Chapter Text
He was a man who loved Kamen Rider. 45 years ago, he got the opportunity to live his dream, as Fenix's lead developer for the Kamen Rider system. Fight devils with devils, finish what his father started, that was the idea. His miraculous inventions secured humanity's victory over the devil-worshiping Deadmans cult and immortalized his name, George Karizaki, another legendary hero in the vast history of Kamen Rider.
Almost a century of Riders protecting humanity from evil. That history was now in danger, as the world was being eaten by a new breed of devils: The Faro Plague. An unstoppable army of man-made robotic arachnids with the ability to consume biofuel and reproduce autonomously. They would do this until Planet Earth was reduced to a barren rock and they became unable to sustain themselves. So where were the Riders now? Dead, mostly. Sacrificing their lives to slow down the clock. All to buy the world's greatest minds enough time to complete Project Zero Dawn, humanity's second chance.
In his youth, George was always excited about his work. But now he was also fighting that clock. He had so many thoughts and feelings about Kamen Rider to record for posterity. If that wasn't hard enough, his superior, Elizabet Sobeck the Alpha Prime, insisted that he include information other than Kamen Rider in the APOLLO archives. He didn't see the point. As far as he was concerned, all the wisdom humans needed to learn was in Kamen Rider. Of course, he was still throwing in references every chance he got, such as the Heroic Eyecons' affiliation with Ghost and the origin of the Sword of Logos from a plucky group of romantic adventurers and poets. Even the Rider-less overwritten timeline of Oma Zi-O was the result of Kamen Rider's omnipresence. Ironically, that timeline probably wouldn't have been so terrible compared to the current reality. If only that man, the self-proclaimed king, Tokiwa Sougo, were still around. He could have fixed everything.
George's crazy train of thought would have continued, but it was interrupted by a friendly visit.
"Hey, Georgey, how's it going, homie?"
The old man spun in his chair to see who had so casually addressed him. It was his young blonde-haired passionate colleague, Travis Tate. "Boring! But Elizabet needs me desperately, so it would be bad for my reputation if I started slacking." said George.
"Huh, I heard she only hired you cause the other candidate Samina got her guts spilled out by one of those big-a** scorpions." said Travis.
George frowned. He recalled that the military had gathered Alphas like him from all over the world, but the operation to evac this Samina person was unsuccessful. Surely, she would have been a more co-operative and efficient member of the Alpha team. "Such a pity, that someone so gifted had to lose her life so early." he said.
Instead, the burden of responsibility, for the biggest database compilation in human history, was passed to George. It was an important job.... No, the most important job, one he knew he needed to do. But it was stressful and with each day closer to the end, he felt ever more nostalgic for the old days. Where man fought man in a thrilling clash of ideals. This fight now, against the Faro Plague, was so impersonal, merely a byproduct of one man's insatiable greed. There was no outlet for people's anger at the situation and in George's case, he was stuck behind a desk, wishing these tedious essays would hurry up and write themselves so he could just drink himself stupid in the Elysium bunker. He was jealous of the unborn children of the future. He would never get to see for himself the results of his work. All those awesome kouhai Riders he would never meet.
"I envy you, Travis. It's the end of the world and you're having the time of your life building HADES. It's dangerous and exciting, everything my job used to be."
"HADES is my baby, man. My big beautiful scary baby. King of the freakin' underworld. MVP of the subfunctions.... Oh s***, sorry. You were looking for consolation, huh."
George was inspired by his enthusiasm. He wondered if this sense of pride was what it was like to have a son, or how his own father felt when he passed on his curiosity so long ago. At least, he hoped he would've been proud. "Hey, let me give you some free advice, kiddo. Never apologize for indulging in your love for your creations. Humility is for losers and liars."
"Wow, thanks! You're one smart dude, Georgey." said Travis. He looked up to him like a father, even though they were equals in rank. George was the only person who ever praised him and clicked with him on an intellectual level. "Hey, if you're feeling stuck with APOLLO, maybe you could just look for other ways to help with GAIA's development. She needs everything we can give, man! No time like the present, you get me?" he suggested.
A lightbulb appeared over George's head. "Amazing idea! All this is for GAIA, for the sake of the future she will create. If I want my work to mean anything, then I need to speak with her directly!"
Even Travis was surprised to hear him jump to that conclusion. "Whoa, dude, speak to GAIA?! The only people authorized to do that are Elizabet herself and Zero Dawn's primary investors. I dig your ambitious drive and all, but damn!"
"I make my own authorization! Or I'll just get Elizabet to go along with it. She loves GAIA as much as I love Kamen Rider, so I know she'll see things my way. Sure, it'll tick off Ted, but...." George tried to finish that sentence, but eventually decided subtraction was the way to go. "It'll tick off Ted. There's no 'but' there."
They both laughed sadistically at the shared mental image of Ted Faro wincing in frustration.
George's plan was audacious, but if anybody could charm their way around those inconvenient boundaries, it was him. His strong determination, unfettered by traditions and taboo, was only rivaled by Elizabet herself. Although a part of it was just needing that validation, to feel like the world still needed him, even as old and stiff as he was now. It couldn't even be called a plan. More like a desire. But for George, that was always enough.