Betrayal After World Destruction (Patreon)

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Suzukiri Yumeko

The blonde First Junior Ranger of the Yellow Battalion follows behind her “boss”, the Yellow Dragon Keeper, inside the conference room of the Rangers.

The meeting place is not an overly serious reunion room; its style remains proudly Japanese, with sliding bamboo doors, tatamis, and five chabudai (small tables without chairs where Japanese people eat while sitting on the ground) facing each other, with a cushion behind them.

The Rangers take their usual seats, but this time something feels off.

First, one of the cushions is empty, a child-sized woman standing with her head low just behind it. The girl is Aizome Komachi, the First Junior Ranger of the Blue Battalion.

The normally cheerful girl looks depressed and downcast, ignoring everything around her, but no one cares; after all, it is expected after the death of the Blue Keeper.

Another strange occurrence is the fact that the First Class Ranger of the Pink Battalion, Nadeshiko Masurao, is carrying a disabled woman in his arms.

All rangers operate with different levels of secrecy; some don’t care, like the Red Keeper, but the Pink Ranger used her secret identity as a form of protection. After all, without the Divine Artifact, she is just a woman who can’t move her legs.

Yes, still stronger than the average person, but still disabled.

Few people know that, but those few are here, so no one comments when Nadeshiko helps her take a seat on a customized low chair with back support and armrests.

“...”

The silence is heavy in this room; no one is talking at first because things have been very bad lately.

Every member of the Rangers just stays awkwardly still in this atmosphere, waiting for the food and tea to be served and for everyone who is not important to go away.

Suzukiri watches everything with her trademark calm smile and dead eyes.

She looks like how she always looks in any situation, but in truth, she is having a blast! Suzukiri is watching from a privileged position as her enemies fall… and fall slowly, fully aware of each defeat.

Her calm smile even widens a little.

Finally, someone breaks the silence, and of course it is the “leader” of the Rangers, the Red Keeper (who is not really the Red Keeper anymore), Akabane Sosei.

“Damn, we are in a bad streak, huh?” He exclaims loudly, raising his arms and trying to make light of the situation.

A “bad streak” can’t really describe the catastrophic losses they are suffering lately.

Three Divine Artifacts lost, one Dragon Keeper dead… It is nothing short of a disaster.

Suzukiri's smile widens a little more, finding Akabane acting a little over the top and hypocritical.

She, and everyone else here, knows that he would not be acting like it is no big deal, no matter how arrogant he is. In any other circumstances, he would be the first one raging and calling out the names of the ones that failed… if he was not the first one to mess up by losing his own Divine Artifact.

“So we have a little fucker thinking himself as the Chosen One with a holy mission to cleanse the world of both the Invaders and the ‘corrupt’ Rangers. Hahaha!” Akabane puts quotation marks around the word "corrupt" while laughing. “And fuck me sideways, maybe he is right on having a big head if he can do whatever he wants with us like that! Hahahaha!” He is laughing, but everyone here can hear the anger underneath it.

“...” The silence continues while everyone lets the guy have his moment.

“And we have nothing on him yet?” Red Keeper questions while looking around, his gaze flickering most between the Green and Pink Battalion. Those two battalions are responsible for investigations, information gathering, and cover-ups. 

“HAHAHA! What could we do?” The Green Keeper's shoulders shook with his boisterous laugh 

“The Green Battalion is too small, and we are busy with our other responsibilities and missions.” Kanon, the First Junior Ranger of the Green Battalion, explains in a more serious tone. “And the enemy’s action happened too fast; we don’t really have a lead.”

“Hmm, that is true… the Green Battalion can be excused…” Red Keeper comments while scratching his chin, “But what about the Pink? Not only have more members, you even have your Divine Artifact stolen directly from your body. Don’t tell me you have nothing on the guy…” 

He is deliberately ignoring the fact that his Divine Artifact was stolen.

“I was ambushed; he was so fast that he quickly cut my legs with my Divine Artifact. He was wearing the Red Keeper suit and used what seemed to be a better version of the Dragon Gadget.” Sakurama Sesema, the Pink Keeper, says with an emotionless tone.

It looks like she is just reporting what happened, but in the same phrase, she diverted a little of the blame to both the Red and the Yellow Keeper.

The enemy is wearing the Red Dragon Keeper suit(That is Akabane’s fault), and he seems to have a better Dragon Gadget? The energy sword is created by the research group of the Yellow Battalion; how can he have something like that? Is there a leak? A traitor?

“If he cut your legs, how do you still have them?” The Yellow Keeper asks curiously

“He healed them afterward.” The Pink Keeper answers calmly

“With Pink Dragon Naga?” The Yellow Keeper pressed

“I don’t know… Everything was so dark, and it happened very fast… Maybe yes, maybe not… I was completely helpless after the ambush.”

“And he did that because of the goodness of his heart while he killed Blue.” Akabanee says in an accusatory tone

“...” Sesema says nothing, because she is also not sure.

“And why are you running around that isolated area?” The Yellow Keeper continues to keep the conversation going.

“...I was patrolling.” The Pink Keeper continues in her calm voice

“...”

“...”

Suzukiri stares at the interaction with both amusement and amazement.

‘Hector really read her perfectly.’ She is surprised by how much her partner in crime understands the heart of the Pink Keeper.

She is giving the minimum information necessary to protect her brother, who is actually the Duster D in disguise.

It is clear that this is the best clue they have; she was baited by her brother, so there is some connection between them.

Maybe her brother is in the scheme with their enemy; maybe it is being threatened; maybe it is, like Hector said, that he faked it…

In any case, it is a lead. 

And she will not give it up for fear of what the Rangers would do with her brother.

Now she doesn’t have her Divine Artifact and can’t protect him with her power alone, so she will do that by withholding critical information about her allies.

Sakurama Sesema is not stupid; she must understand that she is being manipulated and that her worries may be unfounded.

But at the small chance of something bad happening with her little brother, she would rather betray the Rangers.

That is what the Rangers gain for not really creating a proper Super Sentai camaraderie and friendship with each other.

‘It is really all about interests.” Suzukiri remembers what Hector once said. It is easy to read and predict people when you know what they love. And it is easy to make them do what you want when you know what they want.

The scary part is how perfectly he can read people he apparently has never met; it is one of his many surprises.

It makes Suzukiri think… Maybe he also can read her.

“How can we not have him when it looks like he knows everything about us?” The Red Keeper suddenly asks, “The answer to that is clear… There is a traitor among us.”

“...” Everyone pauses as they all thought the same.

‘It doesn’t need to be a genius to figure it out… and equally put me as the first suspect.’ Susuzkiri thinks while keeping her expression the same.

The problem is that it is both logical and illogical to put her as the prime suspect.

No one here has more reasons to hate the Rangers than her, but at the same time they all need her, and she would not want the Divine Artifacts falling into anyone else’s hands.

So they can’t really accuse her of anything.

Hector did a good job in showing enmity against her in the Bailong Nest too, predicting that.

So it is useless even if they suspect. They can’t do anything to her.

So Suzukiri keeps her smile as she notices the stares, not even trying to look innocent, maybe even gloating a little about their misfortune.

It would be weird if she was at least not a little happy that they are being fucked by someone else.

She only sometimes needs to act that she is the target of Hector as much as the Divine Artifacts, and an unknown enemy is worse than one that you know.

That will be her play, acting like it is safer with the Rangers, while she is already on the enemy’s side.

They are also too arrogant to think she is powerless… Well, she is… That only creates a better cover. There is no reason for Hector to ally with her when he is this fearsome an opponent.

‘No reason, huh…’ The information she can supply him is already getting scarce.

Her usefulness to Hector is diminishing fast… The time is almost coming.

After everyone took a long look at the smiling Suzukiri, someone has to move the conversation forward, unless they want to get stuck here forever.

“HAHA! No point in accusing comrades now. We have more pressing issues, no?” The Green Keeper exclaims

“Yeah… We need to think about the substitutions.” Yellow Keeper says

“Haah~ What a headache; it would be enough of a problem to just substitute the Blue Keeper, but you can’t even stand without the Divine Artifact.” The Red Keeper says to Sesema, “A paraplegic woman can’t even be the Pink Keeper body double.

“...” The former Pink Keeper doesn’t seem affected by his rude words. “Then just say that I was killed too, in the same incident as the Blue Keeper… I don’t mind retiring.”

“Ah!” The Junior First Ranger of the Pink Battalion seems surprised by that, and wants to say something, but after a period of hesitation, he closes his mouth and eyes. He needs to accept reality.

“At least this boring part was quick; no hard feelings about being kicked out then.” The Red Keeper sighs without a care. “We should think of the possible new members already.” He really has no consideration for the Pink Keeper or the deceased Blue Keeper.

“I will do it.” Suddenly, a voice cuts through the meeting room. It is Aizome Komaichi, the Junior First Class Ranger, and right now the maximum authority on the Blue Battalion. “I will take on Big Brother’s role!” Her eyes are brimming with tears but are also filled with determination, and her hands are balled into fists at her sides.

“...” The place falls into silence after this display of courage.

“Bwahahahahahaha!” But of course, not for long. Her bravery and feelings mean nothing in front of the Red Keeper.

He loudly laughs, throwing his head back and almost falling on the ground. Instead, he pushes himself to stand up, and with a gait full of humor walks to Aizome.

The humor disappears the exact moment he reaches her.

“Are you fucking retard?” He asks coldly, patting her head. “Take a look at yourself, pipsqueak.” He crouches down to be at eye level, insulting her even more

“...” Aizome's fists clench more, already understanding because she is being rejected.

But the Red Keeper would not stop the humiliation here. “How the fuck are we gonna pose with your build? It will take all the symmetry and balance of our group.” 

It is exactly as expected; she is being rejected not because she doesn’t have the qualifications, but because of her appearance.

Not that ridiculous when you understand the Rangers live up to an image nowadays. They have powers and all that, but they are no different from performers.

“The same goes for you…” Akabane turns to the Junior Class First Ranger of the Pink Battalion. “The Pink Keeper needs to be a woman, one that they can tell is pretty without even seeing her face… it can’t be a fucking muscular gay dude. Do you wanna make the kids puke seeing you in a pink uniform shooting sparkles?”

Everyone here knows the guy, so no one is surprised by his rude and inappropriate words. Akabane Sosei is a man who will kill his subordinate if they talk back too much, and not even care if a ranger dies.

There is no arguing with this type of person.

So they all swallow whatever indignation they have and remain silent.

Akabane Sosei is a vain narcissist whose main objective is looking good, as he lives for the attention. He firmly believes that the aesthetic of the Dragon Keepers is the most important thing nowadays, and all the others are just accessories to make him look better.

It goes beyond the colors; the Dragon Keepers have all their uniqueness, and the Red is, of course, the Leader and the strongest. So he will always want to remind everyone of that fact. 

And the Pink needs to be a woman; for the little girls, there is no way around that. 

That is his vision of how the Rangers should be.

 It is childish, but that is how things are.

The Red Keeper stands up. “Let’s bring Soma back. Pipsqueak, you will be responsible for convincing him.” He says to Aizome before turning to the people of the Pink Battalion, “And just choose a competent girl from your Battalion to get the mantle… Without the Divine Artifact, she will not be different from a cheerleader, but at least she will not be useless after the Surgery. We will see what we can do after retrieving the Divine Artifacts.”

He doesn’t even consider that their weapons are lost forever. That is how arrogant he is.

The reunion ended shortly after the Green battalion reported that they would be impossible to contact for some time, as they would undergo a lengthy investigation.

……………………………………….

Suzukiri Yumeko walks away from the Rangers Headquarters unhurriedly. Outwardly, she looks the same as always, but inwardly a certain uneasiness is growing in her chest.

Three of the five Divine Artifacts are out of the Rangers’ hands, and the closer she gets to her objective, the more happiness seems to evade her.

She is not as thrilled as she expected to be at this point. Before, it was everything she dreamed of, but now…

It is strange…

She thinks she reads a psychological book about it. Maybe she dreads the completion of her path, and having nowhere else to go.

Or maybe the problem is Hector… and if she looks at it from an objective point of view, yes… It is pretty much him.

Her partner in crime can eventually become an even bigger problem than the Rangers themselves. From her perspective, he is, at least, as dangerous as them.

And isn’t that an interesting realization? He, alone, is as dangerous as the strongest organization in the world.

And that is coming from the person who knows best how terrifying the Rangers are. The person who hates the Rangers the most.

“...” And that is when another problem appears…

She doesn’t hate Hector as much as she hates the Rangers.

Well, that is impossible in the first place. Nothing in this world can take the place of the Rangers as the most hated people in her heart, mind, and body.

But in any case, she doesn’t hate Hector in any capacity… Which is a problem, after all; he is an inevitable obstacle… maybe even an enemy.

“...” The uneasiness gets stronger in Suzukiri’s heart.

It is becoming harder and harder to figure Hector out.

The reunion between the Rangers went mostly like he predicted, and that only added another layer of danger to his existence.

How will she deal with him after the Rangers?

She apparently lacks both the means and the motivation.

“...” Suzukiri's black eyes seem to get darker as she walks through a busy street.

It does not matter what she needs to do; she will do it.

Hector was only able to promote himself as the last obstacle on her path.

…………………………………………..

Third Person P.O.V.

After making sure she is not being followed, Suzukiri moves a little away from the city.

There is a bridge that crosses a small river, cuts through a forest, and connects to another town. It is not a route that is very used, so it is pretty empty, and Suzukiri simply goes beneath the bridge.

That is where she finds Hector.

The man is simply relaxing in his civilian clothes, lying on a hammock he put between a wall of the bridge and a pole he stuck in the ground.

He looks like a hobo, living under the bridge like that… a clean one at least.

That is exactly what Suzukiri thinks when he sees him. “You look like a homeless man.”

Hector takes his eyes off his tablet and smiles at her.

“I would prefer the term Hermit, thank you.” He says before turning back to look at his tablet. “I am even studying.”

“You study?” She asks while approaching

“What sort of image do you have of me? I am curious now…” Hector asks without looking at her

“Of a sociopath villain that cares about nothing but his amusement.” She comments, finally looming over him. “And that is violent too… and a pervert…”

“Hmm, 50% right.” He admits, “Hey, don’t try to sit! There is not enough space!”

“Scoot over… You have the chance of a cute girl lying with you.” Suzukiri comments with a dead voice while trying to also sit on the hammock

“Where is this girl?” He asks

“...”

“Okay, okay… Sorry!” He says immediately after seeing her raise a knife above his crotch.

“Hmpf, if I am not your type, then there is a problem with your head.” She looks down on him, her black eyes obscured by the shadows. “Maybe the Pink Keeper is more of your type…” She says, in the accusatory tone only a girlfriend can muster.

“Are you jealous?” He jokes, raising an eyebrow

“Of course!” Suzukiri exclaims, emotionless but sassily, “You even let her live!”

“Hey, we had an agreement with D. I honor my agreements.” He says, a little indirectly to her.

Hector is telling her between the lines that as long as she doesn’t betray him, he will honor their own agreement.

And it is the truth; he does not want all the Divine Artifacts. It is not like he can use all of them at the same time… but he knows that it is impossible for her to part with even one.

So in the end, he will acquire all of them… And Suzukiri will only have herself to blame.

Well… He is doing all that, knowing what she would do, and inducing her to betray him, using it as an excuse to obtain all Divine Artifacts without any guilt.

But if she, for some reason, does not backstab him first, he will let go of his greed.

He is the bigger person… he can let go of his greed, but can’t she let go of hers… perfectly reasonable desire of keeping parts of her sisters with her…? 

‘Yeah… It is not happening…’ Hector laughs sarcastically in his mind.

“But you even healed her legs, and got all worried about her…” Suzukiri gives him a side glance.

“She is a disabled woman… My mother didn’t raise a gentleman, but I chose to become one.” Hector says righteously, hand over his chest

“Hmmm…” Her suspiciousness didn’t fade. “Only for that? A villain like you?”

“I am not a villain… I think.” He shrugs. “Even if I am, I would be the polite and collected one, with an objective and standards… not a raging monster that kills defenseless ladies.”

If doing what he is doing, he discovers that it is his vocation to be a villain, he will be a proper and respectable one.

“I see… Between us, who is prettier?” Suzukiri asks with a calm smile.

“...” ‘What the hell…?’ Hector recoils in confusion. 

He looks up at Suzukiri… Those closed eyes, covered in shadows, calm smile, and chilling presence…

‘I saw this many times in anime… Wait, she is not my girlfriend, so I don’t need to answer the way she wants.”

“From an objective standpoint, I guess she is more attractive… but I prefer you.” He replies honestly.

“...” Suzukiri opens her eyes to stare down at Hector. “Do you think this answer would make any woman happy? You have no tact…” She raises a knife again.

“Whoa, whoa! Chill, Lady. Too soon for a yandere in my life.” Hector raises his hands jokingly 

“I am giving you time to retract your words…” She says with half-lidded eyes.

“I stand my ground… The Pink Ranger is literally the ‘pretty archetype’. All colorful, with bright hair and gem-like eyes… But I like you more.”

“... you are just saying that because you have no chance with her.”

“You don’t know that…” Hector shrugs. “If I tried, I could have her.”

In the infinite opportunities given by this infinite Omniverse, Hector can do anything.

Of course, some things are harder to accomplish than others, but he can do anything eventually.

Even seducing women who love other dudes, no matter how loyal they are, and how strange their love is… Even brocons.

Well, he could even become one of those brothers and, consequently, the target of their affection.

Not even that hard when he thinks about it…

He can enter a world, change his age and appearance, and substitute any character very early to steal their “place” in their universe.

It works better in universes without anything special, but eventually he will be able to do it anyway when he acquires ways to steal powers. Even the ones coming from bloodline.

He even has a page in his notebook where he wrote that he can go play the “game of thrones” by simply going very early and substituting any character as a baby.

He will try to win without cheating with his powers too much… Just to have fun and train his social/political skills.

He can substitute for anyone, but of course, it is, in his own words: “an asshole move” to do that to an innocent baby. So people like Joffrey are on the top of the list.

But then he will need to find ways to change his hair color. But this option is only if he wants the “hard difficulty”.

A better option is the son of Cersei and Robert that apparently died in childbirth.

It will be perfect… He has the perfect hair and eye color to pass as a Baratheon; no one can dispute his claim, and he will be just in the middle of the power struggle.

He thinks he will have a lot of fun. He could marry or fuck any girl, even Daenerys, ‘unlocking’ the proper ending, to use her dragons and save the world.

He would even be able to fuck Cersei. Hector knows that woman has issues.

‘Incest is hot when it's fictional…’ He thinks. ‘We will not even be blood-related…’

So yes, he can always come back here later and bang the Pink Keeper, taking advantage of the fact that she is easily obsessed with her brother. He can do it with every brocon, or perverted mother in the omniverse.

That method is thought by him to steal the place of protagonists who are simply too important in the great scheme of things (one of the reasons he asked the Genie to make him truly able to control his own age), but he can use it in a trivial way too.

Game of Thrones is the first world he will use to test this method… But not so soon. After all, he will spend too much time there.

“...and it is not like I have a chance with you either.” He adds after his mind wandered with his plans for the future.

“If you knew how to treat a lady…” She scoffs

“What lady? The Pink Keeper? I treated her well…”

Suzukiri raises her knife again.

“Okay, okay… Tsukkomi and Boke(Funny guy and Straight Man) play aside, how was the reunion?” Hector stops her by holding the tip of her knife and slowly lowering it.

“Exactly like you predicted.” She says with a strange edge on her tone.

“So they are really not gonna do anything drastic? Even after they lost 3 Divine Artifacts?” Hector's eyes widen in surprise

“No… They will search for you, but they will keep the appearance that everything is okay.”

“Damn, I thought pride was the first thing people give up to survive.”

“That is their problem… They still haven’t thought they are about to be wiped out.” Suzukiri's voice is cold.

It makes Hector smile like a villain. “Well… If they are so nice to make things easy for us… It would be rude to reject their generosity, right?”

“Fufu~ Indeed.” Suzuki's smile widens too.

“Huhuhu~”

“Fufufu~”

The two laugh evilly and intimately, the craziest inner joke ever, the one that will change the world forever. How can it not be funny?

The heroes that always, having their script turned on them by two nobodies… How can it not be funny?

Hector finally stands up, still chuckling.

“Time to follow the next target…” His eyes darken. “I will contact you again when I have the Green Dragon Keeper identity. We can kill him together.”

“Fufu~ It is a date then.”

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