Unwanted Wings, 1-5 consolidation (KR Kabuto)

[estirose]

Here’s the first five parts of Unwanted Wings. Be aware this was written in 2006, when Kabuto was first airing; it is a bit AU.

Unwanted Wings
by Estirose
c 2006

“The Gattack Zecter will aggressively pursue its host until it’s bonded.”

Kagami heard the news from his superior, Tadokoro-san, and struggled to maintain a straight face, not wanting to give in to the irritation and envy that came up. He’d given up TheBee, which would probably never ever come to him again.

He’d long given up being a Rider. Kageyama-san, TheBee’s current host, seemed to be able to keep TheBee content, Kabuto was always with Tendou, Drake with Daisuke, and Kamishiro and Sasword seemed meant to be together.

Kagami assumed that Gattack’s actions were in its nature, because he had no doubt that ZECT was more than willing to furnish the newest Zecter with any host it wanted. It had no reason to hunt for a host outside ZECT, but the implication was that it *had*.

“So it’s out loose?” Misaki-san asked. She was answered by a curt nod. She continued. “So we’ve got to bring this person in.”

Silently, Kagami wished them good luck. With maybe the exception of TheBee’s chosen ones, the Riders tended to be less than cooperative, and they probably had as much idea of Gattack’s perfect host as anybody else did. In other words, ZECT was no doubt facing another rogue Rider.

Not that Kagami cared much anymore. Yes, he wanted to fight Worms, but he was rapidly getting tired of dealing, or attempting to deal, with the Riders. At times, as far as he was concerned, they could deal with their own personality conflicts and leave him alone. Kageyama and Tendou especially.

He’d been a Zecter’s Chosen One, still carried the TheBee’s microscopic implanted sensors in his chest where the ‘brand’ had once been, but he’d grown up. He’d walked away.

He checked his watch and discovered that it was time to go to his shift at the Bistro La Salle. Since the briefing seemed to be nothing more than “this is the new Zecter, it’s loose, go and find the host”, he left the van, knowing that Tadokoro-san and Misaki-san would not take offense.

Kagami revved up his motorcycle up and drove until he’d gotten it to its customary parking space across the park and down the street from the Bistro. It was a shame, really, to be inside. The weather was nice, not too hot, not too cold.

And, as he walked across the park along the pathway, something swooped by his head. It was far too large to be a bee or other insect – in fact, it was large enough for him to grab, if he wanted to.

“Gattack,” he breathed, as the Zecter in question swooped around him, as if checking him out. It wasn’t bad-looking, as things went. Belt-based like the Kabuto Zecter, but blue instead of Red, and two horns instead of one.

After a moment, he realized that he was about to become Gattack’s Chosen One, if the bond hadn’t occurred without him realizing it. Why did these things always have to happen to him?

He dodged as Gattack Zecter shot energy at him – for what reason he didn’t know, though he suspected that it was to paralyze him. He regretted not asking what exactly Gattack Zecter needed to do to bond, but it hadn’t occurred to him that the Zecter might choose him as its host.

Which wasn’t going to happen. Let some other person be Gattack’s host.

He dodged several times as the Zecter continued trying to bring him down, finally plucking up the courage to grab the Zecter long enough to toss it down to the ground. In the moment he did that, he felt the unpleasant feeling of electricity tingling through his hand, as if he was being electrocuted. He fell down next to the Zecter, glaring at it as he faced it. As the Zecter attempted to right itself, to take another shot at Kagami, he struggled up, stomping at the Zecter with all of his might until it seemed like he’d severely damaged it.

He then got up and headed slowly towards work. He didn’t know if Gattack Zecter would repair itself or send a call out for repairs – at least maybe if ZECT captured it again, they could give it a host of their choice. Either way, maybe the Gattack Zecter would cease bothering him.

—-

It had been a few days since Kagami had gotten the better of the Gattack Zecter in the small park near his workplace. Once or twice, he’d ended up in the middle of a Worm attack; his gun had kept him alive while the troops and the Riders took care of the Worms.

There was no sign of a new Rider, and Tadokoro-san hadn’t said anything, so he presumed the Gattack Zecter was still out looking for its host. Or maybe still self-repairing, or getting repaired. Kagami hoped that he’d convinced it to chose someone more willing, or at least someone that didn’t have the temerity to try to destroy it.

His thoughts were interrupted as something slammed into his backpack, making him stumble. He regained his balance, looking back to see what had happened, but nothing was there, nobody behind him to apologize or just grunt out something.

Catching motion out of the corner of his eye, he dodged just in time to avoid the Gattack Zecter’s bolt. Obviously it had self-repaired, or gotten fixed, and had come back to complete the bonding with its Chosen One.

Even if this particular Chosen One didn’t want to be a Chosen One.

“Go away,” he hissed, not daring to raise his voice. There was always the possibility of a ZECT agent nearby, and the last thing he needed was to be identified and ordered to let Gattack Zecter finish bonding.

The Zecter didn’t respond, other than shooting another bolt at him. He caught the nimbus of the bolt, but to his surprise, it was only a light tingle.

But he shouldn’t have been surprised, he realized. The Zecter was trying to subdue him, not kill him. Show him who was the boss in their relationship. Once it was satisfied that its host had been dominated, the belt would no doubt get to the new host as well. He’d have to ask Tadokoro-san or Misaki-san about that… at least after he got away.

That was proving to the difficult part. The Zecter clearly didn’t want to let its prime choice go. It didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that its prime choice had tried to smash it to pieces – the only thing that event had changed was that the Zecter had become sneakier.

Tactics, he realized. The Zecter was using tactics, albeit some probably slightly clumsy ones, to win what it no doubt considered a battle. He was its first opponent, and then, after the battle with him was won, it would go into battles with a larger host and more capabilities.

It would fight him until it was destroyed or it won. He had no choice in the matter.

He ducked once more as the Zecter shot at him, then looked for a better place than where he was to conduct the fight. If he was to win, he had to get someplace other than a potentially busy street.

Spotting an alley nearby, he ducked into it. He jogged through the alley, mind casting about for a nearby park and more room to maneuver.

But he couldn’t think of any. So he turned to face his tiny opponent, glaring at it.

It was nowhere to be seen.

Kagami watched where it had been carefully, backing into a wall so it couldn’t attack him that way. He was aware that it left him open to the Zecter’s blasts, but he could duck and dodge if needed.

It swooped down and shot at his chest, and he was surprised at the fact that he wasn’t immediately knocked over. It hovered at him, as if satisfied it had won some crucial part of the war. He took that moment to grab it, surprised at how compliant it was at that moment, and proceeded to stomp it out of existence again.

After he was satisfied that it wasn’t going anywhere, he examined the damage. His t-shirt was singed, and it was a good thing he was on his day off from the La Salle. He tenderly poked at his chest, absently noting what was sore and what wasn’t.

While making his way out of the alley, he realized what Gattack Zecter had done. TheBee Zecter’s sensors had been where Gattack Zecter had blasted him. It had wanted its rival’s sensors gone before it claimed its host.

It had won a battle. But Kagami swore it would not win the war.

—–

He’d have to be more careful, that was for certain. He doubted that Gattack Zecter was going to let up until he let it be.

Kagami paused for a moment. But what if he did let it bond? There was no rule that said he had to reveal his identity to the other Riders, or even speak. If he could let the Zecter bond – not resist it when it finished fixing itself – well, he might still have to worry about ZECT chasing him down, but he’d survive.

He’d have to go rogue, no question about it. Leave ZECT before they found out that he was Chosen as Gattack’s host. He’d already experienced ZECT’s commands during his brief time as TheBee. He was not going through that again.

He didn’t really want to be rogue, but he didn’t see much of a choice if he allowed Gattack to bond. ZECT would probably want him to work with Kageyama, who had almost gotten him killed. He didn’t want to deal with Kageyama’s arrogance any more than he did with Tendou’s.

Gattack had shown that it wasn’t willing to let up. It would keep coming and coming until Kagami was bonded to it or he smashed it to pieces, too much to repair on its own. Eventually, ZECT would start tracking it, and his cover would be blown. Or it might decide to hunt him in the middle of a battle, outing him to numerous troopers, Riders, and his superiors. He could see himself swatting at the Zecter like it was a fly, his superiors looking on and wondering what had gotten into him.

What if he picked it up, claimed he’d found it and recognized it? There was always the danger that ZECT would realize that the agent that had brought the Zecter in was the one that had damaged it in the first place, or maybe detained him for testing compatibility with the Zecter.

And in reality, who would pass up the power a Zecter provided? He had no sane reason to do so, not with his history with the Worms. People would start to question his motives, something he wasn’t sure he could afford.

But he just couldn’t see himself letting his secret employers know about what was happening. Couldn’t trust even Misaki-san or Tadokoro-san to keep his secret. Tendou and Kageyama would think he’d gone insane.

He reversed direction, back to the alley, and picked the Zecter up. It was quiet, almost glaring at him. He looked at it in his cupped hands, not sure he should be doing this, but better than the inevitable third attack. Let it repair and do what it needed, he’d keep it away from ZECT, and figure out what to do from there.

Kagami was sure he was going nuts. He certainly wished Gattack Zecter would go away. But if he was to retain some measure of freedom, he might have to accept being a Chosen One, a host.

He had a feeling he was going to regret it.

—–

Kagami removed the Gattack Zecter from his backpack and set it down on a spare space on the table. As he thought, he’d damaged it pretty well; it might be a while before the Zecter could manage anything aggressive towards him.

And at least with the Zecter in his room, with access to him when it repaired, might save him the chance of being outed in front of a ZECT member. If he was outed to ZECT, he’d be stuck, and he knew it. He still wasn’t sure allowing the Zecter to bond was the brightest idea; in fact, doing that was asking for trouble. But until he could convince the Zecter that he, Kagami Arata, wasn’t its best choice for Chosen One, host, he had to keep it quiet.

He hoped his actions were confusing it. He’d smashed it twice, now he was allowing it access to him. If the Zecter was as aggressive as Tadokoro had said, it wouldn’t understand that. But then again, Zecters didn’t really understand humans, and vice-versa. TheBee had taken a while to consent to Kageyama being its Chosen One, and he’d been haunted by it for the weeks between his voluntary exit and its choice of Kageyama.

Fortunately, ZECT didn’t seem to be able to track its Zecters, which was why three of the four current Riders didn’t belong to ZECT. If he was unlucky enough to not avoid being chosen, ZECT would have two members on its side.

In the meantime, it would have a chance to see that he wasn’t who it was looking for. Maybe. He doubted it, but he had to try.

* * *

He was glad he’d left the Zecter at home, for the next day was another worm attack that both Tadokoro’s squadron and Shadow had gotten involved in, as well as attracting all three other Riders. The Zecter had started looking better, more together, and Kagami had no doubt that the timetable was being moved up to where he had to worry about what to do with it.

“Monitoring the hospitals….”

Kagami turned towards where Yaguruma-san, who had been recently reinstated as the head of Shadow, and Tadokoro-san were sitting. “So, the Gattack Zecter….”

“Makes its host faster and stronger, but the initial bonding is painful because of what it has to do to its host,” Yaguruma-san said. TheBee’s former host must have had permission to share the information with Tadokoro-san, and they didn’t realize Kagami was within earshot. “We think that Gattack’s host will be brought to one of the area hospitals.”

Kagami silently slipped away from the discussion. His post-henshin bonding to TheBee had been momentarily painful, but it sounded like Gattack would start bonding pre-henshin, and that it would be painful longer.

Did he want to go through with this in the end? Was he willing to go through the changes that the Zecter would make to him?

No. He wasn’t going to be Gattack’s host. He was sure of it now. He’d find some way to return it to ZECT before it could do anything to him, and if it got loose again… he’d make sure that it didn’t bond with him, even if he had to keep smashing it.

One day, he had to be able to do enough damage to damage its memory to before it chose him. It would choose someone in ZECT, and all would be well. Or even someone else. Just not him.

He got on his motorcycle to speed home. He had time to pick up the Zecter before he got to work, and then he could call up Tadokoro-san and tell him about the found Zecter after work. ZECT would have their Zecter back.

Kagami wondered idly if ZECT would bill him if he ran over the Zecter with the motorcycle and claimed it was accidental.

It would certainly take a long time for the Zecter to repair *that* damage.

* * *

When he arrived back at his apartment, the Zecter was hovering about the room. He wondered if he’d done as much damage as he thought he had. He’d have to slam it into repair mode one more time, probably, to give his story credence.

“Sorry,” he said, wondering why he was apologizing, and reached for the hovering Zecter. It responded by darting out of his reach, as if aware of what he was planning to do. Or it was understandably cautious about the two times he’d smashed it before. In either case, it wasn’t acting like it wanted to come to him.

Maybe he had knocked it into amnesia, or at least convinced it that he was not what it wanted. It was a good sign. He held his door open, so that the Zecter could escape, and it flew out to freedom.

He hoped that was the last he saw of it until its host went into battle. In the meantime, he had a shift to go to.

——-

Kagami spent the next few days being busy. In a paranoid moment, he’d secured a light bulletproof vest, and was now wearing it whenever possible under his clothes. It had proved useful when Gattack Zecter had tried to take advantage of his distraction during a Worm onslaught to attempt a bond.

Fortunately for both him and the Zecter, the attempt had been, for the most part, unseen by the participants. He’d been behind the fight, not involved. Nobody had noticed that he’d been unconcious, though Misaki-san had looked askance at him when he dragged himself back to the van. He had a feeling that Gattack Zecter would be trying quite a few more times before it gave up. He was willing to put up with the shock, the unconciousness, and the residual pain until the Zecter realized its error. Besides, maybe it would spot someone it liked better. It was a slim chance, but Kagami had hope.

As he sped towards his work at the Bisto La Salle, he noticed that he had a tail. Had he been outed as Gattack Zecter’s Chosen One? Were they suspicious?

Kagami didn’t want to find out. He took a turn, aiming to lose his tail.

* * *

Shortly after Kagami lost his tail, he slowed down. If this was ZECT, they knew he had to head into work eventually. He got off his bike and secured it, walking into a park.

Almost unsurprisingly, Gattack Zecter swooped down. He wondered if it wasn’t him that his tail had been tracking, but the Zecter instead, which meant that he was screwed. He glared at the Zecter, almost daring it to do its thing.

And it did, shocking him into unconsciousness once more.

* * *

Kagami woke up to screaming, and realized that it was him doing the screaming. He clawed at the weight on his throat, recognizing the Zecter dimly as he tossed it off of his throat. He suddenly realized why Gattack Zecter had to hunt its Chosen One; nobody would want to go through this, even for what the adaptations could do for them.

He began to cough, and realized that he was going to lose his entire breakfast to the grass. He somehow managed to raise himself so he wouldn’t choke on his own vomit.

Hearing footsteps, he struggled to hide himself. No use in hiding his forced bond with Gattack Zecter if he ended up catching the attention of a Shadow member in the hospital.

“Are you okay?” Someone asked. A female voice. Not Misaki-san’s. “I’ll call an ambulance.”

“No hospitals,” Kagami gasped out.

“You need to go to a hospital,” the woman said firmly. She wasn’t the only one coming to investigate the scream; there were others.

One, a man, pushed him down gently when he went to get up. He seemed to be examining Kagami, and the wound at his neck. Kagami wondered if he was a doctor, something confirmed half a minute later when the woman addressed the man as “Dr. Tsubaki”.

Kagami knew that there was nothing wrong with him that a rest couldn’t cure, so he struggled to get up once more. Dr. Tsubaki pushed him down firmly. “Stay still or I’ll sit on you,” he threatened.

“I’m fine,” Kagami protested weakly.

“You are not,” the man… doctor… said. Kagami could hear the woman calling for an ambulance. He wondered how much persuasion he could muster to convince these two that he was all right. He also wondered what Shadow personnel were at the hospital, and if he could get around them if he was forced to go.

“I’m fine,” he insisted. “I just got lightheaded.”

That got him a stern look from the presumed Dr. Tsubaki. Kagami winced.

After a while, the ambulance arrived, and he was wheeled inside on a stretcher. As he was driven to the hospital, Dr. Tsubaki riding with him, he started working on what he needed to do.

Kagami decided the best thing was to wait until the attention was off of him, and then leave the hospital. If he got away before the member of Shadow watching new arrivals came to visit his bed, his name on any charts could be put down to some mistake or glitch.

As the ambulance arrived at the hospital, he had a plan well in mind.

* * *

A plan that could have gone better, he would later muse.

The doctors did put him in his own room, not able to diagnose what was wrong with him, but not willing to let him go, either. He had no idea where Dr. Tsubaki was, but it was plain that he wasn’t fooled by Kagami’s sudden submissiveness, and Kagami didn’t want to have any witnesses to his disappearance, especially those who could tell Shadow, and therefore ZECT, who he was.

Therefore, he was forced to wait until visiting hours were over, and so far, no ZECT members that he knew of.

All hope of getting out of the hospital without ZECT noticing was foiled when Kageyama Shun, TheBee’s current Chosen One, showed up at his doorway. In Kageyama’s hand was a clipboard; apparently he was catching up on checking out the new arrivals.

“Kagami Arata,” Kageyama read with some satisfaction off his clipboard. “Fainting.” He crossed his arms and regarded Kagami. “And I know you know about Gattack.”

He dropped the clipboard down on the vacant bed next to Kagami’s and strode over to Kagami. Without asking, he yanked the front of Kagami’s shirt. He stared at what had to be Gattack’s crest, before abruptly letting go and struggling to retain his usual expression and posture. Without a word, without letting Kagami have a chance to explain, he strode out of the room.

Kagami knew Kageyama was calling someone; whether Yaguruma or someone higher up in the ZECT hierarchy he didn’t know. He did know that it meant that he’d be receiving some official ZECT attention, and would have to obediently pretend to follow ZECT rules, at least until he could disappear.

Kageyama appeared a few minutes later. Kagami looked at him. “I’m not going anywhere,” he pointed out, relieved that, indeed, he wasn’t having to sneak out of the hospital. While he was starting to feel better, he wasn’t up to fighting with Kageyama *or* the hospital staff.

“I’m staying here,” Kageyama said, a small smile gracing his face. “It seems like you’ve been causing a few… problems.”

Kagami then remembered his tail on the way to work. Who had that been? Someone had clearly been suspicious of his behavior. He’d have to explain it somehow that didn’t involve explanations of rejecting the Zecter or deliberately losing his tail.

“Gattack Zecter’s been coming in damaged,” Kageyama said conversationally. “Nobody could figure out why its host keeps rejecting it. I’d say there will be questions on why a loyal ZECT agent didn’t report it attempting to bond and damaged ZECT property in the first place.” He looked at Kagami almost lazily, while Kagami struggled to keep the horror of his face.

But he didn’t quite, for Kageyama smiled even more and said simply, “I thought so.”

Crossposted from Ramblings Yet Once More here.