TOKYO, JAPAN

THE DAY OF THE CHITAURI ATTACK ON NEW YORK

It was all over the news, every channel showing the events in America. The images of so many alien creatures flying through New York City's sky made it seem like Armageddon. Not only was it that, but the sheer ferocity of their attack was enough to send shivers up even his spine. Then, out of nowhere, a figure worked his way through the sky, streaking along like a beam of crimson and gold. This figure, this "Iron Man" was phenomenal. He matched these alien invaders step for step, blasting them with his repulsor hands or outmaneuvering them through the streets. It was amazing.

"Hmm. Very impressive, indeed," he said, a sly smile creeping across his face. Had he not already seen something of this caliber, he would not have believed his eyes. A suit of armor like that must be incredibly advanced. Then again, who would expect anything less from the mind of Tony Stark?

He reached over his desk to the intercom switch. "Suki, arrange a meeting with the board," he ordered. "With the attack in New York, we need to determine how much damage our operations have sustained there. Also, arrange for the bio-development division to meet me immediately. We need to advance our research quickly should such an instance happen here."

"That may not be necessary, sir." The voice came suddenly from the corner at the far end of the room. "Instead, how about I give you a separate focus? One, I believe, you've been in search of for quite some time?"

"Oswald," he said as the figure, six foot six and all muscle from head to toe, emerged from the shadowy seclusion of the far end of the room. "What are you going on about? I don't have time for your–" As Oswald walked closer, he noticed the briefcase in Oswald's hand and the grin on Oswald's face. "Wait. Is that… Have you found it?"

"Yes, sir. Three of them." As Oswald arrived at the desk, he lifted the case and turned it to the man behind the desk. The small, silver latch glistened in the fading light from the sun outside as the man reached to open it. He did so slowly, almost expecting this to be some foul trick. What he saw next instantly changed his attitude from suspicion to admiration. A low, evil chuckle rose from his throat.

"At last. You've done well, Oswald. Just what I'd expect from you." He immediately and swiftly closed the case, and then turned it towards Oswald. "Get these down to the labs. We've got a lot of work to do."

As he took the case, Oswald gave the man a small nod of appreciation. "Of course, Commander Guyot." With that, he turned and walked out of the room, the briefcase swinging softly at his side.

Guyot had done it. He had recovered them. He rose from his chair and turned toward the window overlooking Tokyo's skyline, finding a newfound beauty in its glimmering steel and glass canyons. Finally, his waiting was over. After so many years of searching, the Guyver units were finally his. Once he figured out their secrets, nobody would be able to stand in his way, not even the great Iron Man himself.

18 MONTHS LATER

MALIBU, CALIFORNIA

"You know, I typically like to have in-person meetings. Just so nothing shady happens under the table," Tony said to the monitor. It was just like this Guyot guy to want things done in an uncomfortable way. Who was he trying to fool? Besides, the only thing this Skype thing was good for was online make-out sessions. "Nothing shady is happening, is it?"

"If either of us has to fear unethical business dealings, it will be me, Mr. Stark," Guyot said through the screen. "After all, a man of your… habits… seems to have his attention focused in many directions at once. Who knows what you let slip through the cracks?"

Touché, Tony thought. "Well, let your fears be relieved. I'm as ethical as they come. As long as it's not weapons, I'm your man." Despite the turbulence Stark Industries went through when he shut down the weapons manufacturing division several years ago, the company had seen resurgence in its stock price since the New York incident and especially since the showdown with the Mandarin only a few short months before today. In fact, the company was more profitable now than when his father was holding the reins.

"That's interesting to hear, Mr. Stark, seeing as you parade around in a suit of battle armor that you yourself designed," Guyot replied. "That does not strike me as the actions of a person unwilling to create weapons."

"Listen, Dick. May I call you Dick?" Tony teased. He knew this Richard Guyot guy didn't like to joke around, and much less liked being insulted. Still, Tony couldn't help but take an ever-so-gentle jab at the man. "The Iron Man armor isn't a weapon. It's for defensive purposes only. And, most importantly, it's not for sale." Since the hearing that almost lost him the armor to the government if it weren't for Justin Hammer's ineptness, Tony had become more and more protective about the designs for his armor, only entrusting them to Pepper. He even kept them off the company servers and in his home system, safely tucked away by JARVIS so only he could access them.

"Everything has a price, Mr. Stark. Fortunately for you, I have no desire to part you with your pet project. I have one of my own that I'm focused on," Guyot stated. This guy seemed very cool and controlling over the computer screen. Tony wondered just how intimidating he would be in person. "And like you, I have no desire to part with it. Ever."

"Well, that's good, because I wasn't going to discuss that anyway. So, how about we –" Tony was interrupted by his cell phone vibrating across the desk, showing the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo as the caller. Great timing, Nick, he thought. I can't stand talking to this guy anymore today. "How about we put this talk on hold for now? I'll have Pepper reschedule it. Something… important just came up."

"This is very disruptive, Mr. Stark. I am not a patient man, and do not like to be interrupted. However, I'll agree just this one time. I'll have Suki talk to your secretary about when we can –"

"Perfect! Later, Dicky," Tony cut Guyot off as he quickly ended the session. As soon as the screen went blank, he picked up the phone and pressed the accept key. "Nick, you are a life saver, have I told you that?"

"Stark, we've got a serious problem," came Nick Fury's voice out of the earpiece. It was rushed and, if Tony could tell correctly, maybe a little nervous. Very rare for someone as stern and… well, badass as Fury was. "Get to the helicarrier ASAP." With that, the call ended. Stark, a little confused, just looked at the phone and tossed it lightly back onto the desk.

"Seriously, does nobody remember my consulting hours?"

TOKYO, JAPAN

Crap, I'm late! Sho thought.

As the chime rang to signal the end of the school day, Sho Fukamachi ran through the halls of Narisawa High School. Despite being elected to the student council as its note taker because of his attention to detail, he still lacked one vital quality: timeliness. He was still late to nearly every meeting if only by a few minutes. It's only because of his notes that he had been kept on as long as he was.

As he rounded the corner to reach the meeting room, he nearly slammed into the wall. If anything could be said about Sho, it was he was quick on his feet and rather nimble as he spun against the wall instead of slamming into it, helping to keep him standing and running along. He could hear the voice of the council president, Agito Makashima, talking about the recent play the drama department put on and how much could be afforded for the next show in the coming semester. As he reached the door to the meeting room, he was huffing from running so long, and everyone's eyes suddenly turned toward him.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Mr. Fukamachi," Agito said, a clear ring of agitation in his deep voice. "Please take your seat. Hisako will give you the notes she's been keeping for you. Now, if there are no further interruptions, we can continue."

Clearly embarrassed, Sho went to sit next to Hisako and wait out the rest of the meeting in silence, simply writing notes. Every now and then, he would see Mizuki Segawa out of the corner of his eye. For reasons he could not fathom, she took him in as one of her best friends. Maybe it was because Sho was her brother Tetsuro's best friend, but he could never be sure. At any rate, seeing her there made him quickly forget his embarrassment and focus on the meeting.

After the meeting, Sho packed up his notebook and stood up to leave before Agito could berate him again. He had almost reached the door when Agito called out. "Mr. Fukamachi, a word please?"

Sho closed his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh. Here it comes, he thought gloomily. He slowly turned around and let the other students pass by, Mizuki included, until only he and Agito were left. "Yes, Agito?" he asked softly.

Agito finished writing a note in his notebook, then ripped the page out, folded it and handed it to Sho. "I need you to take this to my father at the Kronos Corporation building. It's very important, and I can't leave here just yet to deliver it."

Sho could not believe his luck. He thought for sure he was out of the council this time. "Oh, yes. O-o-of course!" He hastily took the note and stuffed it into his pants pocket. "I'll get it done right away."

"Thank you," Agito replied and returned to placing things into his backpack. Sho turned back to the door and began to walk towards it. "And Sho?"

Is he just toying with me? was Sho's thought. He slowly turned back around to face Agito. "Yes?"

"Please make sure to have a reply for me."

Another break from the inevitable. "Will do, Agito." With that, Sho sped down the hallway to the exit. This time, he would not let anything get in his way or slow him down. He needed to get on Agito's good side if he had any chance of staying on the council and close to Mizuki. At that moment, while distracted by his runaway thoughts of Mizuki, he had lost all attention to his surroundings and ran right into Tetsuro. As he was smaller than Tetsuro by about fifty pounds, Sho ended up falling to the ground in a daze.

"Geez, Sho, what's your hurry? You really need to stop daydreaming while you're running!" Tetsuro said. "You'll end up running into a wall one of these days!" He extended a hand down to Sho, helping him up off the floor.

"Sorry, Tetsuro," Sho said painfully, rubbing the small of his back where he landed on the ground. "It's just Agito gave me this job to do, and I got distracted by…" It hadn't occurred to him that telling Tetsuro he was thinking about Mizuki might get him at best a pat on the back or a punch in the face at worst. He thought fast to fill in that void. "… A bird outside." Even as he said it, he knew it wouldn't fly.

"Sure, Sho, and I'm God-freaking-zilla. Just admit you were thinking about Mizuki. It's not like it's a big secret, anyway!" Tetsuro showed his signature big-toothed grin, letting Sho know he was only joking. So, for another day, Sho's secret had been preserved. "So, as long as you ran into me, I wanted to ask if you heard about that wreck by Mount Narisawa? Apparently, the police are completely baffled by it!"

Truth be told, Sho didn't pay attention to the news very much, so he was clueless to what Tetsuro was talking about. "Why's that? An accident is an accident, right?"

Tetsuro's face could hardly contain his excitement. "Not this one. According to reports, the truck appeared to have attacked by some sort of animal. There were claw marks all over the place! They're saying it was probably a bear, but there aren't any bears in this part of Japan. I'm thinking it was some sort of monster!"

Sho, not one to fall into Tetsuro's imagination so easily, gave an amused chuckle. "That would just make your day, wouldn't it?" Sho asked. "If it were real, anyway. Still, why are you telling me about this? It has nothing to do with us!"

"Because I'm going to go check it out, and I want you to come with me," Tetsuro replied. "Come on, this is going to prove there are monsters among us! This will make us heroes!" With that, Tetsuro started running off in the opposite direction, leaving Sho standing there stunned.

GOING to the crash site? Geez, he could get arrested! Sho thought. If he didn't stop Tetsuro now, he wasn't sure how he would break the news to Mizuki. He could picture it in his head, and it wasn't pretty. It was going to put him behind on delivering the note to Agito's father, but he needed to stop his friend from making a big mistake.

"Tetsuro, wait! Please, think about what you're doing! It could be dangerous!" Sho knew his shouting in protest would do no good, so he started chasing Tetsuro towards the distant shadow of Mount Narisawa.

JUST OUTSIDE TOKYO, JAPAN

BASE OF MOUNT NARISAWA

Must keep going, Masaki thought, clutching the gushing wound on his side. Ragged and visibly weak, he slowly stumbled through the forest nestled at the foot of Mount Narisawa, heading as far from the site of the accident as he possibly could. They'll be looking for me. I can't let them find me.

The silver briefcase in his hand weighed him down severely; slowing his progress and making the pain in his side grow increasingly worse. Having to fight off the Kronos soldiers took enough energy out of him, but falling from the road onto the rocks at the bottom nearly took him out then and there. Fortunately, Kronos trained him well enough to withstand that amount of damage, let alone give him the means to fight. Still, if he had to use it one more time, there'd be no going back to normal, and he'd already been given a death sentence because of it.

As he struggled to keep his footing, he could hear the sound of water lapping against a lakebed. He'd gone so far into the forest, he wasn't aware he had come to the edge of Lake Harusaki. He came into the clearing for the lake and collapsed at the bank, unable to go any further. Even though he knew Kronos was bound to find him here, he was still pleased to have made it this far. That pleasure was erased with another sudden pain in his side, reminding him that he was seriously injured, possibly even mortally.

He pulled himself up to a nearby rock, leaning against it so he sat facing the forest. Despite being in a weakened state right now, he needed to be ready in case Kronos did find him. As he looked around, he noticed the beauty of the area for the first time in years. He started to recall the time he and his brother Suguru had camped out by the lake when he was only a kid, then when he proposed to his wife Hinata at the very rock he was supporting himself on. So many good memories, it seemed ironic that he would meet his demise in this spot as well. He pulled out a small picture from his blood-stained pocket, showing his wife, their newborn son Makoto, and himself. Looking at it now, he realized he would now never see them again, the last words being spoken rather harshly.

I'm so sorry, Hinata, he thought pleadingly. I'm so sorry…

A rustle from the trees signaled Masaki that the soldiers were closing in. He knew that once they got here, they would do everything in their power to wrest the suitcase from him and return it to Guyot. He was bound and determined not to let that happen. He struggled to stand, leaving the case at his feet. One way or another, Kronos' evil plans would end here, and they would end by his hand.

Seconds later, the soldiers, clad in battle armor and aiming their rifles, emerged from the forest ten strong. All their eyes trained slowly on Masaki, gauging him from head to foot. The leader of the group, identified only by the three small dashes on his chestplate, stepped forward from the group and removed his helmet. His features all were very nondescript and common save for one detail: a shuddering menace that not even a smile could conceal.

"Masaki," the soldier said. Masaki could tell immediately who he was up against, despite having spent almost no time himself in the training area for the soldiers.

"Gregoyle," Masaki replied weakly. The blood from the gash in his side bled slowly but steadily from his side, the wound making every breath agonizing.

Gregoyle gave the faintest hint of a sinister smile. "You've really done it now, haven't you?" he sneered. "You know how valuable those units are to Kronos, to Guyot. Why don't you just hand them over and take a walk back to base with us? I promise you, we'll forgive everything that's happened. Just hand them over, and you'll be able to go back to your family."

Lies, Makoto thought. He knew the cost of treachery in Kronos, and there would certainly be no forgiving. At this point, it was either death by blood loss or death by execution. There would be no seeing anything else again. "I know better than that," he snapped. "And these…. These things should all be destroyed! Nobody should have this much power! Not even Guyot!"

Gregoyle closed his eyes and slightly shook his head. "You seem to think I'm giving you a choice," he said coldly. "We're taking them back, even if it's from your cold, dead hands. And you know what?" His eyes flew open wide, granting Makoto a true look at just how insane this monster was. "I was counting on it!"

Suddenly, the armor surrounding Gregoyle's body started to creak and crack, expanding so rapidly it broke into small shards. The cloth underlay tore around his muscles as his body began to grow taller and broader. The skin turned from its normal shade to an almost green-black, hardening into armor. A massive horn, scaled and sharp, protruded from his head as he screamed in a mix of agony and fury. There, standing before Makoto, was the pinnacle of Kronos' bioweapons division, nearly as tall as two soldiers and as massive as three.

Makoto could do nothing but stand there and gaze at the monstrosity now standing before him. How was he ever going to make sure the Guyver units didn't fall back into Guyot's hands now? He looked down at the case, glistening in the fading light of the day, waiting for its next owner to lay claim to it. His gaze slowly drifted from the case to the bulge in his jacket pocket from where he lifted a grenade from one of the Kronos soldiers he had to fight off. Then, realization hit him. The grenade! That would most definitely ensure the units wouldn't go back. But he still needed to figure out how to grab it without making them realize he was going for it.

It occurred to him that changing was the only option he had left. He was nowhere near as powerful as Gregoyle was, but he had to play it off like he was in order for the ruse to work. So, working against the pain in his side, he forced a slight smile. "Huh. Can't say I'm very impressed, Gregoyle. They obviously didn't put much thought into you. Let me show you what true power looks like."

He slid his hands into his jacket pockets, his right slowly grasping the grenade buried within. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate on the change. He knew it would be painful and would eventually kill him, but he was dead anyway. All that mattered now was to keep the units away from these monsters. Breathing steadily, he focused all his remaining energy into the transformation.

His muscles started to convulse and contract, stretching the skin above them as they expanded. His heart began pumping quicker and quicker, sounding like a furious drumbeat in his ears. Suddenly, every bone in his body felt like it was on fire. His body began to grow, skin tearing from the speed. Sharp fangs pushed his teeth out to replace them. His hair grew and turned stark white and eyes turned yellow. Finally, his skin and clothes fell away, leaving his muscles exposed and tense.

"This is supposed to be what I'm fighting?" Gregoyle growled, a hint of malice overlapping the incredulous tone. "Hah! You've got guts, but you don't really expect to take me on, do you? Even without the hole in your side, you'd never beat me!" With that, he charged forward, claws bared and ready to tear Makoto limb from limb.

Makoto knew he had to move fast, lest Gregoyle get the case and get it back to Kronos. With surprising speed, he picked up the case and, so nobody would see, pulled the pin on the grenade with his thumb. Five seconds, he thought. He raced forward toward Gregoyle, stretching the grenade out towards Gregoyle still clutched in his fist. "You're not getting them ever again!" he yelled as his fist connected with Gregoyle's stomach.

As his fist connected with Gregoyle's armor, the grenade detonated. The explosion enveloped both of them in heavy black smoke, concealing them from view of the other Kronos soldiers. It also concealed the fact that three small shapes flew away to different points in the forest, landing far out of sight from anyone.

The soldiers all looked at each other, then back at the smoke s it cleared. Makoto and Gregoyle were still both standing. After a second, though, it was clear that whatever Makoto had wanted to do was in vain. Gregoyle only had minor scuffs while most of the arm that held the grenade was gone, as was part of Makoto's face. Slowly, Makoto began to fall. In his mind, it seemed like an eternity until he finally hit the ground, he strength gone and life fading.

As the light started to fade around him, he looked at his other hand and saw only the handle of the case in his hand. A small smile crosses what remained of his monstrous face. "You'll… never… have them… now," he said weakly. With his last breath, he gave what little of a laugh he could and was gone.

Gregoyle, only mildly stunned by the blast, looked down at Makoto's corpse and gave off a small chuckle. "Only managed to singe me. That was his great plan? Pathetic." He then looked at the other hand that held the case and saw only the handle. Fury flared up inside of him. "You bastard!" He quickly turned back towards the guards behind him. "The units must have been blown into the forest by the blast. Split up and find them now!"

All the guards split up into groups of two and went into different parts of the forest. Gregoyle, not even bothering to transform back into his human form, walked back into the forest, not far behind the others. At the edge, he turned back around and stared at the body of Makoto, which had now started to dissolve. "What a waste of intelligence," he said as he turned back and walked back into the forest.

Across the lake from the fight, a small object, six sided with blue metal plates on three and seemingly organic inside, sat on the lakebed with the water lapping against its still smoking exterior, the small orb in the center starting to glow…