Ken and Jun rode towards the coast line before she indicated that they turn down a dirt track that led to an old abandoned shack.
Jun indicted that he park the motor bike in the shed close by, and they walked into the shack, it was pitch black but she seemed to know where she was going as she flicked a hidden switch and the floor opened up in the corner of the room.
So this is the new base. He thought.
He hesitated, and in the shaft of light that came from the stairway she looked at him and frowned.
"What is this place Jun?" he asked looking at her, in the light she looked exhausted and very sad, her green eyes lacked their usual sparkle.
"In this, you have to trust me Ken." She said as she started to walk down the metal stair case. He sighed as he followed her and curiosity took over, he had better start getting some answers soon.
The metal staircase was longer than he thought, and when he reached the bottom he was surprise to see it open out into a large room.
There was furniture that he recognized from the apartment at the Snack J.
His sharp eyes took in the immediate surroundings, computer terminals were set up in one corner, and he could see a security camera with view screens.
There was a small kitchen towards the other back corner, and a corridor that led to other rooms further down a hall way.
He wondered how big this place really was. Ken stood at the bottom of the staircase observing the room when he spoke to her again.
"Where are Joe and Ryu?" was all he could think of to say, as he looked at the stranger that was Jun. She was not acting her normal self at all, and she was doing something in kitchen.
"They have to finish their shift at the club, it would look suspicious if they just up and left in the middle of it." She got out some milk and was making Hot Chocolates he noticed, and he felt a small warm smile come to his face, some things never change. She always liked to sit down and talk over a Hot Chocolate.
He walked over and stood in the kitchen entrance and watched her. "Have you contacted Jinpei and Dr. Nambu yet or is Joe taking care of that?"
She flinched at the question, and he felt a sudden guilt for asking it. He knew full well that she didn't have time to call them when he was with her the whole time, he was fishing for information, since she was not talking hardly at all too him.
"Here's you Hot Chocolate, would like to sit on the couch?" She forced a smile and he realized that it was more a statement than a question, but he followed her and they sat down together on the couch.
"This is good Jun, you always make a great Hot Chocolate" he smiled at her over the rim of the cup as he took a sip trying to lift her out of her current mood.
She gave him a weak smile, and they drank in silence for a few moments.
"Since when did schedules apply to the Science Ninja Team Jun, we always left when duty called us… Is that why Jinpei isn't here yet? What is his new cover?" His questions just kept coming.
She stopped drinking and her hands trembled as he took her cup out of her hands and put it down on the small table in front of them." That's something we need to talk about Ken," her voice cracked a little as she spoke, and she was staring into space as she picked up her cup again.
Ken had a dreadful feeling come over him as he watched Jun. "What's happened to him Jun." He couldn't keep the heavy emotion out of his voice as he spoke to her, and he moved closer to her.
Jun bit her bottom lip, and she closed her eyes," It happened about 3 years ago…It's a long story Ken… and Joe will have to fill you in on some of it, Galactor become too strong for us… too fast."
He stared at her as she slowly opened her eyes and looked at him." It was a terrible time Ken, Sosai X had left the planet just after you and Katse disappeared, he came back in within months though. With more creatures from his own planet before it was destroyed. He had put a new leader in charge, His name is Count Egobossler, he may not have been as creative as Berg Katse but he had better timing, and he is more cunning…"
She sighed and looked away from him." We had almost six months of peace; we thought that Galactor had collapsed from within. Joe was almost recovered from his surgery when we were called back into action again, before you ask me the surgery he had, that I think Joe should fill you in on it."
Now he had more questions. "So this Sosai X was the one running Galactor? Tell me more about Count Egobossler. And what happened to Berg Katse?" So many questions he needed answers too.
He got up from the couch and walked over to the security screens. They covered a good area around the hideout he noticed. Ken looked back at Jun as she responded to his question.
"He was a Leader that really managed to unite Galactor; with very different tactics…He had time to plan and infiltrated the ISO and the UN. We found out about Sosai X through a Galactor double agent that we captured, Joe… ahh talked to him and we found out that he apparently had planned to destroy the Earth if we come anywhere near Galactor Headquarters. We came close to finding headquarters, but we lost the God Phoenix in one of the battles…Then the imposter lured Jinpei and Dr.Nambu away from ISO headquarters. This all happened over two years…"
Joe had called him an imposter when he first saw him."Jun, who was this imposter?" He asked quietly as he came and sat down next to her again.
"A Cyborg and well made to your body shape, he was in your birdstyles and Jinpei must have thought you had come back. We don't know the full story still about how they were both fooled by the Cyborg." She was getting emotional by now.
"Jinpei was at the Mansion that day getting tuition…But we witnessed their death. Count Egobossler made sure we would see it. He has such an evil laugh."
She started to cry as she remembered it." On public television they exposed Jinpei's identity and then…" She stopped and put her hand over her mouth, and took a deep breath; Ken took her into his arms.
"You don't have to continue…" He said softy in her hair, it smelled like a mixture of old cigars and Lavender he held her close to him, as she buried her face in his shoulder as she spoke.
" They shot him… he looked like he had been tortured, but he declared boldly that they would never defeat the mighty Swallow and the Science Ninja Team…and then they killed Dr.Nambu.They left their bodies for us in an abandoned warehouse…Our contacts went in to retrieve them so that we would not fall into Galactor's trap…We had to continue fighting Galactor to revenge their deaths."
She cried into his shoulder until she was exhausted, he realized how exhausted they both were as she curled up next to him, his eyes had begun to feel like lead weights.
He would hear the rest from Joe and Ryu, and he felt hot tears for Jinpei and Dr.Nambu run down his cheeks as he comforted Jun, her wounds were still so fresh.
He began to feel a sudden wave of sleep take over him, as her crying subsided and she began to breathe more steadily.
Her eyes were closed, and he could tell she was falling asleep as she whispered in a voice full of despair,"Jinpei…I miss him Ken, he missed you so much…he used to say; Aniki will come back Onechan you'll see..." and sleep finally found him with a heavy heart, as he saw his little brothers smiling face flash before his eyes, maybe he would wake up from this and it would all be just a bad dream were his last thoughts before he drifted into a dreamless heavy sleep…
When Ken began to wake up from the deep sleep he found that he could not move his arms, so he lay there for a moment with his eyes closed listening to the sounds around him, he could hear Joe and Jun talking.
"We have to be sure it's him Jun, I know that you want it to be him, but what if they have developed another imposter… For all we know, they could have found a picture of him from around the time he went missing…look at him, he hasn't aged a bit!" Joe said as his voice moved closer to him.
"I know what your saying Joe."Jun had a desperate tone to her voice. "But why did we bring him here then? I did as you asked and gave him the sedative, but...but I just don't feel right about doing it that's all."
"We'll know very soon after Dr.Pandora has finished running the tests…I know it was risky bringing him here, but what else were we suppose to do? I hope he is the real Ken."
Ken decided it was time to make his presence know to them. "What do want me to do to prove to you it's me? "He opened his eyes and looked at them, that's when he noticed he was tied down to a metal table.
"Is this way to treat me after not seeing me for four years?" He spotted Ryu in the corner watching them."Ryu, undo these bonds now, Joe you have a lot of explaining to do, and right now I want to kick you arse so hard you won't walk for a week…and Jun…"His tone was filled with anger and frustration with his team mates, his eyes made contact with her and they told her what he thought about being drugged as she looked away in shame.
A petite young woman walked into the room and looked at them all, she was very pretty with short curly Auburn hair and blue eyes.
She looked at Joe and Jun and spoke to them directly before looking at Ken. "You may not believe this, but it is Ken, the DNA is a perfect match. He hasn't aged at all, why, I don't know."
"Now do you believe me? I'm telling you I went on my normal mail run and when I got back everything had changed." He tried to lift his arms again." How long was I out for Jun?" He shot her a look that made her flinch.
"Eight hours… I hoped we have the results back before you woke up." She looked at the floor in shame again as Ryu came over and started to undo the metal arm locks.
Ken looked at Jun again, and then at Joe as Ryu finished unlocking the cuffs his legs; Ryu took a hold of his arm to help him get his balance as he hopped off the table.
He took a quick look around and noticed he was in a lab as he addressed Jun. "You took a big risk Jun in bring me back here alone if I was an imposter, If I was I could have killed you before you could have drugged me… Did you think of that Joe?" He looked back at his second and waited for his answer, Joe didn't seem to have one for him.
"So, is this still the same place that you took me to earlier?" He tried to put some restraint in his voice even though he still wanted to punch Joe in the face for ordering Jun to drug him, and bring back to their hideout if the suspected that he could be Galactor agent.
Ken noticed the band aid on his arm were they had taken a blood sample from him, they were not in uniform either he noticed, but dressed in casual blue jeans and T-shirts without their wrist bands on, those things he had noticed the night before.
Joe answered him. "Yes this is the lab, it's quite a big underground base, it was built by the ISO over 20 years ago, but they never needed to use it… So it was kept top secret. Dr.Nambu told us one day about it not long before he died… I'm not sure why he did, he just one day he called us into his office and showed us the blue prints for it. He said that no one knew about it…"
"So, what has happened to the ISO now, and the government?" Ken had questions piling up in his mind.
Ryu yawned and looked at them all. "Lets go and get comfortable guys, looks like he will give us the third degree, and I'm hungry." Ken followed Ryu out into the corridor with Jun, Joe and Dr.Pandora falling in behind him.
They walked up to an elevator and got in, this place is huge, ken thought.
They arrived back into the living area again, a little girl who looked to be no older than six or seven was playing with her dolls, she looked up at them and smiled and then went back to playing.
"That's my daughter, we call her Sammie." Dr. Pandora said with love and pride in her voice. At the mention of her name Sammie looked up, she was pretty like her mother with blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Mamma promised to take me on a cruise ship, but took another Job instead, so dollies and I are on a cruise." The little girl stated with a pout as she looked at her dolls that were lined up.
Jun walked over and sat down next to her and played along,"Where are you traveling to Sammie?"
"Well," the little girl declared. "We are on the Queen Margaret, and we are going on a world trip, the next stop is Africa to see the lions!"
"Ohhh, Can I come too Sammie?" Jun asked her with excitement in her voice as she clapped her hands together.
"Of course you can Jun… Joe can come as well, and Ryu. I suppose you can invite him too." She was pointing at Ken. Jun smiled and got up and walked back to the rest of the team.
Pandora whispered to Jun."But the Queen Margaret was sunk about two years ago by Galactor, lucky I had to cancel the holiday because of my new commitments to the ISO." She said as she looked at Joe, and they exchanged a knowing smile; explain it to a child that has her heart set on going on a holiday. They had told her that the ship sank, but she always still went cruising on the ship in her imagination.
Ryu had prepared for everyone a meal, and they all sat down at the large table. They ate the pasta dish in silence for a while, and then Ken asked his first question.
"So, tell me about what is happening now, why you are all at the club? Jun mentioned a mission." He looked at the faces of all the team and his gaze settled on Joe, who had obviously taken command while he was gone.
Joe responded looking him back in the eye." We found out that Count Egobossler…Jun told me she filled you in on him… Likes to go to that club when he is in Utoland running the military and the government, I'm not sure if she told you that President Anderson is also dead…" Ken flinched at that, another thing to add to reasons they had to keep fighting Galactor.
Joe gave a sarcastic smile as he continued, avoiding looking at Jun as he made his next statment."He has quite an appetite for women from what I hear. He has not been there during the time we have been on the mission at the club, but we have found out that it is defiantly run by Galactor and Devil Stars dancers there as well." Joe took another mouthful of pasta as Ken processed the information.
"Who told you that Count Egobossler went there?" Ken was still not convinced about it as he waved his fork at Joe.
"Well," Joe sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his head.
" We have other contacts in the Resistance. The most reliable are the Lone Gunman apparently those three geeks have been feeding the ISO with information for years. They made contact with us through who knows what source after Dr.Nambu died… They warned us that Galactor knew we wore the uniform, and our wrist bands could be easily identified." Joe went back to finishing his pasta.
"The Lone Gunman? Tell me more about this Resistance…" Ken mused more to himself, maybe they were a contact of Dr.Nambu's, he a few that Ken knew of, but he didn't know all of them.
"Do they know you identies?"Ken was curious about this group, and how much trust the team had in them.
"Yes" Jun responded, "it was how they contacted us. They knew to find me at the Snack J and told me I had to get out of there, ASAP. They had accessed records to try and find us; it's amazing the fire walls in programs that these guys can break through. But they feared for us, and wanted to help us. They had to convince Joe that they were not Galactor…poor John…"Jun almost laughed as she remembered an inside joke that she had with Joe.
He raised an eyebrow at her and gave her an affectionate smile. Ken had a jealous wave rush over him as he realized they had grown close in his absence. How close he intended to find out.
Ken chose not pry into that bit of trivia; he needed other information about the Resistance.
Before he could ask Ryu started to talk. "Well Ken, they are a group of former ISO and UN workers, Galactor disbanded any group that they felt was a threat to them. They started to execute anyone that would not work for them, so ISO and some UN people went underground. The only ones who know our identities are the Lone Gunman. But to the rest we still remain anonymous too. We have contact but only in birdstyles, or when we pose as just another ISO Resistance worker." Ryu had finished his pasta, and was back at the pot looking for more.
Ken was trying to get this all straight in his head and he must have had a hard look of concentration on his face, because of Jun's next comment.
"A penny for your thoughts…" Jun asked.
"Huh"was his response."Ohh…Just putting all the pieces of this puzzle together. I think I understand it all now, but I guess you may still have to fill me in on things at times."
Joe's expression was his usual hard stare again as he began to question Ken about where he had been for four years.
"Ken It still make absolutely no sense to me that you some how lost four years, like there was not time variance for you at all…Tell us more about your flight that day, did anything unusual happen."
Ken had not thought much about his mail run the previous day, since he got back all he could think about was the sudden change in the world around him, Joe had now begun the process of making him think back to yesterday.
"Well" his thought went immediately back to the storm. "I got caught up in freak storm that played with my instruments but that was the only thing…"he suddenly had a thought about that storm and his eyes met Ryu's.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking boss?"Ryu asked him, being a pilot Ryu was aware of weather patterns.
"Maybe Ryu, what are you thinking." He asked still addressing him.
Ryu scratched his head in thought. "That storm could have something to do with it, maybe." He said becoming doubtful and he looked nervously at Joe.
But Ken had more thought on that unusual storm, he had a gut feeling that it had a lot to do with why he was here in this future world and he was going to find out why, first he needed to find out about the weather patterns and they needed to contact these Lone Gunman.
Ken was going to solve this and get Galactor shaking in their boots, and then there was the mystery of Katse disappearing at the same time as he did….