Kamen Rider Justice

by RuinQueenofOblivion


The Raised Wand

“Alright, you’re looking good,” Stone Breaker said as he timed Scootaloo’s lap on her bike in the underground bike track that was part of the SMILE HQ. Scootaloo took a deep breath as she went around another turn. “You’re doing fine out there, just keep going and speed up a little bit.”

Scootaloo took a deep breath as she increased the speed on Forseti as she headed for the next turn. She hated to admit it to anyone but she was more scared than anything, she had become a little too reliant on the bike’s AI system, something she had realized during the recent encounter with Kamen Rider Alchemy and the others.

She went past her friends and Stone who were watching her on the bike together. She gave them a slight nod before she picked up speed again. It had taken a little getting used to but she was starting to feel like she had the hang of it at least.

“Alright, we’re going to activate the battle simulation, I don’t want you to trigger your AI’s Battle Mode,” Stone’s voice said over her helmet. “You only want to use that when you’re using your sword right now. I want you to try and fight it using the bike on your own, okay? Come to a stop and turn the bike around.”

“Got it,” Scootaloo said as she pulled to a stop and turned the bike around as she looked back at the spot she had been in before as the image of a target appeared down the track. “Alright, let’s do this… you can do this Scootaloo…”

“Hang in there Scoots, you’ll do fine,” Sweetie’s voice said over her helmet radio. “You’ve used this thing enough to get an idea of what to do, right? Just hang in there.”

“Okay,” Scootaloo said as she adjusted herself and pointed it at the dummy as she gunned the engine and headed right for the target. For a moment she was afraid that it wasn’t going to do anything and was about to turn her bike when she realized she was drifting a little to the right.

She quickly turned to the left and pulled it up as she hit the target head-on with the front wheel of her bike. She managed to knock it back as she sped past it, turning it back around she pushed forward and hit it again as it fell to the ground.

“Good, alright I think you’re set to go,” Stone said. “Remember, the AI system isn’t supposed to be a crutch. Just be careful, as long as everything works correctly you should be fine. Just be careful if you have to do this against an actual monster, you will have to adjust manually. You should be fine though, just do your best.”

“Yeah, no pressure at all,” Scootaloo said as she came to a stop near her friends and climbed off the bike powering down. “So, how’d I look out there?”

“You did fine,” Sweetie said with a soft smile. “Really I don’t know what you were worried about out there.”

“You wobbled a little bit, but other than that you’re fine,” Stone said, barely looking up from the information on the screen. “I’d keep practicing in the future and only use the bike in Rider form, given this kind of bike can attract attention.”

“Good idea,” Scootaloo said with a sigh as she looked back at her friends and smiled a little. “Thank you for your help Stone.”

“You’re welcome,” Stone said as he shook hands with her and gave her a slight smile. “Keep this up and you’ll do just fine.”

“I feel kind of dumb for not trying this earlier…” Scootaloo admitted as she rubbed the back of her head a little. “Thanks for being willing to give me some pointers.”

“Of course, no problem,” Stone said with a smile. “You’re good on the bike, you just needed the practice is all. Let me know if you want to use the course again.”

“I will,” Scootaloo said as she and her friends headed back to the elevator.

Stone sighed a little as he went back to his laboratory off the track wheeling Forsetti with him. There were several more bikes nearby as he put it back in its place. He sighed a little as he sat back down at his computer and started pulling up the schematics for the bikes.

The Director wanted him to look into some way to upgrade the bikes themselves for combat, but he hadn’t had much luck. He tapped his fingers on the desk as he looked at the schematics for a moment. The bikes were designed to work with the card spirits themselves, maybe there was a way to use that to their advantage.

But how would he do that? That was the question that he had to figure out. He looked thoughtful for a moment as he took out a list of what cards they had already claimed from the Order, most of them were weapon cards, so he had to think of something.

Then he came across one name and stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment. That could work, he’d just have to convince Fancy Pants to let him experiment with it. He got up and headed for the elevator to go talk to him.

00000

Caesar was furious, despite their best plans everything the Order had tried so far had fallen apart and he knew that he was going to be blamed whether or not he was truly guilty. He sighed a little as he made his way through the corridors of the Order’s base.

“Incompetent spirits… we’d have conquered this world already if it wasn’t for them…” Caesar said with a snarl.

“You really think so don’t you?” A familiar voice said from the room he happened to be standing by and he narrowed his eyes as he walked inside. Nemo was sitting in a chair sipping tea as he looked up at Caesar with a slight smirk. “I thought it was time for another little chat.”

“You had better be careful if the others knew a human was in here you would be either killed or thrown in prison,” Caesar said as he walked forward and took a seat across from Nemo. “How have you not been detected this time?”

“I have my ways to fool your sensors,” Nemo said as he took a sip of his tea. “After all you can’t find a man who doesn’t exist for all intents and purposes. I know how to hide from any sensors, the only reason I was detected before was that I wanted your attention.”

“Then why are you here now?” Caesar asked as he narrowed his eyes slightly at the strange man. “You have not exactly been making good on your deal.”

“Patience my friend,” Nemo said as he sipped his tea a little. “The fact of the matter is that I cannot just magic things up out of thin air. Give me time and everything will be in place and your superiors will never doubt your ability again.”

“They had better not,” Caesar said. “If you don’t deliver, you and I are going to have a big problem, do you understand?”

“Of course I do,” Nemo said as he drank his tea. “And as long as you keep up your end of the bargain things will work out perfectly for both of us.”

“Good,” Caesar said as he narrowed his eyes. “If you’ll excuse me, I have things that I must do, the rest of the Court will be suspicious if I’m late.”

“Then you had better hurry,” Nemo said as he leaned back in his chair as Caesar walked out. He pressed a device on his arm and a holographic projection of a woman dressed in the same white outfit appeared. “Did we get all the readings that we needed?”

“Yes, sir,” the woman said on the other end. “We’ve managed to pinpoint the points of connection between this pocket dimension and our universe. I suspect that its a conduit to another universe entirely.”

“Very good,” Nemo said as he gave her a nod. “Do you have everything ready for the operation?”

“We’re going to need Caesar to come through on his side of the deal if we’re going to properly study these creatures. In the meantime, we picked up some very unusual readings from the city recently, perhaps we should look into this as well. It could suggest another faction being active in America as well.”

“Curious,” Nemo said as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. “And they told me the American branch would be boring. Very well, see where they came from and then we can investigate it as well.”

“Yes sir, should I send what we have to our labs in Site Alpha?” The woman asked.

“Send them what we have, I know it’s not much but we have to make sure we’re on top of things here,” Nemo said as he inputs more commands into his arm device. “I’ll have the Houdini Drones keep an eye on things here. In the meantime, prepare Caesar’s payment.”

“We’re going to keep our end of the bargain as well then?” The woman asked.

“Indeed, I will meet you at Site Alpha,” Nemo said as he turned off the device and several drones left it before turning invisible. He hit one more command on it and vanished into thin air.

00000

“Ah wish yah didn’t have ta leave already,” Apple Bloom said as they hugged Applejack and Rarity at Canterlot International Airport. “Are yah sure ya’ll can’t stay a bit longer?”

“Sorry darling, I know we didn’t get to spend as much time together as we would have liked, but we have to go back home,” Rarity said as she hugged Apple Bloom. “We’ll be back as soon as we can though.”

“Especially since Rares is gonna want ta make Sweetie’s weddin’ dress,” Applejack said with a chuckle as Honey giggled a little. “Unless ya’ll are plannin’ ta run off ta Vegas and elope or somethin’.”

“Darn it, they’re onto us Sweetie,” Scootaloo said with a laugh as she leaned over and gave Sweetie a kiss on the cheek.

“You’re right, we better run now if we want to get away with it, where’s the nearest ticket counter…” Sweetie said, which just made the older women roll their eyes.

“Aww, you would have a wedding without me?” Honey asked with a cute pout. “I thought I was your favorite niece, Aunty Sweetie.”

“Well darn it, we have to do it for our cute little niece then don’t we,” Sweetie said with a giggle as she tickled Honey. “Darn, I was looking forward to Vegas too.”

“Don’t worry, Ah’ll make sure they don’t run off,” Apple Bloom said as they all shared a laugh together.

“We’ll let you know when everything is planned,” Sweetie said as she hugged her sister and sister-in-law. “It was so good to see you three again even if it was kind of marred by everything that happened.”

“Don’t worry about it, we weren’t expectin’ somethin’ normal anyway,” Applejack said with a soft smile. “Are yah gonna be okay, Scootaloo? Ah know this can’t be easy fer yah.”

“Yeah, but I’m going to be fine,” Scootaloo said softly as she looked at her friends and smiled a little. “The important thing is that I have my friends here with me. We’ll be fine, I’ll make sure of it, okay?”

“Okay,” Rarity said as she hugged Scootaloo. “You’re already part of the family Scootaloo, I can’t wait for it to be official. Are you sure I can’t convince you to wear a dress too?”

“No, definitely not,” Scootaloo said with a chuckle. “But I’m glad to be part of the family, you’ve all done so much for me.”

"No problem, just stay out of trouble, okay?" Rarity said with a chuckle and sighed as she checked the time. "We should get going. We'll come to visit again as soon as possible, okay?"

"Bye!" Honey said as she gave the three of them hugs again.

"Okay, see you later," Sweetie said as they waved to the three of them as they walked off towards security to go through the gate. She chuckled a little as she looked back at Scootaloo as they started to walk back out together. "Do you really not want to wear a dress at our wedding?"

"No, but I will if you want me to," Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she gave Sweetie a soft smile.

"Nope, I want you to wear whatever you're comfortable with," Sweetie said with a soft chuckle as she kissed Scootaloo gently on the lips.

"Okay then I'll be at the altar in a t-shirt and jeans," Scootaloo said with a grin.

"Anything but that," Sweetie said with a laugh.

"You're no fun," Scootaloo said with a fake pout.

"Come on yah two lovebirds, we need ta get back home," Apple Bloom said with a roll of her eyes. "Fancy Pants said that there's gonna be some big announcement and that we need ta watch tha local news, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Scootaloo said as they headed to the car and climbed in as they drove off towards their apartment complex.

00000

"I don't like this," Fleur whispered to Fancy Pants as they waited for the press to gather for the press conference at Canterlot City Hall. "Are you sure this is the right decision to make?"

"The citizens of this city are in danger because of the Order," Fancy whispered back. "And I already discussed it with the higher-ups, they agreed that this is the right decision. It will make it a lot harder for the Order to find hosts if we increase public awareness."

"I hope you're right," Fleur said with a frown as she eyed Fancy Pants for a moment. "This is not something that I agree with you know, we've never done anything like this before."

"We never had a reason to do this before, we were able to keep things under wraps before," Fancy Pants said with a shake of his head. "But you know how things are in this day and age with the internet. It's only a matter of time before things start to leak out, and we need to do this to avoid a panic."

"Alright, I hope you're right," Fleur said as a woman with light skin and with short grey hair wearing a suit and glasses approached them. "Mayor Script, are you ready for this?"

"I hope so," Written Script, the mayor of Canterlot said as she looked back at Fancy Pants. "You are absolutely certain that this is the right thing to do right now?"

"Yes, I'm certain," Fancy Pants said with a nod.

"Alright, I'll speak first," the Mayor said as the last of the reporters took a seat and she headed over to the podium. She took a deep breath as she spoke into the microphone and adjusted her glasses a little. "Citizens of Canterlot, I know with all of the reports of monster attacks in the city you have a lot of questions. I certainly did, but Agent Fancy Pants with the FBI here believes that he has information on these creatures that will be able to help protect us from them more. I ask that you hold all your questions until the end so that we can get all the information out quickly."

She nodded to Fancy Pants and nodded as he headed to the podium and took a deep breath. This was not something that was going to be easy, but he had made the decision already to do this. So now it was just a matter of making the announcement.

“I know you’ve all been concerned about what’s been going on with the monsters that have been plaguing this city,” Fancy Pants said as he adjusted his notes for a moment and then continued to speak. “I would like to say that this was nothing more than a big hoax like some have claimed, however, the truth of the matter is that these creatures are very real.”

He turned to a TV screen and turned it on as a video of Justice and Amores fighting against the various monsters. One finally stopped as it showed an image of a person with their face was hidden being consumed by energy as they transformed into a monster.

A lot of people gasped as they saw it happen. Fancy Pants adjusted his monocle a little for a moment before turning back to speak to the audience.

“This is footage never before aired or put on the internet,” Fancy Pants continued. “As we’ve learned, these creatures are known as Agents of the Order of the High Arcana. They are parasitic spirits that are contained within special Tarot cards. Before you go and say anything, these cards are not the sort found in a store or used by fortune tellers. These cards seemingly appear to anyone who fits the description of the negative aspect of the Minor Arcana cards. Those who are possessed by one of these spirits slowly have their life force drained, though we have no idea exactly what their endgame is here. Citizens need to be aware of the risk presented by these card spirits, do not allow them to make deals with you. Do not go after the possessed yourself if someone shows signs of possession please call our hotline. Together we have to work to stop the Order before they finish whatever their plan is. I will now take a few questions.”

A bunch of questions came up from the gathered reporters and Fancy Pants finally pointed at one of them.

“Director, what about the creature that was at the center of the Massacre awhile back?” The reporter asked. “It seemed to resemble descriptions of creatures that were reported in Japan ten years ago. Are there more of these out there?”

“Yes, that is what we call a Hybrid creature,” Fancy Pants said. “They are very rarely seen as we’ve only encountered two so far. The one in question was a hybrid with a creature called a Fangire, which yes also appeared 10 years ago. However, we believe that this was an isolated incident and there will not be another Fangire Hybrid.”

“But you’re not sure?”

“We can’t discount any possibility, but we will keep a close eye out for any such events,” Fancy Pants said. “The only other documented Hybrid was dealt with before it could present a serious threat to the city. More than likely we will not have any further Hybrids, but we will keep an eye out anyway.”

The reporters took notes before more of them tried to get Fancy Pants’ attention. He finally pointed at another one who spoke up. “Agent Fancy Pants, what do you say to the accusations that this is is a government operation?”

“The government has been aware of the existence of monsters for a long time now, we are simply putting into action a plan already in place,” Fancy Pants said. “After the incident with the Inves and the Global Freeze, we have to consider all possibilities. We are here to stop the Order, nothing more. I’ll take two more questions.”

More reporters tried to get his attention and he finally pointed at one in the back, she spoke up. “Who are the Kamen Riders labeled by the Internet as Justice and Amores? I notice you haven’t been talking about them much.”

“Amores and Justice’s identities are not mine to reveal,” Fancy Pants said. “All you need to know is that they are what they seem. They are citizens interested in stopping the Order and protecting the city from these creatures. Alright, one last question.”

Everyone was quiet for a long moment before one reporter raised their hand. Fancy Pants sighed and pointed at him. “What do you say to the rumors of a third Kamen Rider being seen in the city with a black and silver suit of armor?”

“That Rider is a known quantity already,” Fancy Pants said simply. “They have their own reasons for remaining more anonymous than Justice and Amores. For the moment, that is all I have to say about them. That is all for today, thank you.”

He stepped down from the Podium as the reporters started to file out to get everything written up and filed. He glanced at Fleur who gave him a nod.

“I hope you’re doing the right thing,” Fleur said.

“Me too, but this is what we needed to do,” Fancy said with a sigh. “We’ve been working in the shadows for so long that this is something new. Hopefully, this will give us everything we need.”

“Yeah, for now, let’s get back to headquarters,” Fleur said as the two walked off together.

00000

“That was an unexpected move on the human’s part,” the man in black said as the leaders of the Order watched the Press Conference on their viewing screen. “They’re gambling on the hope that it’ll keep us from finding hosts.”

“Will it?” Caesar asked as the man in black leaned on his cane.

“I highly doubt it, but it will risk slowing us down at least,” the man in black said as he stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment. “Priellit, are we ready for the next move?”

“Yes sir,” Priellit said as she shuffled the summoning deck and placed it on the table in front of her. “It will be a simple matter to summon a spirit. I believe that finding a host will be easy.”

“Then let us see which one will be next,” the Man in Black said with a nod. “Priellit, let us see what the Wheel of Fortune brings us next, shall we? It’s all yours.”

Priellit nodded as she began to chant and placed her hand on the deck. The card glowed a little bit as she drew it and raised an eyebrow curiously. “Interesting, the Nine of Wands is now in play, an individual who is paranoid and has a lot of inner struggle,” she said as the card vanished from her hand and the spirit flew off.

“Interesting, that is the strongest spirit we’ve seen so far,” Caesar said.

“It seems the Wheel is showing more favor with us finally,” Grangorca said as he walked into the throne room. “I see that I was not invited to the meeting. Is there any particular reason why?”

“Your job is to try and defeat our enemies like the Kamen Riders,” Caesar said as he eyed Granforca. “With everything that’s going on, we hardly felt a need to get you involved when we’re just preparing the next step of the operation.”

“Now, now let’s not be too hasty Caesar,” the Man in Black said as he eyed Granforca. “After all we did release him from his imprisonment for a reason. Maybe we can find a place for him at the moment.”

“Well, we could send him to help Kuagua,” Priellit suggested. “He’s still keeping an eye out for any of the remaining lost ones.”

“Why are we even bothering to look?” Granforca asked. “They were lost for a reason more often than not. Why would we even need…”

“Because we do not have the power to summon our strongest servants yet,” the Man in Black snapped as he reached into his pocket and took out some extra cards. “Four of them were stolen by a traitor and one was taken by our enemies, mostly because of your incompetence Granforca. We are giving you a second chance, and you will take this assignment if you want to have that chance. Get out there, and if you happen to find Justice then deal with her, understood?”

“Yes sir,” Granforca said with a gulp.

“Good, now go,” the Man in Black said and Granforca vanished into thin air.

00000

Sweetie Drops sighed a little as she fell back onto the couch in her apartment as she looked up at the ceiling. Ever since they had gotten back from the other universe she had a hard time relaxing, everything that was going on just felt like it was getting weirder and worse.

She sighed a little as she reached into her pocket and took out her half of the Lovers card as she looked at the figure staring back at her. She sighed a little as she put it back in her pocket and rolled over onto her side as she closed her eyes and got ready to take a short nap

At least she tried to, but she found herself getting more and more restless. She finally sighed and looked at her phone and was a bit surprised as it went off and she got an incoming call from Lyra. She answered it and raised it to her ear. “Hey, Lyra, what’s up?”

“Hey, I just wanted to check on you after what happened the other day,” Lyra said on the other end. “I mean that was pretty crazy huh?”

“Yeah,” Sweetie Drops said as she played with her hair a little bit. “It’s been a crazy few weeks in general really. Still, we managed to stop it at least, there is that.”

“Yeah, there is that at least,” Lyra said. “So, is there anything I can do to help maybe? Do you want to talk or to meet up somewhere? I mean, it feels like most of the time we’ve only been meeting up when there’s some sort of crisis.”

Sweetie Drops checked the time, it was only the early evening so there was still time to go out for dinner or order something in. She shrugged a little as she placed her hand on the Driver on the table next to her.

“Alright, sure,” Sweetie Drops said with a soft smile as she sat up. “How about you come on over and we can either order out or maybe go somewhere? I know a pretty good place down the street.”

“Sounds great, I’ll be by in about, 20 minutes, sound good?” Lyra asked.

“Sounds perfect,” Sweetie Drops said as she hung up her phone and got up to get the apartment straightened out a bit before Lyra arrived.

Maybe this would be good for her, she had felt so alone when she wasn’t at work lately. The only time that had changed was when Lyra had been here while they were dealing with Tripen. She sighed a little and started cleaning up the apartment as best she could.

After 20 minutes there was a knock on the door and Sweetie Drops went to answer it. She smiled a little when she saw Lyra standing outside. She smiled back as Sweetie Drops gestured for her to come inside.

“Well, it looks like you’ve cleaned this place up a bit since I last visited,” Lyra said with a chuckle as Sweetie Drops closed the door behind her. “Or am I remembering wrong?”

“I thought I’d clean up since I was having company,” Sweetie Drops said sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head. “Sorry, it’s not the best job I could do.”

“Well, it’s not like you expected me to visit today,” Lyra said with a chuckle as they walked back over to the couch. “Do you ever wonder what your life would’ve been like if you hadn’t, well, gotten into all of this?”

“Honestly? Probably more than I should,” Sweetie Drops said with a sigh. “Everything that’s been going on lately is crazy. I miss my old friends and everything, and I guess I miss having a normal life. But hey, at least I can’t say my life is boring.”

“Heh, yeah,” Lyra said with a chuckle. “Who knows, maybe once everything is over we’ll have something resembling a normal life.”

“Yeah right, not at this rate,” Sweetie Drops said with a slight chuckle. “I think you’d have a better chance getting Dan Kuroto to just be a normal video game developer.”

“What are you…” Lyra started to say.

“Don’t ask, trust me, you don’t want to know everything I’ve learned since I started working for SMILE,” Sweetie Drops said with a shake of her head. “Let me put it this way if you think EA is evil, then you don’t want to hear about him, or his Dad.”

“Yeah… I think I’ll be much happier not knowing,” Lyra said with a shake of her head. “So, what do you want to do? You said you knew someplace down the road, we could go there.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Sweetie Drops said with a soft smile as she offered Lyra a hand. “Look, Lyra, I…”

“Yes?” Lyra asked expectantly.

“I’m glad I found you again,” Sweetie Drops said after a short pause and smiled a little. “I’m sorry that I dropped out of contact. I guess I haven’t really lost my chance to have friends again…”

“It’s going to be okay, Sweetie,” Lyra said as she hugged Sweetie Drops tightly. “I’ll be here for you whenever you need me, okay?”

“Okay,” Sweetie Drops said with a soft smile. “So, are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Lyra said with a soft smile as Sweetie Drops picked up her Driver and cards as she put them away. The two of them walked out of the apartment together and down the stairs to the street.

00000

Stone sighed as he climbed out of his car and headed for his apartment complex. He had been working hard most of the day but he felt like he had hit a wall. The upgrade to the bikes wasn’t working very well, it was just a matter of making sure that the card could actually work with the bike’s system, that wasn’t easy.

Finally Fancy Pants had told him to take a break and go home so he could approach it with fresh eyes the next day. He glanced over to the other side of the road and smiled a little when he saw Sweetie Drops and Lyra walking past and talking.

Sometimes he wished that there was someone he could be close to, but he had his reasons why he couldn’t. No matter how much it pained him, he had to make sure that he wasn’t close to anyone.

He sighed a little as he started back towards the apartment building and was about to open the door when there was a sudden sound behind him lick a whip cracking and he felt a sharp pain across his back as he stumbled forward.

“What the…” he said as he turned around fast and narrowed his eyes at the figure standing before him. It was a tall monster dressed in light armor that was holding a whip in his hands as he glared at Stone. He had a symbol on his chest of nine wands connected together over a circular symbol.

“You… I’ve been looking for you!” He said as he prepared to snap the whip again. “You thought you could get away from us, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Stone said as he pressed up against the door. He reached into his pocket and gripped a small device and pressed the button on it. “You have the wrong guy!”

“You’re a poor liar,” the monster said with a wicked grin as he walked closer. “You’re exactly who I’m looking for. Now come back like a good…”

He cried out when he was shot in the back and turned around quickly to see Sweetie Drops and Lyra standing there. Sweetie Drops had taken out her Driver while Lyra was pointing a pistol at the monster.

“You’re just asking for trouble aren’t you, Indiana Jones?” Lyra asked with a chuckle as she raised her pistol.

“You couldn’t resist could you?” Sweetie Drops said with a groan as she placed her Driver on her waist as the belt formed around her.

“Hey, this is my first time in awhile being face to face with a monster, I’m not going to pass up the chance to do a snappy one-liner,” Lyra said.

Sweetie Drops just rolled her eyes as she drew her half of the Lovers card and held it up as she nodded to Lyra. “I’ll distract him, you get Stone out of here, okay?”

“Got it,” Lyra nodded.

“Henshin!” Sweetie Drops said as she slid the card half into her Driver and Lyra held up her own half as it glowed brightly and flew into Sweetie’s Driver.

“LOVE CONQUERS ALL THINGS!” The Driver said as energy flowed out of the circle at the center of the Driver around Sweetie Drops and formed the pink and red armor over her.

“I’m taking you down,” Sweetie Drops said as she raised her bow and pulled the string back as she fired several energy arrows at the monster. “You’re not going to get away with attacking Stone!”

“Stone? Well, I guess that’s what he’s calling himself now,” the monster said with a laugh as he dodged the arrow and cracked the whip at Sweetie Drops as she avoided the attack just as Lyra made it around her and grabbed Stone.

“Come on,” she said and Stone nodded as they pushed the door open and headed inside.

“You let my prey get away…” The whip-wielding monster said with a snarl. “I am Gentov! A hunter and seeker of those who the Order seeks, and they want your friend back there.”

“I’m not going to let you hurt him,” Sweetie Drops said as she fired another arrow at Gentov as he tried to snap the whip again. “You’re going down!”

“Good luck with that,” Gentov laughed as he cracked the whip again, hitting Sweetie Drops and wrapping it around her leg as he pulled on it and caused Sweetie Drops to fall down.

“Son of a... “ Sweetie Drops groaned as she pulled herself back up to her feet. She fired off several more arrows at Gentov who stumbled back as they hit him. “You’re going down!”

She dodged another attack from Gentov as he cracked his whip at her before she fired another arrow at him. This was going to be a bit annoying as the monster cracked his whip to hit the arrow and sent it flying out of the way before it shattered.

“That thing is a 9 card right?” Lyra asked in Sweetie Drops’ mind.

“Yeah, that’s not going to make this any easier,” Sweetie Drops replied as she jumped out of the way of another whip crack as she fired more arrows at him. “Is Stone safely out of the way?”

“Don’t worry about him, I got him back to his apartment,” Lyra replied. “Still not going well out there, huh?”

“Yeah…” Sweetie Drops said as she hung back and fired several more shots at the monster. She was just barely out of the whip’s reach. “You’re going to have to try harder than that you know. I’ve got way more range than you do!”

“We’ll see about that,” Gentov said as he gripped the whip tightly and stomped the ground as it cracked a little and he forced up a piece of stone that he kicked right at Sweetie Drops who just barely got out of the way.

“Okay… that’s definitely not good,” Sweetie Drops said as she realized what she was up against. “Lyra, did you see that? We’ve got a problem.”

“Yeah, I saw, figures, that’s not about to make things easy,” Lyra said with a groan.

Sweetie Drops didn't say anything, she just ran forward at the monster and dodged another whip crack as she slammed her fist into the armored monster's face before swinging the bow around and firing an arrow at it point blank. Gentov stumbled back as she hit him as hard as she could.

"You're really getting on my nerves..." Gentov said as he wiped the blood from his face and glared at her. "I'm not about to let you get away with this. You're going down!"

"Try me," Sweetie Drops said with a growl as she fired several more arrows at the monster. "You're going after one of my compatriots and you say I'm getting on your nerves? I've been putting up with you and your ilk for weeks and I've had more than enough of it!"

She kicked at Gentov hard which sent him stumbling back as he tried to ready his whip. The monster struggled to get up before he glared at her.

"I'll get you for this..." he said with a growl. "But mark my words, this is far from over. I'll be back!"

He vanished into thin air just as Sweetie Drops prepared for another energy arrow. Sweetie Drops groaned as she lowered her bow.

"Are you two okay in there?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Lyra said in her head. "Figures really, these monsters seem to be cowards more than anything else. Why do you think he's after Stone?"

"I honestly have no idea," Sweetie Drops said as she shook her head. "I should call headquarters and see if they have any ideas. For now, stay with him up there and we'll get some back-up sent over here."

"Looks like it's another fun date, huh Bon Bon?" Lyra asked sarcastically as Sweetie Drops rolled her eyes a little and powered down.

"She's enjoying this way too much," she muttered to herself as she reached into her pocket and took out her phone and dialed Fancy Pants' number. This was going to be a hard one to explain.

00000

"You're kidding, why was Stone targetted?" Scootaloo asked as she spoke into the phone. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked up confused and then concerned when they realized what she was talking about.

"We don't know yet," Fleur said on the other end. "Stone Breaker has been working for us for years, but it's all hush hush. There should be no way that anyone knows about him."

"Yeah... this is weird..." Scootaloo said. "I'm putting you on speakerphone, maybe we can figure something out if we put our heads together."

She set the phone down and hit the speakerphone option as Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom headed over to them.

"So, what happened when he was attacked?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Luckily, Sweetie Drops was in the area with Lyra and they were able to intercept the monster before it could do anything," Fleur replied. "It's hard to determine exactly what got the monster's attention. I'm afraid that we're completely in the dark here."

"Is it possible that there's a spy at SMILE or somethin'?" Apple Bloom suggested. "Ah mean, if only folks inside tha agency or their allies know what Stone does, then maybe tha Order found out somehow."

"We've considered the possibility before, but we've never found concrete evidence," Fleur said with a sigh. "They're certainly up to something. The fact of the matter is that the Order has been able to infiltrate us in the past."

"Right..." Sweetie Belle said as she remembered back to the encounter with the Mantis Fangire/Order Agent Hybrid monster for a moment. "So it's possible that we do have a spy within our ranks?"

"Maybe, but we have to make sure that we're careful either way," Fleur answered. "We'll keep an eye out for things on our end. Right now I need you all to stay on guard, we don't know what might happen next. We're going to move Stone into the headquarters safe rooms to make sure that everything is okay. Are you going to be okay out there?"

"Yeah, we should be fine, I'll keep us safe," Scootaloo said with a nod as she looked at her friends and gave them each a smile.

"What monster was it?" Apple Bloom asked.

"That would be the Nine of Wands," Fleur answered. "That's the highest one that's appeared in the current fight with the Order. We've encountered higher before, but..."

"But that was last time, right," Scootaloo finished with a sigh. "This isn't going to be easy, is it? I mean, that Skinwalker freak kind of gave me a hard time."

"Yes, well this time you're not going to be facing it alone, let's just hope we're going to be enough," Fleur said.

"What about Death?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Is it possible that she could show up to help us out if we need it?"

"Possible, but unknown at this point," Fleur replied. "Death is something of an enigma, there's not a lot we really know about her. She may appear and help out or she may not."

"Not to mention there's still that odd Scorpion Rider out there, and... him," Scootaloo said with a sigh as she remembered what happened recently with Granforca. "We've got a lot of enemies out there."

"Yeah, but we're gonna be fine," Apple Bloom said. "All we need ta do is figure out how ta stop them once and fer all, right? Ah just don't know how ta do that..."

"Yes, in theory, they should be stopped like anything else," Fleur said. "We also have to figure out why the Scorpion Rider followed you to Alchemy's world and how she even knew you were there."

“Yeah, that was weird,” Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. “Who even is that Rider? Something about all of this feels, weird. Like we’re only getting half the story here.”

“We’re still working on that, but it seems like whoever it is is hidden from our scanners,” Fleur answered. “I’m starting to think that we’re being played here. Be careful, I don’t like this and I don’t want anything to happen to you Scootaloo. Let me know if anything comes, up okay?”

“Okay,” Scootaloo said with a sigh as Fleur hung up. “Here we go again, seems like we can’t ever just have a normal day.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Apple Bloom said with a sigh. “So, what do ya’ll think we should do now? Ah mean, there’s not a lot of options left right now.”

“Honestly? I have no idea,” Scootaloo admitted with a sigh as she looked between the two of them for a moment. “I’m scared honestly. There’s not a lot of things that we completely understand about what’s going on and if this is a Nine of Wands monster then we’re going to have problems.”

“The Order is definitely gettin’ bolder if they’re sendin’ monsters after someone workin’ fer SMILE,” Apple Bloom said with a shake of her head. “Ah don’t like it, it’s bad enough that they go after us but at least we have yah ta help us out. Ah don’t even know what ta think about all of this.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Scootoaloo said with a sigh as she reached over and picked up the Justice card. The image of the woman holding the sword and scales. “Why did you pick me…”

“Hmm?” Sweetie Belle asked as she looked up at her fiance.

“Something I’ve been wondering about for a while is all,” Scootaloo said as she stared at the card for a long moment. “I’m not some fighter or warrior or anything. While I’m starting to realize that I can and need to do this, I just have to wonder why me of all people.”

“Yeah, it’s weird,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah’m guessin’ it latched onto yah because of everythin’ that happened before. Though that doesn’t answer one question.”

“Exactly why was the Justice card not in the possession of the Order, right?” Sweetie Belle asked and Apple Bloom nodded. “Yeah, that is weird. Is it possible that it defected from them or something?”

“Maybe,” Scootaloo said as she stared at the card for a long moment. It hadn’t occurred to her until now how little they actually knew about the Order and their motivations. They had been plaguing them for weeks at this point and there wasn’t a lot any of them actually knew about the Order. “Maybe if we can find that Kamen Rider Death lady she can help us out.”

“Right, because talkin’ ta tha lady literally named Death is such a good idea,” Apple Bloom said with a shake of her head.

“I’m pretty sure it’s Death in the Tarot sense,” Sweetie Belle said. “I think I remember reading somewhere that the Death card symbolizes change and transition so it’s usually a positive card.”

“She dresses in black and her helmet looks like a human skull,” Apple Bloom pointed out. “Ah’m just sayin’, there’s somethin’ kinda unsettlin’ about that.”

“Yeah, that is kind of weird,” Scootaloo agreed with a sigh. “Well right now it’s kind of pointless since we don’t even know where she is. For now, we just need to figure out what our next step is going to be if we’re going to stop this latest monster.”

“What does the Nine of Wands mean anyway?” Sweetie asked as Apple Bloom took out her phone and looked it up.

“Paranoia and inner resources and struggle,” Apple Bloom read off the website. “That doesn’t exactly narrow it down, does it?”

“No, not really,” Sweetie Belle said with a sigh. “Let’s just hope that whoever it is we’ll be able to figure it out before they hurt Stone or anyone else.”

00000

“Agent Breaker, do you have any idea why the Order was going after you?” Fancy Pants asked as he leaned on his desk and eyed Stone for a moment.

“No sir, I don’t,” Stone said with a shake of his head. “I’m honestly just as confused as you are. I think they assumed that I was someone else. Or perhaps they somehow know about my projects with the Rider bikes.”

“At this point, we have to consider all the possibilities,” Fancy Pants said. “The fact of the matter is that we don’t know exactly what’s going on with the Order. Fleur has already considered the possibility that we might have a spy in our midst, however, I’m not quite so sure. Has there been anyone who is a little too interested in your work maybe?”

“Possibly,” Stone said with a sigh. “I’ve been doing what I can to make sure that the bikes are ready in the event that they’re needed. Sometimes I’ve needed people to go get equipment from local shops while I work. There are a lot of options for what could’ve happened. Not to mention the pieces of missing equipment.”

“Yes, we’re already very much aware of that,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh. “Some of it can be explained, but others not so much. If there is a spy in our midst, we’re going to have to do what we can to make sure that they don’t get any further information out to the Order.”

“So what are you going to do?” Stone asked.

“The only thing we can do at the moment,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh. “I’m going to call back all Agents and do a full lockdown of the base while we do searches and interrogations. We need to make sure that we rule out all the possibilities.”

“And what about Scootaloo and her friends?” Stone asked.

“That’s going to be tricky, they’re technically civilians so they’re not required to be part of the lockdown,” Fancy Pants said. “But if they might know anything they really should be involved. On the other hand though, if the monster is still out there then we’re going to need her out there too.”

“If they’re going after me, then I’ll just be putting everyone here in danger,” Stone pointed out. “I don’t like this honestly, it feels like we’re just trapping ourselves here for the monsters.”

“Agent Drops will be here,” Fancy Pants said with a sigh. “We’ll manage somehow, right now there isn’t a lot of options we have.”

“I just hope you’re right,” Stone said with a sigh. “I guess I should get back to work on the bike upgrades. I need to get these done for the Riders, it may be able to help deal with Gentov.”

“Are you sure you’re feeling up for this?” Fancy Pants asked with a concerned look on his face. “You’re being threatened by a monster and you want to get back to work on finishing this project?”

“Yes, well I need something to focus my mind on,” Stone said with a shake of his head. “I just need to get this done.”

“Alright, I’ll have Agent Drops stay with you,” Fancy Pants said with a nod. “You’re dismissed, let me know if you manage to get any progress done on the upgrade.”

Stone nodded and headed back out of the office and towards the elevator. He hit the down button and it opened a few seconds later before he hit the button for his floor. It stopped on the next floor and an agent dressed in body armor walked in and glanced at him for a moment.

Stone shuddered a little as if he got a strange feeling from him. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something about this Agent that creeped him out. They stood there awkwardly for a moment as Stone glanced at the man for a moment.

The elevator stopped just short of his floor as the man walked off. He stopped for a moment and glanced back at Stone who quickly hit the door close button.

That unsettled him more than anything, he made a note of it for later.

00000

“I don’t like this,” Granforca grumbled as he sat next to Kuagua. “It feels like we’re on a wild goose chase right now.”

“How about a joke then?” Kuagua said with a groan. “See, there’s these two mental…”

“You’re still telling that old joke? Get some new material already,” Granforca said with a groan. He felt like he wanted to punch the annoying harlequin sitting next to him, but he knew that would only get him into trouble and likely thrown back into prison.

“Alright fine,” Kuagua said as he looked thoughtful for a moment. “Okay, there are these two old guys in a nursing home, both have been lifelong friends and fans of baseball. So they make a pact with one another that whoever dies first will somehow get word back to the other as to whether or not there is Baseball in Heaven. So after one of them, let’s call him Frank, dies his buddy, let’s call him Bob, is asleep one night when he hears the ghostly voice of Frank. Frank says, ‘I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. The good news is that there is baseball in Heaven. The bad news is that you’re starting pitcher for next week’s game.’”

Granforca just stared at him for a moment before breaking out into deep laughter. Kuagua just chuckled a little at that before finally, their communication device went off.

“Report,” Granforca said as he activated it.

“I found the primary target, however, one of the Riders took them back to their headquarters,” Gentov’s voice said on the other end. “I doubt they’re going to let me just walk in, what are your orders?”

“Go and deal with the Riders,” Granforca said. “We’ll worry about the target.”

“Understood,” Gentov said. “I will make sure that the Riders are dealt with once and for all.”

“Make sure that you do,” Granforca said as he turned off the communicator. “Thirteen years since the last attempt and the agents are still rather…”

“Lackluster?” Kuagua asked and Granforca shrugged. “Well, it still furthers our plans towards the Convergence. I’m sure that everything will work out once that begins.”

“You’d better be right,” Granforca said as he reached down and took out a bottle and two glasses as he poured the drinks. “We’re on the verge of our operation being carried out at least. He won’t be able to hide forever.”

“Indeed,” Kuagua said as he picked his glass and held it up as they tapped them together. “To the Convergence.”

“To the Convergence,” Granforca said as the two of them took a drink.