Je suis d'ailleurs

"I'm surprised you went to such efforts," he said, following after the other man, the clatter of his boots on the iron steps.

"It was necessary, don't you think?" Tokiwa answered, turning and glancing over his shoulder at the man who followed him.

Time had passed, almost ten years, and Gondo Kimitaka had seen the world change; he was no longer the man he had been when Quartzer had been founded, all of them former members of the Unidentified Life Form Related Cases Special Joint Investigation; all of them one time police officers who had seen what new horrors the Heisei era had birthed.

In that time, Gondo reflected, he had achieved much at Tokiwa's side; he had got married, and his wife had given birth to a child—a child he would have to give up when Tokiwa's plan came to fruition.

He tried not to dwell on that, tried not to think of what would happen when the Heisei era was deleted from history.

"Kimi," Tokiwa growled, "you're distracted."

Gondo nodded.

"My apologies, sire."

The other grunted a reluctant acceptance of his apology and together, they continued to move ever upwards, the sound of their footsteps echoing through the vast cavern beneath the soil.

The plan was simple. Having witnessed the advent of the ancient Unidentified Life Forms, the Grongi tribe, historians called them, Tokiwa and others had been possessed of the prescience of mind to predict where things were going. They had gathered together, had waited in the shadows, watching as each successive armoured hero had followed the other, each one more dissonant than the last, and they had developed a contingency plan. If the present was ugly and ill-formed, then a new narrative would need to be written.

Early on in their scheming they had met with Woz, a court magician serving in the employ of some future Tokiwa, so he said. There had been some discomfort at that. In those early days, as simple officers assigned the impossible task of protecting the public against the Unidentified Life Forms, those men who would later comprise Quartzer's secret cabal had been equal. Woz's arrival had changed that, had changed Tokiwa. He had been driven before, yet after he had been introduced to the possibility of another future, he had become obsessed.

"They say the boy is having visions," Gondo said at last.

Tokiwa did not like to speak of the child whose identity they had overwritten. His shadow, Tokiwa called him; his kagemusha. There were few he would tolerate discussing the matter with. Gondo was fortunate enough to be included in that number.

"They say he is having visions of Oma Zi-o."

Again, Tokiwa grunted with displeasure, and yet, perversely, Gondo pushed on.

"I was wondering if you could tell me—"

"Be very careful, Kimi," Tokiwa growled.

"I was wondering if you could tell me," Gondo continued regardless, "whether the visions he has are of the man he might possibly become, or of you?"

"There is only one future, we know this from Woz's book," Tokiwa said, hoping to shut down the conversation.

"But can we trust Woz?" Gondo pushed. "After all, we've never seen any evidence of this future he pertains to originate from."

"He provided us with the knowledge to create Units 00 and 01," Tokiwa growled.

And Unit 02, Gondo added, though Tokiwa was never entirely comfortable admitting that 02 existed, even to him; he preferred to let people believe that, should he don armour, it would be the Zi-o armour worn by his supposed future self.

"Forgive me for being contrary, sire, but weren't both units based on previously recorded armours?"

And Unit 02, he thought again.

Tokiwa never referred to the armours by the same names that those who wore them had christened them with. And rightly so, Gondo thought, both Kagen and Jogen were outsiders, men who had joined Quartzer only after their plans had been set in motion. Neither man had ever received permission to personalise their armour, to give them ridiculous names like Zonjis and Zamonas, yet, for whatever reason, Tokiwa overlooked the matter as long as such things were not mentioned in his presence.

The older man offered a mirthless laugh.

"Do you know much Western theology, Kimi?" he asked, seemingly changing the topic.

You know I don't, Gondo thought sourly.

"I'm afraid not, sire."

"Did you know that the early Church believed any depiction of a figure predating their Christ myth to have been demonically inspired; an attempt by Hell to discredit the impending future arrival of man's saviour."

Surely you can't be using that as a justification, Gondo thought with incredulity.

"You do not answer, Kimi," Tokiwa said, still smiling, "could it be you are speechless?"

"N-Not at all, sire," he finally stammered in reply. "I was simply considering the matter."

"Whatever," the older man said, waving any possible reply away with a gesture of his hand. "None of this matters now. All we need worry about is the impending implementation of our grand plan."

Gondo thought again of his daughter, Masako, thought of his wife, thought of all that would be lost when the Heisei era was deleted, and, despite himself, he felt doubt.

"Of course, sire," he murmured in assent.

"Once my shadow has collected all the powers of this corrupt era, we will be able to start again, and you, my dear friend, will be able to delight in the birth of a new king."

Will I remember any of this, Gondo asked himself. Would the time he had spent with his daughter and wife still remain, even though their presence with him did not. He hoped not. It would be easier to have never known them than to remember who they once were and know that he would never see them again.

"Of course, sire," he repeated, and solemnly, slowly, he continued to follow the other man up the iron steps within the ancient cave, winding up alongside the hideous shape of Kamen Rider J, rotten and decayed, swaddled in bandages, illuminated by the dim artificial light of their construction work.

They would resurrect the glory of the Showa era, Gondo thought solemnly, herald a new era in likeness of that once great moment in time—and then what? What would happen next?

Consumed by doubts, Gonda Kimitaka continued ever upwards in the dim light.