Ace

Disclaimer: I don't own Guilty Gear or any of its product, though if I did I would make it so that players didn't have cliffhanger endings to deal with. I do however own several characters in this fic.

I: Awakening

Albert leaned back in his chair and gazed at the ceiling, awaiting for the phone call for his next assignment, listening to a slow, rusty ballad coming off the radio. His eye watched the ceiling fan lazily for several minutes until a shrill ring echoed through his ears. Picking up the phone, Albert put it to his ear. "Lieutenant Albert reporting."

((Very good, Lieutenant. I suppose you want your job now.))

"I would enjoy that, sir. What would you like me to do? A Gear Hunt? Dealing with the Jellyfish Pirates? Perhaps a search for Black Tech?"

((Just organize the papers on the table in the room next to your left. They're files on our certain targets.))

Albert sighed. He had just turned in a report on a minor magic failure in Zepp. Some field work would've been nice. "Yes sir." He agreed hesitantly and hung up. "Jeez, what luck I have." He said to himself flatly as he stood up. "I seem to /always/ get the fun jobs."

The room next door was a nexus of files and cabinets, each stacking up to near the ceiling. Fortunately, he was told to do just the ones on the table, so it wasn't too bad. There were… he counted… Roughly 15 of them. "A for Axl-Low." He said, stashing away the report in it's appropriate drawer. "B for Baiken. S for Slayer. E for Eddie." Each one were pretty much old news to him. Robo-Kys were sent to deal with most of the higher threats so there was nothing of big surprise. As he put away Dizzy's file, he noticed one last file that he had never seen before.

"Hmm… Ace?" He read the cover and opened it up. "Name: Ace, Age: Unknown, Birthday: August 13th, Height: 6'2", Blood Type: B, Race: Gear/American." His brow rose in intrigued and read on. "Previously a prisoner of the Post War Administration Bureau, this convict made his escape during transportation to another containment center in Britain, destroying 11 attack units and heavily damaging 27 others. Furthermore, subject is suspect to have stolen a valuable item on the ship during said escape. Due to his violent nature, subject is considered to be highly dangerous and should be captured quickly and cautiously. Risk Level: S."

Albert remained silent for a while, reading over the report again and again while it finally hit him, "Oh snap…" and he hurried back to his phone.

Everything was a blur. The fire colored haired man couldn't recall anything of recent happenings nor could he recall anything else for that matter. He didn't have his shirt and was covered with bruises and cuts. Desperate to get somewhere, his right hand reached forward and grabbed the sand under him. His left hand tried to follow him, but it was too heavy. He soon found out that the rifle gripped in his the hand was the cause. Something told him that he had to let go if he wanted to move on, yet something else told him that he needed to hold on. He listened to the later and relaxed against the sand, aching all over as the salt splash against his open wounds.

"Oh dear, what on earth happened to you?" A voice came from above. The man looked up, finding himself gazed upon by a giant of a man.

In reaction, the man felt himself sprung up and throw a quick kick to the other's side. He felt a long metal bar block his blow. His vision was still blurred yet he could tell that this person was extremely tall and had something covering his head. Either that or he had a deformed cranium shaped like a block. Whoever this man was, he was a threat and had to be dealt with; at least, that's what his instincts told him. Suddenly his feet pushed him back and he charged again, throwing a successful punch to his opponent's stomach. It was knocked away also by the tall man's rod, followed by quick bash against the red haired man's chest.

He rolled across the sand for about a yard or so before rolling back onto his feet, a lazy, fierce look in his eyes. If this went on, then he would pass out before he had a chance to hit his foe. He needed a trump card of some sort. It was then that he remembered the rifle in his left hand. With a flick of the wrist and a flip backwards, he caught the rifle, spun around and pulled the trigger. Sparks jumped from the barrel as a blue glow illuminated at the nozzle. "Deadeye!" His voice shouted and the glow shot out, growing to half the size of his own height, at the tall man, striking him directly in the chest.

A loud cry and a loud thud rang inside his ears, triggering a painful headache, making the man fall to his knee, clutching his head. "Ahrrr…" he groaned as his opponent rose again, coughing and patting his chest, which though burnt was in not critical challenge.

"Come now, I'm only trying to help."

"Wha… Wh-where am I? Who are you? Who… am I?"

"You're near a city called Zepp, I am named Faust, and… wait, what was that last bit?"

"I can't remember anything… who am I?"

"Oh dear… Seems to be a case of amnesia." The man felt a hand lift him from his feet and over the other's shoulder. "Not to worry though, I can work on that to an extent, but first lets get rid of those wounds. You're in quite a mess."

Faust had seen his share of bruised up people, but this man was more cut up than some hapless soul who might run into maybe Testament. At least, more cut up than one that survived an encounter with the Gear. Having amnesia was also a bother to deal with. After pulling his gun away, Faust proceeded to setting the man down for treatment. As he laid the man across a stretcher in his home in Zepp, the man ached and groaned in agony. Wounds cut open and blood gushed out and loud cries of pain echoed throughout the doctor's home until a quick injection from Faust killed the pain.

"Relax. You'll be fine now. Just trust me with this, all right?"

"Ohh, my head."

"Here. This should help." Faust reached into his coat, pulled out a container and from there, a donut. He stuffed it in the man's mouth and then whipped out some bandage tape wrapping it at a inhuman speed over the man's wounds, padding them down quickly before any more blood sunk through.

Like a charm, the donut did make the headache practically disappear. There must've been some sort of tasteless medicine in it that cured whatever was ailing him and ever since he had awoken on the beach, the man was able to rest. What happened after then was a mystery, but he just figured that Faust worked whatever medical magic he had on him while he slept.

When his awakening came again, Faust had crashed on a couch nearby with what appeared to be a bag on his head, now that the man could see clearly. He painfully lifted himself off the stretcher and walked outside. Night had fallen and the sky was a dull shade of blue. You couldn't see the stars due to the thick layer of smoke from the city around him. He looked at his fist, eying a bizarre mark over the back of his left hand. He sighed, finding nothing familiar about it and lowered his hand.

"Well, well. Isn't this a surprise? I didn't know mummies still existed." The man quickly turned around to the voice, belonging to a pale looking woman with ebony dark hair, a guitar, and a freaky red hat that match with her coat and half dress, sitting atop the doctor's shack. "You're a new one around here, aren't you? What's your name, cutie?"

"…I wish I knew."

"Oh?" She hovered to the ground, stopping before the man. "So you don't know your name, hmm? I was watching you earlier you know? Seemed like you were a pretty good shot with your gun and all. …Maybe an ace shooter?" Ace? That sounded like a good name. It would work until he remembered his own name.

"Who are you?"

"Me? Just a little poor girl looking for some fun. You can call me I-no."

"Some fun, huh?"

I-no giggled and cooed softly in Ace's ear. "Yep and you look like you'll be a blast." Moments later, I-no strummed her guitar, and Ace felt a powerful impact blow him back into the asphalt of the city street. The sharpshooter pushed himself up and gave a pissed look at I-no, who merely grinned and giggled again. "What's wrong? Lost too much stamina already? Come on," she raised her strumming hand up high, gripping the guitar tightly with her other, "We're just getting started!" She ran, or rather glided over to Ace, a surge of crimson energy forming in her hand, digging it in the ground and shooting it up at Ace position. "Stroke the Big Tree!" The gunman rolled back and held up his hands.

"Hey! Hey! I don't know what I did wrong, but damn, I'm sorry that I did. H-hey-!" Ace quickly dropped to his knees as I-no swung her guitar horizontally at his head, grazing his spiky hair. Suddenly, Ace's instincts took over again and drove his fist toward I-no's chest, catapulting her back, though she spun around and landed on her feet again.

A weeping sound came from the guitarist as she dropped to her knees and covered her face. "You brute! Didn't anyone ever tell you not to hit a lady?"

Ace blinked, came over, and offered his hand, thinking that maybe he misjudged I-no a little. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean t-" And then I-no drove her guitar into his gut, sending him rolling back.

"And don't apologize for it either! You pathetic whelp! Anti-Depressant Scale!" Suddenly, I-no leaned forward and her hat opened what seemed to be a mouth, shooting green musical notes at Ace as he got up. As Ace swayed to the side to avoid the first note, I-no smiled and the note exploded with a loud /blare, sending Ace rocketing to the side.

Rolling across the ground to break his fall, Ace shot back up to his feet and charged at I-no who was coming right back at him, readying her crimson wave again. In reaction, Ace pulled back his fist as a blue flame enveloped it. Again, a name popped into his mind, as he and I-no were one meters apart.

"Chiller Bullet!"

"Stoke the Big Tree!"

They both stuck the ground at the same time. The moment Ace hit the ground, a wave of ice, growing sharp stalagmites, shot out at I-no and shoved her back before her attack could connect. Being extra cautious and simply not wanting to be tricked twice, Ace watched I-no rolled across the ground while the ice dissipated before him.

Rather than a groan or some sound of pain, a happy giggle arose from I-no as she floated to her feet without even a bruise. "Feisty. I like that."

(Aw crap… She's over there laughing while I'm sweating bullets. How the crap do I beat someone like that?) Ace quickly assumed a fighting stance again, expecting another assault from the guitarist, but rather she just smiled, laughed lightly, and swung her guitar over her shoulder.

"You were pretty good tonight, little shooter boy. Maybe I'll come looking for you again if I'm bored." Then she turned around and began walking off.

"Wait!" Ace shouted, taking one step forward before reconsidering chasing after her. "H-how do you me? Who am I!"

I-no smirked, turned back toward Ace with a mischievous smirk on her face. "Who are you? Silly boy. If I just told you, where would the fun be?" And she went off into the night, laughing to herself. Ace could only stare in disbelief at this insane woman.

Albert frantically dialed for the Bureau head council, nervous sweat running down his forehead and coating his hand, causing him to fumble with the phone several times before obtaining a firm grasp on it.

((Postwar Administration Bureau Head Office. How may I help you?))

"This is Lieutenant Albert of the Zepp section. I need to talk with the head of the board. It's very urgent."

((Just a moment please.)) The irritating 'hold music' came on immediately for about 3 minutes before another voice came on the other end. ((Hello Lieutenant.))

"Sir! I-I found something that I think you should se-"

((File Number 127: Ace Combatir, correct? You see Lieutenant, we were merely wanted you to a clue of the certain problems appearing in your area of duty.))

"Wh-what do you mean sir?"

((This is your real new assignment. You're to ensure the recapture of this subject at all costs necessary. And while you're at it, you might as well try and capture any other subjects in the vicinity, especially if they're A-ranked or higher. Failure in this matter will lead to demotion or worse.))

"I understand, sir. I'll get on it immediately. Lieutenant Albert out." And he hung up the phone.

Gem: All right! Now we're getting on making a GGX Fanfic! All right! (raises the roof)

Kora: Hmm… you think you'll get as much hate mail as that 'Take me out of the darkness' fic you did?

Gem: (glares) Rule One About GGX Ficciness! (In deep demonic voice) WE DO NOT UTTER THAT FIC'S NAME HERE!

Kora & Astar: OO … (cower)

Gem: (Back to normal) In any case, please review, give criticism or possibly ideas. I'm always open to them!