[Kiryu]

Access 17: The Knight, The Hacker, and the Hunter

Two figures meet under the cover of night at California’s harbor district, which is now shrouded in fog. One figure is dressed in a robe and a mask, making their features impossible to distinguish with the guise on. The other is clearly a male, dressed like he could be in the military’s special forces, and in his hand he carries a metal briefcase with a familiar green T in the centre. “I got what you asked for” the male spoke “Well done...Hunter. Now open it.” The robed figure said, disguised using a voice synthesizer. The male, now called “Hunter” nods. He opens the briefcase, and inside there is a ModBelt and ModPass. “Not sure why you need this of all things but...it sure takes me back just looking at it,” Hunter says. The robed figure nods with approval. Hunter sets the case down, closing it back up and kicking it towards him.

The case slides across the hardwood surface until it stops right by the hood’s feet. The hood bends down and picks up the suitcase. He turns to leave but stops in his tracks as Hunter speaks up. “By the way...you’re three months due on your payment. I like you and all, but I’m not running a charity here.” Hunter begins to rub his thumb against two fingers, causing the Hood to sigh. “Yes, about that...” He suddenly turns and draws a gun, pointing it directly at Hunter. “Your services will no longer be required. You are now a loose end...a loose end which must be tied up.” Hunter seems unfazed by the sudden turn of events; in fact, he stands there, with a wide smirk that cracks on his lips, and he begins laughing hysterically. “Look, I like ya, but enough is enough.” He takes a step forward, but the hood fires a warning shot. “You’re serious aren’t you?” The hood says nothing, but merely keeps his gun trained on Hunter. “Alright...you wanna play it the hard way...fine. Last chance: I have ways of finding out who you are. I can make your life a living hell... so why don’t you put the gun down, give me my money and we’ll pretend like this never happened?” The hooded figure says nothing, but continues to stand there, gun still pointing towards Hunter. Hunter sighs. “Alright...have it your way.” Hunter charges towards the hooded figure, and another gunshot is fired.

---

An alarm clock begins blaring, and Will lets out a pained groan. It is five in the morning and his entire body is sore all over. Will groans once more as he climbs out of bed, yawning, he tries stretching but a sharp pain shoots through his arm, throughout his body various bruises could be seen. Next door, James is snoring loudly and and Will steps inside the messy room. “James....Jaaaaaames…..” Will tries to shake James out of his sleep, but he merely turns over to the side, mumbling to himself and begins to suck on this thumb. Groaning, Will reaches over and grabs hold his nose.

Within minutes, James wakes up gasping for air, but finds that he can't see anything “Will? Is that you?” He rubs the sleep out of his eyes. “Yeah it’s me...” “UGh...what time is it?” James reaches over for the alarm clock, but finds that he still can’t see anything. “Aaaaah! Waaaah! I’m blind! Blind as a bat!” He begins to freak out, but Will quickly slaps him across the face. “Get a hold of yourself man! You’re not blind, you just lost your vision again...it’s the suit. Tony says how the suits are dangerous for us…well I think our transformation times are nearly up.” James rubs his cheek, his vision slowly returning to him. “Thanks...I needed that. But that’s hardly a reason to wake a guy at five in the morning! I need my beauty sleep man...” James goes back to bed, but after a few minutes he looks up towards Will. “You still here?” Will nods. “We’re supposed to go pick up Arthur at the airport remember?” James groans. “Aw, do we have too...? I was kind of hoping to sleep in today.” Will yawns. “Yeah. I hear ya bud...but Tony’s expecting a lot for us...we shouldn’t disappoint him.” “See! That’s your problem! You have a problem saying no to people!” Shocked, Will retorts, “I do not have a problem saying no to people!”. James points to his shirt that is hanging off his chair. “Hand me that shirt, will ya bud?” Will nods, and he reaches out and passes James his shirt. “See! You can’t say no to people!” Will scratches his head. “Gee...maybe your right...” Will throws the shirt back onto the chair, but even something that simple causes a sharp pain in his shoulder. “Aw damn it.... I need a vacation.” James nods “Hey...wanna play hookie?”. Will blinks. “Are you serious, dude? Tony can track us with the Staff Passes, plus he has those hidden cameras. Remember?!”. “Yeah, I took a look at some of them and I’ve come up with ways to avoid them. Look, you and I have both been working hard. Our bodies need a day off, as well as our spirits. Soooo....lets take the day off to recover.” Will rubs his chin. “But what about Arthur?” “Tony can pick him up! Or he can take a taxi!” Will sighs. “Alright...I know I’m going to regret this but...yeah let’s take the day off...in that case I’m going back to bed.” James nods and yawns. “That’s the...spirit....” He falls asleep, and returns to sucking his thumb before he has a chance to finish his sentence.

---

A few hours later, across town at a downtown suburb, an alarm clock sounds, waking a man that is quite clearly cybernetic. The cybernetic man sits up on his bed, which is somehow strong enough to support his full weight. He lets out a yawn and stretches while beside him, a human looking woman sleeps peacefully. This man is General Sui, a member of the Virusion Empire, the viral threat that came before the Anon Army. He was the only member to survive the final battle but, rather then start the Virusion Empire army again, he decided to settle down. Now he lives as normal a life a robot in the 21st century could.

He met someone, fell in love, and even had a daughter. His morning routine is the same as everyone else, except instead of a water bath, General Sui takes oil baths. He brushes his teeth using a tooth brush attachment that his hand can morph into it. His whole house, while looking normal on the outside and inside, functions exactly like a house straight out of an old science fiction movie, with just about every appliance in the house being automated. After going through their morning routine, Sui’s daughter and himself are sitting at the dinner table while his wife cooks them breakfast.

General Sui’s daughter can be described as a girl with slim proportions throughout her body, someone who, despite her actual age, looks much, much younger. She has her hair tied up in pigtails, and she wears expensive-looking clothing. Her entire demeanor, the way she sits, the way she eats screams of someone that is spoiled, and just doesn’t give a damn about anything. Her name is Amaya, and in front of her sits a bowl of cereal and milk. She takes a big spoonful of it while giving her dad the evil eye. Sui’s wife comes over and pushes some bacon onto Sui’s plate. “Thank you dear” Sui says, taking a sip of his morning coffee. “I still can’t believe you, daddy!” Amaya suddenly shouts, causing Sui to let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Here we go...” He rolls his eyes. “All the power you possess and you’re letting it be squandered! We should be living like kings! In a big palace! Not in a dump like this!”. Sui shakes his head. “Amaya, for the ten-thousandth time...my boss was dead, I was a general without an army. What was I supposed to do?” Amaya pouts. “Build a new army of course!”. Sui shakes his head. “The ModRangers made me see that there was more to life than just destroying someone else’s...I didn’t want that life any more, so I decided to settle down. One day you’ll understand... I’m late for work.” Sui stands up. “Don’t forget your lunch, dear!” Sui’s wife calls out, handing him a lunch box. “Thank you, honey.” Sui gives his wife a quick kiss on the lips. “We’re not done talking!” Amaya says. “Believe me, I know! But I can’t be late for work!”. Once again, Amaya pouts “But daaaaaddy!!!!!” Sui points up the stairs. “Go to your room THIS INSTANT!”. Amaya can feel her temper flaring up. “FINE!” She turns around and furiously marches into her room.

Amaya slams the door behind her. The room is dark, with the lights off and shutters down. Instead of stuffed animals, computers can be seen littered around her room, and her floor is a mess of cables and wires. Instead of boy band posters, Amaya’s walls are filled with newspaper clippings relating to the ModRangers, with ModGreen being the one that is most prominent, and one of the photos looks as though it has been stabbed several times. “UGH, I cannot BELIEVE him!” Crossing her arms, Amaya struts towards her desk. “I’ll show him...I’ll show them all.” Amaya reaches down towards the table and pulls up a ModBelt, hooked up to a web of wires. She grins maliciously as she eyes the belt in her hand.

---

For Sui, things were quite hard for the first little while. It turned out that no place wanted to hire a former General that tried to destroy and enslave humanity. It got to the point where he had to crawl on his knees and beg for Tony to help him. And eventually, Tony found him a job working as a gas station attendant. It was dull and mundane, but Sui couldn’t complain too badly - after all, it did put food on the table. With a forced smile on his face, Sui finishes filling up the tank of a lady’s car, Amaya’s words from earlier weighing heavily on his mind. “Maybe Amaya is right...maybe I gave up too early. If I can combine my power with the Anon Army...” his thoughts are interrupted when he hears the familiar roar of an engine, and watches as a metallic blue sports car drives up to his till, with Tony sitting inside wearing a pair of sunglasses, causing Sui to let out a groan. “General Sui of the Virusion Army...oh, how the mighty have fallen...not thinking of world domination again, are we?” Tony smirks. “Is that the reason why you have to keep coming back to this particular station!? Just to check up on little old me? You gotta have a little more trust in me, man!” Tony shakes his head, and hands Sui his credit card. “I have no idea what you’re talking about... don’t worry, I won’t body search you this time. I just came here for gas, at the usual 50% discount.” Sui snatches Tony’s credit card out of his hand. “That discount comes out of MY pay, you know! I can’t keep giving you those discounts! My boss will fire me!” Tony shakes his head back and forth. “Relax, I was only kidding.”

A few minutes go by as Sui got to work filling up Tony’s car. “So, how’s the wife and kid?” Tony asks, taking a sip out of his water bottle. Sui shrugs. “Meh. Wife’s hanging in there all thing’s considered...kid’s still spoiled though.” Sui hands Tony’s credit card back, and Tony slips the card back into his pocket. “By the way Sui...word on the street is that there’s a new hacker for hire out there...apparently, this new Hacker uses similar methods the Virusion army used. You wouldn’t know anything about it... would you?” Sui shakes his head. “For the millionth time, Tony, I’m retired! Why do you always gotta suspect ME when something like this comes up?! There ARE other criminals in this city you know!” Tony chuckles. “Sorry, sorry...it’s a force of habit.” He smiles one final time. “Well I gotta get going. Take care of yourself, okay.” Tony hands Sui a five dollar bill, which Sui rejects. “Thanks, but no thanks. I already owe you a life debt, I don’t want to have a monetary debt from you too!” Tony nods and with one final wave, he takes off into the busy California streets. “Then again...if I show even the slightest hint that I’m up to no good... Tony will kick my ass into scrap metal...” Tony back up and from his car, he shouts, “Ya damn right I will!” And once again, he drives off.

----

Tony pulls into a private, secret parking garage that is reserved specifically for him. He walks into the command center, but lets out a gasp. His private, hidden safe is blown wide open, and there is now a gaping hole in the wall, exposing a hidden display which housed several Mod Belts, one of which is missing. Tony begins to panic. He turns to the terminal, which looks undamaged. He presses a button and sure enough, the machine comes on. “WELCOME, TONY. HOW MAY I BE OF ASSISTANCE?”. “Play me the most recent security files.”. “ACKNOWLEDGED”

It happened a little bit late into the night, when everyone except for Ai had left. As she leaves the room, Hunter comes in through the vents, and applies some plastic explosive to the wall. At that moment, Ai comes back and freezes in her tracks, like a deer caught in the headlights. She lets out the most fierce “EYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!” an adorable Japanese girl can muster and charges towards Hunter, armed with nothing more than a bottle of pepper spray. However she trips on her own feet, the bottle of pepper spray dropping out of her hand, and Hunter laughs. “What was that?!” The frame skips, showing Hunter now in the locker room, tying Ai up with some duct tape. “W...w...what are you going to do with me?!” Hunter laughs. “Relax, I won’t try anything funny or anything. Are you the only one here?” Ai remains silent. “Are you.the only one.here?” he asks again, in a firmer voice. Ai lets out a shriek. “T-there are four people in the medical bay! But they’re injured!!!!! Please don't hurt them!!!” Hunter nods. “There’s a good girl...just stay out of my way and nothing bad will happen to you. Capiche?” Hunter slaps a piece of duct tape over her mouth and stashes Ai into a locker. “Hey, what do you know! She fits perfectly!” Hunter closes the locker up.

The frame once again skips, and it shows Hunter handcuffing an unconscious Reggie and Nathan to their beds while Kyle struggles to get at him. Hunter turns his attention to Kyle, and places a hand on his hips. “Well, I’d tie you up too, but it looks like someone did my work for me.” He laughs. “Better give you some anesthetic...juuuust in case”. From out of the shadows, Matt leaps at him from behind, but Hunter side-steps, causing Matt to lose balance. He lands half way on Kyle’s bed, in a position that makes it look as though he’s kissing him. Hunter quickly handcuffs Matt to the bed. “Hey, what’s the big idea?! Who are ya anyways?!” Hunter grins. “You’ll find out someday...oh, you guys might wanna hold onto something, things are about to get rocky.” Moments later, Hunter blows the wall and quickly dashes out with the Mod Belt suitcase in hand. The footage ends in static.

Tony watches in shock, and he quickly runs to the locker room. He opens the right locker wide open and finds Ai tied up. She says something to him, but her voice is muffled by the duct tape gagging her mouth. “Hold still, I’ll get you free.” Tony pulls the duct tape off her mouth “Thief! THIEF!!! We’ve been robbed!!!!” Ai shouts. Tony nods. “I know, I know. Are you okay?” Ai nods in response. “Hai. It isn’t the first time I got stuffed in a locker...” Ai then lets out a gasp as Tony undoes the restraints. “Reggie and the others!” “Are fine...hopefully. Don’t worry...I know who took the belt...he doesn’t like to endanger lives. Even as a bounty hunter.” Free from her duct tape restraints, Ai rubs her wrists. “You know who did it Tony-San?” Tony nods. “Yes, he’s a nice guy once you get to know him, but he wouldn’t be someone you want to run into in a dark ally. I need you to begin tracking him immediately! We can’t assume that he still has the ModBelt he took, so use the hidden cameras! But let me know as soon as he tries to use the belt!” Ai nods, and Tony reaches down to grab his phone. “Tch...Will and James still aren’t picking up...useless!” he says. At that moment, Tony gets another call.

Ai runs, to the best of her abilities, turning into the medical ward. “Reggie-san! Are you...okaaaay....” Her look of concern turns to an eyebrow raised “wtf” look as she sees the awkward situation Matt is in: He is handcuffed in a position where it looks as though he is kissing Kyle. Ai tilts her head. “Anno...am I interrupting something?” Matt shakes his head the best he can. “It’s not what it looks like Ai, I swear!” Ai giggles. “I never knew you feel that way about Kyle-san, Matt-san.” As Ai removes Reggie’s cuffs, Matt scowls. “I am NOT into Kyle, Ai! Whom in their right mind would be?! You have the wrong idea!” Nathan also scowls. “And why are you undoing Reggie’s cuffs first?! What are we?! Chopped liver?” Reggie grins as the cuffs come off. “Yes, yes you are.” Nathan now scowl at Reggie, shaking a fist at him “You’re lucky I can’t reach you, Reggie!”

----

While Tony is dealing with the crisis back at the base, Arthur’s plane touches down in the airport. The tall, 20-something male emerges, along with a crowd of people. He has pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. He is dressed in an all-white attire, and around his arm is a duffle bag. The plane arrived earlier than originally announced, so Arthur has some time to kill. He leans against a wall and watches as people came and went. Half an hour passes, then an hour, with no sign of Will, James, or anyone from CPU coming to pick him up.

Almost two hours after his plane touched down, Arthur walks towards a pay phone. After a moment, Tony finally picks up. “WHAT?!” he yells on the other line, his scream causing Arthur to pull away the phone for a moment. “Sir Tony, it’s me. I arrived at the airport, but your squires are nowhere to be seen.” On the other line, he can hear Tony groaning. “Those little...when I get my hands on them...sorry Arthur, I’m dealing with a crisis at the moment and I can’t help you with that! Ai have you found anything yet?!” “Anything I can do to help, Sir Tony?” “Find me Will and James, and bring me their heads!”. “But Tony, I know nothing of your squires...how am I supposed to find them?” Tony groans once more. “They’re otaku, it shouldn’t be too hard to find them. Your tracking skills are almost as good as Hunter’s...I need to hang up now!” The other line goes silent and Arthur hangs up with a sigh. “Now if I were Tony’s squires...where would I go...hmmm....”

----

An anxious Will stands at the corner of a cafe that James instructed him to wait by. He’s dressed in an oversized trench coat and a pair of gag glasses, complete with a fake nose and mustache. “He’s taking way too long....”. Finally, he sees James coming down the street. “Yo!” James says, waving. “Well?!” James tilts his head. “Well what? And what’s with that goofy disguise?” Will scowls at him. “Were you able to disable the cameras?! And I’m incognito!” James raises an eyebrow. “If anything...that disguise makes you look even more suspicious.” Will quickly punches James. “NOT the point right now!” James rubs his arm. “Owe...okay, okay...yeah I was able disable them...turns out my suit has a jamming function.” “TURNS OUT?!” Will shouts. “Shh! Keep it down! I thought you were suppose to be incognito?!” Will suddenly goes up in James’ face and places a finger in the middle of his chest. “James...if Tony finds out his cameras are offline, we’re dead meat...do you hear me?! DEAD!” James pushes Will away. “Calm the eff down would you? I checked the footage to be sure, and all he’s seeing is an endless loop. Don’t worry, we’re completely invisible to him right now.” Will removes the gag glasses. “Huh...guess I don’t need these any more...” He tosses the glasses to the side. “Dude, please! Do us all a favor and put them back on. It’s a marked improvement. Owe!” Will gives James a swift jab in the arm and points to the cafe behind him. “I hear this place has great pasta. Wanna grab lunch?” James nods. “Yeah, let’s.” Just as Will and James step into the cafe, a taxi pulls up to the curb Will was previously standing on, and Arthur comes out. He scratches his chin "Hmmmmm now I were a pair of Otaku…where would I go? They're close…I can feel it"

-----

Later that afternoon, Will and James are enjoying an entire arcade all to themselves. They sit beside each other in a racing simulator, and James pulls his virtual car just ahead of Will’s. “How does my virtual dust taste Will!?” Will smiles, but pulls ahead of James at the last minute. “Old and stale!” Will and James are on their way out, when they notice a familiar , sharply-dressed man playing the whack-a-mole machine. He begins to attack the moles furiously, but to no avail. “Have at thee, foul demons!’ He says in frustration. “Hey... that guy looks familiar...” James goes in for a closer look, but is pulled back by a startled Will so they are hiding behind a game. “Hey, what’s the big idea?!” James shouts. “Shhhhhhh! Keep it down will ya?! You’re going to get us caught! That’s the guy we were supposed to get from the airport!” James peaks up from over the arcade before quickly ducking down. “Oh crap...we’re boned! What do we do?!” “Calm down, I’m sure we can sneak out of here and...”. “You know, the two of you really do need to work on your stealth... I could hear you from all the way over there.” Arthur motions towards his arcade machine, and Will and James nervously glance up towards him. “Busted....” says James. Will just facepalms. Arthur reaches down and grabs both Will and James in a headlock. “Indeed….you two are in a world of trouble! Come along now, us Knights have much work to do!” James growls. “I’d like to point out that Will is the only hero in this room with “Knight” in his name.” Arthur begins to drag the two out of the arcade. “Hey, will you let go!?” shouts Will. Arthur shakes his head. “‘Fraid not. I would not want you two to run off on me again. And Sir Tony made it quite clear that he wanted to see your heads.”

Outside, the group hear screaming as a crowd of people ran past in terror. “Evil is afoot! To arms, friends!” The three of them arrive outside in time to see a monster which looks like a strange mishmash of an humanoid dragon in spiky armor, colored much like Bruce Lee’s iconic yellow jumpsuit. “Is there no one that is stronger than me, Drago-Ree!?” the Monster says. He arms himself with a pair of nunchuks, both ends shaped to look like huge dragon teeth. He speaks in a voice similar to an old Bruce Lee movie dub and begins to swing his nunchucks around in an impressive display that leaves both Will and James scared shitless. “Well?! What are you waiting for?! Slay the dragon!” Arthur shouts. “We’re waiting for YOU to let go of us so we can get the crap beaten out of us!" Arthur blinks. “Oh right...my apologies.” Will and James whip out their Belts. “We are SO getting our asses kicked...” said James. Will sighs. “I know...this is karma paying us back for wanting to ditch Tony today...” Will then glares at James, and James shrugs innocently. “I swear, this is the last time I listen to one of your idiotic hair-brained ideas!” James rolls his eyes. “You say that so much it’s lost all meaning!” Scowling, Will retorts, “I mean it this time!” James shakes his head. “You’ve said THAT a lot too!” They try to continue but Drago-ree lets out a sharp whistle. “Hey, we doing this or what?!” Will and James blink, and both of them assume their earlier positions. “O-Oh, right!” They insert their Staff Passes into the Userbelts and shouts,“User Access! Log In!” As the pass is inserted, the machine responds with:

USER KIRYU, LOGING IN... DOWNLOADING...


USER CONUNDRUM LOGGING IN...DOWNLOADING...

And both of their suits materialize over their bodies. “NewsieKnight!” Will shouts, followed by James, who goes, “Photobomb-whoa!” Drago Ree suddenly charges towards Will and James. They leap out of the way, but just barely. Drago’s head turns towards James, and he gulps. One swift kick later, and James is sent flying across the mall, crashing into the display of a woman’s clothing store. Moments later, James emerges from the store, now wearing a woman’s summer dress and hat. “Ugh...I hate it when I’m right.” He takes off the dress and hat. Meanwhile, Will has begun to engage Drago Ree, but his fast combos of kicks and nunchakus give Will a hard time as he can only block or parry the monster’s attacks. “That’s it Will...keep em busy....” James says, as he stands behind Dragon Ree, armed with his Photo Cannon as he takes aim. Drago Ree suddenly throws his nunchakus in the air. “Now!” Will cries. bringing his sword down, but Drago catches the sword using two fingers and effortless disarms Will. “Shit!” Will cries. Drago Ree begins to pummel Will with a fast series of punches all the while shouting, “ATATATATATATATATATATAT ATATATATATATATATATATA TATA!” He then ends his attack by throwing a roundhouse kick, finishing with “WATA!”. “Now!” James shouts, and at that instance he fires. Drago Ree catches his nunchucks, and using them he deflects Photo Bomber’s shot right back at him. “Oh, come on!” James is then hit by his blast and he’s knocked off his feet.

Will lands and slides on the clean waxed surface till he’s beside Arthur, who is just leaning against a wall watching. “It pains me to see that you two are the best Sir Tony has to offer.” Will scowls at him and rubs the back of his neck. “This is payback for not picking you up at the airport...isn’t it?!” Arthur nods. “Indeed it is, good sir.” Will stands up and dusts himself off. “Well, are you going to help or just stand there?!” Arthur grins. “I think you squires are doing fine on your own. Good show lads!” Arthur gives a thumbs up but Will does not quiet his scowl. “You’re a bastard, you know that?!” “Uh guys?! Can I get a hand here? I’m not exactly equipped to go hand to hand!” Will turns to James and begins clapping. “Very funny, smart-ass! Now help me before I kick your ass into next Tuesday!” “C-Coming!” Will picks up his sword and lets out a battle cry. Drago Ree, however, grabs James and throws him towards Will. Will tries to stop in his tracks to turn and run, but it’s too late as they both end up on the ground. “This is the end for you! Wooooooooooooooooh WATA!!!!” Drago fiercely swings his nunchucks at Will and James, but a barrage of gunfire stops him in his tracks. “What?! Who dares interfere?!” The group then turns to the figure that stood behind Drago, and each of them lets out a gasp.

---

“Fixed it!” Ai shouts as the monitors finally come on. Seeing Mod Hunter, Tony lets out a gasp. “Master Control, Log in, Access Suit H12 and initiate shutdown!”. “ACCESS DENIED PLEASE TRY AGAIN.” Tony scowls. “Shutdown Suit H12!!!!” “ACCESS DENIED. PLEASE CONTACT THE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR FOR ADDITIONAL SUPPORT.” Tony growls and grinds his teeth together. “I AM THE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR, YOU USELESS POS!!!!!” But the machine replies: “ACCESS DENIED, YOU HAVE USED UP ALL AVAILABLE LOG INS. PLEASE TRY AGAIN IN 15 MINUTES” Tony shouts in frustration and begins to take his anger out on the control terminal. “Damned infernal piece of crap!!!!” He begins to kick the terminal. “Um, Tony-san? I believe I found the source of what’s controlling ModHunter” With the push of a button, Ai displays the map of a suburban area not far from where they were. Tony’s jaw hits the floor. “That’s...DAMMIT! SON OF A BITCH!” His anger reaches new heights as he storms off. “Wait, what should do about Will-san and James-san!?”. “Forward them those coordinates and tell them to get there. On the double!!!!” Ai nods, watching Tony run out.

Mod Hunter stands there, holding one of his pincer-like blasters, the end of the rifle smoking from having just recently been fired. “Think I’m scared of you?! Ooooooooooo WATCHA!” Drago suddenly shouts. He moves in and attacks ModHunter, but the warrior blocks and parries the attacks. Mod Hunter’s rams his buzzsaw knee into Drago, the buzz saw weapon would then ram right into Drago's armour this leaves a rather nasty-looking gash. Drago staggers, his wound smoking. “You have won this day, but next time you will not be so lucky! We will meet again someday!” Drago then disappears. A surprised Arthur blinks in surprise as he approaches ModHunter. “Hunter, my good lad! Is that you in there? You look good! Have you lost weight?” Arthur extends his hand towards Hunter, but he ignores him and continues to walk past. As Will and James join him, Arthur places a hand up, and, discretely, he says, “Hunter was always a tad bit anti social...” Arthur turns his head, and his jaw drops as he sees ModHunter levelling a clothing store. “Hunter! What’s gotten into you?! Stop this madness at once! Have you forgotten the oath we swore!?” Arthur approaches ModHunter, and he reaches out, grabbing hold of his arm. Hunter turns towards Arthur, roughly throwing him off. Arthur is sent flying but Will and James catch him before he hits the ground. Arthur’s eyes narrow at Hunter. “Okay. Now I’m angry!” Arthur lets out a fierce battle cry, and charges towards him. “Hey, Sir Idiot! You’re forgetting this!” In his hand, Will holds Arthur’s ModBelt and Pass, causing Arthur to stop in his tracks. “Oh right...I will need that, yes.” Arthur takes the belt and pass from Will, strapping the belt across his waist. Holding the ModPass in his hand, he inserts it into his belt, shouting “MOD ACCESS, LOG IN!”. The belt responds: “WHITE, ACCESS GRANTED, DOWNLOADING....” As his Modsuit appears over his body, Arthur flicks his wrist, so that his cape flows backwards. “ModTomahawk!” ModWhite shouts, and an axe-like weapon appears in his hand. “Fear the Mod of Thunder!” With a battle cry, Arthur charges towards Hunter. “Really?! You’re dropping the Thor jokes? Really?!” Will cries. Arthur leaps into the air, bringing his tomahawk towards the still ModHunter. Hunter defends with both ModPincers, but is pushed back by the force of the blow. Hunter pushes Arthur back and returns with the Pincers, but Arthur is able to deflect the blow. Arthur pauses “...You are not Hunter! You’re strength pales in comparison to his.” Arthur points his ModTomahawk at him as though it is a sword. “Who are you? What have you done with the real Hunter?!” ‘Hunter’ remains silent, however. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, he’s a fake? How can you be so sure?” James asks. “The real Hunter is ruthless and relentless in battle. He would not be giving us pause if it were actually him.” The group turns towards Hunter, who is now moving to destroy another clothing store. “Nay, this one copy to be hellbent on mindless destruction. Something which we Knights can use against him....Follow my lead!” Arthur cries. “For the last time, Will here is the only one that has Knight in his name!” James groans, but follows Will in his pursuit of Arthur. “Sir Will, try to flank him, Sir James, give us cover fire! Try to draw his attention. It would be most unwise to attack Hunter directly, so hit and runs are our best shot!” Will and James both nod. “Right!”

James hops onto the largest platform he can find. He then begins to fire at Hunter, but he looks barely phased. In fact, he merely ignores James and continues to level another defenseless store. This annoys James greatly. “Oh, so that’s the way you wanna play, huh? Fine. I just gotta turn up the juice then!” Inside his suit, James fiddles with the settings, while Will and Arthur begin to engage Hunter. However, Hunter manages to keep both of them at bay without even breaking a sweat. “Dude, do you think that’s such a good idea? Ai’s gonna be pissed when she finds out you messed with her settings!” Will asks, who is locking swords with Hunter’s buzz-saws. Sparks fly as the weapons clash. “This’ll show him...Photo Cannon...full power... FIRE!!!!” Energy begins building up inside the end of James’s cannon, and a large stream of energy discharges. “INCOMIIIIIIING!” Will shouted, and both he and Arthur leap out of the way, just as ModHunter lunges forward. The blast connects. Unable to handle the recoil any longer, James is thrown several feet back until he lands in a wall. “James!” Will runs over to his friend and helps him out of the wall. “How many fingers am I holding?” Will asks holding up two. Dazed and disoriented, James replies, “Seven?” He shakes his head back and forth. “Whoa, what a rush!” Will smacks James on the head. “I told you it was a bad idea!” James chuckles. “Yeah, but you can’t argue with the results...look!” He points to where ModHunter was stood, which is now covered in a cloud of smoke. The smoke dissipates, and Hunter stands there, his form broken up into bits of binary which is staticing in and out. Arthur lets out a fierce battle cry as he brings down his hammer and finishes Hunter off, his form completely shattering and vanishing. “Sooo...is that it? It’s over?” Will asks. “Nay friends. I have a feeling that won’t be the last, not unless we find whomever is responsible for the Copy Hunter and end his reign of terror.” “James, Will, Arthur! I know who’s responsible for this. Meet me at these coordinates on the double!” Tony says from the comlink. “I think Tony might know.” Arthur nods. “Indeed...let us be off friends!”

From the shadows, Amaya watches the group leaving. When they leave, she emerges from the shadows holding Hunter’s ModBelt in hand. “Argh that Idiot! I told him to take the green one! Tsk... now, I don’t feel so bad about double crossing him!” Amaya walks towards where ModHunter last stood and grins, eyeing the belt in her hand. “Although I can’t argue with the results..that'll teach them for rejecting my credit card and making a fool out of me!”

----

“This can’t be the right place...” With a raised eyebrow, Will, James, and Arthur arrive at the destination Tony gave them. "Not exactly the lair of an evil mastermind…" James says, noting the garden gnomes that decorated the front lawn. “Sir Tony is never wrong...usually”. James shakes his head “Everyone has their off days...c’mon let’s go...” James turns and sees Tony pulling up in his sports car. James whistles, “Sweet ride...mind if I take it for a spin sometime?” Tony ignores James, and he walks up to the door and kicks it down. James blinks. “I’ll take that as a no?” . The door hits the ground hard enough to kick up dust, inside, Sui and his family are having dinner. Sui turns, his jaw hitting the floor when he sees Tony. “T-Tony! If you wanted to have dinner with us, you could’ve just asked!” Tony grabs hold of Sui and slams him onto the table. Sui finds himself face-first in his plate of food. “Was it something I said?!” Sui’s wife gasps. “Darling!” Amaya stands up. “Daddy!” Sui tries to struggle out of Tony’s grasp, but the more he struggles the more Tony tightens his grip. A pair of handcuffs are placed over Sui’s wrists. “Tony, what’s the meaning of this?!” Sui says. “I know you’re behind the recent attack on the Mall. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and WILL be used against you.”
Seeing this, an enraged Amaya runs upstairs. “Dear!” Sui’s wife says, watching as Tony begins dragging him outside. “It’s going to be alright honey. Just call my lawyer and tell him to have a defense ready!” Tony throws Sui roughly into the backseat of his car, while Arthur, Will, and James climb in, neighbors and passersby watching awkwardly but doing nothing to interfere. The ride back to CPU becomes cramped and crowded as no one dares to say any words. Sui is the first to break the awkward silence: “Tony, can you please explain to me what’s going on?!” They come to a red light, and from the rear view mirror, Tony shoots Sui a glare. “After analyzing ModHunter, we found a signal that was corrupting and controlling him. That signal came from YOUR house! Your’s Sui!” Sui’s eyes widen. “That’s preposterous! I-” Before Sui can say another word, Tony cuts him off with, ”I trusted you, I have you a second chance, and THIS is how you repay it?! I should’ve taken you down along with the rest of your comrades!” Sui says nothing as the two stare off at each other intensely, Sui shocked, and Tony more angry than Will, James, or Arthur have ever seen. “Um...Tony?” Will finally says, but the angered gaze turns towards him. “Uh...don’t you think you’re jumping to conclusions a little?” The car begins to move again, and James nods. “Yeah, I mean the signal came from his house but...we didn’t even bother investigating the place. The real culprit could still be at his house!” Will nods in agreement with James. “There IS no further proof we need. Sui tried something like this once before. I know he’s guilty!” Sui lets out a sigh, but suddenly the car comes to a screeching halt.

ModHunter stands, towering over them. He reaches over and picks Tony’s car up by the wheel. Hunter then suddenly flips the car over. It tumbles, causing the passengers inside to shriek as they suddenly find themselves upside down. “See! This PROVES he’s guilty!” Tony scowls as he undoes his seat belt. “This proves nothing! Tony, how can I be controlling him when I’m stuck here?!” Sui exclaims. “He has a point Tony...” “Shut up and do your jobs!” Tony shouts, glaring at the two. Will and James undo their seat belts and crawl away from the car. “Heeey! What about me?! You can’t just leave me here!” Tony turns back to Sui. “Oh yes we can! You’re staying put!”. Mod Hunter slowly approaches the group. “Oh man, what do we do?” James begins to panic. “Try not to wet yourself, Squires!” Arthur smirks, but Will gulps. “Too late...” The three are about to transform when they notice a set of tendrils whizzing past them. The Tendrils suddenly wrap themselves around Tony’s car and they cut it in half. The tendrils then undo Sui’s seat belt, and he crawls out from the wreckage. Tony gasps. “My car!!!!” and turns towards the culprit.

The tendrils slowly snake their way back to the body they came from. There stands the same robed figure that took the ModBelt from Hunter. “I am the one that you seek!” The robed figure begins to say. “My name is... Z-RO! And by my hand...the Virusion Army will rise again!” The group suddenly lets out a gasp. Z-RO turns towards ModHunter, who kneels in front of Z-RO. “Ironic, is it not? He was part of the team that defeated the Virusion Army, and yet here he stands as one of it’s first soldiers.” Z-RO suddenly laughs. “What did you do to Hunter?!” Tony shouts. “If I had to guess...that buffoon is probably sleeping with the fishes.” “Here’s a surprise for you!” A mysterious voice shouts. Hunter suddenly jumps from the rooftop and lands on the ground, where he points towards Z-RO. “I don’t eat seafood!” He smirks, but Will cringes. “Ugh, now I know who the Nathan of their group was...” Hunter takes one step forward, glaring at Z-RO. “I believe you have something that belongs to me, I’d like it returned!”. “You mean this?” Z-RO whips out Hunter’s Mod Belt. Hunter smirks to himself and moves faster then Z-RO can blink. In the blink of an eye, the Mod Belt is gone. “Yoink!” Hunter shouts and Z-RO gasps. “Hey, give that back!” Hunter chuckles. “Finders keepers” he sticks out his tongue at Z-RO. “That’s it...I am SO going to destroy you”. The group suddenly prepares themselves for battle, but Sui steps in front of them. “Amaya, you stop this foolishness right now!” A series of gasps are heard from the group as they turn to face Z-RO, who merely stands there, unfazed. “I don’t know whom this Amaya person you speak of is.” The group, except for Sui, fall down, anime style, but Sui merely holds his ground. “Don’t give me that! I saw you make that costume for the dance last halloween!” Sui then thrusts his arm foreword, tendrils escaping from his fingers and plugging into the construct of ModHunter. Almost instantly, the construct vanishes. “Now take off that ridiculous costume this instant!” Z-RO scowls at Sui, who places his hand on the mask and removes it, then flicks the hood down to reveal that Z-RO is indeed Sui’s spoiled teenage daughter. “How did you figure it out?” Sui crosses his arms. “I’m your father, Amaya. I make it my business to know! Now, would you mind explaining to me what this is about?!”

Amaya scowls at her father in return. “I’m tired of living like the everyday common man! What’s the point of having these powers if I’m not allowed to use them!?”. Sui begins to clench his fists tight. “Because it’s better to live like a common man then in fear of-” Before Sui can finish, Amaya laughs. “Ha! Fear of what?! Fear of the looser brigade standing behind you? They’re pathetic!” Will and James’s mouths hang open. Offended, Will is the first to speak “Hey!” He is followed by James, who shouts, “We’re standing right here you know!” Sui paid them no mind as he continues to glare daggers at his daughter. “Amaya, I am going to give you to the count of three, and if I don’t see you out of that ridiculous outfit so help me!” Amaya merely crosses her arms and pouts. “One!” Sui holds up one finger, but Amaya continues to pout. Will gives Tony a quick nudge. “Psst, hey Tony! Should we uh...do something about this? I mean, should we help?”. Sui holds up two fingers, shouting “Two!” Tony shakes his head back and forth. “No, let’s not get involved in their little father/daughter spat... best to just let them sort it all out themselves”. Sui holds up three fingers, shouting, “Three! That’s it, time for an ass kicking.” He rolls up his sleeves and begins to approach Amaya, who gives her father the saddest puppy-dog face she can manage. “You wouldn’t hurt your little Princess, would you?” “Don’t think I won’t! This ass kicking has been a long time coming!” Will snickers to himself. “Little Princess….you're far from 'little'” Hunter just shakes his head. “I still can’t believe my former employer’s just a kid... that explains all the trips to the candy store she had me make... and the other weird errands.” James raises an eyebrow. “Weird errands?” Hunter nods “Yeah, like she had me steal hair from this boy band that’s in town” Will turns towards Hunter. “How was she was able to find you anyways?” Hunter grins, reaching into his pocket and pulling out some cards. “Oh, I hand out business cards.” Will takes the card from Hunter and blinks, Hunter smiles and proudly says: "I also have facebook, twitter, and my own website!" Will turns his attention to the card and reads out-loud: “Call Hunter if you want a job done right...dude, you’re called Mod Hunter and you’re named Hunter…that's also a bounty hunter?” Hunter shrugs. “It’s a code name, okay? You’re not suppose to use you’re real name in this line of work... it tends to get, well... hazardous...” The group turns to see Sui and Amaya arguing rather loudly, and they all sigh.

At that moment, sparks fly in front of them. The group turns to see Drago-Ree, who is now joined by Agro Leet and a legion of SpammerBots. “$up 8y@7cH35?” Agro chuckles, and Will tilts his head. “Huh, you know, I completely forgot about dragon guy there....” Agro laughs. “iâ��m h3r3 7o make 5uR3 0l dr@G0n 8r3@7h h3r3 d03snâ��7 F@il!” Drago turns towards Agro, and tilts his head. “But I thought Mistress Ease’s words was “Get off your lazy ass for a change’?” Agro grumbles at Drago, he smacks his arm. “wh0 @5K3d you?!” Will lets out a deep sigh. “Guess we have to do this then, huh?” Arthur and Hunter nod. “Together then, old friend?” Hunter nods. “Wouldn’t have it any other way!” The group strap on their respective transformation devices, and Will and James shout, “User Access!” They are then joined by Hunter and Arthur, who add, “Mod Access!” All together, the group shouts, ‘LOG IN!” And the respective transformation devices respond:

USER KIRYU LOGGING IN, DOWNLOADING...

USER CONUNDRUM LOGGIN IN...DOWNLOADING


HUNTER ACCESS GRATED DOWNLOADING....


WHITE ACCESS GRANTED DOWNLOADING...

And each Mod suit appears over the respective owner’s body. Will poses heroically, shouting “NewsieKnight!” He is followed by James, who shouts, “PhotoBomber!” and Arthur, who shouts, “ModWhite!” Finally, Hunter shouts, “ModHunter!”. “g37 D3M!” Agro shouts, and the two groups go charging towards one another. “Amaya, we need to get out of here!!!” Sui shouts, but Amaya can only watch, mesmerized, as the heroes charge towards the bad guys. Sui reaches out towards his daughter and pulls her away, just as the groups come into contact with one another.

PhotoBomber does a flying kick at Agro, who manages to block the attack with his swords, but ModHunter leapfrogs and follows up with a double kick. Agro lets out a grunt as he’s pushed back by this attack. ModHunter then follows up by taking both of his ModPincers and thrusting them forward, hitting Agro dead on, making him stagger back. “daMN YoU!” Agro cries in frustration. His swords begin glowing, and Agro unleashes a whirlwind of energy, slashing at them. Seeing this, James gulps. “Oooooh crap!” He braces himself and closes his eyes. A few seconds later, the dust begins to settle, and James finds himself in one piece, Hunter had blocked the attack. He looks over towards James, and gives him a thumbs up before rushing forward to engage Agro again.

Meanwhile, Will and Arthur attack Dragon Ree simultaneously. Drago-Ree blocks the attack and shoves his attackers off of him. With a “Whooo... WATCHA!” he makes another strike. Will and Arthur both dodge out of the way, and as they dodge, Will allows his sword to be entangled by Drago’s nunchucks, and with one swift motion he manages to disarm Drago. “Nice one!” Arthur says, giving Will a thumbs up. Arthur then inserts his Mod Pass into the bottom of the axe’s handle, which responds with: “LOGIN ACCEPTED, CHARGING....” he begins to crouch down, his axe charging up with electricity around it. “Don’t think that’s enough to stop me! Whoooooo!!!!!!!” Drago-Ree gets into a defensive stance, but then hears another “LOGIN ACCEPTED, CHARGING... ” Drago turns to see that Will is also getting ready for a finisher, his sword engulfed in fire. “Oooooooooh sh-” Before Drago Ree can finish, both Will and Arthur strike him. His armor begins sparking as he falls back and explodes.

Agro brings his swords up to guard just as Hunter’s knee drills collide with them, causing sparks to fly as the metal grinded against metal. He then moves out of the way, but as Agro pulls his arms away from his guarding stance, he sees James charging up his cannon and firing. Agro is hit by the blast and is thrown several feet back. He lands on the ground as all four heroes gather together. â��7Ch...7HI$ i5 L@m3...l@t3rz!”. Before Agro can vanish, Amya leaps into his arms with a dreamy sigh. “Take me home, darling!” A gasping Sui follows. “Wait! Amaya!” But before he can do anything, Agro and Amaya vanish. “Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!” Sui would shout.

In the aftermath of the battle, Tony bows down, holding his bow for a good long while. “I’m sorry, Sui. I should’ve placed more faith into you....please...forgive me.” Sui lets out a sigh. “Get up, there’s no need for that. Besides...I still owe you one. If not for you, I wouldn’t have met my wife... or have this job.” Tony smiles, placing a hand on Sui’s arm. “Buy me a new car and we’ll call it even.” Sui stomps his foot on the ground. “For god’s sake, Tony! I work at a gas station! It’ll take a while with my salary!” Tony laughs .“Relax ,Sui....I was only kidding....I will bring Amaya back, you have my word.” Tony then snaps his fingers, and a limousine pulls up. Will and James’s jaws drop. “No way...we get to ride in a fricken limo?!” Tony puts his sunglasses on, and climbs into the limo. “Actually, you can walk home for all I care.” causing a shocked Will and James to go, “What?!”. “Consider it punishment for wanting to skip work today.” He signals for the driver to move. “Hey, wait! Tony! You can’t leave us here!” But much to their dismay, Tony is already gone, as was as Hunter and Arthur. “...We didn’t get the data from them!” James says in a panic, causing Will to shout, “Shit! Hunter! Arthur! Hey! Come baaaaaaack!”


Next time On Tokunation Sentai Modranger!

?????: You’re all under arrest.
Ai: But I’m innocent, I swear!
Tony: Have you lost your mind!?
Harmony: Don’t give up!

Access 18: Arrested Development