Mediziner's Notes: I honestly don't know if attempting a cliffhanger was good, or if I should do this more often... What do you lot think? I tried my best on this fight sequence... I'm not very good at it tbh but I didn't want to make it too short that many people seem to do... But I fear I might've made it longer than I'd like it, I think. Also what's this? An early chapter of TLW!? Yup, I wanted to originally get this done in a single or two sitting, but I had a hard time ending the chapter... I'm terrible at both starting and ending a chapter... Yup...
The Leader Within Cover Art is drawn and commissioned by Erilmadith-Everyoung on DeviantART. You can also find Radiant Prism's full reference there, too.
Enjoy!
...
No matter what the three combiners did, nothing seemed to work. There were moments where they've managed to land hits on Shapeshifter but other times, it'd dodge their attacks. J-Decker grew concerned, he'd noticed that some of the attacks that aimed for particular parts of the bio-machine's body were suspicious. It had all sorts of attacks thrown at them in response whenever they've missed or struck parts of their body they could care less and 'repair' itself, and every small plan they thought of failed at every turn. "We need to distract it somehow!" Yuuta told him. "Maybe if there's some way we can keep it still so Duke Fire can use the Max Cannon on it!"
"Even if that's the case, I'm not sure how we can do that with this bio-machine in partic- Aghk!" J-Decker didn't have enough time to react when Shapeshifter suddenly stretched out one of it's arms and struck him before he could react to the incoming attack as he flew backwards. With the aid of his wing thrusters, he managed to quickly recover and return himself back into the fight just as he witnessed Super Build Tiger charging with his drill punch attack, dashing at Shapeshifter who began to deform partially to avoid Super Build Tiger's attacks. 'It's fast... Out of all the bio-machines, this is the fastest we've seen. How are we going to stop it...?' He studied Shapeshifter's moves as Super Build Tiger continued attacking and trying to hit his target. Compared to his and Aerial Radiance's attack, Shapeshifter didn't seem to flinch or care much if it got hit, but with Super Build Tiger being far bigger than the both of them were causing it to avoid the attacks. '...Hm, it might be possibly similar to the criminal Yuuta and I looked into years ago involving the theft of the sculptor's artwork.' J-Decker began scanning, trying to find something to give him and the others some sort of advantage. 'No good, I can't get a lock on to where the weak point is!' Electric baton at the ready, J-Decker waited for the moment to strike as he quietly instructed Super Build Tiger to have the bio-machine's back turned to him explaining he has a plan.
With careful timing, Super Build Tiger quickly grabbed onto Shapeshifter after it dodged his attack, which took a lot out of the combiner to keep the bio-machine steady. "Now! J-Decker!"
The white and black combiner ascended upwards just a few meters before coming down on Shapeshifter, police baton vertically piercing into the center of the body the moment Super Build Tiger quickly got out of the way. "Yeah! You got it, J-Decker! ...Huh? Why isn't it...?"
"Foolish Brave Police, I cannot be killed as easily as you think! I was created to ensure no weaknesses were easily accessible!" An extra pair of arms would sprout out of it's back and wrap around J-Decker, constricting his movement as he was hoisted upwards while it moved away with a leap, using it's incredible strength to then throw the combiner straight at Super Build Tiger as the two Braves collided. Chuckling, Shapeshifter stood on two legs, looking down at J-Decker's police baton still embedded into his torso. "No matter what you throw at me, what you do, or even flee... You're all going to perish!" With one of it's large clawed servo, it took hold of the police baton and pulled it out, leaving a hole exposed momentarily before it began to regenerate. Aerial Radiance attempted to strike with her sword with a momentum driven dive, missing when it dodged but was pummeled into the ground. "Hm, I was expecting more of a challenge Radiant Prism. Even in this form, you're still nothing but a weakling who needs to be put out of their misery." As both combiners recovered and got back up, Super Build Tiger in particular noticed something just before the hole started to close up entirely but didn't fully catch what it was due to Shapeshifter's body masking whatever was concealed before he could scan what it was that he saw.
'...This is bad.' He thought, looking over at J-Decker briefly as Aerial Radiance held her ground against their opponent. "J-Decker, that hole you made when you struck Shapeshifter... I saw something."
"What is it?" When Super Build Tiger explained what he believed he saw, J-Decker's oil ran cold at this discovery. He didn't want to believe it, but the Brave Police wouldn't lie about a serious matter let alone laugh it off. The fact that there was possibly hostages involved... "We can't risk it." He said after a moment, proceeding to contact Duke Fire.
"Duke Fire, this is J-Decker. Both you and Gunmax Armour need to come down and assist. I'm afraid we won't be using the Fire Max Cannon, not while there are possible hostages inside according to Super Build Tiger."
-What? We're on our way down to assist as best as we can.- Came Duke Fire's response.
Aerial Radiance charged towards Shapeshifter but quickly stopped her momentum when she heard Yuuta give the command for J-Decker and Duke Fire to brave up into Fire J-Decker. 'No! What are those two doing!? We need the Max Cannon!' She quickly turned back to Shapeshifter, who lunged at her all while calling out how she was being too slow.
"What are you doing!? We need the Max Cannon!"
"Change of plans, Aerial Radiance!" Fire J-Decker exclaimed. "We can't use the Max Cannon, Super Build Tiger spotted humans inside the bio-machine!"
Aerial Radiance was stunned, he'd known how low Shapeshifter stood, but to the extent of carrying humans somewhere in it's body. She had no doubt that Shapeshifter despite the language barrier, picked up on them finding out it has humans within it's armoured frame. "Have you identified who's trapped inside? I never thought that the trio would stoop lower than common thieves...!" She asked, wondering if perhaps the criminals were behind this dirty stunt. She kept attacking while in turn dodging Shapeshifter's attacks, not daring to let them get the satisfaction of eliminating her. While her sword swings were more agile and quicker than that of Duke Fire or Fire J-Decker, she still couldn't land even a slight scratch. No amount of slashes and thrusts she threw seem to cut anything... At least in the arms or legs, avoiding the torso otherwise she'd risk killing the hostages. "No, I didn't have time to scan who was contained inside. We need to find out again if we can try to make another hole in Shapeshifter and expose a limb or two.
As they fought, Aerial Radiance noticed how extensive the damage became around her and the others. The number of times that the others and herself were either sent crashing into things, or smashed into the ground told her that she couldn't risk anymore harm to the surrounding area. She tried a few swings, but then intended to lure Shapeshifter towards the air by taking off, but the bio-machine was quick in grabbing and slamming her down to the ground in an iron grip pin.
"Aerial Radiance!" J-Decker exclaimed.
"Ah ah, Brave Police. I wouldn't think about it." Shapeshifter chuckled as the Brave Police trained their weapons on it. "Heh, do that and you'll hit Radiant Prism. I'm sure neither of you wouldn't want to hurt your precious little soon-to-be-killed friend now, would you?" It's tone would then turn more sinister and cold. "Try anything, and I'll kill her swiftly before any of you could react." J-Decker hesitated, his aim shaking until eventually he ordered his team to stand down. Gunmax Armour cursed that he wasn't going to let Shapeshifter have the satisfaction of toying with him and the others, training his shotgun but only for Kagerou to force him to lower his weapon.
Completely restrained, Aerial Radiance cried out in pain with every strike, every impact Shapeshifter brought down on her. Dents were starting to form and become more visible with each strike. Struggling to break free so she could fight back but couldn't break free of the metal goop restraining her arms and legs. "Yes! Let me hear more! The more the better until you are no more!" Laughed Shapeshifter. "This is your fate. No, this has been your fate since the beginning! Those idiots should have finished you off while you were in your most vulnerable state, yet they've failed me over... And over... AND OVER!" The bio-machine began slamming Aerial Radiance against the ground, it's upper hulking arms turning into blades. "But no more running away, no more cowardice! They've forced me to deal with you myself!"
"Urgh... Where... Where are those criminals!?" Aerial Radiance coughed.
"Oh, they were dealt with... Permanently." Shapeshifter chuckled, proceeding to leave a few puncture marks, digging the sharp ends of it's arms and carving lines haphazardly. "Nothing more than worthless trash. They too chose to flee one time too many... Just as you have!" Aerial Radiance cried out once again when Shapeshifter slammed her into the ground again.
"I'm not running, not anymore." Aerial Radiance struggled. "I intend to fully see you and those criminals brought to justice even if it means I'll perish no matter where I am in the world. Tch- Even if I'm out of the country!" Strained Aerial Radiance, noticing something small poking out of the center of the head, revealing what appeared to be a simple angular shaped device. 'Is that what's containing it's Super A.I.? If so...' She thought.
"Oh I know you won't run, and no one can save you this time around and I will ensure that once I eliminate your friends, there will be no one who will mourn your death!" Shapeshifter raised it's blade-like arms, ready to land the killing blow as it bellowed a hysterical laugh. "Die, Radiant Prism!"
Aerial Radiance braced, glancing away as the first thing she heard were the others calling for her. But just before the bladed arm could make contact, the sound of whooshing air could be heard for a moment until something struck Shapeshifter as she turned to see an explosion had been the cause followed by a barrage of missiles, immediately recognising where they were coming from as jets flew past them overheard. The Brave Police were quick to know that the Land Defence Forces came to help and when the jets made their turn, they fired more missiles. This time, the impact of the missiles were enough to stun Shapeshifter that it's grip had loosened enough to allow Aerial Radiance to quickly use her sword to try and aim for the small shape she saw, but missed her target when it retracted the part she was aiming for back somewhere into it's body. Knowing she had to be quick, she immediately headbutted the bio-machine as it recoiled with a loud shriek.
Knowing it would be stunned momentarily, Aerial Radiance punched straight into the bio-machine's torso, digging around until she felt something and grabbed something and quickly pulled it out of it's body.
"Hurry Aerial Radiance, get out of there before- Look out!" Aerial Radiance noticed a missile coming down as Shapeshifter quickly retreated out of the missile's path the moment it recovered and Aerial Radiance quickly rolled to avoid taking the brunt of the oncoming missile, taking a bit of damage when it impacted relatively close to her as she shields the humans she successfully extracted from the blast. 'I need to get away quick!' Getting up, Aerial Radiance limped away towards her friends as jets flew by, launching more missiles in the direction of the bio-machine when it tried to go after her.
"Aerial Radiance, are you alright?" Fire J-Decker exclaimed.
"I am, but I can't move much on the ground since it's got me in the leg. Moving around on land isn't going to do me any good... And-" On looking at the humans in her servo, she was taken aback at who the humans were. "Wait... These are the criminals Uwe and Eberhard..." She took notice of Kagerou approaching, knowing that he's come to take them off her servos, letting the Shadow Detective take them from her. "Damn that bio-machine, even if they're criminals it used them as human shields! I don't know if they're still alive but that may mean Shapeshifter has the third of the trio! Fire J-Decker, we need to get them back, I don't know how long they've been inside Shapeshifter's body."
"RADIANT PRISM!"
Turning her attention, Aerial Radiance gripped her sword tightly on seeing Shapeshifter come after her, now sporting a pair of wings and morphed one of it's arms into a sword's blade. Immediately, she took off into the skies, causing Fire J-Decker to step back slightly upon her suddenly flying off. "Wait, Aerial Radiance! You can't fight in your current state!"
-Tell the military to stand down, Fire J-Decker! Even in this condition, this is going to be my fight! I may not be as equally fast as the bio-machine, but I'm far more faster in the skies than on land or in the sea!- Called out Aerial Radiance through the comms.
"She won't be able to take the bio-machine on her own, not in that condition." Super Build Tiger exclaimed. "We should act quickly before the bio-machine tries the same stunt again."
"I agree. Gunmax Armour, come with me."
"Okay!" The three combiners flew upwards to catch up with Aerial Radiance and Shapeshifter but they found that it wouldn't be as simple to reach both of them due to their incredible speed. Among the chaos, they could hear the latter insult and claim to Radiant Prism that she should have given up and accept her death, it's voice clearly growing delusional with her still being alive and how she was giving her all to keep herself from getting herself killed despite the extensive injuries all over her body. At a brief glance, the bio-machine grew even more furious with the three other combiners' appearance but did not engage them. Both sides were quick, far too quick which gave it more of an advantage to avoid them trying to get int he way.
"I can't even see where the fight is, first they're there, then over there... And over there..." Gunmax Armour frowned, turning his attention to the two larger combiners. "You two should have something we can try?"
"If Shapeshifter weren't so quick, I'd attempt to use the Drill Punch or the Tiger Gimlet." Super Build Tiger pointed out. "But if Aerial Radiance continues to maintain that speed...
"...She will eventually tire out. Even in our combined forms, we need to avoid using our power in one go." Deckerd said over his and Duke's combined form, with Duke following suit. "The more we overwork ourselves, the more overheated we'll become. We need to find a way to slow those two down, because I fear that might be what Shapeshifter intends to do and considering it doesn't really have in the way of a body..."
"Which could mean it doesn't have to worry about overheating." Dumpson added.
"Damn it, if only Shapeshifter could stand still and give us a shot to line up so we can take it out!" Power Joe cursed, only for McCrane to point out that even if they could line up a shot, they have one last human to worry about, and they couldn't detect where the last criminal was within it's body thanks to the jamming signal. As the combiners talked, Yuuta was concentrating on Aerial Radiance and Shapeshifter's battle. After a few more seconds, that's when he brightened up.
"Everyone, I've got an idea!" He announced.
"What is it, Yuuta?" Fire J-Decker asked.
"Since we couldn't use the Max Cannon before, maybe now we can while Aerial Radiance is distracting Shapeshifter. We'll have to wait until the right moment when it stops or Aerial Radiance somehow stops it from moving around." He explained. "But it's not going to be Fire J-Decker using the Max Cannon, Duke Fire will use it."
"Eh? Boss, unlike J-Decker I can only use it while I'm on the ground, I won't be able to keep myself airborne from the knock back when I fire the Max Cannon." Duke pointed out.
"And that's where either J-Decker or Super Build Tiger can keep you steady when you fire it! Okay, so this is how the plan is going to go..."
...
Their swords clashing at every second, Aerial Radiance remained on high alert. She's tried everything and no matter what she did, the wounds she'd manage to inflict on Shapeshifter would always regenerate, and there were moments where she had to hold back when the bio-machine positioned itself where her strikes would aim for the torso rather than other parts of the body, causing her to hold back as she caught on that he was trying to make her kill Hans who was still trapped inside him. "Tch! You're nothing but a coward using the lives of humans as your shield!" Shapeshifter could only chuckle, then laugh hysterically. "You really don't get it, do you, Radiant Prism? We're machines being used by these filthy humans to do their dirty work all for 'the greater good of the world'? Heh, I'm merely a tool for the one who created me and even you and the other Brave Police are tools too! Tools get used up and in time where they'll eventually throw them away, including the Brave Police."
Aerial Radiance was taken aback at Shapeshifter's words. Those words sounded almost like...
"No, we're not tools!" Aerial Radiance pointed her sword towards Shapeshifter. "Yes, we are robots created by human hands but it doesn't mean that we're to be eventually discarded like trash! We were built to keep mankind safe from all sorts of crime and natural disasters! Perhaps maybe you're just misguided because whoever created you has warped your thoughts to believe so!" Aerial Radiance swung her sword to her side. "I may not know who or what built you, but you don't have to do this!"
"You're naive, Radiant Prism. A naive and a foolish malfunctioning Brave who doesn't deserve to live!" Shapeshifter then charged forth in a blur, intending to slice Aerial Radiance who braced and attempted to counterattack whenever the opportunity presented itself. "Don't prolong your death! EMBRACE THE FACT AND CEASE TO EXIST!"
Defending herself, Aerial Radiance tried hard not to stumble, but each attack hit harder than the previous as she struggled to hold her own. She was unable to counterattack or even gain herself breathing room. She continued to defend using her sword, yet her injuries would start to hurt from each strong attack she defended herself from, and thanks to the damage she sustained earlier, her energy was starting to get dangerously low to maintain her combined form. Shapeshifter was repeating the one same word with each strike, it's sword swings becoming more erratic and wild and Aerial Radiance's own sword was beginning to crack, worsening with each hit she blocked, until it finally gave way. The blade snapped near the guard of the hilt as the blade plummeted down below.
"YOU'RE DONE FOR, RADIANT PRISM!"
Shapeshifter hysterically laughed as it blurred towards Aerial Radiance in a zig-zag motion until it was right in front of her, the latter tried to get out of the way Shapeshifter's attack despite she wouldn't have time to entirely dodge as she shielded herself with her arms, but instead of being slashed she noticed that the bio-machine seized as if something restricted it's movements.
"WHAT!? AGH... URGH... RAAAA!"
Unsure of what to make what's going on, Aerial Radiance initiated her thrusters to move just a bit backwards, watching the scenario unfold as Shaepshifter thrashed about. Her visuals zoomed in on something moving at it's side, first a hand, then Hans emerging half-way out of Shapeshifter's side. Her audios picked up what he was saying yet she could spot that his other hand seemed to be holding tightly onto something, seeing that arm come out more until she could see just a slight bit of the angular shaped device she saw before on Shapeshifter's head. He struggled to pull it out, clearly the bio-machine wasn't going to let the small human embedded into it's body win.
"H-Hey...! Wh-What are you standing... Around over there for!?" Hans called out to Aerial Radiance. "Get me out of this! I'm not sure how long I can hold onto this thing's... Heart or whatever it is forever!" He wheezed, clearly having a hard time breathing not just due to the thinner air, but from exhaustion. "H-Hurry!"
Not wasting any time, Aerial Radiance quickly flew towards Hans, quickly pulling him out of the bio-machine's body. In doing so, Shapeshifter shrieked as he tried to swipe at Aerial Radiance with his sword when she was close but was quick to get out of it's sword's path.
"AERIAL RADIANCE! GET OUT OF THERE!"
On being addressed, she immediately detected intense heat coming towards her and fast. The moment she identified the heat source being an oncoming blazing inferno, she flew out of the way watching as the projectile of fire directly hit the bio-machine's body, melting it into nothing while revealing the battered machine the trio originally used as it exploded.
"NO! MY BODY! CURSE YOU ALL-!"
"Then join it... in that... Blazing... Inferno!" Hans wheezed, using all of his strength in throwing Shapeshifter's head towards the inferno. The bio-machine shrieked in agony until it's voice faded away. The entire thing melted away, save for what all remained was the black box protecting it's Super A.I within. Before it could plummet into the ocean, the black box had been swiftly retrieved by Shadowmaru in one swoop. With their target being no more, the battle was finally over and and Aerial Radiance was already descending so that Hans could breathe. Where as the other Braves cheered that they defeated arrested the three criminals and put their longtime destruction to a close, it wasn't all cheers.
But for Aerial Radiance... This defeat did not sit with her...
She didn't feel satisfaction in putting a stop to the danger, let alone feel a sense of relief. Despite Shapeshifter was now nothing and the trio were finally captured, this wasn't how she imagined the confrontation. She hoped the trio in particular put up a fight before she and the others could defeat them when she'd recovered to a standard, fully functional Brave. Instead, they were used as nothing more but shields by the bio-machine who clearly had no remorse for if humans died or were still alive. Her visuals focused on a weakened Hans, the man didn't have any signs of injury from what she could see other than he was very weak, not just due to the thin air, but it was possible that Shapeshifter had been rationing air to the criminals. 'If we had ordered Duke Fire to fire the Max Cannon with them inside... Or if we were to shoot at it where Shapeshifter would reveal what we did... Damn it, I'm glad Super Build Tiger spotted something before we could use it.' With the air becoming more breathable, Aerial Radiance expected Hans to try and find a way to escape yet the man didn't do so even when he'd regained enough strength to stand up again somewhat.
Aerial Radiance had many questions to ask the trio, but she couldn't do that. Not when they're still weak from what occurred.
Her attention snapped to the others, the sound of their thrusters drawing her attention to them. "Aerial Radiance, are you alright? What just... Happened back there?" Yuuta asked.
Aerial Radiance tilted her helm slightly, unsure what to say until something came into mind. "...How are the other two criminals?"
"Fortunately they're alive, but they don't look that well. Duke is currently helping the others stabilise their health." Shadowmaru said when he and Kagerou caught up to them and changed form. "I see you have the last of the trio." Kagerou said. "We should take them into custody alongside the other two, after he's given a health check."
"Here..." Aerial Radiance slowly extended her servo, allowing the ninjas to retrieve Hans. "Now if all of you will excuse me, I need to be alone." The moment Shadowmaru secured Hans and flew off with him, Aerial Radiance ascended and flew off.
"I would've expected the Rookie to be more... Chipper about finally defeating those three criminals of hers that she's been trying to capture since the beginning." Gunmax Armour commented, watching the large combiner until she was nothing more than a small dot. "It's like they escaped and she's being down about it."
"We'll give her space for now, perhaps once she's ready she can come back." J-Decker said. "Let's head back to the station and report to the Commissioners about our successful arrest on the foreign criminals."
Back at the station, the office was not overly cheerful as they would've been after defeating and arresting criminals. The moment they heard not too long ago that Radiant Prism disengaged and left her damaged support vehicle at it's usual location and then take off somewhere, it was clear something bothered her. No one was able to contact her, not even Yuuta. "I don't get it, Deckerd... Radiant Prism should've been happy we stopped the trio she's been wanting to stop for so long, but..." The young boy said, frowning. "I don't understand why she's being unresponsive." Everyone looked at one another, unsure what they could say or do to cheer up their Boss. The small human sized door opened as Saejima, Azuma, and Seia entered.
"Commissioners, Seia." Deckerd acknowledged.
"Where is Radiant Prism?" Azuma asked flatly after quickly noticing she was nowhere to be seen. "We need her to interrogate those criminals."
"She's..." Yuuta began, but paused. When Azuma asked where was she, he only shook his head. "We're not sure, Mr. Azuma. After she left her support vehicle behind at it's usual location she just took off. We tried to contact her since some of us were worried but she refused to respond."
"Currently, she's somewhere on Sado Island." Shadowmaru told the Vice-Commissioner, blurring from his location in the ceiling. "Kagerou and I tried to talk to her earlier but she doesn't seem quite keen on speaking. All of us recently decided she needs time to cool her helm."
"Sado Island!?" Azuma exclaimed "Unacceptable! She needs to return back here to translate what the criminals we recently brought in have to say once they're well enough to speak!" Azuma fumed. "She's the only one who can speak German!"
"If you need someone to question those criminals, I can do that in her stead if she doesn't return by then." Deckerd announced. "I have the German language files she gave me once she was comfortable enough to trust me with them. But If she needs time, I'd prefer she takes the time she needs."
"You don't even know these criminals on an equal level that of Radiant Prism's! She has to be the one to do it!"
"Azuma Kazuto. I understand that the Police needs information extracted from the criminals brought in, but you need to know the Brave Police are human just like us. That includes Radiant Prism." Seia spoke up sternly. Fuming, the Vice-Commissioner was about to say something in return but chose to back out, knowing better not to make arguments with someone from the military. Saejima spoke next. "Deckerd, we'll take your offer on that. However..."
"You're wondering what's to be done about Radiant Prism." Duke said.
"Mm, while we've put an end to their chaos and stopped the bio-machine they worked with, the next step we have is to inform Redlight and the rest of the German Braves. I'm sure Radiant Prism desires to go back once we make arrangements to deport the criminals back to Germany so that they could take things from there. But, there is another problem we're facing which is something we're not sure how to approach Redlight about. I don't know how things work over there."
"If we send her back to Germany, it could mean the moment she enters the country's borders, Gustav and his men will be waiting for her ahead of time." McCrane pointed out.
"Indeed..."
"Mr. Saejima, perhaps maybe this might be why Radiant Prism has been so gloomy after the fight..." Said Yuuta. "She might be feeling torn between wanting to go back home or to stay here until we can somehow help her."
"We can't help her outside of Japan, kiddo." Shrugged Gunmax. "Unless we receive permission, we're only trespassing or illegally entering a country."
Yuuta could only frown, unsure what to say. There was a moment of silence until everyone's attentions focused on the large doors opening as King, Bishop, and Pawn stepped inside. The sight of them was enough to give the young teen an idea. "Ah, Scotland Yard!"
"...We were too late to assist with the situation about the bio-machine, weren't we?" Pawn asked, trying not to turn away from Yuuta's brightened expression.
"Unfortunately yes, George. We've managed to defeat it." Replied Duke.
Pawn could only grumble, feeling like he'd been sent all the way from the United Kingdom and into Japan for no reason especially if there's nothing to fight. He turned to leave, but only for Yuuta to tell him to stop. "Pawn, there's something I wanted to talk to King about, and I'd prefer if you and Bishop could stay put, please?" The golden coloured Brave vented a sigh, turning to face the young boy. "Very well, 'lad, what's this plan of yours?"
...
Hours would pass into the early evening. Radiant Prism stared out into the horizon watching the sunset, she remained on Sado Island in the same place for hours undisturbed by locals and tourists alike. Some earlier tried to talk to her, even a small handful of tourists tried speaking to her in German when they saw her crest but she wouldn't stir, nor turn away from the view in front of her to even look at those talking to her. With a sigh, her thoughts still lingered on the event from before when Shapeshifter met, especially it's defeat in the hands of another criminal of all things. She'd hoped to get information after his words seemed to feel close to that of a certain familiar person and how they said similar things. The foreign Brave didn't want to believe it, but if it worked with others aside from the trio...
She could hear her communication badge go off but chose to ignore it like the multiple times she'd been contacted. She had nothing to say to the others nor did she held any desire to speak with them and most importantly, she wondered what will she do now with the criminals that gave her so much grief were finally arrested? Would she be sent back to Germany in a heartbeat?
"...What will I do, Redlight?" She muttered to herself. "We finally defeated them, yet I don't feel any happy... I'm instead feeling so lost."
"Radiant Prism."
The dark blue-green aerial flinched when she was addressed, curling to a seating position when the soft crunching of sand grew louder with each step as she identified the voice to be Deckerd's when he spoke to her again. "You've been unresponsive for hours aside from ignoring our call to at least check up on you so I've decided to come check on you myself." He told her, stopping when he was close enough within conversation range to speak.
"Go away, Deckerd..." Radiant Prism muttered unhappily with a sigh. "I'm fine right here, I just need time- A lot of time to clear my thoughts."
"I understand from what I heard, you're worried about what to do from here on out." The Brave Detective said simply, he wasn't going to leave Radiant Prism alone in case she might do something rash in her current state, moving over to her side and sitting down. "Why did you run off after the fight? I figured you'd be pleased that we've stopped the same criminals that have been after you since they first came here to Japan."
"I would have, but I don't feel any sense of happiness or relief over the whole ordeal." Sighed Radiant Prism. "I intended to interrogate Shapeshifter about who was it working for, and why... I could be wrong, but I have my suspicions on some of the things it's said to me when we fought, but I don't know... That chance is long gone with Hans throwing what remained of it into the burning inferno when Duke Fire had fired the Max Cannon. So now I can't interrogate it."
"It's black box survived in case you might have missed that. They're similar in appearance like the ones you find on a passenger plane except the shape is slightly different to better accomodate a Super A.I. and like any black box, they're built to endure whatever is thrown at them, to even withstanding the hottest fires." Deckerd pointed out. "I do see what you mean about it being too risky to try and talk to it when giving it a body in order to enable it to speak. Fortunately, the chief has built a device that's used to interrogate Super A.I. criminals such as the Black Chieftains."
"It sounds gruesome to have a device like that." Radiant Prism said, looking at Deckerd. "Not being able to see or hear anything as you can only talk..."
"It does sound like that, but truthfully it's only function is to allow a Super A.I. the ability to communicate with us. We last used it on some rogue Black Chieftains years ago in South America when we were asked to investigate reports about dangerous robots last seen between the borders of Peru and Brazil. I think at this moment, they're using it right now on Shapeshifter."
There was a long moment of silence, Radiant Prism wasn't sure how to take in the information given to her about both the device they use for interrogating Super A.I. criminals. "The others need you to speak with the three criminals once they're healed enough to speak to them, Radiant Prism." The Brave Detective added.
"Deckerd... You have my copy of the German language files." Radiant Prism said, shaking her helm. "You're capable of interrogating them and even if I interrogated them, there isn't really much for me to do." Radiant Prism further added.
"Yes, but you're the only one capable of trying to get any information about how they knew you were here in Japan after fleeing Germany. You know them far better than I do and I haven't forgotten when you said that it's your responsibility to see them defeated, arrested, and deported back to Germany." At his words, Radiant Prism looked over at the blue and white coloured Brave surprised that he remembered her words from back then when she was speaking with Redlight. "You... You remembered that? I... I thought you wouldn't be able to understand even after you've received the language files from me." Being reminded of what she said gave Radiant Prism mixed feelings, of course she did say that she was see this all through and what did she do?
She felt embarrassed about forgetting her words on what she told Redlight, internally cursing herself for forgetting a promise she intended to keep and to never let the one she highly respected down.
"Radiant Prism." Deckerd placed a servo onto her shoulder. "Once those criminals recover enough to speak, please talk with them and try to extract any information from them. Whatever they can offer will shed further light into this investigation..." He paused to think for a moment. "Technically when Redlight sent you here to seek us out your presence opened up an investigation long before we gave you the Japanese files and explained your situation to us. When you have the necessary extracted information from them, I'd like for all of us to look into your case. If we have enough evidence, we could somehow help you get back home without the fear of what will happen to you when you return."
"I don't know Deckerd... I do want to return home but I feel we might not have much to go on with whatever they have to say." Radiant Prism frowned after a moment to process what Deckerd said, turning her gaze to the sandy ground.
"Sometimes I tell my team that even the smallest information can shed a lot of light on something they felt was small in comparison to what they expected. What you can learn in any ongoing case may seem small at a first glance, Radiant Prism, but often they can turn out to be much bigger than you originally expect it to be."
"What...? How could that be? I thought that... I..." Radiant Prism went silent, taking a moment to process the words told to her then nodded after she finally understood. "I think... I understand now, Deckerd. Alright, I'll speak to the criminals once they're well enough. I expect it could take them days to speak to us. I think what I can do is spend time patrolling or helping out with paperwork until they're well enough to distract myself."
"Thank you, Radiant prism." Deckerd nodded, proceeding to stand up. "So, let's return back to the station, the others are waiting for you and even Yuuta is worried sick." He said, extending out a servo to help her up. "He's been wondering about if you were alright after you've left." Grabbing onto Deckerd's servo, she accepted to help in being pulled up to her feet. "I see... I didn't mean to make him worry. Let's head back, I think I feel a lot more better now than before."
When the two of them returned back to Nanamagari City, Radiant Prism had just landed onto the rooftop, Deckerd telling her that she could go on ahead back to the station and he'll will be on his way back soon since he has to return to the station with the J-Roader on the roads due to it being not very ideal to disengage near the station with the traffic of oncoming cars and with J-Roader's massive size, it would need a lot of room to fold back into it's vehicle form. While her thoughts were clear of most of what's been going on in her helm, there were still a lot of things she needed to expect to deal with. She felt better, far better than before as if she was ready to take on the next criminal that dared to scare or harm the public.
'The future will look brighter from here on out. In the upcoming events that could happen, we'll all have to be careful from here on out.' Thought Radiant Prism. 'I can only hope that nothing tries to-'
"Radiant Prism!"
Looking behind her, Radiant Prism could see Yuuta running up to her as she turned around fully to face him. "Inspector, good evening." She greeted with a small smile saluting briefly then lowering to a kneel when he got closer. "I apologise for disappearing earlier. I... Had a lot of things on my mind."
"I'm just glad you're alright. No, all of us are glad you're alright!" He said as Radiant Prism offered a servo for him to climb onto, doing so without hesitation as he held on when Radiant Prism stood to her full height. "When Deckerd told me you came back, I just had to see you. Um, can you try to let us know next time when you're going to fly off like that? I know all of us can have bad days every now and then, but I really don't want you to make all of us worry again."
"Yes... Of course." Radiant Prism said, slowly standing to her full height. "I won't be doing that again, you have my promise, Inspector."
"Let's go downstairs and talk with the others, Deckerd should be here soon and I'd like to introduce you to the other Scotland Yard members that arrived not that long ago. You've already met Ten, Jack, and Rook, this time King, Bishop, and Pawn are here."
"Alright, I'll go meet them. Hm... Should I keep you on my servo or should I put you down near the door at the side?"
"You can carry me back to the office if you'd like." Yuuta smiled. "Oh, and you can just address me by my name rather than just call me 'Inspector' all the time. Something I'd thought I tell you."
"If you're alright with that, Inspe- Er, Yuuta..."