Act 1, Chapter 2 - Just Another Day at the Office (Part 2)
No answer came, and before she knew it, she finally noticed one of the unknown army's dragons flying in the air as it was headed towards herself, Touma, and their kids. Luckily, Febrie aims her right hand at the creature and fires a ki blast at one of its wings, sending it spiraling out of control past them and crashing down into the street.
"Was that a dragon?" Her mother questions in confusion. "The only dragon we know of is Shenron from within the Dragon Balls, and pure blooded dragons have been extinct for a millennium."
"You're right." Touma agrees. "Question is, where did it come from?"
Just then, Touma's smartphone buzzes in his pocket and he immediately answers it.
"Touma, we've got a problem." Articho's voice informs. "Dragons are circling over the Ginza streets and are picking off civilians like livestock."
"We know." The Imagine Breaker answers. "A dragon nearly tried to eat us. You can thank Febrie for saving us and our kids."
"That's my girl, alright." The Time Patroller says proudly. "Touma, contact Kuroko. Let her know what's happening. Get our families back to Academy City. Shutaura and I are going to investigate the source of this invasion and stop it before things escalate."
"Understood." Touma acknowledges before hanging up and looks at Ruiko. "Ruiko, get yourself and our families to safety, and call Kuroko. She'll take you all back to Academy City with Instant Transmission."
"What about you?" Ruiko asks.
"I'm gonna find Articho and Shutaura, so we can end this invasion quickly. Reduce casualties. I don't think the JSDF will be able to get here in time." He answers. "Now go!"
The girl nodded without hesitation and took the kids to a safer location in the opposite direction as she dialed down Kuroko's cell number on her smartphone. Not wasting anymore time standing in the streets, Touma runs off to find the half siblings.
Articho and Shutaura ran down the streets, pushing past the fleeing civilians that are trying to avoid being killed by soldiers in outdated armor and weaponry. One by one, some are either grabbed by the dragons and their riders, or are being hauled away by the soldiers for execution or imprisonment.
"Damn it." His half sister curses. "Everyone's getting slaughtered. We have to stop this now!"
"It's likely they came here through magical means." Articho hypothesizes, bringing up his Omni-tool as an orange holographic plating appears on his left forearm. "We can use our modified Omni-tools that Ryouko helped us reverse-engineered to trace high concentrations of mana."
"Too bad Index isn't here." Shutaura sighs. "We could really use her help right about now."
Suddenly, an armor-plated soldier charged right at her and was about to cut her down with her swords. However, the said soldier was punched in the face by Articho, causing the soldier's helmet to have a fist shape mark on it and loose a couple of his teeth as he crashed hard on the ground, knocking him out.
"Thanks!" The half sister appreciates.
"Stay sharp." Articho said as he ready himself to fight off a small group of soldiers charging towards them."We're not out this yet."
Pulling out his Paladin sidearm, he guns down a few more Roman-looking soldiers before sending another few flying with a concussive shot weapon attachment.He checks his Omni-tool as it has finally scanned the surrounding area.
"I've got a reading." He informs, sprinting down the streets. "Just a few clicks from here."
"Then let's move." She acknowledges before following him.
A few minutes later, they reached the source of the primitive invasion, revealing to be the same structure the soldiers, dragons, and mythical creatures they came out of.
"I see only a few soldiers guarding what appears to be some sort of gateway." He quietly says, not wanting to give their position away yet without a plan.
"Got any ideas?" Shutaura asks.
"I have a few, but..." Her half brother says but was interrupted as he notices something else by the ancient looking structure. "Hold up. What is that?"
Curious, Articho stealthily moves from cover to cover before getting a good look at what the enemy is in possession of.
"Let us go!" A familiar girl screams in Japanese as she struggles from one of the soldiers' grip on her right wrist.The soldier in question yells at her in an unknown dialect and slaps her hard across the face, knocking her down on the pavement street next to a few more civilians they've captured as well.
"Akemi?" The former 18 year old Time Patroller questions in surprise.
"You know her?" The Black Crow raises an eyebrow.
"She's an old friend of Ruiko's from Sakugawa Middle School." He briefly explains.
"Shit. They've got Muu and Mako, too."
"And not just them." She points out. "Look. The soldiers are processing people and taking them to the other side of that gateway."
"Not on my watch." He shakes his head with a serious face. "We don't have time for a complicated plan, so let's get them out of there before the situation becomes more... problematic."
"Any other ideas that don't involve civilians getting caught in the crossfire?" She further questions his skepticism.
"A smoke grenade should briefly disorient the hostiles." He suggests. "Same for the civilians, so we'll need to watch our fire."
"I can do that without using a gun." She shrugs. "Given the armor they're wearing, this is nothing compared to the enemies we've previously fought over the three years I've known you."
"And those enemies were nothing compared to a Saiyan like me." He roasts. "I can end the fights against them at any time, Shutaura. But that's not my style."
"Knowing you, why do I even care?" She sighs, shaking her head.
"We can chat all day about my superiority if you want, or would you prefer getting this pathetic excuse of an invasion over with?" He suggests, aware that time is short.
Rolling her eyes, Shutaura casually tosses a smoke grenade out of cover before the sound of detonation was heard followed by coughing of hostiles and civilians alike.
"Happy?" His half sister deadpans.
"Better." Her half brother nods.
The half siblings then jump out of cover and charge into the smoke. Moments later, gunshots and the sound of slit throats echoed the streets. When the smoke finally cleared up, all of the soldiers' bodies were lifeless. Five with bullets in their heads, two with slit throats in their own pools of blood, and one with a snapped neck.
Articho lowers his sidearm and Shutaura sheathes her combat knife before turning their attention to the frightened civilians, especially Akemi, Muu, and Mako.
"You're safe now." Shutaura assures them.
"Is everyone okay?" Articho asks.
"Yeah. Thanks for saving our skins, Articho." Akemi nods turning her head at the others recovering. "Just a little shaken up and bruised, but we'll be fine."
"What happened here?" He further questions his former middle school classmates. "Can you tell us what those men were doing with you?"
"They were speaking in a language unknown to us." Mako answers for her friend. "Held us captive and have already processed most of us to the other side of wherever the hell they came from in the first place. They're gone now. Taken in as prisoners of war, no doubt."
"What kind of language?" He further questions. "I need details to understand what's going on here."
"I think they were speaking Latin." Akemi answered.
"What?" Articho says in disbelief.
"At least, I think it's Latin." She explains. "The form of dialect and pronunciation seemed different to what we were all taught in school."
"Other than that, not a single clue." Muu concludes, shrugging. "Sorry we couldn't be much help to you and your sister."
"Ruiko's told you three about me?" The Black Crow raises an eyebrow.
"Yeah." She nods with a smile. "She spoke very highly of you. Had no idea you even had a sibling, Articho. And pretty looking."
"Oh gee, thanks." Shutaura lightly blushes before looking away with a sheepish smile. "That's very kind of you. And also true."
Articho gave a stern glare at his half-sister, not amused with her trying to fuel her ego regarding her own beauty since she's literally the spitting image of their mother.
"Long story." The Time Patroller says to his former classmates before getting back to the task at hand. "The authorities have issued an emergency on all channels, directing all citizens to the Imperial Palace here in the Ginza district. Can all of you make it there on your own?"
"I don't think we can with the entire district turned into a warzone and all." Akemi admits. "We're not exactly trained for combat or harnessing ki like you do."
Suddenly, a whacking sound from a metal pipe was heard and the half siblings spun their heads around to reveal that it was only Touma who thankfully incapacitated a hostile soldier they may have missed, even though Articho was already aware of this and had planned to correct their mistake. Luckily, he didn't have to since he had sensed Touma's ki close by.
"Ya know I had this under control, right?" Articho rhetorically questions his brother-in-law.
"Thought you two might need my help, despite telling me to get our families to safety and have Kuroko bring them back to Academy City." Touma smirked dropping the pipe on the ground. "Don't worry. She managed to get Ruiko and the kids out of here. She also went ahead to bring backup and they're already assisting in evacuating everyone to the Imperial Palace."
"Appreciate it." Articho acknowledges. "I could use your help in analyzing this magic gateway by the way."
"So I've noticed." The Imagine Breaker deadpans. "So what about the people here? It's too dangerous for them to be out in the open."
"I'll get them to the palace." Shutaura volunteers. "It's not very far from where we are."
"Then get going." Articho nods. "Touma and I will stay behind to see if there aren't anymore of those soldiers coming from the other side."
"Everyone, stay close to me!" The Black Crow shouts, signalling them with her hand to follow her. "We're moving out!"
"Thank you again, Articho." Mako smiles. "Guess we owe one."
Mako then runs off to catch up with Shutaura, Akemi, Muu, and the rest of the group.
As soon as the civilians left with Shutaura, Articho and Touma turned their attention towards the architecture before their very eyes.
"Well, this is interesting." Articho utters, reading the data he gathered on his Omni-tool.
"What'd you find?" Touma questions curiously.
"These readings are off the charts." He explains, still reading the data. "I never expected this infrastructure to generate this much mana. May need Ryouko to run further analysis for more data."
"Can't I just use my right hand and be done with it?" The Imagine Breaker suggests, as he was about to touch the structure.
"Don't!" The Time Patroller exclaims, stopping him midway. "Destroying it with Imagine Breaker or explosives would trigger a singularity inside of Tokyo and consume this entire solar system."
"And that means?" Touma raises an eyebrow.
"A black hole, Touma." Articho translates with a serious expression on his face as he closes his Omni-tool. "I'm not joking. Until we know more, it's best not to tamper with it."
"And what about the people taken to the other side?" He further questions. "We can't just leave them in the hands of these Roman knock offs."
"I understand your feelings, but we can't rush off after them without a plan." Articho reasons. "Plus, we don't know if they've been taken to an alternate timeline or even a different universe. We can't always save everyone, Touma."
"You're right." Touma sighs in defeat. "Just my luck. So what now?"
"Let's meet up with Shutaura and our backup at the Imperial Palace." Articho suggests, placing his fingers over his own forehead. "Grab on. Nothing we can do about the gateway for now."
Moments later at the Imperial Palace...
Articho and Touma reappear within the palace grounds via Instant Transmission, and emerged out of the trees to find so many people gathered in the front courtyard as a few police officers are busy trying to call for backup.
"About time you two show up." Kuroko runs up to the two boys.
Kuroko Shirai, the only daughter of the current General Superintendent who succeeded the late Aleister Crowley. Although she is supposed to sport auburn hair with pigtails and a cute face, she now sports her original face - Articho considers beautiful - and long brunette hair once more prior to an accident she endured as a child. And like Articho, she is a hybrid Saiyan.
"Did Shutaura and the people she brought along made it here?" Touma asks, concerned for his wife.
"In one piece, yeah." She confirms, gesturing her head towards Shutaura. "I've managed to get Ruiko and the kids back home as well."
"And the backup?" Articho further questions.
"Ame and Hayley are helping the cops get the civilians off the streets." She further explains. "They've just reported that they managed to rescue some of them just like the ones you and Shutaura saved in time, but couldn't for the ones that have already been taken to the other side of that gateway as prisoners. Likely more as slaves, given the time period their armor and weapons originated from. And for once, I really don't want to deal anymore time traveling bullshit right now. Especially if their general is named Julius Caesar of all people."
"It's not the Roman Empire, Kuro. Not by a long shot." Her husband shakes his head. "Their armor and weapons look nothing like the ones our enemy is using. Too advanced by Roman standards. And I'm sure as hell that they never used magic throughout their empire's thousand-year history."
"Still, despite using gear that's centuries outdated, you won't believe the damn numbers they've brought." Touma reveals.
"And you're telling us this now?!" Kuroko exclaims in anger with her fist in front of the boy's face.
"I-I thought you would know by now since you brought Ame and Hayley with the search and rescue!" He stutters, failing to defend his reason.
"I didn't." Articho crosses his arms, somewhat annoyed. "So how many are we talking here?"
"No idea." He shrugs. "Just a hunch."
This caused the young married couple in front of him to collapse on the ground in disbelief.
"We've got incoming!" A Tokyo police officer yells, getting the three teens' attention. "A massive wave of enemies on horseback, and they're armed to the teeth!"
"We need to hold the line here!" A familiar man in civilian clothes orders the cops. "Reinforcements are already on their way!"
"Hey, it's that guy from earlier." Touma immediately recognizes.
"You know him?" Articho asks.
"No." The Imagine Breaker shakes his head. "Only that Ruiko and I happen to witness him lying on the floor after he supposedly ran into a concrete column a little bit before the invasion started."
"He appears to be either an off-duty cop or soldier." Kuroko analyzes.
"Off-duty cops don't carry standard military-issued pistols." Articho corrects his brunette haired wife. "He must JSDF from the looks of it."
"You don't say?" She rhetorically questions, surprised once more by his impressive IQ. "Good eye, Articho."
"Come on, let's go see what's going here." He says, as the three of them went towards the off-duty soldier in charge.
"Hey, you kids should be with the rest of the civilians!" One of the officers talking to the soldier says. "We're about to be under attack!"
"Calm down, officer." The off-duty soldier from the JSDF says before looking at the three teenagers in question. "Can we help you?"
"Actually, we're here to help you." Kuroko answers, catching him and the two cops off-guard. "Kuroko Shirai. I'm the Superintendent's daughter."
"Holy shit, you're Espers." The other cop says in disbelief. "I didn't think Academy City developed any more of your kind since the Power Curriculum Program got shut down three years ago."
"They didn't." Articho says, crossing his arms. "The program did get shut down after the Parameter List got leaked on Twitter and faced political backlash. But anyway, you must be from the JSDF, right?"
"What makes you think that I am?" The soldier questions with a raised eyebrow.
"That gun holstered behind your waist." Articho points out. "Cops only use civilian-issued sidearms since they're not meant to be equipped against an army. And since civilians rarely get their hands on standard military weapons, that makes you a member of the JSDF as your duty is to prevent civilian casualties."
"I guess that makes it so." He chuckles. "You've got a good keen eye, kid."
"It's Articho, sir." The former Time Patroller introduces. "Not my real name, obviously. But that's as much as you'll be getting today. And this is Touma Kamijou."
"Yōji Itami, second lieutenant of the JSDF." Itami salutes. "So tell me, Articho. How exactly are you and your friends gonna help us hold off these Roman dudes? For now, we just don't have the manpower against a large wave of hostiles."
"Not to mention that they've got dragons as air support." The young cop added.
"Wyverns." Articho deadpans.
"Beg your pardon?" The cop questions, confused.
"Dragons are usually the big ones." He explains. "Wyverns, on the other hand, are small compared to them. They're still classified as dragons, but their scales aren't as tough as a true dragon would have. Plus, there hasn't been any dragons on this planet for over a millennium. And no, Ghidorah doesn't count as a dragon. He's a Kaiju."
"I see." Itami thinks with a hand under his chin. "A well placed shot from either a standard military sidearm or assault rifle could bring those things down. Keeps the pressure off us for a bit, while whoever's left here in the police force can concentrate on the soldiers riding on horseback. IF we have the equipment, which we still don't."
"Leave that to us then." The former Time Patroller suggests as he takes out a small Capsule underneath his N7 leather jacket.
Articho then tosses it on the ground, poofing into a cloud before clearing up to reveal a metal crate in its place. He opens it up and pulls out a modified N7 Valiant sniper rifle before loading a thermal clip inside it.
"So, where's the highest vantage point in the palace grounds?" He asks with a confident smirk.