Sento had a flashback to when Soichi had come across him, lying with his back against the wall in a narrow alley. The older man was carrying a stripped umbrella, for it had been raining quite heavily that day.
Sento had been laying there, drenched to the bone, unconscious. As his eye slowly opened, he noticed Soichi peering curiously at him through the curtain of falling water. Sento winced as his eyes opened all the way up and his right hand moved towards his temple to rub it slightly.
"W-Who... am I!?"
...
Tatsuya, Sento and Sawa found themselves back in that same alleyway. Only now it was much later, and much dryer.
Tatsuya looked around, taking in the seemingly small, insignificant little alleyway while Sawa asked Sento a question. "So, how were you lying down?"
Sento gestured towards the very spot that his body had once been passed out in with a flick of his hand.
"Just normally."
Sawa rolled her eyes and grabbed Sento by the shoulders, pushing him in the direction he had pointed at, "Do it! Just lay down how you once were."
She pushed down on Sento's shoulders this time, forcing him to sit down with his back against the wall as he once had, Sento didn't resist her and allowed himself to be forcibly seated on the cold alley floor.
"Okay, okay..." Sento sat there, looking up at Sawa with his hands on his knees.
Satisfied, she turned her head to look over at Tatsuya, who was not paying attention at all. She rushed over to his side and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards where Sento was sitting.
"Well? Do you recognize anything at all Tatsuya? Is this place familiar at all? Ringing any bells?"
Sawa nodded her head up and down, as if trying to will Tatsuya to be reminded of the place.
The oddball looked at Sento on the ground, then at the rest of the surrounding space through his thick red glasses. He slowly shook his head side to side.
"No, this is the first time I've been here."
Sawa's head hung low in disappointment for a few moments, but then it snapped back up. She raised an eyebrow, ready to dive into her next line of questioning, fully embracing her inner reporter.
"What was Taro Satou doing on the 5th of September?" Sawa closed in quickly, her intensity causing Tatsuya's eyes to widen as he instinctively leaned back, attempting to put some space between their faces.
"Umm, he had this new job, something about helping with some new kind of drug...Didn't see him after that, yeah."
Sento perked up slightly when he heard Tatsuya mention the word 'drug', his eyes started to move back and forth as his brain kicked into gear.
He mumbled to himself, "a new drug?.."
His eyes darted around faster and faster, until they opened extremely wide. Sento shot up from where he had been sitting and reached towards Tatsuya.
Sento grabbed Tatsuya by the shoulders, pressing him against the wall and also getting much to close for Tatsuya's comfort, the poor kid... his eyes were huge behind his glasses but he couldn't wriggle away from Sento.
"Could you tell us more about that?!"
Tatsuya looked uncomfortable but he still nodded his head vigorously in agreement. "Uh, yeah, sure...of course I can bro!"
Bang!
Before anyone could say anything else, however, a large crash was heard from a street over, all three of them looked at each other with puzzled gazes and without a word more, they rushed over to see what it was.
"Agggh! Help!"
A group of construction workers were being attacked by a gang of androids belonging to Faust. They hadn't fired their weapons on them, however they had thrown all of the hard hat wearing workers to the ground.
Just as they arrived, Sento's heart sank as he witnessed one of the fallen workers being struck squarely in the face with the butt of a rifle, a scene that made his blood boil in response.
"Oh crap! Faust bots!" Sento exclaimed, his voice crackling with urgency as he swiftly reached under the folds of his trench coat, fingers brushing against the comforting grip of his Build Driver.
Sento's sudden halt caught Tatsuya by surprise, he failed to stop and kept rushing forward, resulting in a collision that sent them both sprawling to the ground. "Oooff!" Tatsuya gasped, scrambling to regain his composure. "Ah, bro, I'm sorry! Don't stop so suddenly!"
Sento scowled at Tatsuya's clumsiness but before a retort could escape his lips, Sawa's expression shifted dramatically, her eyes widening with alarm. Without hesitation, she lunged toward the downed Sento, grabbing the fabric of his coat and yanking with all her strength. "Government Guardians! Hide!" she whispered, urgency spilling from her voice.
Sento quickly followed Sawa's gaze to the flurry of action unfolding at the scene, and in a heartbeat, a squad of government Guardians stormed onto the scene, their uniforms crisp and their movements synchronized like a well-oiled machine. They lifted their weapons high, locking their sights onto the menacing Faust forces with precision.
With a deafening crack and a flash of gunfire, the Guardians unleashed their weapons, mowing down the Faust androids with ruthless efficiency, each shot hitting its mark. The construction workers, huddled together, raised their arms instinctively to shield themselves from the violence, their faces painted with terror. Miraculously, amidst the chaos, the Guardians' aim was impeccable; not a single civilian was harmed, thanks to the robotic marksmanship of the government units.
The workers were delighted at being saved, they jumped up and ran forward to their saviors.
"T-thank you so much!" One worker was all smiles as he got near the helmeted peacekeepers. All of the workers bowed and joined the first man in thanking and praising the robots.
Suddenly, a striking figure adorned in sleek, pink armor emerged onto the rooftop of a nearby building, a silent sentry surveying the chaos below. He stood relaxed with his hands planted firmly on his hips, the late afternoon sun glinting off his glossy armor, casting a vivid hue against the otherwise grim grey and dull red brinks down below.
It was Blood Stalk, the enigmatic, dark Kamen Rider, a figure cloaked in both mystery and menace. A low, unhinged chuckle rumbled from beneath his helmet, the sound sending a shiver through the air as he observed the scene unfolding before him. With a nonchalant flick of his wrist, he snapped his fingers, a crisp sound cutting through the air. At that moment, a resonating metallic ring reverberated through the area, an otherworldly sound that seemed to twist the atmosphere itself.
Simultaneously, an invisible wave surged forth from Blood Stalk, sweeping across the scene toward the squad of Guardians. The cover layer of their helmets, which was there to act as a barrier against the elements, snapped away with alarming speed, cascading to the ground like discarded shells. Exposed circuitry underneath began to glow with an ominous red light, and the units trembled violently before becoming still, their systems momentarily thrown into disarray.
The construction workers, eyes wide with shock and fear, instinctively reeled back, attempting to retreat from the whatever was happening to the bots that had just saved them moments earlier. Yet, before they could distance themselves from the new threat, the corrupted Guardians, now under Blood Stalk's sinister control, leapt into action. With newfound ferocity, they charged forward, resuming the brutal assault on the helpless workers, delivering merciless blows that echoed the violent rampage wrought by the fallen Faust bots just moments before.
Sawa was shocked. "How'd those government bots become Faust ones...?"
Sento was also surprised with the change in the Guardians, he was done just watching now too. He thrust his Driver towards his mid section and prepared to transform himself.
The Driver spread its belt around his waist and Sento fished around in his pockets for his to bottles, he snagged the two he had in mind and started shaking them rapidly.
HAWK! GATLING!
BEST MATCH!
Both bottles were inserted into their slots and Sento then reached over and started cranking the lever on his Driver, his face was full of concern, every moment wasted was hurting the poor construction workers.
"Agggh! What is that!?" Tatsuya's mouth hit the ground, and he rushed away from the side of Sento, who currently had a set of orange and silver pipes leaving from his midsection, via his Driver.
ARE YOU READY!?
Sento paid the chubby musician no heed and assumed his fighting stance as the two armor pieces rushed towards him.
"Henshin!" With a mighty yell the two pieces of Build armor seamed themselves around Sento's body.
THE SOARING WILDMAN!
HAWKGATLING!
Tatsuya was ecstatic as Build rushed forward to save the workers.
"My bro is Kamen Rider!?"
A flurry of bullets ripped from Build's gatling gun and ripped through the compromised Guardians, shredding them to pieces, he didn't even have to aim that much, all of the workers were already laying on the ground, there was no fear of hitting anyone except he Guardians, so Build cut lose.
Build walked towards the workers, who were slowly rising again, "Quick! Run away!"
Instead of being grateful, one man just pointed at the Rider. "Aggh! It's that fugitive!"
All of the construction workers started fleeing, as if Build was a much scarier threat than the machines had ever been.
"Yes!" Sawa pumped her hand up in the air and so did Tatsuya.
"That was too cool, Bro, the coolest!" Both of them ran over from where they had been hiding earlier with big smiles on their faces. Sawa pulled a camera out of her bag and attached a long lens to the face of it.
She aimed it right in his face, "Hey, could you look over here?"
Before Build could even start to moan and complain about Sawa's antics, a deep voice bellowed out from the rooftop above them.
"So, the superhero arrives..."
Blood Stalk was looking down on them, hands on his knees, peering over the edge of the roof.
Build and the rest turned to look up at the new voice.
"Who the hell...wait. Cobra?!"
Kamen Rider Build thought back to when he had been ambushed and poisoned in the warehouse after his first defeat of Nabeshima. This guy looked just like the blurry figure he had seen just before passing out.
Blood Stalk slapped his knee and raised one finger into the air. "Close!...It's actually Blood Stalk." He cocked his head sideways peered down at the other Rider.
"Blood Stalk?"
Warning bells went off in Kamen Rider Builds head, he remembered the message that had been sent to Misora telling him to head to the park where he fought Nabeshima for the second time, it had been signed as 'Blood Stalk'.
Build pointed a finger at the Pink Rider, more of the pieces of this mystery were falling into place.
"You're the one who turned Nabeshima into a Smash...!"
Blood Stalked pointed a finger from each hand, gun style, back at Build in response.
"You're right about that one! Nice work!" The sarcasm was practically dripping off of every one of his words.
"Your reward? Well, you get to play with me!"
Blood Stalk produced his custom gun out of what seemed like thin air and started firing at Build without any further notice!