Work Text:
Episode 04.
Kazami Shiro laid still on the cross shaped operating table, for all intents and purposes unconscious. In reality, he was wide awake, listening to the goings-on in the Destron outpost. Disappointingly, the snatches of sound and conversation he caught didn’t reveal anything particularly sensitive. A combatant complaining he was tired, some technical jargon he couldn’t make heads or tails of, a leaking faucet…
That was until Kazami heard TV-Fly’s voice, words indistinct, accompanied by a sudden flurry of movement. People were quickly walking around, boxes were being shifted and there was a loud whirring sound as something mechanical was operated.
“Why is he here?!” TV-Fly said as he moved in range of Kazami’s hearing, irate tone of voice audible through multiple reinforced walls. “You, hide the…” The rest of the sentence blurred into meaningless sound as he moved out of range again.
Kazami only had to wonder who the he in question was for a few minutes. He could hear several people approaching him, TV-Fly's footsteps unmistakeable. They didn’t come into his room, like he’d been expecting, instead going up a nearby flight of stairs.
“We weren’t notified of your presence in advance,” TV-Fly said stiffly from very close by. Kazami was guessing they’d gone up to the observation room. He’d gotten a glimpse of the glass window earlier, when he’d taken a quick furtive look around the room.
“Yes, but I couldn’t this time, I told you,” a new voice said, sounding testy. It didn’t belong to any of the people Kazami had been listening to for the past hour or so. “I have clearance. I don’t see why all this security is necessary.”
“You’ve interrupted us in the middle of a dangerous, delicate operation!” TV-Fly said, raising his voice. “You need to leave.”
“I am leaving. I just came to get this,” the man said, exasperated. “If it’s that dangerous then why did you let me in at all?” There were a few footsteps, then, “Does it have to do with him?”
He was no doubt looking through the window at Kazami. Curiosity piqued, Kazami was tempted to open his eyes for a second, to put a face to this voice. But no, he needed to keep his cover…
There was a bang, then TV-Fly shouted, “This is none of your business! Leave, now!”
“There is no need for violence,” the man said icily. “I usually don’t pull rank, but… I will be reporting your behaviour to the Great Leader, TV-Fly.”
There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs again, then they steadily receded, the sound of a heavy metal object on wheels following them. The man had left, no doubt. There were more banging sounds as TV-Fly screamed and swore. “As soon as he’s out of the building, begin V3’s vivisection!”
Finally, some action.
After TV-Fly and Squid-Fire had exploded into itty bitty smithereens, Kazami made his way back to the outpost, ramming the hidden door open using Hurricane. The place was deserted, lights out, walls blackened by a recent explosion. Everything of importance had either been destroyed or taken away.
One of the storerooms was on fire. Kazami stood there looking at it, gaze distant, thinking about that mysterious man. It had been curious how they hadn’t wanted him there. Was it in-fighting? He didn’t know what to make of it.
The tire tracks from his vehicle had no doubt been covered up by those fleeing the outpost. He knew his voice and the sound of his gait, but it would be impossible to pick him out in a city of 25 million, especially when he’d sounded like a Japanese native.
Hmm, what else had he heard? There had been… the swishing of material, as he’d walked. A light coat or jacket.
A white coat? Had he been one of the scientists?
Kazami smiled. He was somebody important, so he’d find him sooner or later. He was going to kill every single last one of them.
Episode 27.
Getting inside the Destron post had been pathetically easy.
To be fair, Quoit-Beetle had been successful in choking Kazami until he passed out. He’d deliberately kept his other vents shut, setting them to automatically open in an hour as stars filled his vision. When he’d woken up, he incapacitated the combatant standing guard, laid him on the stretcher, then pilfered one of their spare uniforms. Then he’d gone looking for the Girard Gamma anti-toxin.
It was sitting in a box in an out of the way storeroom. Unfortunately for Kazami, it was locked with a completely foreign mechanism and he couldn’t risk breaking the contents inside, damn it. He’d have to wait for them to take it out… He started making his way back to the stretcher, then froze, back against a wall as he heard a familiar voice coming from the room on the other side.
“...In any case, I’m happy the cryonic revival was a success,” the voice said. It was the man Kazami had heard in that Destron outpost half a year ago, the important one.
“This isn’t quite my area of expertise, but you have valuable data here. Destron will be able to put it to good use…” There was a pause. “The commanders have been seen by a physician? They seemed to be up and about remarkably quickly.”
“Yessir.”
“I see. Keep up the good work.”
There was the shuffling of papers and the sound of someone rising from their seat. Kazami sucked in a quick breath, his lungs kicking into high gear in anticipation of action. This was his chance to interrogate him, to learn what he could about Destron’s leader—
“The commanders… V3…” Kazami suddenly heard, barely audible words coming from the other side of the outpost. Shit. He was out of time.
The nearby door opened and the man walked out, blissfully unaware of Kazami’s presence. Kazami furtively peered around the corner, taking his first look at him.
He was one of the scientists, the white uniform and coat unmistakable. Frustratingly, his back was to Kazami, so he couldn’t see his face, but he committed everything he could to memory. Short black hair, his body shape, the set of his shoulders, a hint of cologne.
Next time, Kazami vowed.
Episode 44.
Kazami pulled up next to the apartment complex in Aoba, peering up to squint at its high floors. He only had to go up to the first floor to find the first victims, lying together in a heap. All dead. He felt sick.
He froze as he heard familiar footsteps approaching the building. It was him, the Destron scientist. He quickly leapt over the railing, hanging onto the bottom of it with his hands. What was he doing here? Had he followed Kazami, in the hopes of ambushing him?
The man walked right past him, muttering Kazami’s name. He entered an apartment, coming out a few minutes later with a baby strapped to his back, to Kazami’s disbelief. Kazami climbed back over the railing, intending to accost him, then paused in confusion. The Destron forces were fighting him, not helping him?
Then the man transformed into Riderman.
Kazami watched from afar as Yuki descended the stone steps of the graveyard, a bouquet of pink, yellow and white chrysanthemums in hand.
“You’re Yuki Joji?” Kazami said when he approached him, tugging the remaining glove off his hand, expression serious. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”