IS Nine Ball
Disclaimer: I do not own Armored Core or Infinite Stratos.
AN: Before I begin I'll answer a question from KH-Hardcorefan4483 in his review after the last chapter: Yes the Nine Ball AC/IS will have the chest laser like the ACE: R counterpart but with the cost of some of its shield as a drawback. As for the orbital cannon? I'm still on the fence about that because I don't want Nine Ball to be way too powerful because he can easily slaughter every IS pilot even certain Phantom Task pilots but then Nine Ball has always been an overpowered SOB to begin with, so I digress. Whether I add the orbital cannon or not will be decided soon.
Chapter 2
Undisclosed Location
"You want me to enroll in the IS Academy? Are you fucking insane?"
"No I am not insane Mr. Santos. This is a mission for you, I want you to keep an eye on Ichika Orimura."
"And why do you need me to keep watch of Chifuyu's brother and play bodyguard?"
"Phantom Task still have plans for Ichika and even his sister based on the intel we got from a survivor of your last massacre."
"Is that so? Anything else?"
"Also I want you to be properly educated. And before you say that Germany covered that, what I mean is be more educated about the IS itself. You may have created Nine Ball and know the basics but you still need to be more knowledgeable about the IS itself if you want your creation to surpass it."
Santos sighed in frustration. The man talking to him was right. He needed to get more educated about the IS, even if he was a natural born genius that was able to just use the basics and still be a force to be reckoned with. Still he wouldn't have been in this mess if not for certain people he knew.
"You know the only reason why I wasn't that educated on the basics was because of those ass hats and the glorified bitch. Let's not forget that they are part of the those greedy bastards out there that want Nine Ball and that woman is a member of staff at the fucking academy."
"I know that. You told me about your story more times than I can count. Besides you can stop hiding and use this chance to prove that you can be just as good if not better than a woman in an IS and also show how inferior the IS is."
"Didn't Ichika Orimura already prove that when they found out he could pilot an IS? Not to mention when he beat that girl from England, Cecilia Alcott?"
"He only messed up the status quot of the world. You however did more than that an IS just as. Or didn't that massacre all those years ago prove that?"
"Yeah, yeah I get your point...You know what? Fine I'll go but if anyone messes with me then they're dead."
"Glad to hear it though I'd advise against killing everyone that pisses you off. You're already in enough hot water as it is and you wouldn't need any more heat on you. Germany can only help you out so much without incriminating themselves."
"Fine..."
...
IS Academy, The Next Day
'I so hate you right now Kazuto!'
As soon as Santos had entered the IS academy campus he had many female eyes on him...ogling him like he's a delicious piece of meat. And it was making him very uncomfortable...
The girls were looking at what they'd call a bishonen with his red hair that looks like blood, black and red eyes that looked like obsidian and ruby and an athletic body.
Nervously the boy waved at them which he was about to regret.
"KYAAA! He waved at us!" The girls screamed with hearts in their eyes.
'Yes Kazuto! I really, really hate you right now!' The young man thought. Santos definitely did not want to be in the presence of these girls, ready to pounce on him like predators. 'Exit stage left!'
The German wasted no time in making himself scarce before the girls got any idea.
...
"Hello, I'm Dominick Santos, I'd like to say that I'm pleased to meet you all but that remains to be seen." Dominick greeted the class as politely as he could, though inside he wanted to be nowhere near anyone in this class, especially the crazy girls looking at him right now. He wore the same uniform the male IS students wore but he had on a black and red trench coat over it and on his neck was a necklace with a cross hanging on it.
Chifuyu Orimura, the teacher of the class, thought she was seeing a ghost from the past. She knew who this young man really was. His real name was Shin Kusanagi, and he was the younger brother of one of her good friends Yami Kusanagi, an IS pilot whose skills was on par with her and now a teacher of another class in the IS academy. She knew about the fallout that happened in Yami's family after the reveal of the IS and how the brother violently broke away from the family and was never seen for almost a decade. Now he's back and as a student in the IS academy and also the third male able to pilot an IS with Charles Dunois and Ichika Orimura being the other two males.
But why would he come here? What is his motive? And why the change?
Dominick turned his attention to the two other males in the classroom. 'Ichika Orimura, the one I need to keep an eye on. 'Charles' Dunois? Really?! Nice try but you're not fooling me with that get up, Charlotte.' he thought as he went to take his seat beside 'Charles'.
After homeroom was over, Chifuyu informed the students to suit up as there were going out for practical training. She told Ichika to show Dominick and Charles to the males' locker room. As they left the classroom Dominick hid the frown on his face as he noticed his teacher's suspicious gaze.
'Seems that she already recognizes me. Not surprising since she's friends with that bitch. She also suspects that I'm after Ichika. How wrong she is?' Dominick thought.
...
In the practice stadium all the students lined up in different rows in their 'suits'. Santos' was a red full body suit that covered most of his body except his head and hands and also showed off his athletic body to the girls who were eyeing him hungrily, much to his annoyance.
"Is this a recurring theme here?" Dominick asked Ichika.
"You have no idea..." Ichika answered with a sigh before he faced Dominick. "Name's Ichika Orimura. Nice to meet you Dominick. I'm surprised to know of another guy who can pilot the IS." He offered Dominick a handshake. The German shrugged before accepting it.
"Nice to meet you too Ichika. Well I only showed up after my guardian mentioned of another male like me who could pilot the IS and decided to have me enrolled here." Dominick said.
"Orimura! Santos! Get in line!" Chifuyu ordered.
...
Rin and Cecilia Alcott were then instructed by Chifuyu to get ready for a mock battle against an opponent of higher caliber. Something that Dominick was eager to see.
"Watch out! Get out of the way!" came a panicked voice from above. Everyone looked up to see a certain green haired teacher coming down erratically...and towards Ichika.
"You heard her! Move it!" For some reason that he had no idea of, Dominick rushed towards Ichika and shoved the panicking human statue out of the way and instead Dominick ended up being crashed on by the falling person.
After the impact and the smoke cleared Dominick shook the dizziness out of his head and then found himself in a quaint position. On top of the green haired woman while his hand was on the woman's large breast.
"Uhm…Santos-san..." Maya Yamada spoke up to the third male IS pilot, "I didn't know that you wanted to be this close with me..."
Dominick quickly jumped as he let go of the woman's breast. "Um...Sorry about that. Won't happen again." he said quickly. Suddenly a beam of light suddenly flew by him from his right side and he turned to see that the offender was Cecilia Alcott.
"That's too bad… I missed." The blonde English girl said with sarcasm drooling all over and a tick on her head.
"But I won't!" Dominick said as he partially deployed a robotic arm which had a Pulse rifle on it and aimed at her. No one attacks him without repercussion!
"Pervert!" Rin yelled out as she combined both her blades and flung them right at Dominick, who responded by shooting the blades away with precise shots from his Pulse rifle, much to the surprise of everyone including a prone Maya Yamada that was about to intervene with her rifle.
'Such precision and calm. He's definitely no ordinary student.' Maya thought after seeing Dominick's skill with his weapon.
"I knew that you were about to intervene but it wasn't necessary though I'd give you my thanks for trying." Dominick said to the instructor, then he turned to Rin and Cecilia, "And you two have better be more careful about who you attack!" After issuing that warning he walked back into line and had everyone's eyes on him much to his annoyance once more. "What are you all looking at?! Pay attention to the lesson!"
That managed to get Chifuyu to get things back in swing as she got the duel between Miss Yamada and Cecilia and Rin started.
"Dunois!" Chifuyu called out to the blonde male, "Tell everyone about the IS Yamada-sensei is using."
"Oh, oui...Yamada-sensei's IS is a Rafale Revive from the Dunois Company, my family's company. It's a machine developed at the end of the Second Generation, but its specs rival that of the early Third Generation machines." He explained as everyone watched the battle above them. Maya was easily dodging the shots from Rin's concussion cannons and Cecilia's shield bits.
'Seraph, you getting this?' Dominick asked his AI partner.
"Of course. In fact I'm gathering data about it and also the Blue Tears the one known as Alcott is using." Seraph replied.
'Good. Keep doing that.' Dominick said before closing off the link.
"By changing the equipment, it can be configured for all types, including physical combat, sniper role and defense." Charles continued.
Cecilia dodged Maya's shots from her sniper rifle, causing the English girl to unexpectedly crash into Rin, giving the instructor enough time to deploy her grenade launcher and fire a single shot at them, blowing them up and sending them crashing into the ground in defeat and creating a small crater.
"Ow! How could I…" Cecilia muttered.
"She easily read your movements like a book that it's silly!" Rin interrupted.
"Like you're one to talk!" Cecilia retorted, "You're the one who is shooting your weapons like an idiot!"
"You're both pathetic!" Dominick spoke up, irritated by the bickering, "Your non-existent teamwork's the reason why you two got your asses beat so easily! Maybe if you had that you may have had a chance against the teacher."
"Why you..." Both Cecilia and Rin growled.
"What was that? Did I hit a nerve or do you two want a piece of me? If so I won't mind taking the two of you on." Dominick taunted.
"Enough! You should understand the ability of the teachers now. Show some respect." Chifuyu cut in as Maya landed, "Next we will be practicing the IS controls. Divide into groups with those with personal IS as leaders. That includes you Dominick since you could pull off a partial deployment."
With that Dominick groaned in frustration and face palmed as he found himself surrounded by a group of very eager girls all vying for his attention.
"Welcome to the man heap Charles, Dominick." Ichika said.
'Man heap my ass!' Dominick thought. 'How about an Amazonian hell?' Then an idea came to him which he smiled at before looking at the girls in his group.
"You girls want a live demonstration of an IS in action?" he asked getting nods from all the girls, "Well how about I show you how in my own IS?"
"You sure you want to do that partner?" Seraph asked as the AI had a bad feeling about this action.
'It's not like I can hide it forever Seraph.' Dominick replied.
"And cue the panic attack and insanity." Seraph deadpanned.
Dominick tapped the cross on his necklace and was surrounded by light for a few seconds before he reappeared in his IS and then the reactions came as certain people instantly recognized the IS suit and its familiar emblem.
'N-n-nine Ball! Santos-san is the pilot of Nine Ball?!' Maya panicked as she saw the intimidating IS in its red and black color scheme and with its deadly arsenal. The other students moved away from Dominick as his IS also intimidated them too.
"Of all the people to pilot Nine Ball it had to be him...why..." Chifuyu sighed but mentally she was worried about how her friend Yami would take this news, that her younger brother was the most wanted person in the world and the pilot of the most wanted IS.
'So he's the pilot of the notorious Nine Ball?' Charles thought, 'If that man knew he was here he'd be salivating right now.'
"You're that pilot that helped us when that rogue IS attacked?" Ichika asked in shock.
"Yes I am, Ichika. And in case you're wondering the IS is called Nine Ball which I have a feeling a few people here know about." Dominick said. Next thing he knew Maya, Rin and Cecilia now in their IS were pointing their weapons at him. "Really? Do you really want to do this?"
"Well you and your IS are wanted by everyone in the world including the UN." Chifuyu said as she walked up towards Dominick, "And I'd like to know what you're doing here before I have you detained."
"Me? I'm just here as a student in this fine institution, nothing more or less." Dominick replied casually, "And do you really want to risk trying to detain me? You'd only be sending your people to their deaths including putting your students at risk, considering that you know what I can do."
"Are you sure you can take on all the staff in the school by yourself? Even if your IS is powerful you can't take on everyone in the academy." Chifuyu asked with a grin. That grin left quickly when she saw an even more scary grin on Dominick's face as he brought up a hologram that showed the map and a blinking dot on it and the words 'LOCK ON'.
"Of course I can." Dominick replied, "Do you see this? That dot's the IS academy which has been targeted by an orbital cannon that I have programmed already. Try anything stupid and this place becomes a crater."
"You'd actually take us all hostage?!" Chifuyu asked in shock. Everyone else too was in the same boat as her, seeing that someone like him would resort to that.
"I would do it if you don't let me just finish my term as a student here. I don't want to resort to this but you're giving me no other options." Dominick stated, "So here's how it goes down, you let me stay here as a student for the required 3 years without trying anything foolish, we'll have no problem and after 3 years I'm out of your hands. If not then sayonara to you all. And I mean it, I'll know if info about me gets leaked out I won't hesitate to blow this place to kingdom come. Your move."
To be continued...