Chapter 2: Fire and Teeth
Saul awoke with a confused grunt, rolling off his couch with a tired yelp as a voice crooned from his pocket. "Wake up…run for your life with me...Wake up…" Patting himself down, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and cursed as he saw the time. "Fuck me." Sitting up quickly, he swayed in place as dizziness struck. "…What?"
Hauling himself up to his feet was a challenge, as he swayed drunkenly, sweating from the exertion. Stumbling into the kitchen, he forewent a cup in favor of turning on the faucet directly into his mouth. Slightly refreshed, he splashed his face and felt just a bit more human as he grabbed a banana and his keys and headed out for work.
The cool morning air felt good on his skin as he walked, though it couldn't entirely dampen the heat growing inside of him or the sweat beading his forehead. People still walked the streets but they skittered furtively, avoiding eye contact and speaking in hushed voices.
Saul peeled his banana and took a bite, pausing to grimace in disgust. It was too soft, not chewy enough and far too sweet, so he spat the mouthful out and dumped the rest in the trash. Every step he took closer to work, he felt more and more faint; sweat poured down his skin in rivulets and his lungs couldn't seem to bring in enough air, and by the time he'd reached the door to The Cup Of Monte Cristo, he was nearly doubled over from exertion.
Pushing open the door, he found the shop to be nearly empty, with only five people scattered around the tables. A young woman, brown hair tied back into a simple bun, looked up from her spot behind the counter as the bell rang. "Saul!" she called, circling around the counter to wrap him up in a hug. "I was so worried!"
"I'm fine, Amy," he replied, patting her back. "What's going on? Everyone seems so…afraid."
She pulled back from him with a confused look. "Don't you remember? Something…happened at DREAMS Labs last night, an energy wave of some kind swept over the city."
Saul blanched. "That actually happened?" he asked incredulously, running a hand through his hair. "I thought that was some kind of dream…" He coughed into his hand, feeling more short of breath than he had before as the tightness in his chest became worse.
"More like a nightmare…" Amy muttered, shaking her head, her eyes going wide as she saw the condition he was in. Reaching up, she laid a hand on his forehead and recoiled at heat. "Holy shit, Saul, you're burning up! Are you alright?"
"Just a little tired," he tried to wave her off but wavered as his vision began to blur. "…I think I should go home…"
"You're pale and shaky," she noted, nodding her head firmly. "You can't go by yourself in this condition, I'll walk you. Dad!"
As Amy pulled off her apron, Saul took a deep breath and a scent drifted into his nose. A spike of fear shot through him for reasons he couldn't comprehend even as the heat continued to build inside his chest, pushing out against the seams of his body like steam in a tea kettle about to boil. "…Too hot," he whispered, fumbling for the door and pushing his way outside. The cool air felt good for a brief second before he was assaulted by odors.
Scared, he thought, stumbling forward to lean against a brick wall, Everyone is so scared…I only need to wound one, and the others will flee…easy prey… His eyes widened as he realized what he'd just thought. "The hell is wrong with me?" he muttered, slowly pulling himself forward. "Hungry…I'm so hungry…"
Pain wracked his body and he fell against a storefront window, clutching his stomach. "Hey, are you alright?" A feminine voice asked, and Saul felt a hand brush his elbow. His vision sharpened as he turned to look at the girl, his eye catching the pores of her skin, the lines of the mascara under her eyelids, his own reflection in her pupil…before they dilated and the girl screamed in fear.
Saul flinched, growling under his breath as the girl ran away, planting a hand against the window to push himself away and glancing at the surface in reflex. He froze as he made eye contact with his reflection.
Staring back at him was a pale, sweaty reflection of himself, but…glowing red was bleeding into his blue eyes.
And the pupils had become slits.
His eyes fell on his hand, the nails thickening and turning black, gouging jagged arcs out of the glass as he pulled it away from the window. As he watched, scales rolled down his arm with a discomforting wave of itches even as his jaw began to ache.
The smell was too strong. A longing rose in him, to tear into soft flesh and gorge himself on chewy muscle and metallic blood and pain began to override his thoughts. With the last of his will, he screamed NO! No people! And his body followed a colder, less appetizing scent.
The last thing he heard was a ringing bell, followed by a greeting. "Fresh Meat! Welcome to…Oh god! OH GOD!"
A roar drowned out the rest.
NSG
Nolan blinked at his desk, eyebrow arched as his groggy brain tried to piece together what he was seeing. "The fuck?" he mumbled, scratching his head.
Sitting innocuously on the surface were a set of items, amidst a mess of strewn spare parts. One looked to be a set of binoculars, though not one he recognized, a blocky thing colored gray, the ends marked in orange. A small orange X marked the middle at the front.
"Huh…" Nolan picked them up, weighing them in his hand for a moment, before taking a peek through them. As expected, since he was in his room, there wasn't much to see, but what he did was crystal clear. "Neat." Setting it down, he picked up the next object, only to find a simple digital camera. Nothing too special. Don't I already have a camera? he wondered, looking around. However, when he finally spotted his old camera case, the blood drained from his face as he saw pieces of the camera itself scattered across the desk. "Oh crap."
Looking between the new camera and the pieces, it was pretty easy to work out what had happened. Someone, he wasn't sure who, had somehow dismantled several of his more valuable belongings and put together a set of new devices. He winced as a soreness in his hands and across his shoulders made itself known, though a few quick stretches took care of it.
The last two gadgets were just as puzzling. One was a rather sizable phone, silver but accented with orange piping, an X-marked computer chip of sorts slotted into the front. Picking it up distractedly, still thinking about his wrecked camera, he fiddled around with it, and blinked as it swung open horizontally. "Oh. It's like my old one." Closing it again, he set it down and gazed down at the final object.
The only thing that really made sense was to call it a belt. A particularly large, high-tech belt. The band was wide, divided into even, rectangular metal segments, while the buckle was framed by a pair of silver-capped, orange cylinders. An empty mechanical holster sat across the middle, a rectangular frame jutting up diagonally, roughly the same size as the new phone.
Hm…okay, just leaving aside how these got here, he thought, frowning at the assembled chachkes, It kinda looks like they all go together somehow.
Picking up the belt, he tried threading the band through the loops on his pants, but they wouldn't fit. Grimacing, he settled for wrapping it around his waist, closing it with a satisfying click. "Okay, so…" he picked up the phone. "This oughta fit into here…" he slid it into the empty frame and turned it down, the device slotting perfectly into the buckle.
...Nothing happened.
"Hm. Gotta be missing something…" he muttered, feeling along the belt for anything else. Aside from a pair of carrying-holsters, which easily fit the binoculars and camera. Still nothing. "Damn it. What do I do now…? Oh shit, Saul!"
Pulling on a sweatshirt over the belt, he ran downstairs, sparing a, "Hey, going out for a bit!"
"Really?" asked his sibling semi-incredulously, "This early?"
"Gotta go check something out," he muttered, grabbing a banana.
"Aight. Don't forget your key."
As he headed down the road, keeping a brisk pace, his mind wandered to his friend. An unpleasant feeling churned in his gut, even as he ate his fruit. No matter how he tried to justify it to himself, the fact was that he'd pretty much ditched Saul last night, leaving him out in the open.
If he's alright, he totally has the right to smack me. Fuck, not looking forward to that…just hope that's the extent of it.
All the while, the young man could feel an underlying current of anxiety from the thin streams of people around him. Everyone was glancing over their shoulders, as if expecting to see someone following them, keeping their arms tucked in. Of course, Nolan himself was no exception, though the latter reminded him that he was wearing that bulky belt from earlier under his sweatshirt.
The crowd thinned out even more as he finally approached DREAM Labs. As expected, an enormous blockade was set up all around the block and the place was swarming with police. He stopped, biting his lip. No way they'll let me in to look. I could ask one of them… He gritted his teeth at the idea, but looked around for anyone that might prove helpful. Spotting a pair of officers standing off to the side, he started towards them; though the two of them were dressed in a set of winter jackets, it was pretty plain to see that they belonged there, what with the badges and all. They were holding cups of coffee, chatting with each other.
As he approached, Nolan heard one of them muttering, "Could barely find anything that wasn't goddamn pumpkin spice…"
"H-hey, um, excuse me?" he called out, wincing at how shaky his voice was.
The two of them turned to look at him, giving him time to take in their features. They were a man and a woman, pretty striking in their own right. The man was broad-shouldered, with brown hair and a few lines around his piercing brown eyes. The woman had sharp features contrasting her soft, amused blue eyes, brown hair shining with the barest tint of red in the sunlight.
"How can we help you?" asked the woman, "Mind you, we're kinda busy with all this." She waved her hand in the general direction of the lab.
"R-right," mumbled Nolan, "Well, I'm looking for my friend; we were kinda nearby when everything went down last night, and I kinda panicked and left him behind…is he alright? I left him under a tree."
The male detective frowned. "Not the best place to leave a person, but we haven't found anyone like that. A few people were knocked silly from the explosion, but no unconscious guys propped against trees." He paused to scratch his chin. "It's possible he might've been picked up by a patrol car. Tell you what, give me his name and I'll call to check."
"Saul Dewitt."
While he nodded, grabbing a walkie-talkie to inquire about him, his partner stepped forward. "You said that you were present at the events from last night?"
Nolan grimaced, crossing his arms instinctively as the memory of the Cross of Fire flared up in his mind's eye. "Y-yeah. We attended the opening for a bit, but then got bored and left early. I think we were about a block away when that…that thing went off. What was it, by the way? Have they found out anything in there?"
She shrugged. "Haven't been inside, yet. They're still sweeping for radiation or whatever that light wave was, so no one knows. If we do find something out, it'll be on the news." She took a sip from her coffee, eyeing him over the white lid. "So, you saw the explosion and what, ran away?"
"Well, after it knocked us ass over teakettle. I guess since Saul was bigger, he had a harder fall and got knocked out…"
"And you couldn't carry him and the police were busy, so I can see why," she nodded agreeably, pointing at him with her coffee cup. "You'll definitely need to make it up to your friend, though."
He nodded readily. "Yeah, of course."
Her partner said something into his walkie-talkie and walked back. "Well, I've got good news and bad news," he sighed, scratching at his five o'clock shadow, "The good news is, there's no 'Saul Dewitt' in the morgue, but the bad news is he's not in the drunk tank or the other holding cells. It's possible your friend woke up a bit later and went home, you know. You should check in there. If he's not, well…"
"Yeah…I'll go try and check on him. Thanks for your time."
As he walked away, breathing a sigh of relief that he'd gotten through the conversation, he heard one of the detective's mutter, "DREAM? More like nightmare…"
Snorting despite himself, Nolan continued on. Taking a few minutes to get further away, he pulled out the new swivel phone that he'd discovered on his desk and dialed Saul's home number, holding it to his ear. The phone rang…and rang…and rang…but ultimately just gave him the answering machine. "Er, hey, it's me, Nolan. If you get around to hearing this, then hopefully that means you're alright after…last night. I'm sorry for ditching you like that, and you've got every right to be mad, but if you're okay, please lemme know. I guess I'll try your cell or the Cup next, so…seeya soon, hopefully. Bye."
Taking a deep, shaky breath to calm my nerves, I hung up, only to pause as the screen on my phone defaulted to a list of some sort. He peered close, as it was a pretty tiny screen, to see three combinations of seemingly random numbers, arranged in a loose triangle. "Huh. Wonder what these do. Let's see…" Squinting at the topmost combination, he carefully dialled 9-1-3. He paused to see if anything would happen, and then pressed the prominent Enter button at the top.
STANDING BY
"Ack!" Nolan jumped as a deep, electronic voice suddenly called out from the phone, followed by an equally electronic, thrumming bass tone. Flailing in shock for a moment, he slapped the phone shut, only for the sound to continue. He glanced around, blushing at making so much noise, and ducked into an alleyway. "Okay, you fussy little- how do I make it stop…?" Frowning, he looked down at the belt around his waist. "Hm…maybe now it'll work?" Turning over the droning phone, he slotted it into its bracket and slammed it down flat.
COMPLETE
Mercifully, the droning stopped, but that was the least of his concerns. As the phone made its announcement, the two cylinders on either side of the buckle flashed orange. Streams of light lanced out of it, traveling down his legs and up his torso, even as he yelped and slapped at himself. The light continued unabated, crossing over the front of his chest in an X and wrapping around out of sight, before a blinding flash consumed his vision.
At the same time, something wrapped tightly around his whole body, followed by a heaviness that draped itself over his shoulders and limbs. It was a comfortable weight, however, though it did nothing to blunt his shock, especially as something else enclosed his head. When the flash finally died down, he found his vision tinted slightly with purple. "What…the hell…?" he asked slowly, reaching up to touch his face. The first thing he noticed was that his hands were covered in a skin-tight material, with silvery gray plates along the back. The second was that there seemed to be a HUD of some sort around the edges of his vision, kinda like a video game.
Looking himself over, he discovered that he was covered head to foot in some sort of armor, highlighted by the same glowing lines that had covered him earlier. Leaving aside the fact that it had literally materialized out of nowhere, it felt kinda heavy…but at the same time not. He felt…stable, somehow. Like there was something backing up his movements, making the armor's weight negligible. He shifted from foot to foot idly, crouched, and then hopped…only to yelp as he shot several feet into the air, flailing wildly as he landed in a heap. "Ow. Okay. So I can jump good."
He staggered upright, noting that even that motion felt almost effortless, and looked around. Spotting a trash can, he picked up the lid and bent it, eyes widening as it groaned loudly, but he felt no strain at all in the process. "Wow, alright…whoever made this, or however they made it, it's pretty strong!" He paused. "Although now that I think about it…how do I get it off? Lessee here…"
Remembering that the armor had come from him messing around with the phone, he unlatched it from the belt and flipped it open. The HUD on his helmet flickered, highlighting the number combinations, but he ignored them for now. Tentatively, he pressed the End Call button.
With a flash, the orange lines faded away, before the armor disintegrated, leaving him back in his normal clothes. "Heh. That was pretty cool," he said to himself, grinning, "But now, gotta look for Saul."
STF
Calling his cellphone proved just as fruitless as before, finding only the voicemail message. With a sigh, he closed the phone and continued on the path towards Saul's workplace. Even if he wasn't there, there was always the chance that his boss might know something. Saul was fairly close to him, if Nolan remembered right.
As he walked with this plan in mind, however, someone knocked into him, jolting him out of his thoughts. Blinking and grimacing, he glanced around, only to start in surprise as he realized that all around him, people were running in the opposite direction, some screaming.
"H-hey, what's going on?!" he asked, stopping one girl as she ran past.
"There's a monster in the butcher shop!" she cried, before shaking him off and retreating further.
Nolan stared after her, nonplussed. "A monst- what?" Glancing back where everyone was running from, he gritted his teeth and turned for a moment…then stopped. "Am I really gonna run away again?" he asked himself. Reaching down, he touched the phone. "I've got this new power…and I'm not even gonna use it to help people?"
The Cross of Fire burned in the back of his mind, the eyes of the Kamen Riders watching him.
"Yeah right."
He started running. Not away from the danger, but towards it, as he recalled the question he'd asked himself just the previous day.
If I had power like Superman, would I use it to help people?
"Yeah…sounds fun."
He ducked into an alleyway, already dialling: 9-1-3.
STANDING BY
As he made his decision, the images of the Riders suddenly spoke up, giving a single word that thrummed through his head and left his mouth.
"Henshin!"
COMPLETE
Nolan emerged onto an empty street, now clad in the mysterious armor. Glancing around for a moment to make sure there was no one left in the vicinity, he kept moving. His boots tapped across the road, oddly loud inside his helmet as he dashed swiftly across the asphalt, his breathing not even changing.
It was easy to spot the store; a counter had been chucked straight through the front window, scattering broken glass everywhere. As he approached, Nolan heard a meaty tearing and the snapping of bone, along with a reedy growling. He slowed, putting a hand to the doorframe as he peered inside. A large, dark shape was hunched over the various raw cuts of meat, ripping into them. Fortunately, it didn't look like the thing had killed anyone to get that meat, so that was something. He took a ragged breath as he realized that that could realistically have been the case.
However, that was when he took a closer look at the monster and properly noticed its appearance. Grey scales covered its form smoothly, like a snake's, but it had limbs; long and lean, but definitely strong as evidenced by the counter out on the street, with long, sharp claws. A long, whip-like tail trailed out along the floor, occasionally lashing about with a whoosh. What gave Nolan pause, however, were the scraps of clothes hanging from its lanky frame. It was wearing those before they got torn, he noted, observing how they wrapped around it, That means that it wasn't always like this. This thing's a person.
He took a step forward, only to freeze as something crunched. "...Uh oh."
SOL
He growled low in his throat as he tore at the hunk of meat lying before him. While it was cold and lacking the warm life-fluid of a fresh kill, it was still food and still sated his ravenous appetite, if only for the moment.
He caught an errant scent of metal but ignored it in favor of ripping a rib bone out of the way, splitting it between his jaws to suck the gelatinous marrow within before discarding it with a flick of his head, digging into the exposed meat beneath.
Then, he heard crunch of glass against the tile floor. "…Uh oh." A deep, rumbling growl echoed from his chest as he tore a strip of meat away from the carcass, slowly turning his head to gaze at the thing who dared to bother him while he was feeding.
It was thing shaped like the people who fled from him. 'No people!' A faint voice called from the back of his mind, and he sniffed the air. Metal, not flesh, but with a beating heart underneath. It had the shape, but not the smell. Not people.
Prey.
Licking the cold meat juice from his chops, he coiled his legs underneath, tensing for the pounce. And in the name of fairness, he gave the Shaped-Like-People-But-Not-People a warning growl. He wasn't a monster, after all. Just hungry.
Then he lunged with a roar.
NSG
Despite his earlier assertion to become a hero, there was still the fact that Nolan had very little idea what he was doing. His legs locked up as the creature's head swiveled around to fix on him, its eyes glowing blue with red inside the pupils, growling. Now what? he wondered, breaking out in a cold sweat, NOW WHAT?!
Almost as if in slow motion, he watched as it coiled up for an infinitesimal moment, then sprang towards him, leaping clear across the floor. His mind went blank, and on instinct he moved too, diving into the store and off to the side as it streaked over him. He landed heavily on his gut, but rolled quickly so as to be less vulnerable.
Likewise, the monster hit the ground with a screech, claws digging deep gouges into the floor to slow its momentum, turning to snap at him. As it dived after him again, he rolled away, only to yelp as the tail snapped out and struck him in the back. There was little pain, but the edges of his HUD flashed and the impact knocked him to the side a few feet. With a whirl of motion that dazed even himself, he sprang to his feet, looking around just in time to see the scaly former-person clinging to a wall, just before it leaped at him.
Gotta get it outta here! he thought, ducking under the snarling dive. This time, he remembered the tail whip and snapped his hands shut, grabbing hold of it. "Oh! Idea!" He turned and heaved, looking towards the street as he threw the beast clean out of the store.
It let out a surprisingly human yelp as it bounced and skidded out onto the street, only to dig in and stop itself, growling. This Shaped-Like-People-But-Not-People was most certainly not easy prey at all. His blood boiled in satisfaction, sweeping his talons through the scattered glass. A good fight always made the following meal more enjoyable.
Stepping outside, Nolan took a moment to look down at his gauntleted hands. They were shaking, badly. This guy's out to kill me, he thought, swallowing and looking back up at the creature, So I need to fight. I need to make sure it won't get away. With a sort of spasm, his hands clenched tightly into fists.
This time, he moved first, sprinting towards the monster with blurring speed and lashing out with a punch. It was somewhat sloppy and uncoordinated, but it smacked across the thing's head with a satisfying sound, snapping it to the side. However, it retaliated quickly, lashing out and scoring a solid hit with its claws. Nolan hissed and stumbled back, sparks flying from his armor, but a quick glance showed that there wasn't so much as a scratch. This stuff's pretty tough!
The two circled for a bit, glaring at each other, slightly crouched. Then they charged towards each other again, slamming together and tangling, each side struggling to overpower and grapple the other. The lock broke when Nolan reared his head back and sent it crashing down against the monster's. It stepped back, slightly stunned but unharmed, and he took the chance to plant his boots against its chest and shove it back, before chasing after it with a snap-kick.
With so little time to recover from being knocked off-balance, this follow-up attack slammed against its jaw, snapping its head to the side. They paused, sharing a sense of disbelief for a few scant seconds before it slowly turned to glare at him, a rumbling growl echoing out behind it's teeth. Its nostrils flared balefully as breathed deeply, pushing itself up to stand on its hind legs before it loosed a roaring tongue of flame.
"Aw shit…"
Nolan leaped to the side, cursing as a fireball the size of his head erupted from the creature's maw, letting it streak by and crash into the totally wrecked store-front. He cringed at the resulting explosion, feeling a mild wave of force push him lightly from behind. It was too weak to do anything at that distance, but even so it told him that he'd made the right choice in not trying to tank that.
Damnit, I can definitely hit hard, but he just keeps shrugging off everything I throw at him! thought Nolan frustratedly, glaring at him from inside his helmet. "How the hell am I supposed to put down a freaking dragon-man?!"
This time, as the jet of flames came roaring towards him again, the young man kicked off the ground, trying to leap straight up into the air. To his surprise, he rocketed upwards easily, feeling totally weightless as he crested above the burnt-out husk of the butcher's shop. Then, just as effortlessly, he plummeted straight downward, towards the dragon. Bringing his hands together, he crashed down onto the creature with a shout, hammering it over the head with his clasped fists.
The dragon recoiled with a growled yelp, batting at him with a claw, only for him to hop back and kick it aside easily, bouncing lightly back and forth, strafing around him.
The two of them traded blows, the dragon raking out with his claws, teeth and whipping tail, while Nolan would bash at him with his fists and shins. He would dodge and spin away from the attacks, letting those that hit just graze his armor and push him back. Doing so would set up for another jet of flame, but as he fell into the rhythm of the fight, his thoughts began to flow. This is unbelievable, he noted absently, I'm moving so quickly, like my thoughts become action without delay. It's so…freeing. Like this is how I should've been all along, but I was missing something.
However, even as he thought this, he noticed a wheezing, whining sound coming from the dragon. Its attacks were slowing down, arms and tail drooping as it tired itself out. He sighed, feeling more than a little pity for the creature, but there was no point in putting things off. He bounded forward, spinning through the air for another kick…
Only to grunt as a set of powerful jaws clamped shut around his ankle. "...you clever-!"
The beast snarled and began whipping him back and forth, only the protection of his armor keeping his ankle from snapping. Even so, when it flung him away with a snarl and he hit the ground with a grunt, it was with a shaky leg that he quickly righted himself. "Alright you son of a bitch, you wanna keep…" He trailed off, blinking, "Going?"
The dragon was rolling around on the ground, hissing and screeching as it clawed at its own back, shredding the remains of its shirt even further. With a pang of horror, Nolan realized that its back was deforming, two spots in particular bulging out, and there was only one real possibility as to what that could mean.
The dragon planted itself, digging its claws into concrete and let loose a horrifying howl as the skin on its back stretched further and finally broke, twin skeletal limbs emerging in a spray of dark blood. Shaking itself, the creature twisted a limb over its shoulder, a short burst of flames burning away the gore to reveal a pointed metallic wing.
But something was off about it. Peering more closely at them, Nolan found himself perplexed by their shape. Any sort of non-bird wing ought to have some sort of membrane stretched between the bones. These things, however, did not. The elongated, oddly thick, finger-like protrusions curled and flexed independently of each other, the edges bladed. They looked more like giant claws than wings.
Then the dragon reared back and screamed, a set of slits opening in its chest and glowing red. The air began rushing towards it, funneling into the new vent with a roar. As it did so, Nolan's eyes widened as he spotted flames beginning to flicker at the ends of the wings, the heat distorting the air around them. His shock only grew as the wings folded up onto the dragon's back and high-pitched whine began to emanate from it, one that was strange but also familiar, somehow.
That whine grew into a roar and jets of flame, three to each wing, erupted out as it blazed forward, ramming into Nolan and sending him flying through a stone bench.
The young man wheezed out a groan of pain, the impact driving the air from his lungs. Even with the armor, everything hurt, particularly his ribs and back. "When the hell…did a dragon fuck a fighter jet?" he huffed, climbing laboriously to his feet and holding hand to his torso, "That's so fucking cool it isn't fair…and now you can fly. Which means that you can escape. SHIT."
Then, the dragon did something. More shocking than growing wings, and those wings being jet engines.
It laughed.
It was horrible, choked sound, like wet rocks caught in a food disposal. Tilting its head, the curved mouth giving the approximation of a smirk as it waggled its wings tauntingly. Then it drew back and unleashed a fireball.
This one was even bigger than before, rolling across the ground with a roar. Even as Nolan tensed, ready to leap away again, a scream from pierced the air from behind him. He froze, craning his neck to look over his shoulder. At some point, without him noticing, a sizable crowd had gathered around the two of them, citizens watching the fight with awe and fear in equal measures.
And that fireball was heading directly towards them. The only thing that stood in the way…was him.
"Oooh…come on!" he groaned. Gritting his teeth, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and braced himself. "This is gonna suuuuu-!"
*FOOOOOOSH!*
A near-solid blast of burning air smacked into him, knocking him off his feet but dispersing the flames before it could hit the people behind him. "AAAAARGH!" he shouted, rolling around as the extreme heat washed over his body, bypassing the suit entirely. Sparks burst from all over the armor, but surprisingly it still held together. However, the HUD flashed, warning Nolan about Photon Blood Pressure Low, whatever that meant.
"Shit…I can't let this guy get away. If I'm having this much trouble against him, there's no way ordinary folks would stand a chance!" He thought back to the butcher shop. "He could slaughter and eat any of them…sorry, but whoever you used to be, I gotta put you down!"
A vision drifted in from the back of his mind: a man in silver and orange armor, identical to his own. A Kamen Rider, with a purple circle for a visor, divided by an X. As Nolan watched, the Rider pulled out a camera identical to the one he'd found, before pulling the phone's chip out and slotting it over the camera's lens, then opening the phone and pressing Enter.
Quickly, keeping an eye on the dragon and hobbling over to the side of a building, where the crowd had not yet gathered, the young man pulled out the camera and slid the strange, key-like chip off the phone. Slotting it onto the camera like in the vision resulted in a small click, before a handle dropped from the underside.
READY
Grasping the handle, distantly realizing that the camera was now more like a crude brass knuckle, he twisted open the phone partially and pressed the button.
EXCEED CHARGE
With a flash, one of the tubes on the buckle lit up, orange light streaming up the side of his body along the channel in his armor, wrapping around his side, wrapping around his shoulder and down his arm. Upon reaching the transformed camera, its light ignited, lens-flaring into the shape of an X with a distant *Ping~*
Feeling the aura of power building around him, the dragon roared a challenge, flames licking its teeth as its wings flared out. Then it crouched low to the ground, muscles cording under scales as the jet-like whine began to build.
For a moment, the two stared each other down, the tension palpable. Then, in a sudden burst of motion, they lunged towards each other. The dragon streaked across the ground, flames erupting from its wings and propelling it upwards, mouth open wide with its razor sharp teeth, while Nolan sprinted forward and leaped into the air, cocking back his glowing fist. An X-shaped aura formed at the front as he fell towards his foe.
*BOOM!*
With a thunderous explosion that made all the onlookers flinch away, the dragon was smashed out of the air and crashed down into the street, cracking the asphalt, energy flashing out beneath him to shatter an X into the road. The beast cried out, doubling up, before falling limp.
Nolan landed lightly, the glow fading from his fist as he breathed hard, his heart pounding in his ears. For a moment, there was silence along the street. Then, the crowd began to cheer, startling him for a moment. But, as he thought about it and relaxed, it only made sense that they would. After all, he'd just fought and defeated a monster that could have killed them.
As he gave a shaky smile behind his helmet and raised his fist in victory, the people stilled, some of the cheers trailing off into gasps. He looked around, blinking, and gulped as he saw the dragon shakily pushing itself up, a weak whine escaping its mouth as it attempted to stand. Taking a deep, fortifying breath, he prepared to fight one more, ignoring the fatigue weighing him down.
He didn't have to fight, however, as the dragon began to shrink; the wings and tails vanishing into the body as the scales melted into skin, the fangs and talons becoming teeth and nails. And when they were all gone, all that was left was a man, slowly crawling over ruined concrete.
Saul looked up from the broken road he was on, confusion, pain and weariness pulling on his consciousness. "Wha...what?" He rasped, peering around with glazed eyes. He could see people, a building on fire, and an armored man in shaky fighting stance. "…Wha-what is…"
Unable to sustain himself, Saul collapsed to the ground, his eyes rolling up into his head.
Nolan stood frozen, staring down at Saul. His friend, who he'd been worried about all day. Whom he'd just beaten the crap out of. Oh god…what do I do now?! His hands began shaking as he stood stock still, before the sound of sirens jolted him into action. Looking around, he spotted the red and blue lights of the police speeding towards them, the crowd clearing the streets quickly.
He looked back at Saul. If he were to leave him here- again -there was little doubt that he might get arrested. From what he knew of the man, there was no way that he would've normally wreaked havoc like this, but the fact was, he had. Even so, the idea of letting him be imprisoned for something he couldn't control made a distinctively unpleasant tingle run up his arms. …No. If I'm gonna help people who are in trouble, then I can try and help him too.
Starting forward, he scooped Saul up into a fireman's carry, thankful that he was still wearing his strength-enhancing armor. Wondering briefly where to go next, Nolan remembered a cabin that Saul had shown him once, near the limits of the town. He gathered his strength and leaped over the crowd, sailing onto the roof of a nearby building, and jumped again. It wasn't quite flight, but it sure did carry him far…
…
Watching the armored man leap away, carrying the unconscious man who had just been a dragon, Detective Kat Bjornsson turned to her long-time partner, James Rook. "So…last night, DREAM Labs explodes with some kind of light, and today we've had a super-powered brawl between a dragon that was also a fighter jet, and some kind of techno-knight with a camera."
James nodded, stowing his service pistol under his jacket. "That's a decent summary of the events, yes." He rubbed a hand across his stubbled jaw, reminding himself that eleven in the morning was too early to start drinking.
"…Just what the fuck were they working on in those labs?!"
Rook sighed. "I don't know…but I get the feeling that this is only the beginning."
STF
NS: Oof. That took a while. Probably didn't help that I was the one who did most of the writing and I'm slow as crap.
SOL: But hey, at least this time he didn't leave a friend behind! He just knocked the dragon out of him.
NS: And already less of a douchebag than the actual Kaixa was. Let's hope it leads to less neck-breaking.
SOL: All that aside, I hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to more. As Rook said above, this is only the beginning...this roller coaster ride has only just got started, and there are many twists, turns and loops ahead. Thanks to NS for joining and conducting most of this chap, and using his knowledge of Kamen Rider for justice.
NS: Hopefully the next one will be a little more even. Look forward to it. Keep your eyes open.
Stay Awesome!