As the sun set over Odaiba, the soccer arena was alive with music, lights and an uproar of cheering of fans, the stadium filled to the brim as Nene performed her live concert for her adoring fans.
As she sang and gave it her all, Nene couldn't help but smile, seeing all the people smiling and enjoying themselves, reminding herself of not only why she became an idol, but a heroine as well, to keep people smiling and to show them that the world wasn't as dark and dreadful as some might think.
As she continued to perform, Nene's smile grew a little more as she focused her attention down and to the front row, seeing Davis amongst those in the front, happy to see the man she adored and loved seeing her performing, while trying not to frown at the brunette who stood next to him, who shared a similar passive smile on her face to her own.
"Having fun, Kari?" Davis asked as best he could through the cheering and music, having asked Nene for the tickets as a way to help Kari unwind after the past week with classes, as well to make up for missing a few times she wanted to spend time with him due to his heroic activities.
"I am. Thank you for bringing me here, Davis." Kari replied with a continued smile as she looked upon the maroon haired boy and told him. "I always have fun when I'm with you."
Though he was glad Kari seemed to be enjoying the show, mentally, however, Kari's mind was a mix of anger, panic, and small, petty jealousy as she thought with a growing bitterness. 'First a top model has a thing for MY Davis and now not only a top idol, but one of V-Force's tramps?! Do the rest of those insects know him too?!'
While she remained focused, making sure the crowd kept their smile, looking at the front row and sneaking glances of Kari, Nene thought. 'Davis, it was sweet of you to bring Kari to my concert to lighten her spirits, but I'm going to make sure I'm the only one who you see in the spotlight tonight.'
Nene continued her concert, ending with a big finale as the crowd cheered for her, expressing a great array of positivity, where she thanked them all before heading backstage, smiling to see Davis waiting for her, while mentally grinning to see Kari with him, having given them backstage passes as well for her show.
"Ah, Mr. Motomiya, I'm so glad you could come. I hope you both enjoyed the show." Nene said to the pair, keeping up the act to keep Davis' hero life a secret, which caused a part of her to mental smirk, knowing something about the maroon haired boy that Kari was oblivious to.
"Thank you for the tickets, Ms. Amano." Davis said in reply, keeping his respect for Nene up, before guestering to Kari and adding. "This is my close friend, Kari Kamiya."
"It's nice to finally meet you. Davis has said so many nice things about you." Nene said as she looked upon Kari, smiling at the brunette before her, while her more jealous side took over and left her thinking. 'I don't care if you two are childhood friends, I've gotten to know Davis on a level you could never reach, so he deserves to be with someone who will treat him right, he deserves to be with me.'
"And it's so nice to meet you as well. I'm a big fan." Kari then replied with a sweet smile, before she too was led on a more negative thought process, thinking to herself. 'You are so lucky Davis is right here, you worm, or I'd end your pathetic existence right here and now. You better watch yourself, because if you try anything with Davis as Nene or Songbird, I won't hesitate to end you painfully.'
Kari then smirked mentally as she then thought. 'Fortunately, I have other plans for you tonight, my dear Songbird. You'll be singing for me very soon.'
Once again, Davis felt a familiar sense of doom and dread as he looked at the pair smiling at one another, seemingly happy to be in the presence of the other, but within, there was something telling Davis that bringing his two female friends together was a mistake.
'The mood feels just like when she and Rika met.' Davis thought with a sigh, having thought that the two girls meeting Kari might help them move on from him, but found that he might have unknowingly added Kari to their little rivalry for his attention.
"So it's getting late and we have classes tomorrow. It was good seeing you again, Ms. Amano." Davis then said in a quick voice as he quickly grabbed Kari's hand and pulled her away, where the duo made their way out, the two girls still smiling at one another as they began to part ways, but their smiles were leaving a small message, as though trying to get it through one another who would win Davis in the end.
Letting out a sigh once Davis and Kari were out of the backstage area, Nene turned her head when she saw her manager coming, where she said to the idol with a sincere smile. "That was another amazing performance."
"There's a reporter who wants an interview. He's waiting outside your dressing room, security already checked him, he's good." Nene's manager then informed, causing Nene to smile and nod in reply.
"Thanks. I've got some time to kill before I meet with the Protectors, so I'll see what he wants and let him know who Nene Amano is, on and offstage." Nene replied, taking a towel one of the stagehands gave her and wiped the sweat off her head, before resting it around her neck, drinking a bottle of water as she made her way to her dressing room.
Once she got close enough, Nene saw a man standing outside the room, roughly her age, and if she was honest with herself, he wasn't bad looking either, he wasn't Davis, but he was a close second.
Taking in his appearance, the reporter had a good looking body, as well as a cute face, with Nene noticing that with his spiky brown hair, there was a section in the front that was a light shade of red, leaving her wondering if it was natural or had been dyed that way.
But one thing she noticed the most about the reporter was his face, not only finding the smile on his face quite charming, but looking into his hazel coloured eyes, she could see a great shine within them.
"Ah, Ms. Amano, or should I say Songbird? Either way, it's a pleasure to meet you." The reporter said as he held out his hand to shake Nene's, leaving the idol smiling at the gesture.
"It's always nice to meet a fan." Nene said in reply, shaking the reporter's hand, where she noticed the smile on his face growing as he tightened his grip, a seal of magic glowing on his right hand, where all thought left Nene's mind, her eyes glazed over and her body relaxed, dropping the water bottle in the process as she stared vacantly at the brunette before her, looking on as his smile turned to a big grin.
"Well, that worked better than the boss said." Tagiru, or Fusionist, said to himself as his smirk grew, seeing that the spell worked at the Night Queen had said it would, leaving the idol heroine in a suggestible state, allowing him to have some 'fun' for a bit.
"And we still have a little time before she shows up..." Fusionist thought aloud as he continued to stare at the entranced form of Nene, before speaking up and asking. "So how about we go inside and out of the way of people who would get in the way?"
"Anything you say..." Nene replied in a vacant tone as she opened the door, first allowing the brunette villain inside, before entering herself and closing the door behind them.
Now inside of Nene's dressing room and with her remaining standing before the door, staring at him with a remaining distant smile, Fusionist slowly walked up to the entranced idol, where he slid her jacket off her body, before he set his hands on her bare shoulders.
"You have one seriously amazing body." He commented, before smirking as his hands moved lower, sliding down and cupping Nene's breasts, which made Fusionist smirk to see Nene put up no resistance to his touches, before moving his hands along the rest of her body.
"I'm sure we're going to have a lot of 'fun' together once the boss makes you her puppet." Fusionist then told Nene, sliding his hands down her waist, along her slender hips and reaching around to cup her ass, loving the combination of Nene's body so close to him and the control he held over her.
"Now, as your Master for the time being, you and those pains in the neck, Red Nova and Thunderstrike, have put me through a lot." Fusionist said as he removed his hands off of Nene's body, took a seat on one of the seats within the dressing room, keeping an eye and a sly smile upon the entranced heroine and relaxed himself for what was to come.
"So in order to make up for it, you will give me a massage. Start with the shoulders, then work your way down." Fusionist ordered, unable to hold back a small laugh as Nene nodded and said with a continued distance in her voice. "As you command, Master..."
From the seat, Fusionist grinned as Nene approached him, walking behind him, before she set her hands on his shoulders and began to gently rub at them, earning a relaxed sigh from the brunette villain.
"That's it, my hot little pet." Fusionist said, closing his eyes as he continued to relax and enjoy the moment. "Keep massaging shoulders."
"Oh..." He then let out as a devious smirk appeared on his face, where he then instructed. "As you continue to massage my body, I want you to praise me while also saying harmful things about your beloved V-Force."
"Understood, Master..." Nene replied happily through her entranced state, before the enthralled idol mindlessly said. "Master... you are very handsome... V-Force couldn't hope to look as good as you... You have such a great body... Why would I want to spend time with a loser like V-Force when I can be with my beloved Master...? Obeying you makes me so happy... Listening to V-Force is just tedious work..."
The whole time Nene continued to speak, praising Fusionist and downcasting her leader and crush, her hands moved lower, sliding from Fusionist's shoulders and to his back, where Nene lifted up the suit Fusionist wore to sneak his way inside and began to give him a back massage, smiling mindlessly as she continued to obey, listening carefully to the sighs he gave, as to make mental notes of which parts of his back needed the most attention.
"Serving you is a joy, while serving V-Force could never compare to how happy I am right now..." Nene said happily through her entranced state, which continued to make Fusionist smirk, loving the position he was in.
He then closed his eyes, enjoying the attention he was getting, until he then felt Nene stop, where he opened his eyes, nearly gulping as he saw a familiar shadow form in front of him.
"I see you are enjoying yourself." The Night Queen said, while smirking behind her mask to see the combination of Fusionist's sudden panic, but more so at seeing Nene reduced to a mindless puppet by her spell and hearing the words she mindlessly droned about V-Force at his command.
"I... I was just making sure the spell really worked..." Fusionist said with a continued worry in his voice, before getting out of his seat and bowing to the Night Queen, leaving Nene smiling ahead and at the arch villainess.
"So... you're going to put that Mark on her, right? Make her join us?" The brunette villain then asked, hoping that with her as the Night Queen's servant, he would have more time to spend with her, as well as to do far more than just having her massage his body.
"Later, perhaps. The Mark of Shadows will take too long and the Protectors might react to fast. I have something else in mind." The Night Queen said as a small dark portal opened next to her shadow, before a small shadow-like being slithered out, moving across the ground, before seemingly entering Nene's body, before the Night Queen said with a dark smile. "Tonight, the Protectors will fall to one of their own."
-Later-
At the Protectors' base, most of the team was in the training rooms, with Takuya and Zoe sparring with one another, Angie working on different moved with her speed as Mimi helped with her vines, causing the redhead to try and time her speed with the sudden appearance of plant like attacks, Henry and Suzie sparring with Mikey, with the fire-based hero trying to help the two train in the event of them running into Red Phoenix, while TK and Tai were helping Izzy test out some new tech gear he had been working on.
Having observed the communications technology the Vigilant used, Izzy wanted to implant the same technology within the suits of his fellow heroes and heroines, to help keep them monitored and strengthen their link as a team.
Meanwhile, Cody sat at the monitoring station, not only watching the group train and keep an eye out for trouble, but to also wait for the arrival of Davis, who had just dropped Kari off from their date, Nene, who should've been done with her performance, and Rika, who had a modelling gig to attend.
Soon enough, Cody heard the elevator door open, turning for a second and giving a small look to see Nene walking in, before looking back at the monitors as he began to say. "Hey, Nene, great show. Sorry we couldn't all be there but you know..."
However, before the young boy could continue in his sentence, he felt a sharp pain in his neck causing his eyes to widen before he lost consciousness, where Nene then moved him out of the chair, sat down in his place before the monitors, and began to type.
At the next moment, the alarms in the training level began to blare, confusing the Protectors present, causing Tai to question. "What's going on?"
"Security lockdown engaged... Hostiles detected on training level... Activating security measures..." The automated voice of the computer system declared, before the laser gun emplacements all over the training level used to help the heroes practice came online, shocking the heroes as they began targeting the group.
As the heroes began to dodge their own defences, Izzy quickly took out his phone, dialing Davis' number as he ducked behind Tai's energy barrier, managing to get in contact with the maroon haired hero, who was walking home after dropping Kari off.
"Izzy.. what... going...?" Izzy heard Davis try to say from the line, but found the connection weak, most likely due to the security measures he installed now being used against him and his allies.
"Davis... Lockdown... Someone... controlling... security..." Davis heard Izzy try to say through the line, before it went dead, causing the maroon haired hero to try calling again, only to get a dead signal.
"Shit, this isn't good." Davis said as he tried to contact the others, but found the signal dead for the rest of the Protectors, before he tried Nene's phone, only to find it was off, confusing and concerning him, wondering if Nene was also a target against their defences or if something had occured back at the stadium.
Remaining calm, Davis then tried Rika's number, getting the redhead on the line, where she asked. "Davis, what's wrong? I was just leaving my gig."
"Something's happening at the base. I'm not sure, but it sounds like someone's hacked our security system and is using it to attack the others." Davis said in reply, his tone remaining serious and of concern, before adding. "I can't reach Nene either, but for now, we need to head to the base and shut down the systems before anybody gets hurt."
"Alright. I'll meet you there. If someone is in control, we need to get to the monitoring station quickly. We need to take them by surprise." Rika said, something Davis agreed with.
-Moments later-
With a quick blast, one of the windows of the Protectors' base shattered as V-Force and Vixen flew in, both looking on with concern to see Cody knocked out on the floor, before seeing someone at the controls, before their eyes widened at who was at the console, seeing who was trying to destroy them.
"Songbird?! What...?!" V-Force started to ask in shock and confusion, before said brunette stood up and turned to face the pair, both instantly seeing that something was wrong with her, both from the dark smirk on her face, and that fact that the sclera in her eyes were black instead of white, while her irises were a dark shade of red, before a dark laugh left the lips of the idol, one not of her own.
"It seems I missed two. No matter, the Night Queen will still be pleased when I bring your broken corpses to her." Something said through Songbird as she glared at the two, who were shocked at not only the sound of the voice, but the words it spoke.
"The Night Queen?" V-Force let out, now knowing Nene was being controlled, before Vixen said in warning. "She's possessed! V-Force, be careful, a shadow demon is now controlling her!"
"Clever girl." The dark entity said through Songbird, before the two heroes watched what looked like shadowy wings come out of Nene's back, becoming even more shocked as multiple red eyes opened along them, all narrowing at the pair's direction.
Then, faster than either V-Force or Vixen had ever seen Songbird move, the possessed heroine quickly closed the gap between them, grabbing both by their necks as she moved, before dragging them back out the window, where she threw both of them in separate directions, leaving V-Force and Vixen each slamming into nearby buildings.
"Ouch... She's a lot stronger now..." V-Force let out through his groans as he started to pull himself out of the crater his body had formed, before his eyes widened as he saw not only Songbird's hands glowing with energy, now red instead of the usual blue, but the eyes on her new wings as well, telling him that the possessed heroine was about to attack.
"Die, you fool! Die so that Zhaitan's champion can triumph!" The Shadow Demon cried out though its host as it unleashed a powerful blast of energy at the hero, one too big for him to dodge.
However, much to his relief and worry, Vixen flew in front of him, where she drew her staff, holding it before her and casting a mystical barrier of energy in front of her and V-Force, just as the dark energy collided with it, where the red haired mystic gave a strained groan at the dark power now pushing against her, before it eventually subsided, causing Vixen to let out a panted sigh as she dropped the barrier.
"Vixen, are you ok?" V-Force asked in worry, before the redhead shook off her fatigue and gave him an affirmative nod, where the Vixen then said in a serious tone. "We need to somehow hold her down so that I can remove the demon from her. The longer it stays inside of Nene, the stronger it'll become."
"Good luck with that, girl!" The possessed form of Songbird declared as she quickly closed the gap between herself and the pair of heroes, delivering a swift kick to V-Force, sending him flying back a few feet, before she began to try and hit Vixen, who did her best to dodge her possessed rival's attacks.
"You know, I can feel it. My host, a part of her would love nothing more than to beat you down, to make you crawl and beg for your life as she has V-Force's arms wrapped around her." The Demon taunted through its puppet, trying to use Nene's memories and her feelings against Vixen, but frowned when it saw that the redhead didn't flinch at all.
"You can try and taunt me all you like, but I won't fall for your tricks." Vixen declared, before adding. "And I know Songbird better than you think. I know she'd sooner share V-Force than force him to be with you."
'I hope, at least...' Vixen then thought, before quickly hiding her doubts as V-Force shot towards Songbird from behind, where the possessed heroine quickly turned as a claw of pure shadows formed around her left arm, using it as a shield to block V-Force's blade.
"You two might want to worry less about this girl and more on your friends dying inside there." The Demon then said with a dark laugh, where V-Force and Vixen tensed up, worried about the others and how they were faring against the security systems.
-Inside-
"Damn it, Izzy. Did you have to make these turrets so powerful?!" Suzie yelled as she and the others hid behind an energy barrier Izzy was making from the parts of his HiTech suit he had on as Mimi tried to create a wall of vines to help protect them, both slowly failing to the onslaught of laser fire.
"Cut Izzy some slack." Mimi called back, before saying with a defensiveness in her voice as she remained standing up for the tech hero. "He installed that system to protect us. How was he supposed to know something like this would happen?"
"I should have thought about it though." Izzy then thought aloud, believing if he had overlooked all outcomes of his security system, then maybe this incident wouldn't have occured.
"It's ok, Izzy. We all make mistakes." Mikey assured, ducking under another blast, before stating. "But right now we need to focus on finding a way to shut down the system."
Intruders still detected on training level... Commencing purge of level... Evacuate immediately...
"Uhh... Izzy, what does that mean?" Tai asked with worry as he saw the redhead's face pale, before he replied. "In a few seconds, all of us, save Takuya and Mikey, will be burnt to a crisp!"
The group's eyes widened at the shocking information, before they saw several sections of the wall opening, revealing high-powered flamethrowers, which were about ready to ignite.
"Seriously, who exactly did you build this system for in order to keep out?!" Takuya asked in panic, before Izzy replied with a growl. "Who do you think?!"
As the heroes closed their eyes, about to be annihilated by a security system meant to take on the Night Queen herself, the group prepared for the end.
Override code accepted... Security system deactivated...
Hearing the mechanical voice of the security system dying down the group then opened their eyes to see the turrets powering down, along with the flamethrowers, causing them to let out sighs of relief as they wondered what happened.
Having come too just moments ago, Cody heard the alarm beeping from the monitor, and used all his will power to quickly get up, seeing his friends in danger, and quickly used his access code to shut the defences down, let out a sigh as he slumped back to the ground, before turning and looking in shock out the window to see a corrupted form of Songbird fighting V-Force and Vixen.
"Damn it, I should have killed that boy!" The demon yelled as Songbird turned to see that Cody had stopped its plan.
However, before it could react, the possessed heroine was tackled from behind by V-Force, the pair shooting back into the base, with Songbird on her back as V-Force tried to hold her down, just as the others came up from the training room as Tai began to ask. "What the hell is going...?!"
"Shut up and help me hold her down!" V-Force quickly yelled with a great seriousness in his voice, knowing he didn't have much time before the possessed heroine would break free from his hold.
It was then that the group noticed Nene and what had happened to her, especially as she let out screams that didn't sound human, nor the shadow wings as they flapped around, causing Tai, TK, Takuya and Mikey to act as they helped to hold her down, while Mimi summoned a group of vines to wrap around the possessed girl, trying to hold her down alongside her teammate, allowing Vixen to move on in, her staff glowing as she held her left hand up before her face, chanting in an ancient language as a magic seal began to form beneath Nene's restrained form.
"Curse you all!" The demon yelled as a white crystal appeared about Nene's body, where Vixen finished her chant, causing the magic seal to glow brightly as the demon cried out, its shadow form quickly leaving Nene's body and entering the crystal, which turned back, before the idol collapsed and fell unconscious.
-Sometime later-
With a pain groan, Nene slowly opened her eyes, wondering what had happened, before she realized she was lying on the couch at the Protectors' base, sitting up and finding everyone looking at her with worry.
Even Davis and Rika were there, both in their hero outfits, but minus Davis' helmet and Rika's mask, each expressing a similar concern as the rest of the team.
"What... what happened? How did I get here?" Nene asked in confusion, trying to remember what had happened to her that led her to her current position.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Davis asked in concern, where Nene tried to remember as she replied. "After you and Kari left, my Manager said there was a reporter who wanted to talk to me. I went to meet them and..."
Nene placed her hand on her head, trying to clear the fog in her mind, before replying. "I don't remember anything after that, it's all blank."
"Do you remember the reporter at all?" Mikey asked, hoping to have some lead on who was helping the Night Queen in all of this, but try as she might, Nene couldn't remember any details, leaving her shaking her head.
"The concert's security footage was scrubbed clean, so we can't identify them either that way." Cody then informed from his chair, having looked through the footage to see if he could ID the reporter, but had no luck.
"I'll kill you all when I get out of here!" A loud yell then got the Protectors' attention as they turned to see the crystal lying on the coffee table, as a single red eye was now glaring at them through it, causing Nene to panic a little as she asked in fear. "What is that?!"
Letting out a sigh, Davis and Rika explained what had happened, filling the brunette with shock, worry, but most of all, guilt, seeing that the Night Queen had used her and nearly destroyed her team through her.
Meanwhile, when none of the heroes were looking at it, the demon's eye widened as it got a good look at Davis' face, where it thought to itself. 'Wait he's... I see... Seems Lord Zhaitan's more cunning than I anticipated.'
"I'm... I'm so sorry, everyone... This was all my fault and..." Nene started to say as she felt tears forming, feeling a great gloom overcome her, before feeling a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing the brunette to look up to see Davis looking at her with a caring smile.
"It's alright, Nene. None of this is your fault. The only one to blame in the Night Queen." The maroon haired hero said comfortingly, while inside was pissed that the Night Queen now targeted his team directly like this.
"But I'm the easiest for them to get to! I let my guard down and..." Nene started to say, before Rika cut her off as she picked the crystal up. "No one could have expected her to go for you, but I do agree, we all need to be more careful now."
"Who knows? If the Night Queen knew I was a model, she might've gone for me." Rika added with a continued care toward Nene, causing her to smile at Rika's kindness.
"What are you going to do with that?" Tai had to ask as he glared at the crystal. "Please tell me you're going to send it back where it came from."
"Why? So what the Night Queen can resummon it and it tells her not only where our base is, but what we look like?" Rika replied with a glare, causing Tai to gulp as he realized that Rika was right, before the mystic heroine informed. "It's best if it remains sealed and locked away for now."
"Do what you need to." Davis said, trusting Rika, before looking upon his teammates and declaring. "In the meantime, we need to work on repairing our base and getting ourselves prepared. The Night Queen is now targeting us directly, so we can't let our guards down again."
-Meanwhile-
Sitting on her throne, Kari smiled behind her mask, feeling satisfied on having caused panic and disorder among her enemies, even if she had to listen to Tagiru whine about losing his future pet, where she reminded him that there was always next time.
"The seals are almost gone now, the time of your Ascension is close, my Champion." Zhaitan's voice said in Kari's mind, before the Dark One then said in warning. "But be warned, your rivals are moving quicker than expected. If they aren't stopped, they could ruin everything you've worked so hard for."
"I'll crush anyone who dares stand against me, The Protectors, the Vigilant, KnightCorps, anyone! Those who don't bow before me will be swept aside and burnt away with the old world as they suffer my wrath!" Kari replied with a dark smile, one mirrored by the Dark One watching her.
'Everything is going as I have foreseen.' The Dark One thought, before giving a dark chuckle, knowing that if things continued in the way anticipated, then all would fall into darkness at the hands of the Night Queen... and her beloved.
