Infinite Stratos: Phoenix

You Were What?!?

Previously...

The first thing Charlotte and I were able to say when we saw our captive was;

"Cecilia?!?"

And now to our story...

"Cecilia?!?" Charlotte and I exclaimed.

"What are you doing here? And with Phantom Task!" Charlotte yelled simultaneously with me as I yelled;

"What are you doing here?!? You're three days early!" I yelled, drawing everyone's gaze.

"What do you mean, she's early?" Rin said, a creepy tone in her voice.

*sigh* "I contacted her earlier to try and get her on board with the rest of us. She said she had a mission coming up in Britain and wouldn't be able to meet with us till after the mission. When she was finished, she contacted me to let me know she would be making her way to the US. Back to what I said earlier, she's three days earlier than she said she would be arriving. The Phantom Task arrival wasn't planned, don't worry." I placated/explained to everyone. They questioned the both of us a bit more before we all made our way into the Academy proper.

"Cecilia Alcott, welcome to HQ." I said, waving a hand around as if to showcase the room. We were above the main room, overlooking the rows and rows of people searching through the WorldWide Web.

"Hey! Anyone got anything on the message the news played earlier? Or where the attackers came from?" I shouted. No replies were returned and we made our way into the board room.

"Sorry about the mess. We didn't get the chance to roll out the red carpet, Miss Alcott." I teased, sitting down at the head of the table. Keiko and Rin snorted as they sat down while Charlotte and Ichika have me a smirk. Cecilia gave a small smile as she sat down as well.

"I'll overlook it this time, but you'd better be ready next time." She replied.

"In our defense, you're early." I retorted before we all went serious.

We discussed the battle that had just taken place not 10 minutes ago. After a little while, Laura looked me up and down since I had stood during the talks.

"Speaking of the battle earlier. Did you not get injured when that debris fell? We all did." She said, gesturing to the room occupants, minus Cecilia. I looked over everyone and noticed their injuries. Ichika had bruises visible near his neck and it seemed to run farther down under his shirt. Houki was favoring her left arm, which was resting against her stomach. Laura herself had a bump about the size of her fist on the top of her head. Rin was breathing carefully. Charlotte was rubbing her side with a small grimace on her face and Keiko was rubbing her head and shaking it every now and then and I paged some medical personnel to the room . I gave myself a once over look before moving my limbs. Nothing.

"Actually, I'm perfectly fine." I said, moving around to double check myself.

"How? You were buried even farther than we were. Not to mention your {First Shift} stunt before we ran Phantom Task off." Rin questioned, before holding her chest in pain. The medics walked in and started to tend to everyone as I waved off those who came to check me.

"I.... don't know. You're right, Rin. I should be unconscious in the Med Ward after what happened, but there isn't a single thing wrong."

"Well, I wouldn't say nothing." Ichika said. I nodded.

"You're talking about just before my {First Shift}, right?" I clarified, looking at the ground. Ichika just nodded.

"Yeah! What was that? It was awesome!" Rin said from behind a Medic. The medics stepped away and we all saw her ribs had been bandaged, but she had a big grin on her face.

"I wouldn't say it was awesome, but it was impressive." Laura spoke up. She was holding an ice pack to her head.

"But it wasn't like you." Ichika and Houki said simultaneously. Charlotte just nodded while Keiko looked confused. I leaned on the table before I let out a breath and sat back down.

"You're right. it wasn't like me, in fact. it wasn't me at all." I said, looking out at the data center through the windows.

"What do you mean by that?" Houki pressured. I looked her in the eye from across the table as I said.

"I wasn't in control of myself right after the crash. My IS, its A.I took hold and started running crazy. I was only able to get control when Char brought me back to reality." I said.

"But didn't the machines say that your IS didn't have a core when we scanned it?" Char asked, reminding me of that day in the lab.

"Yeah. It did. Which is why I'm so confused at the moment. I'd like you all to meet a friend of mine. He's a little shy, but he helped me get back in control earlier. Theta?" I asked, before I caught sight of a small orange glow next to my head.

"Hi." He murmured, just loud enough that the room could hear him. The room was quiet after Theta's introduction. Then...

"Hi little glowing person I've never met before!" A woman in a cosplay outfit replied from the doorway.