//------------------------------// // Episode 11 - The Red Rider // Story: Kamen Rider Bass // by Noise //------------------------------// "Bolt, I want you to take a look at this. It's another text from Rewind. ...This one is different from the other ones he's been harassing me with. ...Just, come over as soon as possible and take a look at this… I don't like it..." Twilight hung up and pulled up her messaging app again, staring down at her recently received message. Do not forget to take the Flight Driver before you leave. --- "I toldja you'd love em, Scoots. I've been collecting the Mighty Morphin’ Equine Rangers comics and books for as long as I can remember. You can read em any time you want." The excited little Scootaloo. She hugged the small stack of comics handed to her. "Thanks, Rainbow Dash!" She looked up at her idol. "But even the Power Ponies aren't as cool as you! You're a real superhero now!" Rainbow Dash rustled Scootaloo's hair a little. "Yeah yeah, I'm awesome, I know." "Oh! By the way. Someone came looking for you the other day?" Rainbow kept her carefree expression, but a little bit of anger was welling up inside her. "Someone was looking for me?" "Yeah. It some lady with purple hair. She was really nice. She even gave us money for ice cream." "What did she want with me?" Scootaloo shrugged. "I dunno. She just asked if you were in and if any of us knew where you were...is something wrong?" Rainbow quickly shook her head. "Naw. Probably just someone who figured out that I'm Blitz and wants an autograph or something. No big deal. Alright, hope you enjoy the rest of the series Scoots. I'll drop by again soon, alright?" "Alright." Rainbow made her way to her window, opened it, and climbed out. She hung on the other side of the ledge and ready to jump down. "W-Wait! Rainbow Dash!" She pulled herself up a bit while hanging on to the outer window sill as Scootaloo called out to her. "Hurry up, this ain’t comfortable." Scootaloo ran to the window. "You'll be able to make it back here the day after tomorrow right? I-I mean, t-that's whe-" "Your birthday, I know. C'mon Scoots. You really think I'd forget something important like that? Relax, I'm not gonna forget about you, or anyone else alright? You're like a little sister to me, Scoots. I'll definitely be here for your birthday. I already gotcha something real nice. I wanna be there to watch you freak out over it." "Thanks! You're the best Rainbow Dash!" "Heh, I know. Anyway, I'll catch ya later. Oh, and if someone else comes by asking about me, just tell them that I haven't come by in awhile. Later." Rainbow let go of the second story window and landed on the ground below. She waved up at the window to Scootaloo as she walked off. --- "Okay, ah think I've finally gotten th' hang of how this whole monitor business works. So we're basically their eyes in the sky, right?" Ditzy nodded. "Yep! If any odd activity happens, we let the others know. I prefer to let Bolt know first before I call anyone else." "Tch. That jackass? What makes him yer first go to?" "He's got a motorcycle, so he tends to mobilize a lot faster than the others. He also tends to just wander around when he's not doing anything. I've never been a hundred percent sure on what he does, but if something ever happens, he could be the closest one there...or...that used to be the case. Now he hangs out at Twilight's place a lot. I'm starting to think she likes him maybe. Come to think of it, he's never once mentioned where he lives. I wonder if he just doesn't trust us or so-" Applejack gave Ditzy a light pat on the shoulder. "Woah there girl, yer startin to ramble. So what about that Rainbow Dash that everyone's suddenly on about?" "She's the one who currently has the Flight Driver. The Doctor wants to see if we can get her to join us. If she doesn't...then, we're going to have to take the Driver from her. We found the Noise Driver yesterday as well. According to others, she refused to join us. The last one we need to locate is the Music Driver. She's been the craftiest so far. She figured out how to avoid us and even helped Noise figure out how to do it too." "And we don't know who those two are?" "No…” Ditzy solemnly answered, slumping over slightly before perking back up, “But we do have a few possible leads on who Music is. Twilight is still investigating the list of suspects we have. We found Rainbow Dash easily because of how careless she was. She made a Twitter, she let herself get interviewed on the news, and she even let people take pictures of her. We even found a few loose bits of information from the internet that people were posting, and we were able to figure it out from there. It wasn't too hard. Twilight went looking for her, but she's pretty hard to find." "How hard could it be? Don't we got access to every camera in Manehattan?" Applejack gestured towards monitors to her side as she glanced over at one. Ditzy sighed. "Yeah, but we can't exactly just channel surf through thousands and thousands of cameras scattered all over Manehattan and expect to find her. We'd have to know what general area she's in, and she's apparently been wandering all over the city. Right now, we just have to wait for another Changeling to appear and hope Rainbow Dash shows up." "Ah. I getcha. So now we pretty much just wait?" Ditzy nodded. "Mhm. We have drinks and food if you get hungry." --- Vinyl sat down with her brother at the Starry Brew Cafe, grabbing herself her usual hot chocolate. Lyra noticed Vinyl and sat down with them, despite not being on break. "Hey Vinyl. Who's your friend?" "This is my brother Longplay. LP for short. He's visiting for the week. Also...might as well get this outta the way. He kinda found out about my little situation..." Lyra stared at her for a moment. "...which situation? I wanna make sure we're on the same page before I say something horrible." "The Rider thing. He kinda found out while I was flipping out over the Featherweight thing." Lyra let out a sigh of relief. "Okay good. I had a feeling that was it but I didn't want to say anything unless I was completely sure. Anyway, hi My name is Lyra Heartstrings. Nice to meet you, Longplay." He smiled and shook her hand. "So, you two just friends or are you two together?" Vinyl nearly choked on her drink and kicked him in the shins when she had recovered. "Dude." He rubbed his sore shin. "Ow! Bitch! Don't need to get all defensive about it." Lyra laughed. "Haha, no. We're just friends." Vinyl sighed. "Sorry, he does this a lot. He's kind of a douche." "Hey, I'm just concerned about my dearest little sister. I just want to see her hook up with a nice guy or girl and be happy together. Is that so wrong?" Longplay retorted, pretending to look sad. "Yes. It is when you're overly straight forward about it to everyone. Look, I have things to do today. I got someone to talk to and a gig to get ready for around six. I mostly came here to get a drink. Lyra, I met with those other Riders yesterday. Long story short, they asked me to join. I turned em down and they told me they'd fight me next time. They still don't know who either of us are, so be careful. That's mostly what I came here to tell ya." She got up from the booth with her drink and gave a quick wave to Lyra as she left. "You're free to keep babysitting my dumbass brother. I'll see you later." Lyra got up as well. "Sorry, I wasn't actually on break or anything. Gotta get back to work before Rarity gets on my case. I'll catch you later. It was nice meeting you." She quickly made her way back to the front counter as Longplay also decided to leave the cafe to go sightseeing. Two hours had passed since. Lyra just sat down for her break with a cookie and a cup of water. She spent most of her time people watching through the window. Ten minutes before her break was over, a particular customer caught her eye. Entering the store was a purple haired woman. She approached the front counter and was speaking to Rarity, showing her a picture. Rarity said something and pointed at Lyra, prompting the woman to bow and make her way to Lyra's table. Lyra noticed a look of concern on Rarity's face as she kept her eyes on Lyra's table. "Excuse me, Lyra Heartstrings, correct?" Lyra pushed her cup aside and gesture for the woman to sit across from her. "Yes. Can I help you?" The woman sat down. "Yes. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind." "Sure, what's up?" "I'd like to ask you where you were on the twentieth of June." "Hmm..." Lyra leaned back seat, staring up at the ceiling as she retraced her memories. "I believe I was at school that day. I did go there twice about a few days ago, maybe a week." "I see. Can you tell me what exactly you were doing there?" "I was seeing if I could find an old picture that I had hid on campus a few years ago. Sounds a bit odd, but it was something a friend of mine and I did back then. We wanted to confirm a silly little theory of ours. Unfortunately, I think it was found and thrown out by a janitor or something long ago. Why, something wrong?" Lyra responded casually. "Not exactly. Let's just say, I'm trying to track something down. You see, I lost something valuable...well, three valuable items actually. I know where the first two are and I plan to pick them up soon. Right now, I'm trying to locate where the last one is, and I think someone has it." "That just sounds ominous. What makes you think your valuable thing was at my school? You a student there or something?" Twilight nodded. "No. But I have reason to believe that one of them may have ended up somewhere in your school. I've been searching for awhile now, but for the most part, I've been trying to keep the identity of the missing items a secret. I don't want other students knowing. I might never get them back if they did. Can't hurt to be cautious. They are really precious to me." "I see. I'd be willing to help you if you want. My break is almost over. If you want to come back later, I get off in two hours." Twilight shook her head. "No need to worry about that. I spoke with your manager briefly. You do not need to work the remainder of your shift, but you will be paid for it. You can ask her to verify this if you wish." "Now that just sounds really ominous. You working for the FBI or something?" "Possibly." Twilight responded in a sing-song manner. "Those missing items are quite valuable. I would like to get them back as soon as possible. You might have some information that can help me. I'd like you to answer a few more questions for me please. If you would like, I can get you some food as while we talk. I don't want to come off as intimidating." "I'm okay answering some more questions while we eat lunch. Anything to help you get your stuff back. And don't worry, you're not coming off as scary." She cocked her head slightly and smiled innocently. "You know what they say. If you've done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to fear." On the other side of the cafe, a fiery haired woman was waiting at an empty table, her head resting on her hand. She had been growing irritated by the events unfolding at the table behind her. A man had sat down at some shy woman's table uninvited and was hassling her nonstop. Having been subjected to this for five minutes, she finally had enough. She took a deep breath and got up and approached the table, keeping her hands in her pocket. "Excuse me, I had a crappy morning. I've had to listen to some stupid couple screaming at each other all morning in the apartment across from me and all I want right now is a few bagels. I am in no mood for this garbage, so allow me to speed up this process. She doesn't want anything to do with you, so stop acting like an enormous tool and leave her alone before I shut your mouth for you." The shy woman looked even more nervous as her situation seemed to have gotten even worse. The man appeared to be annoyed, but kept a cool, collected face. "Listen, lady. No one asked you for your life st-" The fiery haired woman quickly pivoted around on her left foot, spinning herself around quickly and slamming her right foot against his face, sending him and his chair falling on their backs. This quickly gained the attention of the entire cafe. She ignored everyone else and grabbed the man writhing on the floor and pulled him up to his feet, holding him up by the back of his shirt collar and presenting him in front of the shy woman. "Now apologize to her. And don't try pulling the tough guy shit. I'm not telling you twice." She warned in a calm voice. The man didn't want to risk anything with her at the moment and quickly complied with her demand. "I-I'm sorry." She promptly dragged him towards the counter, where the employees were also watching the commotion. "Now apologize to them for harassing their customers and promise them you'll never do it again." "I-I'm sorry. I-I'll ne-" She gave the man a quick shake. "You're sorry for what?" "I'm sorry for harassing one of your customers and I promise I'll never do it again." "Good," She shoved him off to the side. "Now, if I ever see you pulling that crap here again, I'm putting you in the hospital and you better believe I'm going to make you apologize to the hospital staff for wasting their time too." The man left the cafe embarrassed, and nursing his bleeding mouth. Rarity watched the man leave and walked forward to the counter, handing the woman a bag. "Here are your bagels, miss. Now I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I don't want any violence in here, understand?" The woman nodded politely. "Understood." The shy woman poked her gently on the back. "Excuse me. You didn't have to go that far, but thank you for getting rid of him." The fiery haired woman turned and glared at her. "You're just lucky I despise people like him. Grow a damn spine. Next time, I won't be there to babysit your ass." She turned and left. --- "So, those are my ideas. Whattya think? Would you be able to do any of those?" "I believe your first idea would be doable. I know quite a few skilled engineers would probably be able to put something like this together...I would, however, like you to explain to me how I would go about requesting such a thing without sounding...strange, or suspicious." Fancypants remarked as he looked over Vinyl's crude drawings. "You're a fancy rich dude. You don't gotta explain nothing. Just say you want that made and throw em some money and bam, problem solved." Fancypants sighed. "I'm afraid it's not that simple. Having the money to afford these kinds of commissions doesn't mean no one will question me or my intentions. What would you say if some gentleman came to you asking for such a machine?" "I'd think that guy was that one comic book hero. What's his name again? I know they call him 'The Dark Knight' or whatever, but that's just his title or whatever. I can't remember his actual name." "And that is precisely what I don't want people to think." He placed her drawings on the table and sat down. "I told you I would assist you in anyway I could for saving my life, and I intend to follow through on my word, but I'm going to need some kind of explanation to give." Vinyl paced around the room thinking of viable reasons. Despite her taking the issue lightly before, she was quickly realizing how difficult it was to explain commissioning a motorcycle that could change it's shape while driving, emit a blinding flash on command, and emit an electro-magnetic pulse strong enough to disable nearby electronics. She eventually gave up on trying to think up reasons. "Okay, just go with the truth. Tell em that 'white hero' asked you to commission it for her. Tell em that I gave you that money and that you don't know my real identity. See how far that gets you. I mean, I saved a whole room o' rich people, so maybe they'll want to help out or something. S'all I got. So how 'bout it. Can you do it?" He shrugged and placed Vinyl's designs in his coat pocket. "I'll see what I can do. I have a small matter to attend to first, but I can assure you that afterward, this shall be my main concern. I will call you later with the results." "Thanks again man. I got a gig later today, so if you call me during, I'll just call ya back when I get the chance." Fancypants nodded. "Alright. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready." "You're the best! I gotta head out and get ready too. I'll see ya later!" --- "You should see her shortly. She evidently didn't move far from the orphanage from whenever her last visit was today. We found her in the camera feed just standing outside that gas station. She's barely moved for some time. We're not entirely sure what she's doing there. Don't worry too much about bystanders. As long as they aren't in the crossfire, then it'll be fine. Traffic is being rerouted as we speak, courtesy of Ditzy, so you won't need to worry about that either. We'll take care of damage control later. At most, we can assure your identity won't appear in the media or in anywhere else." --- "Dad, wake up, it's two in the afternoon already, don't you have to go to practice? ...Dad!? Dad wake up already, you’re scaring me! Dad!?” --- “No! He can't be... N-no! He has a game to play next week! You're a doctor! You can help him! Help him please! Give him some medicine or something!” --- "What are you staring at? Just leave me alone." "I'm sorry. I-I was just gonna...um...I brought you some candy. I-it's from Halloween last year. Miss Cheerilee let's us have a little bit every day, but I know where she hides them, so I like to sneak a few sometimes. I figured you might want some m-maybe?" "What the hell is that supposed to mean!? My dad's dead! I don't want any freaking candy!" "I-I'm sorry! That's all I could think of! I'm sorry!" "..." "I'm sorry...I don't know what that's like...I never knew my parents..." --- Rainbow Dash was leaning on the wall of a small gas station. She was staring down at the ground, one hand clutching her other arm while the other hung limp at her side. She was broken out of her trance by a small paper suddenly entering her view. She noticed a hand attached to the paper. Giving the man in front of her a quick, cautious glare, she started to read the note. Excuse me, Rainbow Dash. I am here to take that Driver back. If you resist, I will have to use force. Rainbow stepped off to the side, immediately wanting to get off the wall and into an open space. "What the hell is this garbage!? You threaten me on paper!? Can't tell me yourself!?" The man pulled out a small notepad and quickly scrawled out a message, tore off the paper and held it out. Rainbow cautiously approached him, snatched the paper away and reestablished her distance from him. I cannot. I am deaf. Unless you know sign language, this is the only way I can communicate with you. She crumpled up the note and tossed it aside. "Ya gotta be kidding me. They're trying to guilt trip me now!? No dice. Ya got two seconds to get outta here or I'm not holding back. I'm in a shitty mood right now." The man wrote another note, crumpled it up and tossed it to her. I won't hold back either. Rainbow looked up from the note and saw what she quickly assumed to be a Driver now around his waist. It featured a belt and a large apple shaped belt buckle with a few small grooves in the center. The man cracked his knuckles, which made a sound loud enough to make Rainbow cringe, and grabbed the center of his Driver. Placing his fingers inside the small grooves in the center, he pulled from both ends with full force. It took a few seconds, but he managed to split the apple in half and pulled the two halves a small distance to the side, revealing a small yellow core in the center. The belt suddenly spoke as the Driver was opened. "TRANSFORM" A bright red armor materialized around the man, completely covering him and hiding his face in helmet complete with large eye-like protrusions. Attached to his back was a large metal block of some kind. He pulled it off his back with one hand and let it drop to the ground in front of him. The block was heavy enough to break the concrete. The belt spoke again. "ENGAGE, BIG IMPACT!" A long pole shot out quickly from the block, essentially turning the heavy block into a big hammer. The man picked it up and readied it with both hands. "So that's how it's going to be. Fine! I already beat one of you! I can kick your ass too!" Rainbow thrust her arms down, crossing them and pushing the wings on her Driver down and thrust her arm up to the sky. "TRANSFORM!" She pulled two metal feathers from her wings and ran them between her arms and body, hardening them and making them razor sharp. "Hope you're better then than the last chick you sent after me!" She recklessly dashed towards the Red Rider. He patiently waited until Rainbow was close enough and swung his hammer upward to catch her. Rainbow jumped back and used her wings to stop her midair. "And gotcha!" She propelled herself forward with her blades crossed and ready to slice. The Red Rider quickly brought his hammer down to meet her blades. The force of his hammer was too great and sent Rainbow flying back. She was able to right herself and slide along the ground to prevent further damage. "Dammit, stronger than ya look. Didn't think you'd be able to swing that thing around so fast. How about this!" She pulled out her pistol and fired a few shots at the Rider, he took a few hits and staggered back slightly. He held his hammer up and his belt spoke again. "ENGAGE, BIG WAVE!" The hammer head began to surge with electricity as he brought down with full force to the ground, sending electrified concrete shrapnel flying towards Rainbow. She quickly rolled to the side, barely evading the attack. "Dammit, he's got an answer to that too. I'll just have to find a way in!" She holstered her pistol and charged back towards the Red Rider. He swung upward again once she was close enough. This time, Rainbow stopped herself leaning back to avoid the swing and dashed forward, using her wings to propel herself around him and avoid his second swing. She slashed across his back with her blades, causing the Red Rider to stagger forward a little, but he quickly regained his footing and swung his body and hammer around. Rainbow quickly leapt back to evade and propelled herself towards him again. The Red Rider removed one of his hands from the hammer and punched her in the gut. She staggered back, making sure to keep enough distance between the two as she recovered from the blow. The hammer was back in both hands and the Rider was now walking towards her. Rainbow ran back into the fray, this time staying just out of range of his hammer and trying to land single slashes with her blades. Every attempt was either blocked by the hammer or cut short when she found herself needing to back off. She leapt over his head with a strong flap of her wings and aimed for his head. The Red Rider leaned back while swinging his hammer in a large arc over him. Rainbow was slightly caught off guard, but was able to block with her blades and was sent flying back a bit. He rolled quickly and readied his hammer again as Rainbow had already recovered and made her way back into range. He lunged his foot forward to keep the angry Rainbow away, an attack she easily sidestepped, but her counter was cut short by the Red Rider thrusting the pole of his hammer into her, pushing her away. Not particularly hurt by his push, she quickly went back to trying to rush him down. He swung his hammer in a wide horizontal arc to catch her approach. Rainbow slid under him, using her wings to push her all the way behind him. He used the momentum of his current swing and drove his hammer straight into the ground behind him. The hammer head landed a few inches away from her. She ignored the failed counter and quickly got up for another attack at his back. "ENGAGE, BIG SHOCK!" The hammer released a large burst of electricity, shocking Rainbow and launching her on to the street. Rainbow's breathing was getting heavy. She used a blade to help her to get to her knees. "D-dammit... I can't get close to him long enough to hit him..." She glanced up at the Rider, who was slowly making his way towards her and muttered to herself, "Ngh, I can't beat him right now. Not like this..." She pulled herself up, spread her wings and flew off . The Red Rider's hammer retracted it's long handle and he placed the head on his back. He disengaged his transformation and placed a hand to his earpiece as a call came in. "That was fantastic Big Mac! You were able to fight equally against Flight, and your first real fight no less. That's all we can do for now, we can't exactly chase her in the air. Traffic is gonna start flowing back through there soon. Oh, and don't worry about the cameras around that gas station. The footage has already been erased. Your sister is already on the way to bring you back. Great job today.” --- Vinyl was in the passenger seat of Trixie's car, when she received a call from Lyra. "Wassup?" "Some interesting things happened today. You alone right now?" "Naw, finished a gig. Roommate's givin' me a ride back. We're just about home. What's up?" "Okay, as long as she can't hear me, then I can at least say some things. Just stay calm and don't over react." "I already love where this is going." Vinyl sarcastically remarked. "Yep. I met a girl today. Her name was Twilight Sparkle. You might have already met her. Long story short, she kinda interrogated me a little and after a bit of misleading, we kinda just had a nice talk. We even exchanged numbers. Oh, this all happened after you and your brother left by the way. There was also this crazy chick who kicked some guy's butt, but I'll tell ya that later. It's not important.” Vinyl was suppressing the desire to call her insane and slap her, but remained quiet for the sake of not acting odd near Trixie. "Anyway, one of the main reasons I got her number is because of security reasons. I believe we can use her to our advantage. She thinks that we're both just random innocent people, so as long as we're careful, we could possibly get some information from her. You did mention that you had a clone of you walking around right? You should try asking about it. Maybe she has some information on that other you. I'll ask her for you if you're too scared." "Aright I guess, we could ask her about that, but you're doing most of the talking." "Kay. We should meet up at my place tomorrow. I don't work that day." "Aright, sounds like a plan. Just don't be calling me until like...one or two. I hate waking up early." "Fine. See ya then." She ended the call and slipped her phone into her pocket. "What was that about?" Trixie asked as she kept her eyes fixed on the road. "Oh. That was a friend of mine. We're probably gonna be meeting with a friend of hers about something. Nothing important." "You've been out and about the last few days. Usually you're just vegging out in your room for hours on end. What's suddenly got you so active?" "I uh, you know...I met this girl at a place I was DJ'ing at recently. We talked a bit and she seemed cool so we decided to hang out. That's about it." Despite being a lie, Vinyl couldn't help but realize how it was somewhat true. "And here I was thinking you had no friends. I guess anything's possible." Trixie remarked as she parked. "Whatever. I'll bring my stuff inside in just a bit. I gotta make a call. I'll lock the van when I'm done." "Don't take too long." Trixie got out of her van and walked to their room. Vinyl waited until she closed the door before she pulled out her phone again, replying to a missed call. "Sorry that took so long, what's the update, Fancy Pants?" "Well, lucky for you, that managed to go off surprisingly well. She wanted me to assure you that it would only take a few days. I will give you call when it is ready." "Awesome! Who's building the thing anyway?" "A spunky young lady by the name of, Wildfire. I had nearly forgotten how much she loved working on...ambitious projects like these. She assured me that she will be able to provide you with everything you asked." "Thanks again, Fancy Pants." "Not a problem at all. Now then, I apologize, but if that is all, I would like to catch up on some reading." "Oh! Sure! Sorry 'bout the late call. Night, dude." "Good night, Miss Scratch." --- Rainbow had been sitting on the roof of a small sporting goods store sitting just across the street from a skyscraper. She had been laying down, resting after her painful encounter earlier. She sat up, finally feeling a little bit better after a few hours of rest on a somewhat uncomfortable surface, and reached for her phone. "...Hello? ...Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry. Everything's still set for this Friday right? ...Of course I'm being overly obsessive about this, I want it to be great. Hopefully, if I didn't already screw things up with a friend of mine, things might go well. ...I'll deal with that part when the time comes. ...I don't care. I'll deal with that later. Scootaloo's been her whole life...she deserves a nice family, more than anyone. ...Yeah, thanks, whatever. You still have the gift right? ...Perfect. ...Thanks a lot for helping out, Miss Cheerilee. ...Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll be there for sure. I'll see you later, bye." She hung up and began typing a text message. Hey Fluttershy. Listen, I'm sorry about everything and I know this is short notice, but would you and your mom be willing to show up at the Cheesy Cheese's in Middle Manehattan this Friday at 1? There's gonna be a party there and I'd really like you two to be there. Text me back ASAP. She sent the message, slid her phone into her pocket and gently flopped back down on to her back. She let out a long sigh and closed her eyes as she briefly reflected back on the last few days. "Please just let this work." Minutes had passed and she had almost managed to drift off again, when the sound of screaming caught her ear. She quickly got up and ran towards the edge of the roof to see what the commotion was. People were flooding out of a the skyscraper, screaming and fleeing from some unknown terror. "Dammit, why now." A voice called out from behind her. "Hold on there, Dash!" Rainbow quickly turned to find Gilda behind her, calmly walking towards the edge of the roof next to Rainbow. "I got lucky on this one. Found this guy goin' on about wanting to kill someone here. Dumb fuck even told me who he was goin' for. I warned the guy in advance and told him I would save him for a fee. Now I just sit and wait for the call." "What!? You're seriously just gonna let this happen so you can get some money!? What if someone actually gets hurt!?" Gilda rolled her eyes. "Whoop-dee-fucking-doo, Dash. We don't owe anyone shit. Look, just relax, they'll be fine. Dude'll call and we can go in and save the day, get paid, everything will be fine and you can be the big hero and circle jerk it for the cameras, aright? So just chillax and wait." Rainbow slowly shook her head. "I can't believe you Gilda... I'm not gonna sit here and wait, I'm going in!" Gilda quickly grabbed Rainbow by the wrist and pulled her close. "No! You are not gonna fuck this one up for me! I know you can't see the big picture because you get free money every fucking week, but not everyone's that lucky, Dash! I'm fucking sick and tired of living in a shit neighborhood stuck with my shit parents and making shit money, understand!? I swear, I will kick your ass before I let you ruin this for me!" The two stared each other down for a moment, exchanging hateful scowls until Rainbow finally took the initiative. A quick punch to the gut caught Gilda off guard, giving Rainbow the chance to kick her in the stomach, freeing herself from Gilda's grasp and getting some distance from her. "D-dammit! Dash! Why do you have to keep screwing me over on this!" Rainbow pushed the wings on her Driver down. "So no one has to go through what I did. Especially not just so you can get some quick cash." She ran and leapt off the roof as her armor materialized around her, and took flight towards the skyscraper. Gilda was furious. She unleashed a storm of random cursing until she finally got tired and climbed down the roof access ladder. She lit a cigarette and slammed her fist against the wall. "I'm going to have to fix this problem one way or another!" --- "My plan is as simple as this, Miss Tiara." "Hmhmhm. You even mapped out key points on every continent. I'm impressed. You're definitely the real deal, Chrysalis." "I will accomplish my goal as swiftly and precisely as possible. Now then, are your men capable of creating these to my exact specifications? If it is too much in any area, I can adjust the distribution to accommodate." "There will be no need for that. I approve of your plan and I assure you that no expenses will be spared in making sure it works exactly as intended. I will have my most trusted butler, Randolph, deliver these immediately." "Absolutely perfect. I appreciate your support, Miss Tiara." "Not a problem. Now, if that's all, I'll be in my private hot spring." "That will be all. Oh, and do let me know if my guest gives you any trouble at all. I will make sure that she behaves herself."