Fortunately, the God Phoenix had been adequately repaired and was ready for departure. The Swan hadn't even needed the entire thirty minutes she had asked for. The Owl reported similar status at the engine core.
As soon as they had called the all-clear, the other three members of the Science Ninja Team boarded, everyone taking their seats and preparing for departure; the standard round of checks being performed as briskly and efficiently as usual.
But today was different.
Today, the Eagle hadn't looked at anyone as he had boarded, and there was an indefinable tension in the air. Or was the Swan just imagining it?
Looking at the tightness in the Condor's jaw, she knew she wasn't.
The trip to New Jork was a short one, and she was kept busy analyzing the data reports that had come in to the ISO about this unknown ship. Apparently it had landed in the middle of Times Square, which meant that it wasn't the usual massive Galactor mecha.
Digging further, she discovered images of the craft, taken only minutes ago, showing that it was a smooth, unbroken sphere, silver in color, approximately five meters in diameter. The local authorities had cordoned the area off, and were attempting to evacuate as many citizens as possible, but the curiosity of the average Amerian (not to mention the Amerian reporters) were making such a thing difficult.
When they were less than a kilometer away, the God Phoenix came into scanning range, and the Swan initiated an analysis of her own, assisted by the Swallow. The results of their work made her gasp.
"Ken, it's a bomb!" she cried, turning to face the front of the Bridge and address the Eagle. "It's powerful enough to obliterate the entire city of New Jork! We have to begin evacuation procedures immediately!"
"I'm on it." the Condor replied, sending out a transmission to the ISO's local branch, and the relevant authorities.
"What do you recommend...?"
The Eagle's words were cut off as an image of a purple-masked madman filled the main viewscreen.
"Greetings, people of New Jork!" laughed Berg Katse. "I sent you a gift. Isn't it beautiful?" An image of the silver sphere appeared momentarily, before returning to the Galactor Leader. "In case you haven't already guessed, it's a bomb! If the ISO doesn't hand over all of the data on their Mantle Plan to Galactor in the next twenty minutes, it will go off! And then, no more New Jork!"
The image abruptly ended, and the Science Ninja Team looked at each other in horror.
"Jun, can you defuse the bomb?" the Eagle asked sharply, attempting to get a grip on their options.
"I think so..." the Swan's fingers flew across the controls as she analyzed the bomb's capabilities. "Yes. I can, but..."
"But what?" Gatchaman asked.
"The interior of the bomb... it's heat sensitive." the Swan explained. "Any rise in temperature, even a few hundredths of a degree, could cause it to go off prematurely."
"It's not that big! That could happen just by having someone enter the thing!" the Swallow exclaimed.
"Not if that person were wearing an insulating cold suit." Jun replied. "I could do it, Ken."
"Then you will." the Eagle nodded. "Suit up. We're approaching the area."
"Roger!"
The Swan ran to the back of the God Phoenix, locating the appropriate environmental gear to mask her body heat, and began putting it on.
"Status?" came Ken's voice from her wrist.
"I'm almost ready." the Swan replied. "Make sure you monitor the interior temperature of the bomb. If it changes even a hundredth of a degree, I'll have to alter my temperature controls. You'll need to keep a sharp eye on it."
"We will."
"I appreciate it."
The joke had been weak, but even so, it fell flat. Normally Ken would have said something encouraging to her, but today he was all business. It wasn't until now that she realized how even his usual dutiful exterior had always held some warmth for her.
Now that warmth was gone.
She pushed the thought from her mind. It was her body warmth she had to worry about now. Suited up, she moved toward the G-4, where the Swallow was waiting to transfer her down to the ground and the waiting time bomb.
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The Eagle, the Condor, and the Owl kept their eyes glued to the viewscreen, watching the G-4 approach the silver device and let the Swan out in her environmental gear. She approached the sphere, accessing a panel on the exterior. The Swallow sprayed the air around her with cooling gasses as she opened it and went inside, before closing the panel behind her.
"We have ten minutes before Katse's deadline." the Condor announced grimly.
"Interior temperature at 15.26 degrees Celsius." the Eagle reported. "Her entrance didn't alter it."
"Good." Ryu breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes glued to the temperature readout. On the ground, the Swallow paced nervously back and forth outside of his vehicle, ready for a quick getaway, if necessary.
"I'm in." the Swan's voice crackled over their bracelets. "It's a pretty standard Galactor design, other than the size and heat-sensitive atmosphere. It's not going to be a problem. Just keep an eye on that temperature."
"You can trust us, Jun." the Condor replied, just before the transmission ended.
"What do you mean by that?" the Eagle asked coldly, turning around in his seat to glare at the Condor.
"Just what I said." the Condor snorted. "We'll keep her safe."
"If you say so." the Eagle replied derisively.
"Look, Ken, just because you're sore about last night..."
"I'm not sore!" the Eagle growled, in a tone that clearly stated that he was.
The Owl was gaping at both of them, his head swiveling back and forth in amazement.
"Whatever you say, Ken." the Condor stated disbelievingly.
"We made an agreement." the Eagle said flatly. "And I expect you both to stick to your sides of it."
"Whoever said we wouldn't?" the Condor asked. "Don't you trust us?"
"I did trust you... and then last night I discovered that..."
"Don't blame this on me, Ken! It's not my fault you're such a cold-hearted, pig-headed slave to duty!"
"What did you call me?"
The tension between the two men was palpable, and the Owl shook in fear, uncertain of what was occurring between his two commanding officers.
A harsh, beeping sound cut through the angry silence on the Bridge.
"The temperature!" Ryu cried, turning back to the readout at his station. "Jun, alter your suit by three hundredths of a degree downward..."
"Altering." came the Swan's voice, cool and professional, with none of the panic the Owl was displaying. "I defused the bomb, so everything should be just... what's going on?"
The silver sphere was vibrating, and without warning it began to spin rapidly.
"Jinpei, get the hell out of there!" screamed Ken into his bracelet. The Swallow was already back inside of the G-4, and the yellow and red buggy shot up toward the God Phoenix as quickly as it could.
"Jun! Jun!" the Eagle tried to contact the Swan on his bracelet. But the communication channel had gone dead.
"We have to get Jun out of there!" Joe shouted. "I'm going down..."
"If you do that, we'll all die!" Ken yelled. "You're staying here, and the God Phoenix is leaving! That's an order, Joe! And Ryu, you take off the moment Jinpei is back!"
The G-4 docked, and a shaking Owl pushed his control levers, sending the God Phoenix rocketing away from the area.
"No, I won't...we can't..." the Condor protested, even as they moved away. His fist was raised, ready to strike at the Eagle.
But the Condor's words were cut off as a large burst of green fire and smoke shot out of the top of the silver sphere, which was still displayed on the main viewscreen. Yet it wasn't an explosion...
"Plasma jets!" The Owl's jaw dropped.
And then the sphere dropped into the ground, and out of sight.
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Inside the sphere, its sudden spinning descent into the ground hurled Jun up against its interior. Its initial blast of speed diminished somewhat, and the spinning slowed, but she sensed that it was still tunneling deep into the ground at a rapid speed. Where was it taking her?
Suddenly it stopped descending; but after a few seconds of stillness, it began moving again, this time in a sideways direction, at the same high velocity. At least it was no longer spinning. Was she in some kind of tunnel now? She raised her bracelet to her mouth, to contact the others, but…
What was that?
A hissing sound came from inside the sphere. Jun looked up in alarm to see a cloudy white gas flowing into the sphere from tiny vents all over its interior; too many for her to possibly be able to block them all up.
Poison? At the very least it was certainly some kind of knock-out gas. Either way, she was determined to inhale as little of it as possible.
Fortunately, she was trained for this; they all were. Being able to stay under water for extended periods of time, staying alive in enclosed air-tight spaces, resisting being gassed… She could do it.
But not indefinitely. Every second was vital; contacting the team would have to wait.
She lay down on the floor and began the exercises to slow her heart rate, lower her metabolism, and breathe as little as possible. She knew that she was being taken somewhere, and she wanted to still be alive, and conscious, when she got there.
Minutes went by, how many she couldn't be sure; she was in a trance-like state, only minimally aware of her surroundings, breathing very, very slowly...
Was her bracelet chiming?
But she could feel her mind clouding, her surroundings fading...
The gas was too strong, or there was too much of it; she wasn't going to be able to hold out...
Noises, faint as if from far, far away... barely registering in her befuddled mind...
She fought it; fought the grey and fuzzy void that sought to swallow her mind; it seemed the sphere had stopped moving... she could hear noises... voices... very faint... it was all fading away...
But with the last vestige of thought and movement she possessed, she rapped her bracelet hard against the floor of the sphere.
Birdscramble...
And all was dark.
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