The team was currently running through the self-made tunnel at an incredible pace.
"Where are we at the moment, Gattack?" Johnathan asked while keeping his running pace.
"Just about 10ft from our target spot," Gattack replied and soon Johnathan stopped creating tiles so he could fortify the remaining area. After a few moments, the area where the group was standing was now 10ft wide and 8ft long. Sasword began to unpack the rest of the equipment and Johnathan began to create a staircase to the ceiling where the entry point began. Drake began to assemble the equipment with the help of Gattack and TheBee was tasked with assembling the weapons along with Sasword. Johnathan was meditating so that he could recover the Ki that was used because he had a feeling that it was going to be needed. After a few minutes, everything was set up, and the group was ready to start the mission. Gattack signaled the count down to Drake via hand signal and once he counted down from three to one. Drake initiated the button to boot up the gate device and a clear blue window with the size of 5 feet by 5 feet appeared above the team. They could see within the building clear as day, the group quickly infiltrated the base and Gattack pulled up a hologram map of the building from his tablet. While pointing at one of the bigger rooms,
"This is the main room with the test subjects and the room three doors down is the holding cells that contain all of the kidnapped victims," Gattack stated while using his finger as a guide.
"TheBee and Sasword will go to the experimental room to destroy everything, but take pictures of all the documentation. Drake will go to the control room and take over so that we have a backup escape route. Gattack and I will go gather the victims. We will meet back up here within an hour and a half. If the other group doesn't show up on time, you don't wait any longer than ten minutes. After that, you have my permission to use your Zectors to get out of the base." Johnathan ordered and everyone nodded before heading off to their respective destinations. The plan was going smoothly so far. Drake was able to take over the control room with her enhanced paralyzer handgun, and Sasword and TheBee quickly collected the data before destroying everything within the experimental room. But when the destruction was in motion, all of the commotion was eventually caught by the security team and a fierce battle took place. Between the security team who were trying to save what they could and the duo trying to destroy everything they could. TheBee and Sasword were outmatched three to one on the manpower but with the breathing technique that Johnathan bestowed upon them the two were able to gather a good amount of Ki within their bodies. So they were able to withstand being outnumbered without any trouble. Drake was busy keeping the reinforcements out of the area by locking down any doorways that she was able to control from the computer, but soon some of the reinforcements came knocking on the door in her area as well. Johnathan and Gattack were still unlocking some of the doors that held the hostages, but then Johnathan's senses began blaring, indicating danger. He began to look around using Ki to change his vision so that he could see body heat and noticed that one-third of the hostages had no body temperature.
"Shit! Gattack, there are worms mixed in with the hostages put on your heat detector glasses and take them out!" Johnathan ordered while he began to move as well. The duo swiftly moved around the sea of people and began to take out the disguised worms but that only made the situation worse due to the people not knowing what was going on. The only thing that they were witnessing was two individuals murdering other people who were trapped with them. So now the only thought that came to them was, " I have to get out of here!"
The worms noticed that their brethren were getting slaughtered, so they decided that it was time to take out the intruders. The remaining worms shed their human skins to reveal their natural dark green cocoon-like bodies and began to retaliate against the two humans that threatened their existence. Once the worms revealed themselves, the captives realized why the two crazy people were taking other hostages out and began to follow their orders again. Gattack was trying his best to get the remaining people out of the area while Johnathan was using his powers to cover them and holding off any worms trying to eat the people to evolve.
"Screw this! This is getting out of hand!" Gattack shouted and pulled out a small hand-size blue stag beetle. He quickly pressed the button on his belt and it transformed into the zecter belt. Gattack quickly slid the beetle onto the belt,
"Henshin!" the zecter stated and Gattack's body was quickly covered by the power armor. Similar situations were happening with Drake, TheBee, and Sasword where they had already equipped their zecters due to the chaos that ensued in their current locations. Johnathan was only using his powers instead of equipping the Zecters because he wanted to hone his skills and not rely too much on the powers of the Zecters. TheBee and Sasword were able to destroy what they could and gather the important materials so they were at the Randevu location. While they were waiting, the first one to show up was Drake who was currently in her rider form unlike the other two who were still in their masked form.
"Looks like you ran into more trouble than us, but that is expected for a ranger. Maybe you should put in more work with us so that you don't have to worry about close-range battles," TheBee mocked and was rewarded with a blast from Drake's dragonfly blaster to the head.
"What the hell!" TheBee shouted as he got up from the ground while holding his head.
"You were asking for it," Drake replied while she fiddled with her blaster and Sasword just shook his head. TheBee tried to rush at Drake but he was interrupted by the sounds of rushed footsteps. The trio put their guard up just in case it was the enemy but once the footsteps got close enough for them to be able to see who was making them. They relaxed a bit once they saw that it was just the hostages led by Gattack who was also in his Masked form.
"Is this all of them?" Sasword asked while scanning the crowd to see if there were any worms hidden within the crowd.
"Yes, this should be it. We need to evacuate them quickly, cause we don't have much time. The new product of Worms is trying to break through here." Gattack stated and the trio noticed that his armor was damaged extensively.
"Where is the boss?" TheBee asked once he noticed how bad the damage was.
"Currently keeping them at bay while we evacuate," Gattack responded,
"Will he be alright?" Drake asked.
"It's the boss. He always comes out in the end." Sasword stated before turning around to lead the hostages through the tunnel. The remaining three waited for five more minutes before turning toward the tunnel and making their way down as well. Back in the facility, Johnathan was currently kneeling to catch his breath, and in front of him was a wall made of titanium but it had dents all around it. After a few seconds, Johnathan stood back up and pressed the button on his belt,
"Well, I guess this is as far as I can go without using the Zecter's powers. But it is not too bad in my opinion, plus my opponents are not ordinary worms too. Luthor, you damn maniac! You made a prototype doomsday." Johnathan said to himself while controlling his breathing so that the Ki flow would be steady. After some digging around, Johnathan came across more documents and research on how they've been experimenting with the blood of Superman and Supergirl. Luthor injected the worms with small amounts of blood into the worms to see if they could copy the DNA and try to reproduce it as well. So far most of them have been failures but soon they had three successful experiments. Luthor had two of them shipped off to other facilities to have more research done along with experiments. Currently, the Worm that survived the experiments was trying to break down the wall with the other worms. More thudding sounds could be heard from the other side of the wall, along with more dents but these were larger and had cracks forming from them. A small sound was coming from the right side of Johnathan and soon a small hole was made. KZ came out of the small hole and scanned the area to see what was going on.
"Damn, Boss. What have you gotten yourself into this time?" KZ asked while flying around Johnathan.
"When have you not seen me in a difficult position?" Johnathan asked with a smile,
"Hmph..... You know now that I think of it. It is like danger is just drawn to you or more like you just enjoy the rush." KZ responded but then there were more thudding sounds and some of the dents were opened up by the repetitive smashing.
"Alright, KZ. It's time to show them our growth as well." Johnathan said before KZ inserted itself into the belt.
"Henshin," KZ stated before a red and silver armor enveloped Johnathan's body. Johnathan then reached for the horn of KZ and pulled it across the body,
"Cast Off," KZ stated and the protection armor shot off Johnathan's body in multiple directions right when the titanium wall was breached. The armor pieces flew into some of the worms taking them out in one hit and sending their bodies into the others, which halted some of the other worms from advancing. Four blurs could be seen making their way toward Johnathan from different directions, but before they could attack. Johnathan quickly pressed the right button on his belt that initiated the Clock Up system. Once Johnathan was in the upgraded version of the Clock Up, the four evolved worms could be seen slowly moving toward him. Johnathan then materialized the gun-kunai and rushed toward the four worms. With a couple of slashes across their bodies, the four worms dissipated into puddles and Johnathan turned toward the group of worms. He then rushed forward to clean them up as well,
"Clock over," KZ uttered after a few seconds, Johnathan was the only one standing in the facility but he knew that the battle wasn't over yet because of the prototype doomsday worm. A few seconds went by before a blur came rushing from the right side of Johnathan, but before he could react to it. The blur vanished from the right and appeared behind Johnathan within a split second. It crashed into Johnathan's backside and sent him tumbling into the wall of the facility. Johnathan recovered quickly and pushed his senses to the max so that he could track down the monster. The blur made its way toward Johnathan due to his heightened senses. Johnathan could finally see what the Worm looked like. This monster had similar looks to Doomsday except for it being less bulky and had demon-like wings attached to its back.
"Primal Beasts - Black Tortoise Flood Gate 2 Open," Johnathan uttered and a dense black aura began to outline his body. The Prototype Doomsday charged toward Johnathan, and without missing a beat, Johnathan also charged forward. Their fists collided and created a small Shockwave that sent rubble flying. Small cracks began to appear on the right fist and arm of the rider's armor due to the intense pressure that was coming from the strength of both fighters. The Prototype Doomsday" 's instincts were telling it that the insect in front of it was quite strong but not enough for it to be worried. So it began to unleash a flurry of punches, but Johnathan was able to dodge and parry most of the punches. The punches that were able to make it past Johnathan's defenses cracked his rider armor, but they were able to reform due to the energy of KZ. Although the armor was able to regen, it also used up a lot of energy which in turn shortened the time of being able to use the Rider form. So now Johnathan had something else to worry about besides defeating the prototype. Johnathan slipped one of the punches and was able to step off to the left side of the prototype. Once he was out of the line of fire, Johnathan quickly kicked the back of the prototype leg and it buckled the prototype making it fall to one knee. Johnathan then jumped onto its back and used his kunai to stab into its collar. But the kunai tip broke just as it made contact with the prototype's skin, which surprised Johnathan for a moment. That split second was enough for the prototype to make a counterattack. It grabbed onto the horn of Johnathan's helmet and it swung him over its shoulder. Johnathan was slammed into the ground which knocked the wind out of him as well. The Prototype clasped its hands together and brought it down like a hammer onto Johnathan. But right before the prototype's fist made an impact, Johnathan quickly brought the horn of KZ back to its original position.
"Put on," KZ uttered and the masked armor appeared once more. It was able to take most of the damage from the attack but was shattered in the process. Johnathan quickly pressed the Clock-up button to get away from the prototype, but once it noticed the change of speed in its prey. It also sped up its speed to overtake Johnathan. Even with his strength and defense powered up, Johnathan could tell that the prototype was still getting stronger and faster. The only thing he could think of is that the prototype is evolving while fighting.
"This saiyn - like a bastard!" Johnathan shouted out before pressing down the three buttons in order while side-kicking the prototype away.
"One, two, three," KZ uttered and Johnathan quickly pulled across the horn on KZ. Blue lighting gathered around Johnathan's horn,
"Rider Kick!" KZ uttered as the blue lighting trailed down to Johnathan's right foot and the prototype charged once more. Johnathan ran toward the prototype as well and once he got to the optimal distance. Johnathan jumped into the air and dived downwards with his right foot in the lead. The Prototype put its guard up to block the incoming attack due to its instincts screaming at it that the attack was something that could hurt it. Once the two forces collided with one another, the shockwave was bigger this time around and the building couldn't withstand any more damage. It soon came crumbling down, exposing the two figures to the spectators, who were standing a few yards away. Johnathan was currently catching his breath and trying to gather Ki due to using most of it to strengthen the Rider Kick. The atmosphere was quite tense and even the spectators didn't breathe too loudly for fear of being heard. After a few seconds, rubble could be heard falling and soon a giant pile of debris exploded revealing the Prototype was unscathed except for one of its arms being blown off.
"Fuck! This guy is relentless. If the prototype is this strong, how the hell are we supposed to fight the real thing." Johnathan spat out before getting up to his feet as well. The Prototype let out a screeching roar and began charging at Johnathan, who was trying to come up with a new plan. But before the prototype could make it close enough to him,
"Rider Kick!"
"Rider Slash!"
"Rider Sting!" Multiple zecters uttered. Three figures could be seen attacking the prototype with their signature finishers. Even though the prototype took three big attacks it was still able to send the three riders flying with two attacks.
"Rider shot!" Another zecter uttered and a giant light blue energy ball was sent flying toward the prototype. Once the ball made contact with the body of the prototype, it exploded and the prototype was engulfed in giant flames. The team regrouped just in case the monster survived, but after a few seconds, the flame died and from within the smoke the team could still make out the figure of the prototype.
"What the hell is that thing?" Thebee asked with a bit of nervousness in his voice.
"A creature straight from the depths of hell, especially since our boss couldn't take it down," Sasword responded.
"Don't forget it took all four of our attacks as well and it only took some damage," Gattack added. The Prototype let out an angry roar because smaller insects stopped it multiple times. It needed to finish off the stronger one so that it could take its time ripping apart the others. It charged toward the group once more but this time it went into super speed. Everyone noticed the speed change and all of them pressed their Clock up switch as well.
"We will hold that monster off, while you think of a plan!" Drake said before the rest of them charged toward the prototype. Drake was shooting at a distance to cover any openings that were available to the prototype to counterattack the trio that was fighting close-quarter. Johnathan could see that they were barely able to keep the prototype occupied and that they wouldn't last any longer than five minutes at most. He was doing his best to come up with a new plan, but every new plan that came up failed due to the strength and speed of the prototype. It was a good thing that the prototype's regeneration ability was not as powerful as the original doomsday, but it was still a problem for them. Just then, a plan formed in Johnathan's head but once he thought it over, the plan would work but the consequences were high. If it succeeded, the prototype would not be able to recover at all and it would be put to rest. The only thing was that the weapon that was needed was also in the prototype stage. Johnathan would only have one chance and the possibility of him coming out unscathed was less than five percent. A big gust of wind blew across the area, jolting Johnathan's concentration, and when he looked up to see what was going on. Two figures flew past him tumbling and when Johnathan checked the battle area he saw Drake currently in the grasp of the prototype and Gattack was being crushed underneath its foot. Johnathan quickly turned around to check on the other two but it looked like the prototype did quite a number on TheBee and Sasword. The scene that unfolded in front of Johnathan made his decision clearer. He couldn't let his team die for nothing nor would he let it happen.
"KZ, form change to Zecter Gauntlet mode," Johnathan ordered.
"You sure about this, boss?" KZ asked and Johnathan nodded his head. KZ detached itself from the belt and flew toward Johnathan's right hand. KZ's small beetle body soon expanded and enveloped Johnathan's right hand up to his forearm. The gauntlet looked like a semi-bigger version of KZ'red beetle body but the horn was facing toward Johnathan's shoulder and there were four slots located on KZ's body. Two of them were located on top and the other two were on the sides of the body.
"Primal Beasts - Black Tortoise Flood Gate 2 open - White Tiger Flood Gate 1 open," Johnathan uttered, and a grey aura began to envelop him. At the same time, Johnathan could feel his body breaking down due to the intense energy and pressure but the technique was also regenerating his injury just as fast too. Johnathan pressed the Clock-up switch before charging at the prototype. Before the Prototype could finish the job, he was sent flying by a punch from Johnathan. The Prototype tried to gather its bearing but was unable due to Johnathan relentless assault that the prototype couldn't react to. The power and speed that Johnathan had was one league above the prototype and it couldn't even resist due to no openings.
"Holy shit! When did the boss have this up his sleeve?" TheBee said in shock.
"Damn, if only he did this in the first place, we wouldn't have had to be beaten to a pulp," Gattack said with a heavy sigh. Just then Johnathan's Clock up ended and the team could see his Rider Armor breaking down rapidly. The only pieces left were the gauntlet, right arm, right side of the body, helmet, and boots. There were cuts and bruises all over Johnathan's body where the was no armor. He was currently breathing heavily due to the exhaustion from using two Primal Beasts gates at the same time. It was the first time he opened the White Tiger gate and it was meant for fierce attack power and quick regeneration. But the cost was heavy internal injuries due to reckless attack power. The Black Tortoise enhanced strength and endurance which helped Johnathan cope with the destructive nature of the White Tiger gate and also with the power of the prototype. Johnathan could see that the prototype was slowly regenerating from his previous flurry.
"Shit, I didn't expect this much backlash and this bastard is still alive," Johnathan said as he began to gather his bearings. Just then the helmet shattered into two pieces and fell to the ground. With the helmet no longer concealing his face the team could see how pale Johnathan was and the amount of blood coming from his mouth.
"I can see why he wasn't able to extort this type of power earlier," Sasword stated before getting back in his fighting stance.
"Sasword is right, we can't let the boss fight by himself anymore. If this goes in I think he might die this time." Drake said before getting up herself. The other two nodded their head in agreement and stood up as well. The Prototype let out another ear - ear-screeching roar and began to glow red along with smoke fuming from its body. The whole team quickly scanned it to see what was happening. From their scanners, it told them that its body heat was skyrocketing along with magma forming from within its stomach.
"This thing is a ticking bomb. If it manages to make it to the city then National City is no more." TheBee shouted.
"Do we know when it will blow up?" Gattack asked and Sasword quickly scanned all the information they had gotten from the lab. After a few seconds, Sasword was able to find the information.
"The detonation will activate within ten minutes. But the problem was its super speed, even if it only had ten minutes it could make it to the city within four minutes. They had to stop it now or it would be disastrous. Just when the team was gonna make their move, their Rider Armor dissipated and their zecters flew away.
"What in the hell?" TheBee asked with surprise and he wasn't the only one shocked. The rest of the team looked at the destination of their zecters and noticed that they were flying toward their boss. The zecters connected to the gauntlet with the wasp connecting on the first slot near the fist, and the scorpion attached itself in the slot above the wasp. The two zectors combined forming a poisonous stinger, and the dragonfly split in half just as the stag beetle as well. The two halves attached with the blaster and horns of the stag beetle facing the same direction as the fist. Johnathan then pressed each button that correlated with the zecter.
"TheBee power, Sasword power, Drake power, Gattack power, Kabuto power, All Zectors combine," KZ uttered and lighting of multiple colors began to surround the gauntlet. The Prototype could feel the intense power coming from Johnathan and its instincts were telling it to run away but it was too stubborn. It couldn't fathom running away from an insect that was just about to be squashed under its feet. The Prototype howled in anger and charged toward Johnathan with no fear while setting itself up to explode on impact. Johnathan could feel an immense amount of strength and speed coursing through his body from all of the zectors. The power was addictive but he knew that his body couldn't handle it for no more than five minutes. He needed to end this quickly but Johnathan also knew that once he struck the prototype it was bound to explode on impact. So with the extra Ki coming from the Zectors, Johnathan readied himself to form a protective dome around. The prototype initiated super speed while rushing forward and Johnathan initiated his clock-up system as well. Johnathan waited for the prototype to reach the proper distance before building the dome, once the prototype got within three meters of Johnathan. He used the remaining Ki to build triple-layered titanium walls along with small amounts of Nth metal that Johnathan was able to create. The dome erupted from the ground and covered the two fighters inside leaving the rest of the spectators blind to what was happening. Johnathan rushed forward once he knew that the dome was complete and he turned into a blur from the prototype's perspective due to the difference in speed. A few seconds went by before the prototype noticed that its fist didn't make contact with anything, and it felt a tremendous pain coming from its backside. Johnathan was able to get behind it before the prototype was able to notice or take action and struck it with the Zecter Gauntlet. The Prototype couldn't regenerate due to a powerful poison coursing through its body and it couldn't move due to being paralyzed as well. Johnathan took that chance to pull the trigger to fire off a powerful blast to end it but once the energy blast made contact with the prototype's body, it was already in the process of blowing up due to it knowing it couldn't win the fight.
"Shit! This guy is pulling all the damn cliches of Dragon ball z villains!" Johnathan shouted and tried to use the blast to push the prototype away. From the outside, the team could feel the tremors from the blast waves and explosion pressure even though the blast was contained by the dome. But when they thought they were safe, the dome couldn't contain the pressure anymore, and the top of it exploded releasing the remaining blast waves into the sky along with the shockwave that shook everything within twenty meters of the area.
"Damn, the city defiantly wouldn't have survived a blast like that," Drake stated as she got up from being knocked off her feet by the blast.
"If you say something like that then what about the boss? If the city couldn't survive what about him who was next to it." TheBee responded. The team began making their way toward the dome and once the team got about four meters from the dome, they could hear multiple buzzing sounds. The team looked up and saw two zecters flying toward them and two zecters tunneling out from the ground but they also noticed that there was some damage on the bodies.
"This doesn't look good," Sasword said as he picked up the Scorpion Zecter to inspect it.
"We need to get inside to check on the boss," TheBee said and began to run alongside the dome to see if there were any openings. The other three began to run after him and after a few seconds of running at full speed, they noticed a big hole on the backside of the dome. They quickly made their way toward it and entered the dome. The team began searching around for Johnathan but after a few minutes of searching, they couldn't find anything except for pieces of the prototype gauntlet.
"Damn it!" Gattack shouted in frustration and sat down.
"Why the hell does this keep happening, can't this guy just come out properly even if he is hurt heavily? Even Superman always comes out even if he gets his ass whooped after a fight, but our boss always disappears!" TheBee added as he kicked rubble before sitting down next to Gattack.
"Let's get back to base and maybe we can use the satellites to track anything. It is our best chance and maybe if we let Supergirl know Johnathan is missing then DEO might get involved. The more people looking the better, who knows he might've been sent to another earth again." Sasword suggested and the others couldn't help but agree. The team left the area to escort the hostages to the authorities so that maybe Luthor could be put under investigation once more.
In another city, people were running around in a panic due to something came crashing down from the sky and landing in a busy area. After a few hours, the area was closed off and the authorities were investigating the area as well.
"What happened here?" asked a woman with long dirty blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, with light blue eyes, who stood about 5'7" and in her early thirties. She wore a black long-sleeved jacket with a white shirt and black khakis. There was also a detective badge hanging on the belt loop of her pants as well. As this woman was trying to figure out the situation from the other officers who made the first contact with the scene, a tall six-foot gentleman dressed in a clean black suit with short dark brown hair with bangs that were curled up and an aftershave beard, was walking around the scene without a care in the world.
"What do you mean a person fell out of the sky?" the woman asked the police officer.
"That is what the witnesses have reported to us and the person is currently in critical condition so we can't ask him any questions at the moment.
"Well, Detective. I for one have fallen from the sky and was able to walk away willy nilly too. But it seems this poor chap wasn't able to walk away as I did." the gentleman said before walking toward the back of the ambulance where the man they were talking about was currently recovering.
"Lucifer! You can't just walk around and go anywhere you want!" The woman shouted to him when she noticed where Lucifer was going.
"Sorry, Detective, but I can't help but feel a particular energy coming from this gentleman. It is almost like natural energy is gathering around him like women when I enter my club," Lucifer stated with a chuckle, but before he could get closer, a small explosion erupted and the paramedics were sent flying away.
"What in the world?" Lucifer asked before making his way closer and he was followed by the woman who drew her pistol. The duo made it to the back of the ambulance and checked what was happening but the scene in front of them didn't make any sense because from what they heard from the officer was that this person was in critical condition. The only thing was that the person in the back of the ambulance was in perfect health and glowing as well to their surprise.
"How in the world is this happening?" The Detective asked in shock,
"Well, I told you about the supernatural already and you didn't believe me, so I guess my dad decided to send something to help my case. The only thing is, I wish he sent me some type of message beforehand so I could play off of it better. Just then the person woke up and had a shocked expression,
"Uh... Are you THE Lucifer?" the newly healed man asked,
"How do you know Lucifer?" The Detective asked,
"Are you one of the Lost souls from the depth of Hell or Heaven?" Lucifer asked.
"Fuck!" Johnathan let out followed by a deep sigh before putting his head in his hands.