<Axel_Wildfire>    "This'd be it." Ake stops by the door - it's a simple oak affair down a side alley with a handpainted sign; a lucky clover half hidden behind a cloud, with the words "Irish Mist" long-faded. There's a large split in the door (which Ake explains was split by the head of one 'Big Beef' McAffrey on his way out the door after refusing to pay his bill, and Wyll neglected to open the door first), which does a lot to add character. "So, dare you?" she asks drily.

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Who dares, wins." The JUNKER commander smirks as she props the door open.

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    Inside is quite simple; well-lit - "Wyll maintains that men who drink in the dark are cavemen" - and filled with high armchairs, plus some standard barstools over by the bar; the two big features are a flight of stairs that leads to a considerably plusher-looking upstairs section, and a large fireplace down the far end that seems to have plenty of shattered glass down the bottom. Oh, and a piano in the corner, a baby grand - what has to be Wyll, wearing simple clothes and having apparently graduated to smoking a pipe, is playing it. Ake looks vaguely amused. "I wish he'd stop playing old Super Robot songs on that thing."

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "...heh. Wonder how many of my own already know 'bout this place - Sears would love it." Haruka grabs one of the plush chairs. "Ahhh...gimme a minute to settle in, and an '86 cabernet sauvignon with the most pretentious glass you can muster. Classy, not silly."

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Someone belongs upstairs." Age really has been kind to him; Wyll's voice is a husky shade of it's old self, not diminished in the least, just... different. Nonetheless, he abandons his song and retreats behind the bar, looking well down before digging out an old and duty bottle of red; he pours two measures (into scotch glasses) and drops into the armchair by Haruka, offering her one. Ake rolls her eyes and hides herself behind the bar to answer any work that Wyll is now ignoring.
<Axel_Wildfire>    "So, what brings you here?" he asks. "I doubt you'd turn up just to say hi to an old friend."

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "A little of that, a little of your protege managing to find her way into my care..." A sip. "...then again, 60 years is a hell of a long time to hide right under my nose. I'd expect no less from you, Ascher."

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    Wyll smiles modestly. "Someone has to keep an eye on you."

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Que custodiet ips custodes, indeed...good thing you quit indulging at SEES when you did; we'd have collapsed in the impending recursion." Haruka takes another swig. "You watching me and Faruko watching Tomoe and Asuka watching...shit, I dunno who they'd be stalking. Maybe the Museum crew. Who'd have been watching Gally, who was, naturally watching all of us masturbate. ESPECIALLY me."

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Thank you, it was me watching everyone but especially you and Faruko, who was watching Asuka because she was a dumb bitch, who was stalking Tomoe because Screw Yourself, who was doing pretty well actually until she stepped down and until that stupid bitch from the Museum got in the way, but of course she got a freepass because she was wearing almost nothing, and naturally she was in Gally's panties which meant that she knew *everything* that went on so yeah that entire thing was a clusterfuck."
<Axel_Wildfire>    Wyll takes a deep breath. "'Sides, Aelita asked me out to Alaska, and would you turn *that* down?" he grins lopsidedly.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "I'll say this much, at least you waited until AFTER I beat the SHOCKER outta her to take her up on that offer..." One more swig of wine, a bit less elegantly as a bit dribbled down Haruka's chin and into her tac-suit. "Ugh...feel some kind of migraine coming on. Dunno whether it's the wine or what..."

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "The stuff is almost a hundred years old. It's the wine." Wyll offers her a napkin.

<Axel_Wildfire>    Of course, he doesn't notice Ake lean heavily against the bar, rubbing at her temples, either.

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Y-y'could've given me somethin' from twenty-86 'stead of nineteen, but naaaaw..." The white-haired Fangire proves oddly receptive to the liquor, not even managing to grab Wyll's napkin before slurring out of consciousness.

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    Behind the bar, Ake drops too (though fortunately the floor behind the bar is carpet).

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    = LOADING... =

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    Fox Island, Alaska. Shadow Moses Heliport.
<Haruka_Emmerich>    "...y'know what? Fuck subtlety." A certain pink-haired teenager in an equally strawberry-hued bomber jacked leveled her machine gun at the searchlights, a flurry of lead crashing through them and enveloping the front doorstep of Building Alpha in darkness.
<Haruka_Emmerich>    --Ugghh...huh? What the...--

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Subtlety's a thing for philosophy. If you're going to kill someone -" a white-haired boy in a heavy coat pushes his back against the risen helipad, pulling a grenade from a belt at his waist. Three, two, one... "- you may as well kill them a whole lot." he finishes, and lobs the nade to the heavy bomb doors... just as they open. Boom.
<Axel_Wildfire>    --... is that...?--

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Subtlety ain't even good for philosophy these days." The first of the base's G5 vanguard began to stream in from the puncture in the blast doors, the pink-haired girl walking another report across their number. "Shit, they're one and the same for Emmerich these days." --Emmerich? Me? Wait, this is...--
<Haruka_Emmerich>    The clip is drained in one go, but it does its job, two of the armored troopers slumping over and a third staggering. --Then the guy next to me is...--
<Haruka_Emmerich>    /...Emmerich, the hell are you doing in my head from all the way in Japan?/

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    He grabs the rail of the helipad and vaults up, balancing like a cat and retrieving a fat-barreled handgun from the interior of his coat and feeding the last G5er a double-tap to the chest that folds him over. "Clear, Aelita."
<Axel_Wildfire>    --'Aelita'? Oh fuck it's Wyll.--
<Axel_Wildfire>    /... the hell are you?/

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    --Dunno. Drunk on century-old wine. Woke up seeing you shooting up your own men with Young Wyll.-- Aelita loots a Unicorn knife from one of the felled G5s as the Haruka in her head gives her sitrep. --Er, wait...if it's Young Wyll, then that'd make it...--
<Haruka_Emmerich>    /Oh God DAMMIT, you're Haruka from the future. You resorting to timesex now after Midorikawa went emo over Joker or what?/

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    --Uh... not answering on grounds of temporal paradox. I'll shut up and watch.-- /Kay then./
<Axel_Wildfire>    Wyll walks the rail of the helipad - it makes him a giant target, but it lets him survey the entire area, so totally worth it. "Ready to head in, cutie?"

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Hell yeah." --Hell no, Kaoru's happy and horny as ever. Unless, y'know, you bring up the whole Joker thing.-- A sprint across the helipad, and a new magazine slammed into her MP5K, and Aelita's caught up to Wyll. "Ain't had this much fun since Xanadu...no, wait. Xanadu wasn't fun at ALL. So this'll be more like...I guess the SaintLogic run, then."
<Haruka_Emmerich>    /FCFs still going at it in future. Noted. Not like I'll bother to interfere./ --Just focus on surviving first, Aelita. Revenge runs are hella stressful.-- /You didn't think I knew that from three-weeks-ago you?/

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "If there's a voice in your head, stop talking to it." Wyll flips down from the rail, landing on his feet and running with light steps to the door, putting his back against the wall. "HEA?"

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Done and done." The ZX Belt snaps onto Aelita's person as she mimicks Wyll's flip with a little more gusto. "Henshin...Ze-CU-ROOOOOOOSS!" The red-and-silver ninja that is Kamen Rider ZX lands aside the white-haired youth.
<Haruka_Emmerich>    --Wait, Wyll has someone in his head, t- -- /You heard the man, shut up already!/

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwKpE8eAFpI)
<Axel_Wildfire>    Wyll tosses his gun aside and shrugs off his coat; he's wearing his usual white shirt and denim pants beneath. As he shrugs off the trenchcoat, though, he retrieves something from it; a belt with a white-and-black buckle - identical to the Decadriver, but it has a sense of the old about it, with a number of engravings around the outside. Holding it by the buckle, Wyll flicks it out behind him, then back across his hip, causing the leather to arch around and clip into the far side of the buckle. A second holster, full of cards, hangs at his left hip, and he takes a single card from it.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>STANDBY READY<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    "Let's Ride..." he takes a breath, this is the first time he's used this. "Decade!"
<Axel_Wildfire>    Holding the card horizontal between two fingers, from the base, Wyll flashes his hand down across the Driver, inserting the card into a slot at the top and then catching the 'extended' sides in each hand, pushing them 'across' rather than 'in'; the Driver screams as the outer edge of the driver revolves - the sound is like an extended guitar hook - and then resolves into a mechanical voice.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>DRIVE IGNITION<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>D-D-D-DECADE<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    The result is... like Decade, to be sure, but lacking the 'Tiki Head' decorations, giving the whole thing a streamlined appearance; where DCD proper is pink, this is white, and the eyes are a vibrant sapphire instead of emerald green.
<Axel_Wildfire>    Wyll breathes a sigh of relief. "Well, hey, the Proto Driver works after all. Damn we're good."

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Eh, bits and bobs, mostly Angry Jin specs Nova slipped me for lulz." The duo slip through the blast door, coming face-to-face with another G5 column. "Let's see that BLAST of yours," Aelita snaps as a handful of kunai flick into her hand.

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    He reaches behind himself with his left hand, retrieving the gun/sword thing that they'd decided on for the equipment, currently in gun modo. "Right." Wyll's right hand drops to the card belt, snatching out another card.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>STANDBY READY<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    "If this gun explodes in my hands after this I swear I'm going to haunt you." --It doesn't.-- /Shut up./
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>ATTACK RIDE DRIVE IGNITION<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>B-B-B-BLAST<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    The effect is... pronounced is one word for it. 'Over the top' is another, because it results in the gun in his hands shifting and merging and unfolding until Wyll is holding a rather large chaingun. "Yeah, this'll do." he grins behind the faceplate and whirls out, spraying fire. "Ah, people lining up for injections."

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Cerberus Mode. Niiiiice." The kunai fly, tagging each G5 in their belt buckles before they can fire their own readied weapons and causing shorts across their armor. "Anesthetic delivered. You may proceed, doctor." --Pfft, he's a doctor like I'm a therapist.-- /And that's my cue to NOT sleep with him. Enjoy your time paradox./
<Haruka_Emmerich>    --More like enjoy my stable time loop. No spoilers though.--

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    It's almost a full thirty seconds before Wyll decides that everyone on the floor is, in fact, dead; the chaingun whirrs to a halt, the entire thing smoking. "I like this, Aelita. I like this a *lot*." he's clearly grinning like a loon as the gun reverts back into it's handgun form.

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Figured you would. Pleasure time's over, though, now we got business: if we can hit the mainframes in the Building Beta basement, I can shut down every SHOCKHOUND asset remotely - barring myself, natch, but I think the system thinks I'm dead anyway." Another kunai darts into a security panel, throwing open the doors to the next patch of snow between the duo and their destination.

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Can I look forward to 'after'?" he asks snarkily, spinning the gun once around his finger to get it back into a proper grip and advancing forward into the snow.

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Don't even. You've got someone else waiting for you." --He know you mean Lukles?-- /It's on him to take the hint./
<Haruka_Emmerich>    The pair advance into the snowfield ahead, only to find themselves staring down what seems to be a miniaturized version of SHOCKHOUND's prized possession, the Artificial Magnugigas Stalin. "Oh, dammit, Karasawa went and rushed Breznhev!"

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Nooo I don't." Wyll sounds vaguely disappointed, but he seriouses up with this thing. "Well, to be fair, she's actually not a fucking moron."

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    As Breznhev levels its rail launcher at the pair, a flash of white bursts forth from the nearby snowbank. Aelita's prized polar bear Zangief smashes into the automaton, toppling it as the rail slug winds up whizzing between the two Riders.
<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Zangief? Holy crap, I thought you'd be the first to go when the base got SHOCKERed!" A hand sickle slips into Aelita's hand as ZX pounces in kind, wrenching the railgun off the machine at its connector joint.

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "You own a polar bear named Zangief. Aelita, have I mentioned lately how amazing you are?" Wyll asks drily, flipping the gun around in his hand; with a clang, it shifts into it's sword form and he drops out to the side, hitting Greznhev from an oblique angle.

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    The whizz of a Salamander grenade punctuates Wyll's strike, another G5 having taken the vantage point to try shooting the lot of them in one go.

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "'Nade!" Wyll hollers at Aelita and dives away, hitting the ground and digging into the snow slightly as he does.

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    ZX takes the hint, tucking and rolling off Breznhev with one hand on the severed railgun. The robot and Zangief? Sadly NOT so lucky, fragments of metal and polar bear splashing across the snow.
<Haruka_Emmerich>    --OK, make that OWNED a polar bear named Za- -- /SHUT. UP./ A pink glow seems to halfway consume Aelita as ZX hefts the rail cannon, aiming it at the sniper.
<Haruka_Emmerich>    Miraculously, a shell spits forth from the weapon, taking the poor sod's head clean off.

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Good shot." the comment is quiet as he picks himself up. --Ew.-- /Quiet./ "You okay?"

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "...I can waste time mourning him, or I can harden my fists with this sorrow." The sound of knuckles cracking resonates across the icy field as Aelita calmly strolls to the door of Building Beta. "...the hell you THINK I'm gonna do?"

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    Wyll just whistles quietly and follows, resting his sword over his shoulder. /*What a woman*./ --Repeat, ew.--

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    The door opens, revealing the old nuclear storage silo of Shadow Moses scrubbed clean. Clean of radiation, of soldiers...practically everything, really. --THIS can't be for real.--

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Jeez. Why ditch the nukes?" he stops on the walkway, whistling quietly.

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    {{Because superior weapons exist.}} A stern male - and oddly mechanical - voice booms throughout the vacant atrium before a red-and-black humanoid - and it can really only be called that, it clearly looks more machine than Kamen Rider - slams down from the ceiling, shoulder mortar starting to unfold as it rises. {{Because *I* exist.}}
<Haruka_Emmerich>    [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCt31W7yUUk&feature=related]

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Uh, Aelita, this wasn't in the briefing, was it?" Wyll asks, actually sounding slightly nervous.

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Nope." She withdraws a gold armlet from wherever her ninja goodies were being stored. "Unfortunately for him, neither was this."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    As soon as it clasps onto her right wrist, it morphs into a more snakelike pattern before ZX's armor morphs into the form of Kamen Rider Amazon. "I might be rusty with this one; never was that good at making cute noises."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    {{Target reidentified. Commencing hostilities.}} The machine levels the pistol in its right hand at the mutating Aelita, only for her to leap forward and catch its arm, pulling the thing off-center as she attempts to yank its gun arm off.

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    Wyll springs forward and takes a slash with his sword, only to find himself 'hanging' in midair as the Nineball parries with it's laserblade. Wyll growls and rebounds, landing in a crouch and sliding back a good five feet. "Aelita, cover me for a sec!"

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Tch..." Amazon lets out a whine before its form melts into that of Super-1. "CHANGE FUCK YOU HANDS!" The gloves take on a brilliant blue as electricity courses through Aelita's grip, eager to short Nineball's systems as the shoulder servos start to give from her yanking.

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    He takes another card from the holster, standing up right. "Alright, Alice, show me what you can do."
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>STANDBY READY<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>KAMEN RIDER DRIVE IGNITION<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>F-F-F-FANG<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    "Ride On, Fang!"
<Axel_Wildfire>    The transformation starts at the belt, growing up and out, pure white with silver trim overtaking his torso and head, the DCD helmet shifting into a sleeker, smaller design. The white outbreak continues down the right arm, and the Proto Divider sword vanishes, replaced with a giant white blade curving back from his forearm. "Nice to know the form-change mechanism works!" Wyll calls up, sounding relieved, and then he hurls himself in, aiming to cut off one of Nineball's legs at the hip.

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    The cut's messy - Fang tends to be that way - but Nineball's left thigh is suddenly possessed of a deep gash that CAN'T be good for its structural integrity. {{No...integrity calculations...so quickly...}}
<Haruka_Emmerich>    As the machine struggles to ready its howitzer, the voice appears to be coming out more and more girlishly. {{I...I can't be defeated this quickly! I'm the strongest! You can't do this to the strongest!}}
<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Dare da Strongest..." Aelita's form shifts once more. "...Ore wa Stronger." The S on the new Rider's torso spins wildly as a Den Punch coldcocks the misguided robot's face.

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Smartass." Wyll doesn't halt his momentum before he turns, resulting in another slide backwards and another card being pulled out.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>STANDBY READY<<.
<Axel_Wildfire>    "Back off, Aelita."

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    ZX resumes its default form once more as Aelita backflips off the machine's torso and away from Wyll's LOS.

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    He reverts back to his standard Proto-DCD form, just in time for him to go to work.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>FINAL ATTACK RIDE<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>MAXIMUM DRIVE IGNITION<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    "Ride On, Decade!"
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>MAXIMUM PUNCH<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    Instead of the usual 'cards' motif that the standard Decade has, this version instead has the belt scream as it revs up, unleashing a wave of black-and-white energy that 'traps' Nineball, like a whirlpool; it's through this that Wyll throws himself, twisting to add power to the punch - as he throws it, the right hand glows, traced in with golden lines that leave a wave behind in the bichromatic vortex.
<Axel_Wildfire>    The punch takes him *straight through* Nineball's chest, causing a wave of scrap metal to explode out it's back alongside him, and Wyll lands on the railing, rapidly discovering a flaw in P-DCD's design; landing the finisher caused it's stability to break down and has cancelled his henshin. Fortunately, good balance. He doesn't turn back to face Nineball. "There's no use waiting for us in hell." Wyll catches Aelita's eye. "We *are* hell."

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    The automaton breaks apart completely in a flurry of explosions, the stockpile bay littered with flaming scrap as Aelita wills away the ZX armor...and promptly breaks into a coughing fit, fluorescent blue lines streaking up her torso with every ragged breath. "D-damn...didn't expect it to take so much out of me..."

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Oh f-" Wyll hurtles to her side, catching Aelita gently so she can support herself. "... you okay?"

 

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Y-yeah...first time I've used it since regenerating, is all." With her bearings regained quickly, the pink-haired girl bounds up to the catwalk and hits the elevator call button. "Servers can't be too well-guarded anymore, with Karasawa mobilizing the rest of the base's forces...boy, will THEY be in for a surprise."
<Haruka_Emmerich>    --And we know the rest of THAT story...unnngh...-- /...you OK there, Emmerich?/ --Fine as you are. See you in a few.--

 

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Meh. I'm only here cause you asked for me; it's not like I'm doing this to prop SEES up." Wyll snorts to himself as the lift arrives, getting on and leaning against the back wall with arms folded. "You sure you're alright?" --That was... interesting, thanks for the lesson.-- /Go away./
<Axel_Wildfire>    =LOADING...=