“Your mission is simple,” Hayate stated, placing down her clipboard down on the podium. Having heard Farukon’s report just days prior, Hayate quickly worked to gather authorization to gather whatever mages she needed to take on this particular mission. Luckily with the backing of Carim and both Admiral Harlaowns, she gathered a team of mages she felt were most appropriate for the mission, and with the fact that an unknown Rider of undetermined capabilities was called up, she managed to persuade Fuyutsuki of NERV to lend her his Riders, in exchange that her teams were also permitted to be readily called upon should their services were needed; a trade-off Hayate was willing to make. With a team in place, she required a ship, which by sheer luck was the Azura-A having just coming out of construction and dry-dock and was ready for its shakedown cruise. With a few strings pulled, she transferred Long Arch with additional bridge personnel, and transferred enough of her own people in RF6 to make a skeleton crew, and now here she was.
Assembled before her were Blitz, Stars, Lightning, Lunar, and Sun, and the temporary Rider team composed of Evangeline, Rue, Ryoutaro, Megumi, and Masami, with Ryoutaro in command of Rider. Despite the short notice, she was at least thankful that she had access to as many teams as she did. Although sure that she could’ve done it with four teams, due to the fact of the unique way Lunar and Sun team worked that they were always deployed on the same mission, the more teams she had under her command meant that she had a much greater flexibility of what she could do to counter this particular situation. With each team specialising in something completely different, they were the perfect tools for this particular mission.
With her forces assembled and ready to go, she began the briefing. “Blitz days prior had located illegal research activities. What sort of research information, is classified to the commanders only. They will instruct you on what to do when you encounter this. We also have reason to believe there may be Lost Logia in there as well, so be cautious.” Tapping a button the podium, the lights dimmed and the screen behind her lit up, displaying an aerial view of a small mountain.
“This is the target zone. Lightning and Lunar teams will assault the base to draw out some of their forces, with Sun providing rear support from a distance. In the confusion, Blitz, Stars, and Rider will infiltrate the base, locate and destroy any and all research. You are to copy all the data and then destroy it. Destroy any research materials, and if possible evac any casualties from their research.
“You will face heavy resistance, and be ready for any and all arms that they possess. We already know that they possess projectile weaponry, and they may also possess ballistic weaponry.” Tapping another button, the slide changed to images gathered of Suvia. Immediately those present who had yet met her looked at the image in surprise, including the Riders who were look at the images with extreme surprise. Ryoutaro for one was off his seat and leaning against the seat in front of him, looking at the images in disbelief.
“I thought it was destroyed,” he quietly whispered to himself.
“This is Kamen Rider Faiz that Blitz encountered,” Hayate explained, continuing on as if the Riders never reacted, or Ryoutaro got out of his seat. “We have no idea of her intensions; however, it is clear that she is a capable fighter. If she appears, stay out of her way. If she offers assistance, just accept it without question. We have no threat assessment of her at this point, and we have no idea what she is capable of. Avoid antagonizing her. If anyone is to deal with her, it will be Rider’s job to engage her.” Glancing over towards Himeko and her team, “Sun is to provide immediate support, along with any immediate battlefield first aid until med teams can be sent down. Avoid combat if possible, and provide ranged support only.”
“Yes ma’am,” the young Lieutenant answered, followed by nodding from her followers.
“Are there any questions?” Hayate asked.
“I suppose the rumours are true huh?” Evangeline asked offhandedly.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Hayate grimaced. “All that research, MUST, be deal with. We can’t let it happen again.” While every one of 2nd Lieutenant and higher nodded in agreements, everyone else looked up ate Hayate curiously, wondering what exactly was it that they were about to encounter that had to be destroyed.
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“Is everyone ready?” Ryoutaro asked as everyone stepped onto the platform. Seeing the teams nod, he carried on. “Then stand up your barrier jackets.”
While everyone stood up their barrier jackets, Syn did notice that Ryoutaro did not seem to have that bravado she often seen and associated with Mayura’s husband. “Where’s that attitude you normally got?”
“Oh I’m itching for this,” Den-O answered, cracking his knuckles. “Considering what’s at stake, we’ll have to go at it at a Climax from the start.” Syn couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Despite his demeanour, his choice of words and attitude didn’t change one bit. Apparently, she had assumed wrong.
“Deploy Lighting, Lunar, and Sun,” Den-O commanded.
It had begun.
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The moment they had teleported down, the security system armed. Alarms and sirens immediately blared, letting out unearthly wails for those around to hear and prepare for the worst as spotlights lit up the sky and the ground below. Trap doors immediately opened up as gun emplacements unfolded, training their laser sights upon those they did not recognise as friendly.
“Scatter!” Fate called out.
[Sonic Move] Bardiche and Strada called out as both immediately went on the assault. Dashed through various gun emplacements, they tore through the defence line with the razor precision of a katana. From behind, Caro and Lutecia quietly chanted behind the protective shielding of Sun while Lunar also advanced forward under the cover of Himeko’s shielding.
Soon the battlefield exploded as a group of dragons rose, unleashing their demonic presence for all to see as their roars boomed through the night air as their entrance was accompanied by a swarm of insects, all of them ready to do as their summoners commanded. At the forefront, Friedrich and Garyu stood ready to lead their comrades and brethren into combat. For in the distance, they could see the opposition reacting to their presence as they came out like vultures to a carcass, ready to defend their base. With a simple nod from the girls, they leapt into action. All immediately took flight in a spectacular display of battle instincts as they all surged on forward.
Himeko watched from behind as they tried to take down as many, only to watch their attacks bound harmlessly off the natural shielding these magical creatures possessed. It would take something more powerful, greater than what they were producing to take down these creatures. For soon enough, the battle lines met as it exploded into violent melee with the force of a crushing river as many tried to either defend themselves or flee, only to be overpowered, knocked unconscious, and prepped for transport. With Friedrich and Garyu commanding their kin, they fought like a well oiled machine. Precise and graceful, they took down any and all who stood in their way, showing no mercy to those who tried to stop them.
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“Move out,” Den-O commanded.
“Clock-Up,” Rue and Evangeline declared out, tapping the button on the side and swiping across the buckle respectively.
[Clock Up] Kabuto and SaSword called out, boosting up their speed.
[Drive Move] Kyouka declared, boosting Syn’s own speed.
[Assault Grip] Mach Caliber called out, accelerating Subaru’s movement.
Everyone else watched as the four fastest of them dashed forward, forming the vanguard of the team.
“Stars, form rearguard,” Den-O commanded, while being accompanied by Megumi, Masami, Farukon, and Vivio. Everyone advanced quickly, bouncing from corner while occasionally taking down and apprehending those who crossed their path. Like clockwork, the vanguard disabled and attacked anyone in their path while everyone else would finish off what they started, and then carried on.
“Den-O, this is SaSword, we’re at checkpoint one, we’ve cleared it, and are beginning download.”
“Confirmed,” Den-O replied. “We’ll join you momentarily.”
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“That’s the last of them,” Chikane sighed, tossing the prisoner on her shoulder down next to a group of bound and guarded prisoners. “What’s everyone else’s progress?”
“They’ve just completed their 3rd checkpoint,” Himeko replied, as she supervised her team healing everyone’s injuries. “Still another 7.”
“Then we’ll be down here a while,” Fate commented, switching from Sonic to Impulse again. “Let’s start sending these guys-”
“Fate-san!” Erio suddenly called out.
“What is it-” Fate began, only to suddenly have Erio thrown into her, knocking the two of them back.
“Himeko!” Chikane shouted. Without a response, Himeko and her team immediately took position and erected a series of fields, shields, and barriers around everyone.
“Who thought that they were successful,” Himeko gasped, taken aback by the sudden turn of events.
“What…what is that?!” one of the girls on Sun asked, struggling not to collapse from the amount of fear from what she was witnessing. For in front of them, several of the prisoners cackled as their bodies contorted and lurched, morphing into monstrous beings resembling various animals and plants. Armour plating formed and solidified as their bodies grew, straining against the force of their bindings only to shatter from the strain against their massive bodies. Soon various implements, ranging from spikes to swords began forming in their hands. Demonic eyes stared them down as they shifted into matching shades of grey, growling hungrily as their thirst for battle suddenly rose.
“That…is an Orphnoch,” Himeko sighed, grimacing at the fact that she had no idea if everyone here was ready to fight these things.
“Murakumo,” Chikane called out, sheathing her weapon.
[Tamashi no Chikara] Murakumo bellowed, glowing as it disintegrated into pieces and reassembled itself into a white and gold battle armour.
[Sonic Drive] Bardiche called out, reforming Fate’s Sonic form barrier jacket.
“All juniors defend Sun,” Chikane commanded towards the others who readied themselves. “The rest will engage. And just kill them outright. They cannot be contained.” Without missing a beat, Chikane burst forward as the blades on her forearms flipped forward into place and immediately began to cut down those who attempted to get in her way. Ducking underneath several lances, whips, and slashes made towards her, she blocked one attack with one arm and immediately impaled one in the head before ripping it out. Flipping backwards, she kicked out as her bladed armour pierced through the waist of one and exited through its shoulder on the opposite side. Catching a whip attack with her arm, she reeled the fool in and immediately impaled its head with her shoulder before throwing it into another and impaling it too.
Using her superior speed and manoeuvrability, she weaved in and out of their battle lines, cutting them down one by one with her electrified blades. Blocking an overhead swing with both Riot Zanbers, she back flipped and caught it in the chin, knocking the Orphnoch back and giving her the time needed to impale its abdomen and cut out, splitting it in two. Side stepping an attack that would’ve had her head, she spun around and took off the offending arm while at the same time cleanly cutting off the head of the one who just attempted to attack her. Without stopping, her attack pressed on as she tried to take down as many more as she could without being caught. But with others in various states of awakening their abilities, she had no idea if she, Chikane, the summons, and everyone else could hold them back long enough.
From within the shield, Erio and the others could only watch as Chikane, Fate, and the summons fight them off. However, there had been so many of the defenders originally, and now that they were all starting to transform into Orphnochs, he did know now long it would be before exhaustion started to kick in. Glancing behind, he watched as Himeko reported in the situation to both the team below and to Hayate above who was probably now keeping an extremely close eye on the situation. All knew for sure was that Lutecia and Caro were reaching their limits. They still were no where as experienced, or as enduring as Fate and Chikane were. They would have to eventually release their summons and dismiss them before they started hurting themselves.
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“Say what?!” Syn suddenly shouted.
“We have to do something,” Vivio cried out, now feeling utterly worried about her other mother.
“Nanoha, do you think you can offer them support?” Farukon asked.
“We should be able to,” Nanoha answered. “Tiana and Subaru we can count on, and I think Hitomi is ready for this.”
“Then do it,” Den-O sighed, before tapping a button on his buckle and swiping his Rider Pass across.
[Axe Form] the buckle called out as it reconfigured Den-O’s armour.
“They had better cry from your strength,” Den-O confidently stated, cracking his neck in the process. “We’ll finish this, and then head up whenever we can.”
“We’ll be waiting,” Nanoha smiled before turning to her team. “Stars move out!”
“Yes ma’am!” the three answered, following Nanoha’s lead.
“Long Arch 01, Sun 01, this is Rider 01,” Den-O reported in. “Back-up is en-route. Rider and Blitz will finish this and then move to assist at first opportunity.”
“Rider 01, this is Long Arch 01,” Hayate answered, “message received. Good luck, and beware of any possible Orphnoch guarding the area.”
“Understood, Rider 01 out,” Den-O replied before cutting the connection.
“So this is where it’s leading me to,” a voice suddenly stated. Everyone’s weapons suddenly trained on the new comer only to see that it was Faiz, trailed by four others dressed in tattered clothing. From what they could tell, they seemed to have been held prisoner for some time. Between the four of them, three of them appeared to been in their early or mid teens, with a young child presently being carried on the tallest person’s back.
“This,” she began, indicating to some sort of wooden case in her hands, “was dragging me along since the commotion began. Incidentally, this works for me, as I can leave three of these girls under your care. And in addition, I believe this is searching for one of you.” Holding out the box, Faiz gently released her grip on it and allowed it pause momentarily in the air began it slowly floated over towards the TSAB officers before coming to a stop before Vivio.
“There is nothing left down this hall,” Faiz stated, indicating behind her. “I have already dealt with them.” Gently having the young girl transferred into her arms, she calmly proceeded down the hall that everyone else had just come through.
“Wait,” SaSword called out toward Faiz, stopping her. “Define dealt with.”
“Nothing is left,” she sighed, tossing a chip towards SaSword. “I think you might want that.” Her business concluded, she carried on with the girl in her arms holding tightly onto her neck.
“I take it you were being held for experimenting?” Farukon asked the girls, seeing that dwelling on the situation with Faiz was pointless at this point.
The eldest of the three remaining nodded her head. “We…were up when the alarms went off…we got lucky…”
“Wait…,” Kabuto suddenly called out before she started to sniff the air. “You’re…Latnedians…”
“Our parents were killed passing through here,” the girl admitted, looking away from them. “We ran away while our parents held them off…but they caught us anyways.”
Stepping out from the group, Den-O handed the three of them handkerchiefs and said, “Wipe your tears with these. Let’s get you three out of here, and into clean clothes.”
“Vivio, what is that?” Syn asked, looking at the box in Vivio’s hand. It was mostly unmarked save for some Belkan writing in the middle, and the images of a spade, heart, three-leaf clover, and diamond surrounding the writing. “And what’s it say?”
“Uhh…” Vivio muttered as she tried to read it. “Here lies…the Deck of Knights…defenders of the Throne.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Syn asked, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.
“We can figure that out later,” Farukon sighed. “Let’s get out of here, and help the others.”
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“CROSSFIRE SHOOT!!!” Tiana shouted as she launched another volley into a group of Orphnochs, stunning them long enough for Subaru to dash pass them on a Wing Road as Revolver Knuckle smashed their heads into powder. Above, Nanoha rained a volley of Axel Shooter destroying as many as she could. But with the presence of Sun team below, and with the fact that Erio and the members of Lunar were trying to defend them; she had no room to utilize her more destructive attacks. And with the addition that Fate and Chikane were really exhausted by this point, she knew they weren’t in a position to evacuate fast enough.
Below, Faiz stepped out of the cavern only to come across the army of Orphnoch presently engaged with the people on the surface. “This was unexpected,” she muttered before putting the girl down, and placed both of her hands on the girl’s shoulders. “Go with AutoVajin, and stay with him. I will find you when it’s safe.” Seeing the girl nod, she patted her head and said, “Good girl,” and promptly summoned the motorcycle, mounted her on it, removed the left handle bar from its mount pulling out the sword hidden inside, and watched it drive off momentarily before turning around.
Grabbing the chip on her buckle, she inserted it into her sword as Faiz called out [Ready]. And as the same time as before, she opened up Faiz and hit a button.
[Exceed Charge, Sparkle Cut]
But instead of traveling along a path to her leg, the energy released traveled along up along her body until it reached her right hand where it transferred into the blade, as it started to glow bright read. Satisfied with the charge, she immediately dashed forward and engaged into combat as she started to make short work of those in front of her, effectively cutting them down one another after another with no difficulty.
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“WHAT IN THE WORLD?!” Syn cried out as she came into view of what exactly they were fighting.
“Those…are Orphnochs,” Farukon stated, preparing to have Gerhard discharge another cartridge. “Humans who have been turned into something completely different…a forced evolution if you will…at the price of what they once were…many don’t survive this change…but ultimately, they’re a danger to every one of us.” As Farukon moved to engage, a scream drew people’s attention towards where one of the junior mages, who was cut off from the main group, about to struck down by a group of Orphnochs.
“HITOMI!” Subaru cried out, dashing as fast as she could to get to her.
“CLOCK-UP!” Kabuto and SaSword cried out.
“DRIVE MOVE!” Syn reacted.
Hitomi screamed as several spikes from everywhere rained down on her.
[Reflect]
A horrid screech invaded Hitomi’s ears. Slowly opening them, she let out a shocked gasp as a black silhouette stood before her, having blocked all the spikes that would’ve impaled her. Taking a moment to regain her bearings, she saw that it was primarily wearing black armour over a black body suit with gold trimmings, with silver greaves and arm guards. She also noticed that it seemed to be projected from somewhere. Following the light projection, her eyes landed upon the Belkan box in Vivio’s hand discovering that the projection was coming from the heart part of the box.
“Are you alright?” the ghostly figure asked, turning around to reveal its armoured face, its visor shaped as a red heart.
“I…I think so…” she shakily whispered.
“Good,” the figure sighed before kicking away several of the Orphnochs that tried to attack. “This may be and feel a bit strange, but I ask that you trust me.”
“Yeah…sure…” she replied, still a bit confused as to what was going on only to have her thoughts suddenly cut off when the figure suddenly landed on her, engulfing her within itself before it solidified into an actual armour.
“What the?!” Syn cried out.
Not even knowing what was happening, she felt her body immediately react as she rolled a few times to her right before getting up, opened up a compartment from a device on her waist and pulled a card that was loaded inside, and swiped it down through a reader on her buckle.
[Float] the unit called out, quickly followed by a serious of attacks thrown at her as found instincts continued to course through her as she took flight, dodging the attacks.
“What are you doing standing there?!” Chikane cried out towards the new group. “We need to finish this now!”
“Right,” Farukon sheepishly responded and joined the fray, quickly followed by everyone else.
Grabbing the reader on her buckle, she watched herself mount it on some sort of bladed bow device in her left hand, and then opened the compartment again on her waist and drew out the 5 and 6 cards and slid them through the river sequentially.
[Drill]
[Tornado]
[Spinning Dance] it called out before she began to spin rapidly, and dove down straight at the enemy piercing through several Orphnochs as she came to a graceful landing behind their remains.
“My apologies,” the armour declared before removing the belt complete, releasing the armour. Stumbling a bit from the sudden control she regained, she looked around confused.
“What…what just happened…”
From her position, Vivio watched as everything Hitomi was wearing suddenly returned back to the object in her hand, and the heart symbol stopped glowing. “I guess...this is the Logia we were supposed to find...”
“Long Arch 01,” Den-O sighed as he waded out from the mass of bodies, “this is Rider 01…Mission accomplished…I think…”
2009-04-15, 16:00
Author
Noland-san, onegai shimasu~
