Of course the setting is not mine; Outlaw Star belongs to Takehiko Itō and Sunrise whenever applicable.


In the backroom of a restaurant, the manager barged into a dressing room to address the next show. The room was loud with the sound of singing and piano music. "Alright you guys, you'll be playing to a high profile crowd today, so don't let us down!"

A woman in a white gown and piercing red eyes turned away from the mirror she was using. "Have we failed yet? We've been bringing in the money, so just leave the work to us."

"Alright, I'm leaving it to you." The manager walked out of the door, shutting it behind him. She growled as she went back to the mirror, and the pianist stopped practicing.

"I can't believe he chooses to lose faith in us now of all times! Can you believe it Helen?"

She straightened out her gown and folded her arms. "Fear is irrational. Why is not our concern, only how it can be used."

"It must be our target." Upsilon said, coming out of a changing room in a suit as white as Helen's gown. He took a vidscreen communicator to see the rest of the group in their ship, the Argo.

"How are you holding up?"

A groan sounded from Omega as he leaned back in his chair. "Between the jetlag, re-adjusting from the twenty-seven hour day, and pulling out every bio-amp in my body is not good for you."

"Where's Epsilon?"

"Happy that he gets to eat something that's not an MRE." Rho said.

Epsilon swallowed his last bite of fish. "You know it."

"Are you sure you'll be fine Upsilon?" Nero said, taking his hands off the keys of his piano. "Victor and I didn't have a lot of time to pull out all of those cybernetics, if you need any rest…"

"I will be fine." Upsilon stood next to Helen. "We're going to need a song to enrapture the crowd, do you know anything?"

Gamma spoke up. "Depends; Psyche get us an image of the audience."

"On it." Psyche, who had been installed as the onboard computer for the Argo. A small portion on the screen had been replaced with the surveillance feed of the stage being prepared. It turned to the audience and they all looked for their target. Omega, Epsilon, Rho, and Gamma who had the larger viewscreen saw a little more and caught a man walking in with a retinue of guards who waited at the exit. He was a well dressed man with black hair, but he looked a little distant and always glancing over his back.

"Stop, that's him!" Gamma ordered. "Fred Luo."

"And who's that behind him?" Rho said as a muscular woman in formal dress came in behind Fred, her brown hair in a ponytail around her shoulder. He suppressed a shiver as she approached, dwarfing him. They share a few words between themselves before going to their seats. Rho recognized her and his words came out flat. "That's Reiko Ando."

"Who?" Omega asked.

"Four time holder of the title 'Strongest Woman in the Universe'."

Omega nodded. "Well, how about that. Wait, why is she here with this guy?"

"She's in love with him." Nero said. "What she sees in him, I have no idea."

"This Fred guy seems unsettled by her." Helen wondered. "I wonder why."

Gamma stifled a laugh. "He's gay. But Reiko has a big muscles and a bigger heart, so he can't find the courage to break it to her."

"You're telling me," Helen shook Upsilon around. "Johann's heart was always too big for his own good."

"So," Epsilon interrupted. "Anyone have a song, because I'm drawing a blank. Psyche?"

"I'm not the expert on this, but I sense Victor has a selection."

"A request really," He pulls up the sheet music and lyrics for them to see. Nero's face immediately became a scowl once he realized what Gamma asked him to play.

"No."
"Come on-"
"No."
"Come onnnnnn…"
"Not. Going. To happen."
"For old times sake."
"I'm not playing that song for you."
"Then for a pair of lovers."
"Them? I mean Reiko is into mushy stuff but Fred?"
"That's not the pair I meant."

Nero stopped talking and slowly turned his head to Helen and Upsilon and hung his arms to his sides in defeat. Upsilon and Helen traded nervous glances and Upsilon made the first move by turning the vidscreen off and extending his hand. Helen took it, intertwining their fingers.

"Johann…" Helen started, feeling Upsilon's quivering hand.

Upsilon brushed it off. "It's been a while since I have done this, and I am a bit rusty, so give us a moment."

Nero understood that it meant him as well and stood back as they went through a series of sweeping motions pantomiming swordplay. They were side by side, almost touching each other, but carefully keeping themselves apart. Nero watched them, unsettled with the idea that this perhaps was something intimate, considering the strangeness in their relationship.

"Ich gehöre zu dir." Upsilon said, his voice trembling with emotion.

"Wie ich gehöre zu dir." Helen replied, her voice steadier, but still shaky.

"Und solange wir beide leben," They both spoke together, facing each other, touching foreheads. "Werden wir nie getrennt warden." Taking a deep breath, the master and student were once again of one mind.

Upsilon looked up at the clock on the wall. "It is almost time."

"Prepare your wits Nero." Helen advised. "You will need them for the task ahead."


Omega yawned and scratched his back in boredom. He and the rest of the crew were watching video of the stage, which was still being set up, the lights being tested and the piano being rolled out. "They getting started anytime soon?"

"Maybe it wasn't smart to press Nero so hard Victor." Psyche said. "That might have assisted in the delay."

"He'll be fine." Gamma responded. "This isn't the first time I've done this to him." The restaurant began to darken, and Nero strode out, a spotlight following him, and sat down on the stool in front of the piano. He hit a few keys, a melodious sound coming out. A brisk applause came afterwards, and Nero nodded his head and faced them.

"Thank you for coming to see us." He introduced himself. "Now the selection we've chosen for today we haven't played for anyone else. So for your pleasure we shall begin."

After the first notes were hit, Gamma lit up as he knew Nero took his request. A shadow drifted in behind him as he played. The spotlight slowly illuminated the figure; it was Helen, incredibly bright as she was revealed.

"Sometimes I feel so all alone," She sang, paying no mind to the noise in the crowd. "Finding myself calling your name…"

"When we're apart, so far away," Upsilon picked up right after her, stopping just in front of her. "Hoping it's me that you're thinking of…"

Everyone in the Argo was breathless at both the duet singing and the Nero's playing. Helen and Upsilon went through the number expertly; for those few minutes they actually looked like lovers for once. They had heard Upsilon sing once before, but never with this kind of passion. Upsilon and passion, now there were two words never related to each other, especially about another person.

"I never knew Johnathan," Psyche said. "Was he always…"

"No…" Gamma's words trailed off. They were all looking at those two, embracing each other as they sang the last lines together.

"Never felt that love is sooo right.
The world seemed such an empty place.
We need someone we could give our allllll….
Baby, it's you, we'll be together now and forever."

Nero finished playing and the guests started cheering. Nero stood up and all three of them bowed and left for backstage. They went back into the dressing room and contacted the Argo.

"Don't make us do that again." Nero said as soon as Gamma was on screen.

"It wasn't too bad was it?" He didn't get an answer. "Okay, Omega will be at his post." Omega got out of his chair and sluggishly made his way to the hatch. "Just get there now."

"Understood." Nero focused on his own shadow, becoming even more black. Together the three of them jumped in and vanished as the manager came back in.

"Hey, they want another show-what the hell!"


On a roof overlooking the restaurant, Omega stood impatiently looking at his own shadow. Soon enough, Nero, Helen, and Upsilon came through.

Omega greeted them. "Finally. Can I go now?"

"Get some rest." Helen said, and Omega limped away, but stopped short.

"How do you two do it? I mean I'm cramping up, my head throbs…and you're just mocking me by being absolutely fine!"

"Controlled analgesia is something we learned fast." Upsilon stated. "Otherwise you go insane."

Omega left without saying a word, only thinking about how two humans were stronger than his own engineered body. Upsilon quickly summoned Nero's armor and personal rifle. He took them and took up position just before the ledge.

"They should be coming out soon. I'll shoot the vehicle they're in, and then do what you do best."

"We intend to." Upsilon said and he and Helen jumped down into an alley, far from the dispersing crowd. He then pulled out their own weapons and began dressing themselves.

"What did you think about it?" Upsilon asked, checking over his clasps.

Helen kept putting on her greaves. "Hmm? Well it was something new. Anyway, how to stop Fred from escaping?"

Upsilon waved his arms in front of him and a milky-white spear came into existence, its graceful design clashing with the gray metal plates Upsilon wore.

Helen inspected the weapon. "From your 'friend', I presume?"

Upsilon only nodded, his attention on the crowd leaving. He spotted Reiko, who was considerably taller than the rest of the patrons. Fred was still next to her, and their guards lead them to a glossy black limousine.

"Nero, I found the vehicle. What is delaying your action?"

"Hold on." Nero's eye was on them, but he hadn't fired yet. "Psyche."

"Yes?"

"Can you put Victor on a private channel?"

"O-okay…" There was rustling as Gamma picked up. "What's the problem?"

"Do you trust Helen and Upsilon working together like this?"

"You don't?"

"Well they seem to be rather prone to violence. I mean, they nearly killed each other when they found each other, last time I checked that's not exactly the foundation of a stable relationship."

"Their relationship is anything but normal. I know of Upsilon's violent nature, I don't expect his master to be any different. Together they've become more docile, or at the very least concerned with the destruction they cause."

"I hope you're right." He pulled the trigger, the shot punching right through the roof of the limo, scattered the crowd as the car sped off. Amidst the panicked patrons Helen and Upsilon walked into the center of the street.

"You should really get that." Helen said. Upsilon took a step back, brought the spear up and hurled it at the limo as it was turning. It tore the back drive wheel off, rolling the entire car and sliding upside down, stopping on the other side of the block.

Upsilon's eyes went wide. "Mother-of-Pearl! That actually worked."

Helen laughed, a cackle with a sharp end. "You need to introduce me to those creatures!"

"I'll give you the reports later." Upsilon said, spreading a hand out in front of him. "Shall you lead the charge?"

"Oh, you are such a gentleman." And they both stormed the car. One of the guards crawled out with a gun and pointed it at Helen as she approached. She drew out her three edged longsword and sliced off his arm at the elbow before he had a chance to fire. He staggered back, a gurgle coming from his throat. She then cut his face open and brought him to the ground. She dragged the body right to the window in front of Fred Luo, who whimpered at the sight of the vacant eyes and dripping gore. Putting away her sword Helen pulled at the door, ripping it away and tossing it to the side. She reached in and grabbed Fred, yanking him out and let him spill onto the ground. He shivered, his arm and several ribs broken and glass in various parts of his body.

"T-this can't be the end of m-me…" His good arm came out to repel his attacker; the pale woman who had just sang one of the best duets he's ever heard. Her eyes burned a deep red, the color of blood, or maybe that was his blood running into his eyes. He moaned as Helen came towards him, but she was rammed in the back by Reiko. She was similarly hurt, but was still strong enough to fight.

"Don't you dare touch him." She growled.

"You are not in any condition to stop me." Helen stepped into Reiko's guard and shoved the pommel of her sword into her gut faster than she could react. Even the great Reiko Ando could withstand her injuries in the crash and the hit crumpled her. With a sigh, Helen struck her down with a punch to the temple.

"Took you long enough." Upsilon walked up and smiled at her snide remark.

"I wanted you to earn the title of the strongest here as well as back home."

"She's not the strongest." A shrill voice called out, and a blur of brown and green came past Helen, sidestepping out of the way. The blur was a Ctarl-Ctarl in military uniform, a large bell on her neck and a single braid with a ring at the end. "I am!"

"And you are?" Helen asked.

She jabbed a thumb at herself. "I'm Aisha Clan-Clan! Pride of the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire!"

"Good for you!" Helen shot back. "But where are your friends?"

"Right here." Another woman, soft spoken, walked in holding a wooden blade. Her clothing was white with sleeves of orange and red like a sunset. Helen and Upsilon looked at her with awe.

"Twilight Suzuka…" Upsilon whispered to Helen.

"Well this is a surprise." Helen turned her head to each of them. "We decided to go after Fred Luo as a challenge. I mean, the best assassin to ever live died trying to take him down!"

Upsilon didn't bother to hide his disdain. "We've wasted our time with him. Who do you want to fight, Aisha or Suzuka?"

"Hmmm, tough choice." Helen stood back to back with Upsilon, weapons out. "But you've spoiled me enough; you have fun with Aisha."

"Thank you." They engaged the two and Nero, who hadn't moved, watched the brawl. "Hey Victor, they came, just as we'd hoped."

"Alright, how are they doing?"

Nero paid attention to the fight; Helen stayed blow for blow with Suzuka, slowly wearing her down, while Upsilon forced Aisha back slowly with both sword and shield. On the side, a man and a teenage boy dragged Fred and Reiko out of harm's way.

Fred came to and saw the man, grabbing onto his cloak. "Oh, Gene! Every time I need help you come!"

Gene sighed and mussed his red hair. "Who'd you piss off this time?"

"I don't know! They seem to be in it for the sport!"

"A challenge eh?" He looked at the boy beside him. "Jim, find out who these guys are.?"

He pulled out a laptop and began typing. "And what are you going to do, as if I have to ask?"

Gene pulled from his tan cloak a giant bronze pistol, and loaded it with a single round. He walked out into the street and caught the attention of everyone. "Hey!"

"Gene Starwind." Helen said. "A pleasure to meet you at last."

Upsilon walked up to stand next to her. "We expect much from you."

"You can count on that." Gene braced his self as he aimed the gun, it beginning to radiate energy along the barrel. When it fired, he barely managed to keep it on target. The blast would not faze Upsilon and Helen; Upsilon covering them both with his shield. There was a explosion and the two of them were knocked into the limo, the metal bending under the force.

"You saw that right?" Helen said as she got up.

Upsilon got up as well. "Of course. Time to wrap this up; Nero, covering fire if you will."

Shots rained down and distracted Gene, Aisha and Suzuka long enough for Helen and Upsilon to vault over the car and with a pair of rising kicks sent the entire thing sailing through the air towards them. With one clean slash, Suzuka cut the car in half, before it could do damage. But by that time, they were the only ones on the street. Gene had drew a normal gun and fired up at Nero running away, and eventually, out of sight. With the fight concluded, the last noise of the night was the loud roar of a furious Aisha.


"Fred, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you!"

"Don't feel bad." Fred consoled Reiko from a familiar place: on the hospital bed next to hers. "Those things could take on Gene and his crew." He turned his head over to the transmission of their rescuers on the bridge of the Outlaw Star.

"I've never seen any Terran fight with strength like theirs." Aisha said. "They turned away my strongest blows."

Suzuka was equally concerned. "I would have heard of such swordsmanship somewhere."

Jim looked up from another display. "I cannot find these guys. They just appear as some travelling show group, but nothing else. Someone's been cleaning their records."

"They were looking for a challenge." Gene put forward. "We can't be thinking of them like bounty hunters."

"What if they were looking for us?" A fair voice came in from behind them.

"What do you mean, Melfina?" Gene asked.

"That shadowy guy, Prometheus, had a chance to shoot Fred long before we showed up, but didn't. Mr. Luo was never the real target, they were expecting us."

"Wait," Fred interrupted. "If you didn't come to save me, then why'd you come back to Heifong?"

Gene chuckled a bit to himself but Fred heard him. "Gene, if this is about another loan…"

His chuckle erupted into raucous laughter. "Quite the opposite! I came back to pay off my loan."

"You can't be serious."

"And now there's people trying to kill us again so, now we gotta leave. Tough break, get well soon!" He turned the screen off and jumped into the pilot's seat. "Gilliam! Any ships leave out recently?"

"One ship was in a hurry." The display at the front of the ship pulsed with every word Gilliam said. "Designated as the Argo."

"Good. Plot out its next heading and get clearance for liftoff, we're going after it!"


On the Argo…

"Moment of truth, guys." Gamma looked around at the assembled team, surrounding a empty table. "Upsilon, do it."

Upsilon created a holographic display of the strange gun Gene had. After a few seconds, it became a real object that clattered on the table.

"So, what is it?" Epsilon asked.

"And why did we have to jump through so many hoops to get it?" Helen asked as well.

"Nero will explain." Gamma said as he handed it over to him.

"This is a Caster, or 'Spell Gun' in basic terms." Nero explained. "It fires shells of raw concentrated energy."

"That is a good weapon." Upsilon commented. "Our demonic foes can not process raw energy."

"Most spellcasters have no defense against it either. Victor and I can modify this into something more practical."

Rho crossed his arms. "That's all well and good, but guns need bullets, and we didn't have Upsilon copy those."

"Gene Starwind doesn't carry all twenty types of shells on him. But we can go to where the shells are made and then we'll have a infinite amount."

"And that is our next heading. Psyche," Gamma looked at the speaker in the corner. "Plot a course to planet Tenrei."

"Next stop: Tenrei. Go get some rest now, I'll get us there."

Everyone filed out, with Gamma in the back. "You're a lifesaver Psyche." He said.

"Consider it a thank you for giving me this entire ship to run."

"The least I could do." Gamma retired to his room, and he and the rest of his motley buddies slept smoothly through the stars under the Argo's Ether Drive. Except two…


Helen put on a nightgown and walked into Upsilon's room she found him practicing with Maschinengott, the blade's motions slow and methodical. "Still can't sleep Johann?"

"There is so much for me to accomplish." Upsilon continued, still moving from attack to attack. "Rest can come later."

Helen forced his arms down. "Then at least spend that time not resting dancing with me." She put out her hand. Upsilon put down his sword, took her hand and they both spent the night waltzing.