Chapter Text
Lightly playing with the new lanyard around his neck, a freshly minted card highlighting his new level three security clearance hanging from it Marcus wandered around a room. Inside with him were display cases filled with various pieces of tech, things like the driver he was using but not as advanced looking. A mini museum as it were. Something He found a bit strange as the general public wouldn’t see any of this This particular room was so deep inside the building Marcus was surprised he was allowed in here.
As many times as he circled it, he was only there because he was waiting on Nate, he kept coming back to one particular display. One that brought back so many memories. It was simple enough, and similar enough to see how his QScan driver was inspired by it. The only real difference he could see was the from where a different type of scanner was in place. But that wasn’t why he was staring at it. He grew up seeing this particular driver, usually when his dad wasn’t looking. And that thought made him sad all over again.
A feeling he quickly shook off, he’ll always miss the man who adopted and raised him but nothing was going to bring him back, no matter how much he and Nate might wish otherwise.. Speaking of his brother he soon came in. Walking up to the case he looked at it as well, with a similar sad look Marcus was sure he was wearing. Sighing heavily Nate eventually said, “Still isn’t easy is it? Knowing he’s not hear any more.”
“No,” was all he could say at that particular moment.
“”I came in here, just staring at this those first couple of days after it happened,” Nate admitted. “Part of me still doesn’t want to believe it.”
“I hear ya,” Marcus said. “He left so many things unsaid. I’d give just about anything just to be able to pick up the phone and call him, hear his voice onr last time. Ask him..”, Marcus lowered his head, fist clenched. Anger threatening to over take him, over just one unanswered question that he was never going to get an answer to, not from him at least.
Suddenly he felt Nate’s hand on his shoulder. When he looked over Nate told him with a sad smile, “I’m still looking.” Looking around the room he asked, “So what do you think of the collection? Everything ever created to battle the Cryptids is in here.” Nate looking at one particular wall made Marcus look in that direction, “Even the thing that never worked or made any sense.” Both of them walked over to the case and looked at all the various weird devices held inside.
Hold it,” Marcus pointed at something in particular, “Didn;’t you draw something like that in like third grade or something?”
“Please,” Nate scoffed, “my drawing skills were never that bad.”
“Yes they were,” Stepping out of punching range Marcuse gestured behind them. “I do have a question though.” Leading Nate to another case, containing a different, obviously older version of a driver. This one looked like somebody took the scanner out of a grocery store cash register and attached it to a belt. “You’re telling me this was used in the fight against the Cryptids?”
“Afraid so,” he answered. “The original BScan driver. In all it’s,” he struggled to think of the proper word to use here, “outdated glory.”
“Dad wore that thing? To fight the Cryptids?”
“The first couple of battles at least,” he gestured his head toward another case that had a slightly smaller version of the one in the case before them. “Then they made that one based on his feedback. Given where the rech was at the time they couldn’t do much.”
Looking back and forth between the two devices all Marcus could say was, “No wonder Dad was always bitching about his back.”
“My first thought too,” Nate told him. Motioning to the door they headed out. “While we’re alone, I want to talk about some ground rules for when we’re on duty.”
More or less automatically Marcus said, “Don’t say anything that’ll make you look stupid.”
“The fact that was the first thing you thought of…,”
“Hey,” Marcus quickly interjected, “you know me. Half the time that sh*t slips out.”
“Adding that to the list,” Nate said dryly.
“I’m guessing the Director has a different set of rules I have to follow?”
“I’ll compare notes with her when she gets back.”
Marcus just sort of glanced at him. Given all the talk about the Cryptids might attack at any time, it seemed a tad weird that she’d be away from her post. “Where is she?”
“Yeah, about that.” The way Nate said that to him and that he wasn’t exactly looking at him was saying whatever it was he was not going to like it.
Forcing Nate to stop he went, “What did she do?”
***
Kat watched Maddie play with the bits of dry cereal in front of her. Oh to be that easily entertained by something so simple again. Particularly nowadays with the sh*t going on outside the apartment walls. It had only been a few weeks since the Cryptids had shown up but she was already thinking of the time before that happened as the good old days. She was going to ask Marcus if he felt the same way, or even her sister. Not that she was as deep into things as Kat was.
A soft knock at the door caught her attention, who in the hell could that be? She wasn’t expecting anyone. Getting up she went over and looked out the peephole. Times like these Kat almost wished the apartment had one of those video doorbells. On the other side of the door was an older woman that she didn’t recognize just standing there patiently. After making sure the chain was in place she opened it enough to say, “Can I help you?”
“I apologize for the unannounced visit,” she held up her hand revealing a card of some type. The first thing Kat recognized was the logo of a black circle with three blue hexagons. That same logo was on the security badge Marcus had come home with after making those arrangements to use that damn driver until the other one started working. “I hope the Captain and Mr. Cole mentioned me.”
“Director Miller?”, she went as she remembered how Marcus described her. Although she didn’t think that it was that good of an idea to mention Marcus’ description sort of implied there might be a broom involved. “Ah, do you want to come in? I can I get you some coffee or?” Kat began as the Director walked through.
“I won’t be long,” she said, friendly enough. Then she noticed Maddie still playing with her bits of cereal. “I was afraid I would be interrupting nap time.”
“”A few minutes later and you would have,” and that came out a little nastier than she intended. The director didn’t seem offended in any way that Kat could tell.
“I completely understand,” the director said instead, “I had two myself. They’re grown now of course. “Can we sit?”
“What? Sorry, of course,” she gestured to the couch. “Are you sure I can’t get you anything to drink.”
“That won’t be necessary, May I call you Katherine?, she asked. Kat nodded. “Well Katherine, given how you were basically dragged into this situation unwillingly I thought it would be prudent to inform you personally.”
“Inform me of what?”, she asked warily.
“Nothing nefarious I assure you,” the director said with a slight smirk. “But given the situation with the Cryptids and Mr. Cole’s temporary assignment in using the QScan driver, A set of guards will be stationed nearby.”
“Wait a minute, guards?”.”
“No one will be stationed in this building or in any across the street. Everybody will be ground level, and my men are good enough that you won’t even notice they’re there. Of course they are only human, and humans are prone to the occasional mistake. So I figured it would be better to let you know beforeh and and before you thought you were being stalked.”
“Now what a minute, Don’t we get a say in this?”
“Unfortunately this particular rule was put into place well before my time as the head of this organization. And it upset the hell out of me when I was told so I do understand.”
“”Did Marcis know?”, Kat asked after she forced herself from lashing out. More than likely this woman did understand, still didn’t mean she had to believe it.
“Captain Cole was going to inform him today,” she looked, actually Kat wasn’t sure how to interpret the look on the director’s face, trepidation, annoyance? And the fact that she came here. “Now I don’t know Mr. Cole as well as the two of you do, but something tells me he won’t be taking the news as well as you are.”
“No,” Kat admitted, “No he’s not. I’m sure you noticed Marcus tends to react first and think later in most cases.”
“Captain Cole said something similar,” she said with another smirk. “But not quite as nicely. Now before I forget,” she reached into her coat and pulled out another card. Handing it to her Kat saw that it was another security card. Taking it she saw that it had her name on it.
“What is this for?”
“Another rule that was implemented before my time. All spouses, or partners in your case, get a low level security clearance. Even with this temporary arrangement, you are allowed inside. It makes things so much easier when we have a function, which we are having in a couple of weeks. And you are more than welcome to come, get to know the people Mr. Cole will be working with.”
Tapping the edge of the card in her hand lightly Kat looked at her, “That guard, they’re going to be around where I work too aren’t they?” The director just nodded. Well that was just great. “And we don’t even have a choice.”
“Now this is going to sound more than a bit manipulative,” the director began, “and that’s because it is. But even if you had a choice,” she looked over at Maddie, “would you choose not to take it?” At that particular moment Kat thought Marcus was being too kind in describing this woman.
***
Knowing his brother well enough Nate decided, after letting him know what the Director’s plan for the day was, to let Marcus brood there for a few moments before saying anything. But he was also confident enough to leave him alone long enough to grab a couple cups of coffee for both of them, the good stuff and not the borderline paint thinner they were served the last time the two of them was here. Marcus was still were he left him staring at wall display. As he walked over he held out one of the coffees, “Here.”
“Thanks,” he muttered and returned to looking at the display.
“”I know these displays bro, they’re not that interesting.”
“She went to my home,” he said looking at him.
“I know,” Nate sighed, “I didn’t like it either when I found out, But her heart, if you can call it that, was in the right place. I mean it makes sense.”
“A hell of a lot of good that guard detail did Dad,” Marcus said bitterly. Nate knew exactly were that comment was coming from. He was still a bit angry about how dad died too. But as he used to tell both of them there was no point in wallowing in the past, you couldn’t change it. No matter how much you wanted to.
“Yes, they failed dad. But when I found out this was going to be the plan I pushed hard to be part of the decision making on who’s going on that detail. I got a niece with a future to think about and a woman in love with my,” he wrapped an arm around Marcus’ neck as he guided him away from this particular display, “little brother and said brother himself. I am not going to let anything happen to any of you.”
“Going a little heavy on that, aren’t we?”
“Doesn’t make it any less true. Besides I promised Kat I’d make sure you stay in one piece. And something tells me she’s not someone you want to cross.”
“And that’s an understatement.”
“Well enough of the family bonding on the job,” he said, but still kept an arm around his brother as they walked the corridor. “But I have to ask how does it feel to be the official Kamen Rider?”
Here Marcus pulled away and got out of his grasp, “Whoa, just a minute, temporary official Kamen Rider.” Nate nodded as he held up both hands in concession. Yeah that was the deal the Director surprisingly agreed to. Still temporary or not Marcus still had to get up to speed. Suddenly Marcus tapped him on the chest with a knuckle, “But do yourself a favor. When that driver finally gets going use some of that pull you got to make sure they come up with something cooler than Kamen Rider BScan.”
“I’ll put that high on the list of priorities,” he told him, not so light on the sarcasm. Although now that Marcus put it out there, Nate had to admit it, to himself since there was no way in hell that he’d say this to his brother, that wasn’t a bad idea. Getting out of that though he tried to get things back on track. “So you read that info pack I sent you?:
“I tried to,” Marcus said.
?Marcus,” he sighed, not able to hide his disappointment.
“I have literally seen instructions in Japanese that made more sense than that gobibly gook you sent me. And I don’t even read Japanese.”
“You barely read English,” Nate shot back. Marcus shoved him. “All right I’ll admit the info was a tad heavy in the tech speak.”
“A tad heavy?”
Nate didn’t take the bait, “But that’s why I’m here, you need something explained just ask away. But give me a moment to find a pen and paper if diagrams are needed. Now that I think of it, let me grab some now. I get the feeling I’m going to need a ton of paper.”
“Asshole,” Marcus shot at him. Nate looked around just to make sure no one witnessed this particular exchange. Marcus might have been a blank slate around here but he still had a image to keep up, and he woluldn’t tolerate this kind of conversation from any body under him, and Marcus was technically under him. And considering Nate was more than familiar with how they interacted when together he probably shouldn’t feed it too much while on the clock. Fortunately Marcus saw him look around and get the hint. “Right, questions. Alright something simple, Does that AI in the driver recognize anything besides weapons? I don’t want to be caught off guard again.”
“Primarily it only looks for potential codes for weapons. Given your unique situation, I’m not sure how many it’s going to recognize now compared to the list I know. But it can also detect a kind of a suit upgrade as well, That one should come up red once the AI detects it.”
“If my ‘unique situation’ lets it happen you mean,” Marcus said. “Whatever’s in my blood unlocked a weapon nobody knew was programmed in.” And that would be the situation he was talking about.
“The big brains have been going over the files,” Nate told him. “As soon as they heard about the sword. “I’ll let uou in on a not so little secret, the big brains hate finding surprises in the stuff they make.”
“It’s why people love me so much,” Marcus quipped. “So just the two things then?”
“That’s all I know.”
Okay, if I find one of these suit upgrades, which way do I swipe to activate it on the driver?”
“You swipe it to the left to bring it up, and you swipe down to pull up the weapons you scanned.” Marcus just nodded as he took that in. “In case you get more than one…” Marcus looked like he was going to interject so Nate made sure to speak first. “Just in case you find more than one, a menu will pop up in the HUD in the helmet. Just keep swiping left until you find the one you want.”
“This is a lot to take in for a temp assignment,” Marcus said after a moment.
“And we’re only scratching the surface bro,” Nate told him. Marcus immediately hung his head.
***
In the underground a group of what would have looked like an average group of young adults in the above world outside of the more monstrous looking ones, stu ck to one of the more secluded sections of their home. In the middle of the pack the obvious leader stood taller among the rest; they only moved when he took a step forward to let him through. Someone who thought of himself as a king in a kingdom not his own, and his followers feed into that belief, even if none of the other beings did so. Another youth made his way toward the group in a hurry. “The priestess gave her reading,” he said as he got close enough. Still in a hushed tone despite the fact they were the only ones there
Which annoyed their leader so he loudly demanded, “What did the old witch say?” the newcomer and some of the others flinched and quickly looked around. The one reason why this area was more or less deserted was because their lord decreed it. For no reason he could see outside of him exercising his control of the rest of them.
“She,” he looked back before continuing, flinching when saw the alpha of this particular group glare at him for doing so. “She said the time wasn’t right for a new assault.”
“Of course she did,” he growled, stomping off and kicking the wall of the cavern. As a result several pieces of stone fall on top of them. The rest covered up as best as they could. He just stood there seething. “And that no good pig probably agreed with her.”
The others, usually agreeable to what he said all stepped back and gasped in shock at this proclamation.. One was brave enough to take a tentative step forward, “Th…that is our lord…” He he was caught off guard as a hand suddenly wrapped around his throat. Staring into the enraged eies of te one he followed he went pail as the grip on him cut off the air.
“He is a pig and a coward!!”, he snapped. Throwing his captive into the same wall he kicked causing even more bits of rubble to fall. “His line has us cowering down here when we should be ruling those weaklings who live above our heads!”
“But the Rider…”, one started to say before a quick back hand sent him to the ground.
“The Rider, the Rider,” he said starting to pace the floor, hand clenching and unclenching as he did so. Suddenly he turned to face his followers, who flinched back at the sudden movement. “All our lives we;ve heard of this mythical Rider. But has anyone actually seen this thing?””
“”My father was there on the last…” one started to speak up.
“And he ran!,” the pack alpha snapped at him. “As soon as things started going the above dwellers' way. Just like that his cowards' line demands” He didn’t, or refused, to realize how uncomfortable his rant was making them. “”We have the physical advantage. This so-called Rider’s bones should have been ground to dust a long time ago. But that won’t happen as long as that line is still in control. It’s time for a change.”
“And what?”, he turned on the one who dared to interrupt him. And he couldn’t hide his confusion when this blond newcomer didn’t immediately cower in fear of hid rage. In fact he almost seemed amused. “Big talk from a little bot in a man’s body. But if anything did happen to our lord,” he looked at him with much sadness. “By any means other than natural, the son will be quite upset.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Me?”, he said, coming into the cavern, looking around the cavern. He almost looked bored at what he was seeing. “Me, I’m just a friend of the lord’s son.” They all reacted to this, even the pack Alpha took a small step back. He was amused by their reactions, “Don’t worry I’m not so important that guards follow me. But I do correspond with my friend fairly regularly. And he made me promise to look after his father while he’s away undergoing that special training.”
“Special training?”, the other man spat. “What’s so special about it?”
“Even he didn’t know. But his father wished for him to undergo it and he complied with his father’s wishes.”
“All the more reason why there needs to be a change!”
“And that change is you? Someone who has no claim to the throne at all.”
“I’ll take it by force,” he growled. He couldn’t hide his growing frustration over how unimpressed this intruder was acting in front of him. He would enjoy putting this waste in his place given half the chance.
“Oh,” he said with raised eyebrows, “ would this be before or after the guards ran you through with their lances? Actually I can picture exactly where they would place your head, right above the entrance to the sh*t room.” He was lunged at and easily avoided the attempted assault.
“Stay still!” his angry demand quickly came soon after.
“I don’t think so.” He started walking away.
“You said I don’t have a claim!”, he shouted after that annoyance. “Then I’ll get a claim. I’ll.. I’ll… I’ll kill the Rider! That’s something that coward hasn’t been able to do!. I’ll kill the Rider then they’ll have to respect me!”
***
“Okay bro,” Nate said as he took him into one more room. It wasn’t exact;y the nickel tour of the place he was expecting but it did seem like Nate was picking and choosing what he was showing him. “This is where we’ll be most of the time.” Now, admittedly, Marcus had never seen a military style frat room before. Actually he wasn’t even sure that was a thing. But if it was, it probably look like this. When the door first opened the men inside were lounging around but the moment one of the realized it was Nate he popped up to attention immediately which caused the rest to do the same. “At ease,” he said with a slight hand gesture. Marcus was kinda hoping that at least a couple would go back to lounging but no one did. Nate looked at them, “Come on guys it's just my brother, not anybody important or anything.”
“Well don’t I feel special,” Marcus quipped as they all went back to what they were doing.; He took the moment to get a better look around the room.. There were various city maps around the room, some that werre marked with what he was assuming were the various Cryptid attacks. Right next to them were the arcade machines. Then he noticed the dartboard and the director’s picture pinned on it. Then he realized they were throwing knives instead of darts. “And you just keep that up? For anybody to see?”
Nate looked over at it and smirked, not the response he was expecting,as he said, “You should have seen what dad was letting his men do to the photo of the director of that time.”
“I want to ask but don’t want to at the same time.”
“Probably for the best,” Nate told him.”Nut anyway, like I said this is where we’ll be spending most of our time between missions as I said.”
“”They don’t wanna see us grunts roaming the halls.”, One of them piped in, getting a small laugh from a few of the others.”
“Then why is he parading me around?”, Marcus asked.
“I was right,” Nate said suddenly, “I’m probably going to have to stock up on as[irin.”
“I do believe he’s regretting this whole situation now,” Marcus said.
The one who made the comment joined in, “I don’t know why, we’re tons of fun.” One look from Nate ended that real quick, “Sorry Captain.”
“To answer,” he began with a bit of annoyance, “the question you probably had. That rule was set in place during dad’s time. The higher ups back then wanted to keep everything dealing with the Cryptids as quiet as possible. And having a group of armed soldiers just walking around would raise questions. So as a result we basically get our own clubhouse.”
“And since they’re being more open about the Cryptids now?”, some still blew Marcis’ mind even now.
“We still get to keep it but we can go through the front door now. Also it gives us a place to plan our action without any of the suits looking over our shoulder and f*cking it up with their “helpful” suggestions.” When Naye gestured at the ceiling Marcus looked up and around and saw no cameras in sight. So probably no AI suggestions either.
“Oh Captain,” another one “Those new prototypes just came in.
“Finally,” Nate said and headed to another door.
“Prototypes?”Marcus asked, following him into that room. And was a little surprised to see a firing range of some sort on the other side. Looking around he ended up saying, “I’m guessing there’s some really good soundproofing.”
“It’s especially good on movie night,” Nate told him and headed for a station that had an assault rifle and some ammo on it. “And these are the prototypes,” he said holding up some of the bullets. Putting some into a clip he explained further, “The latest in a line of anti-Cryptid weaponry. Not everyone can get a driver.” He picked up the rifle and slammed the clip in. “The scientists around here have been trying to develop bullets that will harm a Vryptid like a regular one would damage a regular human for decades now.” He walked over to some sort of cube while one of them held Marcus back. When he saw the guy and Nate don some headphones he didn’t see another pair in sight. So he stuck his fingers in his ears as Nate pulled the trigger.
Those few rounds were quickly spent and Nate waved them forward. Getting a better look at the cube Marcus could see there was some sort of gelatinous goop on the inside, looking like a stiffer type of jello-o with the bullets he just fired stuck in the middle. Marcus whistles at the sight. “Pretty impressive.”
“Almost,” Nate said as he put the rifle back. “But not quite there yet. You want to tell me the flaw?” It took Marcus a couple of seconds to figure out that was directed toward him, even pointing at himself with a questioning look.
“Geez put me on the spot.”
“If you’re going to be a part…” Marcus started to interrupt but Nate corrected himself, “temporary part of this unit you gotta know your stuff. And this is part of it. So what do you think is wrong”
“Probably something pretty obvious too,”he muttered leaning in to get a closer look.
Suddenly the other guy put an arm around his shoulders, “Just relax man, try to distance yourself from the civilian thinking.
“Easy for you to say.” Marcus said shaking his head as he kept looking at the cube. Then something in his brain clued in on the fact that he stressed the word distance. He looked around at the range again. Pointing at the side with the door he asked, “Shouldn’t you’ve been shooting from back there?”
“That’s part of it,” Nate said, giving away nothing.
'`Only part?”, He went looking at the bullets again. Just hanging there in the middle of it all. In the middle, something clicked in his head. “You were super close, shouldn’t thrse be closer to the back?”
“Not necessarily, but you're on the right track,” Nate told him. “The main issue is that Cryptid skin is way tougher and thicker than a human’s. They’re not bulletproof but regular ordinance isn’t going to cut it.”
“I remember dad complaining about that,” Marcus said as their companion left the room.
“These bullets,” he said holding up a couple of more, “they have the stopping power all right, but only at close range.”
“Like within arms reach close range?”, Marcus offered.
“Exactly,” Nate told him.
“Captain,” Another man carrying the Driver case. Putting it on the table he went on, “This just came in.”
“Thanks Will,” Nate said as he put it on the table.
After he left Marcus let out a breath, “So this makes it semi official then.”
“Part of the deal bro,” Nate said as he laid the case down and popped it open revealing the buckle and driver within. “You have to have this on you at all times, we might not have time to get back here and pick it up on the days we’re not here waiting.”
“I know, Dad used to bring his driver home all the time when we were younger. Does this mean i gotta wear a suit from now on? Because that case and what I usually wear don’t exactly match.”
“I thought of that, give me a sec.” He watched Nate head back into the other room. After a moment he came back in and plopped an old backpack on the table next to the case.
“Really?”, Marcus asked.
“Hey they may be more open about the Cryptids now,” Nate told him, “but they still want to keep who’s using the driver on the down low.”
“And Kat will love hearing that, but still.”
“Can you think of anything less conspicuous as this?”, Nate asked him. “You’re right, people who dress like you don’t carry briefcases this fancy unless they’re super rich and don’t give a f*ck. This way you don't stand out any more than usual.”
Marcus just side eyed him, “Why does it feel like there was a dig there? And what if the bag gets stolen behind my back?”
“There's a tracker in the driver,” Nate told him, “We can track it anywhere as long as it stays in the city.” Without another word he took the driver and buckle and placed them in the backpack. “Just keep it out of Maddie’s hands and we’re good.”
Nate held out the bag, with another breath Marcus took it. “Maddie is somebody you're not going to have to worry about, especially if your guys hurry with that other driver.” Zipping up the bag he slung it over his shoulder. “I don’t suppose dad wrote down how he explained this to mom? Because Kat’s not going to be thrilled about this. Hell i’m not thrilled about this.”
“You’ll think of something,” Now come on,” Nate said, dragging him by the arm, “Now come, on the guys been waiting to razz you about the bookbag all day.”
“I think I’d rather deal with Kat,” he sighed as he was pulled into the other room.
***
“Come on Maddie,” Kat said as she sat on the floor in front of her daughter. “Come to Mommy. I know you can do it.” She watched as Maddie tried to make her way toward her. Oh she was close to crawling, her mom said don’t rush it as she’ll get it when she gets it. However Kat was positive that she caught her almost do it a couple of times so far. She looked up to see a smiling Marcus watch the two of them before returning his attention to the window and the streets below.
“They are good,” Kat thought she heard him mutter.
“How good can they be if you could see them from here?”, she asked. She didn’t need to hazard a guess on who “they” were supposed to be. Kat had caught herself doing the same thing a couple of times after that director had left. “I’m pretty sure the point is not to be noticeable.”
“It’s just the idea,” he said pulling himself away from the window. Sitting on the couch he quickly scooped Maddie up, making her squeal in delight. “And what do you think you're doing little lady?”
While she watched the two of them Kat caught sight of the closet behind them. And she thought about what was in there now. “You sure that’s high enough that Maddie can:t get to it?”
Marcus looked back at the closest. “We’re not going to have it long enough for it to be a problem.”
“Yeah,” she muttered before looking right at him, “still feels like we have a loaded gun in the house. “ Obviously he didn’t have a response to that one. In a way she was secretly glad that he didn’t. “And you mom didn’t have an issue with your dad’s driver being in the house?”
“Not that I noticed. And I already asked Nate about it. He only brought it out when he got a call. I mean mom could have had a secret feito—”, he stopped mid sentence. “And I just made myself ill with that thought.”
“Good,” she said as she got up and joined them on the couch. “Any idea how long we’re going to have…” she pointed back at the closet, “that with us?”
“Nate couldn’t really give me a timeframe,” was the answer she really didn’t want to hear. “It’s been put in development overdrive but it could be weeks, it could be months.”
“It could be years,” she added, sounding disappointed.
“I wasn’t going to say that.”
“”You didn’t have to,” she said with a sigh. “But we can do this right? You fighting actual real life monsters while we try to be a normal family.”
“I don’t think we have to try that hard on that front Kat,” he said putting a arm around her and pulled her closer. “Normal might be a bit of a stretch but we are as tight as any family you can point out.”
“Damn straight she said as she kissed him. Pulling away she added, “I might buy you a new book bag though, that one is hideous.”
“Please do,” he added with a grin as they returned their attention back to Maddie.
***
The plan came to him later that same day. In order to prove he was worthy to lead their people he had to get out of here to the above world. To do that they had to get past the guards. Why put guards to keep them down here was just stupid, just a way to the rest under his thumb. He was going to change that as soon as he could. “Are you positive about this?”
He and the rest of his group hovered around the corner of one of those very ways up. Beside him one of them said, “My older siblings complains about this all the time. The next round is always late. Sometimes by several minutes because it so fae away from the main hub.” This sibling was one of those damn guards sp her word could be right. But there was a glaring hole in her information.
“But they get here eventually?” How does that help me get above?”
:Like this,” was the sudden answer. “For my King.” She and a few others rushed out into the open, reached down and picked up some loose stones and threw them at the guards. “Eat trash!” she yelled. It didn’t take much for the guards to gett fed up and chase after them. They led them down another corridor leaving the way out completely unguarded. He looked around in case there were more guards he didn’t immediately spot then hurried to the opening. Only looking back to make sure none of the others were giving in to the fear he saw on their faces before coming to that junction.
“Come on,” he insisted as they got further along the tunnel. He was certain he started to hear some of them start to fall back. They had come so far and none of them were going to turn coward now, not when he was so close. Although he faltered momentarily when he first spotted the light from above. But he was positive it was so slight that none of the others noticed. Squaring his shoulder he marched forward, destiny was calling him, he could just feel it.
Once past the opening he held up a hand to shade his eyes from the brightest light he had ever seen. The old ones would tell stories, those who came back from the above ground said how bright it was. But he never thought, never believed at how bright something could be. Eventually his eyes adjusted enough that things didn’t hurt as much and got a good look at the surroundings.
“I never seen so much color,” one of the others muttered, voice full of wonder.
“And this was kept from us,” he said. “It will be kept from us no longer.”, he said, feeling as assured as he sounded. “We just have to find this Rider that the others fear for some reason. One lowly human with a name the other feared. Now where to start? He spotted some constructs in the distance, “There,” he pointed in that direction. “We find the Rider there.” He started in that direction, not caring if the others followed him or not. His time was near he just had to grab it with his bear hands.
***
A new day, and so far a quiet one. Cryptids, according to Nate…. repeatedly…. rarely show up during this time of the morning. Okay he said statistically but same thing. So he felt a little easier pulling up to Dr. Vega’s ranch, with that back pack firmly in the backseat. Getting out he spotted Kat and Dr. Vega looking over something, Marcus assumed it was the daily schedule, and gave a friendly wave. Before going back into his car and retrieved a carrier tray with some coffee. With the two coming closer he met them halfway.
“Taking advantage of Kat’s sister looking after Maddie today?”, Dt. Vega asked as she took one of the offered coffees.
“Just putting in a little face time,” he said. “Making sure you guys don’t forget about me.” He handed the other cup to Kat, who didn’t take it right away.. But as soon as he said, “Soy milk, Triple shot. And two dashes of cinnamon, and only two dashes.”
“Ooo gimme, gimme.” she said almost immediately. Taking a sip she looked all happy and help the cup as she looked around. “Do you see this people? This is what love looks like.”
“You know,” Maecus said leaning tp Vega saying, “you being here would not have stopped her wraith if I got that wrong.”
“Who do you think taught her how to deliver that type of vengeance?”, she rook a sip of her coffee. Marcus was sure she made the face she made right after was just for show. Sort of sure. Not quite that sure when she started clicking her tongue as she walked away. A sort of confused, nervous chuckle escaped him as Kat took him by the arm and walked him in the other direction.
“So why did you make the trek all the way up here?”, Kat asked.
“Thank all the free time I apparently have now,” he admitted. “Just waiting for something to happen.”
“So why aren’t you hanging out with Nate?”, she asked. “So you can be ready to head out or whatever they call it.”
“I gotta be there a little later, go over reports, strategies, you know the really exciting stuff.” She gave him a sympathetic look as they reached the gate. Suddenly his phone went off, making a sound he wasn’t used to hearing. Getting it out he looked at it. A Cryptid alert, so much for statistics.
“Son of a bitch.”
“I guessed I jinxed it.”
“No, of course not. Just really bad timing.” He gave her a quick kiss, “I’ll call you after it’s over.”
“You better be careful,” she said as she backed away as he headed for his car in a rush.
Hitting the parking lot he had already dialed Nate’s number and was currently hearing it ring. When he got a response it was a , “Where are you?”
Despite the situation Marcus couldn’t help himself, “You can track the driver and you don’t know?” The aggravated sigh was all the answer he needed. His brother was not in the mood for this nonsense. “I’m at Dr. Vega’s ranch.”
Getting to his car he heard, “Okay that checks.”
He stopped moving after opening the door, “Were you literally just tracking me?”
“Just making sure the driver calibrated,” Nate told him. Marcus wanted to believe him, he really did. “You got the alert?”
“Yeah I got it, I’m heading in now.”
“Hold it,” Nste quickly said. “The activity is actually emanating from somewhere between our two locations. It’ll be faster if we met up there.”
“Not sure if this sounds bad or efficient.”
“Right now think of it as both. I’m sending you the location now. Chances are, since we’re still gearing up you’ll get there before we do.”
“I don’t think I can solo one of these man,” Marcus told him.
“It won’t be for that long, a few minutes at most. Just hold them off until we get there.”
“Hold them off,” he said as he reached into and grabbed the backpack from the back seat. “For the love of God don’t be late.”
“The driver was designed for this bro, you got this. See you there.” Nate ended the call. Marcus looked at his phone as saw the location, just as he promised, right in the map app that pulled up on it’s own. He was really going to have to remember to find out if that A.I. program understood the term boundaries. Marcus pulled out of his spot and headed for the latest attack.
***
The first humans they had come across paid little attention to them. That was until he dropped the disguise right before grabbing one particularly strong looking one. He wasn’t as he quickly dropped to the ground, head twisted into an unnatural angle. Then the rest started screaming and running. With one gesture the others changed and quickly gave chase, on two and four limbs.
“This is who we can’t defeat?”, he asked after a bit. That bright light in the sky had moved a bit since they started letting loose. He looked on disgusted as the ones that they were able to get their hands on put up no fight whatsoever. “Where are the ones we where taught to fear? Where are your champions?”
“Open fire!”, he looked over as humans in darker clothes with some sort of metal adornments, held something in their hands. There was a quick flash from the ends of those objects and something hit him enough that he flinched back slightly, that stung a bit. “There you are.”
These humans kept trying to attack as he charged at a new group of defenders. They had some sort of armor protecting the vital organs of the body. It wasn’t good enough compared to his claws. One last one backed up slowly, “sh*t, sh*t, sh*t.” Then his weapon started clicking repeatedly before he looked at it. He saw the fear in this human’s eyes right before he closed the distance between them There was one last shout when he jumped on top of him. Slowly he srood back up staring at the now lifeless orbs the entire time.
He looked around as the rest were having very little trouble killing any human they located. He should feel satisfaction, some sort of org*smic joy, anything other than this growing frustration that filled him. “RAGH!” he screamed at the unnatural color above him. “Where is he?! Where is the Rider?!”
“Ready.” Some unnatural voice made him look around. Quickly he spotted a lone human, some sort of device around his waist and holding a different one in his right hand.
Right before connecting the two he shouted “Henshin!” then quickly did something to the device while moving his hands to the side and he disappeared behind some sort of sign that appeared suddenly.
“Finally,” he said, squaring up to this new challenge as the block started backwards. The human was all cubed shaped as that quickly formed the armor that the adults tried to scare them with as children.
That voice came back, announcing, “Kamen Rider Aegis.”
Cracking his neck the Rider said, “Let's do this.”
“Gladly,” he grunted as they ran toward each other.
***
Going for a wild right hook Marcus was caught off guard when the Gargoyle-like Ctyptid suddenly went low and tackled him around the waist. As soon as they hit the ground the Cryptid started throwing fists at his head. The armored helmet protecting him from the impacts, not that all this knocking around couldn’t be doing him any good. Fighting through the barrage he was able to get his arms up to get some sort of guard up. The Cryptid stopped momentarily as it realized what he was doing then attacked again. Seeing how he seemed to be throwing those hands even harder and faster than before pretty much said he wasn't exactly happy with this new situation. And he was raising up a bit to drive even more force into his blows. It was enough of a space between them that Marcus got his feet up and used whatever extra the armor gave to send it flying back.
“Oof,” he gasped as it landed. Marcus quickly scrambled to his feet as the Cryptid pounded the ground with a fist before standing up and faced him one more time. It yelled in his direction and charged at him again. Seeing that it was going to try to tackle him again. So he sidestepped letting the Cryptid just linge past him.Marcus immediately jumped on it’s back and started raining down shots at the back of it’s head. Suddenly he felt more hands on him and the other Cryptids flung him off. Marcus watched as the other Cryptids went to help the one he was fighting, and watched as he quickly knocked those helping hands away. “Get away from me!”” The others backed away” as he made his way to his feet.
“”Well that’s the lead gut,” Marcus said to himself.
Then that same Cryptid pointed directly in his direction, “Get him.” The rest looked right at him before moving so the surrounded him on all sides. “But the kill is mine! Don't forget that!”
“Okay, this is new,” Marcus muttered. Not ant behavior he heard from Nate or their father growing up. Everything was one on one fight with the lead Cryptid, not everybody ganging up all at once.. Swimming his head around trying to keep track of all of them Marcus hand went to the driver and swiped down and tapped the screen. Another, smaller QR code appeared to his right that he reached into. Some of the Cryptids stepped back as the sword, he really needed to name this thing to annoy Nate more than anything, formed in his hand. “Pointy end goes in the other man,” he whispered to himself. One of the more demonic looking Cryptids came at him from the left that he immediately spun out of the way of the attack and slashed at it with the sword at the same time The creature clutched at it’s back as Marcus quickly returned his attention back to the rest. He knew he wasn’t going to get that lucky a second time.
But the rest did seem a bit more reluctant to jump in to follow up on their buddy attack. This was where Marcus thought he noticed something, well weird. This group outside of the leader, not that he was going on the offense, seemed way more timid than the others groups he’d come across. It was like they were unsure of what to do next. So he did what he assumed Nate would do in this situation and went on the attack. His sudden aggression definitely. caught the group off guard. A couple went down from his wild swings. Down but not out since they were getting right back up.
“Arrack him as a group dummies,” the leader said as a forcibly pushed a couple of them in his direction. That seemed to be enough to get the others to get it together and start approaching him together.
“I see you’re staying back there!,” Marcus called out to this groups leader who was the only one still hanging back. Just trying to force him to do anything. “You're more of a big bitch than a big boss.” Oh yeah he looked annoyed all right, but not annoyed enough to just rush right in. “Guessing they don’t have that insult underground.”
“Open fire!”, he heard Nate shout out. Marcus and the Cryptids all looked over to see Nate and the others in position and open fire with their rifles.They were good enough that they were able to shoot around and hit the Cryotids. Marcus still ducked out of the wat just out of instinct, despite feeling the armor would have protected him from those bullets. He hoped.
“Took you long enough,” he said through the headset built into the helmet.
“I told you a couple of minutes, and it was a couple of minutes,” Nate told him over the gunfire. “”Now less bitching and more ass kicking. We got the stragglers, you take the leader.”
“Already got him identified,” Marcus said turning right toward the Cryptid calling the shots. “Okay, you little bitch just you and me.” Marcus ran at the Cryptid ready to strike with the sword. Then it pulled the spin move he just pulled off earlier and hit him in the back. Rolling to a new Marcus looked back at the creature, who he swore was looking smug as hell as it stood there. “Alright you little sh*t,” he spat before going at him again. This time he stopped short as the Cryptid tried that spin move again. When it turned back around Marcus nailed it with a side kick that sent it spraying to the ground. Marcus got ready for a counter attack. Instead he watched as the monster started hitting the ground with it’s hands and feet. “Ummm is anyone else seeing this thing throwing a fit?”
There was a literal pause in gunfire as the others stopped to see it doing just that. Nate was dumbfounded for a brief moment, “That’s new behavior,” he ended up saying.
Then one of the others called out, “Then spank ‘em and put ‘em to bed.”
“Not taking parenting advice from that asshole,” Marcus mused to himself as the Cryptid finally got back up and charged. It’s attacks were wild, less controlled than other Cryptids he’d fought. Wild enough that some were getting through and hitting the armor. But not enough as Marcus grabbed an arm and hurled it to the ground, almost on top of it’s pointy eared head. He didn’t want to jinx anything but this was almost too easy, almost. “They can’t be out of the good warriors already,” Marcus taunted. Then he was tackled from behind by another one dropping the sword in the process.
***
There was no way this stupid human was throwing him around so easily. There was just no way. He saw The Rider’s weapon on the ground. That increased his reach, that had to be it. Making his way to the fallen weapon he heard that damnable fake voice say, “Lightning Buzzsaw.” He looked up to see the Rider spin around, one leg extended with some sort of magical effect trailing his foot and come into contact with his follower, his friend.
His friend was silent as he fell backwards and was engulfed in flames of some sort of explosion. He fell back to the ground, a fear he’d never known quickly taking over him. He stared, almost transfixed as The Rider picked up his weapon, then turn toward him, almost in slow motion. Breath getting heavier with each passing moment. He did the only thing he thought he could. He got up and ran away from the battle.
***
Nate’s rifle lowered as he and the others watched just how fast the apparent leader just turn tail and ran for the hills. But while the rest were murmuring to themselves, even his brother’s posture even said he was dumbfounded at this turn of events. The other Cryptids appeared to be taken by surprise but eventually followed suit. What in the blue hell was going on? “Wait,” a man behind him started to say, “It’s over already?
“It can’t be,” Nate said looking over the battle ground. Looking back at the van he called out over the com line, “Is there more Cryptid activity nearby?”
“Nothing that’s been reported so far Captain,” came the unwanted response. “I’ll keep my ears open for anything.”
“Do that,” he said as he slung the rifle over his shoulder and started toward Marcus. Once he was close he could hear his brother trying to figure things out for himself.
“I was fighting that one,” he said pointing where that very was before running off. Then he pointed back, “That one jumped in. I take care of him. That one runs.” Noticing he was there he asked, “Was I fighting the right one?
“I’m not sure,” he said as he stood next to him. “Did you see any other Groups on the way here?
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I just went with the first group I saw. What the f*ck just happened?”
“I got no f*cking clue. This is going to be fun explaining back at HQ. That was not the usual reported behavior.”
“Like how they don’t appear in the morning?”, he asked, then looked at something tilted his head to look at something that was behind him. Nate turned back to see and found another poster with a QRcode on it. “You said red meant armor upgrade right?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Wel, free code then.,” he said as he pulled down on the driver and pulled it free of the buckle and pointed the screen at it.. After a moment he pulled it away and l;ooked at the screen. Looking over his shoulder Nate saw a new QR Code appear on it. Putting the driver back and looked at him. “Think I should try it out?”
“Let’s,” he said after thinking about for less than a second, “wait until we get back to HQ. We can have the A.I figure out what you downloaded this time. Given how your blood been playing havoc with the driver so far it’s the best play bro.”
Marcus sighed as he twisted the driver up and pulled it out, deactivating the armor. “I guess so.” He looked at his phone and blew out a breath, “Right , need to get some baby supplies for Maddie.”
Patting on the shoulder Nate told him, “”Fatherhood never takes a day off according to dad.”
“Nate, you have no idea how true those words are man.”
“Swing by the store first,” Nate told him, “I’ll get the debrief going but they’re going to want your perspective on what happened.”
“I don’t even know what just happened. And I parked the other way too. See you then.”
“Better show up,” Nate called after him. “The brass is not going to believe this one.”
***
It always annoyed him at the others never truly realizing what it meant to rule. Most of them thought it was so simple, just sit back and give orders from the throne. You didn’t have to worry about getting your hands dirty. Too bad he couldn’t thrash them like his father did to him when he was stupid enough to make that very statement to his face. Truly he was lucky to be alive seeing that brief glimpse of anger on his face. True he gave orders to others, had his troops lead the invasion to the above ground. But like his father demonstrated, that only made the times you did get your hands dirty all the more effective. “Bring him forward.”
The crowd that developed in front of an area he deemed too dangerous to inhabit parted slightly as the guards dragged the young leader of those who took it upon themselves to invade the surface. The guards dropped the youth at his feet. Another brought forward a rock to kneel the youth over for the usual punishment for such reckless defiance but he waved it off with a slight hand motion. The guard bowed and turned around. The youth looked at the retreating guard then began to stand up. Then had the sheer gale to look surprised when he was pushed back down. “Who do you think you are!”, a well placed kick snapped his head back and quieted him at the same time.
As the youth clutched at his jaw he stared at him, unable to keep the smirk off his face, “That is what I should be asking you.”
“I’m one destined to rule,” he spat.
“Are you now.?”, he asked. “I’ve never seen one destined to rule look so filthy before.”
“Get down here….”
“With fear,” he quickly cut him off, “A leader does not run. And according to your ‘followers’ you ran after The Rider killed one of them.” The youth searched the crowd for those very followers. Betrayal obvious on his face.
“The Rider…” he began
“”Was more than you thought he was going to be,” he finished for the youth. “There is a reason why the Rider has the reputation that he has, and the current one has so far lived up to that reputation. But that doesn’t make him unbeatable,” he added for the others, just to continue the narrative he had been trying to weave for that reputation was fearsome in and of itself. “And it takes more that pure brute force, a plan is needed. A plan you set back by your impulsiveness.”.”
“Sitting around and planning won’t do anything!”
“Ah the inexperienced of youth,” here he let him stand. “I do long for the days when I was naive enough to believe I knew how things worked. Things were so much simpler. Although,” he started around him, defiance coming from the youth every pore, “the humans have studied and think they know us. This,’ he purposely paused here, acted like he was searching for the correct word, “little excursion, will make them start to reconsider what they know about us.” Like he thought the youth started looking proud of his actions. He quickly squashed that when he reached out and grabbed him around the neck. He let the youth claw at his grip. “That is the only reason why your head is still on your body.” He pulled him closer, seeing and smelling the fear coming off of him. “And you thought you were destined to rule.” Dragging the youth along he walked to the opening of the area he ordered off limits.
“Wait,” he said. His eyes widened as he spotted somebody in the crowd. “Father!” He looked at the man, and saw the struggle he was undergoing inside. The need to protect his offspring and obeying his king. As a father himself he truly felt for the man. At the opening he threw the youth further inside who landed with a dull thud.
“You saw this as your kingdom,” he said. “Now let it decide your fate.” Bashing one of the supports he backed away from the opening as the opening started to cave in. The youth cried out and that voice was cut off from the stone. Waiting a bit he looked at the crowd. “If he survives, he will be welcomed back. And properly trained for the future.” Personally he doubted that he survived that initial stone fall but as fate has taught him in the past, you could never truly count on anything. And if the youth did survive, then he had a strength that wasn’t evident at first glance.
The crowd parted as he passed through them. Soon he spotted the priestess and the one he truly wanted to speak to. The youth who first alerted him to this bit of defiance. This youth bowed as he came closer. “You information was correct, Skir was it?”
“Yes my lord.”, he said with the full respect that one would expect in this situation. Maybe a little too much.
“You are a friend of my son are you not?”
“Yes my lord. He did ask me to look over our home, out of loyalty to him I decided to take it upon myself to make sure it stayed the same when he returned from the special training you sent him on.”
Ah,” he said, “So you are loyal to just my son?” A purposely asked question, to gauge what he would say.
“While I am loyal to him,” he said without missing, what the humans would say, a beat. “Since he is your son, I am loyal to you.”
He nodded as he mulled over that answer. Without a word to this boy he walked away, the Priestess right in tow. Once they left that particular tunnel he turned his head slightly to address her,. “Keep an eye on that one. He reminds me of someone I knew before I ascended to the throne. My father was right to not trust him, and I get the same feeling about that one.”
“As you wish my lord,” she said. “If the boy does survive your punishment?”
“Then it’ll go as I said, after proper training he might even be a match for the Rider.” She said nothing. He knew she would use her ways to read that boy's fate, and use that to her advantage somehow. Another thing they others failed to consider once you became ruler. Challenges to that rule came from every direction.
