[guncannon109]

Episode 3: Crimson Bodyguard

Under the dark of night, bits of data flew into the window of a bar that lay slightly below ground. As the were taken into the window, they reformed themselves back into Crave, Gorge and the other rogue dopants that ambashed Alex and the other riders at the cafe.

“DAMN IT CRAVE!” Time-Bomb spoke out powering down and revealing himself as a scrawny man with ratty blond hair and bug like green eyes, “WE JUST ABOUT HAD THEM! WHY DID YOU FORCE US TO RETREAT!”

“If we were to face off against Vainglory as we were they none of us would have survived,” Crave said as he pulled his gaia memory from his driver reverting the form of a young blond haired man, “and while we’re alone, calling me Vince will do just fine.”

“It doesn't matter what I call you, you’re still a coward!” Time-Bomb yelled in anger, “If it were only me I would ha-”

“You would have died,” Interrupted Cyber as he walked up from behind Time-Bomb and powered down, revealing himself as a slender man in his early twenties with short black hair and glasses. He wore a pale blue turtleneck under a done up white blazer, “though if you’re in a hurry to die, by all means hunt down the riders and challenge them to a rematch.”

Time-Bomb snarled, “Maybe I’ll do just that!” he yelled as he stormed out of the bar slamming the door behind him.

Cyber sighed, “So uncivilized.”

“It’s a necessary lose,” Ms Seraphina called out as she suddenly appeared at one of the bar stools in a long black dress, “Only one who is of a strong mind and body can base through the gate, but an equally strong heart is required to open first.” she glanced over to the door, “that poor little rat has neither.”

As she spoke, Gorge came over to her and snarled rubbing the top of her head against her as if she was her own cat.

Ms Seraphina smirked, “Hey there little kitten… what’s say we get you out of that disgusting form, shall we?”

{Insert Opening Theme - “Period” by Chemistry}

Deep underground below Ardent City, Carter stood in the middle of a blank white room dawned in his rider form with various sensors placed all over him from head to toe. Three black beasts stood opposite him with the claws and fangs ready to attack.

Within moments, the beasts charged at Carter as a whirlwind of fire constricted around the blade of his sword. As the beasts drew closer Carter took one step forward and with a single swing of his sword struck all three down and sent them plummeting to the floor in front of his feet, the beasts dissolving away in a shroud of black mist revealing three doberman with three shattered gaia memories lying next to them.

Once the dogs were defeated a squad of scientists in white lab coats came into the room through a door by a large bullet proof window and collected them before falling back into the control room behind the window where Jason stood watching the entire thing. Rylee stood by him keeping a careful eye on him.

“He’s certainly growing stronger,” Jason said with his arms crossed showing little regard for the boy’s safety, “but it still isn’t enough.”

“Shall I send in the next round of rapids sir?” asked a scientist typing away at a computer.

“No,” Jason shook his head, “give the next one to the new models.”

The scientists eyes shot open, “but they aren’t ready yet!” he exclaimed as he stood up in protest, “Please sir, if you have them go up against the boy there’s no telling what could-”

Before the scientist could finish, Jason glared at him which silenced him almost instantly, “I told you to send them in, now do it.” Rylee bit her lip, feeling the need to speak up in defense of her child but not wishing her commander’s fury be turned onto her.

The scientist shook a small bit, “Y-yes sir,” she gulped as he sat back down.

“Rylee,” Jason spoke up grabbing her attention, “keep an eye on things here,” he said handing her her golden Spite memory only this time it seemed different some how as it was much heavier than before, “I’ve enhanced your memory, it should now have power that matches the one Fury used against the riders if not more so. It hasn’t been tested yet though, so be careful.”

Rylee nodded, “thank you sir,” she said quietly slipping the memory into her pocket and turning back to the white testing room her son currently occupied as the wall on the other side lifted up to reveal three figures in gunmetal grey suits.

Without a second word more, Jason left the room leaving Rylee to oversee the testing. He stepped out into the hallway where a worker in a black suit was waiting for him.

“Commander,” the worker silhouetted him with one arm and carried a file in the other, “might I borrow a moment of your time?”

Jason nodded, “What is it?”

“Well you see sir, it’s about those rogue riders we encountered a while back,” he said pulling out a photo and handing it to Jason, “as well as Ms Damon’s son.”

Jason looked at the photo and examined it. It appeared to be a normal shot of Carter by the base of Ardent Tower, however there was something rather unusual about it. A red serpent like shadow hovered over him like an overprotective parent would hover over their own child.

“How long have you had this?” Jason asked.

“A little while after the incident,” the worker said taking a few steps back, “we would have brought it to you earlier but we assumed it was an error with the camera. However after checking over all of our equipment we determined that wasn’t the case. Sir… we may ha-”

Jason covered the worker’s mouth and handed the photo back to him, “Burn this print and erase the original from the databanks,” he instructed looking the worker dead in the eye, “and do not, under any circumstances share this information with anyone… understood?” Worker nodded, “good,” Jason removed his hand and continued down the hall. “Now be quick about it.”

“Yes sir!” the worker saluted once again, “right away sir!”

“Looks like I’ve finally drawn you out,” Jason thought to himself as he kept his eyes fixed on what was ahead of him, “Fire Lord Ryujin.”

---

Early the next morning, Ashley sat at her desk in her first period class taking a big yawn as she collapsed her head down into the pages of her open text book.

“Why do we need to have classes in the morning?” she sighed as her eyes began to shut, “why can’t they just start school whenever I get here?”

Before Ashley could fall completely asleep however, she was disturbed by the loud bang of a massive folder being slammed down onto the desk she was resting her head on. “GAH!!!” she shouted as she looked up to see Madison standing over her with an eager grin on her face.

“Oh…” she sighed, “what is it this time maddy?”

“I’m onto something!” she put simply as she swung open the page to a large map of the city with several circles in various parts of it. “I tried finding you yesterday but you left.”

“Sorry, I had stuff to do,” Ashley blinked and looked down at the map, “Okay… what exactly am I looking at?”

“Evidence!” she pointed over to the first circle which she had drawn in red over the most south west part of the city, “Right here at precisely six thirty seven PM on June 7th, the roads were closed due to reports of a highly corrosive gas leak. However, further research into the matter showed signs of craters, scorch marks, burnt flesh and ice formations that couldn’t have been formed by any gas I know of.”

“Uh-huh…” Ashley nodded her head not really paying attention, “your point?” she thought for a moment then realized the date and details her friend had just mentioned. She thought to herself, “Wait a sec… that was the day I-”

“I’m getting to it, just a sec!” she pointed to the second circle in the warehouse district on the east side of the city, “On the 15th of that same month, reports of humanoid insect began spreading throughout the local net. No photos were taken of it due to some sort of electrical interference but it was claimed to have traveled north to a quarry just outside the city where it supposedly crew and taken down by a team of only nine masked men.”

“Which of course brings us to the city wide lockdown that took place over the summer,” she pointed to the tower located on the center of the map, “five of the nine masked figures that were spotted taking down the giant bug were found in a heated battle between six others that had never been seen before by anyone.”

Ashley stood up and shut the binder on Madison’s fingers, “Is this really the best place to be talking about this?” Ashley laughed not wanting to Madison to blurt out everything to the entire class.

Madison frowned, “Oh come on, I was just about done!” she cried, “It took me weeks to put this all together.”

Ashley sighed, “Okay… just a small bit more.” she said as she released her hold on the binder and sat back down.

Madison grinned and flipped the binder open once again, “Now, unfortunately like the last two I was on the scene when this one went down so I saw it with my own eyes. The battle itself sure was intense but it was only after the battle was over that I realized what was really going on,” she flipped the page over to a crudely down diagram of a red snake like squiggle and four question marks in the colors in the colors of blue, yellow, green and pink, “They do exist!” she shouted quietly.

Ashley’s eyes shot open and raised an eyebrow as she hadn’t the slightest idea of what was going on, “Uh… who exist?”

Maddison reached into her pocket and dumped an assortment of six random ranger keys on Ashley’s desk. The six being Lightspeed Rescue Red, Samurai Blue, Wild Force Yellow, Lost Galaxy Green, Mystic Force Pink and Time Force Quantum Ranger.

“The power rangers!” she sighed as she crossed her arms looking down at the keys in front of her, “Look, I know it sounds crazy but I met one! He saved my life actually, and that’s when I found out it was him.”

“You sure you didn’t hit your head?” Ashley asked knocking on Madison’s forehead.

Madison smacked her hand away and pulled out a bright pink smart phone with a claw mark on the back of it, “I most certainly didn’t, here’s how I know!” hit a few buttons and pulled up a webpage before shoving it in Ashley’s face, “see for yourself!”

Ashley took the phone and looked at the page, “Henshin Grid?...” she asked scrolling through it, “Just looks like another otaku hive mind if you ask me.”

“Ugh! It’s not just that!” She grabbed back the phone, and pulled up three images of three different rangers, “there’s a forum on there with links to all sorts of ranger sightings!”

One wore blue armor overtop a black morphsuit with silver stripes and matching boots and gloves. His helmet bearing the resemblance of a stag beetle with a golden number 2 emblazoned in the center just above a black v shaped visor.

The second wore all yellow and a pair of gun metal grey shoulder pads along with a helmet that bore a resemblance to a car. He held a large double headed yellow hammer with blue highlights and what appeared to be parts for a cannon on each head.

The third and final ranger was pure white with black arms and legs similar to the uniforms worn by the fictional Ninja Storm team. Gold highlights eyelined her white gloves and boots along with a gold belt and neck piece with a dream catcher design emblazoned on both.

“I never thought it could actually be true, but apparently there are several different ranger teams scattered all over the world,” Madison went on with a grin, “and now there’s one here,” she looked over to Ashley, “You don’t think they’ve gotten their sixth ranger do you?”

Ashley raised an eyebrow, “Why do you care?”

“Because they are only ever six members per team,” Madison returned, “I just hope they haven’t filled that extra slot yet!”

Ashley sighed and rolled her eyes, “Uh… I don’t mean to burst your bubble but you do realize how unlikely it is for you to actually join even if it were real right?”

Madison glared at her however before their conversation could continue, Cole walked in through the door behind Ashley and patted her on the head, “Morning Ash, Maddy.”

“Morning,” Ashley looked to him with a smile, “you’re awfully late.”

“Don’t remind me,” Cole sighed as he shook his head and took his seat, “yesterday was not fun in the slightest.”

“Rough day huh?” Ashley asked not really expecting an answer, “seems to be the case with everyone nowadays.”

Madison looked around and raised an eyebrow, “Hey, where’s Alan?”

Cole looked back slightly confused, “You mean Alex… right?”

Madison blushed embarrassed that she got the name wrong, “Sorry, I keep forgetting for some reason.”

Cole felt his heart sink a small bit, “Don’t worry about it, it’s an easy mistake,” he looked away and reached into his bag, “He’s… he isn’t really feeling very well today.”

“Oh…” Madison frowned looking back over to the plastic keys she had scattered across Ashley’s desk, picking up the Quantum Ranger key, “that kinda sucks, hope he feels better.”

Cole sighed as he pulled out his notebook, “I do too.”

---

Downtown by a local bank, a small girl with long blond hair done up in a pair of pigtails and vibrant blue eyes sat outside on a bench looking up to the sky. As she sat there, a small object fell from the sky and bounced off the ground landing in the gutter by the side of the road.

The small girl raised an eyebrow and out of pure curiousity got up from the bench and walked over to the gutter where she found what appeared to be a small grey usb like device with a blank black label printed on the top of it. She picked it up and raised an eyebrow unsure of where exactly it came from or what to do with it.

However, before she could make a decision Tara came hurtling down the street on her rollerblades and smacked into her, catching a street sign with one hand and the small girl with another before either of them fell too hard.

“Oh my god, I’m sorry!” Tara exclaimed, looking the small child over in a state of panic and embarrassment, “Are you okay little girl?”

The small girl nodded quickly, “Are you?”

“If I had a nickel every time someone asked me that question I’d be richer than Bill Gates,” Tara laughed a little and patted the small girl on the head. She was dressed in her cafe uniform and in the middle of a delivery, “What’s your name anyhow?”

The small girl gulped, “It’s Becky.”

“Well Becky, today is your special day! Hang on a sec,” she said reaching into one of the bags of food she was carrying and pulling out a small pastry. She handed it to Becky with a grin “Here you go! Hot out of the oven!”

Becky blinked, “Wow, thank you miss!” she smiled happily taking the pastry from Tara, “It looks delicious!”

“Tastes even better,” Tara smiled messing up Becky’s hair a bit, “we serve only the best at the Cat’s Eye Cafe, so if you ever go hungry again come on by for a visit.” The watch on her wrist beeped resulting in her looking at it, her eyes shooting open in a state of panic, “OH CRAP THAT CAN’T BE THE TIME!” she jumped to her feet and took off down the road, “I GOTTA GO LATER KATIE!”

“IT’S BECKY!” the small girl shouted back quickly realizing that Tara could no longer hear her, she shrugged and stuck the usb into her pocket before unwrapping the pastry and taking a bite out of it, “Hmm… not bad.”

“Hey there little missy,” a voice called out from behind he, “would you mind if I had a look at that thing you’ve got in your pocket?”

Tara dashed over to the police station and rolled in through the front door carrying a pair of bags with four sealed food containers. She leaned against the side of the door to catch her breath then skated up to the front desk dawning an exaggerated grin once she caught her breath.

A female receptionist looked up to her through her thick glasses, “Are you here to turn yourself in again?”

Tara shook her head, “Sadly I’m only here on a food run,” she said holding up the bags in her hands, “special orders.”

The receptionist nodded, “Of course, go right in.”

Tara wasted little time and skated right up to Sampson’s office, knocking once before going in anyway. Shiore and Marcoh sat over by Sampson’s desk while Sampson stood by Alex who was frantically looking through records and any other valuable information he could find.

Tara rolled over to the desk and placed the bags in her ontop of it, “Any progress?” she whispered to Marcoh and Shiore. The two shook their heads in perfect sync.

“He’s been at this for almost three hours,” Marcoh said as he pulled out his wallet, “What does the total come to?”

Tara raised her hand up and shook her, “no charge for today. Besides, it’s all leftovers from yesterday anyway.”

Marcoh glared at her for a moment and put his wallet back in his pocket, “I see,” he sighed before taking one of the boxes and opening it up to three neatly wrapped sandwiches and a small pastry. “Beggars can’t be choosers I guess,” he shrugged as he unwrapped one sandwich and bit into it, “You know, for leftovers this isn’t half bad.”

Tara grinned in an overt way of trying to look cute, “Thank you! The Cat’s Eye takes great pride in it’s quality!”

Shiore paid little attention to them and instead focused her sight on Alex who was currently looking for something that made sense. She frowned slightly in a way that no one would notice her slight change in expression as she felt sympathy in him as she too knew better than anyone what it was like to be lost.

“So what’s the report on the cafe’s repairs?” Marcoh asked out of curiosity.

“Still working on patching the hole, but we’re currently offering take out until it’s all fixed up,” Tara explained with a sigh, “hopefully it doesn’t take too long.”

“There are a lot of things I wish wouldn’t take very long,” Marcoh said looking over to Alex who had his nose shoved deep in various police records, “unfortunately, that’s just how things are every now and again.”

{End of Part A}
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
{Start of Part B}

In a warehouse not too far away from the police station, a wall opened up as Carter stepped out of an old rusted elevator and proceeded outside. As he stepped out into the city streets several loud crashes followed by the howling roar of explosions rushed over where he stood. Without wasting a single second, he took off down the street passing by three small blocks before turning the corner to the right and coming upon the sight of Time-Bomb hurling several bombs into the crowd with one hand and holding a small girl with the other.

The cybernetic dopant instantly sensed Carter’s arrival and turned to face him showing that it was Becky that he held captive, “I was wondering when I would draw you out,” he said with a smirk, “Say, where are your friends?”

Carter took one step forward and pulled his Ryu-O gaia memory, “Drop the girl!” he demanded as his driver formed around his waist.

Time-Bomb chuckled, “If you insist,” he said before picking the small girl up by her hair and hurling her over to Carter.

Carter, closing his hand around his gaia memory, leapt into the air and caught the girl in his arms before landing down onto the ground directly in front of Time-Bomb. The dopant smirked and delivered an uppercut towards the young rider’s gut sending him flying backward put not taking him off his feet or letting go of the girl he held in his arms.

“Are you alright mister!” Becky asked him, still in a state of panic as a result of what was going on.

“I’ve had worse,” Carter returned panting heavily, winded by the blow. He set the girl down on her feet and stood up straight staring down Time-Bomb, “Just get out of here,” he said raising his gaia memory and hitting the button below the label, “I’ll take of him.”

“RYU-O!”

“Hen… SHIN!” Carter slammed his memory into his driver and spun the dragon’s head, several rings of fire bursting out of the driver and forming around him.

“RYU-O!” The driver called out along with a light roar of a dragon as Carter was engulfed by fire, forming into his crimson red dragon like armor and mask with burning ember eyes. The Ryu-O Buster forming in his right hand.

Becky stood in awe of the boy’s new form unable to move a muscle, “... Awesome…” she said to herself, instinctively pulling out a small disposable camera from her pocket and taking a quick shot of the rider that stood before her.

Not wasting any time Time-Bomb began hurling several bombs at Carter’s direction, Carter slashing each one making sure the exploded on him rather than anyone else. After a while of using himself as a human shield, Carter planted his sword on the ground and panted trying to catch his breath.

“You sure are a glutton for punishment aren’t you?” Time-Bomb laughed as he walked over to Carter. He armed another bomb and held his finger down on a button that prevented it from going off in his hand, “you know, truth be told out of all the other riders… you were the one I was looking forward to fighting the most.” He smirked as he through the bomb up in the air and took a few steps back, “Shame you’re nothing more than a disappointment.”

As the bomb fell to the ground where he stood, Carter set his sights on it and grabbed it out of the air before it hit the ground placing his finger over the button that Time-Bomb had previously held it with before hurling it back at him exploding on impact stunning the dopant for a fraction of a second.

In that small window of time, Carter grabbed his sword and threw it over his shoulder and dashed over to Time-Bomb. Flipping the sword over to it’s flat side, he smacked the dopant in the back of the neck with enough force to send him flying off to one side and on to the ground. He then ran over to Time-Bomb and held him in place by jabbing the heel of his foot into the dopant’s gut.

“Am I still a disappointment?” Carter asked with the edge of his sword pressed up against Time-Bomb’s neck.

Time-Bomb smirked and pulled out two bombs and armed them without placing his fingers on the buttons that would prevent them from going off, “Am I?”

Out of instinct, Carter jumped off of him as Time-Bomb through the explosives up into the air far enough that he wouldn’t get caught in the blast when they went off.

“That was fun,” Time-Bomb chuckled as he got back on his feet, “however I think it would be best if we played a new game for now,” he said as he pulled out yet another explosion, “Hope you like hide and seek!”

He threw the explosive at Carter, resulting in a cloud of smoke surrounding him and blocking his vision. Carter swatted the smoke away with his sword and looked around to find that Time-Bomb had ran off.

“Why must they always run,” he sighed as he removed his memory from his driver and powered down, his driver fading away soon after.

“Um… excuse me,” Becky called out as she walked up beside him, “thank you for saving me from that... thing.”

“You don’t have to-” Carter began to speak but was silenced as soon as he looked over and saw an explosive with a timer marked 02:00 attached to one of the girl’s pigtails. He looked down to see a similar one attached to his chest where Time-Bomb had hit him earlier, “So that’s how he wants to play then.”

Becky tilted her head to the side “Uh… sorry?”

Carter looked over to her and knelt down in front of her, “Don’t panic, but it seems like that monster wants to play a little game and wants us both to participate,” he said grabbing the bomb on the girl’s hair and trying to pull it off but being unable to, “yeah, it’s on there pretty good.”

The girl began to panic realizing exactly what he meant upon noticing the bomb on his chest thinking she must have had one on her as well, “W-What are we gonna do!”

Carter stood up and looked over to where Time-Bomb last stood before running off, “We’ll beat him at his own game.”

---

Back at the bar that Crave used as a base of operations. While no one else was around, Seraphina sat on a stool looking into a pale blue flame that hovered above a glass filled with red wine. Inside the flame she could see Carter’s current position and was able to hear exactly what he and the small girl were saying.

“I most certainly hope that you do,” she said with a smirk, “son of Hono.”

---

Back at the police station, an officer ran in through the door to Sampson’s office.

“Chief!” he shouted in an attempt to grab his attention, “We have dopant activity downtown! Half of a marketplace has been destroyed already! However, he seems to have gotten away.”

Marcoh, Sampson, Shiore and Tara all looked over to the officer. Only Alex remained fixed on the records he was currently looking over not seeming to care.

“Who has been sent over?” Sampson asked.

“436, 473 and 445,” the officer returned.

“Tell them to keep their distance,” Sampson instructed, “they are not to confront the target unless necessary, understood?”

“Yes sir,” the office nodded, “Oh, and one more thing… there was a missing child report earlier today just before the attack, there is also sightings of a young man in pursuit of the target.” Shiore raised her eyebrow thinking of only one person with the drive to follow after a dopant.

“Alright, we’ll keep that in mind,” Sampson nodded, “thanks for letting us know, you may go now.”

The office quietly left and shut the door behind him.

Tara pressed her against the door making sure the officer was far enough away so she could speak freely, “Alright, party crasher is gone so let’s say we head out and nab this son of a bitch!”

“Do you even need to ask at this point?” Shiore asked, looking over to Alex. “Alex, we’re leaving.” Alex said nothing.

“Did you not hear her boy?” Marcoh spoke up trying to get his attention, “You have a job to do-”

“Is it Vainglory?” Alex asked not even bothering to look over to who he was talking to.

“We don’t know for sure,” Marcoh returned, “but I highly doubt it.”

“Not interested,” Alex said coldly keeping his focus on the files in front of him.

“It doesn’t matter you’re interested or not!” Marcoh barked at him, “It’s your responsibility to fight these things because you lot are the only ones with the power to take them down.”

“You have Tara and Shiore, plus I’m sure that Carter is already out there,” Alex explained, “what difference does it make if I’m not there?”

Before Alex could say anymore, Shiore walked over to him and slapped him hard across the face before elbowing him in the gut and kneeing him in the crotch.

“GAH!” Alex cried out as he fell to the floor, “The hell was that for!”

“Anata wa baka no yōda!” Shiore snapped back at him, “Think about it, Vainglory seems to be connected to all other dopants so if we keep tracking down the rogues it will eventually lead us to him.”

“I already know that!” Alex shouted back, “It’s just that…” he hung his head down, “I’m not sure if strong enough to fight him, even if I do…”

Shiore knelt down and looked him in the eye, “That might be true, but you won’t be fighting him or any other foe alone.”

“That’s right!” Tara interjected, “You’ve got Shishi, Cole and of course yours truly.”

“Shishi?” Shiore raised an eyebrow, “In what universe am I in any way shape or form a lion spirit?”

“Aw geez,” Tara rolled her eyes “it’s just a name.”

Shiore continued to glare at her, “a name that does not make any sense.”

Alex laughed a small bit, “Good to know nothing ever dampens your spirit Tara.” Tara looked over to Alex with a idiotic grin on her face.

Sampson thought for a moment, then spoke up, “Hang on a second, if it’s a difference in power that’s the issue then the Xtreme memory should be more than enough to close it… you still have it don’t you?”

Alex frowned as he reached into his sweater pocket and pulled out the black bird like memory, it’s usual red markings were now a dull grey, “It only worked twice… I haven’t gotten it to work since last summer.”

Tara raised an eyebrow, “Hey Sammy, what the heck is that do who diddy anyhow?”

“It was supposed to be an add on for the X Driver,” Sampson put simply hanging his head a bit, “however, no one could get it to work… not even Alice. Despite it not working however she said that it still held unimaginable power that others would want for their own, that’s why she gave it to me for safe keeping with the promise that on the day that five become one the memory’s true power would reveal itself.”

“Oh great! A math problem!” Tara moaned, “I HATE MATH!”

Alex zoned out to give what Sampson had just said some thought, “The day that five become one…” he thought over the details of what exactly happened on the day that he first received the memory hoping that the answer would be in there somewhere. He snapped his fingers, “Tara! Shiore! Come with me, I have an idea,” he instructed as he dashed out the door and pulled out his phone dialing Cole’s number.

Tara smirked, “There’s the shining star,” she said as she followed Alex out of the room, Shiore coming shortly behind them and shutting the door behind her.

Once the three had left the room and the door was shut Sampson, as if on cue, collapsed onto the filing cabinets and began coughing violently. Marcoh grabbing a box of pills from his desk and running over to him.

Sampson snatched the box and forced down three right from the box before grabbing his chest and breathing heavily, a small bit of blood visible on his lip. Once he had calmed down he looked at his hand which was now covered in his own blood and balled it into a fist.

“You know, you wouldn’t have to do this if you simply told them the truth,” Marcoh put simply.

“I know,” Sampson nodded looking over to the door, “but they have enough to worry about… this will pass so there is no need to make that big a fuss over it.”

Marcoh glared at him, “One can only hope that you’re right about that.”

---

Back on the far side of the city, Carter trucked forward through an old rundown alleyway as the timers on the bombs that were strapped to them continued to count down slowly. Becky’s now reading 1:02 and Carter’s 1:14. Becky continuously tripped over herself as her heart was beating faster than she could think while Carter tried to remain as calm as he possibly could.

Becky stopped, “Wait!” she said pulling her hand away, “Am… are we going to die?” she asked looking at the timer on Carter’s chest.

Carter knelt down and placed his hands on her shoulder before looking her in the eye, “I’m not sure… but I promise that I’m going to do what I can do to get you out of this?”

Becky sniffled a bit leaning into Carter as she began to choke up, “thank you… c-can I ask you something?... Can you tell me your name?”

“It’s Carter,” he said patting the small girl on the back, “What about you?”

“B-Becky Carmichael,” she said softly.

Carter let out a small chuckle under his breath, “Just your first name is fine.”

Becky giggled, “Sorry.”

As Carter hovered over the small girl, Cyber stood hovering over him from a rooftop with his cloaking ability activated. He tisked for a moment and shook his head.

“Time-Bomb you fool,” he thought to himself, “showing mercy to your enemy shall be your undoing.”

(Insert Ending Theme - “Reason” by Yuzu}

Next time on Kamen Rider Ultimate Xtreme:

Carter and the small girl named Becky are put on the clock!

Will they be able to snip the fuse on Time-Bomb’s wire?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Ultimate Xtreme continues in Episode 4: Supernova!
Ryu-O, take up your new sword and rise from the ashes!