Chapter 2

Unknown Area

"With the infected all confirmed for dead, many sources have simply said that the worm from outer space is the cause. The scientific research was left incomplete and abandoned as ZECT and the government did not want any casualties. Dr. Oswald Boker, leader of the project, was not able to find any specific reason of cause and-"the television was cut off. A man with sunglasses and robes on quietly got up and went to the kitchen. He quickly whipped up some dinner, ate the slight morsel, and then walked to another room. The well-built man then went to a cabinet, opened it, and pulled out a belt. It was a ZECTER belt, but the man just sighed and put it back in, then shut the cabinet door and walked out the door. He sighed.

"What's going on now…" he said quietly.

Inside a weapons factory in Shibuya…

"Hurry! Take that weapon and get out of there," a rider said to fellow henchmen. After the destruction of the worms and the release of many other Zecters, some riders defected to criminals, and formed mobs and gangs and cartels.

This particular rider was a rider called Percepine, his Zecter based on a porcupine. The rider's armor could shoot out spikes in all different directions, and he had a spike-saber as a weapon. His henchmen weren't riders, just men with gas masks and suits with Percepine's Zecter symbol on the back. They were armed with blade/machine guns, some stolen from local ZECT facilities, some which are made by the cartel itself. The cartel was one of the strongest in all of Japan, often gaining support from the other gangs. To ZECT, they were almost a threat.

Just then, a great wind knocked off the machine guns off the henchmen's' hands, then knocked out some of the henchmen.

"If it isn't another rider," Percepine said, unfazed by the other rider's entry. Percepine then felt a great wind coming to his direction, then pulled out his saber, intercepting the other rider's attack, but it made him stagger from the force behind it.

"CLOCK OVER," announced the rider's Zecter. It was based off a bat, which was on a unique Zecter belt, filled with gadgets instead of the standard Zecter belt. The rider himself looked something a lot like a certain superhero in the comic books.

"If it isn't Masked Rider Bat, I expected something to happen sooner or later, like a certain rider interrupting the mission," Percepine said, getting up.

"I'm going to put you in a cell, as well as interrupt your mission," Bat said in a dark voice. Percepine scoffed, and then readied his saber. Bat also got into a battle position.

Percepine let out a roar, then tried to jab Bat, who swiftly maneuvered his attack, then elbowed the villain's back, who stumbled into the wall.

"You're still weak, cartel leader, even with the Zecter's power," Bat remarked.

"I'll show you strong!" Percepine charged again.

Percepine aimed a punch at Bat, who blocked it, but in the process, Percepine managed to hit Bat with his saber. The fight continued with many punches and kicks, but none of the riders seemed to be getting anywhere.

Percepine got up with both riders kicked each other at the same time.

"I'm ending this fight and you!" Percepine shouted, and then he pulled at the Porcupine Zecter's tail, which sent jolts of electricity towards the rider's body. The spikes around Percepine's armor began to spin. "RIDER BOMBARDMENT!" the Zecter announced.

Bat then tapped several buttons on his gauntlets, which then formed shock gloves over his fists. Bat tapped several other buttons, and then the Zecter announced "RIDER SHOCK PUNCH!" Masses of electricity formed around the rider's arms.

"Die!" Percepine yelled. The spikes on his armor shot out. But Bat was ready, he proceeded to block all of the incoming spikes, and eventually punching the last two back at Percepine, who in shock was blasted into several of his own men.

"Get him!" Percepine commanded his henchmen, who then proceeded to rush at Bat. Bat punched one henchman in the face, and then roundhouse kicked another. Two of the men grabbed his arms, and two others rushed with knives in hand, but Batman kicked both with his free feet, then flipped the others off of him. Bat then got two bat-shaped boomerangs and threw them at some men. The boomerangs exploded at their feet, knocking them out. Bat then kicked another henchman approaching him, and did some fast punches to another one to the stomach. While the rest of the henchmen rushed at Bat, Bat got out a grapple gun, pulled one man towards him, and then Bat threw him across the other men, who went down. Bat was then knocked into the wall as Percepine recovered from his previous attack.

"You may take those men down, but nothing will defeat me," Percepine said, then rushed at Bat with his saber and pressed the Clock Up pad. "CLOCK UP!"

"Don't be so overconfident," Bat said, then pressed a button on his gauntlet. On the ground were several explosives Bat had planted during his entrance. The bombs detonated.

"Argh!" Percepine yelled as his clock up was interrupted and he was brought down to the ground. Bat kicked him in the face twice, causing him to roll across the room. Bat then pressed buttons on his gauntlet, then got out a special device. Bat pointed the device towards Percepine, and then pressed the button. "RIDER EMP!" The device then made the Porcupine Zecter fall off of Percepine's belt, de-morphing the cartel leader. Bat put a pair of handcuffs on the criminal, then handed him over to ZECT authorities.

"He's all yours, the Spike Gang is done for," Bat said to a ZECT officer.

"Good job, Bat. You had a nice device over there," the officer said.

"It's a special EMP device to shut down a Zecter's systems, but it can only happen if the Zecter's energy levels are low. Since Percepine used up a lot of energy in the fight, I was able to shut down the Zecter, although it's only temporary. It's a one-of-a-kind," Bat said.

"Anyway, you're supposed to go to the main ZECT base, we'll take you there, Mr. Kamijo," the officer said.

Bat took the Zecter off his belt, and then stepped into the car, which had sped off.

Inside the ZECT facility…

"You have heard of the infection, I suppose?" asked Riku Kagami.

"I have indeed, Mr. Kagami," Haku Kamijo said.

"Dr. Boker said the infected may turn into undead worms," Riku Kagami said. "I need you to head over to the facility in Los Angeles to defend the place in case of something happening."

"That's all…?" Haku asked.

"Yeah. It is predictably, an easy job, but depending on the zombies' traits, anything could happen. Several ZECTroopers will be there as well. You're going to have to try deactivating the Centipede Zecter with the EMP device, if it doesn't work, then finish him off," Riku said.

"I understand," Haku said, and then he walked away.

Meanwhile in the Los Angeles ZECT facility…

"Their vitals are at zero, for now," Boker said to the other scientists.

"How long are we gonna have to wait for those bitches to wake up," a scientist said.

"Patience, Phillip, be careful what you wish for," Boker sternly said. Just then a door opened.

"Master Haku! It is good to see you, it's been a while," Boker said. "Everyone, meet Haku Kamijo, one of the world's greatest minds."

"Hahah, thanks a bunch old friend, just glad I can help," Haku said.

"First time I met you was when you were just a rich playboy, now you're a masked rider, a responsible man, I suppose?" Boker asked.

"Ha, yes my friend," Haku said.

"Mr. Wayne, do you compare yourself with um…Tendou Souji?" a scientist asked.

"Well, Tendou is a much more capable man than me, I just wished he was here…" Haku said.

"It's not time to worry about Kabuto, let us focus on the main problem here," Boker said, and then he walked over to a large computer.

"I've recently discovered some interesting facts about the twelve deceased. So basically, right now they are not dead, they are merely in a stasis mode, eventually waking up in due time. We've brought out one body, tried to dispose of it. It appears the skin of the deceased ones have become more stronger, being immune to extreme conditions but the brain waves react violently when we try to burn it, meaning that the body may have a found weakness in fire," Boker explained.

"We've tried stabbing their hearts and all the necessary organs and body parts needed to survive. On most zombies in legends and such, a hit to the brain may result in instant death of the zombie. But however, the zombies are in stasis, which mean we can't kill them in the meantime, and we don't want to try anything else," another scientist said.

"This is odd, which makes it extremely hard to kill them," Haku said. "Hang on, I need to try deactivating Legart's Zecter with the EMP device."

Haku got his belt, attached it onto his waist, and then put the Bat Zecter on the slot. "HENSHIN!" the Zecter started to flash and it formed the armor of Masked Rider Bat around Haku. "Cast off," Bat said, and then he pushed the button on the Bat Zecter's "head", extending the wings of the Zecter. "CAST OFF!" the masked armor flew off of Bat, almost hitting the scientist, the scattered pieces soon disappeared.

"Time to get it off him," Bat said, and then he pushed a few buttons on his gauntlet. The EMP device was taken out of his belt. Bat pointed it towards the dead rider and pressed the button. But nothing happened. Bat pressed it again but nothing happened, again.

"Goddamn it! Dr. Boker, can you lend me a laptop for a sec?" Bat asked.

Boker gave one to him, then started looking at the Centipede Zecter's systems and vitals. "It's… the Zecter is at extremely low power but I can't seem to shut it down. It usually shuts the Zecter down when it's low on energy," Bat said.

"Give me that for a second," Boker then pressed some buttons and more, soon the scientists, Bat, and Boker saw some charts.

"So, the first chart describes how much power the Zecter has been using. Even if the Zecters have an unlimited supply of energy, they still lose power through too much usage, making the Zecter have to recharge itself. Right now, the Zecter is operating on low power, but the Zypherio Crystals (small crystals of pure energy made to power the Zecters) that are powering the Zecter batteries are at full power, which may be why the device isn't working. In a nutshell, the Zecter has full power, but it is currently running on low power, using less of the Zecter's power through its use. The second chart describes the Zecter's battery power, the third describes the Zecter's power usage rate," Boker explained.

"That explains it…" Bat said.

"This does not happen…at all though…it only happens if the rider is stuck on his Rider form from a malfunction, but the program doesn't detect any malfunctions on the Zecter. It's like the worm's DNA caused the Zecter to go wacko," Boker said.

"So we can't get the fucking Zecter off Legart," Bat growled.

Just then, the zombies started to shake in unison, Legart's Zecter started to flash and send shocks of electricity in chaos. The zombies had been awakened.

"Get your flamethrowers ready!" Bat yelled. The scientists and Boker all stepped back.

"Boker! Get out of here, now!" Bat yelled to the pudgy scientist, who ran off with the others. The zombies' eyes came to life, and they smashed out of their water tanks. Legart did the same. Bat pushed the button on his Zecter, and his masked armor started to fly back onto him. "PUT ON!" the Zecter announced. Legart and Bat began to have their battle.

At the same time, the ZECTroopers guarding the scientists started blasting their flamethrowers, forcing the zombies back in fear.

"Come on you bastards, get burnt!" a ZECTrooper grunted.

"Eat my fucking flames, shit-holes!" another yelled.

"Go back to hell!" a third yelled. A zombie soon rushed forward, and the ZECTroopers concentrated on him, and the zombie disintegrated into ashes. The other zombies surged forward, while some were forced back, the rest of the zombies charged at the ZECTroopers.

"Ahh!" one yelled as he was bitten, then he ran off.

"Wait! Stop! You're getting everyone killed you bastard!" a ZECTrooper yelled to the bitten trooper before being bitten himself.

"Burn me before I become one of those stupid shits," the trooper said, lying on the ground.

"But commander!" the others shouted.

"Do it!" the commander ordered before he was disintegrated into ashes. The troopers kept firing upon the zombies, trying to keep them at bay.

Meanwhile, Legart had bitten through his own mask and was trying to tear through Bat's armor, but Bat was very skilled and had dodged every attempt. "Time to bring you down for good," Bat said, then threw three Batarangs at the zombie rider, who clocked up and bit a chunk off of Bat's armor.

"Damn it!" Bat yelled. At least the zombie rider hadn't gotten through his skin. Legart soon clocked up out of the room, with Bat in pursuit. As Bat managed to go to the living room, he found the front doors already broken through and Legart running to a busy industrial area.

"Fuck!" Bat yelled, but the zombies were attacking the troops, and Bat couldn't let more zombies get out of the building. Bat ran back to the ZECTroopers. "CLOCK UP!" the Zecter announced as Bat got to the scene a second later, he blew up several of the zombies' heads with exploding Batarangs, but some of the ZECTroopers were already infected and clutching to their wounds. Bat heard a voice through his speaker.
"Bruce, I've completed an analysis of the zombies. It seems in their current state of matter, they lose most of their personalities and knowledge, but their physical strength is dramatically increased and of course, the parts with the hunger for human flesh…" Boker said through a call.

"Goddamn, and Legart got away Boker," Bat sighed as he kicked a zombie in the head, knocking its brain out in the process.

"You let him get away? It'll infect all of Los Angeles!" Boker cried.

"There's another rider approaching Legart, I've already informed him of what's happening," Bat said.

"Let's just hope that rider knows what he's doing," Boker said.

"Of course the rider knows what he's doing, it's Drake," Bat said.

"DRAKE?" Boker said.

SOMEWHERE IN LOS ANGELES

"RIDER SHOOTING," announced the Drake Zecter as it powered up to fire a shot.

"Let's kill you, bitch," Drake said, then he fired. Drake yelled at the same time. The rider's head soon exploded.

"Bruce, it's done," Drake said. But Drake felt a sudden pain on his arm, he looked at it, and he found out, Legart had bitten him in the arm…

ZECT FACILITY IN LOS ANGELES

"Die you freaks," Bat said as he battled the zombies. There were two more, and he had brought the rest down. The remaining ZECTroopers suddenly rushed forward, burning the zombies into a crisp.

"Drake, it's contained here," Bruce said. But unbeknownst to him, two zombies managed to escape the fight…

"Bruce…I-I'm infected. Legart bit me…" Drake groaned.

"No, no, no!" Bat yelled, and then he kicked a table.

"No, it's okay Bruce. I've been expecting it…jut-just don't tell Yuriko and the others about it…-"the transmission was cut off. Bat was breathing hard,

"Come on troops, we have to go back to main base, immediately," Bat said. The troopers followed him as he went off into the night…

Epilogue
Daisuke Kazama had written a letter, printed a portrait of him, and went towards the sea, letter and picture in one hand, Drake Grip in the other. He felt like he had already had done enough. He looked at the letter one more time, and then he put it down on the ground. He also put the Drake Grip on the ground on top of the letter, and finally, his hat.

"Sayonara…" he said, and then he dived into the river.

As Kazama jumped into the water, a man came towards where Kazama jumped. He picked up the letter, and then read it out loud.

Dear friends, I can no longer continue life due to a tragic combat incident. I hope you all understand. I've met many good people in my life, and I wish to thank all of them for guiding me to the right path. If I have done anything to make you dislike me, I hope you all forgive me. Thanks for being supportive throughout my life.

Sincerely,

Kazama Daisuke

The man then folded the letter, and picked up the Drake Grip. He also took the hat.

"You were indeed a good friend after all, Kazama," the man said.

The man walked away with the possessions, suddenly hearing frantic cries and zombie groans. He sighed.

"I'd better move out of this town…"

Author's Notes

Masked Rider Bat is based off of Batman, as some should've noticed.

To the Drake fans, don't kill me please, it was a hard decision to make as the other riders have another role in the story.

The Bruce Wayne in this story is named after his DC counterpart.