Chapter 16 - Wings that judged all part 1

Aaron walks down the hallway of their lair. He strolls down the hallway as the early morning sun creaks in through the boarded-up, and curtained windows. The sound of something hard hitting against brick can be heard down the corridor. Aaron slowly approaches a half-shut door, pushing it slightly to peer into the room. He sees Kane, bandaged up with an arm in a cast. With his free arm, he tosses a small ball at the wall in front of him, easily catching it with his one good hand. He keeps his eyes focused, staring daggers at the brickwork in front of him.

"How do you feel?" Aaron asks, standing in the doorway. Kane doesn't answer him, instead choosing to continue their game of catch. "Do you think it will be long before you're fully healed?" Aaron asks another question, still getting no verbal response from Kane. Kane catches the ball but doesn't throw it again, instead just stares forward. "You might be able to beat Idol next time if you..," Aaron is cut off suddenly by the ball being thrown in his direction, smashing a lamp that he stands beside. Kane looks at him with bloodshot eyes, "He got lucky! Do you hear me? He was just lucky! That grass hopping bastard won't be so lucky next time now that I know he has more...ahh!" Kane grabs his shoulder, still visibly in pain. Aaron looks nervous from his brother's rage, "Well if it helps, it wasn't Idol that injured your shoulder, so I wouldn't take it too much as a..." Kane throws a metal bin towards Aaron. He ducks, letting the bin fly over his head, slamming against the wall in the corridor. "Get out!" Kane screams, almost spitting his words out.

Aaron grabs the door and closes it, giving him some privacy as he leaves. Aaron walks away, continuing down the corridor as violent, incoherent screams echo behind him. He sees a bring light emit from the door to the basement. He grabs the door and opens it. While walking down the steps, he can hear Jack talking to someone. As he reaches halfway, he sees Jack standing beside a Fallen. "Brother?" he asks, calling out to Jack. He turns around upon hearing Aaron's voice and smiles, "Ah, Aaron. Good. I was hoping you'd be around." He seems pleased, gesturing to the Fallen beside him, "I would like you to meet our new ally." The Fallen bows respectively, "Good morning," he says.

"Is this part of your experiment?" Aaron asks. "Of course, my new friend here is the first of our new, intelligent Fallen." Aaron looks the monster up and down, taking in every detail of its appearance, noticing the large ears and devil-like wings on their back, "This Fallen...you used.." Jack nods, putting his hand on Aaron's shoulder, "That's right. I used my Bat idol to create this one. I have high hopes in the both of you today."

Aaron looks confused, "Today? What's today?" The Bat Fallen speaks, "Today, we attack Idol where it hurts." Aaron looks back at the monster before it speaks again, "You see. Now that we know our lower ranks can't do anything to him with his new power, we'd have to try a different approach. I had this idea before evolving, and now I feel it should be carried out as soon as we're able." Aaron's expression doesn't change, "Okay, but what's your plan?" The Bat snaps their fingers as they turn around, "We are going to attack Idol's friends," they pause before continuing, "We know from a previous attack what Idol looks like, as well as at least two of his friends. What we are going to do, is I will capture both of them in plain view of Idol, and bring them to a secluded location. There, Masquerade and I will fight him together, and should we be disadvantaged, he could use the friends as a bargaining tool." Jack stands off to the side as the Fallen explains their plan.

"But wait, you said we are doing this today, but Kane isn't in any condition to fight Idol. Maybe in a week or so, he can't just.." the bat snaps their fingers in Aaron's face, "Dear boy. Kane won't have any part in this. I don't want my genius plan foiled by dead weight." Aaron shakes their head, "But you said.." "I said Masquerade will be there to destroy Idol. But I never said which one." At that moment Jack slaps the Shinaito driver onto Aaron's waist. The belt attaches itself to him. "Today, little brother, you'll make us proud." Jack presents Aaron with their spider idol. "Take the name as Masquerade, and show Idol why he should have stayed dead after 20 years." A sinister smiles forms on Aaron's face as he takes the idol, and attaches it to the belt, "Spider!", a creepy voice calls out, followed by a musical melody that feels like fingers climbing at the spine. "Henshin!" The black suit covers Aaron from head to toe, a large spiritual spider creeps out of the idol, and latches itself to him, crystalizing into rider armour. Watching from the top step of the basement stairs, Kane grits his teeth in rage, clenching their fist tight enough to make his palm bleed.

To be continued!