I do not own anything by IS: Infinite Stratos. All rights belong to Izuru Yumizuru, the original creator of the light novels of Infinite Stratos, the studio 8-Bit for the creation of the anime series, and Kenji Akahoshi for the creation of the manga series. This is a darker version of Infinite Stratos, but there will be some humors here and there with Ichika and the characters at the IS Academy. Parental advisory: violence, inappropriate language, crude humor, and adult themes.
You can turn the other cheek to not fight back, but in the real world, that does not work. Greed is the right morality, and compassion is a sign of weakness. The powerful is celebrated while the poor is morally wicked. Saints do not exist in the world. A sense of righteousness, a sense of duty – they're just inconveniences in life. There will never be another Charlotte Dunois, Chifuyu Orimura or Ichika Orimura. But there's always going to be another Tabane Shinonono. Another Squall Meusel. Another Madoka Orimura. In the end, we are corrupted and cruel people.
Opening song: Leo Imai – Bite
(Camera pans downwards at the highway at excess speeds before it slowly moves up towards the dark)
ID wa mottenai wasureru kanrakugai (A closeup of Liu's shoulders and black tousle hair)
Kouya wo mezashite dorojiai (Liu does a pose to show off his muscular body at downtown streets)
Watashi wa houkai ashita wa mou nai (Liu walks on the sidewalk, admiring the lights shining from the signs above him)
Ikitemo shindemo kamawanai (Various IS blueprints and tattoos fall in slow motion)
Yukisaki mo nai yume nante kanchigai (From right to left, Three Dragons' weapons are on the table as Liu's clothes hang on the racks, flowing from the wind)
Guuguu naru hara no soko shika nai (Three Dragons walks with her arms in her pocket, being stoic)
Eriito no kaoiro touttara niramiai (Three Dragons and Liu's IS are covered in shadows)
Taimatsu no hi wo tada nomihoshitai (Liu stares in the night as it zooms closer to his face)
Kamitsukasero kamitsukasero! (A closeup of a speeding silver Porsche 911 on an empty road and IS flying in the sky that switches back-to-back every second)
Ishi wo kuichigiru (The IS booster ignites fuel before it bursts)
Kamitsukasero kamitsukasero! (Front closeup of a 911 traveling excess speed and IS expanding its wings)
Suna to tsuba wo haku (Scrap metal and blood littered the concrete)
Doa wo akero doa wo akero! (The IS dives down as the car drifts on a sharp right turn)
Gomi wa moyashi tsudzuketeru (A junkyard filled with worn out metal as Three Dragons' back is turned, showing off her tattoos)
Kamitsukasero kamitsukasero! (From the IS pilot's point of view, it's diving towards the light)
Makeinu wo kuruwashita wirusu (The driver gets out of the car, revealing to be Liu before he smirks)
"Still say this is the craziest goddamn thing we're about to do - robbing an Infinite Stratos armored truck," said Liu King-sang.
Keung Shing-bong said, "You went with it when I was discussing about the robbery. But if you got doubts, why take the chance?"
"For our first time violating Alaska Treaty, that'll put us on death penalty."
"It's peanuts compared to what we're going to haul out of there."
Liu's eyebrows arched satanically. "Like we're not the only one stealing IS when Phantom Task has been doing that for ages."
Liu is a young man of average height with black tousle hair, dark brown eyes and a refined physique like a featherweight boxer. He has Yakuza style tattoos that covered his back connected to his chest and upper arms.
Keung 'Three Dragons' is an attractive young woman with purple eyes having a slender body. She had long silky black hair down to her hips. Like Liu, Keung also has tattoos on her back as she has sleeves that covered her arms. Three Dragons and Liu are members of Righteousness Union, a Triad hailed from southern China. Recently, Righteousness Union created a branch in Japan to make a name.
Liu and Three Dragons rounded the corner to the front of their white Toyota Yaris, at the tail end of a block of brick-front apartment. The curbside was void of people, which was their safe house. Liu opened the door, grabbing his bulletproof vest and black wool balaclava while he holstered his QSZ-92. He grabbed what he had in there, sliding two extra 5.8mm mags into his pants pocket.
Three Dragons pulled the balaclava over her face, doing a brass check on her Grach, emptying a box mag into her waistband, and pulling her AK-74M from its padded sleeve. "Ready?"
Liu nodded, driving. "The only thing I care about is getting our hands on those two Infinite Stratos."
Liu watched IS related news in his free time. Recently, the whole world is developing 3rd Generation IS with the 4th being in theory. The creator of IS, Tabane Shinonono is the only one that created them easily without assistance. Due to its overpowering weapon, the Alaska Treaty was enacted by nations of the world to prevent any nation to dominate each other and the IS would never be used for military combat. While it's a powerful exoskeleton, it can only be operated by women. The reason being is that Tabane created the IS "to give girls wings." With the power balance between men and women broken, there are women coming to dominate society over men. Of course, the world is not perfect as there are people that are violating the treaty for power in all forms.
Phantom Task is not the only criminal organization spreading terror with IS. Crooked individuals from big corporations, various crime syndicates are getting their hands on IS for their nefarious goals. They have no qualm corrupting pilots in exchange for large sum of money or access to government documents. An IS is still a war weapon, regardless of Alaska Treaty.
"An IS for women to feel powerful," said Liu, eating a chocolate bar.
"What a crock of shit, "said Three Dragons, drinking ginger ale.
"Humans shouldn't be the only one operating an IS. Lab nerds can develop an unmanned IS. Hell, Tabane sent them to obtain data for her projects."
"Nozomi, man," said Three Dragons, crooking her head at the road. "Ever I see her, I think of front covers on porn videos. Hands covering her chest, legs crossed tight at the ankles with mosaic on her crotch. Nozomi will fuck any man she could get her hands on. Recently, she's hopping on Yakuza and Triad for the sake of getting the IS core."
"Last time that happened," chewed Liu.
"Think about her mouth and where it's been," said Three Dragons.
"Don't," said Liu, his mouth full.
"That woman could give a metal soup spoon VD."
Liu said, garbled, "Let me swallow first, for Pete's sake."
"You know she had to be checked before she can fuck?" Three Dragons took a mouthful of ginger ale and chugged it. "Think of a horny Yakuza man shower drain trap, all gooey and hairy- that's Nozomi's tonsils."
"Three Dragons, stop!" protested Liu, choking down his food.
Three Dragons chuckled and pointed at Liu. "Learn to laugh at a story for once. You're always so tense."
Liu shook his head. "Whatever! The thing is, I can't operate an IS, and you said that Tabane can un-fuck her mess to make me compatible."
"Maybe. It depends if the rabbit can back up her arrogance."
"Tabane better not dig under her rabbit hole after this."
"What? You have no faith for the creator?"
"Hell yeah I have no faith in her. I don't trust someone like her to keep up the bargain after she let Madoka stab Ichika in the gut."
"Ye of little faith."
At an afternoon rural highway, there are hardly any cars passing through, except a silver Mercedes coupe blocking the path of an Isuzu armored truck. Two of Liu's masked gangsters Yang and Fu are hiding, waiting for the right moment to strike. They were also packing pistols with their finger off the trigger. Liu and Three Dragons parked at the side, hiding behind the hatchback. Hearts beating from the gangsters since this is their first major crime they will commit. They only get one shot at this, or they will face a death penalty for the heinous act. Liu habitually scanned the highway for snoops if the truck had a hidden backup squad.
All alone, he told himself, clutching his pistol inside the pockets of his pants, pretending he was contented. All he had to do was watch for the guards to exit and make his move. He lowered his head like a civilian and wait. Two minutes pass, the guards are still inside the truck, wondering why there's a seemingly abandoned car. Liu was breathing deeply through his mask, trying to get amped up.
His blood warmed towards his broad muscles of his arms tingling. He rapped the forehead of his balaclava with his pistol barrel and shook out the sweat. He was at the height of his powers.
Three Dragons stood across from him like a mirror. The clean brown leather jacket exposing over the armored vest, the pistol in her hand, and her face was concealed by the mask with eyes two dark sockets.
"We're killing daytime," said Liu.
"No, no," Three Dragons smiled. "We're going to pull this off, no matter what it takes."
The woman was right the moment the armed guards got off the van. Target on sight, the Mercedes gangsters take action. The crack of the gunshot echoed at the highway.
One round struck a guard to the ground, but his body armor protected him as he returned fire. His partner fired five rounds behind the door. Liu and Three Dragons discharged their guns, and the guards were not cannon fodders.
The guard shouted from his shoulder radio. "37-50 we're being shot up!"
Three Dragons opened up on it, breaking the mirror, shards of metal clattering to the pavement. The echo of her fire was tremendous at the highway, Liu standing on his ground, backing off and appearing every five seconds. Three Dragons sprayed another volley at the mouth, then turned, firing angry bursts at the passenger side as she stayed close to Liu.
Bright rounds ricocheted off the cars, a disorienting salvo. Liu's pals outran these sparkling bees toward Liu as Liu opened up, blasting covering fire at nothing but armored doors. He squeezed the trigger too tight, the QSZ-92 jumping and coughing in his hand, the sound resembling fireworks in a parade. Then Three Dragons leaped and together they folded the corner.
Liu broke off his empty magazine and reloaded, hurling curses.
"Goddamn it!" said Liu, edging away from the guards. "Backup will cut us down the moment the guards called them in. We need to speed this up."
"What the hell!" said Yang, leaning out, spraying the truck with fire, then reclining back again, the Tokarev smoking. "Fucking pinned! "Goddamn motherfucking piece-of-shit!"
Nine gunshots shattered from the truck, Liu twisting and yelling, falling backward to the road.
Three Dragons crouched, looking around crazily, then grabbed Liu's shoulder and dragged him to the side of the rear left tire. Liu had been hit from the chest, and Three Dragons peered back toward the Toyota.
Liu breathed abnormally, checking his chest. His vest had saved him, but the pain was unbearable.
Then more cracks over their heads. Yang and Fu were slowly being pushed back as the guards stood on their ground. Three Dragons opened up at the windshield, wasting rounds, the ricochets pelting the floor near Liu. Liu shouted at Three Dragons, but for now, he knows where the shots came from.
Three Dragons was getting sick of the guards being persistent as she falls back again.
Liu went next to Three Dragons, sticking his arms against the roof and firing, the 5.8mm going crack-crack-crack.
Three Dragons whipped out her AK-74M to show power dominance over the guards and fired fully auto. The sound of her Russian weapon was louder than the combined pistols. She filled the passageway with fire and noise.
The guards who should have known better rushed backwards and wasted bullets against the Toyota windshield.
Three Dragons was spraying rounds at the guards scrambling like ducks. "Come on, you sister-fucking-cunts! I'll send you back to wherever you come from – at your mother's asshole!"
She fired shots again, rap-rap-rap at two guards backpedaling until they fell into the road. Those that were breathing fled the scene. They were outgunned by Three Dragons' sheer firepower. Three Dragons just kept asserting herself, reloading, and dumped more fire for her gangsters to make room.
Three Dragons advanced towards the truck. Yang and Fu slowly approached, surveying potential backup hidden in the cargo. The former opened the latch to see two 3rd Generation exoskeletons.
The coast was clear, and the gangsters accomplished their robbery. The final step to really complete it was for Tabane to reverse engineer the second exoskeleton to be male compatible. Liu hopped in the intact Mercedes, following the armored truck back to the safehouse.
"Holy fucking shit," said Liu through his radio. "We pulled it off."
"We got the loot," said Fu, removing his balaclava. "I'm sleeping on a bed of titties. I don't care what the hell it costs."
Three Dragons cracked up laughing. "We're going to be powerful! Shit!"
"I'm robbing people with a six-gun!"
"I fought the law…and the law lost!"
"The law can kiss my ass!"
The gangsters had the right to be cocky with the loot as they were laughing along the way. Being humble was not their way to go. It was smooth sailing, feeling like they are nobles.
Back at the safe house, they removed their gear and unloaded the two exoskeletons while Liu is grabbing shot glasses and corn whiskey from the top shelf. Three Dragons waited for Tabane to arrive anytime soon.
"Where's Tabane?" said Yang. "Anyone see her?"
"No," Three Dragons answered. "Trust me, Tabane will be here."
"We could be celebrating right now, but we can't leave Liu behind of not being a pilot."
"Tabane doesn't care what happens to her IS."
"She'll help anyone out because she can do whatever the hell she pleases."
"Treating the world like a playground with no rules."
Three Dragons sat at the table, watching Liu pouring shots of corn whiskey. "You must be itching to pilot an IS."
"You're goddamn right I do."
"You know, our entire life there has been always been someone standing over us, giving orders to where we can go, what we could do, who we could be see with. But this. What we done today, this changes everything. Money isn't the main concern. This is power. Real power and freedom. A message to those that stepped over us. Righteousness Union is to be reckoning with. No one is standing over us again."
Tabane appeared out of nowhere. "Fui fui! Nice motivating speech to cheer your friends up."
"Where did you come from?!" said Liu in disbelief.
"Do you mind pouring one more of those~?"
Three Dragons poured a shot to Tabane. "It'll be my pleasure."
Tabane smiled like a child. "I've witnessed it went sideways during the stickup. You had to save your friends' butts. You should be proud of yourselves. I enjoy watching events unfold around my IS's."
Liu said, "We are, Tabane. More than you'll ever know. Now make me compatible with an IS."
"Jesus! That's some down-home hooch right there, isn't it?"
Tabane typed at superhuman speed, showing off her genius while she hummed. To think that Houki, Ichika, and Chifuyu are the only three people that have meaning to her, it was not entirely true. Tabane will help anyone out for an IS, regardless of who they are, what they've done, or what their intentions may be. To call her cocky fits the description for her because Tabane frequently refers to herself as "Tabane the Genius."
In less than two minutes, Tabane finished reverse engineering the IS for Liu to be the next male pilot. "All set! Give me something good in return."
"Here you go," said Three Dragons, holding a tray of pastries. "I figured that you like sweets."
The rabbit takes a bite of a Pain au chocolat. "Mmm! So yummy. The chocolate is sweet, puff pastry is made fresh. The French never disappoint me with their bakery."
"We couldn't have done it without you, Tabane."
Tabane smiled icily. "Oh you're making me blush. All of you have done right by me tonight because Chifuyu isn't snooping around me again~"
"What do you mean?" asked Liu.
"I wanted Chifuyu back in action when my baby sister Houki challenged her. Houki fatally damaged Chifuyu and her IS Kurezakura. It's not enough, so I let Three Dragons off two pilots that were Chifuyu's students."
"Business is more important than friendship. Too bad the Brunhilde doesn't get it. Isn't that right, Tabane?"
The wind that blew the headline let out a roar after Three Dragons turned around, and Tabane disappeared.
During the celebration, Three Dragons turned to Liu. "Together, we can start a new era for Righteousness Union with these Infinite Stratos. Liu, my friend, my ally, you're the baddest motherfucker I'd laid my eyes on, but you shouldn't have told the others."
Blam!
Three Dragons shot Liu in the gut, staggering him in shock. Before Yang and Fu can react, Three Dragon squeezed two blasts high. They flew back and spilled hard into the floor. Liu rolled over in the cold floor with his chest bucking as his throat groaned for air. Liu passed out from his gunshot wound. He had been betrayed by his close friend. Three Dragons had no misgivings over betraying her friendship.
She flicks her lighter and threw it on the counter to break loose end. Three Dragons took the two IS back to the truck, and drove off.
The fire was slowly consuming the room, Liu drifted in and out of consciousness, weakly glanced at his deceased friends. Liu hobbled away from the firehole to prioritize his life first. Liu was still in shock of the betrayal. Liu got out of the burning safehouse before he collapsed again.
The ringing in Liu's ears was his mind screaming as he picked himself up off the road and stumbled on. His thoughts too shrill to even observe what had happened.
He was trying to understand what it was he was feeling, until he realized – he felt nothing in him but vengeance. As though he had anything to run to now. As thought he had anything to run for.
Liu blacked out for the last time, seemingly all alone. He thought to himself dying like this, a terrible way to end it. His IS snatched away from Three Dragons before he even got the chance to test run. All hope seemed lost for the promising Triad pilot. If Liu ever see her again, he will plant her to the ground.
Ichika was in the skies, surveying the city from above. Ichika saw a burning safehouse a mile away as he rushed towards it. Before he can get there, the blue boy saw Liu lying face down on the pavement. Pool of blood covered the curbside, his instincts kicked in to save him.
Ichika turned onto a channel. "Chifuyu-nee! I found a man in dire need for help."
Liu could only hear Ichika, pondering if he will make it or not.
Send everything we got to the burning building, there could be people inside!
Hang in there, don't you die out on me…
It's been a while since I'm back writing. This is just the beginning. Prepare to go dark, the stakes have been higher. It shines a light on the changing nature of IS. When it falls into the wrong hands, or finding loopholes to violate Alaska Treaty, all bets are off.