Mediziner's Notes: Finally I'm all caught up... I spent HOURS reuploading all of my up-to-date (as of posting this chapter.) chapters... So from here on out, I won't need to list what the chapter was originally uploaded on!
This Chapter was originally uploaded: 26/7/2020 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!
...
"...And that's what happened." Yuuta finished, having explained everything as best as he could. Unfortunately Ringo Diamond King had answered the call rather than Regina due to the latter being unavailable. King frowned at what he had been told, he'd heard of criminals holding a grudge on other criminals plenty of times throughout the years since he was first brought online, but for specific ones to hold a grudge against another fellow Brave to the point of wanting to eliminate them? This was unusual and in some cases, unnerving... "I thank you for telling me this, Mr. Tomonaga." King finally spoke. "I'll ensure that Regina is given this information when she comes back to the station in the morning. However, I'm not sure if she's able to spare any of us to come help out, we're currently struggling with a case we're still piecing together."
"A case?"
"Yes, some of the airport workers discovered suspicious contents within one of the suitcases during when they were loading one of the luggage carts. One of them fell out and broke open, spilling suspicious contents out. Unsure of what it was, the workers requested the police to investigate. Not long after, we were soon called out to investigate them in further detail." King paused for a moment. "According to Ace, it turns out the contents were illegally smuggled robotics and parts, but something seemed to be missing from inside. Whether or not they were smuggled here from another country or location, or were being smuggled to another location is something we're still looking into. We intercepted as many luggage vehicles and planes about to take off, where we found some containing content identical or similar. According to the labels, some were bound for the United States, Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, and Belgium to name a few, but there could most likely be more. Worse, we have no doubt that some of the luggage had already long escaped to other countries but we haven't identified where the others have been flown to." Deckerd, Yuuta and the others frowned, this was a difficult case they've heard.
"Deckerd, I have no doubt some of the smuggled robotics might be coming into Japan's international airports." Warned King. "I cannot be fully sure, but the others and I believe some might be already destined to arrive in Japan."
"Japan has four international airports. There's both Narita and Haneda near Tokyo, Kansai near Osaka, and Chubu near Nagoya..." Drill Boy pointed out. "The first two are really close, Nanamagari City isn't too far from Tokyo, but Nagoya and Osaka are a bit further out to the west..."
This couldn't have come at a worst time and they all knew that Radiant Prism was the best at airports and inspection due to her strong passion for them. But since she's still out of commission thanks to her current state, Deckerd and the others knew that they'd have to start searching as soon as possible. "We'll look into seeing if any of the smuggled equipment has made it to Japan." Deckerd replied hesitantly. First the attack on Radiant Prism while she's out and now they have this to deal with. It was frustrating to say the least when more things start showing up. The smuggled equipment would also most likely be linked to criminal organizations operating internationally with others from various countries.
"Alright, in the meantime we're going to keep an optic out for anything else if more show up. I've already assigned some of my teammates to night patrol. Good night." Replied King as the two leaders bid farewell and the connection was cut.
Deckerd stood up. "Okay, Shadowmaru and Kagerou you two will investigate Kansai and Chubu International airports alongside Gunmax. Build Team I'll need you to investigate Haneda and Narita International airports. Duke and I will be remaining here in the station where we'll do some paperwork and essentially keep Radiant Prism protected from the foreign criminals trying the same move on us."
"Understood!" Came the acknowledge as the team filed out one by one until it was just Deckerd, Duke, and Yuuta.
"Deckerd, what if some of the smuggled contents already left the airports?" Yuuta asked. "This could have all been happening long before King told us about this." The boy's words worried Deckerd, knowing this could be a fact despite there's no means of proving it but he would need to hear back from the others. In truth he wanted to investigate one of the airports himself but aside from doing paperwork, but Radiant Prism's safety needed to be on the same priority. He wasn't going to risk another attack, not again.
With the Brave Detective's silence, not even Duke could make a response to Yuuta's words. He did have a point that these illegally smuggled goods could have already made their way to wherever their destinations here in Japan are, or even escaped to other neighbouring countries. Hopefully the others update them with some good news. On another note, what wasn't making sense was the fact that before the whole attack, the criminals a low profile, only attacking Radiant Prism once they discover she's wandering about alone. but now that they're starting to pursue her aggressively, he had a feeling that the Brave Police were going to be clashing with them on many occasions. Outside of past criminals they've thwarted and dealt with petty crime throughout the following years after the Fahrzeurg attack, the Brave Police have been seeing more and more spikes of increasing crime rate since they came all the way here with the intention of destroying Radiant Prism.
'Someone, or something must be pulling the strings, coordinating them about when the time to strike was just right. No criminal would've known about Radiant Prism's whereabouts even when the mechanics used special devices identical to a certain part of Kagerou and Shadowmaru's spy circuits which served to keep her hidden from radar temporarily until she was moved into that warehouse at the time before the attack.' Thought Duke.
"You're thinking the same thing as well, Duke." Said Deckerd.
"Yes, I think there might be someone behind discovering Radiant Prism's whereabouts, and if I counted the total attacks before this one..." Duke paused to think for a moment. "It's hard to say, but I feel like I can somewhat confirm that I don't think it's those criminals that know where she is, but someone else we've yet to learn about. A dangerous criminal who might be working under the shadows, even beyond Shadowmaru and Kagerou's capability to detect them."
Yuuta lit up immediately. "Duke, are you saying that someone might be pretending to be one of Mr. Toudou's mechanics or we might have some sneaky criminal spying on them without being seen?" He asked.
"Unfortunately without proof, this is something I cannot confirm." Replied the Knight Detective, shaking his helm. "Due to the lack of proof, that's what I'm currently assuming for the time being until we hear back from the others. Let's hope there could be some clues hidden among these suspicious suitcases."
There was a long pause of silence, until when Yuuta stood up from his seat, telling the two of them that he's stepping out to use the restroom and soon disappeared behind the small door. Both leaders turned their attention to one another and started to list a couple theories and even combining some of them that seemed like something a lone criminal skilled in sneaking around and spying would do. Despite all the possible theories that they could come up with, nothing seemed to really stick. They soon heard the door open again, immediately thinking their boss has come back.
Instead, they're met with Saejima, Azuma, and Seia.
"Commissioner, Seia." Deckerd addressed the two men and woman.
"I've heard what happened last night." Saejima spoke. "Apologies for not addressing this right away, I had a meeting to attend to. But, I heard- And saw what happened to Radiant Prism overnight. It seems these criminals jumped her the moment she was vulnerable, and how they've used tactics to draw you guys away."
"This is true." Duke frowned. "But we intend to make sure this won't happen again. Were it not for Drill Boy, she would've been destroyed."
"Mm. However, we're concerned that there might be someone helping the criminals that seem to share the same desire to destroy Radiant Prism. There is no confirmation but one thing we can fully confirm is that these criminals are far more quick thinking than what you have faced over the years."
Azuma listened as Saejima continued to explain and comment about the attack that happened overnight. Deckerd and Duke replied, even explaining some theories they had about the three criminals that sounded much like most of the past criminals they've dealt in both before and after the Fahrzeurg attack. Honestly, he found the idea of a lone or even group of criminals actively trying to deactivate a member of the Brave Police was both suicide and impossible. Of course there was the incident with Victim O' Rand but he didn't intend on killing the Brave Police... But had plans that were fortunately thwarted, whatever they may have been. But unfortunately these three foreign criminals are different... Unlike others, they've displayed no desire for the technology of the Brave Police, instead they're strongly bent on their destruction.
Particularly Radiant Prism.
Seia stepped forward once the men finished talking, holding up a few papers to show Deckerd and Duke. "These were something the Special Land Forces picked up overnight. Unfortunately we couldn't pinpoint the locations but we picked up brief frequencies, most likely emitted from the same criminals you're currently after." She put away the papers after a few seconds longer then brought out a small CD case. "This disc contains a small time lapse recording between the very brief frequency signals detected." Saejima gestured her over towards a part of Yuuta's desk where she inserted the small object. The screen descending from the ceiling and displayed the contents once it was ready.
They quietly watched, but nothing seemed to happen.
"Um, I don't see anything Miss Seia..." Yuuta frowned. "Maybe if I just slow it down..." It took a few times, until finally he managed to slow it down enough to see the signals. In normal speed they were barely detectable, but when slowed down he could see why Seia and her team managed to detect them. 'Maybe this is something like- No, maybe not... Shadowmaru and Kagerou can't be detected by any means other than only visuals... Their spy circuits are much more advanced than what the criminals have... At least I hope I'm right.' He thought.
"Seia, have there been any other activities other than what you've picked up?" Duke asked.
"No, we haven't found anymore traces of these signals. We're keeping an eye out for anymore of these signals if they appear again." Replied the woman.
Yuuta perked up. "If Shadowmaru or Kagerou are available, maybe they could- Ah, no they're looking into the airports." He frowned, thinking it was the worst luck to have the Scotland Yard's report what they've found at their main airport. It seems for now it was best to wait until they've completed their investigation.
It was going to be a long day.
...
"Alright, you're cleared..." Power Joe frowned, watching as the worker driving the luggage cart continued on their way to load their designated plane. "Tch, this is going to take all day to find what we're looking for. How are we supposed to know which bags contain the smuggled stuff? Bet Drill Boy and Dumpson are having better luck over in Narita International."
"They haven't reported anything yet." Replied McCrane, having cleared another driver hauling luggage over to where it needed to be. "We've only begun searching not too long ago. Here, I'll look over in that section over there." He pointed towards a particular spot, then gestured towards the area where all the luggage bags gathered to be sorted. "You can check near where all the baggage is sorted."
"Alright, I'll get to that." Power Joe said, watching as McCrane relocated himself to his destination. Once he was out of his sight, he moved himself over towards the baggage sorter. While he couldn't directly enter without causing too much traffic, he simply made do with changing into his vehicle mode and positioned himself in a way that he'd be out of the way of the workers, but enough to peer inside by zooming his visuals inside from what he could see. Everything seemed fine and nothing was out of place, however the stares he was getting from others were hard to not notice and in a sense it made him feel awkward since he stood out from everything else. Regardless, he had to push the feeling of being stared at aside and keep visuals sharp for anything. A little into the observation, Power Joe had begun to patrol the airport a bit, and when he neared the bagging area, a scream could be heard followed by a worker running out.
"H-Hey, what's going on!?" Power Joe asked, extending his scoop to stop the man from running.
Immediately, he could see the worker looked pale, as if something had scared him half to death. "G-G-G-Goo... Goop in th-th-the... C-Crawled u-under-" When Power Joe tried to inquire the worker again, they only screamed and ran off, leaving Power Joe confused as he changed out of his vehicle mode. "What was he going on about this 'goop' or something..." He muttered to himself, thinking that he should see if he can spot anything, he slowly approached the opening and knelt down, peering into it. Everything seemed fine, nobody else was panicking.
'...Perhaps- No, no he wouldn't have paled like that.' He thought, frowning as his thoughts began to wonder. 'I should ask the Chief Engineer if maybe he and the mechanics could build us some special binoculars we could take should we need them that can spot things in greater detail... Something along the lines of Shadowmaru and Kagerou's vision or something because something like the bagging area is full of so much clutter... Well, clutter to us Braves that there isn't much room for us to move in.' Despite trying to spot anything, Power Joe couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, moving away to continue investigation.
-Power Joe, any luck?- McCrane asked, contacting the Kung-Fu Detective through the communication badge.
"Had one of the workers run out as if they've seen a ghost or something." Replied Power Joe as he answered. "They rambled about something that's made out of goop or whatever but I didn't spot anything out of the ordinary when I peered into where all the luggage is gathered, but none of the workers didn't seem to notice anything unusual other than staring at the guy who left."
-What? I'll be over shortly.- The connection was cut as Power Joe put away his badge. He figured that McCrane was on the other side of the airport and that he'd take a bit of time getting to where he needed to go due to the strict road rules. As he waited, Power Joe noticed something that he hadn't noticed before, and upon looking and moving a few bits of equipment out of the way, there laid what seemed to be a torn up luggage bag. Carefully picking it up, Power Joe looked at it more closely, wondering who could destroy such a sturdy bag. Judging from how it was torn up, he knew right away that this wasn't done by somebody, but rather by something done by a machine or other sort of equipment...
"I'll have to find whoever's responsible for destroying someone's luggage..." He muttered to himself.
He looked around for a moment, hoping to spot anyone that might be hiding but didn't find anyone nearby, nor any clues and hints. No scratches, nothing had been disturbed. Just as he was about to move away, he took notice of something that had quickly crawled across the floor. "What was that...?" Bringing out his tonfa, he hesitated for a moment, but crawled into the baggage area. The inside had a fairly high roof but there wasn't enough ceiling height to stand completely at his full height, added the entrance is a bit low, primarily meant for small vehicles to get in and out. He carefully moved towards the location he last saw the mysterious moving object. When there was nothing after managing to take a peek, he was just about to head on out until when he felt something touch his shoulder. He looked around behind him and below. The moment he began to look up, a strange goo-like creature had immediately dropped on top of him. "Wh-What the-!?" Moving backwards, Power Joe struggled against the strange slime that was starting to engulf him. He could feel it attempting to get into his systems, attempting to control him. He tried to reach for his communications badge to contact McCrane but the creature had completely engulfed his arm, preventing him from contacting his Brother. "G-Get off... Argh...!"
Having heard Power Joe, McCrane was quick to find his Brother. Upon seeing what was going on, he quickly loaded a stun shell, lined up his aim and fired, hitting the creature as it let out a shrieking sound. At the stun's effect, the slime-like creature immediately let go of Power Joe and dropped to the floor, immediately slithering away into a retreat. "You're not getting away!" Training his shotgun, McCrane fired at the creature, but it had swiftly dodged each shot fired at it, forming holes in it's shapeless body to avoid some shells until it managed to flee out the other exit and out onto the runway. 'Damn it, I can't risk firing at it from here, I might hit one of the planes or nearby equipment...' He thought, watching as it shrank and shrank until it was no longer in sight.
"Power Joe, are you okay?" McCrane asked, putting away his shotgun as he went over to his Brother's side.
"Yeah... I feel a bit dizzy but fine." Power Joe said, optics dimming as he was trying to focus his visuals. Everything to him seemed blurry. "My visuals are messed up, I might need to return to the station to get this resolved."
"What did that creature do to you?"
"I'm not sure, but I think it was trying to control me... It managed to take control of my arm when I tried to warn you something's here but..."
"A bio-machine that takes control of whatever it's latched onto... This must be what the Scotland Yard were looking for." Replied McCrane as he helped Power Joe out of the bagging area. As they were out, that's when he realised something, but first had to make the report, bringing out his badge."
"This is McCrane. Power Joe and I have encountered a strange bio-machine creature here in Haneda that seems to control whatever machinery it latches itself to. It's got Power Joe but I've managed to get it off before he fell under it's control, but it fled after I shot a stun grenade at it. Unfortunately it's managed to do some damage to Power Joe's visuals, and to some extent, his balancing circuitry. Has anyone found anything similar to the description in the airports?"
-Dumpson here, nothing here so far.- Came Dumpson's reply. -Drill Boy and I found a couple of suspicious luggage bags but they didn't contain anything that you described.-
-This is Shadowmaru, do you have a description for the bio-machine?- Said Shadowmaru. -Kagerou noticed something but didn't get a clear look at it.-
"It doesn't have a particular shape..." Power Joe answered, having brought out his communications badge. He grumbled to himself internally that the feeling of unable to keep his balance properly was annoying and completely disorientating. He hoped that when he changes to his vehicle mode, this uncomfortable feeling would at least be minimized. "It looks like slime in nature, it's a multitude of iridescent greys in colour. But as McCrane said earlier, we think that bio-machine might be what the Scotland Yard were looking for. It's possible what they were looking for were decoys while the real things came here."
"I'm thinking the same thing." McCrane frowned.
-McCrane, why don't you call Duke to help Power Joe?- Drill Boy chimed in. -I remember overhearing the Chief made some adjustments and small upgrades about him being able to repair us if we got hurt. Maybe you could have him put his skills to the test?-
"Uh... Are you saying that... Duke's actually a paramedic now...?" Power Joe frowned.
Before Drill Boy could make his response, Kagerou suddenly called the Build Team. -McCrane this is Kagerou, Gunmax just sighted a creature similar to what you described just now... I cannot calculate how many there are nor can I pick them up on radar but I think there's a fairly sizable number of them hidden not too far from the airport locations. I'm currently trying to spot any nearby.-
"Alright, report back when you've found anything." Replied McCrane, putting his badge away. "Power Joe, will you be fine driving back to the station so we can get your circuitry repaired?"
"I think my balancing issue might minimize if I switch to my vehicle mode, I'll give it a try." Once his Brother helped him stand up straight, Power Joe changed into his vehicle mode. "CHANGE!" Once Power Joe gave himself a moment, he wasn't quite sure. "Okay... I don't feel that much unstable than when I was standing on my own feet, I'll just take it slow..." Power Joe drove forward but the moment he moved his cabin, he instinctively placed the bucket part of his vehicle mode down on the ground. "Whoa... Okay turning might be a slight issue, but I think I can make it back if I don't turn my cabin too quickly."
"Alright, let's head back." Replied McCrane, knowing he'd need to keep an optic on his Brother, in case that strange bio-machine creature didn't mess up anything else other than just his visuals and balancing circuits.
...
"We're fortunate that orange and white coloured Brave with the drill they call 'Drill Boy' didn't pierce through the thicker layer of armour that protects the main core systems." Uwe said as he worked on trying to remove the damaged parts and get them replaced. Since the failed attack on Radiant Prism, they've been stuck with repair duty in trying to fix the damage. Once the damaged part was removed, Uwe then reached for the replacement part among a pile of what Hans and Eberhard managed to steal from some petty criminals but before he could proceed with the replacing, he noticed something else. "Tch... We really took one hell of a beating, I'm finding more damaged parts layed on top of another, it's going to take a long time to finish making repairs to the chameleon system... A lot of somewhat vital parts have been destroyed... If we had more than just me, we would've gotten this done faster than the speed I'm getting this repaired."
"We'll need to be a lot more careful how we're going to approach the Brave Police now." Hans added, fixing a different part of the damage. "We did overhear that they did talk about that one or two are going to be watching over Radiant Prism while their mechanics are going to figure out what's causing her mysterious 'malfunction'. Eberhard's still fuming to no ends in the other room with the Brave Police getting in the way yet again."
"Once I've repaired some of this damage, we could try to-" Without warning, sounds of objects crashing to the floor followed by Eberhard exclaiming drew their attention. Both men quickly dropped what they were doing, got down and ran into the room, finding a strange slime-like creature that had surrounded Eberhard. Sure enough their friend had tried to punch through the thing resulting in his arm buried in the slime-like creature's body. "Eberhard, what is this thing!?"
"How should I know!? It just came through the underside of the doors!" Eberhard snapped, struggling to get his arm free, but was suddenly pulled in closer which forced him to struggle even more. "Damn it, let go of me you stupid slime thing!" Just as Eberhard managed to get an arm free, the creature suddenly let out a sinister chuckle, now freely releasing Eberhard from it's gooey grip and slithered back, now facing the three men.
"You must be..." He then looked at the man he just released. "Eberhard... Uwe, and Hans..." He continued, having looked from one man to the next as he addressed their names. Soon, it's form changed to that of a chameleon, launching it's long toungue to grab Uwe by the arm, then released him shortly afterwards and repeated the same thing with Hans with perfect accuracy. With that action made, it then lost it's shape, becoming a slime-like creature again. "Heh, I was right... I did get your names correct."
"Who or what the hell are you!? And how can a bio-machine even talk!? And did you just... Collect data about us or something!?"
"I was sent here by... Hrm, let's just say the silhouetted man you three refer to him as. I would have appeared much earlier but... Let's just say some of my body parts had arrived to the wrong places... But all of them are gathering here now, and will join us at our location very soon." Replied the slimy creature.
"Body parts...? Hey! What if one of the Brave Police sees it and starts tailing it to our location!?" Hans pointed out, now on edge. However it seemed to make the creature howl with laughter, as if he had said something that lacked logic.
"Foolish human, my body parts are coated with a special film mixture that keeps me hidden from being easily detected." They said after managing to calm itself enough to speak, suddenly changing shape again like that of Eberhard. "Once I reunite with them, I'll be able to help you in many ways. You see, the Brave Police wouldn't think about shooting one of their own even if they're criminals." That was when the trio realised that this wasn't a basic A.I. machine that could talk, but rather it was a Super A.I. constructed being.
"What can you do exactly...?" Uwe asked cautiously. "Other than changing your shape at will, you don't really seem to have much in the way of helping us."
"Now here's where I get to explain. As you might have seen before, once I grab something into my grip nothing can escape me." Explained the creature. "Now, my abilities won't work on living creatures but I can possess machinery at will to do my bidding."
"Even the Brave Police if I'm lucky to prey on one that's patrolling all alone." They finished with a grin.
Hans was nervous, the silhouetted man had sent them a creature that not only could talk and function like a Super A.I. but the fact that it could take control of machinery... He was recalling about the consequences the silhouetted man had mentioned before after showing what was on the screen. 'If we lose this creature, it means it's the end for us... Dammit, we're going to have to work double time to destroy Radiant Prism, but how are we going to get close to her without attracting the entire Brave Police!?'
"Ah, here they come now." Announced the creature.
Uwe was about to ask what did it meant by that when he realised that the building was oozing with the same material the shapeless robot was created from. They were reappearing in all sorts of places, rejoining the creature as it increased with size, until eventually stopping. "Very soon, you'll have no issue delivering the final blow to the Brave Police once the plan is in motion. The silhouette man has instructed me to give you plans for how things will work. But be warned should I go down in battle or you three screw up, you know what the consequences are."
"Yes, I'm familiar with that..." Hans muttered unhappily. "Problem is if you don't know already is that we can't do anything until we get our machine fixed. One of them's done a big number on us and it's going to take months to- H-Hey! Where are you going!?" The creature had slithered away, moving in the direction of where their machine was being kept. They immediately followed after it, seeing it slither towards their machine.
"Hey! Don't touch that!" Eberhard snapped, following after it.
They watched it scale their damaged machine until it clung more towards the part where it was most damaged, and what surprised them was how it reached out against a little bit of it, then moved away as it replaced and fix most of the stuff. The only issue was that it wasn't repairing the exposed hull. "Hrm, I've got some important parts repaired but I'll need to go out. I can go gather some metal, make it a part of me and make it into the proper shape of what was once here before it was destroyed."
"You... Can do that...?" Uwe replied cautiously. "What about the other way around?"
"No." The creature replied, dropping to the floor with an audible 'splat'. "I'm only built to reconstruct certain things, provided I have the right materials. I may not be able to get the right materials this machine of yours uses, but I can at least make sure none of the Brave Police can exploit this weak point once I repair and reshape the materials to fix this. Mind you I can't shape all materials, only certain ones like metals." The moment that Eberhard was about to ask something, the three watched as their guest started to leave with startling speed. "I'm going to make sure I don't get on that thing's bad side. Especially if we tried, we're going to get our asses back in Germany and thrown back into that one jail... Or worse... Whoever the guy we're working with is could eliminate us even." Uwe commented uncomfortably.
"I refuse to go back to jail!" Eberhard snapped, banging a fist on a nearby table as he waltz up to his partners, getting in their faces. "We're going to destroy both the Brave Police and Radiant Prism! That creature the silhouetted man sent to us will give us the help we need, considering it's just as smart as they are. We won't fail this time and even if they've put her in their little hideout, we can easily storm them when the rest of them scattered far enough! Uwe, Hans, quit the complaining and man up!"
...
"Okay, I think I'm finished." Duke told Power Joe, having finished the last bits of repairs, proceeding to take a few steps back to give Power Joe space. "Step out of the dock, are you still feeling like you might lose your balance?"
"Uh..." Power Joe hesitated for a moment, then stood off the dock. He was instructed to take a few steps in one direction then back to the dock he was occupying. Fortunately he wasn't having anymore issues with his vision since Toudou and his mechanics fixed that. "Hey, I don't feel like I'm going to fall over anymore! You've done a good job, Duke." Power Joe exclaimed, relatively happy that he was fully repaired. Toudou was glad that the idea was a success, which meant that he and his mechanics would go ahead to work out a final version of the experimental upgrade so that Duke can do more work than this one simple task. "You can thank one of my mechanics for the idea." He told Power Joe. "During their break yesterday I overheard one of them talk about that Duke should do some repair work considering he's an ambulance, and that's where the idea sprung to give Duke a proper upgrade to help repair you guys."
"Eh? Why didn't you tell us?" Power Joe asked.
"I needed time to think things out and I had to inform Regina about this before we began work on the test run of this upgrade." Replied Toudou. "When Regina approved it last night, some of the mechanics and I started working on it privately, and we haven't told anyone until after we've finished the experimental version and told Duke once we asked him to come down to see us. Most experimental works don't take too long- Sort of like trying a demo version of whatever it is before you purchase it. What does take longer is the final version of it."
"Wow, does that mean..."
"We'll have a little less work somewhat." One mechanic pointed out, and another followed. "But there's a few things that Duke can't perform once he receives the final, completed version of this upgrade. Some parts of your bodies might be too delicate for Duke to repair so that falls on us to fix things he can't do that he could risk accidentally breaking."
"Power Joe!" Yuuta ran up to Power Joe, looking quite pleased that his friend wasn't wobbling out of balance anymore.
"Yo, Boss! I'm all fixed up and ready to patrol again!" Power Joe said happily. "On break?"
"Yeah, looks like Duke did a good job on fixing you back to normal!" Yuuta was delighted to see his friend was doing okay.
"Eh? When did you learn about this upgrade?" Power Joe asked, surprised that his Boss knew about it.
Yuuta shook his head. "I didn't know, but as soon as I came down here I managed to catch Mr. Toudou explaining about the upgrade to you." He then looked over at Duke. "When he gets the upgrade, that means he's like a real doctor in a sense to you guys!"
"Ah, sort of." Replied Duke. "I won't be able to do as many repairs as a real doctor would, but yes I will be able to help the others get back up on their feet in case any criminals might try to cripple us. But, it does fit with the nature of my vehicle form indeed." He then noticed the boy's attention then focused on Radiant Prism whom was lying down on the extended dock, still inactive and tangled with numerous cables hooked to her body. "Unfortunately I'm unable to help Radiant Prism. Her current state is something out of my expertise."
Power Joe frowned at seeing their friend still inactive. He turned his attention to Duke. "Anyways, Duke, I might as well start patrolling and see if I can help the others find the goo looking bio-machine that's wandering about somewhere."
"Actually, before I came down here upon request by the Chief, Deckerd asked me to inform you that he wants you assigned to paperwork."
"Paperwork!? But Duke, I'm completely repaired!" Power Joe protested unhappily. Duke shook his helm explaining that it's not his word to give, and that it's what Deckerd asked. the black and yellow striped Brave was about to protest but Yuuta frowned, getting his friend's attention. "Deckerd and I are worried that what attacked you might be intending on targeting you again." He managed to explain. "If we let you go about on patrol even with McCrane or the others keeping an eye on you, we're worried that because it tried to control you... Just please stick to paperwork." At seeing the sad look on his Boss, Power Joe felt conflicted but sighed in defeat as he agreed to this, then made his way towards the lift to take to the first floor.
"I'm... More concerned that the bio-machine might try and target the others currently out on patrol if not just Power Joe." Duke commented, his attention now to Yuuta and Toudou. "But since we have to keep a close optic on Radiant Prism to ensure the criminals don't try the same method again..."
"Mr. Toudou... What about getting Regina's help to get this resolved faster?" Inquired Yuuta.
"Hmm, we're seeing if we can try a few more ideas we've got built on standby but if they all fail to pass the test, that's when I'll contact Regina." Replied Toudou, inputting a few more commands. "To avoid hurting Radiant Prism, we managed to replicate the firewall in a small device that we've currently put off to the side for the time being until we create the next anti-virus project. For now, you and Duke should return to the office in the meantime. The two of you should head back up and see if you can make anymore progress on the case. Oh, and see about contacting the Scotland Yard. Explain to King or any of his teammates who answers that in the case we haven't manage to find a successful solution to removing these firewalls off of Radiant Prism, we'll need Regina's help."
"I agree." Duke then looked towards Yuuta. "Boss, do you need a lift back to the office?"
"Sure, Duke." Yuuta nodded as he approached Duke the moment he knelt down with his servo extended towards him, climbing in without hesitation. The two of then shared a small bit of idle talk along the way until they were finally back in the office. Approaching the loft, Duke brought his servo gently towards the loft, letting Yuuta step off then sat down at his desk. "Deckerd, Duke's a doctor now!" The boy beamed, seeing as Deckerd's expression shifted to that of being surprised.
"Eh? So that's why the Chief called you downstairs?" Replied Deckerd, his attention on Duke, who nodded.
"Yes. However certain parts I still leave to the mechanics so not exactly on the same level as a doctor but fairly close." Corrected Duke. "I will be able to perform other tasks where I can perform some replacements or at least help minimize pain to allow the team back up on their feet. I've already finished repairing Power Joe for a test run and they're going to start getting the final upgrade underway."
"Not gonna lie Deckerd, he did a fantastic job fixing my balancing circuitry. When that strange creature thing messed up my balancing and visual circuitry, he fixed it in one sitting." Power Joe acknowledged.
"Visual circuitry was too delicate for me to try and repair so the mechanics resolved that. But repairing the other problem was simple enough to do." Duke added, beginning to change the subject. "Before we begin discussing the creature that attacked Power Joe earlier, we need to speak with the Scotland Yard." He explained what Toudou had told him and Yuuta and Deckerd nodded in agreement. The Brave Detective couldn't help but frown, telling Redlight what happened to Radiant Prism was difficult enough as is, but the fact that removing the firewalls has been giving Toudou grief to the point that Regina might need to come all the way to Japan to help out... He started to suspect that perhaps maybe one of Dieter and Gustav's mechanics were a criminal under the guise of a mechanic, one that's really good at blending in- Like a wolf in sheep's clothing.
"Alright, we'll contact them. Not right now considering it's very late over in England. But I'll at least leave King an email with footage attached to it. While it's not much in terms of evidence, it might be at least possibly what they're looking for when they were investigating Heathrow Airport a while back that could hint at some clues for their case." Replied Deckerd, proceeding to get to the task of sending an email. Once that was done, he started to feel concerned about that something about this... Doesn't feel right. But couldn't put his finger on it.
"Deckerd? Is everything alright?" Yuuta asked.
"Hmm? Sorry, I'm just thinking about when we're forced to engage this bio-machine." Whatever he didn't feel comfortable about, he felt it was most likely nothing. He began contacting the others out on patrol, asking if there's any luck finding the bio-machine in question but all responses were the same, no one had encountered anything yet. "But Deckerd, if it's a bio-machine, you and Duke as Fire J-Decker can easily defeat it with the fire sword! bio-machines hate high temperatures, right? You'll be able to get a swing at it before it could touch you!"
"Don't forget about us, Boss." Power Joe chimed in. "We don't really have anything that we carry that's fire related, or even a sort of flamethrower... Even if we did carry something like that, fire's a devastating force, which meant that after dealing with it, Duke would have to get the Fire Roader to put the fire out. Neither Shadowmaru, Kagerou, and Gunmax carry anything that spells or does fire." At his words, Yuuta couldn't help but frown. Power Joe was right, in turn it also meant that Fire J-Decker couldn't just swing the sword, but he'd need to make sure the fire sword wouldn't touch anything that'd otherwise be flammable. Grass, trees, bushes, and the likes... Luring it away from cities would be difficult considering the country's forests. 'There should be some nearby fields... Maybe tricking it out on the fields could keep the damage minimised, but considering that we're in the middle of summer... That means dried up grass.'
"Guys, it might be a long shot but if we can lure the bio-machine onto some clear fields away from cities and trees, we could deal with it much more easily if we're careful not to light the dry grass on fire." Yuuta pointed out. "Not combined as Fire J-Decker, but as both J-Decker and Duke Fire separately. I'm worried about that if it latches onto you, neither of you would be able to separate as two again."
"But until we locate it's whereabouts, or parts of it if they haven't combined we'll need to see." Replied Duke, shaking his helm.
"Yeah..." Yuuta frowned, slumping in his chair.
Time would pass, and so would reports come in every once in a while but nobody reported where their target of interest was, it was almost as if it probably would've most likely moved onto one of the nearby countries, but there weren't any reports even by the public about the bio-machine in question.
Everyone wondered the same thing: Where could it have disappeared to?