Mediziner's Notes: Here it is, the final chapter of The Leader Within! This one's quite a chunky one and it took me forever to get this done. I actually had this finished a while back but I was determined to take a long, lengthy break. Four almost five years of working on this... Without taking a singular month of break. Additionally, I will mention that I will have an Epilogue for this one, but don't expect it next month for I'll be taking many months of a break. I might go back later and re-update the chapters to add the key assistance of what I use for specific things. But for now, I hope you lot have enjoyed this weird of an adventure I've embarked with my OC, Radiant Prism.
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. The remaining chapters are also being beta-read by them, too.
Enjoy!
...
Yuuta noticed that Fire J-Decker was clearly struggling. The boy asked if he was alright but the combiner could only say that, for some unusual reason, Red Streamline was unusually a lot stronger than compared to a normal combined form. "I can't exactly find what comes to mind, but... Nngh, normal combiners shouldn't be this powerful physically... Unless... Tch!" Fire J-Decker's grip was loosening, even with the amount of power he was pushing into keeping Red Streamline still long enough for the two ninjas to do what they had to do. "Kagerou! Shadowmaru! How close are you to freeing Red Streamline!?" He called through the comms. There wasn't a response right away, but after a few seconds Shadowmaru broke the silence before they could be contacted again, reporting that this was taking them a lot longer than they'd like. Bruno was apparently prepared for them, and was someone who ensured he had all the entry points set as inaccessible. He explained that he couldn't give much detail on the progress Kagerou and he had made, but he hoped to have him freed very soon and to have the others help him in keeping Red Streamline still long enough for both of them to free him.
As if sensing that his systems were being hacked into, Red Streamline's movement became more desperate, struggling even harder to free himself from the larger combiner as the other combiners quickly assisted Fire J-Decker. A trail of shots rang from the colossal sized machine. Blazing Tornado dove in the path of the bullets to shield the others as best as he could, grunting in agony. "Blazing Tornado what the hell are you doing!?" Echo Spark hissed angrily. "Even if we're being shot at, there's no need to shield us! Our armour is thick enough to take on those petty shots!"
"I can't do that, Echo Spark. I'm shielding you guys the best I can so we don't get shot to pieces. Bruno might have something more powerful within his arsenal, and I'm the one with the toughest armour out of the four of us!" Blazing Tornado quickly shielded himself when another wave of bullets fired in their direction, bracing so that he didn't get knocked down. Echo Spark made the argument once more that they could use his help in keeping Red Streamline held down. "Echo Spark just trust me on this! Don't you realise how Bruno is shooting at us in a straight line? He doesn't care about whether or not Red Streamline gets damaged! If a shot hit him... No, just keep helping Fire J-Decker!"
Echo Spark cursed to herself silently as she did as told. Red Streamline's movements were now becoming more erratic, becoming even more disturbed that he was succeeding in nearly freeing himself from Fire J-Decker's hold. "Just hang on for a little while, Red Streamline! The Japanese Division have almost... Nngh, freed you! From... The hell... That criminal has you under!"
Meanwhile, located in two different locations far from the battle, Shadowmaru and Kagerou were deep in concentration. Communicating with one another occasionally while both Braves were deep in meditation, helping one another peel away layers, even if it seemed like said layers were coming back in force. What they could see were many doors, and firewalls that should be avoided, but they needed to traverse. They were coming to the conclusion that these firewalls were far more dangerous than the ones found previously in Radiant Prism's Super A.I., this much Kagerou confirmed after he'd been painfully zapped from his shoulder grazing it earlier. From what they could see, in the distance was Redlight appearing 'suspended in the air' by chains, completely unconscious. "Shadowmaru, can you pinpoint a direct route to Redlight's location? My systems can't seem to do that." Kagerou asked.
Shadowmaru could only shake his helm at his elder Brother's question. "I'm afraid not, I've tried multiple times but Bruno equipped this with a lot of tech unlike what I've experienced before... My efforts, just like yours, kept getting blocked and even this program nullifies alternate efforts to penetrate through this thick shield to get what I need. Hm... Looks like we have no choice but to simply walk through this maze, and hope we can make it to the end to save Redlight."
Shadowmaru then sighed. "I hate these type of systems that involve navigating a maze." He commented with a shake of his helm, crossing his arms. "They get old very quickly."
"Let's go, we have a maze to traverse." Kagerou told Shadowmaru, taking the lead.
The moment they stepped into the maze, everything around them turned red, and after they walked further, they could feel something wasn't right, and looking back at the entrance, the two noticed that the entry was soon closed off by the firewall expanding high into the 'sky' to close off where they entered from. The wall would then start to advance towards them, forcing both ninjas to run. Unlike in reality, the ninjas were limited in terms of movement and weaponry, unable to use their respective weapons or even their incredibly fast and agile movement speed, they had to adjust to surfing the data near to a normal Brave's pace, yet still retained their hacking and infiltration abilities. The maze began to expand, and the walls sunk below, now becoming a sea of red that surely meant they'd be kicked out, or worse, annihilated if they fell in as they expanded wide enough that it was impossible to leap towards the next part without falling in. "This is not what I expected to happen." Shadowmaru commented as the two ninjas began to run. Because they still were unable use any type of navigating systems thanks to the powerful nullifying program, they had to figure out their own destination manually by sight.
"I'll take the lead, Kagerou." Shadowmaru told his Brother after a long moment of silence. "I've managed to memorise the correct path even without my navigation systems. But I can't help but feel like I've known this program in particular... Not all of it, but some of it feels... Familiar..."
"Remember, most mazes have dead ends we need to avoid. If we hit a dead end, we're done for." Kagerou pointed out as the two make another turn.
"I'm aware. Just keep following and I'll get us out of this." The two continued to outrun the advancing firewall that threatens them, noticing that the paths leading to dead ends were also being filled by the infinitely extending firewall which made them relieved that they were going in the right way thus far. Shadowmaru had to keep focus on the path they were running along, needing to ensure that they weren't taking the wrong path. The maze felt endless, yet knew they were making progress despite it's colossal size, however they were starting to wear the more they continued to run. Normally the ninjas didn't need to use too much effort for anything other than get in, hack or infiltrate their main target, then get out which would only take them to a few seconds to even roughly three minutes depending on the complexity of their mission. But this was putting what they were programmed and trained for since they were first activated. Both hated to admit that they were both impressed and to some degree mildly scared, the level of creativity put into such a combination of firewalls and the other thing that bugged Shadowmaru about how familiar it felt meant to keep even the most sophisticated and intelligent hackers on their toes was unlike what they've experienced in the past.
Unfortunately, they had another problem. The moment the firewall scraped Kagerou's wing, the Shadow Detective took notice that the firewall was now making an effort to speed up, in an attempt to catch what considers both of them 'viruses'.
"Shadowmaru?" Kagerou addressed his younger Brother after sharply turning, "How close are we to getting out of this? The danger behind us is starting to speed up which means we're getting closer." Kagerou grunted slightly when the wall grazed his wing once more, folding them more tightly against his back.
"Just about two sharp turns left! We're almost there!" Replied Shadowmaru.
The two ninjas pressed on as fast as they could, making those turns until when they had to push beyond their normal running limit, nearing the final stretch as Shadowmaru requested Kagerou to run alongside him, for he has a plan. He explained that by the time they reach the exit, they're going to shove one another off to the side, in case the firewall doesn't stop exactly at the end of the maze. "Are you insane!? How can we time something like that? We would have to be almost near perfect sync!"
"I trust you, Kagerou, but I need you to trust me! If we both slow down, it could cut right through us and we'll botch our mission. This is a mission that requires both of us, and I need your help just as you need my help." The Shadow Detective didn't like this. A part of him wanted to say that this could be a miscalculation in the end, but knowing they were almost at the end, both ninjas moved into position, ready to shove one another to the side.
"Three..." Shadowmaru began as his optics narrowed. "Two..." Kagerou chimed in, his optics also narrowing. "One..." Shadowmaru and Kagerou braced themselves just as they reached the end.
"NOW!" In perfect sync, both Ninjas shoved one another off to the side just as they passed the exit that connected the straight path onto the much larger platform, and just as Shadowmaru predicted, the firewall didn't stop at the end, but rather it continued to phase out into the distance, until it could no longer be seen. Both of them getting up, the two regrouped in front of an unconscious Redlight. Just as Shadowmaru began his work, Kagerou couldn't help but feel that something was off. Normally if one security defence failed, multiple would start working in its place. He proceeded to cover for his Brother, in case there might be any hidden surprises he'd have to distract or draw away attention. "...I don't like this, it's too quiet." He said, voicing his discomfort.
"I don't detect anything else, I've made sure of it after idly trying to penetrate through the program's thick layer while we were running." Shadowmaru said as he managed to find an entry point to begin freeing the unconscious golden eagle. "If there were anymore hidden surprises, both of us would have known, but it looks like Bruno may have not chosen to think more than just the supposed 'maze trap' he made. Let's see... Alright. I'm in, now I just need to..."
Shadowmaru shortly after proceeded to wince, as if he were overwhelmed by something powerful he did not expect. "Ugh, what is... It's- Aggghhkk!" Shadowmaru was sent flying back a few meters as if some invisible forcefield had knocked him back. "That was... Unexpected, but I fear this will take a while." He said, getting up as he returned back to where Redlight was, internally facepalming as what he had to deal with was going to be complicated, the purple ninja sighed in disappointment.
"What just happened?"
"It's Redlight, it appears Bruno somehow managed to somehow deceive his Super A.I. into thinking nothing had happened to him. I was able to enter the system freely at first, then not long I ran into him and tried to explain that he needs to wake up and help us fight Bruno, but he refused to believe I was telling the truth thinking that he was long dealt with, and as a result... His denial seemed to trigger the system that kicked me out instantly with little to no effort, he's completely trapped in there." Knowing Kagerou was about to ask if Redlight would be one of the foreign leaders specialised in not only leading, but also capable of performing independent work like they could, but Shadowmaru only shook his helm. "No, he isn't equipped with the same gear we use."
"But enough of that, I'll just try ag-"
"I don't think so." The voice of Bruno could be heard as he continued. "You two thought you could get in here without even being seen, but all this time I've been watching your little pathetic attempt at rescuing my most powerful tool. If you're so eager to see him that much, why not join him?" Sensing something was coming, Shadowmaru quickly shoved Kagerou out of the way, taking the hit as a triangular shaped dart with red trails expanding from seemingly nowhere penetrated into Shadowmaru's back, causing the purple ninja to cry out in agony. "Shadowmaru!" Scrambling back up to his feet, Kagerou ran to his Brother, who managed to get back up as he could feel something controlling him as he screamed in agony. "STAY BACK!" He managed to shout through his agony, starting to recognise what exactly was being injected into his systems against his will. "Stay back, Kagerou... Get out of here, now! Warn the others! I can't... Shake this... Virus off!"
"I can't just leave you like this! Wait a moment, let me just-" Without warning, the last thing Kagerou saw was Shadowmaru flicking a particular object towards him, recognising the program as a type of emergency recall formed in the shape of a shuriken. The moment it struck his chest, he could feel everything fade to black as he cried out for his Brother to come back.
Jolting awake with a gasp. Kagerou quickly scrambled up onto his feet, hearing the fight in the background was still ongoing as he listened in onto the frequency chatter between the Braves as he made his way to Shadowmaru's location to hear any updates.
-It's sure taking Shadowmaru and Kagerou a while to do what they need to do. Whatever it is, it must be quite the challenge. I'm holding up fine, but I can't keep this up forever.- Blazing Tornado could be heard saying.
-It shouldn't take them this long to free Red Streamline from the mess Bruno shoved him into!- Echo Spark replied next. -What are those idiots doing!? Couldn't they have done both fighting and hacking at the same time.-
-Watch it Echo Spark, that's a member of the Japanese Division you're talking about.- Blazing Tornado frowned.
-Technically yes, they're capable of that, but there is also a drawback.- Fire J-Decker could be heard saying. -Normally they remain hiding in plain sight so they can deal with what needs intense concentration. If they were to take damage during their job, they risk losing concentration that could lead to damaging whatever they're trying to safely extract, or break- What in the!?-
Kagerou perked up slightly on hearing Fire J-Decker react to something, and just as he was about to contact the others, the sounds of others saying they can't hold him down. 'No... Red Streamline is-'
"Red Streamline, destroy the Brave Police!" Bruno's voice could be heard from nearby. "Show me- No, show the entire world that the Brave Police overall is nothing more than a failure of the police, of all of mankind!" What Kagerou could hear was The others yelping Red Streamline broke free. 'This is not good...' He thought uneasily.
On finally reaching Shadowmaru, Kagerou noticed that Shadowmaru was already standing up, but was as still as a statue and upper body slumped forward. "Shadowmaru... Are you alright?" Performing scans on his Brother, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, figuring that Shadowmaru must have gotten out before whatever had attached itself to him fully took control. He approached, thinking he was performing a self-repair to clean out the traces of what may have been possibly a virus.
'Nothing out of-' Sensing something was wrong, he quickly dodged an incoming attack the moment Shadowmaru pulled out and swung one of sword at him. Optics widening, rather than the green optics he'd been used to seeing, instead they were a bright red. 'No... Shadowmaru didn't make it... He spared me before I could become infected by that-' The moment Shadowmaru blurred out of sight, Kagerou quickly dodged an incoming attack from behind, quickly bringing out his handgun and fired, intending to shoot his Brother's weapon out but once more blurred. 'So fast!' Once more he dodged when he sensed Shadowmaru charging at him from afar with such speed, far beyond what he normally could do. "Everyone, this is Kagerou. Shadowmaru and I couldn't free Red Streamline from his control. Bruno had protections planned far beyond what we expected, and he's also managed to infect Shadowmaru."
-WHAT!?- Exclaimed everyone in shock, another asking what would they do now that they had two dangerous Braves to deal with. Fire J-Decker then spoke to Kagerou. -Come back and help us out, Kagerou. We need your assistance with Red Streamline.-
"I'm afraid I can't. Shadowmaru is far too dangerous, if I lured him over to where you guys are, he could slaughter everyone in an instant, far faster than Red Streamline. I will assure all of you that I'm keeping Shadowmaru at bay until you can find some other way to free Red Streamline. Maybe some of the mechanics might have an idea. This country is known for having advanced technology, are they not?" Cutting the comms off, Kagerou cursed to himself when his handgun had been cut diagonally in half. "Looks like I'll have no choice, little Brother." He said, bringing out his Kusarigama. "If I have to subdue you to ensure the others are spared from what you can do under this infected state, then I will." Narrowing his optics, Kagerou sprinted towards his brother.
...
"Tch... I see now." Fire J-Decker said as he used the fire sword to defend himself from the incoming attacks of Red Streamline.
"What is it, Fire J-Decker?" Yuuta asked as Fire J-Decker explained that he now knew the program they were dealing with. It was either exact same program but refined or it was loosely based off of the Crimson-X, made by the trio of Brothers that used it on stolen vehicles during their heists and eventually a more refined one installed into their own machine that the Build Team destroyed. "Eh!? Crimson X!? If this one was modified, or redone to be made even better than their version..."
-What is this 'Crimson X', Fire J-Decker?- Aerial Radiance asked. -If you're familiar with what this is, then maybe with explanation, we could easily stop it.-
"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Aerial Radiance." Fire J-Decker explained, switching to German. "Crimson X was a program used to enhance specific machines such as A.I. vehicles, piloted machinery, or even robots beyond it's initial limits, but it had a downside to where it would then cause whatever it's installed to overheat and explode if the program forced it beyond it's limits for a period of time. In normal A.I. controlled machines and robots we could easily stop them, but... Because Bruno installed it on one of us..." Unable to finish his sentence, it was enough for Aerial Radiance to know, and immediately began to explain to both Echo Spark and Blazing Tornado what it did.
-That machine does what and the risks this program poses are how dangerous!?- Echo Spark exclaimed, continuing. -Unacceptable! That is a crime beyond any crimes known in history and I can't wait to dish out every single justice that I can list!-
"But then the main question is, how can we stop Red Streamline? Echo Spark and I aren't keen on exactly just tearing him apart, he's the first of the German Division and we deeply respect him." Blazing Tornado asked hesitantly. "If Kagerou says there's some sort of way, then maybe we could contact our mechanics to find some way to override or halt this program?" Echo Spark could only snort at his words, stating that there's nothing they could do about a foreign program rebuilt by one of the most dangerous criminals they've faced and that if they have to keep fighting, then they would have to. She then neared the South Division Combiner. "If we have to fight to the death, then so be it... But we cannot allow Bruno to win! Failure is not an option!"
"Echo Spark-"
"Blazing Tornado just SHUT UP! I hate to admit it but I think Red Streamline is gone, as in gone for good! We may never get him back!" Snarled Echo Spark, taking notice of something else, but was startled when she noticed something coming at her, stunned to see Red Streamline coming at her as she braced, ready to avoid the incoming attack, but was stunned when Blazing Tornado quickly took the blow, spotting the blade of the infected East combiner coming out from the side of her defender's back. "...Blazing Tornado-"
"Nope, say no more, Echo Spark." Blazing Tornado smirked, despite his injury, he attempted to give Red Streamline a punch, but missed as the combiner let go of his weapon and leapt away. "Fortunately it seems like this program Bruno installed on our teammate isn't at all very good with accuracy." Removing the blade out of his body, the bulky combiner simply snapped the sword's blade off shortly after. "Wh- Blazing Tornado, you're only going to give the mechanics months to build a new blade! Why are you-"
"You can use a sword over and over, sure this means it will cause Red Streamline to get his ranged weapon out, but we don't have an infinite amount of bullets." Explained Blazing Tornado. "Once he runs out of bullets, he'll be forced to use his fists which means he can't stay long distance for long. It's all a simple task of making things as limited as possible for our temporary foe." He further added, tossing the pieces to the side, shifting to a combat position after he'd gotten his double bladed polearm out. "...Well, I suppose I'll get quite a bit of flak later on after this whole ordeal is over." Echo Spark could only narrow her optics, knowing she'll have to chew the Brave out much later as she made her move, asking Aerial Radiance to assist her, which surprised the latter.
Meanwhile, as the four combiners were dealing with Red Streamline, Kagerou continued to keep Shadowmaru busy. Royal Flush had in the midst of the fight, disappeared out of view without anyone noticing. None of the four Braves were sure if Royal Flush's cloaking system would help, considering what Bruno had stuffed into his colossal machine that seemingly had eyes everywhere. The nimble Brave had an idea. If they're going to stop Red Streamline and Shadowmaru from Bruno's control, they'd have to start with the source. Stealth tactics were his specialty, something he hoped would aid him in light of his lack of straight offensive power. No one said a thing, not daring to risk making a sound to alert the criminal to their location. So far, it seems that no one had noticed, but they hope that the other Braves won't openly say he was nowhere to be seen.
In the midst of the battle, the loud rumble of jet engines could be heard. He immediately spotted both Aerial Radiance and Red Streamline engaged in a fierce dogfight, hugging against the structure tightly as the two flew by so dangerously close in their fight. Continuing his climb, Royal Flush quickly spotted something of interest near where the multitude of smaller machines connected to the main body that appeared to be just enough for him to crawl in, scaling his way towards it.
After making it inside, he began to cautiously scan his surroundings, knowing there would be cameras about. What he did find odd was how there didn't seem to be any lifeforms found, save for Bruno's who was clearly many floors higher than him.
'As much as I want to get up there and arrest him, I should find some way to halt, or at least cripple the Crimson X if it's controlled remotely from in here.' He thought, heading out of the room he'd found himself in and searched around for a large supercomputer of some sort. For the combiner, he felt like he was walking on a tightrope, unsure if it was worn that it could snap, leading him into a trap, or if it was truly safe to traverse over due to not knowing if his systems were enough to keep him under the radar. On hearing something approaching, he quickly ducked into a nearby room, laying low in the furthest corner where he couldn't be seen. What he saw was a basic drone, emitting a bright light in front of it that indicated it was designed for basic security in ensuring nothing was trying to get inside. 'Looks like it's basic, I'll just have to avoid its beams...' He thought, moving as quiet as a mouse, using his stealth acrobatics to avoid making a single sound as he avoided the light it shined. 'So far things seem to be in my favour, but I'll help put a stop to this...' He observed the little security drone continue to scan around the room for a little while longer, before exiting the room entirely to resume about its business.
Relieved, Royal Flush quietly got down and noticed he had found himself in a room equipped with a supercomputer. The concept was still all so strange that it had layers of desks and chairs, enough for a large criminal organization to mount a full assault, yet there was no one but Bruno... It seemed odd, but Royal Flush assumed it was the typical criminal decision to then dismiss or kill their accomplices to take on the work alone. The combiner got to work in searching for a way to assist his teammates, using his left clawed servo in which the digits extended into small little servos due to the fact his own servo was far too big to press on the delicate, smaller keys. He silently listened into the frequency to hear what the others were doing on their end of the fight, but immediately paused when he overheard Fire J-Decker intends to use the Max Cannon, followed by Bruno daring him to even try.
'Damn, does this mean he's aware that I-' He didn't get to finish his thoughts as security drones began flooding into the room, their hidden weaponry revealed and opening fire on the combiner as he took cover. "Tch, Bruno does not mess around..." He muttered to himself silently, bringing out his main ranged weapon and returning fire. While taking out the security drones would be something he could easily take care of with just his daggers alone, their firepower convinced him that it wasn't worth taking the risk of getting banged up by their shots and on top of the room has too many human sized obstacles to allow him to move from one room to another with ease in such a small area. Jack had told him enough times to try not to take too much damage when they left the United Kingdom to help assist the German Division. He noticed the shots were being carefully placed to avoid scratching the supercomputer he was interacting with. He then noticed a heated spot in the walls, immediately knowing that firepower and quickly dived away from it just as a large beam of light penetrated the wall it started and then penetrated the wall right from across. In it's path, some of those security drones had been obliterated into nothing while the other half began opening fire, causing Royal Flush to curse to himself, thinking the supercomputer could have been entirely destroyed from Fire J-Decker's attack, but luckily for him, the shot had narrowly missed his target.
In a fast motion as he dove to the other side, Royal Flush opened fire, taking out a few security drones with relative ease, managing to aim for either the eye, or their vulnerable interior exposed from having their weapons out. Sliding near the supercomputer once more, he quickly applied a bug in the shape of a knight's two-handed sword to the underside of the machine, a recently created program Regina and the other mechanics made with the former personally requesting them to see about running a test while he's out fighting as it was considered to be a powerful bug that allowed Royal Flush to do some remote hacking, provided if he attached the bug first to where he needed it.
"It has been a long while since we've done something like this." King spoke, addressing his SIC, "Ace, will you be alright multitasking between remotely hacking the supercomputer and dealing with these drones?"
"I should be fine." Replied Ace. "I hope you don't mind me requesting a small amount of assistance in handling movement. I don't know what we're going to be dealing with but shutting down or at least overloading the weaponry should help give our teammates some sort of an edge. Not by much but I fear from what I've found out about this colossus, it appears to be enough to destroy a singular Brave, and I don't intend to let that happen."
"More drones coming in, boys." Jack warned his team as the number of drones coming in was slowly increasing.
"Ugh... How many did this guy even build!?" Ten exclaimed in disgust. "This is like the one-"
"Ace, start hacking!" King ordered and Ace acknowledged. With King taking most of the control, he wasn't as graceful as Ace was, but he was still a good shot with the ranged weapon. Like before, he continued to try and keep behind cover to avoid taking too much damage, switching cover when necessary, but noticing more drones weren't coming in.
"I did a little extra hacking on the side, I've managed to lock the doors to help keep more reinforcements from getting in." Ace added as the others thanked him, quickly taking out the remaining drones in the room. They could hear the drones banging against, and even opening fire at the door. 'Looks like that's one flaw he didn't think about. Probably meant to keep us out, but didn't think about that they couldn't be cut through by his own drones...' Thought Royal Flush, deciding to listen in on what's happening to the others while Ace worked.
"This is child's play, Brave Police. If you think you can easily get past my defences, think again!" Bruno's voice could be heard. "I know you're trying to succeed where the other one failed, and in trying again, I have an instant gift presented just for you. Besides, this was my plan all along after you locked yourself in there. Now it's only a matter of time before the one attempting to enter my weapon systems will receive my gift." Bruno laughed as Royal Flush hoped Ace could fight his way through the firewalls that blocked entry to their main target. King, Jack, and Ten couldn't see or peer into what only Ace could get into and see, and for now, all they could do was wait and see what happens.
"King?" Ten spoke up. "...Ace is going to fight through whatever Bruno throws at him, right? Since we can't help him out..."
"Ace is strong, we can't doubt him even for a second, Ten." King replied. "He's been through all sorts of things the criminals have thrown at him and hasn't flinched, he's one of the best of the Scotland Yard."
"I will say this once, Ringo." Snorted Jack. "If the kitty cat gets so much as his arse kicked by a tiny little human, I will never let him hear the end of this failure."
...
Ace didn't like this, while he was fortunate to have entered the systems fully, he hated the fact that he had to 'swim' around as this made him feel slightly vulnerable as he'd prefer to move around without anything hindering him, even if he couldn't use any of his weapons. Knowing he shouldn't stall before he would be found out, he began moving forward, but isn't surprised that Bruno was aware that he'd manage to get into the systems. Up ahead, he spotted a tall pillar in the distance, which he guessed has to be the supercomputer's main controls. 'Alright, I just need to get at least those massive cannons disabled...' He thought to himself, swimming ahead. Bruno then exclaims that he won't be any different and the first thing Ace could see were incoming firewalls that were heading in his direction. They were large, but had more than enough room for Ace to easily maneuver around. "Even machines can tire if they keep something up. So how about we make things even more complex?" Bruno had input a few more additions to the firewalls, now in all sorts of strange, jagged shapes but what he couldn't see were that the firewalls still had a few openings or cracks that could allow Ace to slip past, but with them being smaller than previously.
Ace had to bite back a few grunts, the firewalls burned as if his armour were like flesh and it'd been splashed with boiling hot water. He cursed to himself that he has to avoid touching them, even if he was put in an awkward, difficult situation of having to swim through the openings. What he wasn't aware of was that because he was still technically combined with the others, it would mean that they were also feeling the pain he was experiencing from having grazed the walls. 'Just hang in there, team... I'll get to the core of all this very soon...!' As Bruno continued to lose his patience, the firewalls were much more intense, now a complete mess of unpredictable places he could slip through but often had to do power bursts of swimming up, down, or diagonally to pass the next wall and another after the other.
"ENOUGH!" Bruno shouted as the firewalls ceased, and Ace found himself falling down onto the floor almost immediately. Getting up, Ace changed into his lion form, making a sprint towards the core of the supercomputer. "I can't have you touching any of my systems. I'll have to take drastic measures in dealing with you." The sounds of his surrounding shifting all around him was enough to put Ace in high alert, seeing turrets appear from the walls, most likely their bullets were programmed to act as an anti-virus, and since he is technically hacking into the systems this also meant can't be touched by them, sprinting, twisting, occasionally stopping to leap side to side to get out of an incoming trail of bullet, Ace had to work twice as hard to avoid getting hit by the bullets, and also strange wire-like things crawling towards him, sensing that he won't be in any danger of being kicked out if touched, but rather they're meant to capture their target to immobilise to them use the main systems to then shoot him out of the system.
As Ace was more than half-way to the pillar, he quickly unleashed a small virus of his own, throwing the program in the form of projectiles near identical to his throwing knives, managing to disable each turret one by one, allowing him an advantage even if his little virus was only going to work temporarily for a few minutes. Without anything to shoot at him, he continued to dodge the incoming wires that tried to grab at him, and many more would appear in front of him from down below into the pitch-black void he couldn't see, not daring to think what would happen if he fell in there.
He was just about to reach for the supercomputer's core, but was suddenly knocked back when a hidden turret decided to make itself known just before he could even let a digit even graze the supercomputer. The blast had also knocked Ace back into his normal form as he hit the ground, he found one of the wires having wrapped itself around one of his legs, quickly gripping the ground with his claws before he could be pulled into the void. "I won't... Let you... Kill my teammates!" Ace snarled as the wires began wrapping around other parts of him, intending to strengthen it's grip on pulling him out. With a great deal of effort, Ace didn't flinch, and continued to climb towards the core very slowly.
"Won't... Give... Up... Either!" Gritting his denta, Ace powered forward, moving just ever so slightly faster towards his target.
"How... How are you not pulled out of...!? Rrrgh, this doesn't make sense!"
"I may not be able to understand what you're saying, but you've made a mistake you won't be able to dig yourself out of so easily, Bruno." Ace grunted, managing to reach the supercomputer's core, but before he could touch it, he noticed it was protected by a small, yet clearly weaker version of the earlier firewalls. Narrowing his optics. He then freed a servo and slowly gripped the firewall, feeling a relatively painful sting as its power didn't even rival the stings he felt earlier, digging his clawed servo even deeper to tighten the pressure. Bruno struggled to get the turrets back online before he could shatter it, succeeding in speeding up the rebooting process and fired, but it was too late as Ace allowed the core to absorb him, having managed to trick it into thinking he was part of it's program, inadvertently damaging the core itself as he screamed in rage in having failed to succeed in getting the SIC of the Scotland Yard Division in time.
Back in the real world, the colossus robot rumbled, slumping slightly as Royal Flush held onto one of the nearby large props that was bolted to the ground. "Too late, the colossal machine is going to fire on them!" Royal Flush exclaimed, but just before it could fire, the weapons began to power down immediately. A small explosion could be heard, and the combiner quickly spotted that the sword-shaped bug had shattered, being pushed beyond it's limits. "Ace!" He shouted, fearing that Bruno might have somehow gotten to him, lowering his helm.
"That... Took a while, apologies for the very slow performance." Ace could be heard saying.
"Ace, you're alive!" Ten could be heard exclaiming.
"I barely managed to make it out of there after I'd managed to tear out and delete a lot of important data to render the weapons system inoperative. What's the status?"
Before King could make his response, the machine rumbled once more at the same time the security drones have breached the doors. Unable to keep himself standing anymore, Royal Flush ended up sliding down and out through the gaping hole left by Fire J-Decker. While he could have found more ways to deal more damage to Bruno's machine, he didn't see any other reason to linger while taking damage. Once he was out, he immediately gunned his thrusters in both his back and feet, flying back towards where he last saw his teammates. After navigating around the colossal mecha, he saw the situation didn't look too well on seeing Fire J-Decker, Echo Spark, and Blazing Tornado in some worse for wear, flying over to them. "Fire J-Decker, Echo Spark, Blazing Tornado, what happened?"
"Ugh... Too strong." Blazing Tornado grunted. "Where were you, Royal Flush? We could've used your help with keeping Red Streamline still so we could knock some sense out of him."
Royal Flush could only frown as he couldn't understand what the German combiner was saying, but Fire J-Decker was quick to translate and Royal Flush made his reply stating that he has two combiner forms, but unfortunately this one in particular is not built for full combat, which the Japanese combiner would then translate the information for Blazing Tornado next.
"Where's Aerial Radiance? I don't see her anywhere." Royal Flush asked as Fire J-Decker gave himself a moment to scan, then explained that she's still in the midst of an intense dogfight somewhere high above the skies. "I'll have to see if I can assist Aerial Radiance in some way, she can't do this alo-" Just before he could take off, Fire J-Decker grabbed onto Royal Flush's arm and as he turned to look at the massive combiner shaking his helm.
"Red Streamline is far too fast and far too dangerous thanks to Bruno's reworked version of the Crimson X coursing through his systems. While you were absent, Bruno intensified the fight but Aerial Radiance managed to hinder Red Streamline from taking orders to destroy us, and turned his attention to her. Only Aerial Radiance is capable of catching up with his unnaturally fast speed." He explained, his optics narrowing as his tone shifted to a more serious one. "The moment you reach them you would be taken out of the skies before you could react. As much as I'd want to help too, I can only trust Aerial Radiance to find a way to get Red Streamline- No, Redlight, to fight off that program and return back to normal." Letting go, Fire J-Decker could only look up at the skies, and so did Royal Flush. Both Blazing Tornado and Echo Spark managed to limp over to the other two.
Somewhere high in the skies, Aerial Radiance was on high alert. While not as worse for wear like the others, she was still fairly scratched up from the constant barrage of bullets and both beak and claw attacks made by the combiner she'd been reluctantly battling. While she'd managed to do some damage herself, the possessed Brave seemed to not flinch at whatever she did, making her more disgusted by the program's efficiency to seemingly 'shrug off' any attacks she's thrown at Red Streamline. On top of that, she couldn't bring herself to use her full potential, not on the Brave that she looked up to, someone whom she saw as her saviour that told her to be her own Brave and not Gustav's little plaything to be used and then disposed of at will. She would internally plead him not to make her do more than what she'd thrown, but yet the first Brave of the country still threw his own attacks left and right without holding back. Aerial Radiance struggled to catch up with him, struggling to keep him off of her tail as they fought. However, what Red Streamline had managed to do that she couldn't avoid was managing to shoot one of her engines out.
'Tch, I won't be able to stabilise myself properly!' She cursed to herself, changing form intending to use the thrusters found in her back and feet while in normal mode. but the moment she changed out of her jet mode, she found a servo around her neck which only startled Aerial Radiance even further. While she didn't need to breathe, it would be all over if she lost her combined form for a second time. She could also hear Bruno give the command to overload her systems with excessive energy to the point of destroying her, and began crying out in pain as she struggled to escape Red Streamline's grip, but no matter what she tried to do, his grip was as strong as titanium. "Red Streamline stop this! Please... Would you- Would you really... D-Doom all of us to... Nngh! Please, don't let Bruno- J-Just don't do s-something... Something you'll... Nngh- Regret!" As the excess power built up in her systems, Aerial Radiance couldn't escape. The excess electricity was eating her away and eventually she wouldn't be able to handle it anymore. Her struggles were weakening as warnings blinded her entire visuals, then finally, nothing but static. While having just about readily giving up, fearing she failed altogether to bring Red Streamline back, a particular gateway to what seemed to be leading to Red Streamline showed up. Curious yet hesitant, she paused for a moment as it didn't seem to be going away anytime soon, but then found herself absorbed into it.
Aerial Radiance, now Radiant Prism could find herself falling through data that swirled all around her. She wasn't sure what to make of what she was seeing around her, but a few seconds later, she fell into a portal, crashing down onto the sidewalk harshly. "Ugh... What the hell is going on...?" She mumbled to herself as she picked herself up. Dusting herself off as she paused, seeing she was no longer Aerial Radiance. Taking in her surroundings, she noticed that she was in a city she'd never seen before, but after studying her surroundings, she found that she was actually in a part of Berlin. "Wait, what? Why am I in Berlin? I was just fighting-" She then heard something, turning around to see Blazer beckon her to follow as he ran, not talking or making any sort of sounds. "Blazer...? Where do you want me to go?" She muttered to herself, running after the red and white Brave. Another thing she seemed to notice was that she wasn't in her original size, but rather she found herself the size of a human. As she followed Blazer for a time, she then stopped as this time, it was Ten that beckoned her to follow, taking her into another direction. She would follow the next set of Braves she'd see. After Ten, it was Shadowmaru, then it was Ace, Duke, King, Gunmax, Surge, Jack, and finally Deckerd who lead her into what appeared to be one of Berlin's parks.
After following him deeper into the park, she saw Deckerd turn to look at her, then point her in a specific direction as he soon faded away. When she followed the direction she was pointed towards, Radiant Prism began to recall something, the name of the place that Redlight told her so long ago that he often enjoyed hanging around near one of the oldest parks of the capital city, remembering it's name, Volkspark Friedrichshain. She wondered about that place, but never saw any images of it due to how busy Redlight was, even if he would make some room in his busy schedule to see her. "One day, should I manage to free up enough time in my schedule, I want to take you to see the oldest public park of Berlin. It's called Volkspark Friedrichshain. Within this park, it contains the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, something that somehow miraculously survived that attack." She could recall hearing Redlight tell her, and when she reached a location with pillars decorated with what appeared to be small children riding on what appeared to be creatures that looked half goat and half fish. The gates opened as she got close enough, and immediately spotted Redlight in the distance past them.
Not wanting to run, Radiant Prism approached the black and dark gold golden eagle, before stopping just about two meters from him. "Beautiful, isn't it? The Märchenbrunnen I mean." Redlight said with a smile. "Sometimes when I need a break from my duties provided there are no criminals actively causing havoc, I come here to clear my thoughts. This beautiful fountain can have that effect on you." As if he'd know she was there, Radiant Prism wasn't sure what to say, but when Redlight moved away, she could see the fountain more clearly. Examining each pillar carefully showed how it held people of varying ages appearing to be interacting with animals. Her gaze then drew away from the fountain and onto her teammate. "Redlight?" When his attention was on her, she began to hesitate, but continued as she knew the situation in the real world was dire. "Redlight, you... You may not believe me but, we're in danger... Serious danger."
"Danger? There isn't any danger around us." Redlight chuckled. "Nothing but just the two of us." Radiant Prism could only look away momentarily, a grim look on her face.
"No, Redlight, I don't think you realise it but there is real danger. There is a virus that's manipulating your Super A.I. making you think this is all real, but it isn't... It looks like it's been programmed in such a way that your anti-virus can't detect it. It's created by a dangerous criminal who goes by the name of Bruno Ackermann. It's him who managed to slip something into your systems which I presume might have been the last maintenance checkup you had. Fire J-Decker called it a combination of a past criminal from Japan that made a program called 'Crimson X', but the one you have is severely modified by Bruno himself, I think a part of it seems to have a secondary function built into this specifically for you to not see there's any danger..."
"Radiant Prism..." Redlight frowned with a sigh as he averted his gaze. He wasn't sure what sort of nonsense Radiant Prism was saying. He wondered if Gustav might have made her believe something strange and weird to keep his grip on her, but he couldn't see the obedient look in her optics as he'd previously saw not too long ago, at least he thought he saw that in her expression. He decided to try and do a quick scan on his systems, which turned out to be nothing. "There's nothing, I-" He was taken aback when his gaze fell back onto Radiant Prism, finding her surrounded by something strange, which puzzled him as this appeared to be some sort of barrier on touching it.
"What is this!?" Even Radiant Prism was puzzled, but then heard Kagerou's voice telling her to keep persuading Redlight to break free. Narrowing her optics, Radiant Prism spoke to Redlight in a more leader-like manner. "Redlight, what you're seeing here is a barrier. We both know that we don't have that type of technology, and as I've been telling you before, you're not in the real world... You're trapped in a virus' recreation of the world to make you believe you're still in the real world without any problems, but it's a trick. A disgusting trick at that. Fire J-Decker, Royal Flush, Blazing Tornado, Echo Spark, and I are trying to fight against Bruno Ackermann, but we can't do it without you, especially since he has you in his grasp for his vile plan."
All of this information seemed to have hit Redlight as if someone had ripped an entire building out of the ground and smashed it straight into him. He couldn't fully process it, but if this was true, he had to ask what was Bruno's vile plan, and Radiant Prism simply put it bluntly.
"Sir, he intends to destroy the Brave Police, and he won't stop with just the German Division." She explained. "Bruno's goal stretches further than that. He aims to also destroy the other Divisions in existence such as Japan's, United Kingdom's, and not too long ago, South Korea just finished building their own Division. There are many more divisions soon to be built from around the world, but I don't know what countries plan to do so." Radiant Prism's expression became that of disgust. "I will also have to inform you that... I'm also a Black Market Super A.I." Redlight's expression suddenly shifted as Radiant Prism grew more uncomfortable. "Bruno Ackermann managed to create a fully functioning Super A.I. that is me, but I don't know how he managed to do that considering we're impossibly difficult to recreate outside of special equipment only the police carry. A journal of Bruno's that was recovered from his home but wasn't opened. Shadowmaru managed to pick the locks on the book and we found disturbing information that... Confirms Gustav, the same Gustav who sees himself better than anyone else, has managed to steal my Super A.I. and shaped me alongside Dieter to... How you saw me back then."
The more information that Redlight was being fed with about Bruno's goal of destroying the entirety of the Brave Police and the added information of how Radiant Prism was, or technically is a fully built and functional Black Market labeled Super A.I. was a cause for great concern, but also the added information of how Gustav was found to have browsed black market locations and used an illegal Super A.I. manufactured copy rather than create his own from scratch was even more devastating to learn about. All of the information suddenly brought him great pain, as if he wasn't supposed to know all of this as he collapsed. "You heard nothing from the lies told by mere tricks!" Bruno's voice could be heard menacingly as red lightning sparks began to rain down on the golden eagle.
"I won't let either of you break free, so I'll just have to destroy you all!" The same attempt tried to rain down on her, but thanks to this unusual barrier protecting her, she turned to look at Redlight knowing she had to do something, somehow. "Redlight, we need to stop Bruno, but I... No, we can't take him on without you. The more I think about our current situation without you... It was somewhat like what I experienced when I failed to stop the trio of criminals... I fought on my own, thinking I truly didn't need any help. But, in the end when I was defeated... It was what gave me the wake-up call that I wasn't invincible. While I'm working as a team alongside the others, we all know we're missing one more Brave to get an edge against Bruno.
"Redlight, let me help you just as you helped me."
Redlight struggled to fight against the dangerous virus that was eating away at him. The golden eagle struggled to get up onto his feet, managing to do so with great effort as he reached out with a servo. The excessive pain and energy was eating away at him. When Radiant Prism grabbed his servo, the barrier that surrounded her also now surround and shielded both of them from that painful virus attempting to kill them both. "What is this!?" They heard Bruno exclaim as the surrounding area began to vanish, and found themselves floating in a void surrounded by colourful circuitry as the red lightning also vanished shortly after. "How!? How are you both resisting my most powerful program yet!?" Bruno shrieked, both Braves quickly knowing the criminal was trying everything he could to regain control of Redlight, and additionally Radiant Prism. Looking at one another, Redlight gave a nod as the barrier soon disintegrated.
...
When Red Streamline and Aerial Radiance returned back to the real world, the former was disturbed at finding himself grabbing onto Aerial Radiance's neck, immediately releasing when she gunned her back and leg thrusters. Shortly after, they soon landed back on the ground as Redlight quickly rallied the others, who immediately got back up on their feet, ready to fight again now that they succeeded in freeing the golden eagle. "I'm sorry everyone for the actions I've committed against my will... But right now, I need everyone's help in stopping Bruno once and for all!" Red Streamline took the lead as the others acknowledged. "Echo Spark, let's combine!" He cried out as the female combiner ran over to and combined with Red Streamline, becoming Echo Streamline. Going on the attack, the large combiner quickly sped forth, electric whip at the ready as he began to lash out at different parts of the colossal machine which began to move slightly, but due to its massive size, it proved to be impossible to escape the lightning fast combiner. Once the task was done, he gave the command.
"Echo Spark, break off! Blazing Tornado, you're up next!" Echo Spark quickly broke away from Red Streamline on command as Blazing Tornado acknowledged eagerly as he ran towards Red Streamline, combining with him to become Blazing Streamline. Unlike before as Echo Streamline, Blazing Streamline wasn't as quick and agile as the previous combiner, but instead packed a massive amount of strength at the cost of speed. He unloaded a barrage of weaponry at the colossal mecha, most of it doing nothing to the tough armour, but some of them hitting the dented and open weak points made not too long ago that added further damage. Bruno was enraged by this point as his colossal machine could no longer work despite trying to get everything to work again. He quickly ejected from it and was now in his bio-machine mecha, ready to face the Brave Police. "Blazing Tornado, break off!"
Doing as told, Blazing Tornado was puzzled as he couldn't beat Bruno as just himself, but when he called for Aerial Radiance, everyone but Fire J-Decker was puzzled by this. When nothing happened, Echo Spark shouted at Aerial Radiance to not stall and combine as Bruno began making his move, intending to stop the combining as the other combiners move to stall the criminal's bio-machine mecha.
"Aerial Radiance!" Nodding hesitantly, Aerial Radiance flew towards Red Streamline but quickly dodged an incoming shot as Bruno shouted that he is not going to let her combine and intends to ensure they don't unite into a powerful combiner. Aerial Radiance had to try again to get into position, but when that wasn't happening, Red Streamline took to the skies on noticing that she was having trouble due to one of her damaged engines making her feel like a crippled bird that couldn't fly properly. Meanwhile, despite breaking free from the others, they immediately latched themselves back onto him, not wanting Bruno to stop them. "We're not letting you stop us from defeating you!" Blazing Tornado said sternly. "You've done enough damage, and no matter how much you'll be begging, your crimes are beyond redemption!" Echo Spark followed after.
"On top of that, the crimes you've committed in the United Kingdom will not be forgotten, and I'll see to that personally." Royal Flush added as Fire J-Decker spoke next, with Duke first speaking. "Your destruction ends here, criminal."
Deckerd then followed up. shortly afterwards. "Your crimes committed in Japan will be brought to justice here and now!" As they manage to keep Bruno still, the man managed to free an arm as the entire fist converted into a gun, firing at the two combiners but would find it aiming away from them as both Shadowmaru and Kagerou worked together to use their Kusarigamas, pulling hard on the arm of the bio-machine to keep Bruno from shooting the two just in time as they witnessed Red Streamline combining with Aerial Radiance.
"AERIAL STREAMLINE!" Shouted the new combiner.
"Grrgh, enough is enough! This new combiner is nothing more than another set of annoying pests and I'll see you all destroyed!" Shouted Bruno as he broke free, moving to attack Aerial Streamline. The combiner remained still, but as soon as Bruno fired a spray of bullets, the combiner seemingly 'disappeared' but found himself being shot in the back and damaged from all around to the point that he was now grounded, unable to fly. "So fast... How!?"
"Now, everyone! Full power!" At Aerial Streamline's command, Royal Flush readied his dual daggers, Fire J-Decker brought out the fire sword, and Blazing Tornado brought out his dual polearm. Calling out their attack names, each one, starting with the two ninjas did their fair share of damage, followed by Blazing Tornado, then Echo Spark, and then both Royal Flush, Fire J-Decker, and Aerial Streamline combining their attacks together one by one, unleashing further damage onto the criminal's bio-mecha. "NO! IMPOSSIBLE- AAAAGGHHH!-" The bio-machine exploded shortly after the three of them landed. In the midst of the smoke, Bruno's escape vehicle could be seen as he violently cursed at them, but was quickly caught by Echo Spark, who used her whip to catch the fleeing criminal. "I'm going to enjoy doing my job tonight, and you'll enjoy every single piece of detail listed down to the point of seeing you rot in jail for all eternity." Echo Spark hissed, venom dripping from every word as she kept her grip tight but not enough to crush the escape ship on seeing he was trying to open the cockpit.
"This won't be the end, Brave Police!" Sneered Bruno. "Even with my arrest, there will be many more who will pick up from where I left off and they will see that all of you are destroyed so that we may walk freely once more! You'll all see someday!"
"I better go and ensure the police get cuffs on this criminal." Echo Spark told the others, she then saw Fire J-Decker approach, suggesting Yuuta could apply cuffs, but only for the female combiner to stop him right there before he could finish his sentence. "A child is no police officer, Fire J-Decker. And this? This is a dangerous criminal at that! While he can do that freely in Japan, here in Germany we obey the law, not break them! The life of a police officer is not to be taken lightly." Without a further word, Echo Spark took her leave.
Yuuta got annoyed, somehow understanding that Echo Spark had declined the offer but sighed just as Fire J-Decker apologised. "No, whatever Echo Spark said, I want to say she's right. I know that even if I'm a cop-in-training to some degree back in Japan, I don't have authority here, anyways."
"That's our Mini-Boss." Chuckled Shadowmaru, soon turning his attention to Aerial Radiance and Red Streamline after the two broke off from one another and soon disengaged from their supporters. He started to approach them as the two looked at Shadowmaru as he switched to German. "I never got to properly thank you both for freeing me, well, Radiant Prism to be exact." At this, Radiant Prism put her servos up, shaking her helm as she explained that she didn't really do much, but Redlight explained that in saving him somehow also gave Shadowmaru the same effect when the program had been destroyed and no longer held a grip on them. "In truth, the others shielded you from not only the program, but also the program's ability to eject you out the same way it spat Kagerou and Shadowmaru out before the latter ultimately got infected." Shadowmaru could only shake his helm, requesting Redlight that he'd prefer if he doesn't reveal this blunder to anyone else.
Hearing others approach, it was none other than Deckerd, Duke, and Gunmax, alongside King, Ace, Jack, and Ten. Right away, both Deckerd and King shook servos with Redlight, both of them stating that it was nice to meet him in person. "Agreed, I do apologise for my absence and my... Unruly actions. I had no idea that-" The cheerful atmosphere soon darkened as soldiers began swarming the Braves, some were alarmed thinking that there was more trouble, but Redlight gave the order to everyone to stand down, puzzling particularly both the Japanese the the Scotland Yard Divisions. "Divisions, please don't do anything, this is the Bundeswehr. Germany's military." He translated to the other two in Japanese, both worrying when their focus was capturing Radiant Prism who didn't put up too much of a fight as the soldiers were shouting to shut down Radiant Prism so she can't try anything funny. Jack then spoke up. "Radiant Prism! Why aren't you-"
Radiant Prism could only give the others a sad smile as Redlight with the help of Blazer moved the others back to give the military their space, switching to Japanese. "I told myself that stopping Bruno would be my last act as Brave Police. The police and military here take things very seriously, and I'm considered illegal due to my Black Market status. In truth, long before I moved to spend time helping the Scotland Yard deal with Bruno, I knew deep down this would happen at the end of the fight, and there's nothing I can do about it. This is more than enough for me, ensuring criminals like Bruno can't repeat the same thing makes me happy enou-" She didn't get the chance to finish as the military attached a device onto her that caused her to power down.
The others could do nothing but watch as Radiant Prism was loaded onto a flatbed and eventually taken away. Even Redlight and Blazer were disturbed by this, and Redlight requested everyone to head back to his station in Berlin, where they can resume talk.
Once everyone relocated to Redlight's station in Berlin, everyone was distraught at not being able to aid Radiant Prism. Her words still branded into their minds that she chose to be disposed over fighting for her life like she did in the past. Even Redlight was disturbed by this, but did tell the others that he intended to fight for her rights to continue being Brave Police like all of them despite her origins. "After that whole ordeal, I refuse to let her just perish... That fight against Bruno would mean nothing." He sighed, looking to see if he could find anything to plead for Radiant Prism to continue working as Brave Police rather than be destroyed. Even Deckerd and King also tried to find some way through the computers they borrowed. The others talked and everything seemed to be less interesting, save for agreeing to what Redlight pointed out.
"On top of that... I know this is probably not a perfect time for this, but King, Deckerd, I'd like to discuss with the two of you about something in private. I have a conference room to conduct that."
"Understood, I'm willing to hear you out." Deckerd acknowledged as he looked to Yuuta, request he stay put with the others. Duke stepped forth in wanting to join Deckerd in the meeting, but Deckerd refused, instead requesting he stay with Yuuta just as King did the same to Ace who also wanted to tag along. The two SICs of their respective Divisions could only watch as their leaders leave with Redlight.
"Don't look so glum, kitty cat." Jack snorted, speaking in English. "If you're scared of Ringo and the rest of the lot vanishing without a trace, they aren't going to do that."
Ace could only make half a snarl and roar at Jack, but didn't leap as he knew to be respectful as another leader was still present. Ten also took notice to Blazer still in the room. "So why aren't you going with them, Blazer?" He asked.
"Um... Ten?" Yuuta spoke to Ten, speaking in Japanese as he sweatdropped at seeing how Blazer was staring at Ten in a confused manner, but made no response. "I don't think Blazer speaks English or even Japanese..." This time Ten switched to Japanese, asking Yuuta about his thoughts why Blazer isn't tagging along with the others, to which Yuuta pondered and then shrugged. "Maybe because Redlight didn't ask Blazer to join them. Deckerd understands German since Radiant Prism gave him a copy of the German language files, but..."
"I can translate for him." Shadowmaru said, translating Ten's words to Blazer in German as the red and white Brave lit up.
"Well, Redlight didn't need or call for me to tag along to the meeting, but I'm just here since even I worry about Radiant Prism." He replied with a shrug, continuing. "I'm willing to help out Redlight should he need me, otherwise I'd be walking about half-way back home and suddenly turning a full 180 back to Redlight if I'm needed without warning." He further added, letting Shadowmaru translate his words in English for Ten to understand.