Mediziner's Notes: I'd say this one's an easy write. Wanted to chop back on the action for the time being and focus on other things so it might explain how I got this completed a little bit faster. Also I won't lie... Regina is completely out of my comfort zone... ^^; She's... Not very easy for me to write... I mean Gunmax was complicated for me throughout the first chapters until I've gotten more comfortable involving him but Regina...? I feel like I can't nail her properly... So forgive me if her wording isn't exactly the best... I can't say if I might be able to get out of my comfort zone with her as relatively quick as it was for me to overcome and become comfortable writing Gunmax. Also sorry if this chapter isn't any good... It's painfully obvious that throughout most of this that I sort of had run out of ideas for this one in particular... I do have some ideas in mind but sadly I either couldn't make them work well or it's not time yet for it to show. ^^;
On another note, yes I am aware there is a city called "Regina" in Saskatchewan, Canada in case somebody might ask. But her name isn't pronounced exactly like that of the city's pronunciation mind you. Also remember to keep in mind the key for this story if you haven't seen in either the 1st part of the prequel or the 1st chapter. Write it down or something, yeah?
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!
...
"Yuuta." Deckerd called out to his friend upon entry of the office.
"Ah, Deckerd!" Yuuta beamed, he had been talking to Rook and Ten, catching up on what's been going on in the United Kingdom since the last time they talked. "Rook and Ten were just telling me about the one case related to someone wanting to sabotage the Chunnel- You know the one that connects underground into a part of France under the ocean? Apparently it turned out that the guy behind his organization wanted to sabotage other underground connections that were being planned around other parts of Europe! It turned out that this guy wanted to keep Europe from building more like the Chunnel and keep the rest of Europe from making more like it, but I'm glad the Scotland Yard put a stop to it!"
"Eh? Really?" Deckerd's attention was briefly drawn to Ten and Rook, who silently nodded confirming that it was true. "I see, well... Are you ready to head home? It's getting late and your Sisters might get worried if we linger any longer. However, Dumpson's going to take you home just this night."
Outside of the office, Duke had just stepped out of the lift. The Knight Detective had forgotten about something he'd left on his desk, at the same time, he'd been thinking about how to approach Radiant Prism about being confined to the station until both the Chief Engineer and Regina could successfully clean out the mess in her Super A.I., but as he heard chatter coming from the office doors peeking slightly open could be heard as he paused, listening to the conversation.
"Ah, it's because Regina's almost here, right?" Yuuta said, realising why Deckerd had assigned Dumpson to take him home.
"Yes, I intend on picking her up from the airport before I come back to the residence." Deckerd replied with a smile. "Her plane should arrive within an hour and a half from now if I remember correctly."
"Why don't we go to the airport together? There should be enough time before we get back, right?" Yuuta's eyes then glanced onto the large clock across the room. "Ah, we should get going in case her plane might land even earlier than expected!"
'Lady's almost here?' Duke thought. He wasn't expecting her to arrive late at night, he had expected her plane to land early in the morning. 'Perhaps some sort of delay she'd unfortunately gotten herself into along the way?' He continued to listen as Deckerd pointed out that Yuuta needs to head back due to school tomorrow as the plane's arrival would be just about past his bedtime, which made the young boy pout but didn't argue with the fact. 'This is not good... I'm... Oh bloody hell I don't think I look presentable enough for her to see me like this... But... It's been a while since I've seen Lady... Should I come with Deckerd and see her regardless or wait until I'm presentable enough or...? I can't decide...' Deciding not to enter the office, he instead turned a full 180 to make his way back to the lift to head up to the rooftop just as he overheard Yuuta saying that he'll go meet with Dumpson downstairs. He was just about to call for the lift as he heard the office doors open.
"Duke? Did you just arrive?" Deckerd asked as he approached the Knight Detective.
"Yes, I thought about collecting something I've forgotten on my desk but I decided I'll come back after I've told Radiant Prism to remain at the station." Replied Duke, then shook his helm. "I don't think it's safe for any of us to let her roam the skies freely. I fear that might be what those criminals want if we allowed her to wander the skies." Knowing that Deckerd would need an explanation, he turned to face him properly. "If what happened before were to trigger again while airborne, she could turn herself into a dangerous hazard and crash land on community buildings or worse, someone's house or two..." He paused uneasily for a moment, then continued. "Deckerd, the last thing I need to see are more people hurt... And the mechanics having to use more resources to repair Radiant Prism knowing she'll damage herself from falling from a high altitude."
The patrol car gave a nod. "None of us would want that to happen. However... If it gets out that criminals can mess with our Super A.I. despite not being able to infect it with even the most deadly virus, if it gets out that they could instead..." Deckerd then shook his helm, needing to put those thoughts aside for the time being. "Duke, because Regina's plane will be here soon, since you're going to have a few words with Radiant Prism, can you relay that order for me please? Inform her that I'll need her to remain in the station until the issue with her Super A.I. is resolved, for her safety."
"Understood." Nodded Duke. "I'll inform her immediately."
"Thank you, Duke."
Excusing himself, Duke called for the lift to get up onto the rooftop while Deckerd waited patiently for around a minute then called the lift so he could take it down. Once he was on the ground floor again, he had just seen Yuuta struggling to climb up into Dumpson's cabin. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Dumpson brought out one of his arms to act as an extra step, helping Yuuta up as the boy apologised, a bit glum that he was struggling with getting up to his cabin, while Dumpson chuckled saying he didn't mind. The conversation going silent the moment Yuuta went inside and Dumpson drove out of the repair bay with Yuuta in tow after a few seconds later, taking Yuuta home. 'Perhaps Yuuta might've started to feel tired on the way down? Ah well.' Deckerd thought.
Small moments like these warmed Deckerd, seeing Yuuta happily interacting with their fellow teammates. While the attacks caused by the three foreign criminals would start to get worse and more dangerous with time, he could at least cherish the positive things even if they were brief moments like the one just earlier with Dumpson and Yuuta. It was enough to somewhat lighten his mood even if it's just for a littel while. Of course, he couldn't forget about the continuous danger and there seemed to be less time to relax... His attention soon fell on Jack's damaged body. Most of the damage done to the tri-coloured Brave seemed to be fixed up, but the mechanics clearly still had more to fix from what he could visually see. He remembered seeing Jack grumpily relaxing in Yuuta's jacket pocket when he came in. 'Did I see him go with Yuuta or did he choose to remain in the office...? I'll have to check later.'
His attention was now drawn to McCrane looking so glum, Power Joe bugging his older Brother about that he should've offered to help both Seia and Makoto get to their specific destination back then. The entire team were very well aware of the special connection both McCrane and Seia shared, but out of respect for the Combat Detective they never really bothered inquiring about how things are going well between the two... Save for Power Joe and occasionally Dumpson wanting to know how things are between them.
Scanning for the time, he realised that he should be heading to Haneda right about now. Just as he was about to change form so he could leave, Power Joe called out to him.
"Hey Deckerd, mind if I could have your opinion on something-"
"Power Joe..."
Power Joe's attention soon turned back to McCrane. "Then tell me! Are you two together or not!? You know most of us among the team have been curious whether or not you and Seia are officially a thing!" When McCrane only replied with silence, Power Joe sighed, facepalming. "I swear the two of you are so stubborn sometimes! Ayako and Dumpson aren't ashamed to admit they're a thing but why are the both of you-"
"Sorry you two, I have to head out." Deckerd interrupted. "I need to be at the airport in time should Regina's plane may have already arrived by the time I get there."
"Wait, Deckerd! I still haven't asked my question about-" Power Joe was suddenly bonked on the back of his helm when McCrane gave his helm a rap. "Ow! Jeez, McCrane... do you have any idea how much that hurt!?"
"Deckerd needs to go pick up Regina, and the two of us should be preparing to recharge." McCrane frowned. "I could have sworn I heard you clearly said that you were going to recharge early a few minutes ago." His attention turned to Deckerd. "Apologies, Deckerd. Go on ahead and pick up Regina, we'll see you in the morning since it's about time we close the garage doors." Deckerd nodded, excusing himself as he changed form, leaving the station and in the direction of the nearest expressway for Haneda.
A little while later, Deckerd arrived at his designation and changed form the moment he was up on the rooftop of P2 where he had a nice view of the planes arriving and departing. Checking the time, it was possible that Regina's flight wasn't here but he wasn't sure. Currently, he was looking through a pair of binoculars he had brought with him before leaving. 'Hm... If only I were in a human-sized body, I could've been able to see if Regina's flight arrived earlier but I can't walk inside the building... However I would then be too small to escort her back to the Tomonaga residence.' He thought with a frown, scanning each plane for the correct flight registration and flight number, but none of them matched Regina's plane. '...She's not here yet. If I remember, none of Yuuta's sisters called me that her plane's arrived... Since Regina can't contact us through our badges.' He thought, lowering the binoculars. He patiently watched as more planes arrived while others took off. Fortunately it wouldn't be long until when he got a closer look at one of the arriving planes, immediately looking at the registration number. 'Ah, that's Regina's plane. Time to relocate and be ready to pick her up.' Deckerd watched as the plane touched down and come to a slow, eventually beginning to slowly taxi to it's destination.
Putting his binoculars away, Deckerd changed form, intending to relocate himself towards the arrivals section so that he could wait for Regina. When he finally arrived at his destination where he's to wait for Regina, he noticed a familiar vehicle.
Without needing to use his sensors, he easily identified that this was Duke. The Knight Detective was already waiting for her as he rolled up behind him to get out of the way of busy traffic. "I wasn't aware you'd be here." He told the ambulance through private communications.
"Apologies, I... Suppose it might be because I haven't seen Lady in a long while..." Duke admitted uneasily. "I've been thinking about whether or not I should be here after I've spoken with Radiant Prism about remaining in the station. In the end, I'm here... But I don't think I look presentable..."
"You're being too harsh on yourself, Duke." Replied Deckerd. "Regina would be more happy to see you rather than judge your appearance. You shouldn't let it get to your helm too much, because that's the last thing she'd think about." Deckerd's words only made Duke hesitate, but after it had sunk in, he slowly replied that he really shouldn't let his old thoughts judge him. The two spent time waiting as they chatted away about work-related topics. The topic would then shift to something else as Duke admits about something he'd been quietly thinking about it for some time, explaining about how he could better interact with his former teammates. He explained out that while things aren't as bad as they were back when he had been just activated and the fact that he found himself feeling like he'd know nothing about Rook, Ten, Jack, and the rest of the Scotland Yard.
"You can try to make an effort in getting to know them." Deckerd said. "You just simply need to take your time to know them. With Rook, Ten, and Jack visiting for a while, you can start with the three of them. Someone I'd recommend starting with would be... I'd say Jack." When Duke heard Jack's name, he began feeling uneasy as he listened to Deckerd explain. "Consider that he's currently in the toy-sized body, he doesn't have much of a choice nor could he just run off very easily. Rook... I think the evening might be best because he doesn't seem to set up pranks and is often seen taking them down when he hasn't caught someone in it... Yet... As for Ten... Hm..." He found himself pausing, knowing the yellow multi-changing Brave was a little more harder than he thought considering he enjoys gluing himself to his video games, unless... If he made arrangements to pair up Ten with Duke to go on patrol.
He knows fully well that he'd have to rearrange the assigned patrols for Gunmax, whom he intends on having him paired with Ten for tomorrow's patrol, but it shouldn't be too difficult to find the Motorcycle Detective another partner. 'Perhaps I'll assign Kagerou with Gunmax... I intended to have him patrol with Duke tomorrow but this will be a good opportunity for Duke to speak with Ten and for the both of them to properly get to know one another during this time since Ten seems to follow patrol well when he's not indoors playing whatever games he's brought with him on the trip. I'll have to speak with Kagerou about this later that he's going to patrol with Gunmax instead of Ten.' He then had his mind set, speaking to Duke. "If you'd like, I can set up patrol where I can pair you with Ten tomorrow." Deckerd offered. "Otherwise trying to talk to him while he's indoors might be a little more difficult to keep a conversation with him. I'll reassign Kagerou to patrol with Gunmax since I was intending to assign Gunmax with Ten and originally I would've had you patrol with Kagerou."
"I... Really? Thank you Deckerd." His visuals then focused onto the doors opening, spotting a familiar blonde haired woman. "Lady!"
"Good evening, Duke. It's been a while since we've seen one another." Regina replied with a smile, immediately noticing Deckerd behind him on approaching Duke. "Ah, good evening Deckerd."
"Good evening, Regina." Deckerd acknowledged. "How was your flight?"
"It was good, I'm just tired from the long flight." Regina made her way over towards Deckerd as the Brave Detective opened his door for her. As Regina made herself comfortable, Duke couldn't help but speak to Deckerd privately.
"Deckerd, if possible, I... Recommend we let Regina rest for a few days first before we have her work on helping Radiant Prism..." He told the Brave Detective a little hastily. "I'd rather she performs at her best rather than in her fatigued state. Recovering from jet lag- Especially from long flights considering the distance between the United Kingdom and Japan takes time..." The Knight Detective cared a great deal about his creator, and while a few of his old habits were resurfacing, he'd been trying his best not to let them get to him but he couldn't help it. He couldn't help that he treat Regina with utmost respect. Deckerd knew this very well and informed Duke that he does intend to let Regina rest as the two of them began driving back to Nanamagari City. Along the way back, the topic soon fell on Radiant Prism as Regina wanted to know at least what her current status was. "But, Lady... You just arrived! What's important is that you rest first..."
Regina was taken aback by this, and couldn't help but laugh. "No Duke, I'd just like to know about any possible updates I may not have been informed about yet. I'm not going to start work right away the following day." She gave herself a moment to calm herself, needing to hear Deckerd answer her question as she told Deckerd he can begin.
"I'll backtrack a little bit, the bio-machine we were dealing with managed to hold it's own against us." Deckerd frowned, his focus on the road. "We discovered too late that this is what it wanted. The bio-machine led us away from the station on purpose to allow the foreign criminals to target Radiant Prism whom was still vulnerable back at the station and it knew we needed more able servos to help deal with it." He explained while pausing to let Duke continue from there. "Fortunately, Jack was still back at the station and was holding his own against them, protecting Radiant Prism and the mechanics relatively well for a time. However, he didn't request for assistance even when he began to take severe damage. The Chief Engineer had no choice but to contact us when things got worse, which lead us to send someone to back him up. We had Rook sent back to the station help him out. At some point into the fight, Radiant Prism had suddenly awakened but we couldn't figure out why exactly. Normally we react when someone close to us is in danger, though the only one we know she's very close to is Redlight or Dieter, but neither of them are here. We've Assumed she might've sensed the nearby danger and assisted the two of them, eventually chasing off the criminal, but Jack was badly damaged in the process. Rook had taken some damage as well, but they were minor. It didn't take long for him to be back on his feet again. Jack on the other hand is still under repairs, the mechanics built and placed his Super A.I. into a toy-sized body for the time being so he doesn't try to move during repair, no one trusted him to be put in a human-sized body in the case he might be up to no good with his usual antics."
Jack's choice to remain at the station didn't surprise Regina, knowing he could be stubborn when it comes to either doing what he needs to do, or staying still to be repaired. She couldn't fault him this time, especially when he did the right thing in protecting Radiant Prism from the criminals when she was vulnerable, her focus on Deckerd's dash when he spoke, surprised at what he had to say next. "Radiant Prism afterwards did come to our aid, saving Yuuta when the bio-machine had him in his grasp and we were stuck in a tricky situation. Together they've managed to drive off the bio-machine but it was too fast for us to capture... But we managed to eliminate most of it's metallic slime-like body since it seems to consume metal and make it a part of itself. As for any possible symptoms when she was attacked by sudden pain from before, she seemed to be fine but we confined her to the station for the time being. We're mainly concerned that the pain might strike again while she's away from the station or airborne to the point that she could suddenly become a falling hazard..."
"For now, I think you need your rest, Lady." Duke added, knowing they were now entering the residential district and were almost at Yuuta's place. "We can talk more about it later in the morning if you wish."
...
Over the past few days things had been quiet criminal related, not a single report let alone sighting of the bio-machine and the criminals save for petty criminals that the human police could easily deal with. With the lack of major criminals attacking somewhat felt like a sort of vacation to the Braves. Duke meanwhile has been making slow but steady progress with the three Scotland Yard members though he knew that he'd still have quite a while to go, the damage he had done had burned into their memories quite deeply, and this was taking time for him to be forgiven entirely. The few times he's visit Regina, he's noticing she's just about completely recovered from jet lag. 'Hm... She's most likely going to prepare setting things up before it's time for Radiant prism to dock and begin work- Ah, she's here.' His attention turned to Deckerd, who just stopped short of the entrance of the garage, door opening as Regina stepped out as he immediately spotted Jack sitting atop her shoulder clearly grumbling angrily.
"Good morning, Deckerd, Lady." Duke greeted as he approached the two just after Regina gave Deckerd space to change out of his vehicle mode.
"Good Morning." Deckerd greeted in return. "We were just discussing about that you and I should go and speak to Radiant Prism about that Regina and the Chief are going to remove those firewalls-"
"I can't guarantee even with my level of skill combined with Toudou's skill will remove those firewalls successfully with as minimal pain as possible." Regina spoke up. "We will do our best to remove them as quick as possible with as little pain, but I'll have to take a closer look into these firewalls first once we have Radiant Prism docked so we can look into her systems."
"Agreed." Deckerd replied. "Duke and I will head upstairs to talk to Radiant Prism, she might be up on the rooftop again. Please excuse us."
Once the two of them were up on the rooftop, they immediately Radiant Prism who had been idly watching cars and people go by. The buildings opposite of the station were still in pretty rough shape, but workers were beginning to demolish the ruined buildings so that they could rebuild them to how they originally were. She heard footsteps approach her and turned around to see Deckerd and Duke. "Something you both need?" She asked, straightening herself and saluting to the two.
"Regina's going to assist the Chief Engineer in removing those unnecessary firewalls cluttering your Super A.I. so you won't get another sudden rush of pain like before." Deckerd told her. A sudden thought came into mind as he became concerned. "Speaking of which, you didn't experience any symptoms, did you?"
"No, nothing." Radiant Prism frowned a little nervously. "I'm going to assume it's those three criminals doing it, but I can't prove that's possible, but... Wait." She then paused briefly, realising something as she needed to know something. "Duke, Deckerd, did any of you or even the others experienced sudden pain like I have? I need to know... If it might be only me, or if it affects all of us."
Duke and Deckerd looked at one another, though reluctantly told her that none of them had the pain she had, but they pointed that it coule be something that was implemented into her Super A.I. most likely before she was activated with a strange yet harsh intent to either control or harm her particularly, but with Regina helping the Chief Engineer, they're much more likely to eliminate the unnecessary firewalls and any other secrets the latter and his team may not picked up or discovered. Radiant Prism herself became reluctant, but recalling how most of them shared the same memories together, she became concerned that she might have so much within her memories locked away behind those firewalls... Wondering why was the case. However, the thought of letting a stranger poke and prod into her systems was frightening, and the last thing she needed was to suddenly just... Let her guard down and allow someone to possibly finish her off... She looked at the two men uneasily. "I don't... Want to die..." She said slowly, turning away as her gaze met the ground. "I promised Redlight that I'd stop those criminals, even if it meant risking my very life to stop them to the best of my abilities... How can I trust that the person mentioned won't try to pull any tricks and kill me once I let my guard down?"
"What?" Duke was alarmed at this, but quickly recovered and explained. "No she's not going to do anything like that, she's my creator. Like you, I was created outside of Japan. I have a different creator than that of what Deckerd and the others have. Rook, Ten, and Jack are also from the same place I originated from, England. She can be trusted just as you trusted Boss, and your friends Redlight and Dieter." This time, Deckerd spoke as he stepped forth. "Please Radiant Prism. This is very important. If we don't get rid of those firewalls, there's a possibility that there could be something far worse that could... Do worse than what it's done thus far, and I don't- No one else would want that to happen to you."
Radiant Prism continued to hesitate, she wanted these firewalls gone yet at the same time hesitation continued to hold her in it's grip. Clearly she was showing how wary she was about the whole thing, and while she may have trusted Deckerd and the team, along with eventually the people around them she wasn't very keen on a complete stranger tampering with her Super A.I. and systems altogether. Wings flared, she clearly showed the intend to run which alarmed the two leaders, clearly she was not going to come quietly. "Radiant Prism-"
"No, I refuse to willingly allow a complete stranger to mess with my Super A.I. even if you guys say she can be trusted..." She quickly stated. "I can't... I won't risk- I-I cannot risk anyone else messing with me!" She began to shake as Duke immediately noticed that Radiant Prism was overheating, whether she noticed or not he had to notify Deckerd privately. "Deckerd, it's possible this might be one of the symptoms. Her entire body is overheating at a dangerous level." Deckerd, knowing she needed to be addressed firmly, began speaking. "Radiant Prism, listen to me, you need to calm down. If you don't calm yourself, you could damage yourself severely. You're overheating!"
"I will not let anyone else tamper with my Super A.I.!" Radiant Prism snarled in German, servos balling into fists. Just as she was about to take off, the same ringing from before suddenly brought her down as excruciating pain overwhelmed her right away as she fell to one knee, screaming in agony as she thrashed slightly in a fruitless attempt to make the pain go away. Knowing her heat levels were still continuing to rise at a dangerous rate, Duke brought out his communications badge and called for Shadowmaru and Kagerou to assist them immediately. "Shadowmaru, Kagerou, I need the both of you to find the source of what's causing Radiant Prism pain. There has to be someone or something nearby that might be triggering it!" Both Deckerd and Duke had no doubt that something or someone is behind this sudden pain and they needed to find who or what might be transmitting such pain to their foreign friend.
As the two ninjas were searching, Deckerd slowly approached Radiant Prism, knowing he needs to distract her somehow from what she's going through. "Radiant Prism listen to us, please!" Deckerd urgently warned. "If you don't-" At that moment, Radiant Prism became on alert, reaching for one of her handguns and training it at him. "R-Radiant Prism..." He immediately froze.
"If you think... I'm turning myself over so easily, Gustav... You forget we're not in Germany anymore!"
'Something is messing with her visuals... She's thinking I'm Gustav...' Deckerd stayed on alert, not daring to move in the case that Radiant Prism might shoot. This was bad, especially when the station is right on top of a very busy street. Weapons used outside of combating against criminals was dangerous, and it would make the public scared or even think that one of them has gone rogue in a similar matter of what Kagerou was like years back...
"Deckerd!" Without warning, Rook had dropped onto Radiant Prism, knocking her to the floor as the force was enough to make Radiant Prism drop her handgun as it clattered to the floor meters away from her. The intense heat however was enough for Rook to struggle with keeping his grip, more than enough for him to hop right off her. "Yeow! She's hot to the to- Hey!"
Because Rook had gotten off of the German Brave shortly after the intense heat radiating from her began to hurt him, Radiant Prism had used excessive strength to get him off and due to the timing Rook having gotten off when she tried to do so, the excessive force caused her to bash herself against up the gate fence surrounding the rooftop hard enough that she'd broken it off at the base and fell off the edge off, plummeting into the ground before. At hearing Radiant Prism thud to the ground, it was enough to make Rook feel guilty that he'd cause this. "I-I- What... Did I just-?"
Rook's attention snapped to hearing Deckerd and Duke booking it for the lift, which caused him to quickly catch up hastily. While he could've flown down, he was too frazzled to think about what had just happened as dread and guilt was quickly overwhelming him, needing to know if Radiant Prism is okay.
Down in the repair bay, at the sound of something heavy crashing to the floor, everyone present had turned their attention to Radiant Prism when they heard her hit the ground. Power Joe and and McCrane had only just finished their conversation with the others and were just about ready to leave for patrol duties but became alarmed at what they just saw and immediately examined their foreign friend. When they confirmed Radiant Prism was unconscious, both of them intend to help her up to put her up on the docks but paused upon feeling the heat radiating from the German Brave, they immediately recoiled. " Yikes, she's hot to the touch... But one thing I won't lie about is the way she fell from the rooftop like that, head first... I'm glad we have black boxes to safely protect our Super A.I. if we get beaten around but why did-"
The sounds of pacing heavy footsteps drew their attention as Deckerd, Duke, and Rook approached them. "Deckerd, what's going on? Radiant Prism just..." Power Joe asked slowly.
"Yeah... She... Fell from the rooftop..." Rook said slowly and uneasily. "I saw her... And what she could've done to Deckerd, she trained her-"
"What!?" Power Joe was alarmed, immediately approaching Rook. "Are you saying- Why!? Why would she train her weapon at Deckerd!? What drove her to do something like that!?"
This made Rook even more stressed as he struggled to find his words and struggled even further to form a proper sentence, let alone a word. Fortunately McCrane had the yellow Brave stand down. "Right now, we need to help Radiant Prism to one of the docks so the mechanics can look at if she might have more than mere dents from falling like that." The two began approaching, one on each side as they helped up the unconscious German Brave. While still hot to the touch, her body had cooled down enough that it wasn't making them recoil like before. McCrane and Power Joe were told to wait a little longer before it was safe enough to attach the cables and wires. Afterwards, with Radiant Prism secured onto the dock and her body cooled enough to attach the necessary equipment, Regina turned her attention to both Duke and Deckerd needing to know what happened.
"Duke, Deckerd, what exactly happened to Radiant Prism?"
Before either of them could explain, Rook stepped up looking so guilty and upset. "I-It's my fault, Regina..." He frowned. "Radiant Prism was behaving unusually strange. I-I just came back from a little flight warmup when I saw her train her handgun towards Deckerd a-and... It happened and out of fear she was going to shoot Deckerd I tackled her down and she... She..." He turned his attention to the two Braves. "Even I want to know what was going on that caused her to behave that way."
"She became wary when I told her to come down here, under the impression you might decide to deactivate her- Permanently." Deckerd replied slowly with a sigh, feeling a headache coming on with having to explain while Duke took over, the need to go into detail with Regina was complete instinct. "I made sure to inform her that she has nothing to fear from you but without warning, I detected her temperature levels suddenly spiked at an alarming rate, followed by her suddenly addressing Deckerd as Gustav- Her former superior. We expected something was triggering this sudden change of behaviour so I called for Shadowmaru and Kagerou to look into it. We're waiting to see if they've found the source of what was triggering it, if any... And that's when Rook landed right on her from above, managing to disarm her but the intense heat caused him to hop off shortly afterward. At the same time he hopped off, it was as if on cue when using excessive strength with the intent to get him off, she slammed herself into the gate surrounding the rooftop enough and fell as you saw."
"I don't know about you guys, but we should see if what she saw was some sort of weird false information in her visuals or something..." Ten said as he approached them, having just come down. The brightly coloured yellow Brave had just come down from the first floor. "I saw something pass by the window and saw and it looks like it was Radiant Prism that fell? I'm curious to know what was going on since it's not like her to just... Drop. None of us built for flight should even happen!" Ten felt deflated, he had been in the middle of a game but on learning that another Brave got themselves hurt... It was enough for him to lose interest in the game he had been in the middle of playing entirely.
"Apologies that we can't stay but Power Joe and I have to head out and begin patrol. We're already a few minutes late and we need to head out." McCrane announced to the others. "We can't risk leaving parts of the city unprotected in the case the criminals, or even that bio-machine shows up." He told the others while Power Joe added that they'd also have to keep their optics peeled for even the petty criminals, too. The others nodded as the two excused themselves and made their way out to begin their patrol.
'Hm, I wonder if there might be criminals that may be experimenting with something inspired by the Fahrzeurgs' work or possibly any of the past criminals that might have used a similar feature to what Radiant Prism experienced.' Regina thought to herself as the others spoke, tossing guesses or thoughts around. 'If that was the case, then it was possible they needed to test it first to see if it really works... And their target happened to be Radiant Prism of all Braves...' She was aware from Deckerd's report on Radiant Prism primarily focuses with the issue of having to deal with the criminals from her country currently in hiding somewhere in Japan with a mission to completely eliminate her, yet the reports stated no one, not even those she knows in Germany knows how they knew about Radiant Prism fleeing Germany for Japan as per Redlight's orders. For Regina, she felt that it was very likely that these criminals tracked her using the advanced machine they've stolen and used it to follow her all the way here, ...Or possibly someone gave them a tip on where she had gone when they discovered she left the country.
This was something to look into afterwards, and Regina needed to know who could be responsible for this.
There was no proof she could back up her theories on, but what needed to be done was removing the clutter in Radiant Prism's Super A.I. "That's what we'll do." She told Ten. "If Radiant Prism did address Deckerd as 'Gustav' out of the blue, the criminals might have possibly tampered with her visuals in such a way that it's dangerous if used on the rest of the other Braves. This also means we'll have to reinforce more protection for the entire Brave Police before it happens again. It's impossible to plant any form of virus known to mankind within any of the Brave Police units, but knowing that smaller things such as targeting the visuals systems can be messed with is very dangerous."
Outside of the station, a figure had just moved away from the police station, having eavesdropped on the conversation as they walked quietly into a secluded alleyway meters away from the station, bringing out a device after ensuring no one's around or nearby with a devious grin.
"Hey, the prototype device you sent me to test on one of the Brave Police? Worked flawlessly." The figure spoke into the comms with a smug grin, unable to help but further add in another accomplishment. "Best of all, their purple and blue coloured friends that they call 'ninjas' couldn't find me while I was having fun messing with the lone German member of the Brave Police's head for a practise run. I trust the finalized model will affect all of those annoying Brave Police?" They remained quiet as the figure listened to the speaker on the other side of the line, and the moment that something the Brave had were considered illegal by all rights in their country and laws, something made the figure snicker.
"Yes, I agree... It does make you wonder what will they do once they find out about that little secret. Now, since I've done what you've asked of me, why don't we talk about you sending me the five billion yen you promised? I look forward to the long lasting results of putting every single Brave in proximity to the test and see how long will they go before they drop or fight one another once you've finalized your project."
...
"How is it looking on your end, McCrane?" It had been about an hour and a half since they've left for patrol, so far everything crime related seemed to be relatively quiet, no suspicious people of the likes nor were there any reports made to deal with them. While waiting at a red light, Power Joe kept his optics sharp, ready to deal with any unruly teenage drivers in the case they might be trying to get someone hurt by their reckless driving. Another thing he'd need to be wary of are rowdy biker gangs throwing all sorts of junk at people. -Nothing to report from here.- Replied McCrane. -What about your location? Anything?-
"It's quiet here too." Power Joe replied, watching a couple of cars that were on green go by. 'Hm, I always feel like every time I'm out patrolling, I seem to have a knack of attracting trouble in the form of speeding... Guess they finally got it into their heads that they shouldn't do that anymore. Teenagers are especially the worst when it comes to driving...' He thought as he recalled most of the incidents he's run into were mostly teenagers or young adults recklessly joyriding and endangering those around them. His attention focused back to hearing a reply from McCrane. -I could be wrong, but I'm assuming most criminals committing petty crimes might be abiding their time or could be waiting for when we have to deal with the more dangerous criminals along with that bio-machine if it shows up. I'm not quite sure, but I feel that might be the case... The more petty criminals seem to prefer waiting for an opportunity for us to be distracted by something else, then they start making their moves.-
"That's a pretty good guess." Replied the Kung-Fu Detective, ensuring he made sure to keep an optic for when it's time to move on. Fortunately, he didn't need to wait long as the traffic lights on his end finally shined a bright green as he continued onward, being mindful of the other cars. "Thinking about it, I don't think I've overheard the human police mention anything about a single criminal going around committing petty crimes while we were dealing with the bio-machine or the few times we've dealt with other past major criminals. They could've been shadowed by the trio and the bio-machine doing most of the damage that's more than enough to pull us more towards them than the ones under that very same shadow."
-Whatever the case it may be, we still can't let our guard down just because they're going under the radar. We'll need to keep a sharper optic in the case we do see any of the sort happen.- Replied McCrane.
"Yeah, yeah... I'm keeping my optics peeled in case I see someone committing a crime. Anyways, here's something I'm starting to wonder... Because the three criminals have caused quite an extensive number of property damage here in Japan, what do you think's going to happen? The government's going to have some serious talk with the other country's government, aren't they? I've known stuff like that seems to happen and don't remind me about the one involving the one joint organization that we've been chasing for months that lead us outside of Japan... And the big question is, what will happen once they are captured? What will happen to Radiant Prism?"
-That depends on what actions need to be taken but with the damage those criminals have done to the country, there will be a lot of unrest. But, for the case of Radiant Prism even though she's joined us here, that's more of a temporary thing and she has to go back to Germany once those criminals are dealt with and deported back to the country. The training we've given her to join the team, it's only so that she knows how our laws work. Sending her out to help us without the training would cause all sorts of complaints but it also allows her to have authority until those criminals have been defeated and deported back to the country is when her authority here would then expire.- Replied McCrane. -As unfortunate as this may be for many of us, her role as a leader in her country is very clear. She bears the same crest as that of Deckerd's but for her respective country. Radiant Prism would then have to confront her issues back home, on her own two feet.-
"What!? Can't we help her with this other problem back in her country? She shouldn't do it alone!"
-We can't. Even as Brave Police, we have no authority in Germany. Despite Radiant Prism temporarily joined us, she's built and activated within the country but unlike the United Kingdom the Chief collaborated with to make their own Brave Police team in the form of the Scotland Yard, Germany's Brave Police doesn't seem to be a joint project with the United Kingdom since myself and the others haven't heard about collaborating with Germany.- Said McCrane, continuing. -Yes, everyone would want to help her out with the issue regarding what she's mentioned a few times over the course of her being here, but I think her coming all the way here... When she told us that Redlight had her make such an incredibly large journey without a cargo plane all the way here to Japan, I think Redlight expected and knew that we could help her that he- Being the pride of his own country, somehow could not. I can't say if I'm correct, but this is only how I'm seeing it from a tactical point of view... What did concern me was the last time Deckerd spoke to Redlight, he seemed to have a look of... Sadness, that I'm not sure how to identify what's causing it.-
"Sadness? Why would you think that he's sad? The way you're saying it... Are you saying it's possible that Redlight felt bad for what he had to do? It... Is- Was a risky move to send her flying such a long way, after all." Power Joe was surprised, he'd know that Radiant Prism spoke highly about Redlight because of how much he's helped her since she was first activated, but for McCrane to point out that the eagle had a look of sadness... Actually made him concerned if there is something far worse. "But... McCrane we've dealt with incidents outside of Japan multiple times after that one massive crime Deckerd and Boss fought together on their own! How is this any different? If there's something foul at play over there, wouldn't the country allow us to help the-"
-The times where countries called for our assistance did not have a Brave Police team of their own to investigate in the more troubling or difficult cases normal people can't tackle normally.- McCrane said. -The Scotland Yard are the only one exception in which we can help out if Regina may need our assistance because the Scotland Yard are a joint project between Japan and the United Kingdom. As I've said before, we don't have a level of partnership with Germany the same way we do with the United Kingdom. They may know about us, but that doesn't mean anything because we're already made aware across the world, which is further boosted when the United Kingdom activated their own team for the first time years ago.-
Power Joe had no idea what else he could say, but he knew McCrane was right. Originally he had come to believe that the case would've been similar like that of Duke, whom was originally first built in the United Kingdom, and then was brought here to stay, becoming the team's official Second-in-Command despite the rocky introduction not long after that tragic incident. But no, the situation is different than Duke's case and later the creation of the Scotland Yard team. A question he had intended to save for after this topic concluded, it didn't feel right to ask afterwards anymore. He'd have to wait for another opportunity either later or tomorrow. He wondered what the others on patrol were up to, if they might be seeing any action on their end.
As he turned into another street, Power Joe spotted a familiar colour of red in the distance, immediately identifying who ti is. 'Heh, is Dumpson trying to skip out on patrol- Uh? He's talking to someone, but who...? Wait, is someone reporting a case to him!?' He zoomed his visuals on someone he was talking to, noticing that they were hidden behind one of his legs. When Power Joe got closer, he noticed the person that was hidden behind his leg happened to be Ayako. Now this was something to get his mind off of the earlier topic he had with McCrane, knowing Dumpson was terrible at trying to change topics, he was just terrible at that. Feeling devious, he'd wait until he was close enough within conversation range to mess with his Brother.
"I don't know, Ayako..." Dumpson frowned, feeling unsure about her given request. "I'm still on patrol, and the place you want me to take you to is..." He paused for a moment, needing to refresh his memory on what particular street she wanted him to drop her off at. "That place you want me to take you to is a little off my given patrol route."
"A little? It shouldn't be that bad if it's just a little small detour." Ayako paused to think. "You'd still be doing your job even if it's just a little off the given route or into someone else's route even for just a moment to drop me off." Ayako smiled. "Please Dumpson? It'd save me a lot of time heading to my destination to get a better idea of the scoop material I'm looking into from a few people there. Just this once, please?"
"But-" He immediately shut up when he stared into Ayako's pleading, emerald green eyes, causing him to shyly look away. Before he could give his response to her, a familiar engine sound drew his attention away. There was only one Brave who had an engine sound like that.
'Oh no...'
"So that's what you've been up to, Dumpson." Power Joe teased. "Aren't you supposed to be on patrol?"
Dumpson froze, trying to figure out a response. "Yes... I was actually just about to take Ayako to where she needs to go since it's not... Er, too far from my route then get back to patrol immediately afterwards." He managed to say, giving himself space from the others. "We should actually be going right now- CHANGE!" Changing into his vehicle form, Dumpson had no doubt that Ayako was probably considering herself how lucky she was when Power Joe had arrived at the right time to mess with him a little into caving in. He plans to catch Power Joe should he see him again, he'd give him a piece of his mind for embarrassing him. He waited for Ayako to climb in and seat herself. Once she's seated and buckled in, began turning himself around to get back out onto the roads, heading out. Power Joe couldn't help but quietly snicker at this as he watched the Wrestler Detective struggle a little with turning until he's gone, it was fun to mess with Dumpson even though he'd know that he'd find a way to get back at him later.
The moment had been ruined when he felt something slapped onto his cabin. For a moment, Power Joe stared at this, but then saw Gunmax appearing within view to his left, realising he'd stuck a robot sized ticket onto the front. "Wh- Gunmax!" He exclaimed, waving his shovel scoop at him.
"My little gift for making someone decide speeding was a good idea. Try not to slack off again, Power Joe!" Gunmax smirked, giving a salute as he continued on with his patrol route. Power Joe watched as the Motorcycle Detective disappear into another street as he grumbled to himself, bringing out one arm to remove the ticket from his cabin then folded it back in place. He realised it'd been over exactly two hours, normally he would've taken a break about half an hour later by now, but decided to head back to the station a little earlier than usual.
Arriving at the station, Power Joe changed form. He took note of Radiant Prism already hooked up with cables and wires, his view then descending to where both Toudou and Regina were. Their expressions were enough to tell him that the issues Radiant Prism had were clearly no easy feat though he couldn't tell how far they've begun. 'I hope that the two of them can fix Radiant Prism, both of them are pretty with that sort of thing whenever there's a problem with any of us, but... From their looks, this doesn't compared to what all of us have gone through... Unless... Does it have to do with Radiant Prism's entire systems and coding being in German? Knowing Regina, she does know quite a handful of languages so she might be helping him translate while at the same time she's doing other work on the side resolving this issue maybe...' He thought, making his way towards the lift.
...
Inside the office, Shadowmaru and Kagerou only shook their helms when Deckerd had asked if they've checked twice just to be sure. "I'm sorry, Deckerd. There was no trace of whatever was causing Radiant Prism's pain, but looking at what Radiant Prism saw... It's horrifying." Kagerou said as Shadowmaru continued. "It seems to be something that's used similarly to what the Bubblegum Sisters did to Power Joe, except rather than treated as more of a harmless game, this is more programmed to attack the individual to the point of driving them into whatever their deepest dislike would be." Shadowmaru's optics were then on Deckerd, continuing. "Instead of seeing you and Duke, she saw Gustav and another individual who doesn't appear to be Dieter or anyone else we can identify... Though she should've known that seeing him at our size should've been unusual to show it isn't him, but it seems this program has Radiant Prism in it's grip."
"I see..." Deckerd's attention was soon back on the screen, which had been paused and zoomed on Gustav. A part of him wished that he and his team could look into Gustav, but they wouldn't really be able to. Targeting a Brave and using their past involving all the negative things that happened to them was disgusting. He couldn't think of anything for his end, save for when the Fahrzeurgs destroyed him by intensifying the hamelin waves when he and Yuuta fought against them in their own ship.
...Shadowmaru would be another possible target now that he thought about it.
He hadn't forgotten that moment when he witnessed Shadowmaru having no choice but to put the sword to Kagerou, and it would further crush him when he and the others found out that Kagerou's Super A.I. had been replaced with a destructive A.I. and worst one to boot was having to lose him when the sub imploded when he descended it deeper into the trench. "We'll have to be careful if the criminal decides to target any of us aside from Radiant Prism. If this was programmed to target us by using our own trauma and negative memories against us..."
"Jeez, when are we going to catch any of these criminals?" Power Joe frowned. "First we have the three criminals, then that slimy bio-machine and now someone who's intending to mimic what those sisters started. Where's the sudden pickup in crime coming from!?"
"Ah, welcome back Power Joe. When did you come into the office?" Deckerd asked.
"Just a minute ago, I thought you guys would've heard the doors open when I came inside the office." Replied Power Joe, turning on his desk computer. "I see you guys extracted what Radiant Prism saw before she fell from the roof?"
"Yes, unfortunately we couldn't trace it so whether it's caused by someone, or a device is currently unknown until further notice. I was just about to inform the others to keep optics and visuals sharp for any suspicious people that could possibly be the culprit behind what happened with Radiant Prism." Deckerd's optics glanced to the clock, then turned around to face his desk as he informed the rest of the team to be aware of anyone who might look suspicious or anyone who might be of interest to ask questions about. Once he was done, he addressed Power Joe once more. "Does McCrane know you're taking a break?"
"Uh..." The Brave stiffened, he had forgotten entirely to let McCrane know he was taking a break, feeling Duke staring at him with great disapproval at his dead giveaway that he didn't do that yet. "A-Actually I was just about to call him." He as he quickly told him that he was just about to do that, bringing out his communication badge and contacting McCrane. "McCrane? Sorry for not informing you but I sort of went ahead back at the station a few minutes ago and-"
The moment the doors to the office opened, Power Joe knew he was dead as he could tell from the disappointed look on the Combat Detective's face in the corner of his optics was more than enough to truly confirm that yes, he did up and leave McCrane to do all the patrolling for their assigned routes and he didn't even think about informing him ahead of time. 'At least Drill Boy hasn't heard of this...' He thought as McCrane gave him a harsh scolding for slacking off. McCrane didn't say anything, but he didn't pay attention to what he was doing until hearing him approach. "H-Hey, I was-" He immediately shut himself up the moment, flinching when McCrane had just set down a stack of paperwork in front of him.
"You'll be doing extra paperwork starting tomorrow." McCrane told him. "Leaving your route without informing your assigned partner is unacceptable."
"Y-Yes, McCrane..." Power Joe grumbled to himself unhappily. He took a few sheets of paper from the pile, realising that these were a combination of work assigned for McCrane, Dumpson, and Drill Boy respectively. 'This couldn't get any worse... I have to work on this pile... None of the papers in the pile are assigned for me, either so my paperwork tomorrow will be added to the pile... Ugh, I can't risk Drill Boy seeing all of this.'
Standing up, Power Joe began putting up the piled paperwork assigned for the following day with the pile already assigned to him all while grumbling to himself silently. McCrane approached Deckerd, inquiring about what he and Duke have found. Inputting a few commands into his desk computer, Deckerd rewinds the recording to the beginning of the incident and lets it play all out. When it came to an end, McCrane knew this felt relatively close to what happened with Power Joe except... This was worse... Clearly more aggressive and sinister. He wasn't sure what else to say, other than the obviousness that is the recording itself.
"Hm... This looks to be more like a test run of what it could do... It doesn't feel like it's full potential has been unleashed. Most likely in prototype stage..." McCrane explained. "We're no strangers to criminals inventing all sorts of things to try and break us, but this..."
McCrane's turned to look at the Brave Detective. "Deckerd... I think someone could be trying to make an example of it's power, it appears to me that should the 'final' version of this, we're going to be in a lot more trouble than what we've dealt with thus far this year." He explained with a frown. "If we don't find the source of where or what is causing it, others with harsh memories from their past will affect them in such a way that it can be highly devastating... Worse, people could get severely injured if this happens while we're trying to look into them."
"That could mean while criminals have absolutely no way of infecting us with viruses considering the Police Department works hard on updating our anti-virus shieldings, they can still transmit false illusions such as what Radiant Prism saw, and in a sense hold us in it's grasp, forcing us to believe what's there is real..." Kagerou added with a frown. "I can't say the same for Shadowmaru and I, despite we have more superior systems due to what we're built for."
"We'll just have to keep looking." Deckerd said. "Shadowmaru, Kagerou, continue your search and see if you can find any leads or tips that may aid in our newly made investigation case about this dangerous tool."
"Understood!" Acknowledged Shadowmaru and Kagerou, both vanishing into a blurr in an instant.
"Hey what about me!?" Jack called out, having leapt over onto Deckerd's desk and scaling the cup of pencils and pens, sitting at the top. "My body should be fully completed so I should be ready by now, and I don't want no device or whatever to mess with my head!"
"Your original body is still under repairs, Jack." McCrane said calmly, optics not looking away from some paperwork he's sorting through. "You'll need to wait a few more days."
"Who asked you!?"
"Jack." Deckerd addressed. "I understand you want to help, but you need to wait until it's completely repaired." He told the tri-coloured Brave, grabbing the pen he was clinging to and bringing it towards Yuuta's desk, allowing Jack to get back to the main loft. Once he'd let go, he grumbled to himself about how terrible it was being stuck in a small body, he needed to be out and about, not sit around in a desk for days on end.
'They'll be sorry for leaving me without any action to take on when the criminals strike again...' Thought Jack, silently grumbling to himself.