Chapter 37: Raiding party
15:51 PM (Japan Time), Thursday July the 25th…
"… Alright. I'm in position to go in through the front. Zarashe. Are you in position to handle the rear? Over."
"Yessir. Over."
"I can see the front door perfectly, Miquel!"
"Good, Tozukana – san. Please send our greetings to the fellows who try to run out seeking an escape route…"
"Count on it!"
"… Rear door… Covered… No obstruction… Over…"
"The actors have been gathered… On my count."
"Yes, ma'am! All ready!"
"10 seconds. Be ready to perform "CF"…"
"…"DC" charging completed. Deploying. Activation. 5 seconds left! Standby…"
Kage was crouching behind drums placed near a small house two stories tall in the port district; two thugs were guarding the door, which had a sign reading "Maeda Trading" on it; the first floor's windows curtains were closed despite that the sun wasn't hitting the windows anymore; Kage had drawn his PET and the Synchro Chip as Andy's life-sized hologram, crouching next to him, nodded.
"Activation." Slur announced over a wireless earphone.
Something sparkled in the sky for a second before four "Dimensional Converters" with a metallic needle attached to their bases and two short thin cylinders for managing balance plunged into the ground, startling the thugs, who drew their guns and walked over to the closest one; Kage glanced at them through a gap between the drums.
"What are those!? Where'd they come from!?"
"Eat this!"
One of them drew a Makarov pistol and began to shoot at one Converter, yet the bullets didn't make contact with it and crashed with something invisible given how they were repelled and landed on the ground, their bodies bent and deformed; the "Dimensional Converters" hummed and a "Dimensional Area" formed around the next 600 meters in a circle.
"Synchro Chip, Slot In. Cross Fusion." Kage whispered.
He went through the procedure of "Cross Fusion" and the light emitted caught the attention of both thugs, who carefully advanced towards the drums while aiming their Makarov pistols; a figure jumped into the air at a blurry speed and fell down while aiming its feet' soils at their necks, knocking them into the ground and stunning them out cold; "Cross Fusion" Kage heard a similar sound coming from the other side of the building.
"This is Zarashe! Clear!"
"Clear over here too."
"Go inside." Slur commanded.
"Cross Fusion" Kage kicked the door open and drew a Vulcan Battle Chip at the same time "Cross Fusion" Zarashe came in from the kitchen; the small living room had one worn out sofa, a worn out armchair and a worn out tea table in the middle; there was a photo album atop the tea-table labeled "MERCHANDISE" as well, but they ignored it and focused their gaze on the stairs.
"At this time of the day the rooms above should be empty. They're brought at the evening from another place which the police are storming by now. Let's finish up before they come here too."
"Miquel! I caught one trying to jump from the rightmost window: according to the list it's the right-hand man!" Tozukana reported over the radio.
"Man down… Leftmost window… Enforcer…"
"OK! Then the big boss himself gotta be barricaded in the centermost room… Let's scare the jerk a bit! Deserves it."
"Do you approve, Slur – sama?"
"Do make them feel the anger of their victims."
Both rushed up the stairs; there were three doors belonging to 3 rooms; two of them were open and they could see they just had a cupboard, an adjacent restroom and a bed without covers and just the mattress; their windows were open and there was a man partly leaning on each one's frame while snoring.
"Hey! You've got no escape so just give it up! You brought this into yourself, you jerk! It's about time you learn about "consequences", you coward!" Kage called out as he banged on the door.
"Fuck you! Die!"
"Dodge!"
He glued his back to the wall at the door's right as a burst of a semi-automatic pistol ran out piercing through the thin wood of the door; both waited until they heard the CLICK sound signaling that the attacker had run out of ammo; the window was opened, but it was followed by a groan and a soft THUD sound.
"Man down…" Qong reported.
"Aw jeez! Ya beat me today."
"Previous… 2-1… Today… 1-2…"
"Try to find a building with four windows." Tom challenged.
"If there's one to begin with." Lily muttered.
Both ran out and headed for a black-colored van into which they jumped; Kage and Zarashe removed their "Cross Fusion" forms as the "Dimensional Area" shut down and the "Dimensional Converters" were warped out of their emplacement leaving just four marks on the concrete signaling where they'd landed at.
"Firing the "DC" from Paradise was cool. They ride on a rocket designed for re-entry… The compartment containing the "DC" splits off from the main body and then opens to allow the gizmos to land on their respective spots by just gravity! The counter-weights allow them to remain stable and the spear provides enough support." Kage whispered to Zarashe as he drove the van.
"Sure thing… They can't escape the eyes of Big Brother up there… Our unmanned "DC" shooting space station dotted with its own camouflage field and orbiting at 300 km altitude, below the ISS…That way we can easily deploy them anywhere!" Zarashe whispered back.
"Alright! It's time for Video Man's, Burner Man's and Needle Man's M&F show of the day!"
"Bring it on." Tozukana sounded amused.
"… Hmpf…Whatever…"
"Yes, Mr. Super! I'll fetch them ASAP! Oh my! He's sitting behind my own desk even! Heh, heh! I bring you a message from… What are you doing?"
"Nothing! Covering a hairless spot which formed on my shoe when I kicked the cat…"
"M-my eyelashes' mascara! Genuine French brand: 300,000Z the pot!"
"Really? Thought it was grease for the typing machine…"
"French eyelashes' mascara, huh?" Tozukana sneered.
"What is your opinion, Tozukana?" Video Man asked.
"Who needs that crappy imported stuff? Bet ya can find one for 3000Z or less at your local shop…" She laughed.
"And now you're gonna paint the bump with yours aunt's epilator!"
"My aunt uses size seven sandpaper as epilator, ma'am! Take that!"
"Wouldn't you know? She hit him with the typing machine."
"Hah! Then that gal… What's her name? Has temper."
"Ms. Ofelia, 30s, rather fatty… Blond… Always dresses in a red one-piece suit and black heeled boots…"
"Hmpf! Typical."
"GRJFTX!"
"What's wrong, Ms. Ofelia?"
"It's nothing! I was just going to tell Mortadelo that Mr. Super has summoned you and I found him painting his shoes with…! That's…! My Malaysian "Eau de Fleurs"…! 500,000Z the Choina perfume flask…!"
"Perfume~? Why! It smelled so badly: I thought it was the fly-killing insecticide!"
"… "Fly-killing insecticide"…! Grftj! Eat "Filemón – killing insecticide"! EAT THIS!"
"What a woman! She's so prone to anger, really…!"
"She threw an axe at him which he had to dodge by crawling and running across the floor!" Video Man laughed.
"Good job! That's a woman who shows those idiots to behave!"
"It's but a parody, mind you." Lily reminded her.
"Sheesh. Why spoil the mood?"
"Slur – sama ordered me to keep tabs on you."
"YIKES! G-gotcha… I'll shut up!"
"Also, Felix… Don't try to say you're perfect, either." Tom warned.
"Is that an order by President Hades?" He dully asked, unimpressed.
"That's right. Remember: Golden Star is not individual merits."
"Roger. I'll simply focus on training."
"Good, that's the attitude! Let's go for it!" Kage encouraged.
"Sure. Let's go for more, buddies!" Zarashe laughed.
16:13 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Ijuuin – kun? Oh. You're here…"
"What's wrong, Superintendent Oda?"
"I got a call from the Science Labs! A "Dimensional Area" appeared in District 7… A small illegal nightclub was raided… Seven men were arrested by the police after Golden Star either KOed them…"
"Is that so?"
"However… The curious part is that the thugs on the outside say that the "Dimensional Converters" fell from the sky. It wasn't a plane, though! It gave the feeling that they'd been shot down from even higher. They carried one spire to get stuck to the ground too and two counter-weights."
"Maybe Paradise is some system to shoot them down? They must think that we'd eventually figure out their power signature so we could track their deployment while in transit but like this we couldn't predict where they would land at."
Oda came to speak with Enzan as he typed something into a computer; he turned the chair around to speak with Oda, and they drew a theory together.
"Then maybe it's some kind of satellite?"
"And it could be cloaked too." Blues added.
"Obviously."
"Tango – san mailed me the newest status report… 67% capacity by now and growing… They're apparently concentrated on extensive debugging at this stage before they allow it to climb up more…" Oda added.
"I see… I guess their schedule of full capacity at the closing days of August won't change at all…"
"Emergency! Emergency! A berserk Navi has run into our Cyber World and is wrecking everything on its path! It appeared out of nowhere! No firewalls were broken or anything like that!"
"Where's the bitch! Show up, bitch! I'll destroy you bitch!"
"Impossible." Enzan cursed.
"No way!" Blues growled.
"Come out, bitch!"
"Hmmm… It would seem my frequent expeditions here have had a secondary effect of exporting power from the "pocket dimension" so that is why you have awakened… This is one of the recent locations from where I accessed it, hence why you appeared here. I am here but all you try is in vain because history shall be repeated…"
"Is that…?" Oda gasped.
"Forte, yeah."
"Bloody hell!"
"Luckily Slur will actually do us a favor and handle the guy." Enzan rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Darkness Overload! DIE~!"
"Futile."
Enzan typed into the computer and brought up live feed of the Cyber World; Slur extended her right palm forward and making the "Darkness Overload" break down into nine beams; the central one bounced back at Forte and the other eight converged on eight different spots of his body two seconds later, forming wounds there; Forte collapsed into the ground, and tried to stand up again, but collapsed on the attempt.
"How does it feel to be beaten by your own power? Serenade taught me this! The greatest weakness of fools is themselves. Return their vain power to them and make them feel its taste."
"F-fucking bitch…! I'm invincible! I'm the Ultimate Navi!"
"Who defeated the Super Cybeast? You alone? That is not true! You had to cooperate with Rock Man and the spirit of Serenade told you so!"
"Fuck!"
"Before making hollow announcements, use your head. You were given intelligence for something. You are disgracing your father! You fall into the trap for fools of "guilty by association" and because a few fools tried to dispose of you after Proto framed you… You went and blamed 4 billion humans for your own disgrace. How foolish! Over 99% of them were totally unrelated to the whole business." Slur added.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
"Go ahead! Waste what little energy you have left in vain. You fools tend to think you can make a miracle recovering! I know all about your wrecked body, which was remade by the "Four Dark Heavenly Kings" time ago… The "Dark Power" is gone yet you have that fraction of Cybeast Falzer you absorbed back then too… Yet you are too weak to trigger it! Even if you could, its power would turn you into a mindless and rampaging beast. Another reason I locked you up. You should be grateful, fool!"
"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP! EARTH BREAKER!"
"How many times do I have to say it? It is useless."
Forte tried to jump at her but she merely drew her right arm to protect her face; the blast landed there, yet it broke down into smaller outbursts of energy, which then reformed and hit Forte's chest emblem, damaging it; he collapsed on the ground, panting, while looking furious.
"Impossible! Impossible…! Im… possible…!"
"You can feel it… The feeling of power is just a momentary thing! When all adrenaline is wasted, then fear settles in your body because you realize your survival chances have just dropped to extreme levels… Let me end that useless struggle and send you to slumber again… Reflect on your evolution and life! When I see that you can walk a path of "Light", then you shall be released… Farewell."
She aimed her right hand at his forehead and emitted some sonic pulse beams which turned Forte's azure jewel stone gray followed by his body; he soon became an immobile statue.
"There. Open up, pocket dimension!"
A black-colored gateway opened and the petrified Forte was sucked inside of it before it closed; Slur shrugged and simply looked around the Cyber World as if having forgotten about him altogether.
"You must have realized this was not intentional."
"Obviously." Enzan replied.
"Good. That is all I had to in here. Farewell."
She disappeared; both Enzan and Blues sighed in relief while Oda took out a handkerchief and wiped off some sweat, which had formed on his forehead.
"Phew. Luckily, we could contain this somehow… Look at how she simply returned all the attacks to him after breaking them down…! And she didn't have to do any contact or real fighting even…!" Oda muttered with obvious fear.
"Yeah… I'm sure that not even Andy with the Ryuusei Program's power would be able to stand up to her. Nor like they'll ever fight. Slur is in charge and no – one questions that. That of the other day wasn't a real battle, but she was playing with us. If she was serious, we wouldn't have lasted even 10 seconds."
"Ijuuin – sama: Ms. Smith called." Someone announced over the PA system.
"Ms. Smith? Blues: do I know any Ms. Smith?" Enzan asked, frowning.
"I don't think so, sir."
"Oda – sama: Ms. Brown called."
"Ms. Brown? I don't recall her."
"Meijin – sama: Ms. Harper called."
"What did ya say?" Meijin wondered aloud in the adjacent cubicle.
"Obihiro – sama: Ms. Princess called."
"What "Ms. Princess"?"
"Ladies and gentlemen! Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman will sign autographs today at the ground floor's meeting room until 9:00 PM."
"KYA~H! TOM CRUISE!"
"WHOA~H! NICOLE KIDMAN!"
Oda opened the door and saw a crowd of officers rushing towards the aforementioned conference room; he blinked several times, taken aback by such behavior.
"What! They aren't the real ones! They're just holograms!"
"What's that atop the desks? "Happy Delayed April's Fools"… Who in the world would do this?"
"Beware! Professor Bacterio has invented the Time-Skipper! Those who wanna know this year's chosen lottery numbers would better skip on forward and then return! You can now change the future!"
"Whoa! The lottery numbers!?"
"Find it by going to the rooftop and inputting the solution to the problem in the safe! The problem is: what's Corrective #7 about? The hint is "spiky animal"! Good luck! Go, go and go!"
"There's no safe in the rooftop…! And who is that?"
"… Video Man… Again…" Enzan groaned.
"I made all of you dance to my tune as if I was Hamelin's Flautist! The answer is "hedgehog"! Massage in the navel with an adult hedgehog! Patented by Don Francisco Ibañez!"
"Oh come on… That's impossible." Enzan groaned next.
"Don't forget my motto! Video Man: I'll be back!"
"Sheesh! Bothersome annoying mice!" Blues growled.
"We'll need to increase security, man! Lesson learnt, alright!"