Disorder in the House
Episode 5
"So where do we start?" Jinpei, surprisingly, had taken point, letting Joe cover the rear. Joe felt a little wierd, being so used to the point position. He let Jinpei lead, because he felt the kid was underestimated by everyone, and the others never gave him a chane to shine.
"That's easy. We break in." He pulled his gun, and flipped a switch on it. The muzzle folded up, and a larger barrel extended from the opening. The grenade launcher was his favorite weapon, by far, but, he never got to use it much. So, secretly, he was always looking for an excuse to show this thing off.
"We don't need that Aniki..."
"What?!?"
"It's open." He gave the door a light push, and it swung open freely. Jinpei pulled his bolo out, and Joe reluctantly holstered the gun, and readied a feather. Jinpei strolled in cautiously, observing the surroundings, with Joe close behind. There was enough light to see, but there were no lights on. He was in a hallway,with doors on either side. They looked like offices. The way everything was locked tight, it appeared that noone had been around for quite a while. As he walked down, He noticed a giant panel window to his right, at least twenty feet long. He walked up to the window, and peered into it.
"Joe, come look at this!" Joe came to the window, and saw what Jinpei was looking at. The window gave view into a subterranean storage facility, big enough to hold an aricraft carrier.. But something was wrong...
There aren't any guards around... Where could they be?? Where are these weapons we're supposed to be looking for?
He could see the entire room from this window. Jinpei noticed that the storage area was empty. He didn't like this feeling.
"I don't think there are any wepons here. It's a set-up"
"I get the same feeling kid. This ain't right."
The sunbeams coming in from the skylight cast an eeire light across the empty floor. Joe thought he saw a shadow on the ground about halfway across the room, along the wall. He blinked, and looked again. It was still there.
"Joe, did you see that?"
"Yeah. I can't tell what it is though."
"It's... It's a body. Someone's dead over there..."
"You're kidding. We better get down there." He pulled his gun, flipped it again, and pulled the trigger. The pistol made a loud foomp, and a grenade lobbed through the window, and fell to the ground below. Jinpei dashed forward, and crashed through the window, shattering it. He landed on the ground, and bounded away merely a second before the grenade exploded. Joe jumped down through the opening, and landed. He ran toward the body, and stopped dead in his tracks. It was a Gallacter soldier. He had a rifle in his hand, and looked like he had been taken out without a fight. He was in front of a door, guarding it perhaps. Jinpei kicked open the door, and gasped when he looked into the room...They had found the recon team, hanging by nooses, from the rafters. They had been stripped, but thier equipment was thrown carelessly in one corner. Their stomachs had been cut open, and thier entrails were pooled on the ground in a rancid heap. They had to have been there for a couple of days, at least.
"Oh, man. This is awful..."
Jinpei wandered of into the distance, back toward the window they had come through. "Joe, look!!!"
Joe ran over to where Jinpei was, and saw the pile of Gallacter soldiers on the ground. It looked like the whole company had been rounded up to get their throats cut. They were discarded on the ground in heaps, like garbage.
"If you ask me, it couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of guys." Jinpei stood there, with a smirk on his face, and Joe cracked a smile.
Kid's gettin' tough...
"G-2 Condor, This is Gatchaman. Have you found anything?"
"Yeah. You might wanna come see this."
Within two minuites, Ken and Jun had joined the other two. "They've been executed like animals..." Gatchaman could scarce believe his eyes. "Who would do such a thing?"
"We found the Recon team, too," Joe said. "They're dead. In that room."
Jun began to walk to the room where they were at, and Joe stopped her. "You don't want to go in there. Trust me."
"Okay, Joe..." She walked away from him, and stood next to Gatchaman.
"What did you guys find, Sis?" Jinpei looked like he was trying to count the bodies on the ground. He nudged a few with his foot, just to make sure they were really dead. He was satisfied when none of them moved.
"Something's not right here... The weapons aren't here, and the guards are dead..."
"I saw that too...Maybe someone beat us to it..." Jinpei turned, and stared into the rest of the space.
"I was wondering how long it was going to take for you to figure that out. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"
The laughter echoed through the room, growing louder with every second, and then it stopped. Standing there, in the middle of the room, was a lone figure. He was clad in black, like a ninja, with a hood draped over his head. A black mask prevented his face from being seen. A white ascot flowed from his neck on a breeze that wasn't there. He was six foot, but appeared rather lean. A playful arrogance surrounded him, and it made the team sick to thier stomachs.A sword was slung over his back. He didn't even bother to pull it as he taunted the team.
"You like what I've done with the place, Kagaku Ninjatai??? I think it's absolutely marvellous!!! Your little friend over there, He said it couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of guys! I couldn't agree more!!"
Jun shot a sharp look at Jinpei, but remained silent.
"By the way, I apologize for being so rude at our last meeting. I never introduced myself. You may refer to me as the Shadowmage. I thought you would like the opportunity to exact a little revenge for your dead friend, so that's why I brought you here. Of course the place was infested with Gallactor, but as you can clearly see, I took care of that. You should thank me, really, for saving you the trouble. I really don't like the Gallacter either, but they're fun to play with... But I'm sure you know that already. Me on the other hand..." He had pulled the head of a Gallacter soldier out from behind him, and held it high for the team to see...
"I don't get along too well with others."
He tossed the head towards the team. It landed in front of them with a sickening thud, and rolled for a few feet, stopping at Gatchman's feet. It exploded with a bright flash, and the team took to the air, bounding in different directions.
Jinpei screamed, and launched himself down toward his enemy. He swung a hard right, but the Shadowmage, still on the ground, moved his head to the side, and avoided it. He grabbed Jinpei's arm, and rounded, kickng Jinpei hard in his right side. The kick met with such force, it sent Jinpei crashing into the wall, and he fell to his knees, then slumped to the ground. The ninja remained in the same spot, unmoved. He then lept into the air, spun around, and dove straight for Jun. She dodged out of the way at the last moment, and threw her yo-yo toward him, but he caught it. He swung it, and Jun, wrapped in it now, soared over his head. He brought her down hard, slamming her into the ground. The Swan had gotten the wind knocked out of her, but could not get up. She saw him standing over her, and for a moment everything froze... Her eyes were locked on his...
Those eyes... I know those eyes...
... then he dodged to the right. A feather shruiken pierced the ground, only inches from Jun's face. The Condor came down, knees first, pinning the Shadowmage to the ground. He drew his fist, then let it fly, as hard as he could. The ninja turned into a cloud of smoke upon contact, leaving Joe punching a crater into the floor. He looked up at the last moment, and saw the Shadowmage coming down on him. It was too late, however. The ninja landed, feet first, in the back of Joe's skull, sending him head first even deeper into the crater he'd just made. He jupmed out just as quickly, and promptly got in Gatchaman's face, having dispatched the rest of the team rather quickly.
"You see, Gatchaman? I've stopped you again. Once I beat you to a pulp, I'm going to kill the rest of your team, while you watch." He grabbed Ken by the throat. Ken grabbed his arm with both hands, lited his kegs up, and kicked the ninja square in the chest, with all of his force.
"BIRD RUN!!!" Ken launched his boomerang as the ninja reeled back. He flipped forward, and caught it. He threw it, hard, and it sliced Ken across the face. The Shadowmage dashed forward, and pinned Ken up against the wall with a hard left punch in the stomach. He grabbed Ken's face with his right hand, and threw him to the ground, still holding him.
"You know what? I think I've had a change in plans. I'm gonna cut your throat with this thing instead." He held up Ken's boomerang so he could see it, and Ken's eyes grew wider. He applied more pressure to Ken's face, and lowered the wing to his throat. Ken saw a blur, and the ninja was no longer on him. He heard a loud crash in the distance, and another voice.
"Playtime is over, asshole." Someone stood there, in birdstyle, towering over the ninja.
"You... This is better than I thought."
"Me??" The ninja lept at him, nearly connecting a right fist with his face. He threw the Shadowmage into the air, and took off after him. He kicked him in the stomach from below, then elbowed him in the back. The Shadowmage rounded, and blasted The Kestrel in the face with his fist. He threw a roundhouse kick in mid air that rocked the Kestrel's head, and sent him crashing to the ground. He drew his sword as he descended, and struck at his downed opponent, swinging hard. The Kestel turned into a puff of smoke, and appeared behind the ninja. He grabbed the back of his head, and shoved it through the wall, making a rather lage hole in the process. The ninja lay limp in the hole, his arms dangling at his side. The Kestrel grabbed him, and he turned to smoke, leaving no trace of his presence. The Kestrel looked up. When he realized the ninja was gone, he walked toward Gatchaman. He lowered his hand to him.
"You okay?"
"Yeah I think so..." Ken took his hand, and stood up. The rest of the team started to come to thier feet, and they gathered around the Kestrel, looking at him intently.
"Who are you?" Jun asked him this as she reached out to touch his cloak. His birstyle was much more sleek than thiers, and it looked alot more high tech. It was one piece, and it looked alot like plate armor. It was black, with a green arrow pointing down toward his mid-section. His helmet was smooth, and his visor was a dark green that was unable to be seen through. The oddest thing, however, was that he was wearing a mask under his helmet, to protect his identity. She looked into his eyes, and gasped, steppng away...
they look like the same eyes!!! who is this man???
"I don't like this guy!! I bet He's the one that lured us here in the first place!!" Jinpei swung at him, and Jun held him back.
"Jinpei! This man just saved us! How could you say that?"
"He wants to replace Ryu!! I know it!!"
"Just who the hell are you?" Joe shot looks that could kill at this guy...
"My identity is of no consequence. If you want to know who I am, why don't you ask Dr. Nanbu. He can tell you..."
Joe's blood ran cold in his viens when he heard this. The Kestrel dropped a smoke bomb on the ground, and when it cleared, he was gone...