Scene #7849: The Distressed F - The Gospel's Refrain

Owner	Pose
Forte	Have you ever gone trawling for an old webpage? Let's say you need to grab a specific old soundfile off of Bob92's Awesome Shitpost Soundboard. The problem is Bob92's webhost bit the bucket some years back, so the old site simply isn't there anymore. Fortunately there's an archive of the old webhost, but it only has the html files and not the soundfiles - meanwhile someone claims to have the sound files in an archive but they're unlabeled and in an old proprietary format, and the only thing that can read them is behind a paywall or in an invite-only hobbyist discord, and there might be another solution but it's on a question-and-answer website that's suffering major link rot, and- ... anyway. Here's the problem you're facing: there aren't any intact Gospel Research locations in the real world. They've all either been picked over by the cops already, or just repossessed since the institution is no longer paying their bills. There are, however, some locations online. In cyberspace. Which you could access via all clustering around a computer and putting in search terms and clicking on links, or.... ... or, you could actually go there. To Cyberspace. Physically. That is by far the more sure bet, unless someone here knows actual computer tricks. Somewhere in here, in this massive sprawling maze of floating platforms and twisting pathways, is an online Gospel base. Dr. Hikari gave the group what information Scilab has on it - the base is somewhere in the Kotobuki city's region of cyberspace, it has a hidden entrance beneath something else, and it needs a specific action in order to reveal the entrance and then a secret passcode in order to open it. Past that, he's unable to help further - but likely the information you need is somewhere out here. There's chat rooms full of people (literal rooms) and message boards full of information (literal boards, on the wall of a forum building) - and if all else fails, brute forcing is a tried and true method of gaining entry into a site... if a time consuming one. How do you start searching?
Shotaro Hidari	Though the idea of going online is a novel one to the detective, Shotaro does in fact show up. Elsewhere, Philip is sitting at home, on the computer itself supporting from a distance. Though he does speak over the radio, "If we can find some clues, then I might be able to narrow down the search. Right now what we have isn't enough to give me a specific book.." On the other hand, Shotaro does not waste any time. Where there was a defunct criminal organization, there would be unemployed criminals who are likely down on their luck or perhaps trying to brag to inflate their own egos. It is most likely that they won't have the defining clue by themselves, but with enough clues, one can get what they need. Shotaro does this by scouring message boards and chat rooms for rumors and information. Right now, trying to refine a search. If that doesn't work, then he puts the occasional thread in a chat room to try and stir conversation.
Gareth	Since the last venture into Juno's and Bass's homeworld involving way too many .EXEs, Gareth's been doing some research of her own! Namely, expanding her brain matter on how the internet and computers work at least from a basic standpoint. It only goes as far as basic computer usage, but at least this time... She'll know how to safely power down a computer before hijacking it. It might not help much here in the physical Cyberspace, though, considering that the layout of things actually seems a little more familiar to what she's seen already aside from the generally less medieval and more modern outfits going on. She's dressed to blend in as well, donning a headset not unlike those cat-eared sets, but gray and vaguely more wolf-motif'd along with her usual casual outing jacket, scarf, and shorts combo. With her ring, she's also disguised herself a little more with gray hair to match her headset. She doesn't know who may or may not be tracking her, after all, so it doesn't hurt to be careful while investigating! She pokes around those boards to see if there's any mentions of Gospel Research and, if there aren't, leaving messages asking about whether anyone's heard those rumors about Gospel Research. She doesn't actually know if there's rumors going around, of course, but someone's bound to take the bait if she just scatters the messages everywhere she goes. She doesn't wait around to see if anyone takes the bait, but will instead come back to check on them later after just slapping them up everywhere she goes. She's going fast.
Rita Ma	Rita materializes in the cyberworld full of pluck and cheer, dressed in her usual simple "skirt, blouse, and cropped jacket" style. All that cheer lasts long enough for her to look around marvelingly, then disappear instantly when she looks down. Can it really be that far?? Staggering back with a little yelp as if she's been bit, Rita collapses onto the ground and takes a minute to gather her wits. Floating platforms and walkways above an endless colorful void... right. That's manageable, isn't it? Just don't fall. Her body punctuates her long, stressy sigh with an involuntary shiver. But eventually, her hands curl up into little determined fists and she picks herself back up and dusts off her skirt. "Come on. There's no point in even coming here if I'm not going to do anything," she murmurs. After a while of wandering around and taking in the sights, Rita finds a secluded corner where she can fish around in her satchel and pull out a flip-top cellphone. If anyone can tell her about local rumors and secrets, it'll be Kotobuki City's Watch contacts, right? Even so, she studiously looks "anywhere but the void" while chattering on her phone.
Forte	Shotaro finds plenty of rumors, some credible-looking and some distinctly not. Did you know you can make UFO-chan V3 appear by licking every statue in Kotobuki City in the correct order? That might or might not be true, but probably not pertinent to the investigation... ... more promising, a search for 'hidden passages' returns this post from SkateWoman.EXE: <omg you guys I was running errands and streaming music for my operator and I couldn't help but dance along, right, and my favorite song came on and I started dancing to it and this door popped up in front of me and I was so surprised and it was like 'ENTER THE PASSCODE' and I was so surprised and thought I'd done something wrong and I just ran lol, isn't that crazy> Meanwhile, Gareth starts scattering about messages - and gets plenty of abuse in response, with comments calling her a noob, a spammer, or rude. She does get one comment in response, though: <Gospel Research? Dunno, but while heading back to my homepage i used to hear someone saying 'The Gospel's Refrain' when passing by a certain spot. Hasn't happened recently, though, and I'm not sure what spot. Hope this helps!> Directly below that post, someone has commented demanding that Gareth 'post feet', whatever that means. Rita's use of the Watch network gets some information quickly: shady people have been observed coming and going from beneath Hachiko Bridge, in western Kotosquare. ... However, the direct route to the Hachiko Bridge underpass has trouble - a virus infestation, cartoonish monsters attacking anyone who goes by!
Shotaro Hidari	The SkateWoman.EXE rumor is about all he can get, besides occasionally picking up spam from Gareth, which he places firmly on the ignore list. He sends a message out to her. "Where was the door that opened up? Also what song was it?" he asks, before he starts heading towards the bridge that Rita indicated. Shotaro waits for Rita and Gareth to show up first, kicking his heels and waiting for the message to come back first. He also looks over the bridge, looking to see what monsters they were going to have to deal with. Just in case there were going to be more inside.
Gareth	A message to listen for! It's not much on its own, but when taken with the clues found by Shotaro and Rita, Gareth finally has a hunch! She joins up with the group near Hachiko Bridge, still donning her disguise and also a single shoulder pad for some reason. "I don't know about where, but I did hear that there's supposed to be someone saying a thing around here." She replies to Shotaro, already listening out for that particular phrase. She's somewhat distracted, though, by the sight of the viruses gathering around. She purses her lips, then keeps her hands stretched out to her side as if preparing for something. "Let me know when to begin. I'm best suited to the vanguard, after all!" A beat, and then she looks back at Shotaro. "Have you injuries healed up since then? It's been a while, but you should still be careful. You don't want Akiko or Philip worrying, do you?"
Rita Ma	The scary part for Rita isn't the monsters. Well, that's not entirely true: there's still a noticeable degree of apprehension in how she approaches any fight, even ones that "ought" to be easy. It's hard for me to trust this body. It moves almost on its own, so what if it makes mistakes? But a significantly greater fraction of her anxiety comes from the journey over to the bridge itself, navigating narrow walkways and precarious-looking platforms. At one point she hassles a safe-looking navi into holding her hand to cross a particularly nervewracking segment. "It can't really be that dangerous," she mutters. "People walk these paths all the time, right? If it were that risky, nobody would be left. ... So why's it so hard to feel like it's safe? Ugh." She looks tired as she comes into view, until seeing Gareth and Shotaro perks her right back up. Forgetting her worries for a moment, she gives the two of them an over-enthusiastic wave and rushes over. "Ms. Gareth! Mr. Hidari! The bridge has to be somewhere around here, right? Did you find the monsters yet?"
Forte	Response to Shotaro: <Love Love Hibachi Love by V-Risaneko, my all time vaforite tubetuber, lol, I just gotta stomp my feet along to the chorus whenever I hear it> "Here we go, ma'am, I know it's imposing at first but you get used to it quickly, I promise," says the safe-looking blue navi helping Rita. "C'mon, Megaman, we're gonna be laaaate," calls his operator (via a floating window above him). "We wouldn't be late if you hadn't slept through your alarm, Lan," the blue navi chides back as he finishes escorting Rita to the spot, and then goes to leave once she's at her destination. Hachiko bridge isn't that hard to find, especially with Rita scouting ahead with her guide. There's a small maze-like segment to get to the underpass, since nothing can ever be easy to navigate to here, and past that there's a selection of random-encounter viruses to deal with... ... and past those, there's the actual underpass. It looks entirely nondescript, like any other bridge underpass. No notable features. Possibly a sizeable gap in the architecture where a hidden passage might be, but that could be true of every underpass.
Shotaro Hidari	Shotaro blinks when a blue guy shows up with Rita, he gives her a wave. "Good kid," he says, once he's off, and shrugs. "Alright, down we go?" Shotaro says, and the moment they hit the maze section, is when Shotaro shines. How is Shotaro good at mazes? "Shoooootaro, I can't figure this out?" says his manager, who throws a book of puzzles at him, while he's trying to file some paperwork away. He raises his brow, but is immediately cut off, "Or you can take the business out of here!" Now, Shotaro mutters something about a bratty countrywoman, before they're engaged with Viruses. Shotaro is good on his hand to hand too, using it to engage the closest viruses, and proceed to use maneuvers to place them on their backs, before stomping down.
Gareth	Spotting Rita just as the blue stranger is leaving, Gareth breaks into a bright smile (again) as she waves her over in greeting. "Riiiita! Hello! Did you get here okay?" She asks, already assuming the answer is yes thanks to Rita physically being here already. "It looks like the viruses are scattered all over the place, but..." She looks like she's about ready to bust out her lance and shield, but instead, she busts out.. Gareth.EXE! "Might as well conserve our strength while we can, yes?" She recommends as she lets the Navi developed from Juno's phone handle to grunt work for the time being, watching it just go ham with all sorts of fancy flashing lights that still amount to a whole lot of bashing and stabbing. With how dull the underpass looks, though, Gareth very nearly walks right past the thing entirely. It's only when she realizes that they're actually there that she finally starts listening for... THE SOUND. "Someone's supposed to be saying 'The Gospel's Refrain' around here. We need to listen carefully." She warns her allies, being careful not to so much as breathe too loudly lest she accidentally drown out the signal.
Rita Ma	THEN: "Thank you, Megaman!" Rita says with a bright wave and Sunny Imouto Smile. "Thank you, Mr. Lan! I'll get used to it eventually, I'm sure!" They seemed nice. It's a little sad I'll probably never see them again. NOW: "I'm fine, Ms. Gareth! Don't worry about me!" She is, in fact, entirely uninjured, if a little bit shaken. The sunny smile she dons in response to the knight fussing over her brings some color back to her face, at least. The maze-like segment is absolutely the most nervewracking thing for Rita, yet again. She stares at the prospect of navigating yet more horrible narrow winding pathways, then scrunches her eyes shut tight with petulant frustration and balls up her hands. Better a few seconds of being really scared than long minutes of drawing it out, right? Dropping into a low crouch, Rita takes one- two- three pouncing leaps to clear the entire maze, then spends a moment just panting and holding her face on the other side. It's clearly not from exertion. "Right. Save our energy," she replies to Gareth, but she seems to have her own idea of how that end should be pursued. A blank look comes over her face as she raises a hand towards the viruses; even through the wrappings of her disguise, a faint blue light shines from her right eye. It takes a moment for her to find the connection- long enough for everyone else to stunt on them- but once she does, she gives the simple order to destroy each other, and that solves the problem neatly. After re-composing herself a bit (and looking rather sheepish about the whole thing), she says to Gareth: "Are you sure we aren't supposed to be saying that? Dr. Hikari said the entrance was 'under' something- I guess that's the bridge- and that we need to do an action, and then say a password. I bet that's the password!" A hopeful glance is turned on Shotaro. "What were you investigating, Mr. Hidari? Do you know what the secret action is?"
Forte	Shotaro comes in with his hand to hand expertise, and Gareth busts out Garteh.EXE - and then the remaining virii turn on each other, tearing themselves to shreds cleanly and neatly, their bodies evaporating into nothing but junk data. With the viruses dealt with - the group arrives at the underpass. It looks entirely nondescript, like any other bridge underpass. No notable features. Possibly a sizeable gap in the architecture where a hidden passage might be. Shotaro's source confirms Rita's intel - this is the place. Based on what Hikari told them, they need to <perform a specific action> to make the entrance appear, and then <say a certain passcode> to open it.
Shotaro Hidari	"Well, the clue I got was that someone was listening to music when they were doing an errand. It was a stompy song, so when they were passing under the bridge is when it started," Shotaro says to Rita, and grabs onto the STAG Gaia memory. It turns into a phone, and he presses a few buttons. The song mentioned starts playing, and Shotaro does his best to mimic the slow walk the girl Navi would have done when they got here, using his feet to stomp at the right beats to the song, and slowly moving forward until the door appears. "You're up," he says to Gareth. "Weird that the viruses just started fighting each other like that. Saves on effort, I guess."
Forte	Halfway through the chorus, after Shotaro stomps out the beats to the song... STOMP STOMP pause STOMP STOMP STOMP ... a door pops open in the middle of the underpass. "PASSCODE?"
Gareth	Gareth mistakes Rita's sheepishness for anxiety, and she approaches her with a confident, yet gentle clap of a hand on her shoulder. "We'll be okay, Rita. We'll find the place, Mister Bass, and then we'll find out how to fix the rest! Somehow!" She proclaims without a hint of hesitation, then strokes her chin lightly as Rita raises a point about saying a thing instead of listening for a thing. "That does make more sense if we think of it like a password. Alright! Then let's-" Wait. There's a secret action involved. She breathes a heavy sigh of relief at not accidentally blowing their cover by just shouting the password, then gives Rita a quick thumbs up before turning to Shotaro. "You're up, then! Hehe... I wonder what's involved. A handshake? A pose? A-" He walks. He stomps. He... Dances? It's weirdly hypnotic, and it takes Gareth a bit to actually realize that the dance is over and that she's up next! She clears her throat, then speaks in a relatively deep baritone for some reason. "The Gospel's Refrain."
Forte	The door opens, into a passage leading downwards. There is a feeling as though you may want to make sure you're battle-ready before proceeding further, as who knows what you might find...
Rita Ma	The hand on her shoulder seems to perk Rita up (and Shotaro, however sincerely, wondering why the viruses started fighting each other perks her up a little bit more). She subtly reverses the gesture of care, though, by placing her hand on top of Gareth's. "Thanks, Ms. Gareth. With you and Mr. Hidari here... I know there's not really anything to be scared of. We'll be okay, won't we?" She startles just a little when the door opens, but quickly adopts an expression of resolve. Reaching into her satchel, she produces what appears to be a simple pistol, holding it low in both hands. "I'll go first, okay? It'll be safer that way. I promise." True to her promise, Rita is an effective lead. Before heading down the stairs, she fades into invisibility to better scout ahead. Once inside, she subtly tastes the air for early warning of monsters or unfamiliar scents.
Forte	Down into the secret passage... The passage leads downwards... twisting a bit, but fortunately you're in a private server now, which is its own fully enclosed environment - what passes for 'indoors' here, so vertigo won't be a problem. Just think of this as a cavern. And indeed, the large room the passage empties into does look like a high-ceiling cavern, into which a facility has been built. There's various holographic terminals throughout the room, some doors which look promising for later looting purposes... ... But the centerpiece of the room is a large containment thing. A raised platform, with devices of indeterminate function arrayed around it in a circle, all pointed inward - indeterminate function, but from context they were positioned to keep something inside of the platform. Several of those devices are broken. Did whatever was inside of there get out? Good news: you don't have time to wonder about that mystery - since a monster drops down from the ceiling onto the group, shortly after entering. (The dots aren't hard to connect here, is what I'm saying.) It's... a glitch in reality, given octopedal shape. Not a spider, exactly, there's no head or thorax, it's more like - just a main body with eight legs. The low polygon computer game version of a spider. And what it's made out of is... something unworldly. Flickering cubes, fizzling out and reappearing along its mass, as if it's constantly fading away and trying to rebuild itself at the same time. This thing is not stable. It's also trying to stab everyone with those legs, which is more important to deal with than wondering what it is, right now.
Gareth	"Mhm! I might not be much taller than..." Gareth looks over at Shotaro, then at Rita. The knight really is kinda short, isn't she? She's definitely shorter than the former, and she's just barely taller than the latter! Maybe. It depends on if Rita's added an inch or three through other means. "... But my title as the Seventh wasn't just for show!" Still confident as ever, she moves along without her weapons just yet, knowing that she can just will them into existence once things start for real. Plus, it's easier to move around corners without her stuff. She nods as Rita requests lead-taking duties, waiting for her signals before moving along so as to not risk blowing her invisible cover. The strange facility has Gareth looking all around as she tries to make sense of what she's looking at and what to pay attention to first, and it takes a bit for her to remember that she has a phone she can use to just snap pictures of things. Whether pictures of servers really helps at all is questionable at best, but pictures of the containment thing might be a little more useful down the line. Also, the broken stuff. That's definitely a sign of something to investigate, and it doesn't take long to actually find the cause of it when it just drops down on the group. Materializing her shield over one arm as she slips the phone away with her other hand, Gareth takes that stabbing motion head on, buckling for only a brief moment as she gets her bearings with both hands pushing back up against the beast. "What manner of monster is this now? Who would even think to make an internet spider?!" Gareth sounds somewhat distressed as she shoves that shield and leg up off of her to get enough distance to bring out her lance, wasting little time in stabbing it upwards at the same leg. It's only got eight of them, after all, so she might as well start lowering that number!
Shotaro Hidari	"Mm, guess we should take this seriously.." he says, pulling out a USB stick. He presses a button on it and it shouts out a single phrase, "JOKER." Somewhere else, Philip does the same, but this time it says, "CYCLONE." Back to Shotaro, a belt appears around his waist with two slots pointed up at the front. The CYCLONE Gaia Memory slides into place appearing as from thin air, followed by Shotaro inserting the JOKER memory into place. He pushes the holders apart, and the belt has a distinct W shape to it. CYCLONE JOKER A moment later there is a gust of wind, as pieces of the suit are seemingly BLOWN onto Shotaro, and Kamen Rider W is formed. He steps in either after Rita or Gareth. He's not so prideful as to take the rear, where he can watch their backs and use his analytical eye to help others out. Until the monster collapses from the air, down onto them. Stabbing legs hit W right across the chest, forcing him back into the hall and rolling to his feet. With a recovery, he tries to close the distance between the monster and himself, attempting to get into its face and drive his fists right into the monster.
Rita Ma	Fortunately, Rita's invisible. Unfortunately, she's still close enough to the rest of the group that the net-spider's drop attack catches her too. Her feral reflexes allow her to lunge to the side and roll across the floor to evade the brunt of the attack; she comes back to her senses in time to see Gareth buckling under her shield. "Ms. Gareth!! Hold on!" There's the fake gun again. There is no muzzle-flash or trigger-pull, for anyone watching; no action or casing ejected. But there is a sound, a series of gunshot-like whipcracks. In place of bullets, sharp invisible tentacles stab into the spider's flank, leaving behind deep and narrow holes. I don't know where its vitals are. Does it even have any? The viruses outside just disintegrated when they died. This one seems 'sick' somehow, but it's still plenty strong. Is it sick in the same way Forte is? ... I don't like this at all. As soon as Rita's scrambled back to her feet, she darts over to block the stairs back up and starts weaving invisible tentacle razor-wire behind herself. "We can't let it leave," she says sharply. "Mr. Hidari, are you okay?"
Forte	Gareth gets her lance out and stabs the monster in the leg, landing a solid hit and spearing all the way through - and actually taking the leg off, the mass of data cubes detaching where she spears through it, and the detached part fizzling out slowly on the ground. It doesn't recoil back or flinch, though it does list a bit as it tries to put weight on a leg that's no longer there. W goes to punch it in its face - it doesn't have a face, but the hits to where its face should be are just as effective. And Rita comes in and launches her 'gunshots' - tearing deep into the thing's backside (or where its backside would be). It loses a bit of mass where it's taken the hits, but it's reshaping itself - as if its body is nothing more than water to fill in a spider-shaped 'container'. The leg starts slowly regrowing... The thing keeps lashing out, trying to stab the group some more - a bit more forcefully, but with no more complexity than it had before!
Gareth	"We can't, no! If it was kept in a jar, then there's probably good reason for it!" Gareth replies, although something about that logic bothers her almost immediately after she says it. It takes her a bit to try and figure out why that is, and it's enough time for the spider to get back to stabbing her and her companions again. Gareth darts around rapidly, evading strikes where she can while angling others with her shield so that they only scrape past her unarmored clothes or slightly armored shoulderpad rather than taking them head on like the initial charge. "If you're not feeling at full capacity, don't be afraid to stay behind me! A knight's duty is to protect their charges, after all!" Letting out a confident shout, Gareth actually charges right for the spider this time, still using her blistering speed to feint at it from multiple angles and spots in succession to try and draw its attention towards her. Eventually, however, she goes on the offense once again, launching herself into the air before diving towards it with her lance outstretched. It glows blue briefly just before impact, and the impact itself almost seems to push in harder than it would with just her already great strength!
Shotaro Hidari	Shotaro, ready this time blocks. Though the bladed legs still scrape across the armor of the Kamen rider and cause sparks across the way, Shotaro feels something internally get damaged. Philip speaks up, "Get back," he shouts, as something happens, and some of that compromised condition is burned away by a wave of wind. "Don't engage directly like that, swap to Metal," Philip advises, "Gotcha, partner," he says, and pulls out the JOKER memory, and replaces it with a new one. METAL JOKER A staff comes to his hand and extends. This time, he has something to guard with, and swings the staff towards those legs, trying to keep it back and hurt its ability to keep throwing dangerous attacks at them all. "Watch yourselves!" he calls out to the others.
Rita Ma	By the time the spider comes for her again, Rita already isn't Rita. Its lashing legs pass through a hollow decoy woven from mimicking tentacles, acting convincingly lifelike right up until the moment it unravels. The real one circles around to the side in stealth, eyes wide and claws out- And is promptly caught right in the chest by another leg, by pure chance, during its flailing. Her invisibility fades in the shock of impact, and she skids back across the floor to drop into a low three-point stance, one hand digging furrows into the ground to put the brakes on the knockback and the other held over her chest protectively. There's a little yelp of pain, and then her teeth grit. It regenerates. I can fix that. If that's its only trick, it won't last long. But how smart is it? Can I keep using the same tricks over and over, or will it figure me out? Better play it safe. If I'm appearing not to do anything, it might expect an invisible attack again... There's a second Gareth, shield just as shiny and stature just as unimpressive as the original. She makes brief eye contact with the original, enough to communicate some glimmer of understanding, before laying into the cyber-spider too. Her feints aid the original's, just as swift but less skillful to a trained eye. When it's time for the finishing blow, her lance glows blue as well- But it's an entirely different payload. The lance embeds in the cyber-spider, and glowing blue liquid surges into it like an oversized hypodermic needle. It bubbles and roils beneath the surface, glowing inside the monster's body like a perverse lava lamp, and corrodes it horribly in ways designed to sabotage regeneration. The second "Gareth", of course, shimmers into invisibility again as soon as the monster squirms free of the impaling lance.
Forte	Gareth comes in first, feinting back and forth - it can't comprehend it, trying to defend and reposition each time, and leaving itself ultimately open for the final attack. The lance pierces straight through - to the point that Gareth herself might be pushed in if she's not careful. It goes to advance and counterattack, but W's staff sweeps in, handily knocking it off balance and causing it to skitter frantically and try to right itself instead of attacking, for the few precious moments it takes... ... for Rita's payload to inject right into the hole Gareth had made. It doesn't take long. The spider simply breaks apart. Earlier, the comparison was made to the mass being liquid filling the body shape - now it seems literal. The mass of... whatever it is spills out, all over the cavern, onto the floor, onto the equipment - onto the group, Gareth getting the worst of it. The glitchy mess of reappearing and disappearing cubes is an assault on all of the senses - not foul or fair, but just... omnipresent, in the way that black is the opposite of white. It crackles without electricity and sizzles without heat. It coalesces into solid form like ice without cold, and evaporates into nothingness without so much as a whisper of wind. And each of those conflicting sensations hurts in a different way. And all the while, the thing is trying to pull itself back together, struggling against Rita's poison to do so.
Gareth	Being careful isn't in Gareth's playbook. At least, not right now. She's got allies to protect, after all, so staying on that spider to try and hold its attention is exactly what the knight intends to do. She thrashes that lance around inside that hole as long as she can to drive it towards Shotaro's swings before leaping off of the spider just in time for Rita to pump it full of horrible pain juice. Except she also lands right in the path of whatever's coming from that spider spilling itself all over the group. Her shield still helps take the brunt of the physical aspect of the attack, but it strikes at her beyond that, and the rush of contrasting impacts has even the knight forced to back off for a moment as she feels her limbs burning from the numbness. "What resilience...! But what could have made this creature? Who... Why?" As Gareth asks those questions, she raises her lance in front of herself, bracing it against her shield as the whole setup begins glowing blue like some kind of gamer desktop lighting. She sucks in a slow breath to get herself ready, and then... She disappears. Rather, she starts darting around the room at a rapid clip, not quite fast enough to be impossible to see because that's just stupid, but still ludicrously fast for someone carrying a lance longer than she is and a shield wider. Unlike those feints from before, however, each darting movement comes with it a thrust to what's left of the spider, a slash to the body, a bash to the legs, and so on. Of course, all flashy attacks must come to an end, and hers is punctuated not with a dive, but with a rush below the spider that ends with her thrusting upwards into the spider's center mass, then releasing a burst of built up mana inside it from the tip of her spear.
Shotaro Hidari	The Metal Shaft swings to block incoming attacks more easily. The two in one Kamen Rider tries to keep the force of the various broken attacks. Elements without their elements, but still have damage, and with broken textures. Sparks run across the chest of the Rider, but the staff manages to keep the worst of it away. Just barely. W takes out the METAL memory and inserts it into a slot on the staff. "Metal, MAXIMUM DRIVE!" Is said, before the Rider closes into melee again. The staff swings, as green elemental energy starts swirling with him. Each time he spins, the tornado gets stronger and stroker. Then... "METAL TWISTER" Both voices cry out together, and the spinning becomes so fast as to be a literal tornado, the staff being used to strike the monsters repeatedly before an explosion would ring out from the strike.
Rita Ma	Momentary dark satisfaction shifts to sharp panic. Rita fades back into visibility- even were she able to maintain her concentration, stealth is no defense against an attack like this- and covers her eyes with her forearm as she lets out a harsh, pained hiss. Parts of the surging wave creep up around her ankles, making her reflexively leap back across the room, and shriek incoherently when that doesn't make the freezing-burning stop. There isn't any conscious thought that goes into what happens next. Neurons fire incoherently, washing her in wild confusion. Her body only gets the inputs of pain, and monster, and hungry, and acts on reflex from there. Fortunately, it's got pretty good reflexes. It's hard to see and easy easy to write off in the sensory hell. Rita's body unravels into strands like the wrappings of a mummy; what's left beneath is an almost-familiar girl in a blue dress, bent down in a feral crouch. Her eyes are white. With a dozen back-to-back whipcracks, each of the tentacle-ribbons that once made up her 'skin' spear towards the incoherent monster-mass and bury themselves deep inside. What happens next takes only a moment, but it's the sort of thing that would normally be relegated to a gory discretion shot. Like a spider liquefying a fly's guts before sucking them out, the substance of the glitch-spider is neutralized, processed into some kind of glowy blue energy, and siphoned back down the tentacles in luminous pulses. The sounds are better left undescribed, and are mercifully hard to hear over the glitched cacophony. After the awful conclusion, there's a second of silence. Rita tries to re-weave her human appearance, doesn't quite manage to do it all the way, collapses to her knees, and coughs quietly a couple of times. She seems intent on not making eye contact with anybody, preferring to let her head hang down and stare at the floor. Her hair obscures her face. "Let's... go. Look at things. It's... that's why we're here." But for the moment, she doesn't move, still just taking deep breaths and trying to re-compose herself.
Forte	The spider thing starts to reform. It doesn't get very far. Gareth comes in with a lance striking upwards, and W tears away at it with the metal twister from the sides, scattering the reforming glitchy mass everywhere. The end comes not so much as the result of any one attack, but the thing finally just - not having enough of itself, mostly through Rita's absorption, to properly reform, and it just goes inert. The glitchy stuff is still covering most of the room, but it's dissolving bit by bit - the smaller clumps going more quickly than the larger clumps. ... Unfortunately, most of the equipment in this room looks unsalvagable. The spider-stuff got all over it when the spider thing ruptured, and it did a number on it. At least it didn't get into the other rooms here - one of which has the digital equivalent of a file cabinet full of data. And even a cursory bit of exploration starts turning up useful files...
Forte	Some of this information is very dense. Luckily there's a quick summary at the front of what seems to be the main project... GOSPEL RESEARCH INSTITUTE - BUGFRAG SINGULARITY PROJECT - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY > Potentially as a result of the world bifurcation during unification*, data entities that suffer glitches in their code or that take critical damage at certain moments cause solid fragments to form after their deletion. These solid fragments have been named 'Bugfrags', short for bug fragments. > Bugfrags are inert and safe in their natural state, but when enough are gathered together into one place they start to exhibit active behaviors, becoming Bugs. (Capitalization intentional to differentiate Bugs from computer bugs and entomological bugs) > Bugs are a formless mass of 'glitch' given physical presence. They are dangerous to handle even through armor or protective wear (minimum safe distance unknown), but dissolve over time. > Observed behavior: Larger masses of Bugs take longer to fully dissolve (similar to large amounts of radioactive material taking exponentially longer to decay. "Half life" measurement for Bugs is pending further study.) > Observed behavior: at a certain threshold Bugs form into quasi-living entities, attempting to stabilize into a set form, following 'Cybeast' patterns observed in historical record (see files: Alpha, Gregar, Falzar). So far none of these entities have managed to attain entirely stable forms and have eventually perished if not kept in stasis. > Observed behavior: at certain high thresholds Bugs form a sort of 'possibility singularity' in which they may be forced into a known configuration. Results have been promising - copies of battlechips and consumable items have been made using this method, although the cost of gathering enough bugfrags and the energy cost of the process make this process too inefficient to outproduce conventional production methods. > Theorized behavior: at a high enough threshold Bugs can be used to not only duplicate an item but an entire navi - a theoretical result that eclipses the efficiencies in the process easily.
Gareth	With the battle done and the spider destroyed, Gareth breathes a heavy sigh of relief as she lets her lance and shield dissipate into the ether. "That was a rather exhilarating battle, wasn't it? Ah, are you two alright?" She asks while turning back to Rita and W, hovering over both of them to check them for any lingering injuries that need treatment despite looking a little banged up herself. "At least we prevented that creature from being able to get into trouble outside. Now we can...!" She trails off as she sees the destruction in the room, then backs out slowly to start checking other ones. "... Continue our search elsewhere!" And so, she does exactly that. She's not sure which ones are going to be useful in particular, but with the power of LEARNING THINGS FOR ONCE, Gareth starts looking for stuff she can just take safely: Hard drives are ideal, but other discs and disc-shaped media are also good. As she's reminded of the spider again, however, she speaks up again in a quieter tone. "Wasn't that Bass clone in a glass tube, too? Do you think... That spider might have been made the same way? Or perhaps... The other way around?"
Shotaro Hidari	With the death of the spider, Kamen Rider W breaks the union, as the Driver is pushed closed, and the Metal Memory is drawn out. Moments later, Shotaro is there, looking a bit bruised. He's not as spry when he starts walking again, still dealing with old injuries. "I'm fine, thank you both," he says, cheerful enough. He starts with helping collect the data, but as things are revealed, the expression darkens bit by bit. "Likely, Gareth...what is important is what this means for Bass.EXE," he says, looking at Rita.
Rita Ma	"I'm okay," Rita says sharply. Catching herself, she repeats more softly: "Sorry. I'm okay. Please, just... I'll catch up." Her skin and clothes are mostly coherent, but in wedges and strips they still yield to paler flesh or weird shimmery blue. She pulls her arms around herself, as if she could use them to hide herself from the world. ... Rita stays true to her word, though. It doesn't take her more than twenty seconds to catch back up, her human form fully restored. She looks exhausted, but if she has any outward injuries, her disguise-wrappings hide them perfectly. Her eyes scan that summarizing screen, widening with every line. "So that's how they made another one," she murmurs. Her face twists into a tired wince. "Does that mean... we could stabilize him, if we gave him more Bugfrags? Or that he already has too many, and that's the problem? That he's turning into a monster, like 'Gregar' or 'Falzar'." She rubs her temple, then shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. Let's get everything we can pick up. Dr. Hikari needs to know about this. Then we'll be sure."
Shotaro Hidari	"Well, now that we know what created him, he might have a way to try and address the problem," Shotaro says, hopefully. "These Gospel people thought..."
Forte	There's some more information that can be recovered... There's a lot to go through, though, and executive summaries like the first are hard to find, unless people have specific queries. Rita does see something as she's going through the files, though - a picture of a blue navi, listed as a project candidate for duplication along with three others (Bass.EXE being one, a red navi with long white hair being another, and a tomahawk wielding caricature being the fourth). Apparently it was a narrow decision between the blue navi Megaman.EXE and Bass.EXE as to which could cause the most destruction and mayhem in Gospel's hands, with Bass.EXE narrowly edging out. It's the same blue navi that escorted her by hand, earlier.
Gareth	"I... Think I understand. That clone came from... Some kind of severe damage or injury?" Gareth states slash confirms, looking towards Shotaro and Rita to try and gauge if she's (roughly) on the mark. "If we can get him more, then... No, that would.. Yes. If that's how it is, putting more in him does sound like it'd just make it worse. But if we do nothing..." Gareth grunts uncomfortably, then nods at Rita. "Right, good idea. Let's get all this back first, and then we can plot out our next course from there. Finding Bass, stopping Gospel from whatever this whole thing with the spider was..." Gareth's going to be snagging so many drives and computers.
Rita Ma	Rita visibly perks up when the blue navi comes onscreen. Her eyebrows lift and mouth opens in a soft "Ah-!". Pointing at him: "That's... he helped me across one of those scary walkways. His friend called him 'Megaman', I think?" She rubs the back of her neck with a hand, obviously thoughtful. "I can't believe I just ran into someone like that by accident. Should we tell him? ... Or, no. Gospel's gone, right? So he's not in danger anymore." Her lips press together. "He might know something about Bass, but... we still need to talk to Forte first. And before that-" Rita picks up a heavy bundle of data storage devices in both arms and gives the knight as sunny of a smile as she can muster. "You're right, Ms. Gareth. Let's grab as much of this stuff as we can." I really am a magnet for heroes, I guess.