Chapter 13
Gwen is swinging through New York doing her daily patrol. It is one of her favorite things to do every day. She stops robbers, prevents car accidents, and occasionally saves kids not looking both ways as they cross the street.
"New York is still the same as ever," Gwen mutters to herself
"I hope something interesting happens."
Just as she said that. She heard many people screaming in panic and running away from something.
"Me and my big mouth. Guess I need to check up on it."
Gwen swings toward the source of the danger. She saw many people running away but what was strange was what they were running from. Thousands of rats are running around the streets of New York. They were crawling through small spaces and biting fleeing people.
"Are we having a new plague or what?" said Gwen, seeing the commotion.
The police created a barricade trying to isolate the area and not spread the damage. But the rats are too nimble and easily pass through the barricade. Their guns don't since there are too many of them. Gwen has been bringing civilians and cops to rooftops to prevent them from being swarmed during the chaos.
Captain Stacy arrived and asked what was happening. "What the hell is happening."
"We got a swarm of rats, sir! They suddenly appeared and started attacking people."
"Are the people okay?"
"We barricaded the area but the rats got through. Spider-Woman has been saving the civilians and bringing them to the rooftops"
"Good, keep everyone out of the area and start evacuating the rest of the civilians.
Spider-Woman landed on top of a police car startling everyone.
"Hey, guys, bad day to start drying some cheese am I right?"
Seeing it was Spider-Woman Captain Stacy relaxed. "Spider-Woman, how is the situation," asked Captain Stacy
"What do you think? Rats are crawling everywhere and their not they are not as kind in ratatouille."
*CRY*
They heard a loud cry which brought everyone's attention. The rats also seemed to respond to the cry and started moving toward the direction of the cry. Captain Stacy and Spider-Woman were confused by the sudden change of the rats. They looked at the direction the rats were going and saw a figure.
It is 6 feet tall and has red eyes, inch-long claw-like fingernails, razor-sharp, pointed teeth, a long tail, and fur covering most of his body, giving him the appearance of a human rat.
"That doesn't look good." Gwen has not seen anything like it before. Is it a mutant? An experiment? Or did a rat just grow a human-like appearance? Whatever it was Gwen did not like it. Its eyes did not hold a trace of reason and only held the instinct of a feral beast.
Captain Stacy saw it as well and realized it was commanding the rats and the source of the problem.
"You the giant rat! This is the NYPD surrender and stand down or we will open fire!"
*ROAR*
Vermin the giant rat ignored Captain Stacy and rushed toward the police. It did not understand Captain Stacy's threat. It only felt hunger and saw its next meal.
"Fire!"
The cops shot but the fur of Vermin did not let the bullets penetrate him deeply. Vermin's minor healing factor then healed the damage. Vermin commanded the rats with a cry to distract the cops. The rats crawled all over the cop's bodies biting them with their teeth. The cops tried to shake them off but couldn't with the sheer number.
"Oh no you don't!" Gwen pulled all the cops to safety.
Vermin saw this and he did not like it. He rushed to Spider-Woman and attacked. Spider-Woman sensed this with her spider-sense and jumped out of the way landing on top of a lamp post.
"Hey-hey let's all come down now. How about we all chill and maybe get a pizza with extra cheese?."
*CRY*
"Okay, maybe not."
Vermin jumps to Gwen but she dodges and webs his back and throws Vermin to a store. Vermin crashes through the glass of the store. It gets up and looks at Gwen angrily. Vermin jumps toward her, brandishing his claws. Gwen dodges his strikes barely because of her spider-sense. Gwen has only been stopping normal robbers and has not fought with any metahuman yet. Her inexperience is showing but her spider-sense is helping her cope with the situation.
"This is… ugh… harder… ugh… than I thought."
Gwen webs Vermin's eyes temporarily blinding him. Gwen then keeps punching and kicking Vermin, staggering him.
"Come on Remy, I need you to go to sleep!"
Vermin grabbed Gwen's leg using his tail and threw Gwen toward a car.
"Ugh…"
Vermin rips the web on his face and looks at the disorientated Gwen.
*CRY*
He jumps toward her and is about to sink his teeth into her.
*VROOM*
A powerful exhaust was heard and a motorbike sped through the streets. The bike hit Vermin before he got to Gwen. The bike's impact knocked away Vermin, making him tumble across the street. Gwen snaps out of it and looks up to see Kamen Rider with his fox mask.
"You okay?" Ace asked, outstretching his hand toward Gwen.
"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for the save."
"No problem. It is nice to meet you, Spider-Woman."
"Yeah, nice to meet you, Kamen Rider." When Gwen spoke to Kamen Rider she somehow felt she knew him. But she decided this wasn't the place to think about it for now.
"How did you get here?" asked Gwen
"Captain Stacy called. He saw you getting your ass kicked so he called me for help."
(Flashback)
Captain Stacy took out the Battacandroid to call Ace. "Hello? Is this Captain Stacy?" said Ace on the other end of the line.
"I need you to come here! We got a human-rat hybrid wreaking havoc downtown. Spider-Woman is fighting it but it does not seem to be going very well."
"I'm on my way."
(End Flashback)
"Hey, I was doing just fine," said Gwen pouting
"That doesn't seem to look like it when I arrived. You're still too inexperienced. You may have spider powers but that suit of yours doesn't protect you.
Gwen looks down at her suit. It is filled with dirt and some cuts are here and there. Gwen agreed to Kamen Rider's analysis but she did not want to admit it and just pouted. Ace saw this and just shook his head.
*CRY*
Vermin gets up and is enraged by the sneak-attack of Ace.
"Let's do this together. Back me up," said Ace bringing out his driver
"Okay," Gwen saw the driver and did not recognize it. It is color green with a pink lever
"That's a new one," she said
Ace only smirks at Gwen under his mask. "Let's play. Spider-Woman."
"Huh?"
*Click*
Ace then shows The Taddle Quest Gashat and activates it.
[TADDLE QUEST (Medieval-styled music)]
A colored pixelated wave of energy spread out from Ace. Creating chests around the area. A game screen of Taddle Quest appears behind Ace
"Huh? Wait! What is going on!?" Gwen is slightly panicking not understanding what is happening.
"Henshin" Ace then inserts the Gashat into the Game Driver.
[GASHAT]
[LET'S GAME, METCHA GAME, MUTCHA GAME, WHAT'S YOUR NAME?]
[I'M A KAMEN RIDER]
Character screens surround Ace before selecting Brave. Ace gets covered in pixelated blue light before transforming into a chibi-looking form. It has white armor, big yellow eyes with a knight helmet, and a small shield. It has game buttons and a health bar display on its chest. This Kamen Rider Brave Level 1
Gwen was shocked to see Kamen Rider's new form. Since it is vastly different compared to his other forms.
"EEEHHH~ It is so cute~" said Gwen
"Skill Level 2" Ace flip opens the lever.
[GACHAN]
[LEVEL UP]
[TADDLE MEGURU, TADDLE MEGURU, TADDLE QUEST]
Brave now in a more slim-fitting form, wears blue armor and white and silver armor pads. On his back is the head of his level 1 form. Kamen Rider Brave Level 2.
"I liked your other form better," muttered Gwen a bit disappointed.
"Enough fooling around," said Brave
Brave summons his sword the Gashacon Sword. It has a blue handle with an A and B game buttons. The blade is shaped like a sword with flames.
[GASHACON SWORD]
"Let's go Spider-Woman. It is time for a rat extermination."
*CRY*
Brave rushes to Vermin and both exchange blows. Vermin attacks with his nails but Brave can see where the attack will land. Vermin only operates on Instinct and his attacks are too simple. Brave dodges his vails and attacks with his Gashacon sword. Each hit generates a HIT text and sound effect.
Gwen sees this and comments on it.
"You're like a game character!"
Brave kicks away Vermin and responds. "That is the theme of the armor."
"Oh! So are you playing as a knight in a fantasy RPG?"
"That's right."
"So cool!"
*CRY*
Vermin jumps to Gwen and she jumps over Vermin. She then shoots a web at him and pulls herself toward him for a kick. Gwen kicks Vermin in the head and Brave follows up with a sword strike. Vermin was sent flying with his chest wounded and bleeding.
*CRY*
Vermin commands the rats in the area to swarm Brave and Gwen.
"Ew! I don't want to get a disease!" said Gwen looking at the wave of rats coming.
"Don't worry I got this." Brave presses a game button on his sword and stabs his sword into the ground. A wave of fire pulsated from the ground and engulfed the wave of rats. The rats screamed as they were burnt alive. The remaining surviving rats fled.
"So cool! You can send out fire with that sword!" said Gwen in awe
"That is not the only thing it can do." Brave pressed a game button and the sword flipped. The Gashacon sword is not covered in ice.
"Awesome! Now it's ice.' said Gwen
Brave rushes to Vermin and starts slashing with his sword. Each strike slowly froze the surface body of Vermin. Gwen joins in punching and kicking Vermin. She sometimes webs him and pulls herself toward him for more force. Vermin was slowly getting slower from Brave freezing him and Gwen attacking. Sensing it's nearing defeat, Vermin runs away.
"Hey wait! Come back here!' said Gwen chasing after Vermin
Verming runs toward the police barricade where Captain Stacy is. The police saw Vermin coming toward them and started shooting. Vermin ignores their bullets and starts attacking the cops. Vermin was about to pierce a young cop with his nails but Captain Stacy jumped in to save him. Gwen saw her father getting stabbed and she was filled with dread.
"NO!"
Vermin tosses Captain Stacy to the side. He runs to the nearby manhole and jumps in to escape to the sewers. Gwen went to her father's side to check his injury. He was stabbed deep in the stomach and is heavily bleeding.
"No no no no. Please! Please don't die!" Gwen is holding her father's wound trying to stop the bleeding but it is not working.
George looked at Spider-Woman who was crying in front of him. He holds her hand to reassure her. "It's going to be okay."
George could feel his body slowly getting colder. He at least doesn't want to leave a bad consciousness to the girl in front of him.
Gwen did not like the sound of that as if he knew he was going to die. "Don't talk like that. Just hang on. You're going to be okay. Help is coming."
George only smiles at Gwen's kindness. "It's okay kid. I know my body. I just wish I could see my family one last time. *cough, cough*"
Gwen could see her father slowly dying in front of her. She wept and prayed for someone to save him.
'Please anyone! Please save my Dad! I'll do anything please God! Anybody!'
"Don't talk as if it is your final moment, Captain Stacy." Brave came near them and Gwen looked at him with hope.
"This will heal you." Brave showed a silver medal and it looked like a game item. It is the Recovery energy item.
Brave pushed it to George's body and George was covered in a pale light. His wounds visibly healed and the bleeding stopped.
George checks his wounds and they are gone. "I'm okay…" He couldn't believe what just happened. He thought he was going to die but the Rider saved him. He looks at him and thanks him. "Thank you, Rider."
"You're Wel—!"
Gwen throws herself to Brave and thanks him while crying.
"Thank you… *sniff* Thank you… *sniff*"
Brave hugs her back to calm her down. "You're welcome."