Mediziner's Notes: Man, thinking back to when I started this back in 2018, this is an incredibly long running series I've got going. I started with the Prequel back on Oct 21st 2018 and we're all the way up to near the end of 2021. While the chapter releases have no exact deadline other than each month has a released chapter, this is The Leader Within's 3 year anniversary. The first chapter debated on the 24th of 2018, just three days after the Prequel kicked off. ...Honestly I'll admit I'm not too proud of some parts of the Prequel... I feel like I could've done them better but those parts and the earlier chapters of TLW were at the time when I was trying to step out of my comfort zone of one-shots, which was something I was better at rather than a full-blown chapter story and a few of the starting chapters were a lot shorter than the length I currently write them at.
Also had to measure one part in the chapter, gotta implement some accuracy between certain places of course. (Note: TCAS means Traffic Collision Avoidance System)
I can't remember if I've pointed this out in previous chapters, but it was said in the deepest archives of Brave Police's bits of scrapped content was that either for it's never-happened Season 2 or simply a scrapped concept altogether, was that South Korea was going to have it's own Brave Police. The name of the division, no idea sadly but I'm kinda giving them a sort of treatment similar to how the Scotland Yard was given screen time in the show.
Parts of the chapter is sort of weak and I'm not really happy about a lot of the results... I'm really sorry about that... Also a lot of google maps once again was used to get some bits of realism in said places implemented.
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!
...
It was late in the evening, Saejima had been out on his balcony staring out into the vast ocean, quietly sipping his cup of tea. His mind on trying to figure out something that continued to bug him for the longest time. 'Mm... I need to know what our criminal intends to do with Yuuta... There has to be more than mere desire for Radiant Prism's Super A.I.' He thought. About to have another sip of his tea, he paused just before he'd brought the cup close to his lips, finding himself staring at the remainders of the rich liquid lazily swirling within. 'The Brave Police has faced all sorts of problems and dealt with them accordingly, yet this one we're dealing with is troublesome. Far more than the same stunt Victim O'Rand pulled all those years ago...' The older man let out a sigh, in some ways this frustrated him more than anything. "It's enough that the media has swarmed us with so many questions regarding Yuuta's safety if we've located him yet... It's not easy to come up with answers that seem enough in the eyes of many people." He mumbled to himself in annoyance.
'Mm... With Deckerd incapable of leading, they were quick to assign Radiant Prism as acting leader.' He thought. 'Duke by default should be taking over or I would try to keep things under control, but I can't quite say for Radiant Prism if she will perform well, or perform disastrously.'
'Well... Being of equal rank like Deckerd, I can't fault them for their choice.' Saejima gave himself a moment, then finished the remainders of his tea. 'Perhaps Duke intends to test Radiant Prism's skill and perhaps even guide her on how to become an efficient leader. She will be guided well, not just from Duke but the rest of Deckerd's team.' The man's expression turned serious. 'She will need it, and I won't object if this is the Brave Police's choice.' His attention snapped back to reality when he noticed the light of the moon was suddenly disappearing, noticing a large shadow on the floor and around him for a moment then spotted Kagerou, whom had flown quietly to his location.
"Kagerou." Saejima greeted the blue and black Brave. "What troubles you?"
"Nothing." Replied Kagerou, changing out of his avian form. "However, there is something I'd like to ask... If you could permit me the rest of the night off?"
"Mm, I'll allow it." The man's response of giving him the go-ahead so easily left Kagerou stunned at how quickly he agreed to his request. He'd expect the man to tell him that he has to continue assisting the police force in locating Yuuta, but to instead get the go ahead for getting time off?
"You... You're allowing it?" The Brave asked hesitantly, believing his audios were malfunctioning. "I expected you to..."
"Even Braves need a break every now and then, Kagerou. While the Brave Police are built to withstand longer hours than that of a human and deal with specific major threats we can't normally tackle, it doesn't excuse the fact that all of you still have limits. Everyone and everything have their own limits even if it may seem like they don't appear so." Saejima calmly replied, putting the cup down. "I can also see something else is on your mind. Something else you need to discuss?"
While he wasn't entirely familiar with Saejima like Deckerd and the others were even if a year and a half had passed, Kagerou was slowly becoming less and less surprised at Saejima's antics and responses to the point that he was learning to predict them. Mostly, to some degree. "No, not really. Thank you for allowing me the rest of the night off. I'll leave you be, I planned to take the time off to have a night flight before returning back to the station."
"Alright, but don't hesitate to call for the others to assist you if you spot trouble during your flight."
"Yes sir. Good night." The Shadow Detective carefully moved away from the Commissioner's mansion then leapt off the cliff, changing into his jet form. Gunning his thrusters, Kagerou was gone in an instant. The man watched for a little longer as Kagerou became a glowing dot in the sky until he saw him no more, seemingly blending in with the stars. "Well, time for bed." He mumbled to himself, gathering his cup and walked inside as he closed the balcony doors. He paused for a moment, eyes narrowing with disappointment.
"Mm... I expected Kagerou to compliment my new pink sleep wear while he was visiting." He then tilted his head slightly after a seemingly long pause. "...Was it because of the curlers in my hair? Well, time for bed." He noticed one of his smaller robots approach, giving them the cup. "Please wash this." He asked as the robot left with the cup, then turned in for the night.
High in the skies, Kagerou was taking in the feel of his jet form. Even if it's been a while since he'd been given this extra form, it still felt relatively new to him, since he'd been far more used to his avian form. The best thing about his jet form was that he never had to feel anymore drag like he'd feel in his avian form, something he's become used to even though Shadowmaru chose to match the speed of his avian form since he wasn't capable of matching jet form's speed quite entirely. However, his thoughts soon drifted away to something else. 'Because I haven't been successful in locating Mini-Boss' location, I feel like I'm lacking training... Training I may not have yet. Shadowmaru is busy attending to something in Europe and won't be back for a long while...' Kagerou began to slow to a cruising speed. 'Hm... Perhaps if I were to pay the Chief a visit...? Noting South Korea's incredible technology, my guess could be that perhaps maybe Mini-Boss might be somewhere in South Korea if the others suspect this... If he isn't in Japan with no trace, then he has to be outside of the country...'
From his location, his visuals were focused to the northwest, the direction South Korea was from Japan. The blue and black ninja thought for a moment longer, then made his decision. Gunning his thrusters, he ascended into the skies bound for the country.
The trip would only take him two hours to arrive, but continued going north until he eventually slowed to a cruising speed high above the night skies, Kagerou had made the two and a half hour journey from Japan to South Korea. The Shadow Detective needed to see the Chief Engineer about undergoing some extra training that he'd given Shadowmaru during his absence. Normally Kagerou had already possessed the skill needed to do what needed to be done, but he felt that he was lacking some form of training, the kind that could give him even the smallest advantage over their highly clever criminal. 'Hm...?' From what the blue and black Brave could see past the clouds below him, he could spot the brightly coloured city down below. 'That must be Seoul down there.' He thought, changing out of his jet mode to his avian form. He scanned his surroundings for a moment, making sure that he wasn't going to collide with a plane he might not spot right away as he began to descend. He then leveled off at a certain altitude, low enough that he wouldn't trigger the TCAS system on both his end and nearby planes.
'According to my sensors, the Chief should be somewhere around over there...' Thought Kagerou as he began scanning the residential district. The Shadow Detective possessed visuals far superior than that of a bird of prey's which made up for the lack of heightened senses of smell Shadowmaru possessed. His more aerial design allowed him to cover ground faster than his Brother could. He scanned each house one by one within a second, sifting through the occupants inside while ignoring the empty ones until he found who he was looking for, the Chief's information appearing on his visuals. With his target found, Kagerou descended, changing out of his avian form. While he had no idea how strict South Korea's laws were about noises at night past a certain time, he had to make sure that he wouldn't wake others or make too much noise considering how late it was.
He was relieved that both he and Shadowmaru have been built with silence in mind, even while airborne.
The shadow he unintentionally cast over the building was enough to make Toudou notice that something blocked the moonlight from spilling into the house he was staying in, and just as he approached the building's patio did he see the Shadow Detective. "Kagerou? What are you doing here?" He asked the moment he opened the sliding door, pausing to look at his watch to see the time. "So late at night... You could have informed me that you were coming to visit."
"Good evening, Chief. Apologies for the sudden appearance." Kagerou greeted. "I need to speak with you about something. It's... Very important."
Toudou was puzzled, but if the former prototype had made his way across the ocean to see him then there must be a reason. In some sense, it also meant that he could feel less stressed from problems he and his team were running into while collaborating with the Koreans with getting their own Brave Police division set up. "Alright, what's on your mind?" He asked, listening to Kagerou explain his reasons. He was taken aback when he brought up just after the Brave explained that he wanted to improve his technology to better triangulate the location of the Silhouette Man, that it was highly possible Yuuta might be somewhere hidden in South Korea.
"...Kagerou, that can't be right." Toudou shook his head. "If there was something, the government would have requested aid from the Brave Police to investigate into the matter. I can't say which country has either equal or better technology than the other, but I highly doubt Yuuta would be held somewhere in this country. However, I won't say no to your request for advanced training. They've set up some training courses for one of their Brave Police units to test, but unfortunately before we could even activate one of the Braves, that's when a massive problem we discovered forced us to cancel the plans." Toudou turned slightly as he began to ponder. He wasn't sure if the locals could agree to this, but since they had just built the training course and unfortunately it wasn't being put to use, it may have seem like a total waste... Unless he could convince them to let Kagerou run it to ensure it's ready for their Brave Police... "I can't make any promises, but perhaps maybe you could put it to the test. I should warn you that I don't know what they equipped the training course with, since it was already mostly built when my team and I first stepped foot in South Korea."
"I understand, whatever surprises the Koreans have in store with their new training course, I'll be prepared for the worst they can throw at me." The black and blue Brave smiled.
"I'll have to inform 'guv in the morning about your absence. If my updates are correct, Shadowmaru should still be looking into the case assigned to him in Europe. For now, you can stay at the station they finished building two days ago for the time being, there should be plenty of space you can use without being disturbed, and I'd prefer you're prepared."
"Understood, good night Chief." Kagerou carefully hovered over towards one of the roads, changing into his car mode and drove off. Not long after, he was contacted by Toudou briefly who had given him the exact street address where the main police station was that also housed a headquarters station for it's future Brave Police so that he'd know where to go.
...
Days passed, the Brave Police continued their struggle to locate Yuuta or the whereabouts of the criminals that kidnapped him. Aside from the few tips they received, all of them lead the Brave Police to a dead end. Even with the given dead ends, Drill Boy was tasked to scan below them for any hidden underground lairs, but found none at each location. Power Joe grumbled to himself, making sure he wasn't crushing his canister of fuel. "Nngh, this is the fourth time we're lead into yet another false trail! If this is some kind of joke people are pulling on us, it isn't funny! First Deckerd is incapable of leading because Boss is missing, Duke isn't taking charge as he should considering he's supposed to be our SIC! Instead, he's assigning Radiant Prism to take the lead while we're stuck with these stupid false trails that keep coming in! I can't take it anymore by this point!" Power Joe turned his attention to McCrane. "You'd know what to do back then before Duke was around, why didn't you take command!?"
"While I was unofficially Deckerd's SIC for a time before Duke took over, we were too small of a group at the time. There was no need for an SIC at the time." Explained McCrane, cleaning his shotgun. "Yes, I assisted Deckerd in arranging things when the team started to grow in number by the time Shadowmaru joined. When Duke took over after he no longer was being influenced by Regina, I remained in the back but I still help from time to time if needed, but Duke usually helps Deckerd out when needed."
"Hmm... I'm a little unsure about Radiant Prism still since she had no skill to begin with. But, if Duke picked her to temporarily lead, maybe it's because that she wasn't anything like him from the beginning to begin with when we first met her so-" Drill Boy immediately shut up when he heard Duke clear his throat, paling that the red and white ambulance had been present the whole time. "Nothing! Nothing at all, Duke!" Drill Boy laughed sheepishly, turning to face the Brave. "We-"
"Enough, Drill Boy." Dumpson told him, covering his mouth with his servo and turned Drill Boy back to the table. "Don't say anymore unless you want to make your situation worse." He said as Drill Boy made muffled noises while shaking his helm as much as he could. This was enough for Dumpson to move away his servo. "Good, just don't let that happen again."
"Just make sure you apologise to Duke properly when we get back to the office." McCrane added, storing his shotgun in his crane arm.
"Yes..." Drill Boy replied with a sad pout. "Also... Is it just me or have we not seen Kagerou around lately?"
"Eh?" Power Joe replied bemusedly for a moment. "Ah, right... Now that you mention him I haven't seen him around either. He wasn't in any of Shadowmaru's many hidden places in the station. The Commissioner updated us that he went to South Korea last night. Apparently he's helping the Koreans test something so it would be ready for their own Brave Police division."
"If I remember correctly, we were supposed to hear about their grand reveal two days ago according to the news. But, if they were delayed then something happened before the deadline..." Said McCrane, pondering at the reason their neighbouring division had yet to be activated.
"But we should be glad that our Chief Engineer and the rest of the crew are the best in the world!" Drill Boy beamed. "No one can come close to that! Right? Right- ACK!" The Soccer Detective yelped as Power Joe pulled the younger Brave close with his arm looped around his neck.
"Idiot, there's other professional mechanic and robotic brains in other places around the world, too." Power Joe began pinching the tip of his drill mecha ears. "It wouldn't make sense if Chief and the others were the only ones with the big brains on the planet."
"Ow! Cut it out, Power Joe that hurts!" Drill Boy flailed, trying to break free. "Let me go!"
"Oi, enough already Power Joe." Dumpson frowned. When Power Joe didn't let go and only joked about that he'd just wanted to have a little friendly spar with Drill Boy, the dump truck started to get annoyed and got up from his seat. "Power Joe, let go of Drill Boy!" Once again when he didn't let go after a few seconds, the red Brave eventually lost his patience on exclaiming that he'll make them both stop. Because Duke was present nearby enjoying a cup of fuel, he'd set down his teacup. "Enough. Don't make the mechanics waste the supplies we recently just received not that long ago." When his order to the three Build Team members fell on deaf audios, Duke was slowly losing his own patience, putting the cup down and stood from his seat as he ordered the three of them once more to stand down.
Meanwhile, the doors to the lift had just opened. Both Radiant Prism and Gunmax have come down to refuel after both of them have completed their respective tasks. The former's optics were glued to a clipboard she was going over, until both the sound of fighting and Gunmax nudging her in the side with his elbow. "Hey Rookie, look there." Gunmax said. "Looks like the three Brothers got into another sibling skirmish again." At the sight, it caused Radiant Prism to frown, seeing as Duke was trying to separate the three members while McCrane appeared to be ignoring his Brothers and consuming his fuel.
"Everyone, stop!" Radiant Prism ordered, yet nothing happened. She tried once more and when her voice was unheard once again, she was left with no choice. "Tch... Really these three... Apologies ahead of time, Gunmax."
"What are you-" Gunmax didn't get the chance to finish as the incredibly loud sounds of Radiant Prism's foreign sirens loudly echoed throughout the whole room, causing Power Joe, Dumpson, Drill Boy, and Duke to stop and slap their servos over their audios.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH- THAT'S TOO LOUD! MAKE IT STOP!" Drill Boy shouted, squirming around on the floor.
"HOW THE HELL IS A SIREN THIS LOUD!?" Power Joe added, unsure his voice was heard.
Silencing her sirens, Radiant Prism crossed her arms over her chest when the others immediately spotted Radiant Prism. "Now that I have everyone's attention, I understand things have been incredibly stressful and we haven't found anything about the young Inspector yet, but it doesn't mean we should fight among one another! I'm trying my best, but I'm no advanced tech like Shadowmaru and Kagerou or some quick thinker like both the young Inspector and Deckerd... But I've come down to inform all of you that there is some updates I received. Unfortunately not the one we're hoping for but it involves the Scotland Yard."
"Scotland Yard?" Duke repeated. "Lady wouldn't have contacted us unless she had a proper reason to."
Radiant Prism nodded. "Inspector Regina informed me that she detected some unusual activity in Germany. However I can't tell if it's the same as before when Blazer informed us, or if there is something new going on that they picked up. It... It might be a long shot, but I think I'm planning to contact Blazer about if they could maybe look into the young Inspector's whereabouts, provided that they haven't gone into lockdown themselves and cut off all contact like Redlight did... Though I doubt they have done that since that was without warning..."
"Eh!? That far out-" Radiant Prism put her servos up. "Again, I could be wrong. I have no actual proof but if we're going to start assuming he isn't in Japan anymore since there has been no traces of him anywhere since we searched the entire country for him with no results..." She frowned, looking away. "It's the only thing I can really think of. Hm... I might get around to requesting the Scotland Yard's help if they could search in parts of Europe-" Without warning, everyone's badges began to sound off, indicating that one of their most trusted allies who carry the badge to call them had sounded the alarm... Except the moment when McCrane took out his badge to investigate, he was puzzled.
"The emergency is... Inside the building. The Commissioner should be in the office." He said. "Let's go see what he wants."
It didn't take long for the Braves to head up to the floor of the office, and when Radiant Prism along with Dumpson and Gunmax entered the room, they were met with the two Commissioners speaking calmly as what they witnessed was Yuuta, battered up in an undisclosed room but most importantly still alive. "...Boss!" Dumpson quietly exclaimed with worry, paling at the condition the teenager was in. To some degree, he was glad Deckerd wasn't witnessing this right now as who knows how poorly the Brave Detective would react to seeing his best friend in such a condition like that. The screen immediately turned back to the Silhouette Man. "Ah, I see your friends have arrived." He spoke calmly. "And you've brought Radiant Prism. Good, I wish to speak with her."
"...Silhouette Man." Radiant Prism narrowed her optics, taking a few steps forward. "You dare contact us just to mock us for not being able to locate you and your lackeys? Tch, if you're contacting us now, I have no doubt you've got some plan in mind..." Radiant Prism stood tall, refusing to let his presence wear her down. "Even if the others can't understand what we're saying, they're no fool to know that you're up to something. Added, I've also figured it all out and I know that you're my former Commissioner, who else would be after my Super A.I.? No one else would go after a Brave like that and to think you've thrown the trio my way just to mock me for not being able to fight them, I had no doubt you had strings tied to a wide range of accomplices."
The criminal remained silent for a moment, then began to burst into laughter. "You really are something, far more valuable than the original price that was on your Super A.I. previously." Radiant Prism could only stare when the Silhouette Man eventually revealed himself. Rather than Gustav as she had thoroughly believed, instead the Silhouette Man revealed himself to be someone else, someone no one was familiar with as the man grinned. "They don't know either, do they? That you're not a genuine robot like the rest of those you call your 'friends'." The criminal was grinning from ear to ear as Radiant Prism's expression began to become more horrified the more the man was revealing about what kind of Brave she was. "Don't think I wasn't aware that the virus I personally installed on you had been removed by your so-called friends. Originally I believed that the damned fool was going to make a fatal mistake and trigger the destructive nature of the virus for stealing something of mine but here you are, having lasted more than almost two years, longer than I expected for something straight out of the Black Market, such products shouldn't last for so long compared to the real thing."
"What's going on, Radiant Prism!?" Azuma shouted. "Tell us what he's telling you, now!" In a sense he was becoming uncomfortable that Radiant Prism seemed to be freezing, remaining as still as a statue.
Radiant Prism only remained where she was, unable to process the information that the man was telling her. "But now, I think that your fun should come to an end. If you don't turn yourself in..." The criminal snapped his fingers as the screen switched back to Yuuta, someone had just blindfolded him and then stood out of the lamp's view, while someone else had just stepped into the light. A scrawny looking man littered with tattoos grabbed Yuuta by the hair, bringing out a knife as he hysterically pleaded the man to draw on his face which alarmed everyone.
"You... To do that to someone so young-" Radiant Prism narrowed her optics, angered by the fact that the criminal showed no remorse for stating he'd do such a thing. "Oh I won't hesitate, I will see that my accomplice dispose of the child if you don't do as I say. What will it be, Radiant Prism? Will you defy me and allow the kid to die, or will you turn yourself in and spare his life? You have ten seconds to decide, Radiant Prism. I am not a man of patience... Nor is my accomplice."
"Radiant Prism, what is he saying?" Saejima asked, expression serious. "Radiant Prism... Radiant Prism!" This time Saejima tried to get the German Brave's attention, but she continued to listen to what the criminal had to say.
"Tch...!" The German Brave gritted her teeth, if only they knew the location of this man. It angered her that she was being put in a situation like this as it was tearing her apart inside. All the information, the knowledge that she was a black market product instead of an honest Brave... Gustav had kept that from her... He kept many things from her, and even Dieter possibly knew all about this himself if she had to take a guess. "You have five seconds left, Radiant Prism... Hurry, or the kid will die by default."
"Stop!" Radiant Prism shouted, narrowing her optics. "I'll... Tch, I'll do as you say." She said, looking away. "Just don't hurt the young Inspector..."
"Radiant Prism, if you don't listen to our orders and translate, we'll-"
"Don't. Do. Anything." Radiant Prism told the two men sternly, each word sounding harsher than the other, causing both Azuma and Saejima to recoil slightly at her sudden angry snap. "I'm doing this for the Inspector. Just wait." She then switched back to German to speak to the criminal once more. "You'll have to make your agreement to exchange the Inspector alive and intact for my Super A.I., my friends won't agree to the exchange if something happens to him."
"Once we have your Super A.I. there is nothing else we want from Japan and the boy will be returned alive." The man responded dismissively, snapping his fingers as the man's hysterically tattoo-ridden accomplice in another screen backed off, clearly ranting about that he needs to make some art very soon. "We'll leave this country alone. I'll be sending you the location of where our exchange will happen in a few moments. I expect you to arrive tonight at two in the morning sharp. Don't try anything or we will take drastic measures. Farewell, Brave Police." The screen then flickered back to what was being displayed which is a map of Japan and small red dots that indicated the location tips that were all of the false trails had lead them to. Saejima approached the edge of the loft after a few steps, his expression serious and his tone stern. "Radiant Prism, you have a lot of explaining to do."
"Yes sir..." Radiant Prism frowned. "But I warn you that what I'm about to explain... None of you are going to like what will be said."
...
Radiant Prism spent a long while translating the conversation she and the silhouette had exchanged for the others to understand. The more information she laid out for them to know what they're dealing with, the more she became hesitant on seeing their reactions from everything to reluctantly striking that exchange deal with the Silhouette Man to translating that now she understood why she was the only one on her team, and why she never got a team. All of this information had left her with scrambled feelings about the whole discovery, she always believed that someday she would have a team of her own like Redlight, Surge, and Blazer with their respective teams... But with her piecing all of this new information together with the earliest memories of her life...
She looked down at her own servos, because she was an illegal black market exclusive Super A.I. what would this mean for the Brave Police before her?
Her optics on the others only made her look away, as if ashamed of what she truly was.
"Radiant Prism." Saejima addressed. "If you're worried about what we'd do because you're black market material, we won't do that." This seemed to anger Azuma and he began to exclaim that Radiant Prism could have posed a danger at any moment especially with this new information that she'd given them, but Saejima shook his head. "But our criminal is not and has never been Radiant Prism. While yes, she technically is stolen technology it doesn't mean that she should be locked away because she's done nothing but good for the country by helping to defeat and arrest criminals. But what I am left wondering is if she's stolen off of the black market by presumably Gustav and to some extent Dieter..." Saejima paused for a moment with a heavy sigh. "They'll have much to answer for, even if we have no authority outside of Japan, this is a lot of evidence but at the same time, there are still missing pieces before we could show it to Braves such as Surge or Blazer considering Redlight is absent for an indefinite amount of time."
"Commissioner!" Azuma snapped. "This is still risky-"
The doors slid open as Deckerd entered the room. "Commissioner. Everyone." The sight of him only made the Vice-Commissioner angry. "Where have you been, Deckerd!?"
"Thinking... I decided to come down to the station to refuel and bring some extra canisters back to the Tomonaga Residence. When I saw that most of you were gathered in the office, I decided to investigate if there was anything I missed. Apologies for dropping off the radar, I-"
"Deckerd." Radiant Prism frowned. "I believe we should speed you up to date on what you have missed." The German Brave frowned at having to repeat what was already said, but since Deckerd didn't hear all of it, she repeated what she explained to the others earlier, and when Deckerd was up to date it was very clear he had many questions to ask. "...Not only that, but I- Albeit reluctantly, agreed to a deal I struck with the Silhouette Man... Well, maybe not really called the Silhouette Man anymore now that I know what he looked like-"
"You struck a deal with that criminal!?" Deckerd was surprised at this. "What is this deal exactly?"
"A deal that leaves me no choice otherwise I risk the young Inspector's life cut short by those criminals... They ask that you guys give them my Super A.I. in exchange for the Inspector's safe return. I must warn you Deckerd, his condition..." Radiant Prism narrowed her optics, surprising the Brave Detective. He was about to say something but the German Brave put up a servo. "I don't like it either but I intend to go with this plan because like you and everyone else, I care a great deal for the young teenager. It would wound my heart if anything happened to him and even more to see all of you in despair over his loss, and while I've gone on for long to ensure that someday I can return back home to Germany and to take on whatever I'm met with... Tch... That will never happen..."
"It doesn't have to be like this, Radiant Prism." Dumpson pointed out. "We can think of something else, right?"
"No, if there were any alternate ways, I would've decided on something already. This criminal isn't like the trio if that's what you're assuming. That, and we should not forget he might have that pet bio-monster of his somewhere on standby..."
Meanwhile, up on the rooftop Kagerou had been listening to the conversation. He'd heard everything, from everyone confronting the criminal who was called the Silhouette Man to Radiant Prism's translation of the ransom they have to deal with, and her revealing that she wasn't a genuine BP, but rather a BP from the Black Market. 'This is information I will have to later relay to Shadowmaru...' He thought, knowing he'd need to make copies of the information to send over to his Brother later, but now wasn't the right time to do so, not when he's left the impression on many that he's gone over in South Korea until further needed. He'd make some occasional stops back in Japan but only for a brief moment when everyone else isn't in the main office let alone see or detect him. He looked up at the skies, noticing the bright blue skies were beginning to change into colourful shades of yellows, reds, and oranges.
'They'll be starting that exchange in a couple of hours from now. I intend to turn things around from the shadows and act accordingly when the opportunity sees itself. Knowing deals with criminals were dangerous and rarely keep true to their word. I also don't want anyone to go through what I went through myself.' He thought, getting up and soon blurred out of sight, gone in an instant like a ninja.
To pass the time, the two Commissioners assigned everyone their new patrol routes for the rest of the day. Everyone felt tense and uneasy about the entire ransom and that there were no proper plans to try and outsmart their criminal. Kagerou could tell as he observed each of his teammates from the shadows. To him, it was as if his entire team were trying to find a way out of a thick fog. Without anyone noticing, he'd managed to obtain a copy of the schedule and location the ransom was going to happen. 'According to the information, this is right next to an abandoned factory near the ocean off to the northwest coast in up in Akita...' He frowned, skimming through the information. '...Somewhere in the mountains far north of Fujisato... Hm...' He murmured, going over the given address and time of date.
As time passed, most of the Braves have returned back to the station while some assigned to night patrol were still out, Radiant Prism was out on the rooftop staring at the night skies. Deep in her thoughts, she knew that this would be the last time she'd ever see something like this. She knew there was not a lot of time left until she and the others have to meet up with the criminals at the given location. Sighing, Radiant Prism turned, leaning against the fencing that surrounded the rooftop and slumped to the floor. 'So this is the end for me very soon...' She murmured to herself, looking at her own servos. 'No more stopping criminals, no more hoping to return back home to Germany... And not even Redlight can save me this time from my current situation... I'd only wished that I'd be welcomed back home in Germany with open arms rather than just surrender to a bunch of criminals... I doubt he'd live with the fact that I'm not... Like him and the others. He'd want me to be destroyed for being one of the many copies from the Black Market instead...'
"But... Deckerd and the others will be happiest when the young Inspector is returned to them..." She muttered to herself quietly.
-Radiant Prism, this is Commissioner Saejima.-
Jolting at the sudden voice, Radiant Prism reached for her badge, answering. "Commissioner, is it time...?"
-It's time. However, there is a problem. The same criminal updated us requesting that you're to be put in a smaller body, most likely wanting to ensure that you're rendered weak and defenceless. Not only that, but we're to drive all the way up to the designation without any of the other Braves involved in the exchange.-
"What...?" Radiant Prism paused for a moment, then sighed. "So be it..."
-This isn't like you to be unphased by this sudden request.- Saejima commented. -The Radiant Prism we'd know wouldn't back down without a fight.-
"Heh... It's true I normally wouldn't back down and submit to my enemies, but there's no more fighting from me this time. Not anymore... I'll be down shortly." Closing her badge, Radiant Prism was about to put away the badge she'd been using since joining Deckerd's team even if she wasn't permanently staying with his team but didn't. 'No need to store this away... I'll have to return it to them anyways.' She thought, getting up as she walked towards the lift.
With the transferring of Radiant Prism's Super A.I. into the human-sized body complete, Radiant Prism was brought online. She immediately noticed how everything was much more smaller than before. She immediately recalled that she hadn't seen everything this small since she'd gotten better than before where she'd mostly end up with her being injured a few times. She looked up at the rest of the Brave Team gathered around her yet mindful to give the mechanics their space. Moving off of the structure her human-sized body laid on, Radiant Prism followed Azuma and Saejima towards one of their police cars. Before she could enter the back, she stopped and turned to look at the others with a sad smile.
"Deckerd, everyone... Thank you for helping me out, and allowing me to make wonderful memories with everyone..." She told them. "I'm sad that in the end, I won't be able to return home but sadly with that never happening, I intend to treasure the memories even if I'm most likely to be reformatted until nothing remains of who I am... Knowing the nature of what people can do to a Super A.I. if they're in malicious servos such as those from criminals" Radiant Prism could see the other Braves didn't have much to say, other than she could see the sad looks on their faces. She could only look away, and were she to look again, she might end up regretting her decision even more so than now.
"Let's go, Radiant Prism. Ah, allow me to just..." Saejima told her as Radiant Prism nodded, not resisting when he'd cuffed her wrists and applied something strange to her wings. All of this was to prevent her from changing form and flying off. "These will be so that the men won't think you'll try to run off... Even though you can naturally free yourself from those cuffs." With a nod, Radiant Prism was loaded into the back of the cruiser where she remained quiet as the two men entered the car and began to drive just a little out of the station. From there, Deckerd was tasked in becoming J-Decker so that he'd carry the car with the others inside up north to Akita where they'd then drive the rest up from there afterwards.
Following them from a distance in the darkness of the new moon, Kagerou had been patiently waiting for them to head out, and he intends to see his plan through to see however he could help the others without them knowing he intends to help them out.
...
When they arrived north of the city of Akita on Saejima's request, J-Decker descended down to the ground and the moment he landed, he gently set the car down onto the ground. Not a word was said throughout the journey, other than now his attention was briefly towards the mountains, knowing he'd never get near the location without being spotted and risk ruining their chance to get Yuuta back. "Tch... I'm going to rest nearby for a while." J-Decker told them unhappily. "This is the final stretch for you guys, so be careful."
"Mm, we'll be back here with Yuuta after the exchange, so stand by until then." Saejima told J-Decker.
"Yes sir."
Landing nearby, Kagerou kept low to the ground, using the darkness of the night to his advantage on top of continuing to keep himself out of radars of many. He watched as the car began heading north out of the city, changing into his car form once he'd gotten on the road, taking a different route to then follow them from a large distance so he wouldn't be easily seen. He occupied himself by listening in on the conversation, hearing the two Commissioners telling Radiant Prism that they have a plan to ensure that both Yuuta and her will be safe and out of criminal hands, but Radiant Prism was against the whole thing. When he could hear that Radiant Prism refused to come up with any ideas to turn the tables around. No longer listening in, it left Kagerou thinking that he might have to change some ideas up and as quick as he activated his chameleon cloak once no one else was in sight to see, he then changed into his jet form, ascending into the skies. 'I'll need to survey the location ahead of time so I know what to expect, and how to act accordingly.' The Shadow Detective thought.
Arriving at the location first, Kagerou took the time to survey the entire location, scanning every single detail he could get. 'This is one time I wished I had a sense of smell equal to that of Shadowmaru's...' He thought, scanning for anything else aside from the criminals, and a couple of vehicles most likely used by them to get to the location below. They were still waiting for the Commissioners and Radiant Prism to arrive. He began listening in on the conversation and while he couldn't understand, he could see one of them harassing Yuuta and annoying the poor teenager which immediately made the black and blue Brave narrow his optics, he was going to ensure that they got their first serving of his wrath. While not one to exact revenge, anyone that brought harm to those the Brave Police cherished, they would see themselves with plenty of jail time and would keep to their word about that. The Shadow Detective then neared the more taller part of the mountain and changed out of his jet mode on descending, landing gracefully but remained out of sight to avoid being seen. He soon spotted some light off in the distance. '...They're almost here. Time to get into position and wait.'
Kagerou made sure that his chameleon cloak was working properly, remaining where he was and keeping low just as the Commissioners' car pulled into the secluded area, he listened in as Saejima and Azuma climbed out of their vehicles, with the former opening the back door to let Radiant Prism out. He could see that her wrists were bound by two sets of cuffs and wore something on her wings, easily seeing all this most likely to make it appear that she can't escape like this in obstructing her ability to change form. Even if he were thrown into the human-sized body, Kagerou would've easily broken those cuffs off of his wrists without issue, and tore off the devices attached to the wings meant to prevent changing into their aerial forms.
He began to listen into the exchange.
The three approached the criminals, but soon stopped once they've closed the distance just slightly, but still plenty of space and within conversation range. "Hand Radiant Prism over, nice and easy." One of the silhouette man's accomplices said, pistol drawn towards them as Saejima calmly stood his ground. "Not until you show us Yuuta. We refuse to begin the exchange until we see him heading our way at the same time that we send her over.
The accomplice began to grow impatient, snapping at the two men. "I said, hand her-" He didn't get to finish as the silhouette man made his physical appearance, ordering his other accomplices to do so as Yuuta was dragged out into view by a few others they've seen from their communications with him earlier. "You know what they say, cops. I am a man who keeps my word." He snapped his fingers, and the accomplice pushed Yuuta forward to get him walking as Saejima told Yuuta to walk over to them slowly just as Radiant Prism began walking. The young teenager could see Radiant Prism in a human-sized body cuffed up by the wrists made him worry immensely. "Best get moving kid, nice and slow before the boss changes his mind." One of the accomplices told him, speaking in Japanese. "I will not repeat myself again. Move it!"
Yuuta moved as instructed but had to restrain himself from hesitating. He hated to see a friend willingly surrender themselves to the criminals in ransom situations and wanted to do something to help Radiant Prism, but as powerless as he was, he kept walking despite he ached all over from the treatment the criminals gave him and just as he and Radiant Prism began to pass one another, Yuuta quietly muttered an apology to her. Without warning however, one of the criminals eventually loses their patience and snapped, being none other than the criminal littered with tattoos. "I can't stand this anymore! Denied and denied of my art I've been! If I don't get to do my art on the kid, no one else should!" The tattooed man brought out a knife and threw it in the direction of Yuuta, Radiant Prism spotted this and just as she attempted to stop it, missing by just half a centimeter. "NO! ...INSPECTOR-" She called out just as a shock wave caused by a giant shuriken came crashing down near them, the knife bouncing off of the giant bladed throwing weapon and having safely protected Yuuta from a dangerous fate.
"What!?" The leader of the group looked around but saw nothing that would otherwise identify the shape of a Brave. "This wasn't part of the deal! Open fire and fall back now that we have Radiant Prism!" Because she was already close to the criminals, she was quickly grabbed by one of the criminals and being pulled away towards their vehicle, but the sound of something exploding turned their attention albeit a moment, noticing their vehicles were trashed thanks to another set of shuriken having pierced the vehicles, exploding on their destruction. "The hidden Brave took out our vehicles! We won't be able to get away!"
"This is where our pet comes into play." The man said, pulling out a long, thin whistle and blowing it, emitting a high frequency noise. "You, holding Radiant Prism! Run as fast as you can! My pet will deal with that hidden Brave while our pet covers our escape!"
"Yes si- WHOA!" Another shuriken appeared, crashing down in front of the criminal as Kagerou blurred into view. The look that he gave the criminal's accomplice was more than enough to cause them to yield after having attempted to fire a few shots at Kagerou. "You should know that wouldn't work on me." Kagerou said, reaching over to grab them.
Meanwhile Saejima, Azuma, and Yuuta were taking cover behind the vehicle the moment the criminals opened fire. "Mm... This wasn't part of the plan. But, we were fortunate that Kagerou made his appearance when he did." He said, carefully peeking over to what he could see of the Shadow Detective whom was now fending off against the bio-monster before ducking back down. Soon afterwards, the same monstrous from before made it's appearance, tackling into Kagerou before he could blur away being could be heard as it roared into the night skies, making it's appearance from wherever it hid, crashing down into the area. "Damn it, we're going to need J-Decker here." Azuma said on hearing the roar, calling for J-Decker to come to their location right away as there have been a change of plans.
-Yes sir!- J-Decker responded.
Saejima quickly contacted Kagerou that J-Decker is on his way to provide him backup and to hold on for just a bit longer. Kagerou acknowledged and quickly blurred side by side on approach, bringing out his kusarigama. Trying to land an attack on the bio-monster, he was on high alert trying to predict where it would attack him from. 'It's fast...!' He thought, cursing to himself silently when he couldn't find where it had disappeared to. He then calmed, listening carefully for where it was. He then quickly turned to the right, intending to force it to impale itself onto the sickle of his kusarigama, but it'd manage to move away just in time albeit left with a laceration along it's side. "A mere wound isn't enough to down me, you damned machine!" It snarled, appearing just a fair bit of distance away.
"Confident, are we?" Kagerou smirked. "That confidence will be your own downfall." Right away, he could detect J-Decker's signal on his radar, knowing that he's going in for an air strike. "However, how long can you keep up with me?"
In an instant, Kagerou blurred out of sight, the bio-monster was stunned that there was something else other than itself that could supposedly disappear. In a sense, it started to become enraged, spinning a full 360 using it's tail in a quick motion, forcing Kagerou to quickly move back, but then blurred towards the bio-monster, intending to force it to leap into the air. Attempting to stab the beast, it leapt into the air as he hoped, quickly blurring out of view and just before he could search, he sensed something coming down just above him. "YOU!?" Right away, the bio-monster twisted it's body to avoid the incoming attack from J-Decker as the police baton immediately devastated the small area around it. "Damn it, missed!"
"Those idiots are a fool sending you here, now I shall exact my revenge for placing that disgusting thing within my flesh!" The bio-monster lunged at J-Decker with incredible speed, battering him with it's massive razor sharp claws from all around as J-Decker yelped, shielding himself.
"Agghhhkk- Too fast! Can't... Make a move...!" J-Decker grunted.
"Your energy is MINE, Brave Police!" Teeth at the ready, the bio-monster leapt towards J-Decker with the intention of draining the combiner of his energy, but before it's teeth could make contact, something had wrapped around it's neck. Struggling to get the chains off, it then found the Shadow Detective wrapping it's arms around it's neck. "FOOL! TOUCH ME AND I'LL DRAIN YOUR ENERGY!" Kagerou kept a firm grip preventing it from biting into him, when that wasn't an option, he quickly used the sickle of his kusarigama to slice it's toungue before it could make contact with him as the bio-monster shrieked in agony, causing it to frenzy into an uncontrollable rage.
"HURRY J-DECKER! FINISH IT OFF! I CAN'T HOLD ON FOR LONG!" Kagerou shouted.
"But, Kagerou, you'll be-"
"JUST DO IT!"
"...Alright." Readying his police baton, J-Decker gunned his wing thrusters, charging towards the bio-monster. The moment it entered into the creature, piercing it and Kagerou along with it, the beast let out a loud shriek, trying to struggle free. Kagerou coughed up a bit of fuel at having been impaled, but it was inevitable as he couldn't risk getting away and risk freeing the bio-monster. When it wasn't dying right away, he quickly reacted by driving the sickle into the neck of the bio-monster. When it had finally expired, the electrical charge that had built up in it's body to increase it's size caused J-Decker to quickly react. Pulling his baton out and grabbed the bio-monster, flying straight up as he threw it's lifeless corpse into the skies just before it exploded. "...To think that a bio-monster built to take away our energy and render us defenceless could also have such a dangerous downside in the form of a ticking bomb." J-Decker muttered to himself, then began descending just as he could hear Yuuta's distressed voice on seeing Kagerou severely injured.
"I'll be fine, Mini-Boss. I can always be repaired good as new. However.. I'm sorry that we've lost Radiant Prism... She chose to give herself up for your safe return." At this, Yuuta could only look away, trying to fight back tears that he'd have to lose a friend just so he could be returned safely. "Th-That can't be... She was our friend..." His attention turned to J-Decker when he saw his best friend, and the moment his blue teary eyes met his green optics, it was enough for J-Decker himself to disengage out of his combined form.
Approaching his friend, Deckerd knelt down and addressed Kagerou. "I'm sorry, Kagerou for injuring you." He frowned, looking away. "I didn't want to but when you told me-"
"If I'd let go, it would've broken free and both of us would've been in serious trouble." Kagerou rasped. "But, I'm glad Mini-boss is safe and that thing is destroyed even if it meant that we're to some degree returning empty handed."
"You two have done wonderfully." Saejima said. "While this was unexpected of you to come to our aid, Kagerou, you would've done best to warn us of your presence."
"I wouldn't necessarily say entirely empty handed, boys." Everyone's heads turned to see Radiant Prism approaching them with a criminal over her shoulder. "...Radiant Prism? I thought that you- How did-" Radiant Prism held up a servo in motion to stop. "It was only just me and this guy when we ran far enough I broke free and beat him in a fight. I wasn't going to let him escape and since I happened to have two spare set of cuffs in my forearm compartments for whatever reason instead of my pistols, I had something to keep them from running or fighting back. Though I might have gone a little overboard and knocked him out in the fight... Sorry about that."
Radiant Prism looked over at Kagerou. "Also... Thank you, Kagerou, for saving Yuuta's life... and giving me the chance to break away and fight for my own freedom."