Chapter 4

Ken walked the length of the conference room yet again, his stride lengthening with each step he took. His frustration was eating away at him. It had been hours since Jun had disappeared, and they were still no closer to finding her. Instead, he was forced to wait at ISO headquarters, relying on someone else to find a trace of his third.

It was this that angered Ken the most: that he was not the one out there, doing something. Because… he had nothing to do. No leads to go on. No idea where Jun might be.

He reached the end of the room and spun on the ball of his foot, his irritation showing itself in his sharp movements.

"Cool your jets, Ken!" Joe grumbled, "You're wearing a hole in the carpet!"

Ken didn't respond to Joe's comment, and merely flashed him an angry look. As he did, he noticed Jinpei in the corner of the room. The boy was sitting on the floor, his knees pulled up to his chest, despair written across his face. In his own way, Jinpei was taking this as hard as Ken was.

Joe was frustrated too. He felt like punching a hole in the wall, just to release some of his pent-up aggression. His left hand cradled the fist made by his right, squeezing it in a vain attempt to satisfy his urge to hurt someone, or something. If Ken paced by him one more time, Joe was going to lose it.

Fortunately, Ken was saved by the arrival of Dr. Nambu. The Doctor entered the room quietly, then placed both hands on the conference table, leaning on it for support. His head was bowed.

"We haven't been able to locate Jun." he said quietly, "But we have every available agent out looking for her."

"Is that enough, Hakase?" Ken protested. "Are we really doing everything we can to find Jun?"

"For the moment, yes." Nambu replied. "Until we find some sign of her, there's not much else we can do."

"What about the blood spots we found at the Snack??" Joe asked, "Was it Jun's?"

"No." confirmed the Doctor. "It is not Jun's, and we were unable to find a match in the ISO database."

Jinpei gave an audible sigh of relief. He had been deathly afraid that his Onechan had been hurt. At least now there was always the hope that she had just run off, and would come back again, of her own accord.

Joe gave into his anger and punched a chair. It spun around, mocking him with its resilience to his attack.

"Damn!" he muttered, "If we just had something… anything… to go on!"

Nambu sighed, and left the room again. He couldn't bear to see his team… his sons… so angry. It made it that much harder for him to contain his own despair.

Ken resumed his pacing. He understood exactly how Joe felt. It was one thing to have Jun disappear, and another to feel so… helpless.

And then he saw a flash of colored light. A quick glance around the room showed that Joe and Jinpei had seen it too. A soft beeping accompanied the signal.

"Birdscramble!" Jinpei cried joyously, "It's Onechan!"

Relief washed over Ken like a tidal wave. At last! Now they had something to go on. Even Joe was smiling.

Jinpei removed his bracelet, and was just about to trace the signal when it stopped.

The silence in the room was deafening. It was as if Ken could still hear the echo of the last Birdscramble beep, long after it had died out. How long had the signal lasted? Two seconds? Three? Five? Certainly not long enough to trace.

This time, Joe pounded on the table. At least it emitted a satisfying thud.

"What happened?" Jinpei asked quietly. They all had the same question. Why would Jun send a Birdscramble, and then discontinue it almost immediately? Since Birdscrambles were only used in case of emergency, what did that mean if the signal were terminated so quickly?

"I'm sure she's fine, Squirt." Joe tried to placate Jinpei, but it was a poor attempt. This wasn't his forte.

"She contacted us." Ken said, his voice sounding much calmer than he actually felt, "She'll contact us again."

As if in answer to his silent prayer, Ken's bracelet lit up again.

"This is G-5."

It was Ryu. In all of the excitement, they had forgotten that he was visiting his family. Ken sighed. He didn't really want to go over this again, but Ryu deserved to know.

"This is G-1." he responded, Joe and Jinpei staring at him.

"I just got a Birdscramble." Ryu reported, "But only for a few seconds. What's going on? Is this some kind of test?"

Ken hung his head. It took an enormous effort to speak calmly into his bracelet.

"It's not a test. G-3 is missing. G-5, you need to get back here, right away."

"I'm on my way. I'll be there by morning!" Ryu replied, his tone serious.

Jinpei looked from Ken to Joe, and back again, the cold reality of the situation hitting him like a slap in the face. Ken wouldn't have recalled Ryu if this hadn't been serious.

"We'll find her." Ken promised the boy, his voice like ice. "We'll find her if we have to tear this planet apart with our bare hands."

88888

Jun did her best to remain calm as Ayame walked her down the corridors of the Galactor base, but her panic was threatening to overwhelm her. She remembered when she had purposely walked into a Galactor trap, after they had found her lost shoe. She had come so close to being forced to show her face to Katse. She had escaped, but now… if Katse wanted to look at her, there wasn't much she could do about it. Her one thin hope was that since he wasn't thinking of her as the Swan, that he wouldn't see her as such.

Ayame was silent as she led Jun to a door. As it opened, Jun was surprised to see that she was not in a control room, or computer center, but in a bedroom.

She revised that thought. It wasn't so much a bedroom, as a hospital-style room. Medical equipment and bio-monitors lined the room. An institutional-looking bed occupied a corner of the room, and inside the bed, Jun saw a flash of purple.

Suddenly, Jun recalled the rumors that had reached the ISO. Katse really was ill! And it must be serious, if he couldn't even get out of bed.

Ayame tugged at her arm, and she realized that she had stopped moving. She reluctantly moved her feet again, hanging her head so that her hair covered her face.

"This is the girl, Sire." Ayame said, bowing.

A slim, red glove emerged from underneath the sheets, beckoning to Jun. For a second, she imagined that it was the hand of the Devil himself.

"I want to see her." rasped a voice. It was familiar to Jun, and yet not. This was more… frail… than she recalled.

Ayame shoved her toward the bed, and Jun shuffled forward, her head still bent low, in a vain attempt to avoid his gaze.

It didn't work.

"Show yourself!" commanded the voice. It was stronger this time, although it was obviously an effort for him to speak.

When Jun didn't move, Ayame gently, but firmly, pulled back her hair.

Jun stared at an all-too-familiar purple mask. One she had come to dread. But… it wasn't frightening now. The eyes behind it were weak, and tired, and its edges gaped, as if the person wearing it wasn't the true owner.

Suddenly Jun realized… it was not that this wasn't Katse… he was just painfully thin. He had a look of emaciation, even under his mask.

She had forgotten to be nervous, in her examination of the Galactor Leader. While she had been studying him, he had been studying her.

"Does she look… familiar?" Ayame asked.

"It's hard to say…" Katse replied, "Perhaps…"

A goon, wearing a white lab coat over his green uniform, entered the room, presenting a sheaf of papers to Ayame.

"The test results, Mistress." he said, softly, not wanting to disturb Lord Katse.

Ayame dismissed him with a flick of her finger, then perused the report.

Katse raised his eyes, then fixed them on the Devilstar with an impatient glare.

"Well?" he cried, "What does it say?"

"She is the one." Ayame said, bowing slightly as she spoke. "It has been confirmed."

"And?" Katse asked excitedly.

"She is a match." Ayame replied.

A match? A match for what? Jun's head spun with unanswered questions. They had confirmed that she was Miyuki's daughter, but what was she a match for?

A terrible thought entered her head… did they somehow have samples of the Science Ninja Team's DNA? Had they discovered her true identity? She began to shake in fear.

"Excellent." Katse said softly, a ghost of a smile crossing his face. "When can we begin?"

Another lab-coated goon stepped forward.

"You must undergo three days of prepatory treatments, Sire." he offered.

"Then let's get started!" Katse raged. "I've waited long enough, already!"

He turned to Jun with an evil smile.

"So…Jun Matsuo." he sneered, "You are of use to me. In three days, you will provide me with what I need."

"I don't understand…" Jun whispered.

"Lord Katse is ill." Ayame explained, after a nod from the Galactor Leader. "He requires an infusion of fresh bone marrow."

"Mine?" asked Jun, shocked.

"The chances of finding a random match are astronomical. We have already searched the public databanks, and tested everyone who is a part of Galactor." Ayame continued, ignoring Jun's question. "But you… you are a match."

"But… why me?" Jun blurted out, "What makes me so special?"

"It's simple." Katse laughed, his voice almost as strong as Jun remembered.

"You are my daughter."