“Where are my manners?” chuckled the Romulan Borg. “Feudal Nerd Society, meet the Lords’ boss; Khan, the Author, better known as Kamen Rider Weaver!”
“Very good hype man work, Sonavok,” praised the new Rider, Weaver.
“Sonavok?!” snarled Guard. “As in Baron Sonavok?! The one who sent schlock to MNN for me to read?! The same schlock I refused to read?!”
“Oh, that’s why you weren’t in your usual time slot,” remarked the Romulan Borg, Sonavok. “You were fired. Personally, I would have preferred execution, but that’s impossible for the inhabitants of this universe, isn’t it?”
“Enough,” demanded Weaver. He turned his attention to Megumi. “I would advise you to-” He didn’t get far as Kaitlyn, Kamen Rider Spark, leapt at him with her own sword drawn. He dodged the attack, then pulled out a book and wrote something in it. “‘Once the book was closed,’” he read the passage aloud, “‘one of the drones surrounding the place grabbed Spark by the throat and squeezed.’”
“What?!” yelped Kaede, Kamen Rider Shade. Once the book was closed, one of the drones surrounding the place grabbed Spark by the throat and squeezed. Spark gasped for air as the drone strangled her.
“STOP!” shouted Emily, Kamen Rider Touché.
“Cause and effect,” replied Weaver. “Resistance begets violence.”
“Then we won’t resist!” begged Royal. “Just please! Let her go!” Weaver nodded to the drone. The drone released Spark and her transformation was cancelled, leaving her to gasp for breath as Shade checked her over. Kaitlyn patted Shade’s arm in assurance.
“What are you doing here?!” demanded Joshua, Emily’s husband, Kamen Rider Outback. “What do you want?!” Weaver then pulled the handles behind his belt’s spider out of their slots and changed into his normal persona of Khan, the Author, a young man wearing a brown coat, Panama hat, and aviator shades.
“I seek the Sources of the Apocalypse, the Sources of Flourishment, and the 3V2R prizes of Megumi, Optimus, and Arsha,” explained Khan. “Their collection will prevent evil from rising.”
“We’re not exactly conquerors!” snarled Touché.
“I’m aware,” replied Khan. “But your actions have tempted evildoers to try. Besides, your many contradictions fascinate me. They will prove useful in creating the New Multiverse.”
“We won’t serve you!” declared Royal.
“Serve? Unlike the petty despots infecting the multiverse, I don’t require your survival to put my plans into motion! If anything, your presence will only encourage further resistance. There is no place for you in the New Multiverse. I only require pure heroes and pure villains. All other factions are remnants to be discarded.”
“Why?!” Khan smirked as he answered Royal’s question.
“You lot value stability as I do, but you fail to permanently stop chaos in its tracks. I will see to it that the New Multiverse has heroes that know how to get the job done.”
“What, by killing?!”
“If need be. You, of all people, should understand that killing a villain is necessary.”
“Are you kidding?! I hated it when I hasten Death’s domain! It makes me feel like I failed her!”
“And yet, if you didn’t, Vortech would have made the multiverse his Lego set. Besides, did you not consider that, perhaps, Death’s domain NEEDS to be hastened at points? To finally make justice, mercy, and duty the truth?”
“It already is!” The Author scoffed at Megumi’s insistence.
“You believe so?” he asked. “Take every single universe out there and grind them into the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve. Then show me one atom of justice! One molecule of mercy!” Just then, a black mist erupted from the ground. The mist then formed into a Kamen Rider modeled after the Grim Reaper.
“You pervert Sir Terry Pratchett’s words as bad as an Evangelist perverts the Bible!” hissed the Kamen Rider in a woman’s voice. This was Death as Kamen Rider Death. She then summoned a black mist and surrounded the partiers. They all vanished, leaving Khan and his soldiers to their own devices.
“New Castle Nerd Skull is unimportant,” remarked Khan. “Let it exist as a monument to failure.”
“Author,” said Sonavok, “I know you’re connected to us, but I figured you could use a verbal report. The Juggernaut reports that the city has been taken and Flora and her husband fled the Mayor’s Mansion.”
“Then Phase 2 is complete,” declared Khan. “Beyond City’s defenses are irreversibly compromised. Begin Phase 3 and install our puppets.”
“As you command.” Sonavok vanished in a Borg transporter beam.
The partiers and Death appeared in After Academy, the main school for Beyond City’s universe. Everyone was in the main courtyard. The rest of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and their heralds were there too. A blue-haired woman in a cloud dress and a rose in her hair was talking with a woman with raven hair and chalk-white skin. They saw the partiers. “Ah, good, you’re here!” sighed the raven-haired woman, Lacey Atmadja, the new Horseman of Chaos.
“What’s going on?” asked Royal as she and the rest of her Riders powered down. “Our party just got assaulted by Borg with emotions and individuality.”
“I’ve been doing some research on them when they drove me and Swalmu out of the Mayor’s Mansion,” replied the blue-haired woman, Flora Damfel, Lacey’s herald and the Grand Mayor of Beyond City. “They call themselves the Lords. Their leader, the Author, appears to be in possession of a book that can make whatever is written in it come true.”
“The Tome!” whispered Death.
“You know about this book?” asked Megumi.
“It’s a very dangerous book, believed to be a tool that can rewrite the multiverse! I thought it was guarded!”
“It was,” replied a new voice. A pale, blond man in a dress then arrived. His name was Jandro Dormu, a Vampire once from Arsha’s world. “Brendan and I did a bit more research. It turns out the Lords were taken from their universe and given a Unicomplex to surround the Tome, but they were severed from the Collective and they were directionless for a while until this Khan character took control and made them all into a new XB Collective.”
“XB?” asked Megumi.
“Apparently, it’s something former Borg are called. Khan is supposed to be a student of Anansi, whoever that is.”
“…Anansi?” asked Death as her brow furrowed.
“You know this person?” asked Jandro.
“Every Horseman has met him once or twice.”
“I don’t think I did,” remarked Lacey.
“He’s not someone we associate with. Last time we saw him was when your predecessor died at Vortech’s hands. He’s the Keeper of the Stories, a spider deity that’s notorious for his trickery.”
“So, you DO remember!” cheered a voice. Everyone turned to see a man with eight black eyes, six arms, a spider’s rear, and a wooden cane. “I see not everyone knows me, though.”
“Wait, you’re the guy who tricked his boss into giving you a box,” recalled Megumi.
“Ah ah ah!” corrected Anansi. “I didn’t trick Nyame, that’s a death sentence. I simply used my wits to pay his price so I could have that box. Within that box were the stories, and I felt humans needed them. Good thing too, otherwise you humans would be bored. So, I believe the phrase is ‘thank you’.”
“No, we’re not subjecting ourselves to your rendition of You’re Welcome!” hissed Death. “We had a deal, Anansi! You would stay out of our way, and we would stay out of yours!”
“As Jandro mentioned, Khan was a student of mine,” replied Anansi with a slight edge to his voice. “His presence here means he seeks a way to Vorton and secure a path to Foundation Prime. He’s my problem and I intend to deal with it, but it looks like I could do with your help.” Death stared at him…then laughed.
“Th-thi-i-hee-hee-hee! Thi-ha-ha-ha-ha! Oh, this is too rich!” she guffawed. “Anansi is asking for help!”
“Considering both mortal and immortal life is at risk, yes!” hissed Anansi.
“Why?”
“Perhaps, if I could explain!”
“Yes, perhaps you should!” Anansi drew in a breath before beginning.
“Because the Author intends to use Megumi, Optimus, and Arsha’s 3V2R prizes to make a special clock that can send its maker anywhere they want. If he attaches it to the Tome, he can rewrite history for that universe alone. Worse still, if he gets the Sources of the Apocalypse and Flourishment, then he can rewrite all of creation all from the comfort of Foundation Prime.”
“That’s why he attacked New Castle Nerd Skull,” guessed Megumi. “He knows about the Gateway leading directly to Vorton. We gotta destroy it!”
“We can do it here, but the Lords are gonna see us!” warned Lacey as she and Flora sat at a pair of computers. They logged into the private network of the F.N.S’ base of operations.
“Go to the file called ‘Batcave’, located in the ‘Wayne Foundation’ folder,” directed Megumi. “There should be a program called Knightfall in there.”
“I found it!” called Flora. “Problem is, so did the Lords!”
“I’ll keep them off you!” replied Lacey. Flora opened the program and her screen changed to two microphones.
“It’s got two vocal passwords!” growled Flora.
“Richard, that’s our que!” called Megumi. She clicked on the record button. “This is Megumi Hishikawa, Feudal Nerd Society Queen. Engage Knightfall Program. Execution code 1. Vocal Password: Travelling Queen.”
“First Password: accepted,” reported the program. Richard then clicked on the second record button.
“This is Richard Saunders, Feudal Nerd Society King. Engage Knightfall Program. Execution cod 2. Vocal Password: Hank Aaron.”
“Second Password: accepted,” replied the program. “Knightfall Program is in effect.”
“We’ll keep the Lords off the program’s back!” said Flora.
“Author!” called a Lord drone. “They’ve engaged the Knightfall Program and another user is joining the effort to keep us from executing it!”
“I’ll handle that,” replied Khan. He wrote something in the Tome. “‘At the sound of the Tome snapping shut, the-’” He didn’t get very far as an explosion rocked the base. “DAMMIT!” swore the Author. “It’s too far along! Evacuate!” He and the Lords then vanished.
“Knightfall Program: complete,” reported the program. Everyone sighed in relief.
“That’s Vorton cut off from them,” said Megumi. “Thank you, Batman.”
“And we’re without allies,” remarked Richard. “Without a way to Vorton, we can’t accurately raise our friends like Chizara.”
“Or the Realms,” reminded Jandro.
“Or the Autobots,” supplied Lacey.
“…You know, having Optimus AND Arsha would help,” mused Megumi.
“Well, they both have the technology,” said Death. “I mean, the Realms are sub-dimensions that run together, and people cross the barriers between them freely. And with Sonic around, the Autobots have a concept of how to cross into parallel universes, so we might get help anyways.”
“We can’t just wait for them to save us at the last second!” argued Richard.
“Unfortunately, that’s the only option available to us,” replied Megumi.
“You can’t be serious!”
“With Flora’s home compromised and us having initiated Knightfall, we can’t get help. The only choice we have is to wait out the Lords’ occupation of Beyond City and fight them at every turn until help from Vorton arrives, either by the Vorton Team’s call or by them stumbling onto Vorton. Either way, we can’t call for help. We’ll have to go with guerrilla warfare in order to free Beyond City. We strike from the shadows.” Richard couldn’t really argue with Megumi’s logic at the moment. It didn’t mean he liked it.