Chifuyu's eye twitched as she glared at the image in the mirror. That. Was definitely not her. Nope, no way, no how, no dice, a whole lot of other noes. No, no, no and no. Just no. The fact it was a wall panel mirror to show her full visage just bothered her even more since it was as if the image were being shoved in her face that "yes, this is you.". Chifuyu really felt like she'd kill someone.

"Uu... um... senpai?"

The irate woman snapped her gaze to the younger Yamada Maya who came up beside her and sucked in an unhealthy amount of air. My God, just looking at what the green-haired woman was wearing made Chifuyu feel faint from imagining just how painful it might be.

"Hey! You two finished yet?"

Slamming the locker room doors open, a woman strode in. Her hair was up in a bun with the ends popping up like pineapple leaves. She wore a pair of thin spectacles hiding the dark circles under her eyes while a lab coat hid her choice of spaghetti strap top and dangerously high mini-skirt. She probably only had the courage to wear such a daring outfit because of the opaque leggings she wore. Her heels clicked against the tiles with a brisk pace that commanded respect. She stopped short of bumping into the the two other women occupying the room and gave them a once over. On the tip of her fingers pinched the practical butt of a cigarette.

"Well you two seem fully dressed to me. What are still dallying here for? Come on. We're running a business here. Time is money and all that shit.", the woman grumbled as she turned away. But she was stopped in her tracks by a hand on her shoulder. A very strong hand with a popping vein on her now numb shoulder.

"Just one second.", Chifuyu asked with a smile that would remind men why women were scary. "Do you mean to say that this is all that we're wearing today?".

The woman in the labcoat turned back, "Yes, now come on.".

But Chifuyu wasn't quite done yet. "So you mean to tell me. That our standard pilot uniforms are gone. And in their place are- are- are- THESE!?", the strongest IS pilot in the world gestured down at her attire. There wasn't much really. At best it couldn't even be called proper clothes much less a pilot uniform. It was a string bikini, even more risque than the underwear she favored.

"Well not entirely.", the woman in the lab coat took a drag of her mostly gone tobacco before pointing to Maya with it. "Hers is a bit different.".

And to be honest it was. Maya was fortunate enough not to be wearing a string bikini that was supposed to pass for an IS piloting suit. Instead she got a two part spatz and short sleeved top combo. Now that was really reserved, so why did Chifuyu look at Maya with such pity before? Let's just say those clothes would probably fit a middle-schooler better, a middle-schooler without an iota of puberty corrupting the described childish figure. In contrast, Maya was petite but had the bust and hips of a mother. "Painted on" could not describe what it looked like. It felt more like the cloth, taut as sausage skin, would burst into shreds at any great show of motion. And judging from how it pressed on tender flesh, Maya wasn't wearing anything underneath as per standard IS pilot suits. Chifuyu would have offered a trade, but Maya was just a few sizes larger than herself and it was already a tight fit even for the taller woman. That would be disastrous for the green-haired you woman. All in all, this was already the lesser of two evils.

"That is not the issue here.", hissed Chifuyu in a tone so deadly that it'd probably make anyone and their dog wet themselves at just hearing it. "the issue is that these are not piloting suits. I can't even call mine a suit! And poor Yamada over there can barely breathe without fear of ripping up the only thing between her modesty and the world!".

The woman's eyes sharpened ever so slightly as she swatted away the pilot's hand and turned to face the two. "Oh? So this is an issue?", she tittered as if all this was amusing, but her eyes said otherwise, she was pissed. "Well tough shit. This is the job we got saddled with because you two twits decided it was a good idea to be late.", came the cold drawl. The woman took a calming drag of her cigarette before continuing in a heated tone, "And you even had the gal to involve the police and a taxi company in your commute turned fiasco. Tell me, who decided it was a good idea to commandeer a cab and go twice over the city speed limit hmm? HMM?!". By now the woman's fingers were twitching and a vein had popped onto her head. She trembled with such restrained fury that Chifuyu felt her own indignation begin to matter less in the face of this leviathan. "Let me list the charges I had to get you two cleared of: Speeding, Counterflow, driving on sidewalks, public endangerment, damage to public property, frustrated murder on a police officer-"

"He jumped in the way!", Chifuyu protested.

"It doesn't matter if he and your fucking car dove at each other like reunited lovers!", the woman in the white coat threw her hands up in indignant rage. "One of you dumbfucks was behind the steering wheel when that happened and shit almost got real. I'm amazed neither of you are in jail or fired, much less just getting the job nobody wanted.". The woman pulled out a silver case. She opened it up and ground her cigarette into it before snapping the thing shut. "Now if either of you want to argue about propriety, I'd be glad to entertain you the whole day and repeatedly shut down whatever genius comebacks you throw at me. But right now I'm just a liiiittle busy, so you can either march your asses out of here to go to work, or you can vacate the building and never come back.". Just like that, the woman in white click-clacked away on her heels. The restraint barely cracking as it almost feels like each click echoed into an equivalent of a stomp.

What was left was silence in the locker room. Chifuyu's only words were, "Damn, Should've known better than to pick a fight with Night Erine."

"Uu... Senpai", Maya cried at Chifuyu's side.

The taller woman could only pat the smaller woman's head as the bespectacled woman wept in her bossom at the unfairness of it all. But five minutes later and Chifuyu really regretted this considering her current attire.

"Gah! Yamada! Yamada!"

Chifuyu could feel the warm liquid trickle down her bare chest and down her gentle valley. She felt like she could cry herself as she hadn't the heart to push her kouhai away but at the same time this felt all forms of wrong and disgusting.

BBFFFFFTTTT!

Oh great. The raven-haired woman now felt some slick substance mixing in what she believed to be tears. The reason she identified this to be a 'substance' was because she did not want to confirm the link between the sound of Yamada blowing her nose and said 'substance' snaking its way down into her barely there top. Yes, it was safe to say that Chifuyu really wanted to cry.

After calming down a bit, Chifuyu and Yamada decided to show up for the day's test drive. Despite the risque pilot suits, the two decided this place was a research center. Everyone was mindful of the progress of IS, not skimpy clothes. There was no need to be ashamed wearing these clothes because it wasn't like people would be staring at them for their bodies. But even with that logic, the pair were stymied as they stared at a knob. Not just any knob, it was the door knob. The one that lead out of the locker room.

Everytime either of the two ladies would reach out with one hand, they would immediately retract. Accompanied by some form of mild anxiety attack that rendered them breathing rather ragged. This could be seen as a rather serious situation from the description, but the fact both still kept trying with a wordlessly agreed pattern of trading tries after every failure. It all felt like a practiced comedy routine where one would try their hand at something dangerous but back out at the last second.

It was really a pitiful scene considering the two of them were considered among the cream of the crop when it came to piloting the world's strongest superweapons.

"Gah! Mou! This door just leads to the hangar right?", Chifuyu threw her hands up in frustrated dismay. "So we're not really walking around in these.

"Bu-But-", Maya didn't look too well as she tried to raise a non-existent argument. She really wanted to be professional about this but it was hard to do so when her uniform was digging into places where it shouldn't dig at all. This left her very red faced from the friction.

Chifuyu took a deep breath and grabbed her colleague by the shoulders. "Okay.", the raven-haired pilot stared her junior in the eye. "This door connects directly to the hangar. It should be empty. We just get on the IS, do the test procedures and provide the needed data okay? The test drive would just give them numbers on speed and performance. It's data collection, not an overall performance. There won't be visual documentation. Right?".

For all intents and purposes, it looked like Chifuyu was trying to instill courage in the nervous Yamada. But Maya felt the hands on her shoulders shake. The most powerful IS pilot was saying all this more to calm herself. This in turn made Maya feel worse.

Huff

Chifuyu took a deep breath and bravely placed one hand on the door. "We're doing this Yamada. Let's go!", came the battle cry as she twisted the handle. With a mighty shove, she threw away the five centimeters of solid plastic separating her and-

"Eh?"

Normally, IS don't require much maintenance. And even if they did require a lot, it was relatively long and would mean that it was actually infinitely shorter than regular maintenance. As for setting it accordingly to proper tuning, that shouldn't take long either. So normally, just before launch, everything would be checked out and nobody would be left in the hangar. But why? Why is it that when Chifuyu wrenched open the doors that lead directly into the hangar. There were over twenty technicians working? All of their heads snapping to the door that made such an imposing noise. Even if it were a minority, a good five or so amongst those technicians were men.

It was a stand-off. Even if you called it that, it felt more like an awkward peepshow. Because, lo and behold. In the door accentuated by the bright locker room light behind, was Orimura Chifuyu in a string bikini- IS suit. Either way it was way more revealing than anything they'd seen on her. And the effect of this state of clothing was extremely powerful. It was so powerful that the men in the room nearly fainted while the women were ogling her in a state of embarrassed shock.

"Gah!", Chifuyu ducked back into the doorway and slammed the passage shut. "Get out! Get out! Get out!", she screamed at everyone from behind the door.

Now normally, Chifuyu had the power to convince people to do as she says on naught but a single word. Not on a decibel higher than a whisper and tone lower than even the throatiest growl. But in this case, all was thrown out the window as all everyone could hear was that raspy high-pitched voice that cracked near the end in panic.

"Mo~e", was what they all thought.

"What's the hold up?", a cold voice cut through the pink aura of loveliness left by Chifuyu's embarrassed exit.

"Ack! It's chief Erine!", one of the engineers squawked before everyone got it in gear and did the last minute recalculations. They left in quite a hurry leaving so much noise that the two pilots could hear it from beyond the door they hid behind.

Letting a beat or two pass, Chifuyu opened the door a crack with a peak. It seemed clear. With a squeak, the door creaked open. Chifuyu and Maya lined the door frame, sticking their heads out.

"I think they're all gone senpai.", Maya reported her findings as she traced the walls of the the hangar with her eyes.

Chifuyu clucked her tongue and muttered, "I am not showing myself to anyone in this more than necessary.". Her junior gave a grunt of agreement so they made sure to search the perimeter properly first before stepping out. They were so set on it that they were willing to spend another thirty minutes doing this.

"What are you doing?"

And despite their wishes they didn't even get three minutes before the cold voice of their manager struck the terror of unemployment in their hearts.

"Orimura, Yamada. The test was scheduled for 8:30 AM, it's now 8:42. We still have a mountain of jobs to do so get to it.", the disembodied voice ringing from the speakers. Unlike the earlier rant, Erine's voice was now calm. But with that calm came an arctic sense of finality that drove home the point that it would be in the pair's best interest to do as she said.

Chifuyu quickly climbed into the IS stationed at her designated unit bay. Maya mirroring her actions in her peripheral vision. It was odd at first. Considering that Chifuyu's current attire only covered the minimal amount, it was an unwelcome sensation when cold metal met the bare of her rear cheeks. It was a squeak that drew Maya's concern but the stoic Orimura waved it off. It took a bit of getting used to but the small of her back and other normally covered parts began to adapt at the cool touch of metal. Normally insulated and protected by the one piece IS uniform, Chifuyu felt it a bit chilly as the air formed a draft about her exposed midriff. She only hoped it wouldn't get worse when she flew, but the wind was already tickling her with the normal suit on so she wasn't too optimistic.

With the hum of electricity and the telltale blips and beeps, the IS came to life. Chifuyu stood in the armor as the inner lining of nerve reading machines began to refit themselves to make contact with her skin. It was cold at first, but the ticklish pulse of electricity that read her nerves quickly warmed her. Sight wavered for a moment before exploding out like a rippling wave. Her vision resembled a photo using fish eye lens for a moment before quickly returning to normal. But normal as her vision may have been, she willed her vision to swivel left and right, up and down, all the way three hundred and sixty degrees. All of that without moving head, body nor her eyes. The sensation of such rapid change in perception normally lead first timers to a sort of vertigo, but Chifuyu was a veteran at this so it didn't even faze her. Next she felt around with her armor encased arms and flexed her fingers while her legs made the armor stand. Now no longer standing in the armor but standing with the armor, Chifuyu concentrated on her hearing, the footsteps of people, the breathing of pests and rodents, even caught snips of whispered conversation from the sealed control room a few floors up were audible to her.

Doing nothing more than willing it so, Chifuyu brought up the software interface menu of her IS. She could choose to project it against her shield, but this time she opted only to directly feed it into her retina nerves. Bringing up the specs of her machine, Chifuyu opened up the proper radio channel as she took in the information. "Control, this is Valeria test model 01.", she droned in a habitual tone into the frequency. "Preliminary system checks read out no errors. Unit is green.".

"Valeria test model 02, System checks read out zero errors. Condition is green.", Maya also spoke into the same frequency.

"Good. Mihata, fill them in on today's exercise."

"Yes."

The sound of fingers slamming against clicking plastic keys fired like a staccato over the radio before a number of windows popped up up in the view of the two pilots. A young woman about a year or two younger than they was displayed. She had bluish black hair that reminded them of a certain hyperactive german they knew, but this woman's hair was straight down reaching just a little past the shoulders. It was parted at the middle and the bangs spread out just a little to expose a bit of forehead while framing the face. She wore a regular dress shirt, skirt, vest combo that most OL's wore.

"Suzumine.", Chifuyu greeted the woman by her surname.

A small smile graced the face of the woman named Mihata. "Good morning to you as well Orimura-san, Yamada-san.", came the replied greeting. "For today, we will be testing the Sol Edad Defense Inc.'s prototype frames, the XMF-Valeria. It is a lightweight unit that specializes on frame strength, agility and speed. In place of failsafe physical armor, it boasts a higher shield output than most other competitors like the Rafael Revive and the current standard, Uchigane. The tuning and balance compensations of the Valeria are quite different from any other IS so it's advised to be careful and get used to them first. Due to being behind schedule, the ten minute adjustment period will have to be foregone. We will need to immediately move on to testing. First will be maximum sprint speed, arm strength, flight capability, flight speed, acceleration, maneuverability. We then move on to capacity for peripheral attachment and equalizer installation compatibilities. Integrated weapons testing will be skipped due to Valeria not possessing any. After the preliminary measurements, we will run the 'course' and require a best of three mock battle. Allotted time is from 8:30 AM to 11:30AM. You are advised."

"We are advised.", Chifuyu confirmed.

Before she could return to double checking her systems, another window popped up in front of Chifuyu. It was Erine. The normally stoic pilot blanched internally. On the other hand, the woman in glasses didn't look perturbed one bit. In fact, she was stone faced, something Chifuyu was quite famous for. Chifuyu hated that someone could outdo her indifference. But that was her own childishness that she didn't want to know. So pushing aside the awkward tension that wrapped around them for the long moment, she asked, "What is it Umiyome?".

Subtly, quickly, the woman's eyes flickered down in hesitation but Chifuyu wasn't sure with the sudden glare off those glasses. "There are additional parameters to your testing.", Erine spoke methodically. Even, measured and firm, a voice that meant business. "In addition to the Valeria, you two will be testing two new IS piloting suits produced by Armroad Defense Co.. Each one is actually still testing for theory verification. Orimura has the Tiny Top which is supposed to be for research on how skin contact is directly proportionate to IS response. Yamada has the Universal Stretch which is an experimental fabric for a new line of one-size-fit-all suit. Don't worry, we've done mechanical testing and it is perfectly rip proof.", in that perfectly clipped tone, Erine stopped her briefing.

There was none of the standard procedural end of communique, just a sudden stop. It sparked Chifuyu's curiosity that she carefully examined the woman on the other end of the screen. Through the dim lights of the control room and reflective glare of the glasses, trained eyes could barely make out a pink flush as steady hands lifted a carton cup to her lips. "Umiyome.", Chifuyu said the name thoughtlessly.

"Ahem!", the woman in the labcoat cleared her throat roughly. "If you have any personal comments on their products. You can find their quarters in Eastwell, Colorado. I highly encourage you to do so. You have been advised?".

A smile found its way on Chifuyu's face. "We are advised.", she replied smoothly before cutting off the connection. Opening another channel, Chifuyu saw a similar smile on Maya's face. It seemed she understood as well.

"Thank goodness Chief Erine is back to normal."

"Yeah, I'm wondering how much they got her to drink before she calmed down."

A new window opened to interrupt the conversation between the pilots. Suzumine the operator quickly whispered in, "She's working on her second cup of coffee right now. Honestly you should've seen her after the first sip. She practically melted before going into a panic about how she'd overdone your scolding by threatening to fire you. And right after she worked so hard to make sure you kept your jobs too.".

"That's... pretty cute of her.", Maya sweatdropped.

"A real tsundere that one.", came Chifuyu's sigh.

"Suzumine! No unnecessary chatting!", Erine's voice came from behind the operator.

"Hai! Hai!", she yelled back. "Well I have to go now. Later.", she stuck her tongue out impishly before cutting the line.

A giggle bubbled up from Yamada as she said, "No matter how scary Chief is, she's really kind isn't she?".

"Yeah.", Chifuyu sighed her agreement. "Though I still can't stand that she had to make us wear this.", the pilot looked down on the string bikini suit. I really hope there isn't video documentation today.".

"So do I, but it's just statistics gathering. There shouldn't be any.", the Kouhai reassured with echoed words.

"Right.".

Slowly, the pair made their way out of the hangar and towards the large launch bay doors. Around the metal room, the sound of whirring machines began to resonate within the enclosed space. There was a distinct sensation of weightlessness but it lasted only for a moment before the IS' PIC compensated for it. A red light lit up over the doors. It was shining for only a few seconds before a buzzer sounded out, turning it green.

The doors opened and the two carefully stepped out onto the testing field. They entered the pride and joy of the Infinite Stratos Research Institute that Chifuyu and Maya worked for. They looked up to the vast blue all around them. This flat ground of rock that extended for hundreds of miles. Forests and mountainous regions. Rivers, lakes and a coast. All of this wide expanse built into an enclosed area. The only indoor IS testing site built six kilometers into the earth with fully simulated atmosphere. An impossibility that only existed for the exclusive use of ISRI. The greatest reason why many pilots wanted to work here and many companies sent over their products for ISRI for testing.

"Well, I suppose we should get used to flying first. Ugh, walking is just too awkward with these pointy feet.", Chifuyu grunted in an effort to adjust her balance. "The equilibrium tuning on this thing is way out of order.".

"Suzumine-san did say that the tuning was unique.", Maya tried to run with her unit, finding herself tipping close to falling flat on her face more than a few times.

"Mmm... I really just want to put this into a regular setting.", came the expected sigh.

"Oh! I get it!"

Maya said in surprise after regaining her balance from a near fall. She started to try running again, but then stopped. The balance of the machine came undone and tipped further forward. With a slight shift of her center of gravity, Maya stuck out another pointed foot using the other as an anchor. In one motion she changed direction without losing much momentum.

"Ooh.", Chifuyu watched in admiration.

"The system was optimized this way along with the spike like feet to use as pivots instead of bases. They aren't meant to be stable as the frame isn't meant to stop moving."

"That's kind of a messed up system. I don't think there's a pilot in the world who'd appreciate having to run around without stopping lest they want to do a face plant."

"Th-that is true.", Maya noted as she herself was starting to feel some fatigue. "But you should try it as well.

Chifuyu shrugged, "Okay. Here goes.".

The former Brunhilde started to run. After getting a feel for her pace, she paused and lashed out a leg while the other pushed forward to be planted as her pivot. A quick spin and she rotated in a flash. Still running she tried to do another turn and succeeded. "Hey, this is actually pretty fun.", Chifuyu allowed a rare smile on her face. It was rare for her to feel this kind of rush. One wrong move and this could end in embarrassing failure.

Feeling a little giddy, she went a bit faster than she had been going and was almost at full sprint. She kicked out a leg to plant her pivot first. But as we all know, those who tempt fate tend to get bitten back in the ass for it. That's exactly what fate did. The extended foot caught against the rocky ground. Instead of pivoting, it glanced off an bounced up again. This threw Chifuyu's shifting balance completely off.

She shot forward like a rocket and skidded against the floor face first. It felt like a scene that had came right out of a horrible accident, only there was no way anyone could be seriously hurt from just that considering they were in an IS. And in that case this would count as a comedy. But that wasn't it either. Everyone who was watching had their jaws hanging down from their mouths be it man or woman.

With the way she dropped down on the ground on all fours, Chifuyu's back arch curving perfectly from her neck dipping to the back of her stomach before rising to her waist again almost sensually. Her bottom was raised in the air with cheeks flushed as it looked like the bottoms were riding up. This looked almost like the start to a very very adult rated scene.

"O-Oh my..."

Chifuyu pulled her face away from the ground with a twitching brow, "There better not be any documentation of this.".