Unyielding Resolve - Cecilia Alcott x OC

Chapter 1 - New Orders

Hello everyone! My name is DarkDefiance (you can just call me Dark). I haven't really seen a whole lot of Infinite Stratos fanfiction, I think it's a very underrated anime and I thought I'd try and write a story about it. As this is a fanfiction, I might skip over a lot of parts that the original character may not have been present for. Furthermore, there are no sources that I could find on the years when events occurred, so I'm just shooting from the hip. Feel free to correct me in the comments and let me know if you like it, just doing this for fun. It goes without saying, all content used in this story belongs to the rightful owners.

Bold: Time/Location
Italic: Character Thoughts/Internal Monologue
Underline: Author's Note(s)

2038 - 1 year before the events of the anime

After the Alaska Treaty, there had been rumors of rogue agencies and factions attempting to acquire IS technology for themselves, and even in some instances create prototypes to remove the reliance on the childish creator of the hyper-lethal devices. World governments were not enthused with Tabane Shinonono being responsible for these inventions, and despite her claims, they knew it was only a matter of time before these creations could be created outside of her control. This presented a threat beyond that of nuclear arsenals, given what only one of these suits and its anonymous pilot did over 9 years ago during the infamous White Knight incident.

Needless to say, there needed to be a counter response to these new creations, which seemed like an impossible task due to how well these machines were designed to be impervious to the standard means of engagement. A task like this needed to be kept quiet, and secret, so the United States along with other countries, such as Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Australia created a black ops task force designated the Strategic Tactical Research of Infinite Stratos for Knowledge and Elimination, shortened to S.T.R.I.K.E. There would be no official documentation outside of a few select facilities, unlimited funding, unlimited access to all government databases, communications, technology, and unlimited territorial access to countries contributing toward the agency. S.T.R.I.K.E.'s main objective is to acquire as much information on the Infinite Stratos suits as possible in order develop countermeasures to them should they pose enough of a threat to the world and need to be neutralized.

Japan is unaware of this organization and was deliberately shielded from the truth, given the origins of the IS. The agency's existence could not be publicly acknowledged by any country involved with it, as this would be seen as a violation of the Alaska Treaty as an attempt to gain a tactical advantage over other countries with IS equipment, even though the agency itself doesn't use IS technology...until now.

Within a research facility deep in the Arctic, a team had been working vigorously to reverse engineer one of the 467 cores they had managed to acquire at some point in the last 9 years. After months of tests and work, they had done it. They could bend this IS core to their will, and create an entirely new IS from it. However, due to unknown interference from the core, they were unable to use it as a template to construct more. The facility inside was vast, with gray hallways, black floors, and ominous dark blue lighting illuminating the various corridors and rooms. Within the hangar were various large identical black jets, with helicopter style cockpits and dark yellow windows, large VTOL fans embedded in the wings, two large jet engines mounted to the top rear of the crafts with fins, and a troop ramp which unfolded to the rear of the craft.

Various scientists were poking and prodding at the core, situated on a mobile workstation within the hangar as various flight crews and strike teams went about their business in the background. One of the scientists spoke up, her voice slightly raspy from lack of sleep "Do we really need to triple check our findings? We already told director Black that we got it to work." "Orders are orders unfortunately...though you do have a point, I think we've covered everything. All we need now is a pilot to configure the thing for..." another scientist said, yawning at the end. On cue, a man in his 40's with white skin, short black hair, and a very defined face wearing a black suit and blue tie spoke to the scientists as he entered the hangar. "Fortunately, I can help you with that part." he said adjusting his tie as he continued to walk toward them. You could hardly tell they were tired as they gave a salute and one responded "Sir! Who did you have in mind?" The director gestured for them to follow him.

The group traveled down the hallways of the base, passing by agents, soldiers, technicians, and researchers alike as they made their way to wherever it was the director was taking them. After turning a large amount of corridors, they approached an elevator which they stepped into. The director selected the lowest floor in the list of levels, pressed a few numbers on a keypad, and inserted an ID card into a slot in the panel, granting him access to that floor. The elevator began to descend, eventually stopping after a good minute or two, which prompted the scientists to wonder how far down this level was.

When the elevator finally stopped, the doors opened to reveal only one long hallway. They exited the elevator and began walking in the only direction they could. Approaching the end, the scientists could see a heavily reinforced door with the words "PROJECT VISION" written upon it. The director inserted his card and pressed the keys in the same manner he did for the elevator, causing the doors to hiss open. The room was dimly lit, but as their vision began to adjust, they could see a single metallic pod at the center of the room. The pod had a window on the front, and various aluminum and metal pipes connected to the base upon which it sat. The director made his way over to a console at the side of the room, and began activating the pod. "Be careful, he hasn't been awake in a while." the director said. The pod hissed to life and began opening up, steam rising from inside the pod and the sound of mechanical whirring filled the room.

As the pod fully opened up, it was revealed to be the residence of a small boy, probably no more than 20 years of age with fair white skin and brown hair. He appeared unconscious, so the scientists stepped closer to observe the boy. He was only wearing some shorts, and his white skin upon closer inspection revealed to have a plethora of scars, and what appeared to be a series of mechanical implants toward the right side of his torso. They finally noticed that his left hand was completely missing and instead had some kind of metal slot reserved for a replacement which was not currently there. As one of the scientists got closer to observe his face, his bright blue eyes shot open, startling the approaching woman. "EEK. Aahh...hello? Can you hear me?" she asked. The boy looked at her and didn't say a word. He closed his eyes and began to slightly stretch his various appendages, and rolled his head on his neck. Grasping onto the side of the opening with his one good hand, he slowly lifted himself into an upright position as the scientists stepped back. The director on the other hand, appeared unphased. "Did you have a nice nap agent Riker?" he asked the boy.

The boy noticed his presence and quickly rose out of the pod to stand at attention, but began to falter causing the director and the scientists to quickly grab him to prevent him from falling. "What are my orders sir?" he responded, his voice extremely worn out from spending so much time in the pod. "Easy there agent, you just woke up from 6 months in that thing." The boy motioned that he was okay to stand on his own, so they released their grip on him. "Are you sure you're ready to go back out into the field James? If you need more time after-" director Black was cut off. "I'm ready for orders sir. My past experiences are irrelevant now." The director looked at his piercing blue eyes filled with determination, uncertain of whether or not what he said was true, but hesitantly nodded his head in agreement. It was clear that James didn't want to talk about what ended him up in the pod to begin with. "Come with me then agent, we've got something special for you in the hangar."