their acquaintance, could ruin their difficult to label relationship. Even though he had averted the Crucible crisis himself, she would find out that he had been allied with the ones who had nearly killed both her brother and herself.

It might not matter that he was on her side now. She was the type of person that would be furious to find her valuable trust betrayed. He knew that already. And the thought of crushing her trust in him outright was incredibly painful. Perhaps that was because he had somehow been noble enough to wrongfully earn her trust in the first place. Proving her wrong only felt like betraying her twofold.

He drew a breath to utter some complicated excuse that he hadn't actually thought out yet, but Chifuyu cut him off.

"Church: think carefully about what you are about to say."

Stopped cold, Church could expected to see some form of anger or resentment in her eyes, like she was ready to pounce on him if she caught him in a lie. But that wasn't what he saw. If anything, she looked empathetic. Like she was just hoping he would open up to her so she could help.

Part of Church really wanted to do just that. Just tell her the truth, apologize wholeheartedly for deceiving her, beg for her help… but he just couldn't take that gamble. There was too much at stake. And that was why he found a way around the problem, like he always did.

"Chifuyu... do you trust me?"

Chifuyu's expression seemed a little saddened by this answer, as she knew what it was: an evasion. But at the same time, she couldn't feel any anger. She knew Church was hiding something. She'd sensed as much even as far back as the Crucible incident, but had willfully ignored her intuition. She'd only done that because she had never believed that he had malicious intent against anyone here. Besides, it wasn't like she was someone who didn't keep any secrets.

"Are you the type of person I should trust?"

With a mild scoff, Church told her the truth; this one small truth that would hopefully keep things as they were. "…probably not."

His admission did not seem to have any effect on Chifuyu at first. She continued to stare at him, likely reevaluating his character after what had just been said. And yet, despite what Church was expecting, she eventually smiled, ever so slightly.

"That's an ironically trustworthy answer. Church... I know you're hiding something from me. From everyone. And though it bothers me to know that, I don't believe you would do anything to harm anyone here, physically or otherwise. I'm willing to accept your agenda against Phantom Task, whatever it is, so long as you know this; people are trusting you with their lives. Your friends don't suspect anything of you, and it would be heartbreaking for them to die while helping you achieve some personal goal. I don't think you're the kind of man that would let the people who trust you suffer for your own secrecy."

Church wasn't quite sure what to say to that. He hadn't really thought about it in that light. It was true, if someone he claimed to care about died fighting for reasons he wouldn't even reveal to them, he would never be able to live with himself. He couldn't think of any greater betrayal of trust and friendship than that.

"I... I understand. I'll handle Phantom Task by myself-"

"You know that's impossible now."

It didn't need to be explained for Church to catch onto her meaning. "I won't tell them when I make a move next. They'll never know."

"And when you die fighting solo against two or three expert I.S. pilots in cutting edge machines, do you think they'll figure it out? How much it will hurt to know that you didn't trust them enough to fight with you. I imagine they'll live with that pain for years to come, maybe even their whole lives. You're willing to do that to them?"

Knowing full well that Chifuyu was right on all accounts, Church couldn't help but scowl in frustration. "Dammit, Chifuyu, why do you always have to be right about everything?"

The bell for the next class rung before Chifuyu gave her answer, prompting her to leave the relative comfort of her office's lone chair. Still, she didn't leave the conversation on that note.

"I'm technically not right on the assumptions that haven't been proven yet. For instance, I've chosen to believe that you're a good man: in fact, I've believed that assumption for quite some time now. I hope for both our sakes that you don't prove me wrong."

That was Chifuyu's final piece before closing the door to her private sanctum, leaving Church with just one more burden to carry on his already overloaded shoulders. And somehow, it happened to be the heaviest one of them all.

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