A Kamen Rider in Jump city

Masks Part 1

Slade sat high up on his thrown, the pendulums in the background turning nosily in their disharmonious state. It was dark, cast in hues of black and melted gold, with its master watching the screen from the camera well placed on the beach. It was zoomed in such way that it caught the movement of five teens looking tired, but relieved as they entered their Tower after attending to a minor bank robbery with some worthless criminal. Well this just would not due, the man thought. His plans were already in motion; he'd leaked the information into the Underworld, now, all he had to do was wait. But Atlantic was not among them, and Slade had no way of finding the teen…well almost none. His one black eye drifted over to the side where the screen displayed Tyler's bookstore. A smirk plastered itself on the man's hidden face. It was time to test the waters.

It was half past five when Tyler managed to untangle himself from the covers. Slowly, he sat up, feeling the fuzzy white carpet sink between his toes as he stood and headed for the bathroom. The lights were too bright and the hot water did nothing to sooth the dull ache still pulling at his spine, but as Tyler changed into a deep sea green turtle neck with baggy grey washed sweatpants, what caught his attention were his eyes, which were red rimmed and cheeks slightly puffy from tears earlier shed. It made him look…younger. He looked fourteen again, not sixteen. The teen quickly pushed all thought from his head, opened the door and headed up the wooden steps into the store.

Fixit had been handing a girl a strawberry muffin at the small café when he spotted Tyler move to sit behind the chestnut countertop. His head resting lightly on one hand, blue eyes hidden beneath raven black hair.

"You should still be asleep," Fixit said floating over to the countertop, taking a seat next to the teen. Tyler let out a snort.

"Couldn't, and besides, I won't be able to sleep tonight as is. Hey, what day is it?" Tyler asked noting the afternoon sunlight drifting in.

"It's still Wednesday, you've only been asleep for the day. Now, do you mind telling me where you've been for the past three days?" Fixit asked stressing the 'three days' part while shooting his best glare at Tyler, who merely rolled his eyes.

"Fine. But first, tell me how yours went."

The teen had been surprised to learn of everything that had happened in only three days. He felt proud that Fixit had managed to ward off angry shoppers, place orders for twenty different people per day, and reorganize the upstairs comic book section to fit in Mega Monkeys, and add new seats in the lounge for the growing Geek Club which is what they called themselves. Tyler found that part pretty hilarious.

Overall, he couldn't help but smile as his friend informed him of the daily life Tyler had grown accustomed to. It also helped when Fixit told him how much revenue they were bringing in from the comic book and gothic poem collections. But with one questioning glance, Tyler began to explain what happened the night he left to patrol the city for the first reemergence of ghosts.

At first, the raven haired teen was hesitant to speak on what he'd been feeling when he realized he'd been trapped in his rider form. Or how he'd woken up in Titan's Tower with the five teens looking down on him like he was the most important thing in the world, a sharp pain digging into his neck.

Fixit hadn't been to happy when Tyler explained that the Titans took him on a mission in order to monitor his uncontrollable powers.But was glad

And for the first time in over a year, Tyler felt himself beginning to open up. Pushing himself to go beyond the world he'd shut himself in. Once finished, Fixit sat on the stool next to him lost in thought, watching while Tyler told a customer where to find the books on Ancient Roman literature. Finally, after much deliberation the robot spoke.