3rd POV
The ocean was quiet that night.
Too quiet.
Waves rolled against the breakwater of the coastal facility in slow, patient rhythms. Floodlights swept their usual arcs across the perimeter. Cameras rotated. Motion sensors hummed faintly in the salt air.
And yet—
A small team moved through the blind spots like they had rehearsed it a hundred times.
They were young. Some barely older than academy students. But their steps were measured. Controlled. Efficient.
Phantom Task.
Two objectives.
Ichika Orimura
Yap Haruto
No IS deployment. No signature spikes. No atmospheric disturbances.
Clean. Silent. Surgical.
That was the plan.
Inside the facility, most of the girls were winding down for the night.
Rin was still arguing with Charlotte about whether drone racing should be an official sport.
Cecilia was meticulously reorganizing the bakery boxes they had already finished, because presentation mattered.
Laura stood near the window, arms folded.
She frowned.
"...It is too quiet."
Charlotte blinked. "Isn't that... normal?"
Laura didn't answer.
Because something felt off.
Meanwhile, Haruto sat cross-legged on his bed, back resting against the wall.
The room lights were dim. His phone hovered in front of him, the faint blue glow reflecting in his eyes.
Rei Kuroshima's ping trace.
He wasn't rushing through it.
He was dissecting it.
"...Huh."
Zoom in.
"...Oh."
Cross-reference.
"...Okay."
His expression didn't change much. But his thumb paused on the screen.
Then he tilted his head slightly.
"...That's bold."
He didn't stand up.
Didn't activate anything.
Just calmly reached over and slid open a drawer.
Inside, compact hardware modules. Not standard academy issue.
Prototype components.
He didn't touch them.
Just closed the drawer again.
"...Let's see how far you get."
At the East Wing perimeter..
Two operatives slipped past a service entrance.
The electronic lock blinked green.
Too easily.
One of them hesitated.
"...That wasn't even encrypted."
"It was," the other whispered. "Just... weak."
That made it worse.
YOU ARE READING
A Vengeful Retribution
Fanfiction(OC X Infinite Stratos) I guess you know where this is going. 2nd Male IS Pilot thing. Meet Yap. Growing up in South East Asia wasn't easy for a young boi like him. Compared to kids in other countries, he has seen what a kid doesn't; Bloodshed, assa...
