Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to IS: Infinite Stratos. This Fanfic is made just for entertainment and not for commercial use in anyway.

Summary:

Set shortly after the events of Phase 1, the world is now known of Daniel Tezla's Silverback Combat Armor. Witnessing that it's virtually on par with the IS, the world has been in a stir due to the recent events. While all of this is going on, Eric "Hot Shot" Andersen and Alpha Squad are beginning the preperations of taking on Phantom Task, in order to gain vengeance for the death of Eric's older brother. What'll follow these ex-mercenaries, will make their preperations much more difficult.

Author's Note: I strongly apologize about the severe lack of update. The reason(s) for that will be explained after the end.

Nightfall has cast over the ruins of a village in Mali, Africa.

Some of the structures are set ablaze, lighting up the night sky.

The air in the whole village is filled with the stench of carcasses; presumably those of the villagers.

Before our arrival, we've received Intel that the destruction's been caused by an unknown terrorist group. The resistance group residing in the village was able to hold them off when we're in route to back them up, but then the radios suddenly went silent.

Right before the radios went silent, the resistance group reported that a mech flew in to reinforce the terrorists.

"…"

I checked one of the carcasses to assess the weapons the terrorist group was using; assessing them by the damages caused on the bodies.

I pointed to another carcass close by, and someone cautiously walked to it and assessed it.

The guy is clad in metallic full-body armor, sporting the colors of charcoal grey with black lining/accents. On his head is a headband that matches the armor.

It's Sideswipe; Eddie 'Sideswipe' Garcia.

"How's it look, Sideswipe?"

"The guy didn't fare well, from what I can see. It may not look like it from where you are, but he's almost cut cleanly in half; what's left of his skin is what's holding both halves of his body together."

I checked the carcass I assessed again and found large gashes from the waist up.

There's really no way a rifle bayonet can cause this much damage. Unless, if there's one recently made to do so…

"I just hope that we'll find the rest of the resistance group."

"Or what's left of them."

Standing behind me are two other guys. Just like Sideswipe, they're clad in metallic armor covering their whole bodies; arms, legs and all, except for their heads.

One of them has the color of dark blue with black lining/accents; on his forehead is a pair of workshop-grade goggles that matches his dark-blue armor.

This is Ratchet, Brian 'Ratchet' Mclurg.

The other guy is bigger than Ratchet and his armor contrasts from his; being slate grey with black lining/accents.

And like Sideswipe, he's wearing a headband that matches his armor's.

This big guy is Scourge, Clayton 'Scourge' Maddox.

How I'm able to clearly see the colors of their Silverbacks in the night's darkness is because of the 'night vision' on the helmet. The 'night vision' is not like the conventional ones, where it's a green hue to illuminate the dark; the night vision through these helmets makes the night time look like day time.

Even though the helmets we're wearing are there, they're actually transparent. I'm guessing it's because of our preference of not wearing helmets, due to the fact that they obscure our vision. A preference received during the Silverback's configuration process from its Beta Phase. In other words, our Silverbacks are in their First Phase. And this is our first go with them in this phase.

All four of us were sent to help out a resistance group, but from the looks of it, we may have been too late. But just may...

"Come on, there might be some survivors around."

All four of us cautiously walk deeper into the village.

The only sound in the air was the fire crackling from the buildings and piles of debris as we walked down the main road.

As we progressed further into the village, Sideswipe spotted something odd on the ground close by to us.

"Hold on, you guys might want to see this."

The spot on the ground Sideswipe indicated has a long arrow head shape to it, and a small rectangular behind it embedded about 5 centimeters (2 in.) deep in the ground.

"What do you think?"

Looking at the area around the odd shape in the ground, there's another one just like it. And I'm not the only one who noticed it.

"Looks like they're footprints…"

"Footprints to what?"

"I don't know, Scourge. But it seems that the mentioning of a mech arriving in that last radio contact isn't false…"

I looked further down the main road and at the end looks to be the central part of the village.

"There's only one way to find out."

Sideswipe, Ratchet and Scourge looked down the main road as I finished talking.

As they did, I pulled out my Saber and primed it in case if things go hairy.

Noticing this, everyone followed suit.

"Let's keep moving."

Cautiously walking to the village's central area, the structures we're passing by began to show signs that they haven't been bombarded with artillery or explosives, but riddled with cuts and slashes.

The looks on them are closer to that of claw marks.

As we got closer to the central area, there are no signs of the remaining members of the resistance group.

The only signs we've seen of them so far were their carcasses, and carcasses are never a good sign.

"…"

"…"

Continuing on in silence to the central area, more of those arrow-shaped footprints are on the ground; heading in the same direction as we are.

"Hmm…"

I tighten the grip on my Saber's handle; you don't know what might come up.

"!..."

Speaking of which, there's movement on a small pile of debris close by. I stopped and aimed my gun at it and everyone did the same, waiting to see what's in that pile.

A few seconds of staring, a low whimpering sound came from the pile. Shortly after, the source of the sound appeared, walking around the pile.

"…"

We all lowered our guns upon seeing it. Sideswipe took a few steps towards it.

"A stray dog…"

"You think that dog's owner is still around?"

When Scourge asked, I noticed the collar around its neck, and a short chain hanging off of it. Also the carcasses close by…

"I doubt it."

"You think he can lead us to the resistance group?"

"Well, we don't know for sure if they're still around. Come on, let's keep moving."

Just as we began walking down the main road, the dog we spotted decided to tag along. I'm not all that good with animals, but he seems to take a liking to Scourge.

We've reached the central area of the village.

"..."

Or what's left of it…

The place is littered with wooden shelves that have been blown to splinters; some of them are bonfires. If we have the night vision off, the bonfires would be illuminating the whole area and covering it in a fiery orange hue.

The surrounding buildings have massive holes caused by artillery, grenades or even RPGs. Some of them have black scorch marks around them.

One thing that's rather odd is the footprints heading to this area suddenly stopped; it's like what made them disappeared.

We all began to scan the area for any signs of the resistance group, but there's nothing.

All of us came up empty…

"I don't know, Hot Shot. It seems that they either ran for it, or they've been taken out."

"Obviously they've been taken out. There is not a single trace of them high tailing out of the village."

Ratchet was looking down the other side of the central area; the road he spotted isn't littered with any debris. If they did high tail it, we would see signs like footprints leading out of the central area, and weapons or other things being dropped and left behind; littering the road they took to get out.

Assuming that the resistance group's been wiped out, we have no other reason to stay here. So much for this assignment…

"Alright, let's head to the extraction point, and get out. There's no point in staying here."

When we began to make our way out of the village, a growling sound resonated beside Scourge…

"""!..."""

The dog turned to what's left of one of the buildings, growling like it's about to give chase if something were to entered its space. I've seen dogs do this before from time to time when I was in Thunder Crash. This normally means that something's up.

Sideswipe, Ratchet and Scourge knew this as well and they have their Sabers up, as well as I.

*Thud…*

Aiming towards the same structure the dog's growling at, all of us are ready for what's to come.

*Thud.*

Whatever's on the other side knows that we're here, and we're ready for it…

*BOOM!*

The structure blew open as we jumped back to avoid the incoming rubble.

*Klunk.*

What caused it came floating in. It's around 3 meters (roughly 10 Ft.) tall; having over sized arms and legs, yet the body has a very feminine figure.

But what really caught my attention, is how the hands are shaped. The finger tips are pointed, no…

They look more like demon claws. Looks like we found what made those claw marks we passed by earlier.

"Hugh!"

Ratchet took note of this as well, and he made a huge leap back, Saber ready. Sideswipe broke off from Scourge and me.

"Damn it! An IS!-?"

Sideswipe leapt on top of a ruined sandstone structure, while keeping his aim.

The last radio contact mentioned a mech entering the fray before we got here. Seems that this IS is what they were talking about, and what took out the resistance, huh?

From the looks alone, it seems that this is a Melee type IS.

"Tch…"

I jumped back a bit as I pulled the trigger to engage her.

Blue plasma bolts went flying at her in an alarming rate.

"—"

At the last second, she dodged and immediately went after Scourge, but he's ready for her as well. Firing his Saber at her, Scourge backed off whenever she slashed her claws at him.

The shots hit her, but she's not slowing down.

And when she closed the gap between them, Scourge raised his Saber.

*Kkrr-r-r-r-r-r-r-rgh!*

Scourge is in a deadlock with the IS; sparks are showering down on him as he's holding off one of her claws with his Chainsaw Bayonet.

Ratchet noticed the free claw under her and she's getting ready to thrust at Scourge.

"Shit…"

He took aim at her but not liking the angle he's aiming from, he moved to take a better aim at the IS's right side, moving a bit closer.

While getting the ideal angle, he put his Saber on his back and his right arm from the forearm began to take a different shape; the armor in his right forearm extends over and covers his right hand. When it finished taking shape, the end of his right arm had become an arm cannon.

The arm cannon has a very familiar, large shotgun like shape to it, his arm cannon is actually his Flak Cannon.

*Click* *Clack* *Bam!*

Energy infused shells came at her with an explosive-like knockback as they struck her, causing her to break off from Scourge.

When the IS backed away from him, Ratchet went to check on him.

To keep the pressure on her, Sideswipe began to unload on her with his Saber as he jumped down.

Turning to Sideswipe, she pulled one of her claws back as she rushes towards him.

As she's rushing to him, the claw she pulled back was about to strike him as he's in mid-air.

From Sideswipe's view, he's unaware of the last minute attack she's going to do, as he's looking down on her from an angle where her body figure's blocking the ready-to-strike claw.

I pulled out my Desert Rangers and fired multiple shots at her. The shots hit her with each moment the trigger is pulled on each gun.

This disrupted her momentum and Sideswipe landed on her back as he began to thrash her about.

To help him I continued firing at her.

*PA!* *PA!* PA!* PA—*

Both pistols are out of shots, and as I'm recharging the shots…

*Tack…*

"What the!-?"

I looked at both pistols…

"Ha-agh!"

One of them had jammed; the cause of it is from recharging it too fast.

Shortly after that fight with the rogue IS back at Ishiyama, Tezla upgraded our Sabers, Desert Rangers and Ratchet's Flak Cannon. They can do more damage, both physically and energy wise. But the drawback he mentioned is their shots have to be recharged manually if needed. Recharging them is like reloading a typical gun; remove the empty clip and replace it with another one that's filled with ammunition.

But on the weapons Tezla upgraded, the clip is actually the container for the shots, and they're physically attached to the gun itself. When a shot is fired, the plasma/energy is released as they travel and when they're traveling through the gun's 'barrel', the barrel 'catches' the released plasma/energy. Then they're transferred into the gun's converter to generate more plasma/energy. Then they're transferred to the gun's clip, ready to be fired.

This system allows these weapons to recharge their shots on their own, but when the shots aren't being fired faster than their recharge system to make up for them.

When the clip is empty, then it has to be recharged manually. Just pull the clip down and the gun will transfer the plasma/energy in its converter into the clip. Push the clip back in, pull back the primer and the gun's recharged. And there's a drawback that Tezla didn't mention; jamming…

When I hastily pushed the clip back in, it jammed. I had to pull the gun's primer back so I can pull the clip back out. Then push the clip back in and prime the gun again so the jam will be fixed.

Just as I fixed the jam, Sideswipe jumped off of the IS as Scourge and Ratchet had began providing support fire.

*Bang!*

As Sideswipe jumped off, the shots stormed on her; knocking her about towards Sideswipe; Sideswipe, pulled his Saber back out and added more to the downpour.

With each hit she's receiving, she's struggling to recover from the constant barrage.

**Shew-phew!**

Seeing it as a sign of the IS is weakening, both of my combat blades are deployed. Unlike when the Silverback was in its Beta Phase, where they're solid metal straight-edge blades, these blades are slightly serrated and energy infused.

After deploying the blades, I made a charged to the IS while she's trying to recover from the constant rain of plasma bolts and energy infused shells.

When I was about to strike her with a horizontal slash…

*KLING!*

She deflected it at the last moment. I jumped back for an alternative strike, but as I did, she deflected and blocked each one.

Every time our blades make contact, sparks scatter between us. With this not working I backed off and pulled both Desert Rangers and fired both simultaneously at her.

She put both claws up in front of her to block each shot. As I landed, her legs are exposed and before she put her arms down, I made a huge lung towards her.

**KLASH!**

New red glowing slash marks are on both legs, before the IS began to buckle a bit from the sudden attack.

I jumped back to avoid her and when she's down on her knees, I made another charge.

*KLAMP!*

As I was about to strike her head, she got hold of my left blade and began to stand up. Recovering from the slashes I inflicted on her.

With me dangling in the air, the IS was about to thrust her free claw. But before she can…

*Kr-rschk-k!*

I swung my right blade up at the arm she's using to hold me, completely severing a part of her arm off.

The right arm of the IS landed right next to me as I hit the ground, severed at the middle of the forearm.

She stumbled back a bit as I got up. With both blades still deployed, I dismounted them from their forearm mounts and reversed gripped them before I made a huge jump on her before she regained her balance.

*Krschk!*

As I got on her, I stabbed my right blade in her head where would the left eyeball would be if a human was piloting it, used it to pull myself up and climbed around her head to get on her upper back, placed my left blade in the right side of the IS's neck.

"Mrr-r-r-r-r-ra-agh!"

I spread both my arms apart, severing the IS's head from her feminine body.

Just as her body is about fall, I jumped off her back, with her head still on my right combat blade.

"…"

*DUHN!*

The IS's headless body crashed to the ground as Sideswipe, Ratchet and Scourge came in to check the damage.

"""…"""

I looked at them to see if they're okay; even though Scourge got banged up a bit, he's fine.

As we're checking on the IS, a voice sounded through the radio comms.

"Good. That was very good, Eric."

"That should do it for today."

"Yeah…"

After speaking to Tezla through the radio comms, the ruined village slowly de-materializes as the armor on the upper legs, arms and helmet of our Silverbacks fold towards the body, the lower back part of the legs as well but they fold to the frontal parts.

With the Silverbacks folding into body and frontal leg armor, they're in their Standby Phase.

When the village finished de-materializing, the surrounding area was a large open space with metallic walls and at the upper parts of the walls were small lights beginning to shut off.

That whole skirmish with that IS, was actually a combat training session in Tezla's lab. The reason we've done that is to see if the Silverback's fit right for all four of us now that they're in their First Phase. And to test the new upgrades Tezla did on our Sabers, Desert Rangers and Ratchet's Flak Cannon.

All four of us walked out of the simulator area to find Tezla conducting his work. Most likely it's about the data acquired from that session.

While he's checking the data, I think it's a good time to tell him about the jamming I had on one of my Desert Rangers. But before I can do so, he asked us something.

"Can you guys place them on their racks in their Standby Phase? I got some work to do on them later and they need to be in their Standby Phase for it."

As soon as he asked, we all removed and placed the Silverbacks on their respectful racks. I don't know what he needs to do with them so soon, with them just entering their First Phase. But then again, these Silverbacks are his creations.

After placing them in their racks, Sideswipe, Ratchet and Scourge went to the showers. Me, on the other hand, I have something to tell Tezla and walked to his work desk.

But as I got up to his desk, he got up before telling him.

"Tezla, there's something I need to tell you on what happened in the simulator."

He didn't even turn to me but he soon replied as he began to go through some of the papers on his desk.

"I'm afraid that it'll have to wait, Eric. Right now, I have an emergency session to get ready for."

"…"

It's been about a week since our fight with that rogue IS and the IS Academy students. Since then, the whole world's been on edge and the government leaders are calling in for an emergency session and Tezla's obviously has a strong involvement in this as well. Last I checked, it'll be broadcasted live for the whole world to see.

"Tezla, we're going with you in case if anything happens."

He stopped sorting his work after I finished speaking.

"That won't be necessary, Eric. I got some things up my sleeve. And it may not look like it; I can still handle things myself when I have to."

"Come on, Tezla…"

"Eric, it's okay. And besides, you guys don't want any of the unwanted attention, right? Not when you're in the middle of a personal life mission?"

"…"

"…"

"Yeah…"

"…"

Silence fell between us; it's surprising on how Tezla's going through great lengths just to help out. It's not to restore the balance of power; it's more of a personal thing for us.

"Well, alright then. It's getting late, Eric. Get some rest; you guys are going to need it when the emergency session ends."

"Right..."

A lot has happened in the past week, starting with that rogue IS attacking Ishiyama. And fighting against some of IS Academy's students, just added more fuel to the fire.

What's going to happen in that emergency session? I don't know…

But one thing's for sure; I have a bad feeling on what's going to happen after.

Author's Note: Alright, now read closely guys.

I know that it's been more than a year since I've last updated this fanfic. That and I gave you all a heads up that I could be writing a crossover story of Gears of War 3 and Sword Art Online at the time. I know that I've said it repeatedly (like a busted record player), but I just couldn't find the time to actually write it because of personal matters offline. That and I really couldn't find a connection between the two series/franchises to start the crossover off.

So basically, there's no crossover of Gears of War 3 and Sword Art Online. From me at least.

Now, as for Project Silverback...

I'm afraid that the time between the last update (1/5/2013) and this Prologue of Phase 2 being posted, this prologue has been the only thing that I've "officially" written. Personal matters going on offline have been putting a severe impact on writing this. Not having as much spare time to actually write this is only the start of it. They've been having as much of an impact on me, that...

Last year (May 2013), I have actually been hospitalized due to a psychological or emotional meltdown. I even had suicidal thoughts around that time...

Since then, I've lost it on whether or not if I can continue writing Project Silverback. I've done what I can to see if I can still continue. From going to Fan Forums, to talking about it with my real life anime-fan relatives. I even watched Season 2 of IS's Anime Adaptation to see if I can use that as reference material, besides the Light Novels. But I can't use that because 8-bit Studios (the Animation Studio that did IS's Anime Adaptation) just had to toss actual content they had from the Light Novels out the window.

All in all, to say that I'm in a huge loss right now would be an understatement.

To all of my followers of this story; I strongly apologize about the massive long wait, only to give you guys this. But thanks for hanging in there...

And if you guys want to stop following this Fic, and/or remove it from your Alert and Favorites lists, I don't blame you.

Later, guys...