Reine flinched as the wall behind her exploded, blinding her with dust. She fired her gun back, but makeshift barricades of furniture and sandbags obstructed her bolts.
This resistance shattered, however, when a thrown tank blew apart their pathetic attempt at a defense. Few survived the tank rolling over them, the survivors fleeing as they carried away the wounded. Their feeble returning laser bolts had little effect against the terrifying giant's armor.
"Yeah! Flee, you worthless ants!" But the army had put up a tougher defense than they'd expected. Besides her formidable artillery, they'd plundered the prototype energy weapons from Ymir's testing labs.
"Are you okay?" Surtur asked.
"I'll survive." Reine winced as she limped forward. Unlike her ally, she wasn't so impervious. She'd taken quite the beating in their assault, her energy system running on vapors.
"We can't keep going like this. Even the mighty Surtur can't last forever!" And they'd barely entered the car garage. Who knew what other annoying obstacles awaited them? "Can't you use those super-zombie nanomachines or something? It'd make a great test run!"
"An excellent suggestion, Reine." Surtur's eyes scanned their surroundings before settling on a half-charred corpse from the destroyed tank. "Hand me your Rangadriver. I can improve its specifications."
After a moment's reluctance, Reine did as instructed. A needle popped out from the gauntlet on the titan's wrist and jabbed into a port in her device. The eyes of his helmet flashed red before returning to normal.
"Try it now," Surtur said, returning her Rangadriver.
"Okay." She pointed her gun at a dead man's neck and fired. For several moments, nothing happened. Then an arm twitched, and Reine watched with bated breath as the creature rose. Its movements were twitchy as it leaped to its feet, the face contorting as it stood. Its features stretched, and bone cracked as the changes forced themselves on the body.
"I'm ready to serve you, master," the creature said with a growl as his teeth extended into multiple rows of serrated fangs. Bone cracked further as the rubbery, burned face stretched forward. His fingers extended far past their usual limits. Palish scales grew across gnarled muscles as his chest expanded three times its normal size. A fin of bone protruded from his back as he slumped forward. Black pools stared back at them as his transformation completed.
"Well, that's something." Reine fought the urge to vomit. But the results impressed her—a major upgrade to her capabilities.
"Go forward and kill everything in sight," Reine told the shark-human monster. With more corpses, she could further experiment with her new trick. Their victims' screams were music to her ears, running in terror as her creation pounced.
"We still have a way to go. Our target is on the 39th floor. I suspect the army has already disabled the elevators. We'll need to climb the stairs."
"Figures." Still, Reine looked forward to Dino's priceless expression of terror when he met her nasty surprise. "You better carry me. I can't climb a single floor with this leg."
///
"I don't like this," Johan said. Dead silence greeted them as they approached. The place seemed like a graveyard, silent as the grave.
"He's been here." Dino pointed toward the torn remains of a garage door.
"Come on." While Johan wanted to charge in and tear Surtur's head off, they approached with caution. After seeing the coast was clear, Dino waved him in.
Besides a flaming tank, nothing greeted them as they entered. The place seemed deserted, and the deafening quiet heightened their unease. They passed an empty checkpoint, ducking under the bar. They found empty shell casings but still no corpses. But with Hel's ability, Johan figured they'd meet soon enough.
"They definitely put up a fight." Johan frowned as he crept over a broken barricade. They discovered more signs of fighting, but still no soldiers. You'd think they'd have run into a survivor by now. A security camera followed them as they walked along the halls. Was Surtur watching them right now?
"Let's put those security cameras to good use." Dino pulled out his phone, hitting the redial button.
"Meili Pizza. Even if it's at the bottom of the sea, we'll get it to you in fifteen minutes, guaranteed."
"Oops, I forgot I called you guys," Dino said sheepishly at Johan's raised eyebrow. "I wanted to order a quick pizza, but there wasn't time."
"Hello?" a more familiar voice said.
"Doctor, the coast seems clear. We're standing in front of the security room right now…"
"I'm on it," Halvorsen said before clicking off.
"With any luck, we can reunite with Robogirl too. I'd rather not wander around blindly. Besides, they'll be slow with Reine's broken leg." Dino frowned when he found the security room unoccupied. "Still empty."
"Do you hear that?" Johan straightened, sure he'd heard scraping noises. Then all hell broke loose as a nearby office door smashed open, revealing the nightmares beyond.
"What the hell?" Johan said, using his sword to deflect a sudden slash toward his throat. Claws scraped against metal as the beast creature pressed with unbelievable force against him. A tingle of revulsion passed through him as acrid drool dripped onto his cheek from the creature's gaping maw, filled with rows of dagger-like teeth. It looked like some twisted combination of a human and a hyena.
"Seems like they left us a parting gift to keep us busy," Dino said, ducking under a cat beast's claws. With an audible crunch, he punched the monster in the nose. While a minor annoyance, it bought Dino the precious seconds needed to gain some distance from his attacker. The Ymir thug's smile became a grim line as more beast creatures moved to corner him against the wall.
The hyena monster pressing against Johan howled as he ripped his sword free, slashing the beast across its chest, and staggered it with a boot to the knee.
"Must be Reine again." How had she gotten this upgrade? It didn't matter. Johan leaped into the security room so he'd be free to transform. Dino joined him, and they prepared for battle.
"Henshin!"
Not a moment too soon—the monsters rushed them in a wave of death. But the mindless beasts hadn't prepared themselves for the foe they'd thought they'd cornered. A head flew from its perch as Laevateinn's golden sword acted on instinct to protect its master. Johan joined the battle, his sword like lightning. Another died as his blade removed a decent section of its torso. Combined with his floating sword, Laevateinn rained death upon foes foolish enough to box themselves into an inescapable room.
Dino wasn't easy prey either, leaping over his enemies and taking their heads with a rapid spear thrust. When his feet touched the ground, seven of their foes had already met their destruction. Despite their victories, their monstrous foes only replaced their losses with three more. These proved wiser, however, attacking as a team to overwhelm their prey.
"We don't have time for this." While they still didn't know Surtur's end goal, Johan sensed these new zombie types played some part of it. He fought back to back with Dino as their enemy harried them from all sides. Each blow from his twin swords caused death to anyone unfortunate enough to feel their bite. Dino wasn't a slouch, either, so nimble that Johan often missed his spear tip as it whipped through the air.
"Damn." Johan took a slash from behind. He punished it with an elbow to the jaw, but it left an opening for a shark monster's fangs to sink into his shoulder. Its head exploded into dust as his flying sword retaliated. While the wound stung something fierce, he'd live. Dino hadn't escaped uninjured either, panting as he stole the heads of three monsters with a single swing of his spear. They were both spent as they finished the remaining creatures.
"Crap." Johan scowled, undoing his transformation. The fight had reduced his energy reserves to almost nothing, leaving him with three percent power remaining. Without that part from Rebecca, his suit would last only two minutes.
"Unfortunate. Stand back and let me handle the bad guys until then," Dino said as Johan explained the problem. "Hopefully, your friend can make it. Ah, found him."
Dino gestured with his head toward a far-left screen. It showed Surtur bounding up a staircase with Reine in tow. From a blurry sign, Johan saw their enemy had reached the fifteenth floor.
"Stairs, wonderful," Johan said, scowling.
"I think they're heading toward the research labs."
"Okay, but why?" Johan's heart raced as he considered the possibilities. "For some super doomsday bomb?"
This only earned a raised eyebrow from Dino. "What? Do you think Ymir was developing nuclear weapons?"
"Likely story. Ymir would have done anything to succeed in their twisted goals of world domination," Johan said, refusing to concede the point.
"You! What are you doing here?" They turned to see a soldier pointing a rifle at them. From his shabby state, Johan guessed he must have only just survived an encounter with Surtur and his monsters.
"General, I found two suspicious men in the security room. Bringing them in for questioning," the soldier said into a comm-bead.
"Two suspicious men who defeated all these monsters by themselves," Johan said, not hiding his irritation.
The man only stared wide-eyed at them, his weapon shaking in a tight grip. No doubt he'd suffered a great deal because of Reine's monsters. "Sir, they claim to have d-defeated…"
"It's all right, soldier. I'm with them," Doctor Halvorsen said, walking at a brisk pace down the hall.
"General, Doctor Halvorsen is here," the soldier said, surprised. "He claims he's an associate of the two."
After giving a brief nod, the soldier handed over his earpiece to Halvorsen. The scientist winced as the voice behind it almost deafened him.
"I'll explain everything, General Holloway. But there isn't time. These two young men have devices that can match Surtur's power. They're using a prototype I designed." Halvorsen paused as the general said something. "I'll take full responsibility for their actions. There isn't time to argue, General."
"Johan, Dino, pursue Surtur," Halvorsen said after another brief exchange with the general. "I'll watch things here and guide you. While I'm uncertain what research Surtur might be after, I'll check the Ymir database for any likely candidates."
"And now we have to climb endless stairs," Johan said, scowling. Without his armor, it'd take him forever to climb fifteen floors.
"You have the benefit of friends upstairs. General Holloway has agreed to switch on a lift to beat Surtur at the pass. In the meantime, his remaining soldiers will slow him down. They don't need to fight him head-on to be a major obstacle."
"That's a relief, at least. Tell us when Rebecca gets here," Johan said, already taking off toward the lift Halvorsen indicated. It appeared to be a private one for VIPs only. Dino followed in hot pursuit, while the soldier remained behind to guard Halvorsen.
"She'll be here soon. She told me it'd take about twenty minutes," Halvorsen said, giving them a nod.
"What about ID-01?" Johan asked, wondering if she'd even be suitable for battle after suffering such emotional turmoil. Despite being a machine, Yareli's death had impacted her profoundly.
This gave Halvorsen pause. "I'm not sure. I'm a little surprised we haven't run into her yet. But I'm sure she'll make herself known."
"You best get going. Time is of the essence," the soldier said, pointing toward the elevator with his weapon.
"Yeah, yeah," Dino said, clicking the button. With almost silent movement, the elevator doors opened. Johan joined him inside, and they vanished up the shaft as it zipped upward. Bland music played while they waited, only heightening Johan's anxiety as they approached their enemy.
"Okay, we're on the floor," Dino said into his phone. "Keep us posted."
"You ready?" Dino asked, putting his phone away.
"As I'll ever be."
Dino put a hand on Johan's shoulder and beamed. "And there's no one I'd rather go into battle with."
"Stop being so friendly. You killed a mate of mine, remember?" But Johan's words didn't have the vitriol they'd once carried. Dino only gave a stiff nod in response. When the elevator arrived with a ding, they peered into the corridor.
Only empty hallways awaited them, not filled with more beast creatures as Johan had feared. From Halvorsen's reckoning, they should be on the floor above Surtur. Before they could run toward the stairwell, an explosion rocked the building. Johan stumbled but quickly regained his footing.
"What the hell was that?" Johan asked, bracing for another explosion. It came several moments later from another part of the building.
"Might be the delaying tactic the general mentioned. They're getting a little enthusiastic. Let's go," Dino said, guiding them toward the source of the explosion.
Smoke filled the upper reaches of the ceiling as something caught fire. A nearby door burst open as Reine collapsed on the floor, coughing.
"Damn suit doesn't have a filtration system. Those bastards took the floor stairs ahead of us!" The former idol froze as she caught Dino and Johan glaring at her. "Damn! Why are you bastards here?"
"You again," Surtur said, his boots thumping against the floor as he turned to address the unwanted newcomers.
"Yeah, can't get rid of us, can you?" Dino said, beaming. He pulled out his belt's key and readied it for action.
"You won't escape this time," Johan said, face tightening in hatred. "This is for you, Ilma!"
"Henshin!"
"New powers?" Reine said, shocked as she saw Johan's new armor. She opened fire on him, but his blade deflected the shots.
"Doctor Halvorsen again. How troublesome," Surtur said, blocking a blow from Johan meant for Hel. "But you only delay the inevitable."
"Never! Call me Kamen Rider Laevateinn. I was created to kill you, you bastard!" Johan snarled, coming on the offensive with his twin blades.
Sparks flew as Surtur defended himself from both sides, just managing to block each blow. But Johan pressed him hard. The monster grunted in effort as he couldn't deflect the second incoming slash quick enough. Since Surtur had never fought Johan, he hadn't the data to counteract his fighting style.
"So powerful," Reine said, marveling as Surtur struggled to keep up. "But never mind." She snapped her fingers, and six zombie beasts exploded from the floor below, making Gungnir lose his footing as the floor collapsed beneath him. Claws met their mark, slashing across his back, while the others jumped to restrain him. Reine used his distraction to shoot bolts into him, making Dino howl in pain and drop his spear.
"Dino!" But Johan couldn't rush to his aid, grunting as a boot struck his stomach. It almost knocked the wind out of him.
But Surtur paid for it, thrown back as Laevateinn's floating sword rained blows on him from above, slashing with such ferocity that he struggled to fend it off. Regaining his breath, Johan pulled out his key and inserted it into his sword. A glint of exposed circuitry on Surtur's chest caught his attention. Now he'd finish this and deliver a fatal blow.
"It's over, Surtur! Twin Strike!" Brilliant light gathered around his sword, so bright it blinded. It hummed with raw power, which Johan felt through his gauntleted hand. He stabbed forward, his aim true.
He gasped as his armor suddenly disappeared, all power leaving his weapon. Without the enhanced strength, Johan hadn't gotten the thrust he needed to deliver the finishing blow. His strike went wild, his face colliding with Surtur's breastplate. Stars filled his vision.
"Johan!" Dino took the head of a monster beast but retreated as Reine bombarded him with energy bolts.
Johan's head throbbed as he tried to regain his bearings. Pure terror filled him as he saw the titanic behemoth towering over him.
"Typical humans. You fought this battle with a half-constructed weapon and wishful thinking. You humans seem to assume courage alone will win you the day. But I won't deny its power. You fought well. Farewell."
"Oh, crap!" Despite his best efforts, there wasn't time to scramble away—Surtur was already swinging his mighty blade down toward Johan's exposed neck.
Glass shattered as a figure drove through the outside window, kicking Surtur's sword aside before it connected. Instead, the blade buried itself deep into a plaster wall, melting it on impact.
"You?" Surtur said, unperturbed by the sudden interruption.
"ID-01?" Johan said, flabbergasted. Where had she come from? Had she been scaling the building from the outside?
"You've come to fight again, my counterpart," Surtur said. "Interesting. Now the only remaining threat to me has appeared."
"Her again," Reine growled.
"You killed my sister, Surtur. And you're trying to destroy the world. This ends here," ID-01 said, pulling out her key. But then a change caught Johan's eye—she was wearing a different belt around her waist. What was she doing with that?
"Yareli?" Johan blinked, watching as ID-01 mimicked his late friend's movements. She even wore Yareli's confident grace right before transforming.
"Henshin!"
A fearsome visage stared back at them as ID-01 took on Yareli's armor. It mirrored his friend's old armor, but its coloring was snowy white. Golden chains covered her body, but they appeared broken, shattered by somebody breaking out of them. Angel-like wings sprouted from her back, taken from ID-01's old armor. Red eyes glowed as she stared at Surtur, her intent for his destruction plain.
"Call me Kamen Rider Fenrir Valkyrie. Together with my sister, I will defeat you, Surtur!"