Mediziner's Notes: This one I decided to involve the antagonists of this series, but I was very hesitant in doing so because I was worried that I wasn't doing much of a good job... Well, my stuff isn't perfect but I did so anyways.
This Chapter was originally uploaded: 11/12/2019 on DeviantART.
The Leader within Cover Art is drawn and commissioned by Erilmadith-Everyoung on DeviantART. You can also find Radiant Prism's full reference there, too.
Enjoy!
...
Having made his way back up to the rooftop, Deckerd frowned upon stepping out, fearing he was too late when he didn't see Radiant Prism anywhere as he believed her to have flown off somewhere. A part of him wondered if Azuma's personality had been in some form mimicking Gustav as he couldn't imagine the two being similar if that may have been the case. Sure, the Vice-Commissioner saw him and the others as mere machines in the past, but in the end he did in some way mellow out much later on that following year with a few occasions of his usual self surfacing mainly whenever sometimes things don't exactly go according to plan when dealing with criminals, especially if they manage to escape them. With a shake of his helm, he turned around intending to return to the lift to head back down to the offices, he immediately spotted some slight movement off to the side, seeing that it was Radiant Prism upon further investigation. 'Oh, she hasn't flown off.' He thought, approaching her. "Radiant Prism?"
The German Brave simply looked over her shoulder at Deckerd, but said nothing as she looked away. "Radiant Prism, don't take what Azuma said personal, he's... Just like that, it's how he is." He managed to say, approaching her. "He's been like that as far as myself and the others have known him. None of us aren't... Very fond of him either but he does sometimes help us out and even keeps the Commissioner in check especially when he's having one of his more... Unique moments."
"I didn't like the fact that Azuma says I should have my language files removed to only have Japanese..." Radiant Prism replied, turning to face him a little while leaning slightly against the casing of the lift. "If I didn't have my own language anymore, I wouldn't be Brave Police anymore... It would be like stripping away parts of who I am."
Deckerd shook his helm. "He may say those things, but he does not have the knowledge like the Chief Engineer and his mechanics do. And even if he did, he would know right away that attempting to remove our primary languages..." He paused, not wanting to say anything that would otherwise trigger Radiant Prism as he quickly changed the subject. "Ah, speaking of languages... I'd like to ask you about something, especially after the earlier meeting with Redlight."
"What is it?" Radiant Prism asked.
"After what Duke said, I'd like to be able to communicate with you better. I figured that with Duke saying you're more comfortable with your own language it could help until you adjust to mine. I admit I do regret not fully grasping the thought that you were more comfortable with your own language than-"
"Deckerd, I appreciate that, it's just that the six months- Now seven months I've been activated, it's just... I'm slower at adapting to languages than the others are..." Frowned Radiant Prism. "I know I shouldn't take this long to get used to speaking in this language or another but... Damn it, I just..." Turning away, Radiant Prism sighed as she gave herself a moment. "I'll admit it, I do miss being back home in Germany, but I can't go back... Not while... While..." She was about to say more, but when she felt a servo onto her shoulder, she turned to see Deckerd.
"You don't need to say anymore." He said. "Come, we should head back inside so that D-"
-Deckerd, this is Duke.- Letting go of Radiant Prism's shoulder, Deckerd answered the call as he brought out his badge to answer. "Deckerd here, what is it Duke?" Radiant Prism watched as his expression went from a professional to what seemed to be a disapproving expression when Duke informed Deckerd that Gunmax was taking Yuuta with him out on patrol. "...Did you-"
-No. Merely letting you know that Yuuta is with Gunmax so you wouldn't worry. I'll be resuming my work.- As communications ended, Deckerd sighed as he didn't really like the idea of Gunmax being sent on patrol with Yuuta of all people as he closed his badge and put it away. It was obvious to him that he and Duke had yet another disagreement over something which was no surprise to him. It wasn't that he had anything against the green coloured Motorcycle Detective in particular, but he often worried that his teammate might expose his best friend to the more potentially violent lawbreakers he often dealt with and feared may not react fast enough to protect Yuuta should they target him without warning. Deckerd was no stranger to the type of work Gunmax dealt with, ranging between bike gangs, street gangs, to groups of wild teenagers terrorising the other motorists with their violent antics as he was fully aware of what he dealt with in his line of work. But, he did trust Gunmax to ensure that he kept a lid on his choice of words used around Yuuta...
Another thought came into mind, one that made him frown.
'...Then again Yuuta and I have dealt with those types of people in our line of work together sometimes.'
"...Sir?" It was only when he snapped out of his thoughts that he remembered that he had been originally speaking with Radiant Prism before Duke contacted him.
"Ah, sorry about that. Let's head back inside, I still have to arrange-" the doors of the lift opened just as he was talking, and Drill Boy had come running out with excitement.
"Deckerd!" Drill Boy piped up as he scrambled over to the Brave Detective. "Can I teach Radiant Prism this time, please!? I promise I'll be good and won't goof off!"
"Oh..." Deckerd thought for a moment, he was concerned about the given lessons that Radiant Prism is to learn today from Duke, though he'd have to double check with what he was going to have Drill Boy teach her. 'Duke, Dumpson, and Shadowmaru are doing paperwork today if I remember correctly, Gunmax originally while I was going to go out on patrol but since Duke's sent him off, looks like I'll have to do paperwork today... That means...' As if on cue, Drill Boy had just asked Deckerd if he could teach Radiant Prism outside of the station. About to make his reply, Radiant Prism had beaten him to it saying that she'd prefer to remain in the office.
"Eh!? C'mon, Radiant Prism... Don't you want to be out in the skies!? It's better than being indoors at a desk so you can see some things better as I explain them!"
"Drill Boy she still needs to complete her lessons before she can go patrol with the rest of us. We may have allowed it somewhat before but until she knows everything here, she can't do official patrolling just yet as there are some things left for her to learn." At Deckerd's words, Drill Boy could only frown yet agree to it reluctantly. With that settled, the three of them made their way back down a floor to the offices. "The last thing I need is for her to make an action that would've otherwise been natural for her to respond to in Germany, but may not exactly work the same way here in Japan which could result in complaints."
Turning his attention briefly to call the elevator back, he looked back to the two of them. "Let's head back down." He said.
Everyone assigned to paperwork were rather surprised. Most had been expecting Drill Boy to goof off or perhaps attempt to sneak Radiant Prism off elsewhere to get her to slack off, but he did show to be on his best behavior. Deckerd however could see that Dumpson suspected something was up. He did nothing about it, figuring out that since Dumpson's keeping watch, he didn't need to be too concerned as he returned to his paperwork.
"Drill Boy, you better not be trying anything. It's your responsibility to teach." Dumpson told Drill Boy. It had only been roughly an hour and a half into the lessons, and to Deckerd it seemed as if it's only been a few seconds in that it was bound to happen with the Soccer Detective that he'd most likely go back on his promise. Drill Boy was about to say something but was cut off before he could even let a single word out. "No, off topics are on hold till you've finished those lessons with Radiant Prism." He further added, turning his attention back to his paperwork, shifting to the next paper to work on.
"Tch, I'm not doing anything other than this!" Drill Boy exclaimed, suddenly getting up as Radiant Prism leaned away from the desk at the smaller Brave's action. "Why did you think I was-"
"Don't think I didn't hear you derailing from the work at hand. I heard you loud and clear that you were talking about things unrelated to work... Or did you go back on your words of promising that you wouldn't goof around?"
When the two of them didn't settle, Deckerd and Duke had to tone the both of them down but not without a warning that if the both of them stall Radiant Prism's work again, one of them would have to take over and relocate elsewhere without disruption. Of course Dumpson was quick to apologise while Drill Boy snickered at Dumpson. "Drill Boy, don't make me regret letting you take over for the day." Duke warned, ensuring that Drill Boy isn't getting off that easily. Being reminded, it was enough for the Soccer Detective to cease and quietly return back to work altogether.
He couldn't decide if he regretted this or not, but taking into account that since everyone had been getting their turn teaching the German Brave, he felt that it was best to help speed things up by jumping at the chance, but felt bad that he was slow on picking it up until now.
...
"Gunmax... Are you sure you're okay?" Yuuta asked slowly. Since the two left the station, Gunmax has been seething and muttering angrily to himself throughout their patrol, not aloud but enough that he could occasionally hear him. Currently, they were waiting at a red light and Yuuta was trying to distract himself from being stared at by other drivers who too were waiting at the red light.
"Yeah kiddo, I'm fine." He replied dismissively as he waited boredly for the light to change, though had no doubt that his Boss wasn't satisfied with his response. He was idly thinking about how he could get back at Duke for having gone full English on him and even took advantage of the situation by outright lying to the young boy saying that he wanted to go out on patrol with him. 'Taking advantage of the others who don't understand English, I'll get Duke back for this after I'm done with patrol for the day...' Gunmax usually preferred to patrol on his own, it wasn't that he he minded Yuuta's company as he couldn't really say no to if he decided to patrol with him as he held great respect for him. He never admitted it to anyone in particular, but he would make an exception for Yuuta, having risked his own life to save him back during when they were investigating the case with the double bots after McCrane pieced together the source of where those machines came from.
'No matter how tough we were built to deal with dangerous criminals, there was no way that any of us would've withstand the intense heat from the hourglass...' He thought grimly, glancing at the lights for a moment, the moving cars, then back to Yuuta for a brief moment. 'The kid's got guts, like a real police officer. Others around his age would've been running for their lives in that situation but Boss? Heh, nah he's something special. Seemingly unafraid of whatever the criminals throw at him if he got himself involved. But I know everyone's working hard to keep him safe, Deckerd especially since those two are close like real police partners... Partners, huh...'
"Gunmax? Is something wrong?"
"Nope, just been wondering when the light's gonna- Oh, there we go." Waiting for the vehicles in front of him to move, Gunmax continued patrol. Yuuta began to curiously wonder what was with the sudden change of attitude, from seething mad to returning back to his usual old self again. He wanted to ask, but decided that it was better not to say anything that could upset him. "Looks like today's going to be a little calm." He said idly, keeping an eye out for anything.
"You never know, Boss. Most of 'em are getting smarter and smarter." Gunmax said, concentrating between keeping visuals on the road while observing every few split seconds. It wasn't until a little later into the patrol that he had to stop at another red light, this time being in the front of the lane. During the red light he glanced around keeping an eye on something. Yuuta was looking from behind for anything, until when Gunmax spoke again.
"Oh, I almost forgot... Check the compartment off to the side to the right of your feet."
Yuuta did as told, opening the compartment to the side and inside there was a helmet stored. As soon as Yuuta put it on, he looked over to Gunmax and right away from seeing the helmet on the young boy, he couldn't help but at first stifle, then burst into full laughter. "Eh? What's so funny, Gunmax?"
It took a few seconds for the Motorcycle detective to calm down as he was still smirking, but clearly trying to suppress his laughter as he needed to keep in mind of when the lights will change. "That helmet looks pretty big on you." It was as if on cue, the helmet started sliding downwards and Yuuta's eyes were hidden behind the top of the helmet was when he burst into another fit of laughter.
"It's not funny!" Pouted the young boy as he moved the front of the helmet upwards so that he could see. Despite annoyed with the compliment, he was happy to see that he had gotten over the little incident. He noticed that Gunmax quieted down and just as he was about to ask what was wrong, he witnessed a speeding car drift into the wrong lane. "Ah, they're in the wrong lane!"
"Wrong lane, speeding, and running a red light." Gunmax grinned as he had been waiting for something like this. "Hold on kiddo, we're gonna go catch them." He said just as the light changed, and he sped after the speeding car, turning on Gun Bike's sirens.
A little into the chase, the two witnessed them drifting into another road and right away Yuuta worried that seeing how some cars had to either stop suddenly or drive out of the way, having crashed and obstructed much of the road, he looked up to see Gunmax don that smirk of his.
"Ah! Gunmax, look out! You might hit someone!" Right away Yuuta shielded his eyes, fearing the worst. Gunmax began a series of careful turns and swerves, avoiding all of the cars with ease.
"Relax, I've been doing this sort of thing for a long time now, Boss, even before joining the Brave Police. Try not to get so scared of going much faster than the usual speed Deckerd drives you around in during chases." Gunmax assured, Yuuta uncovering his eyes at the Motorcycle Detective's words.
"I-I'm not scared...!" Replied the boy shakily. It had been quite some time since he had last ridden alongside Gunmax regardless if he was working with him either on patrol or on a case. He recalled one case in particular when he flew with Gunmax to Austria to put an end to reports about a large criminal organization when he had to do a particular stunt, different than the one he did just now but still risky for his liking. Regina contacted him and the Commissioners about looking into the case due to the Scotland Yard were at the time dealing with a serious crime incident that happened in Ireland that needed their attention. Deckerd wasn't available to join him on the case because he, alongside the Build Team, and Shadowmaru suffered major damage from a fight with a couple of nasty bio-machines criminals piloted the day before, leaving him with only Gunmax who only suffered minor damage that were fixed within a few hours or so.
"Brave Police, pull over!" Gunmax called out once he was close enough to the criminal. The chase had lead them onto the expressway, Yuuta could see that the criminal was doing their best to try and lose them but fortunately with how big he is, there was no way he could make him lose sight of them.
"Tch, if that suspect reaches Tokyo, there's not much else I can do." Gunmax cursed, having to duck to avoid hitting one of the overhead signs.
"Eh? Why?"
"You've seen how there are some parts of the expressway where you have choices of exiting onto a different part of the expressway, right? Not a problem for everyone, but it's a problem for me in particular: I can't clear some parts of those if I have to chase them under a tunnel and there's too many people to attempt to shoot out the tyres to get them to stop. Worse enough, some parts of the city itself also have low bridges that I can't duck under. And... Too many people too to hit the tyres with my gun."
Yuuta paled at last part of Gunmax's sentence, the thought of the suspect spinning out of control. "Y-Yeah, we shouldn't because we could scare people too."
As they continued their chase, they knew that they were running out of time and needed to stop the vehicle before it reached the multitude of roads and tunnels and Gunmax had to duck under a few more overhead signs. He had to think of a few things quick and upon seeing a few trailer trucks ahead gave him an idea just as he saw the suspect intending to drive inbetween them. He waited patiently, and seeing that behind them was a much smaller truck, he then called out to that specific vehicle to slow down, causing the suspect in turn behind them to slam on their brakes. Knowing this is his chance, Gunmax switched to the lane right behind the left trailer truck and waited until the suspect slowed down and eventually grabbed onto the vehicle, managing to get a good solid grip on it due to the back door's window being partially open.
"Nice one, Gunmax!" Yuuta praised, glad that there wasn't any sort of crazy stunts that otherwise everyone else would've disapproved of. At least he considered the traffic around him that he didn't dare try anything. In a way it was like knowing more and more of Gunmax that he had never known about.
Once they found themselves a place to safely deal with the criminal due to the lack of space to conduct work without clogging up the expressway too much, Gunmax decided immediately that it was far too unsafe to just leave the suspect be with a ticket. He thought back to that blockade back in Nanamagari City, using the vehicles to their advantage in an attempt to slow him down, it was most likely possible people may have gotten injured from avoiding them or worse, might've nearly crashed into some people or even might have before he spotted him. When the police arrived to take them off their hands and a tow truck to carry the empty vehicle off after calling for a nearby one. Even though the job might've been just a tad bit messy, all he could do now was return back to Nanamagari City and returned back to patrolling.
As soon as they got back and returned back to patrol, things were quiet as nothing else really showed up after that other than reports from some of the others where they reported their statuses and that nothing was happening near them. Glancing at one of his mirrors, Gunmax took complete notice that one of the vehicles in particular had been following him from a distance, he noticed it a few minutes ago but ignored it at first, believing them to have coincidentally been taking the same path as him to get to wherever they needed to go... But now...
He couldn't risk letting Yuuta know about it, but upon spotting some places in particular, he decided to see if it really was just mere coincidence or if someone was really trying to tail him.
"Hey kiddo, we're going to make a stop somewhere." Gunmax told Yuuta, turning into one of the parking lots. "You could probably grab a bite to eat from that store over there if you've got money on you to get yourself something." He further added, jabbing a thumb towards the nearby store.
"Eh? Is something wrong?"
"Nah, just need a little refueling."
"Okay." Yuuta took off the motorcycle helmet as he put it away in the component, then climbed out of the passenger seat. After watching his Boss disappear inside the store, Gunmax brought out one of his fuel canisters. In truth he wasn't exactly that low on fuel but glancing at the right mirror the same vehicle, taking note of the license plate had stopped nearby.
'Now... Time to see why you're tailing me...' He thought curiously as he took a sip of his canister. He approached the car casually, kneeling as he gestured at the window to lower it and when the driver did, he inquired if they needed anything, to which the man in the vehicle stiffened. Studying the man carefully, he couldn't really see his face much, due to wearing shades but he could tell from the scruffy looking short beard that they were a foreigner. The person in turn didn't seem to say anything other shake his head. "Well, if you can't understand Japanese, I can speak English if it helps." He said, switching to English.
The man only stared but seemed to shake his head. "... No speak English, just curious tourist. I go." Was all the driver said, then drove off. Gunmax could only stare after the vehicle with a questionable look, somehow getting the feeling that they looked awfully familiar... But couldn't put his digit on it.
"Gunmax? Is everything okay?"
Perking his antenna at hearing Yuuta's voice, he turned to look at his Boss who had come out of the store with a small bag in hand. He thought about whether to say anything but decided that it was best to keep quiet about it... For now at least as he couldn't be certain about earlier. He needed more proof to work with and intended to look into it later on. "Yep, just checked to see if that driver needed something while I was keeping my visuals on the roads at all times, no one's gonna break the law even on a short break." He eventually said, beginning to put away his fuel canister after a small sip. "We'll get back on the road once you're eaten something."
...
Saejima was disappointed, having sifted through most of the info that was given to him, he wasn't pleased with what he had managed to learn from what was provided but... He felt that there was so much information missing, he hadn't forgotten that Redlight did mention with the attached files that a lot of information was classified, but he planned on having one of his teammates look into finding more next time they start work in the morning. 'So we should have more information to work with the following morning...' He frowned, leaning back in his seat. He was just as disappointed with the existence of the machine as from what he knew from the info given, with such technology put into this unmanned machine, it reminded him of the experimental jet that the military made that it, too, had highly advanced technology. 'It seems from what I'm seeing, they intended for a specialised person to pilot this technology, but after an incident involving severe injury to the selected individual chosen as the test pilot they decided to modify it by removing the pilot seats in favour of being controlled remotely, but delayed the conversion not too long due to...' He paused as he read a specific portion of the notes for the reason, discovering a small file that was more or less blurred out but what he could manage to read was that there were problems with the machine not long after the incident. 'What is this...?'
This was bad, very bad... Wherever these criminals may be, he'd ensure that they'd be put to a stop. It had been some time since it was last seen, with the report that Shadowmaru and Kagerou last made upon sight when Radiant Prism had tackled it head on by herself and had received severe damage... He intends to personally see that patrols be more thorough at night.
Standing up from his seat, he walked around his chair to face the glass walls, taking in the sight of what he could see of the city as he thought deeply about what else he could do aside from strengthening patrols. Such a case was difficult to pick up on, especially with little to go on with. Not even Shadowmaru and Kagerou have made any progress on finding anything to work with, even though he had tasked them personally to look into the three foreign criminals but did understand that it was a more higher priority to bring Radiant Prism to safety at the time rather than continue to engage the criminal. "Mm, with that advanced technology packed into such a machine there's no happening what will they discover next. Redlight specifically said that they haven't figured out all of what it's fully capable of... Yet..." Saejima muttered to himself, folding his arms over his chest. "The Brave Police will need to be more careful. ...The situation looks highly dangerous that if they start to struggle, I may have no choice but to call the Scotland Yard for aid..."
That was when Saejima realised something. "Hm... I forgot to ask for the German Brave Police's communication lines. Perhaps Regina might have their communication line if she's in touch with them..."
He decided that he'd take a break.
Making his way through a part of the department, he managed to find a vending machine and made his choice of a cup of hot coffee. A few other policemen and policewomen passed by, greeting him as they passed before returning to their previous conversation or moving onto their business. Saejima turned his attention to looking out the window, watching the cars go by as he deeply thought about the files given to him once again, wondering what else he could do once he receives whatever extra information on what he and the others could be dealing with, knowing it was best to know everything before making the right actions. 'Shadowmaru and Kagerou both possess incredibly advanced technology, far more than the others. However, they cannot find this machine in particular, meaning it has more advanced technology preventing them from finding it. ...Perhaps if I showed some of the mechanical information to Toudou, he could make adjustments to help them find the criminals... That is, if they want. Hmm...?' He could hear a pair of police officers mention about having witnessed Gunmax made quite a mess while chasing after some street racer reportedly having broken the law.
"Commissioner."
Looking over towards the source of the voice, it was Azuma who had come here as well, gathering himself a cup of warm coffee from the vending machine. "You must also be thinking about what that German Brave Police sent us, aren't you? He pointed out, moving away from the vending machine to let another police officer use it. "What he's sent us both is not enough to know what we're completely dealing with. There's far too much left out."
"Azuma, that was all Redlight and his team currently have." Saejima pointed out, taking a sip of his coffee. "You did read in the attached note that he would send one of his teammates to look into finding anymore information, right? He and the others are trying to find more about the machine those criminals stole when you looked into them so that we'd know how to deal with it without damaging it too much."
"After that, then what? We call for Redlight's team to destroy it, then take who knows how long to fly here to destroy it? You're making it sound like we can't even touch the criminals! You're aware that if any of the Brave Police here destroy it, there could be complications with that female Brave's country. That means we would be held responsible and could risk losing our jobs. I say that if we're going to deal with those crimin-" Azuma paused upon staring out the window, seemingly paling at the sight. Saejima was confused at the sudden gawking shock his Vice-Commissioner had, but turning around he could see why as he came face to face with Shadowmaru whom had been quietly sticking to the walls, most likely using a device built into the bottom of his dog mode's paws that allowed him to stick to the building with ease.
"What you say is true, Vice-Commissioner but did you forget that Miss Foreigner said that she would destroy the machine herself?" He pointed out. "If we can't, then she could and there could be much of a real penalty even if she did join us as part of the team, she's still part of the German Brave Police."
Azuma tried to find his words but nothing came out, he mainly worried about the way how the Ninja Detective clung to the building like that, it could break. "Wh-What are you- G-Get off the building!" He managed to exclaim. "You might risk breaking it, costing us thousands of yen to repair!"
"Did you feel the building quake?" Shadowmaru asked, tilting his head slightly. "If I would've known, I wouldn't have done so in the first place."
"Hmm..." Saejima thought deeply as Azuma looked at his Commissioner, hoping that he'd find some way to punish the purple Brave for doing such an action.
"...I'd say we build a doghouse for Shadowmaru." At his words, both men simply stared at Saejima in disbelief. "He needs one."
"C-Commissioner!?" Shadowmaru lowered his antenna, optics narrowing. "I'm a wolf, not a dog!"
"See? Even he thinks you're a dog." Kagerou said, flying into view. "I win the bet, now I just need to gather some crumpled up paper-"
"Kagerou!" Shadowmaru snapped, looking upwards. "I change into a wolf! A wolf!"
"Get off the wall!" Azuma snapped. "Don't the both of you have important work to do other than argue like a bunch of fools!?"
Both ninjas glared at the man, their little Brotherly argument coming to a complete halt. Neither of them said anything but both of them did leave the area quietly. Once they were gone, Azuma huffed in annoyance. "Good, they listened."
"I'd be careful, Azuma." Saejima spoke. "You never know what the Brave Police are capable of doing if we pushed them the wrong way." He never went into detail, but he was sure that Azuma recalled the various harmless incidents they did to either his house, or his car. The latter on the other hand simply just became annoyed to the point that he had crushed the paper cup, the still piping hot coffee burning his hand as he yelped.
"Hey! I just mopped up the floor!" Called out a janitor.
Knowing it was best to return back to work, Saejima finished most of his coffee before disposing of it. "I'll be checking up on the brave Police to see if they might have any leads on our criminals."
...
"Sheesh, the Japanese Brave Police are much more sharper than I thought... Perhaps even more sharp than Radiant Prism and the rest of the German Brave Police. First the one with the motorcycle, then there's the one that's a crane vehicle that came much more closer than the motorcycle driving one to identify me... Tch, last thing I need is to risk getting caught, fortunately I switched out the license plates so that should keep me at a lower profile for some time but I shouldn't switch too often... No doubt people may have seen my face even with these sunglasses on." Hans cursed quietly to himself. "Hmm, I better take things a bit more slower. Now, who shall I come across to become my next target to scan..."
Hans continued to cruise about the city, keeping an eye out. However time was running out as he needed to get back soon before his buddies start believing that he might've been caught by the police, which wouldn't bode well especially for Eberhard.
About an hour into his driving, he was currently waiting at a red light, he knew it was time to head back to the hideout but then he happened to spot a large yellow and red dump truck go by from another road, turning into the lane ahead from the left. "Ah... Another one. Well, the opportunity's there and I can't turn away from it now otherwise I'll lose my chance." Hans grinned, patiently waiting for the light on his end to change. Once it did shortly after, he began tailing Dumpson from a distance. Unlike the two previous Braves he managed to scan, he noticed that this one had a passenger in his cabin which allowed him to get close due to the distraction of his passenger. "Very easy, thanks to that woman he's got with him."
He didn't stick too close but remained a relatively fair distance, using the other cars to blend in. He readied the scanner beforehand and needed to wait until the dump truck made it's stop. What made him uneasy was how he was following Dumpson out of Nanamagari City and towards Tokyo. 'Where the hell is this one going...?' He thought uncomfortably. 'A case...? Nah, the lady didn't appear to wear a cop's uniform... At least I think she doesn't.' The more and more he went away from the city and towards the capital, the more uncomfortable Hans became due to going too far from his two buddies. "It's so damn awkward to drive here, the steering wheel on the passenger side and the roads are like England's of all places but much more narrow..." He muttered to himself, having made a few near-mistakes of accidentally driving on the wrong side of the road. He was never meant to drive this much out on the road but experiencing what it's like to drive with the steering wheel on the passenger's side, but also feeling what it's like to drive with the road direction switched around. It was awkward for Hans to say the least.
"At least Uwe and Eberhard don't have to deal with this... Unless they want to give it a try, I have no doubt they'll forget how to use the lanes... Maybe not Uwe because knowing him, he'd most likely adapt in a heartbeat, much faster than Eberhard and I combined..." Noticing Dumpson make a turn, he raised an eyebrow, taking note of the overhead signs they passed earlier. "Haneda International Airport? Hm... If that dump truck is going to make a stop there, I'll need to be careful on scanning and this thing has range but not a whole lot."
It took a couple of minutes later until when Dumpson finally stopped at a specific place to drop off Ayako, from there Hans could somewhat overhear the conversation while he began to scan the large red Brave.
"...Are you really sure, Ayako?" Dumpson asked, remaining still so that Ayako could get her luggage out from behind his cabin seat. "What if something happens... Since you'll be so far away, the others and I wouldn't be able to save you from whatever may happen."
"Oh Dumpson, I'll be fine." The red-head chuckled. "I've been traveling for years, it's part of my job sometimes. Not very often but it does happen."
"B-But..."
Knowing Dumpson was still fussing about her safety, not that she minded as it was one of the things she loved about the Brave Police, about how caring they were about others like real humans. She had to come up with an idea, knowing just the trick. "Dumpson, could I ask for a small request?" She asked, managing to get her luggage out.
"Eh? What sort of request?"
"Ah, before I say anything, will you promise to keep it a secret?"
Dumpson paused for a second to think, wondering what the secrecy is all about but slowly agreed. "Uh... Of course, but what is it that you want me to keep quiet about?"
"Since I'm traveling to England, I haven't told anyone- Not even Yuuta but I plan on not only uncovering some material that could lead to a vital scoop, but also my second goal after that while I'm there is that I plan on making a visit down south over to London to learn about the Scotland Yard's Brave Police in the same way how I wrote about you and the others in a book from the one year anniversary between Yuuta and Deckerd's first meeting. Think about it, they're the first Brave Police built in a foreign country outside of Japan, so that's why I've been hoping to learn more about them in detail."
"Eh!? You haven't wrote about them yet?" Dumpson replied, surprised that despite it's been over two years, he had thought that Ayako had written about them long ago already.
Ayako shook her head. "Sadly no, I've been sent to other countries yes but never to England so I've never gotten the chance and I can't really take vacations but I finally have that chance even though it'll be a few years late." Checking her watch, Ayako gasped as she gathered her luggage. "Oh no! I better go otherwise I'll miss my flight, I'll see if I can contact you while I'm over in England, I'll see you in a few weeks, Dumpson!"
"See you..." Dumpson replied after her, watching as she disappeared inside the building. Once she was already out of sight, he began to make his way back towards Nanamagari City knowing he'd need to do a lot of catching up once he not only gets back, but also after refueling.
Hans, who had just finished his scans on cue when the Brave had finished talking with the woman, he was pleased with himself to have managed to scan three at a time. He did recall from the previous calls with the mysterious man that there are supposedly eight Braves in total compared to the standard seven back in Germany. Of course he would need to cease searching until roughly about a few days or even a total week depending on if the repairs Uwe had been working hard at have been finished.
For now, all he could really do was return back to the hideout.
Hans hoped that the device actually did it's thing and managed to get the entire scans in. It wasn't that he had limited knowledge on technology, but considering the fact that the device he used had been reverse-engineered into a small device meant for scanning targets, or at least according to what Uwe told him, he had no idea if he was meant to scan one then bring the information back, or scan multiple. Hopefully with what he had to go through wasn't too much of a hassle.
"Uwe, I've managed to collect some data on some Brave Police I've seen." He said upon making it back, walking over towards the man and handing him back the device. "I didn't get all of them, assuming that the Japanese Brave Police are like the ones back home that take turns patrolling and doing whatever they do at their station."
"Let's see..." Uwe began fiddling with the device, and after a moment he grinned with the information collected. "Wonderful, have you- Wait a second... You haven't scanned Radiant Prism's info?"
"...No? I didn't even see let alone hear a jet in the skies, other than the commercial planes that either carry cargo or passengers." Shrugged Hans. "You never gave me instructions to look and scan for her information to begin with."
Uwe waved his hand in dismissal. "No matter, there will be other chances. The collected info is quite valuable and can help us determine how to properly counter their attacks... But at least you were fortunate not to be spotted by the purple and blue robots that left our machine in an out of commissioned state." At his words, Hans could only snort as he hadn't gotten over with how his evasive maneuver of attacks didn't seem to work on the two identical Braves, thinking that they could probably read their movements or possibly have been breaching their machine without even knowing it. "But I do have some good news while you were away, we can soon take the fight against the Brave Police once more, and also finish off Radiant Prism if you've got a plan ready for when the time comes."
"Bah!" Eberhard scoffed. "It's taking so long to the point that I'm itching for a fight! I can't wait to not only turn the Brave Police here into nothing but scrap metal but I'm eager to tear Radiant Prism apart and finish her off permanently. I'd say we pick off the Brave Police before we focus completely on our main target."
"It isn't that simple, from the data that Hans collected they're a lot more sharper than our country's Brave Police." Uwe pointed out. "I just finished looking through the info of what Hans provided and they seem to be much more sharper and quick to suspect. They're nothing like back home... I'm sure of it." Hans could only agree silently, having experienced this hands on. "I think it's better we remain low until we're certain that we have every single Brave's information before we think about making our latest move. If we go in blindly, we could be seeing ourselves out of commission all over again."
Hans crossed his arms. "And if I remember correctly, I've overheard some foreign citizen mention that there are eight robots from the Japanese division. The only ones I've seen are a motorcycle riding green robot, one who's a crane, and another that's a dump truck. Then add in the two identical ones that the three of us have already seen before we could finish Radiant Prism off, that's five total out of eight. I'm agreeing with Uwe on this one Eberhard, we should try and grab information on all of them... Though the two seem to be far more special, at least from what we've seen as their agility does not match with what I've scanned." Both men watched as Eberhard seemed to get even more angrier, clearly he was impatient with having to wait longer, but soon calmed after.
"We're still going with the tactic of trying to segregate each Brave from our main target." Hans pointed out. "Besides, it's not like Radiant Prism would perish in an instant by another criminal. Most of the criminals we've seen on the news that show up are petty lowlifes who can't even put up a fight against the Brave Police like we can. They don't even have the technology that our little toy packs so we have all the time in the world until we've completed our self-assigned tasks."
"We also need to keep them at bay from getting near our machine." Uwe pointed out sternly. "If any of them sneak aboard it, we're pretty much as good as harmless and defenceless."
"Heh, I'll beat anyone who tries to steal what's rightfully ours." Eberhard said, pointing a fist into the palm of his hand. "I can't say no to a fight when they so kindly offer. The last group we cleared out of this place were nothing, and I could beat them all over again if they so tried to mess with us for a second time since we've also secured their stash of goods and weaponry."
"At least I can leave the physical fighting to you and Hans." Uwe shrugged. "Me? I'd rather fight while piloting."
"And it's for the best. We can't take any risks of others beating and rattling your brains to nothing but corrupted data... Or at least that's how you've put it." Eberhard said with a snort.
"Technically it's- N-Nevermind, I should get back to fixing up the machine as fast as I can so we can get back out there soon, very soon." Uwe said upon turning to head back towards their machine, but paused as he looked over at Hans. "Also Hans, I'll need your assistance with attempting to see if you can maybe spot some different Braves during the night. It should be ready in an hour or two since I'll need time to make sure that I've successfully extracted the collected data to later feed it into the main computer of the machine since you've filled this device to the brim. ...Hm, I'll think about updating the capacity of how much you can store so if you manage to hit the jackpot and find the remaining Braves to scan."
"Sounds like a plan, should give me more time to figure out which roads to take and turn into if I'm going to learn about their patrol routes the next time I'm out." Replied Hans. "Oh, and something I should clearly point out: You guys have no idea how weird it is to drive on these roads and their cars... The steering wheel and the direction of the traffic is just like England's... Or at least mostly... and their roads, their cars... They're all so small you won't even see a sight of the beasts we drive back in the west."
"Rules mean nothing once we're back in our machine wrecking havoc to draw those Brave Police out, we won't need to worry about any of that."
"Hm... Speaking of wrecking havoc, I've decided on what's our best approach for when we engage. For now, let's just relax until Uwe's taken another break since he'll want to hear out on this too. I'll just be scribbling down ideas for the plan and refine it as time goes by." Hans then left Eberhard be, intending to get back to his personal desk to write and take note of things for later.