I was reading a light novel by Kazuma Kamachi who also wrote the toaru majutsu no index or a certain magical index, it's called Heavy Object. It's about giant mechs called Objects that dominate the world both politically and militarily (sound familiar?) to the point where one army loses their object in the battle they must retreat. Yes the using the super powered machine in warfare is allowed here…not just allowed but encouraged.

They are 50 meters tall. Typically go 200 to 500 KPh, have a metric fuck ton of advanced weapons (lasers, plasma, rail guns, coil guns, etc) and armor thick enough to survive a nuclear impact, as in being at the ground zero mushroom cloud crater and still function. Also there more of giant tanks/battleships than the traditional bipedal humanoid robot that is common in anime. It was attempt to make it more believable I guess. Also how their plans ends up using some sort of science to figure stuff out like chemical reactions and refracting light, freezing the air.

From what I get from the short manga and Novel the main body is spherical in nature.

Pilots (both male and female) are modified both physically and mentally to survive the high speed battles and operate the numerous weapons in an engagement.

The story begins with the main characters team losing their Object and do what is common sense there and try to retreat. However their pilot is still alive so the two main characters go out (alone, against orders, and without support) to save her and end up defeating the enemy object.

Now the way they defeated it is not one of them finds some ancient super advanced prototype or finds out they are the perfect pilot modified form birth to pilot any Object they come across. They are just lucky enough to find the enemies base sneak in and throw enough explosives in the right location. The only advantage they have is that the main character wants to be an Object designer so he knows how to find and exploit small vulnerabilities, with plans they make up on the spot through his insight. And from there they go around the world fight battles end up having to fight more objects on their own. Not through any fault of their own, they just happen to be in the wrong place at wrong time and have to do preconceived impossible feats just to survive.

Now here's what I like about these characters, they aren't some stoic angsty, emo, teenagers with high grade combat capabilities or some grizzled veteran. They are teenagers around 16, sort of idiotic and semi perverted who have little to no reason for being on frontlines in the first place. The main guy is Quesner, he's an average guy, came to the unit as a "battlefield student" to learn about Objects and is officially a civilian and isn't even allowed to (legally) carry a gun, who actually despite his status as a commoner (his part of the world went back to feudalism ruled through blood) probably has the best life out of any of the major characters who are all nobles, and also is considered to be so prone to being heroic that his best friend who is a noble says that nobles in the home country could learn from him. Main job; combat engineer he gets to use explosives which half of the time he jury rigs in the field but is legally not allowed to have a gun.

Then there's Hevia a noble, came to the battlefield to prove himself through valor that he has the right to be a successor to his family which hate him for a "Romeo and Juliet" styled situation. designated job; radar analyst.

These two are not calm minded, tactical geniuses. They don't even have a "will not run away" headstrong attitude. Most of time they are running away from a superior force. But once they set their mind to something. It doesn't matter if the enemy is stronger faster smarter more skilled or all around better than they are (they usually are). These two are unstoppable when they make a plan just crazy enough to work.

So the main characters in this story are OC's they are male, they will not be piloting an I.S. they aren't professional, they are lucky to be alive due to the situations they get into. Despite this they always find some way to make it out and save the day.

This will basically be a collection of adventures these two go through and won't have any real plot.

"So if I were to ask you what would an I.S. slayer be like, what would you say?"

This was question that would have been borderline heresy in the world if not for the event that happened five days ago and barely made international news just recently.

"An I.S. slayer? What's that?"

"Is this a joke?"

The question was met with disbelief. Due to news just beginning to make the public.

"If there were such a thing, they would have a calm and collected personality, be a tactical genius, have extensive combat training, physical conditioning and show no fear in the face of adversity…but there is no such thing as an I.S. killer." was the response of silver haired girl wearing an eye patch and a variation of the I.S. academy uniform.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

About a week ago

"Keep firing!" yelled one young man with an Irish accent to his friend while he drove a jeep

"I can keep firing but she is moving too fast for anything to hit her!" shouted his friend in a North American accent firing at an extremely fast moving humanoid object in the air with turret he had mounted. The incredibly fast mecha came in for a strafing run.

"OH SHIT!" said both boys simultaneously.

*BOOM*

These two are participants in a study to monitor battlefield stress on minors due to I.S. pilots starting their careers as minors and Germany's super soldier program. It is funded by multiple countries.

They receive adequate training and equipment and are sent to destabilized areas where world powers don't bother due to lack of public support and economical gain. They have air and artillery support on demand and are under surveillance 24/7 by satellites and UAV's.

They participate in asymmetrical warfare against crime syndicates warlords and terrorist cells in the area.

These two are in the region once known as eastern Africa namely the Somalia region. And they are fighting the most advanced weapon fielded by world-wide militaries today. However this battle has a few events leading up to it.

Earlier

There were two young men, some might consider too young to be on helicopter heading to one of the worlds more dangerous areas. Most of these 'danger zones' have been purged due to the unveiling of the I.S. however it seems like what was occupying those areas moved to the current ones making them much more turbulent than before the I.S. was revealed.

The helicopter hovered just feet off the ground as the two boys jumped off and stood on alert as the helicopter left the two began their mission.

It wasn't anything to dramatic like capturing a warlord or bust a human trafficking ring, they just had to take out a shack, in the middle of nowhere, that was thought to be creating and distributing drugs. At most ten guys and only three were estimated to be armed.

The two were not from the same country the patches on their uniform showing their nationality.

The first one is American, he wore no headgear save for a pair of tinted goggles on his forehead and had short brown hair. A cloth was wrapped around his neck to protect from sun burn and to be used as a makeshift face mask in case of a sandstorm. He wore a light weight ballistic armor over a tan combat jacket along desert camouflaged pants issued to him by the program along with an assault pack where he kept excess gear. His name was Grayson (Gray) Hale.

The other one is Irish, he had black hair and wore a baseball cap, otherwise he was dressed similarly to his partner. His name Michael (Mike) O'Brian

The gear they had differed Gray seemed to outfitted for demolition and explosive handling signified by the explosives on him. Mike seemed be more for communication and intelligence gathering, he had a computer that could be described as a military I-Pad strapped on his chest along with a folded antenna sticking over his left shoulder.

Both of them were armed with AK-12's. chosen for the notorious reliability of its family of weapons, it's performance, and its ability to change calibers by just switching out the barrel and functions on any of the previous AK's magazines. This was chosen so that teams could scavenge ammo in the field if needed. For that purpose they are chambered in 7.62x39mm ammo which is very common in these parts. Grayson however was also carrying around an M320 grenade launcher attached to his rifle with miscellaneous ammunition.

Now about these two. You would think two guys who volunteered for such an obviously dangerous program, would either be orphaned, a social outcast, have a dysfunctional abusive family, or some other dark back story where the bottom line is nothing to go back to.

They don't.

Gray's dad runs an auto shop back in his decently sized town, he has many friends, a few enemies, but who doesn't. he volunteered because he is young and wants adventure, coupled with the fact he wants to join the US army at eighteen why wouldn't he jump at this offer? He has a good relationship with his family and fully supported him on his decision to do this despite the danger.

Mike's family owns the sole bar in his small hometown. Everyone knows him in fact it's almost like the town is his extended family so when he decided to join the program the whole town had a celebration. His reason was get out and see the world, and argument can be made that's probably one of worse places in the world but he has chance he probably wouldn't have otherwise.

Their designation was probationary team alpha. Being the first of the groups to graduate to this stage of the program

"So Mike our first unsupervised mission, excited?" asked Gray to his friend.

"Yes because it's always fun to be away from any support or actual professional soldiers." Said Mike sarcastically "But aye it is kind of exciting."

"A simple yes or no would have worked." Said Gray before smirking "or in your case an aye or no."

"Oh haha, if we're going to talk about accent what about your lack of one?" shot back Mike.

"What do you mean lack?" asked Gray confused

"Aren't you suppose to have a cowboy hat and say 'howdy pardn'r' or something."

"Who am I John Wayne?" asked Gray "Is that what you European people think when you imagine Americans. Besides I'd say I'm cowboy enough."

"Oh really?"

"Yippie Kai Yay motherfucker." Said Gray, the two shared a laugh at that.

"Okay fair enough." Said Mike chuckling a bit, in the program the first few missions are done with tier one operators primarily, Delta Force teams until they are considered ready by these operators standards they will be under close supervision. These two have recently qualified for solo missions.

The two had to walk five miles to get where they are going so along the way they made idle conversation about movies coming out or shows they have seen on TV.

"Did you hear the rumors on how they are making a movie about that guy who can pilot an I.S.?" asked Mike.

"Oh yeah…what's his name?...Ichigo.. something, right?" asked Gray.

"How do you not know about Ichika Orimura?" asked Mike incredulously.

"It's not that I don't know, it's that I don't particularly give a shit." Replied Gray.

"You have got to be the first person in the world to say something like that since the White Knight incident." Said Mike a bit impressed by his friends ignorance.

"Yeah it kind of stems from the this confrontation that happened when I was in a middle school P.E. class." Said Gray.

"Oh, do tell." Said Mike with a bit of interest, mainly there being nothing else to talk about.

"We were on boy vs. girl volley ball game first up was my team against hers, she said we should let her win or an I.S. would come and attack us my team believed it… because you know…we were middle schoolers, we were kind of stupid." Explained Gray "So then I stepped forward and said; Bring forward this I.S. which grants you your power! For I will stand against it! Yet I see no I.S. coming to face my challenge."

Mike snorted and laughed.

"You actually said that?" he said while laughing.

"Word for word." Replied Gray chuckling a bit at the memory. "The whole room stared at me like I just challenged God in church in while the freaking Pope was giving the sermon!"

"What could have possibly possessed you to say that to a girl in world practically ruled by the I.S.?" Mike was astounded by his friends bravery/stupidity, in a theatric way of speaking no less.

"I stayed up late watching heroic movies where it took place with the hero slaying the dragon, or some other powerful monster, and gave an epic speech to rally the people." Explained Gray. "Then I had pretty vivid dream that night where I was one of those heroes off to face my monster."

"You are lunatic Gray." Said Mike though he was smiling "But I'm happy you're the lunatic who has my back.

"Best part was that I did rally not only my team but the other guy teams as well and we soundly kicked the girls asses in a flawless victory." Said Gray "that was a great day."

"Well let's hope we have similar one today." Said Mike, feeling rather energized by Grays story.

"Yeah no kidding." Said Gray.

After 45 minutes of walking the two came across the designated shack.

"Well there it is." Said Gray "Not much to look at is it?"

"Looks can be deceiving." Replied Mike "Still I'm worried that there aren't any guards."

"Yeah there are a few vehicles over there too." Gray noted, there was a normal white pickup truck and a jeep with a machine gun turret "One looks like it's for transporting, the other two look like armed escort and patrol."

"Yet no guards." Said Mike.

"Let's move in." said Gray

"Could be a trap."

"Let's move in, carefully."

The two boys cautiously approached the shack rifles raised, ready to rain hell should any movement be seen inside.

"Doors open." Noted Gray as they got closer, the shack door was open just a crack ad moving gently in the breeze the two pressed themselves against the walls on either side of the door.

Gray held up his fingers for a countdown

3…

2…

1…

The duo kicked the door in, weapons at the ready however there was no one there…alive anyway in one of the corners was a dead body with a softball sized hole in his chest.

"Well that's ominous and gruesome." Gray remarked dryly "Either we just walked in on a Ridley Scott movie or someone has a really big gun."

"There's no holes in the walls or windows." Said Mike looking around "So it happened in here."

"Hey check this out." said Gray, mike turned to find him holding up a crude shotgun that seemed to be made out of plumbing and other makeshift pieces. "it's like Frankenstein in gun form. Awesome right?"

"That's a very ugly weapon." Said Mike.

"ah screw you I think it's cool!" replied Gray putting the weapon down, that's when they heard a loud bang and a man's shout. Coming from a door the missed on their first scan.

"We really need to pay attention to detail" deadpanned Mike

"Sorry I was distracted by the franken-gun." Replied Gray in a dry voice. They cautiously opened the door and found stairs leading to an underground basement. It looked like it was made in haste as the walls and ceiling was the earth that was dug out of it with wooden support beams and stairs basically carved into the ground with planks as covers. Another scream was heard.

"Down rabbit hole we go…" said Gray as he took the first step.

"More like the horror hole." Replied mike following after.

"Steamy night with a past girlfriend coming back to haunt you?" said Gray with a small chuckle.

"Oh ha ha." replied Mike dryly but with chuckle of his own at the inappropriate joke both in current situation and in general. But it helped ease the tension of the two as they descended.

When they got down the saw man chained to a bed frame which was connected to a car battery. There was a woman using the car battery to electrocute him. The woman was wearing what could be described as futuristic swimsuit with leggings that hugged the shape of her body. She would be beautiful if it wasn't the sadistic look on her face.

"We interrupting something?" asked Gray as he and Mike had their guns trained on her.

The woman turned to them while her look changed to more a pleasant one but still hid the sadistic expression from a moment ago.

"Not at all." Said the woman "In fact I was just finishing up."

"So what's an oddly dressed lady such as yourself doing in the ass end of the building in the ass end of nowhere?" said Gray keeping his rifle trained.

"I could say the same for two participants UN's child soldier experiment."

"Gray the fact that she knows about us but doesn't know we are suppose to be here means she isn't affiliated with the program." said Mike "and the fact we didn't know about her probably means she this isn't suppose to be known, also the suit she's wearing..."

"What about it?"

"that's…an I.S. pilots suit."

"That would mean she…" began Gray

As if on que the woman was covered in a flash light, when it receded it revealed a deployed I.S..

"She'd probably had an I.S. on her…yeah." Finished Mike

"Oh shit." Said Gray "and she wants to kill us?"

"Ye…wait I don't know" said Mike, both boys turned to the pilot.

"Nothing personal." She deployed a rather large machine gun "You just had to choose this day to come here."

"So…oh shit?" asked Gray

"Oh shit…" confirmed Mike

A few minutes later…

"OH SHIIIIIT" yelled both boys as they ran out of the shack which shattered as the I.S. burst out after them. Both were running as fast as humanly possible only stopping to take a few quick shots which failed to hit or even deter the advanced war machine.

The I.S. has the mobility to out fly advanced fighter jets, enough firepower to outgun a tank column, and the convenience of deploying from a some sort of quantum storage device on demand. Another thing is that it has a near impenetrable (without heavy weaponry) shield. That was just in the first generation.

The one they are fighting…or rather running from is a high end second generation. It was known as the Raphael Revive. Notable traits, this thing is walking gun armory.

In general the I.S. is so advanced it has been forbidden from being used in military combat operations by the UN…but who actually listens to the UN?

By the standards of the world these two lived in, they were screwed.

But either out of fear or the drive to survive these two kept running.

The I.S. switched to two shoulder mounted missile pods and fired more missiles than necessary for two humans. Then theses missiles opened up compartments and scattered smaller explosives.

"Cluster bombs!" yelled Mike, glancing over his shoulder.

"Cluster fu-! BOOM" yelled Gray but was interrupted by the detonation of said bombs and the two boys were thrown into some vegetation consisting of dead trees and dried bushes but with enough leaves to hide them from an aerial view.

"Mike! Mike you still alive!? Arg!" said Gray pushing himself up while grunting.

"Agh! Yeah at the moment!" replied Mike also getting up "Did we lose her?"

Right after he said that a high caliber round impacted right next to him.

"That answers that!" said Mike jumping back as round hit right where he was standing "She must have some sort of sensor tracking us!"

"Can't you jam her or something?" yelled back Gray as he narrowly dodged a bullet.

"I might let try something!" Mike began messing around with his equipment. "There jammers on! Move!"

Each teams were given an electronic jammer to mess with any sort of sensors an enemy may have, here's hoping it works on an I.S. hyper sensor.

However another shot, came down but was more inaccurate then previous shots.

"Shit she still has our general area!" said Gray "Does she have enhanced optics or something?"

"I heard that I.S. outside of tournament use occasionally get outfitted with thermal and infrared imaging."

"That I think I can take care of that."

"Really?"

"Yeah but you're not going to like it!" said Gray taking out a small cylinder "Incendiary!"

"Incind-? oh you crazy American son of a-BOOM" a plume of flammable gas expanded and ignited the surrounding vegetation which considering how dry the area was caught fire extremely easily.

"This was the best idea you had!" yelled Mike

"Didn't see you coming up with anything!" retorted Gray "Anyways keep as close to the heat as you can to hide your signature!"

They were both running keeping just head of the fire as to not burn to death but close to mask them from the I.S. which seemed to work as she stopped firing.

Up high the pilot looked down on the growing inferno, amazed at the ingenuity and stupidity of the two. She actually kind of respects them now. But unfortunately they have to die make sure her presence is kept the utmost secret. The world cannot know that Phantom task is here.

"Too bad." Said the Pilot to herself as she prepared another hellfire missile barrage "You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and I can't fault you for that." Truth is she didn't need to be here this was just a mission she offered to do offhandedly after her patrol.

The missiles were launched and the resulting explosion blanketed the area she hung around a bit afterward to scan the area making sure nothing was alive.

"Just at the wrong place, at the wrong time." she said again after confirming the lack of hostilities before flying off back to base.

Down in the blast zone, which was now a mess of craters and ash something stirred at the edge where a bush was still on fire. Two figures rose from the ground. Their backs blackened from the charred earth around them

"Fucking hell! That was an I.S. and I'm still breathing." Said Gray.

"That was close." Confirmed Mike "what the hell is an I.S. doing here anyways? It can't be sanctioned if we didn't know about, hell this place would have been locked down!"

"Hey maybe some weird shadow terrorist organization set up shop near here." Said Gray "and they have been secretly stealing I.S.'s from around the world, and each country is to ashamed to admit for one reason or another."

"Is that another one of your uncanny readings?" asked Mike incredulously.

"Hey I got yours right." Pointed out Gray, He has an uncanny ability to accurately tell a person's story upon meeting them for the first time. Neither he nor anyone else has been able to explain how or why he can do this. "Anyways we should call control and inform them of the situation."

"I've been trying but we are being jammed." Said Mike monitoring his equipment "I have the direction where the jamming is coming from but it's in the same direction as the I.S. was going."

"Shit, well that figures." Said Gray as he began walking "come on let's get going."

"Where?" asked Mike

"To the source of the signal." Said Gray "Were going to blow that bitch up!"

"That I.S. is probably acting like it's guard dog!" put in Mike.

"Then we just sidestep the I.S., slap some C4 on the jammer and call a ride home." Said Grayson, as if this was the best plan ever.

"And how do we do that?" asked Mike skeptically.

"No idea…I'm literally making it up as I go along." Admitted Gray walking away.

"And where the hell are you going?"

"To go see if I can get one of those cars started. I'm not walking around this place at night there's a lot of other shit here that'll kill us before we even get close to kill zone of that I.S… plus two of those vehicles have a big guns mounted on the top."

Mike reluctantly followed him. They found the keys to one of vehicles while shifting through the wreckage of the shack luckily it happened to be to the jeep that was armed with a DSHK mounted on top. They got it running then got whatever supplies they could scavenge and drove off.

While not having a fixed destination Mike was monitoring the jamming signal to find the source. Imagine dropping a rock into the water and it creates ripples and closer to where you dropped the rock the ripples are stronger. This is basically the idea they are going on.

The two drove onward towards the jammer the trip taking hours the two making idle talk about movies they seen or are coming up or restaurants they've been in attempt to distract their minds from the upcoming task. When they made it close enough to the source they disembarked and proceeded on foot to a cliff overlooking an abandoned construction site next to the cost.

"So what's the story on this place?" asked Gray as the two of them were using binoculars to scope out the place.

"It was suppose to be a beach side resort." Said Mike "Though why they chose this area of the world I do not know…I mean seriously the waters even have sharks in them."

"And how do you know that?" asked Gray.

"There's a promotional board next to the gate." Replied Mike.

"Oh…" said Gray seeing the board for himself.

"Anyways do you see the jammer?"

"Nope I'm pretty sure they hid it so we're probably looking for something small."

"figures they are probably trying to keep themselves hidden from the local groups and any UAV fly by." Said Mike "so they probably have something hidden up high either on one of those buildings or the abandoned crane."

"I'm going to guess in the area of the crane." Said Gray.

"why do you say that?" asked Mike.

"Because there are two guards there that at least look a lot more competent than any local militia group." Said Gray, he was looking at two heavily armed individuals. Both carrying well maintained assault rifles in the form of G36C's and wore black combat fatigues with a balaclava helmet and body armor. "if that doesn't scream shadow organization hideout I don't what does."

"They could be mercenaries." Said Mike "Nothing is for sure yet. Besides I don't see the anything resembling a communication device"

"Yes two well equipped soldiers standing in the middle of an abandoned construction zone." Said Gray "a construction zone where you traced the signal of the jammer to. Did you read it wrong?"

"No, we had to go east, if we go any farther east we'd be in the ocean!"

"Wait could the crane be the jammer. Because it looks similar to some telephone towers I've seen back home." Said Gray "Plus every time I look at it, I think 'that looks important and I should blow it the fuck up'."

"I think your right Gray." Said Mike. A closer examination revealed that the crane had several antennas sticking out of the top of the crane. "Alright that makes things easy. Grab the rocket launcher."

"Way ahead of you." Said Gray crouching down in his position. While Mike was looking at the crane Gray went back to the jeep and got a Gustav recoilless rifle that was already in the jeep when they commandeered it. "BACK BLAST CLEAR!"

One might think that when on the edge of a location of a secret organization in possession of an I.S. that tried to kill them a few hours ago they may want to be quiet. Well any attempt at being stealthy goes out the window in when someone breaks out the rocket launcher.

The rocket hit the base of the crane with impressive accuracy on Grays part and the damage it sustained caused it to tip over into one of the unfinished skeletal buildings causing it collapse.

"I know we are fighting for our lives right now." Said Mike "But that was pretty cool."

"Yep." Said Gray as they watched the destruction.

That's when they noticed a bunch of military grade SUVs coming out and heading right at them.

"Gray?" asked Mike

"Yeah?"

"Did you happen to have a plan of escape before you blew up the crane?"

"uhhh…."

The two boys looked at each other blankly.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE!" yelled Gray as they scrambled to the car, Mike taking the driver's seat and Gray manning the DSHK.

They got a good distance before the first hostile jeep came over the hill with a rather dramatic amount of air time. Enough for Gray to unload rounds into the belly of the vehicle causing it to explode when something vital was hit. However it was quickly replaced by half a dozen more armored jeeps. A stark contrast to the vehicle they had which seemed to be a civilian model with a rotating turret slapped on the back.

This did little to dissuade the young gunner. Finding out that even armored vehicles can't stand up to a hail of 12.7x108mm rounds. In all honesty not much could.

"You know I am really starting to appreciate black market acquired weaponry right now." Said Gray "By the way kind forgot about this but can we reach control?"

"Working on the connection." Said Mike while driving "But the jamming signal is gone, looks like you destroyed the right target."

"Or anything else the crane destroyed when it fell." Put in Gray "Which was awesome it was like some really destructive dominos."

"Anyways…" said Mike getting back to the job at hand "Control, this probationary team alpha. Come in." there was slight pause.

"Alpha team?" came a reply "We thought we lost you boys when the your signals cut out. We were this close to sending search and rescue."

"Well long story short, we were attacked by a rogue I.S., while a jammer was also turned on so we couldn't contact you, and we just blew up the jammer." Explained Mike. A stunned silence came over the operator.

"Confirm, alpha team did you say you were attacked by a rogue I.S.?" asked the operator "As in an infinite stratos?" his skepticism was understandable. An individual I.S. was not something that could by normal standard be considered going rogue. Seeing as how every government and company keeps their cores under heavy security and if someone were to steal one it should make international news…right?

"Yes the thing tried to already killed the objective, and we just happened to show up before it left!" Yelled Gray.

"Are you in contact right now?" asked the radio operator.

"I don't see it right now." Said Mike "But we kind of wrecked their hideout and taken out most of the pursuit force so it should be on our ass any minute. Gray you see anything?"

"No not-" *BOOM* said Gray but what is interrupted by an uncomfortably close explosion "Oh shit! Crazy bitch lady is back!"

"Control we have contact, I repeat we have contact!" said Mike.

"Roger that alpha, standby while we figure out how to handle this."

"Did he just tell us to go fuck ourselves!?"exclaimed Gray.

"Until further notice." Confirmed Mike darkly. "Anyways keep firing!"

"I can keep firing but she is moving too fast for anything to hit her!" shouted Gray. That's when the I.S. came in for a strafing run.

"OH SHIT!" yelled the boys simultaneously as an explosion knocked their vehicle out of control and ran into a gravel pit.

The jeep swerved and almost tipped over before ramming into a boulder preventing it from fully falling over.

"I can't tell if we're lucky or unlucky…" said a stunned Mike who had a vice grip on the.

"Either way we're still alive." Said Gray before both of them noted the I.S. land not far from them.

"For how much longer?" asked Mike.

"I think that depends on us." Said Gray dismounting, readying his weapon. Mike doing the same. Both them trained their rifles one her I.S..

"I have to admit you two are incredible." She said smiling at them like they were some hilarious joke. "surviving our initial meeting that stunt with the wildfire and then that havoc to did at the construction zone."

The two boys fired full auto on the I.S.. while despite what video games show, military training typically emphasize single shots but on an I.S. single shots would be on par with a bee sting. Not that the automatic fire did much the I.S. didn't even bother moving. After about four seconds of fire their mags ran dry.

"Why did even think that would work?" asked Mike.

"Probably should have known better…" said Gray

They looked at the I.S. who just raised an SMG. Though considering this was an I.S. it was more along the line of a heavy machine gun when compared to normal weapons.

The two boys quickly ran around the boulder they crashed into as she opened fire. Tearing their jeep to pieces.

"Okay time to think." Said Mike "and I mean think! No more making it up as we go!"

"What do you have in mind?" asked Gray

"What kind of advantages does she have?" asked Mike.

"An I.S.?" deadpanned Gray.

"Something less obvious jackass!" yelled Mike

"Big ass guns."

"Something we can work on!"

"She can fly."

The two paused. If they take out her means of flight she'll be a lot easier hit and if they decide to bug out it will be a hell of a lot easier to escape.

"Okay how do we ground her?"

"I'd say destroy those stupid looking wing parts." Said Gray "I mean unless it's a pointless feature for looks it's probably how it flies."

"We lost our heavy weapons in the jeep." Said mike

"I have C4 and a grenade launcher which have not used any of this entire mission." said Gray. "If I can get behind the her I can probably take damage her flight system enough, shields be damned!"

"Alright let's do it." Said Mike "I'll run off first and draw her fire."

"Alright plan A." said Gray "This is going to be awesome."

"Oh and what will be awesome?" said a feminine voice. They looked up the lady was now hovering above them. She had smile on her face but her eyes were those of predator.

"Okay fuck plan A." said Mike as the two jumped back "Plan B!"

"Which is!?" yelled Gray

"Shoot at her until something breaks!"

"Oh so keep doing what we've been doing."

"Pretty much."

"How cute you two still think you have a cha- *BOOM*" she was interrupted as gray wasted no time in using the grenade launcher. And through practiced motions quickly switched out another grenade and launched before the pilot could recover. He tried to go for a third but the pilot descending right as he shot. "hmm. Apparently playtime is over." She had cold look on her face as she said that

"Well that didn't last long." Gray as the two boys split up to try and confuse the pilot. Though considering Gray was the last one to hit her she went after him firing wildly and inaccuratley as she followed him in an I.S. but closing quickly. "Goddammit this is the one time I don't want to be popular with the ladies!"

"Gray! hit the deck!" called Mike. Gray looked up and saw what mike was doing. He dove as Mike fired.

"You crazy Irish son of a- *BOOM*" said Gray before an explosion happened. Apparently mike managed to recover the M2 Gustav from the wrecked vehicle. Now an I.S.'s hypersensor gives a pilot a 360 degree view however that's totally pointless if the pilot is focused on one individual area. Something Mike unknowingly took advantage of. The blast from the explosion also knocked Gray into the air landing next to mike "ouch…I'm going to be feeling that one tomorrow."

"You okay?" asked Mike not to concerned.

"Was that the best idea you had!"

"I didn't see you coming up with anything." Said Mike, mirroring the conversation they had during the first I.S. encounter.

"Did… you just hold a grudge?" asked Gray in a disbelief. Mike said nothing as he dropped the M2 brought out an M79 grenade launcher. Another weapon left in the vehicle from the drug runners. "Anyways new plan play dodge the bullets shoot the grenades and try not to blow each other up!"

"We're basically just pulling stuff out of our asses at this point aren't we?"

"Have we ever not?"

"Good point."

They saw the I.S. recover from the surprise rocket attack and looked at them menacingly.

"I am no longer amused." Said the pilot.

"Really?" asked Gray "Because we're having the time of our lives."

This seemed to have driven the pilot over the edge as she brought out her rifle her machine appearing to have been destroyed from the rocket. She fired a high caliber slug but by this time the two have already split up again.

"hoho she is pissed!" said Gray laughing a bit before firing a grenade. Hitting the I.S. on the side. She turned to aim at him only to receive a grenade from Mike. The two seemed to catch where one fired a grenade an drew the pilots attention the other would attack delivering a strike at the back. They would then change positions and repeat the process.

This made the pilot confused and increasingly angry.

Gray fired again and reached for another grenade but then a feeling a dread came over him.

"Oh shit I'm out!" said Gray over the comm.

"Me too!" replied Mike.

The pilot realized the grenades stopped firing. And a sadistic smile overcame her.

"It appears it is my turn." She then tried to take to the sky her I.S. began to hover but then fell back to the ground, she tried again with the same result. She brought up a diagnostic to reveal her flight system has been severely damaged.

"We clipped her wings man! Literally!" Said Gray "Come on Mike we got this!"

However the I.S. appeared in front of him a close combat knife ready to stab he leapt out of the way. While her flight system was now damaged. She could still use hover and her speed.

Gray rolled onto his back and fired his weapon in full auto. Neither here nor the pilot expected anything to happen but then they heard the sound of the bullet hitting flesh. This caused them both to pause. The pilot unconsciously reached over to hold her left shoulder and when she bought her hand away there was blood.

"I've… been hit?" asked the pilot in disbelief. Gray not one to look a gift horse in the mouth aimed his weapon again. However this time the pilot retreated up over the edge of the crater out of sight.

"Gray what happened!?" yelled Mike running to his partner.

"I shot her!" said Gray running to meet him. They met in front of the boulder.

"Isn't that what we've been doing?" asked Mike incredulously unaware of the significant event that just unfolded.

"Now I mean I shot her a bullet got through her shields and hit her in the shoulder!" said Gray excited.

"Is that why she ran off?"

"Probably…" if you were piloting weapon that protected you with an infallible shield, something that was claimed to be invincible. You'd feel unstoppable, right? Now imagine two what barely qualified as soldiers not only managed to survive your attacks but strike back. And even getting past your ultimate defense you'd be afraid to right.

"So what now?" asked Mike.

"Back to back!" said Gray, "She may be low on the defense now but she still has her speed and can attack from any direction. However we can hurt her now."

The two stood back to back waiting for the invincible machine they had fought into the ground (literally) to rush at them.

An I.S. was considered the most dangerous weapon in the world. However the idea of an I.S. itself was what was truly dangerous. Just thinking about facing one made most stop that train of thought then and there. However once these two idiots got in their heads that they could beat it, does that mean they were the most dangerous things in world now?

The I.S. shot over the edge of the crater rushing at them like a bullet train. Mike shot first.

The pilot now aware of her vulnerability dodged to the side to try to attack from a different angle. This time in Gray's field of fire but with the same results. This repeated several sides neither side making any headway.

"This is going nowhere!" said Mike "While she can't get at us, we can't hit her either!"

"We have to let her get close." Said Gray getting idea "Shooting her when she's close!"

"Yeah you go ahead and get nice in close with the invincible war machine that's trying to kill us!"

"It's not that invincible anymore!"

However neither boy made any move to try out the idea. And their stalemate continued. Until resources began to run low.

"Last mag!" said Mike reloading his weapon

"Shit me too!" replied Gray "It's now or never!"

"Wait where did she go!?" asked Mike. They looked around the I.S. was nowhere in sight.

"How the hell did we lose sight of an I.S.!?"

"That's what I want to know!" said Mike. "Did she go over the edge of the crater again!?"

"I don't know! Maybe!?" said Gray both of them were tense while the absence of an I.S. should make them feel relieved, however both of them had a feeling this wasn't over just yet.

Just then the boulder they her standing close two exploded. The I.S. went behind the boulder in order to outflank them and rammed straight through the giant rock shattering it and sending the ruined jeep flying.

The boys were taken by surprise, the I.S. got the drop on them. It seemed like this should have been the end of them. However Gray having a better angle fired a large burst at the I.S. and instead of striking them it flew past and seemed to trip and bounce and land on its back sliding a ways before coming to a halt.

"Did…we do it?" asked Mike in disbelief.

"I don't know." Said Gray. Both of them kept their weapons trained on the I.S. due to it still being deployed. They tentatively approached ready to fight or flight at any moment. It laid still as they approached. When they got a good look at it they saw that the pilot was dead. Grays final burst traced up her torso finishing with a bullet hole dead center in her forehead.

Both boys let out a breath they didn't know they've been holding.

"Yeah we got her." Confirmed Gray. Relief evident in his voice. "Told you we had to let her get close."

"I'd give you credit, if didn't know that was basically fluke and not planned for at all."

"How do you know I didn't?"

"At what point of this entire mission did we put a plan we actually made into action?"

"Good point…"

"Alpha team respond." Came a voice over the radio. "Alpha team are you still with us"

"Oh you have got to be shitting me!" said Gray annoyed "They choose now to call!? After we dealt with everything?"

"Yeah I'm a bit pissed too." Agreed Mike but he responded anyways. "Control this Alpha team, over."

"Alpha team, it'll take us forty-eight hours for a force to be at your location." said the operator "We're calling an I.S. in from Europe for assistance and QRF won't go into action until they have one as support. So we're going to need you guys to lay low until help arrives."

The two boys looked at each other before they began chuckling, eventually breaking into full blown laughter. Having reinforcements coming to save them just seemed ridiculous to them at this point. Like it was just one big joke.

"Alpha team, what's going on?" asked the operator confused "Are you alright?"

"You can go ahead and cancel the QRF" said Mike "Just send us an extraction bird."

"I'm sorry about that Alpha but with the I.S. in the area it's too dangerous to send an extraction bird in." said the operator.

"Don't worry." Said Gray "We took care of it." There was a slight pause.

"Come again…?"

"Pft…didn't make me come the first time." Joked Gray with a fake pout. This caused the two boys to snicker. Their sense of humor returning after they got through their precarious life and death situation

"Control what he means is the hostile I.S. has been neutralized." Said Mike.

"What?" this only made operator more confused as if he couldn't conceive what they were describing.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Said Gray "We killed the fucking I.S.! it's dead and we are looking at the body. We went through this big fight with car chases lots of explosions and plenty of near death experiences concluding with the fact we killed an I.S." Gray's face then took sudden look of realization.

"That's basically it." Said Mike "Sending visuals now." Mike took out a small camera device and took several pictures which automatically transmitted it to the operator.

"Holy shi- roger that alpha Extraction bird is on its way. ETA three hours. Out." Said Operator as he viewed the images.

"Holy shit…" said Gray.

"What?" asked Mike.

"We just killed an I.S…." that's when the realized the gravity of the feat they just pulled off.

Two young adventure seeking guys. Somewhere between boys and men here in one of the most dangerous regions in the world. Facing the most advanced and powerful weapon known to man. And they came out not only alive but victorious.

"We are a couple of bonafide badasses!" Cheered Gray holding his fist out for a fist pump which Mike gladly returned. "And Shit am I tired."

"Yeah me too." The fatigue from their day finally hit them so they went to go sit down on the edge of the crater.

"You know if this was movie this would be the part where they cut out to credits." Said Gray. But their story was just beginning.

Little did they know a small UAV recorded their fight ever since they crashed into the crater. This wasn't from the shadowy organization they just faced or the military it was a civilian model. It's available news agencies and documentary makers or people can afford them. The ones found in this region are used by the first two to get an in depth look at the dangerous area without risking human lives. These things can go on for months provided it's not damaged thanks to a high efficiency motor/propeller and it is solar powered.

Almost fittingly on the side of the UAV next to a yellow smiley face were the words "Smile the whole world is watching."

1 week later

The two boys were called to the office of former colonel brought out of retirement to head this program. He had a distinguish military history. As second lieutenant participated in the invasion of Iraq and continued to do counter insurgency operations up until captain rank where he joined Delta Force. Eventually retiring as colonel at forty-seven.

He is considered one of the last true soldiers, since the advent of the I.S.

"So in the beginning of your mission you encountered an I.S. and despite barely escaping it with your lives you decided to follow it back to it's base because a jamming signal blocking communication with command." Said the Colonel "When you found the base you decided to fire a rocket launcher at the source of signal which you were engaged by hostiles and then an I.S.. you then crashed into a crater where you reengaged an I.S. and subsequently neutralized it." The boys nodded "Now here is what I'm wondering you could have easily retreated at any time before you reached the base…why didn't you."

"Too damn stubborn?" offered Gray.

"Too damn stupid?" offered Mike.

The colonel cracked smirk.

"Relax you two you aren't in trouble. Quite the opposite in fact." Said the colonel "If I had men with balls half the size of what you boys have then we wouldn't be facing most of the problems we are today."

The two boys looked at him with prideful but curious expressions.

"Not going to lie to you and what you two stumbled upon is the world's darkest secret." Said the Colonel "You have just engaged a secret terrorist organization who has been stealing I.S.'s from around the world. The only reason they haven't been discovered is because each country hid the loss of the I.S. because it would make them look weak in the international community."

Gray turned to Mike and mouthed to words 'called it'.

Mike just rolled his eyes as the colonel continued.

"They are called Phantom Task. So here's what I want from you." Said the colonel they looked at him expectantly "You have to choices, you can choose to drop out of the program and keep this conversation confidential or two you continue with the program however the risk and danger grow exponentially compared to what you signed up for."

He paused to let them soak up the information.

"However you'll be taking the fight to an enemy that for too long hid in the shadows of this world. Something you two already gave pretty good kick in balls to." The colonel turned the laptop on his desk around to show the boys a youtube video called 'Incredible child soldiers take down I.S.!'

"Holy shit that's us!" said gray recognizing the battle

"Three billion views already." Said Mike in disbelief.

"This was taken by an amateur documentary group from a civilian UAV." Said the colonel. "News agencies have already made your identities known to the world."

"Wait wouldn't that put our families at risk?" asked Mike.

"You don't have to worry your family already has tier one operators from your respective countries providing guardian angel work for your families who are unaware they are under surveillance." Explained the Colonel "Now about my offer."

"Let's kick some ass!" sais Gray showing he was in. Mike nodded in agreement and both of them high fived each other.

"Glad to hear it." Said Colonel "As of right now you two are designated as Havoc team, you are now fully promoted to an autonomous team and are going to be the spearhead in any phantom task counter operations. Go knock some head soldiers!" the promptly exited the office with a purpose. 'Just you wait phantom task' thought the colonel 'I'm back and about to open a can of whoopass on you!'

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