Multi-Muse Story Part 1 - The Arrival
The sound of clinking glasses and raucous laughter droned on in a random pub somewhere deep inside the remains of the Zangyack empire. Bounty hunters, foot soldiers, and former generals from various irreputable space-based crime organizations conversed amongst themselves and waxed nostalgic to pass the time. As the barkeep, an android with a disposition rough enough to cut glass, stepped forward to announce last call, he noticed a new patron at the end of the bar.
“Hey bub. We’re wrappin’ up round here.” Droned the synthetic voice of the barkeep
The messy form of the man shifted, smoothing his hair back to reveal a face familiar to the patrons of the pub. Quiet murmurs echoed throughout the den of villainy as the barkeep quirked one of his artificial eyebrows. He slowly filled up a line of shot glasses with a glowing blue liquid and set it down next to the man’s hands.
“Nobody’s seen you here since you got your ass handed to you by Sharivan…Seigi.”
The former Space Sheriff downed the shot in one go and adjusted the lapels on his tattered suit. He smirked and scratched behind his ears as he was prone to do. “What can I say? I’ve been busy.”
“Too busy to clean yourself up? You look like shit.”
“You could use a tune-up yourself, Allie.” Seigi joked
“I told you my designation is A7-7Y” the android fired back, earning a soft laugh from Seigi. “What are you doing here, Seigi? You haven’t made a move on the Galactic Police in years. You were quietly gathering power and then you just…vanished.”
Seigi looked at a poster on the wall, at a graffitied picture of Earth and its moon. He slammed down another shot before he spoke again. “I was hanging out around Earth. Causing trouble. Met this kid who made me…rethink things. Went soft. I retired.”
“So why come back now?”
Seigi smiled softly, dug into his pocket and slapped a fistful of coins onto the counter. “I’m here to pay my tab, Allie.”
The android’s sensors blinked for a moment. He counted up the currency and, sure enough, it was enough to pay off Seigi’s rather large tab. “You’ve never paid off your tab. Why now?”
“Something’s after me. I don’t know what, and I don’t know why. But I know it’s more powerful than me. Or the Space Sheriffs. And I can’t outrun it. After all…”
Seigi slammed down the last of the shots the android had poured for him.
“Evil always wins in the end.” Seigi mused with a sorrowful smile. He patted the android on the shoulder and proceeded to walk out of the bar to his ship, the Gold Nova.
Seigi started the Engines, engaged the autopilot, and flew off aimlessly into space. The buzzing still fresh in his head, he meandered around his ship for what seemed like eternity before finally sitting at the bridge. Pondering for a moment, he stopped at the edge of the Sol system and began recording a transmission to a small station familiar to him.
“This is a transmission for Gentaro Kisaragi. If you’re hearing this, then I’m already dead…”
Some time after he finished transmitting the message to the Rabbit Hutch, there was a loud explosion in the rear of the ship. Power flickered and emergency power kicked in, causing the lights to dim. With a slam of his palm against the command station, the breach was sealed with a force field, and the auto-repairs began.
“What were we hit by, computer?” Seigi demanded
Scans indicate a humanoid creature was launched from unknown space at high speeds before colliding with this vessel. The velocity itself was not enough to pierce this vessel’s hull, rather the creature attached itself to the vessel and forcibly tore open the hull.
“What kind of man could tear open a Space Sherriff craft with his bare hands?” Seigi murmured to himself. He was answered by the sound of boots clanging against the metal flooring of his ship, slowly growing nearer.
The presence that began approaching was cold and inhuman. The low level emergency lights revealed a muscled figure rounding the corner of the hallway leading to the bridge and seigi’s blood ran cold. What he saw was familiar to him; The figure appeared to be a Kamen Rider, but something about them was twisted and menacing like something Seigi would have sought out years prior.
The Dark Rider bore a resemblance to Rider #1 but the helmet’s eyes were pointed and sharp, and were a bright, unsettling purple color, with the helmet itself being pitch black in color. The mouthpiece looked almost like a vampire baring its fangs, with the gaping maw being a deep red tinge. Like the helmet, the body suit, as well as the chest armor, all were pitch black; the dark shade of the suit almost seemed to absorb any light that was reflected its way. The gloves, boots and belt, as well as a pair of shoulder pads, instead bore a faded gold color, almost like an ancient relic. He bore a ring of blue metal on each bicep, similar to the ones Amazon wore into battle; each shoulder pad bore a single blue stripe of this same color. And finally, on his neck was, instead of a scarf, a long flowing cape. The cape was the same deep shade of purple as the eyes, with the edges being lined with blue detailing.
“Who…who are you?” Seigi rasped, the words caught in his throat as the figure continued to advance.
“I’m Shocker’s Great Leader, and the man who’s come for your ship, ex-Space Sheriff. You see, as I was travelling, I became aware that you had some…information that I might find helpful. You fought with Kamen Rider X. You scanned his Machine. At first, all I wanted was that information. But now, looking at your ship…I quite like it. I’ve decided I’ll keep it.”
“And why do you think I’d let you do that?”
The black-and-gold rider laughed out loud. “My boy, my boy…nothing you or anyone else does from here on out will stop me.”
In a blur the man was upon Seigi and he immediately felt the force of the Rider’s grip upon his throat. Seigi choked and gasped but finally, defiantly looked into the Rider’s eyes.
“They’ll come for you. Those damned tenacious Earth heroes.” Seigi sputtered.
“Oh, Estevan…I’m counting on it.” Sneered the Rider.
The rider adjusted the placement of his grip, applied more pressure. There was a sudden krak! …and Seigi was gone. The Rider slapped Seigi’s limp hand to the biometric scanner to finalize the transfer of permissions, then carried his corpse to the airlock and tossed it out without a second thought. He then settled into the captain’s chair and sighed contentedly.
“How does the saying go? Oh yes…’Wait’ll they get a load of me…’”
