"This is a hell of a piece," said Briggs, turning the bowgun over in her hands. "I don't see a chamber or a magazine. How does it work?"
"You are not asking the right person," said Steve. He was still in the form of the Rider, but his armor was the familiar red color. He and Briggs were standing in the alleyway outside the abandoned building. The Skull Rider was with them, staring impassively off into the middle distance, and both Riders were astride their bikes. "I just grabbed the gun and it did the rest itself. I'm nowhere close to knowing how any of this works."
"We're going to need to get this down to the lab when all this is over," Briggs said, handing the gun back, handle-first. "Can you make more of these?"
"I don't know… maybe," said Steve, looking at the gun. "It's odd… a second ago this thing felt like a part of me. Now it feels like a block of metal."
"Introspection can come later," said the Skull Rider. "Don't get so lost in yourself that you forget the world around you."
"Yeah…" said Briggs, flatly. "Kid, are you sure you should be spending so much time like… that?" she said, waving at his armored form. "You're not yourself when you're like this."
"I think it helps," said Steve. "The more time I spend as Exo the more I start to feel like myself. It's like breaking in a new pair of pants."
"And our foes are all around us still," said the Skull Rider. "We can't afford to let down our guard."
"I think I'm getting the hang of this," said Steve. "I've already beaten four of them in the last hour."
The Skull Rider's head snapped up.
Briggs grinned at Steve.
"Well look at you," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Combat training is finally paying off."
Steve, without any facial expressions at all, managed to look embarrassed.
"We should move," growled the Skull Rider, revving his engine. "The head of the snake still lives."
"Right, I'll go rendezvous with the others," said Briggs. "You go kick some ass."
Steve flashed Briggs a thumbs up. "I'll do what I can."
The two riders kicked their bikes into gear and roared off into the streets. The roads were empty, nothing but parked cars and stray animals and no sign of person or monster. The two masked figures road down the streets in perfect sync with each other, taking corners and shifting lanes without a word shared between them, each of them moving as though there was an invisible connection between them. It was a long time before either of them spoke, and the Skull Rider was the first to break the silence.
"You can sense them, can't you?" he said.
"Two of them," said Steve. "There's a few more, but these are closest."
"And the big one," said the Skull Rider. "I only felt three of them die."
"Well I fought four," said Exo, glaring at the other rider. The sun glinted off his golden crest and reflecting onto the Skull Rider's visor.
"…I'll trust you have your reasons," said the Skull Rider. "But there will be a reckoning, you can be certain."
"I made my choice," said Exo. As one, the two riders made a hard turn off the road and began following the railroad tracks towards a deserted metro station.
"These things are monsters, Steven," said the Skull Rider. "They aren't people."
"They're as human as I am," said Exo.
"I didn't say that they weren't human," said the Skull Rider.
The conversation was interrupted by a tremendous ball of fire bursting from the ground between the tracks, filling the air with fire and dirt. The Riders swerved hard, spinning out in two different directions, coming to a stop on either side of the crater it had left in the ground. Two of the humanoid were walking towards them.
The one on the right was tall and broad, and his brow was steeply angled, his head coming to a point. His body was pure white with silver upon the chest, shins and forearms, giving it the look of a marble statue of some long-dead hero. The other was short and slight, with dark green skin and flared shoulders, and a fin rising from his head like the crest of a helmet. Foot-long curved bladed protruded backwards from each wrist, and his lipless mouth showed teeth like a forest of razors.
The two riders dismounted.
"Who do you want, kid?" said the Skull Rider, slipping a pair of thick steel knuckle-dusters over his hands. "Gillman or Pagliacci?"
"…you mean the white one?" Steve asked. The Skull Rider shook his head and slung his gun over his back.
"Kids these days," he said. "Nobody even reads."
He ran towards the green-skinned monster, head down and shoulders first like a charging linebacker. Exo dropped into a fighting stance, just watching the other monster, but the only move he made was to bring a hand across his mouth, a completely dismissive gesture like wiping away a crumb of food. Then the creature's mouth split open and a glob of some black fluid shot forth.
The shot flew too quickly for Exo to see and struck his shoulder, summoning another burst of fire when it hit. The rider was blown back but rolled with the impact, coming up onto his knee with a blackened scorch on his armor.
"You think you can fight me like some common rabble?" said the monster, wiping his mouth. "I am the Kraken, and I am king of all the seas!"
The Skull Rider hit the green monster with enough force to knock him backwards 10 feet, but he got back to his feet with a move that was more like a dance than a fighting style.
"Gillman, huh?" it said, running a clawed finger down his cheek. "I like that! I was having a bitch of a time thinking up a name!"
"I'll carve it on your grave," said the Skull Rider, charging forth. His first swing went high wide, and the Gillman was able to get two claw strikes in before his next attack, each one slicing a deep furrow in the Rider's leathers. The Rider's next attack was low and hit home, striking the creature's abdomen with the sound of a gunshot. The Gillman staggered back, a blackened crater in his skin.
"Damn… you got some fight in you, bitch!" he said with his horrible lipless mouth.
"I've got all kinds of fight in me," the rider growled.
The pale monster shot fire at Exo, but in his crimson-armored form he was just fast enough to dodge. He ducked away from a second blast, then a third, rushing faster towards his foe. At the last minute, before the monster could strike at him, Exo jumped, flipping over the Kraken like a gymnast off a bar. He came down behind the white-skinned creature, an arm locked tight around his neck.
"What does your master want?" he shouted, driving an elbow down into the creature's shoulder. His skin was clammy and slick, like he had been drenched in Vaseline, but Exo held fast, tightening his grip. "Why is your boss here?" he said, punctuating his question with a knee to the kidneys.
"Is that the most you have?" said the Kraken, barely noticing as Exo pummeled his body. "My body has braved the depths of the sea. Your fists are waves breaking against rock!"
The Kraken pushed backwards, forcing Exo to take a step back, and then another. Then he built up terrible speed, ramming Exo back through a wall of crates and not stopping until the Rider's back was up against a steel pillar, his spine smashed into an open power transformer.
A shower of sparks shot from Exo's body and the rider flailed and jerked as power coursed down his nerves. Freed, the Kraken reversed their positions, grasping Exo hard around the neck. Drawing his fist back, he punched the Rider hard in the stomach, hitting with such force that Exo flew back into a pile of debris.
"Since you must know," said the Kraken, running his hand over his mouth. "The master has asked us to take a measure of you," he said, his hand glowing with purple energy. "I shan't think he'll be impressed."
He hurled another bolt of fire, and Exo was enveloped in the blast.
The Skull Rider was strong, and built like a war machine that had been built out of five tanks assembled into human form. But he was slow, and the Gillman was able to dance past his powerful fists without taking another hit.
"I thought you riders were supposed to be a bunch of badasses!" Gillman shouted, spinning away from the Skull Rider's fist and slashing at his chest. "Is that one good hit all you got in you?"
"One good hit is all I need," said the Rider. He drew back into a boxing pose, hands guarding his face, shifting from foot to foot with a restless energy. "You had enough or you think you can stomach another?"
"Nnngh, I am starving!" said Gillman, running his teeth along his blade. "I think it's time we carve this beast!"
He rushed towards the Rider, slashing at his chest and stomach, the Rider blocking with his arms, sparks flying from the monster's attacks. A good hit, but shallow. Then another. Then a third.
Then, finally, the monster missed. The Skull Rider struck like a cobra, stepping back and turning on his heel, bringing his leg up for a powerful kick to the back of the rider's neck. If he had been fighting a human, it would have broken three or four vertebrae. As it was, it only broke one.
The monster dropped, rolling over onto its back, legs twitching. The Rider brought his boot down onto his chest, and there was a tremendous blast of noise and flame, leaving another black crater behind. The helpless creature looked up at his foe.
"The greatest weapon of a Rider is his kick," he said. Then he drew his gun. "This is good too."
He pushed the gun up against the Gillman's lipless mouth and pulled the trigger. Thick, black blood and fragments of yellow, pointed teeth sprayed against his helmet. He pulled the trigger again, and again, until the monster's head was just a bone and ichor across the dirt. The Rider looked down the body and pumped a fresh round into the chamber, watching the corpse until a red glow began to emanate from his chest. Satisfied, the Rider shouldered his gun and turned away.
"Just like old times," he said, walking away as the body was blown apart from within.
Exo charged out of a ball of fire, charging towards the Kraken like a charging stag. The white monster kept firing at the Rider, blasting him off his feet. Exo kept pushing forward, scrambling back to his feet every time he was knocked down, dodging fire until he could just get close enough to strike the Kraken.
"You're a tenacious little bug, I give you that!" said the Kraken, readying another blast. The Skull Rider raised his gun and fired, knocking his hand away from his mouth, and Exo had opportunity to deliver a crushing blow to his stomach.
"Another goddamn monster that can't keep his mouth shut!" said the Skull Rider, bringing his heel down on the Kraken's thigh. There was a blast of fire and light, but the monster barely seemed to notice.
"Careful!" Exo shouted as the two riders attacked the monster in unison, a flurry of blows raining down on his marble skin. "This one's built like a Rhino from freaking Krypton!"
"Everything's got a weakness!" said the Skull Rider. The Kraken was barely making an attempt to defend; blocking punches that could kill a man like it was swatting away flies. "Just have to keep wearing it down, one blow at a time!"
The Kraken's body spasmed, and half a dozen slits opened up on his stomach, spraying a thick white fog. The monster was lost against the smoke, and Exo could barely see him, even as the monster kicked him in the stomach, sending him rolling onto the ground.
He could see the Skull Rider fighting, his black armor showing through even through the cloud of white, until a powerful white hand grasped him around the neck. The Skull Rider fought, his legs kicking, at the monster, but he couldn't break that grip.
"You… I don't know what you are," said the Kraken, from somewhere in the cloud. Exo tried to get to his feet, but his arms and legs were weak beneath him. He could feel his body beginning to change. "Let me get a better look."
The Skull Rider's head was enveloped in a ball of fire, and a shrill, high-pitched scream rang through the air. Half of a motorcycle helmet landed right in front of him, the faceplate a burnt, twisted mess. Purple light was shining in his eyes.