Hey all, Teck's back again, coming with a SUPER plot twist, reproved by our leader! Hope you enjoy this little twist, brought to you at the end in M. Night Shamalan style! ENJOY!
Chapter 10: Revelations: True Allies
Tenryo sat at the good Doctor's office table, contemplating his next moves. He knew he had to report to INPUT soon, but he knew what would happen. In a small part of his mind, he could see the sadistic face of his former boss smiling darkly, chuckling.
Tenryo was brought from his thoughts abruptly when he received a nudge on the shoulder. Looking up, he saw that Sean was glaring at him.
"What's up with you, Sean-san?" Tenryo asked before being ploughed I the face by a fist that felt like it was made of titanium-plated steel.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK MY PROBLEM IS?! I'M THE FIRST ONE HERE, AND SUDDENLY THE FAMOUS ONE COMES OUT TO RUIN MY DAY!" Sean said, his face turning a deep shade of red. Tenryo stared at Sean for a minute, before bursting out in hysteric laughter.
"WHAT THE HELL IS SO FUNNY?" Sean demanded, before being pushed aside by Tenryo who replied, amidst chuckles, "YOU ARE SO CHILDISH! I show up and steal your thunder, and you're going to act like a little kid about it!" Tenryo continued laughing as Sean fumed. Tenryo stopped after a while, and thought for a moment. Looking around for anyone else, he found that there no one but himself and Sean present.
"Sean-san? Can we talk?" Tenryo asked, lowering his tone to almost a whisper. Sean shrugged and sat down, warning Tenryo with sign language that it had BETTER not be an 'I'm Gay' talk, to which Tenryo said no.
"Ok. So, you and pretty much everyone else know that I'm from PsyLab, right?" Tenryo asked, and Sean nodded, almost annoyed at being such an obvious question.
"Alright. Well, I told the good doctor about my job here. But I didn't tell him everything. I actually haven't worked for PsyLab for several weeks now. I ran away from that company due to continued stress and guilt from negative memories of the place. In addition, I made off with the system you've seen me using recently, the NET system, as well as the other four of the set," Tenryo said, watching Sean's reaction. At first, Sean simply had a look of awe on his face, which quickly turned to one of surprise, then one of astonishment.
"YOU MEAN YOU CONNED YOUR WAY INTO OUR RANKS?!" Sean shouted, his face now turning an even deeper shade of red. Tenryo could tell, just from this, that Sean was about to pop an aneurism, if he had one.
"NO, you have the wrong idea!" Tenryo shouted, "I was contacted by the director of the Technology Research and Development Department's head, INPUT. The man I used to work for. Apparently, when I joined up, he tricked me into taking a tracker that he made to look like a vitamin pill. The day I joined, he activated the pill and its mental connection technology, allowing him to talk to me from a computer terminal, while all my thoughts are relayed back to his screen, when I make a report." Tenryo sat back again, and watched as Sean's expression faded back to semi-neutrality. Sean seemed to be understanding, to some degree.
"I guess this means that PsyLab could use that same pill as a mind control device to take over the world, huh?" Sean asked. Tenryo thought about this for a moment, then nodded slowly. Sean sat there, thinking about this.
"The thing is, my entire job, even my handling and possession of the systems I possess, rides in INPUT's hands. My job is to give him accurate reports of exactly what happens here every day. So far, over the past month or so, I've only given him ONE report. It"s been so busy that I just completely forgot. The thing is, only people who've worked for INPUT really know what he's like. I've stood next to him in meetings with PsyLab's B.O.D., and he always acted calm, even sane. In reality, this man is more sadistic than all of the world's worst tyrants thrown together. Think Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, times a thousand, and it still wouldn't come close. This man beats you if you win or lose, and will kill you if you take anything of his. I'm the only exception, as I experimented with his gear while in the field, and all I ever got was a slap in the face. After the deaths of my comrades and the two of our five who went rogue, I started going berserk. I had always shared a rather close friendship with both my team mates, and always hoped to return the two rogues to our fold. When I started to lose my mind, INPUT would always threaten me in my helmet's intercom to follow me to every afterlife that would take me, and kill me in each. I don't know if it was fear or common sense, or both, but every time he did that, I'd calm down. This man is evil incarnate. He told me I could keep the suits, as long as we continue to win. If all goes well and the Outlaw falls, I get to walk free and keep my systems. If not, I lose them, and INPUT pulls the funding from our program. In short, if he likes us, we win. If he doesn't like us, no more Riders."
Sean's look of betrayal hit Tenryo hard. He knew that feeling. "HOW COULD YOU KEEP SOMETHING THAT IMPORTANT FROM US, YOU IDIOT!?" Sean shouted, his face redder than a beet. He was so red, his hair looked ready to change colour!
"Listen, I know it sounds bad, but I have a plan. The mental connection is only active if I turn it on. It's off right now. If I feed INPUT fake reports and keep the real footage of our recent battles from him, he should buy it and leave us with the funding. I'm a bit of a video whiz, so I'll take care of everything. I just need YOU to keep this a secret from the others for me, OK?" Tenryo asked, his expression begging Sean to say yes. Sean stared Tenryo in the eyes for a minute, then nodded. Tenryo sighed. Then, as his thoughts drifted backwards in time once more, he remembered something.
"Wait a minute… Sean-san, I remember something about my old battle partner, Mana Tsumihomura. From what I recall, INPUT's team rescued a young woman from death by surgically attaching cybernetic parts to her body and giving her an electronic heart that charges from hydro electricity. However, due to the surgery, she was left with little to no memory of her past life. In addition, she acted like she was a robot, being as unfeeling and uncaring about everything in general as she could. I tried to get her to care again, and somewhat succeeded before her death. However, her memories started coming back, and she mentioned a boy with a surname that began with… Aka-something… I think she might have been…"
"JUNKO?!" Both shouted at once. The two stared at each other for several seconds, before both sat down. Tenryo took several seconds to think, then said, "I'm going to call INPUT and ask about it. Maybe he can shed some light on this." Tenryo tapped his temples and started the connection…
MUCH LATER
Tenryo and Sean sat across from each other in the HQ room, contemplating what to do next. They knew they had common ground now: they had shared the same team mate in the past, even if the one Tenryo had worked with was a cyborg. The two had sat down afterward and thought about what to do next. Suddenly, the rest of the team burst through the door, with Ryu carrying two bags of groceries. The group laughed until their collective eyes landed on their two silent comrades.
"What's going on, guys?" Takato asked, a small look of anxiety appearing on his smiling face.
"Guys," Tenryo said, standing up, "I need to ask you something. I have asked Sean-san already, and he agreed." Staring at his team mates, he said, "Will all of you fight beside me? Promise to keep your hopes and dreams in hand and fight with me to the bitter end as the Kamen Riders we are?"
Everyone except Sean stared at Tenryo with a look of amazement. Normally, Tenryo was hardly approachable, but now, he was coming and asking them personally to help him?
One by one, each member smiled and approached, patting him on the back and saying 'yes'. When it came to Ryu, however, the good doctor stopped in front of him and said, "Why bother asking? You had me from the beginning." Tenryo smiled wide, just in time for a hologram to start appearing from Ryu's computer. A Man, with mid-length, highly unkempt black hair and deep grey eyes appeared in the picture, instantly sending Tenryo on edge.
"I-INPUT?! WHAT THE HELL ARE DOING HERE?!" Tenryo shouted in disdain. He knew that anytime INPUT showed up in person, there was trouble.
"I'm here to meet the team, of course. It wasn't that hard to hack the good doctor's connection, actually. Now, Tenryo, why don't you introduce me to your friends?" INPUT said in a condescending, father-like tone.
Tenryo went through the motions and introduced everyone, and INPUT looked impressed. "Ah, The warrior Sean who uses the Thorn system. Tenryo's told me a LOT about you… specifically your first failure."
"WHAT THE HELL?! THAT WAS AN ELEPHANT! I THOUGTH WE WERE PAST THIS!" Sean shouted indignantly. He hated having his old mistakes thrown in his face.
"Anyways," INPUT said, "As I understand it, Tenryo is supposed to be reporting to me on everything. However, over the past month, I've gotten nothing but news caster footage. And guess what? EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF FOOTAGE SHOWS YOU LOSERS GETTING YOUR ASSES KICKED BY MULTIPLE FOES! WHAT THE HELL IS MY MONEY BEING USED FOR? A KINDERGARTEN PLAYGROUND?! IF I SEE ONE MORE DEFEAT, NOT ONLY AM I PULLING THE FUNDING FROM THIS LOW-END OPERATION, BUT I'LL BE CONFISCATING ALL THE SYSTEMS PRODUCED TO THIS POINT AS PSYLAB PROPERTY! NOT ONE OF YOU WILL EVER HENSHIN AGAIN! AND, ON TOP OF THAT, I'LL HUNT YOU ALL DOWN, THROUGHOUT EVERY AFTERLIFE THAT'LL HAVE YOU, AND MURDER YOU ALL, ONE-BY-ONE! YOU'LL NEVER-" INPUT was cut off by Tenryo, who slammed his hands on the table with enough force to break two small holes in it.
"NO YOU WON'T, INPUT!" Tenryo shouted, his rage now going beyond anything he'd ever experienced before. "YOU WILL LEAVE THESE PEOPLE OUT OF YOUR LITTLE VENGEANCE SCHEME! THE DOCTOR HAS WORKED TIRELSSLY TO PUT THESE SUITS TOGETHER, AND GUESS WHAT?! SOME OF THEM ACTUALLY RIVAL ALL OF YOUR TECHNOLOGY IN ALL ASPECTS! I DON'T CARE IF WE WIN OR LOSE, AS LONG AS THE END RESULT IS THE OUTLAW BEING CRUSHED, YOU SHOULD KEEP YOUR EVIL, SADISTIC, TYRANICAL SELF OUT OF THE EQUATION, AND COOL YOUR SPARK PLUGS FOR A LONG TIME!" INPUT stared at Tenryo with a look of deep surprise. Never once had Tenryo ever snapped back at him!
"WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO TORURE ME?! WHY DO YOU TAKE SUCH PLEASURE FROM RUINING ME?!" Tenryo continued, his eyes now changing from their standard blue to a deep black, "I'VE DONE NOTHING BUT WHAT YOU ASKED FROM THE MOMENT I STARTED WORKING FOR YOU, AND ALL YOU EVER DO IS TORTURE ME! JUST BUG OFF! YOU'VE BROUGHT MY EX-PARTNERS TO THEIR DEATHS, AND DID THE SAME TO THE TWO WHO LEFT YOU! YOU ARE A MURDERER, NO MATTER HOW YOU LOOK AT IT! YOU TRIED TO BREAK ME, BUT I'M GOING TO BREAK YOU!" Tenryo screamed as he stormed off. INPUT stared for a second before shutting off the hologram.
For the next two weeks, no battles occurred. No one bothered Tenryo, as they wanted to be sure he'd cooled down. However, toward the end of the week, four women appeared at the door of Ryu's office, bearing suitcases and a letter for Tenryo… A letter of apology. The suitcases contained technological attachments and additions to power up the good doctor's already completed work, as well as an upgraded NET suit. In addition, INPUT had sent his four assistants, OUTPUT, MAINFRAME, REBOOT, and the newest addition, UPLOAD, to aid the good doctor. However, Sean's first reaction to UPLOAD was enough to make Tenryo cheer up again: UPLOAD was in fact, Junko Ayame, both their former team mate!
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What a Plot twist, EH? Hope you enjoyed it!