The idea for this story came out of an e-mail exchange I had with Lori McDonald in early March 1998. Barely four days after it was first broached, I had a plot which wouldn't let me go and which left me writing obsessively over twenty days.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Lori, for her encouragement, comments, and insightful beta-reading. If it weren't for her, this piece would never have been completed. I'd also like to thank Ayako, for her web page with her post production notes which gave me the framing piece for Part 1.
Again, this piece of Fan fiction carries an R(A) rating. I have not been graphic, so the R(A) is for disturbing imagery in connection with rape.
The departure from the official Gatchaman universe takes place during the first Gatchaman series, Episode 26 --Godpheonix Come Back to Life. This is the episode where Ryu is relieved of his status as a member of the Kagaku Ninjatai and Ken encounters him during a mission, only to be captured by the Galactors.
Key: " ... " Normal Speech; ... > Thoughts; { ... } Brief
Flash back; [ ... ] Written Text.
Opportunities
by Jacque Koh
Beta-read by Lori McDonald
Ken groaned as he slowly swam back into consciousness. He had no idea how long he had been out, or even where he was. For the moment, he was only aware that his nose itched and his throat burned from the after effects of the knockout gas. The last thing he remembered was being surrounded by a red mist before darkness enveloped him.
As he slowly eased himself back into awareness of his surroundings, Ken had little doubt in his mind that he was a Galactor prisoner and that thought sent a surge of adrenaline through his veins.
Why so pessimistic?> The irrelevant thought pricked at his consciousness as feeling returned to his body.
Well for one, Washio. If you were safely back at base, you wouldn't be feeling this cold. Two, you'd be lying on a bed and not on a metal floor. Three, you'd be able to move your arms.>
The dull ache of having his arms held over his head started to make itself felt. He bit back a groan from the stab of pain caused by the restored circulation.
A cursory tug informed him that his wrists were manacled with the chain length probably looped to a restraining bolt. His ankles were similarly secured, but he had not been stretch out. That surprised him, he couldn't recall any reports of the Galactors ever restraining their prisoners on the floor or even allowing them that much play with the chains.
There was just enough slack to twist around and move, but not enough to bring his hands to his belt where he had lock picks. Not that he really needed the lock picks to free his hands from the manacles, but it would have been much easier and faster to work with them. The ankle restraints were another matter.
Wish I could see what they have around my ankles. Why is it so dark? Dark? Wait a minute-->
Ken slammed into full consciousness with the impetus of fear. A blindfold! They removed my helmet?! But how?> He fought back the edge of panic at the implications.
Gatchaman was exposed! His identity was surely compromised! The Galactors must have taken his picture and traced his real identity by now.
Restraints aside, Ken never felt more helpless in his life. His civilian life was not much to crow about, but it had at least been a retreat from the responsibilities that belonged to Gatchaman. With his identity exposed, that life was now forever denied to him. He had no other sanctuary from the war.
Somehow, Ken managed to quell these thoughts. It did nothing to help his situation and he would be no help to the others if he didn't escape first. He had the team to consider. Nambu had to be notified of the uniform's flaw. Ryu was still a prisoner somewhere on the base...
Ken cursed himself for his foolishness for not calling for backup. Joe and the others had no way of knowing where to even start looking for them. Ken was bitterly aware that he and Ryu were going to have to depend on themselves to get out of this mess.
First things' first, Washio. Think you've recovered enough to at least do *something*? Let's see what kind of mess you got yourself into.>
He gripped the chains in his hands and prepared to pull himself towards the bolt nearer his head. Again he had to puzzle over why there was enough slack in the restraints to allow him to pull his hands into reach of the blindfold.
As he slid over the smooth floor, a nagging feeling of deficiency screamed at him. He froze just short of reaching his blindfold when he realized what was missing as he rolled on his side. The familiar pressure of the belt was no longer around his waist.
An edge of fear intruded in his thoughts. The rest of his uniform was still intact, but if the Galactors found out that much about how to remove his helmet and belt, how far--?
A door opened to the far left and Ken heard as much as felt the approach of several soldiers from the slight trembling of the floor. Someone grabbed his foot and pulled him down, jerking his hands out of reach of the blindfold once more and making him land on his front.
"Finally awake, Gatchaman? You must find our hospitality much to be desired, but we do hope you'll enjoy the--entertainment Katse-sama has asked us to arrange on your behalf."
A harsh laugh surrounded him and he sensed the soldiers moving to encircle his position. Ken was sure that the Galactor interrogation teams were much smaller and less clamorous. The whole ordeal was confusing him, nothing he had ever read on Galactors' dealing with prisoners fit with his current situation.
Ryu's unadorned feet padded softly down the lonely corridors of the base. He hadn't met anyone since he escaped his cell and he wondered how much longer his luck would hold before the alarm was raised.
Ryu frowned in puzzlement at the deserted nature of the base.
Must be the night shift, or something. It's like there's minimal staff up and about.>
He hugged the walls, moving with all the stealth he had learned from the ISO trainers. He may not be a member of Kagaku Ninjatai anymore, but that did not mean he had given up any of his abilities with the loss of status.
Luck stayed with him when he heard the sound of voices from one of the rooms ahead. As he crept closer, Ryu had to fight to hold back his crow of joy when he realized that he was nearing the control and communications center. Somewhere in there, he'd be able to learn where his commander--where Gatchaman was being held.
At least one of the voices was familiar to him.
"Very good, base commander. You are achieving better time than you earlier estimated. You are already weeks ahead of schedule."
"Thank you, Katse-sama. We hope this means you won't mind that I've given the men more--time off to rest and entertain themselves."
"But of course."
Katse? Giving them a day off? I thought the man was a slave driver?>
"So how went your first session with Gatchaman?"
First session?>
The base commander laughed appreciatively. "You were right to caution us, Katse-sama. Gatchaman is as dangerous as his reputation. We had a fighter and a biter on our hands. The boy almost gelded a few of our men and he actually managed to slip free of his restraints twice!"
"Fortunately for us, we were able to overpower him through sheer numbers. But he did come close to escaping once. We counted three dead, with five more in the infirmary and the casualties would have been greater if he hadn't been encumbered."
What's he talking about?> Ryu looked around the door cautiously, to see the base commander speaking to the image on the screen. Ryu's eyes widened when he saw Ken's helmet and belt on the floor, apparently tossed there carelessly by the base commander.
"I know you didn't want us to drug him, Katse-sama, but it was much safer for us all to use the drugs, dispense with the restraints, and just dedicate some of the men to holding him down."
"Whatever is effective, commander. Did you--"
"As you commanded." The base commander grinned as he slipped a digital video disk into the console and started the play back. "Please, allow me to show you the highlights."
Ryu clamped a hand over his mouth. He was barely able to hold back his cry of outrage, when the side screens started playing.
Katse's attention was turned to one side as if he was watching a different monitor. A smile of amusement painted his lips.
"Quite a feisty lad, don't you think." The base commander tapped a few more keys. "We managed to get a few good sequences--"
Ryu squeezed his eyes shut as involuntary tears of horror welled up in his eyes. Oh god, Ken.>
"What? No screams or cursing from our bird in bondage?"
"Not for lack of trying on our part. And if Gatchaman cried at all, the blindfold would have soaked up his tears." The base commander shrugged as he fast-forwarded the recording a few more times. "Ahh, here it is. As you can see, the drugs softened our caged bird's song and they did save us from losing too much more blood."
It took all of Ryu's acclaimed strength to stop himself from charging forward and squashing the base commander like a bug. But the distance between him and the hated Galactor was too far. Katse would see him first and raise the alarm.
He was unarmed. And if the base was roused, Ryu couldn't be sure that he could take them all on alone without the bird style. He had to bide his time, if not for his own survival, then for Ken's sake. First, he needed to find out where the Galactors were holding him.
"It is *too* obvious that Gatchaman has been drugged, commander."
"But he does struggle more erotically, don't you think? Unfortunately, it also makes it more difficult to revive him."
"And currently?"
"When we were unable to revive Gatchaman, we replaced the restraints and left him in his cell under guard. It would probably be another three to four hours before we can continue."
"Carry on then. He *will* break eventually. What ever happens, you will still prepare him for my arrival, commander."
"He will remain unmarked as commanded."
"Very good. That is a privilege I reserve for myself alone." Katse smiled maliciously, "Send me the disk at earliest opportunity. In the mean time, keep it safely, commander. It will be a valuable tool to our propaganda department."
"Of course, Katse-sama."
With that, Berg Katse's face disappeared from the screen, leaving the base commander alone with the recording on the side screens. He chuckled to himself as he replayed choice bits for his own viewing pleasure, the feverish cries and taunting of the Galactor soldiers drowned out any telltale sound of an intrusion in the room.
Without warning, the base commander's head was smashed into one of the screens. Not with enough force to kill him though, but enough to crack the screen and stop one playback.
"Where are you holding him?"
Ryu almost couldn't recognize his own growling utterance. He was angry, his blood was near boiling point and the Galactor commander was made fully aware of the raging gray eyes that bore through him.
"Where is he?"
Ryu was hardly aware of the trickle of moisture at his feet as the gibbering commander croaked out the answer he wanted.
With an almost casual gesture, Ryu snapped the Galactor's neck and threw the corpse away from him in disgust. The second screen still played it's hated recording, mocking him with its existence.
Ryu could not withhold his anger any longer. He smashed his fists through the console, ripping and tearing at the guts of the spluttering machine until he could rent the offending video disk from its carriage. He first snapped the disk into two, then broke it once more into quarters. Ryu continued folding and breaking the disk into as small a piece as his great hands could manage.
No one is ever going to see that sick monstrosity. *No one*!!>
Ryu dropped the shiny bits of material into the spluttering console and looked down at his cut and bleeding hands, which still trembled before him. He clenched them into fists as he turned away from the console and glanced about him guiltily. In his distraction, he could have allowed a Galactor patrol to sneak up on him and take him down. Then where would he be? No use to his commander, that's for sure.
His luck held out so far. No alarms sounded for his rash destruction of the console. But then again, the base was half finished. The necessary alarm systems were probably not completed yet.
Ryu grabbed up Ken's helmet and belt from the floor and started towards the exit, stopping only long enough to wipe his feet on the corpse. He wasn't going to dwell on his good fortune, it might not last forever and Ken needed him now!
"Ryu?"
The big man froze when he saw the white winged figure slip in through the door to face him.
"Ken, oh my God. Ken, are you all right?" Ryu couldn't stop his eyes from being drawn towards the marks of crusted fluid and blood that adorned his commander's usually pristine white uniform. "You're blee--"
"The blood's not mine. You--know don't you?" Ken asked quietly turning his face away. He let his brown hair fall over his face. Hair that usually fell softly about his face was now too obviously streaked with filth and muck.
Ken wouldn't look at him. Ryu didn't know what to say to him, it was already too late to lie.
"Um, I--er--have your helmet and belt."
"Thanks." Ken accepted the items from him, still refusing to look at Ryu.
It wasn't until he had the belt back in its usual position, and the helmet on, that Ken turned to meet his eyes. "We have to get you out of here, Ryu. I remembered seeing scuba gea--"
It was just at this moment when their luck ran out. Katse's face appeared on the still intact main screen.
"Commander, I find myself too impatient to wait for-- Who are you?!"
An alarm klaxon began to wail through the base and a thunder of approaching feet sounded from the corridor.
"Ryu, close the doors."
Ryu obligingly launched himself at the part of the console, which still existed and managed to find the controls to seal them in.
"You are trapped, Gatchaman. Even as I speak the crew of the Black Ray are boarding for launch. They can easily bring the ship around to destroy the base. It would be no loss to me, Gatchaman. The base is only half finished. Surrender."
"No." Ryu snarled, "No surrender, I would rather die."
Ken glanced over at Ryu for a moment before he turned his attention back to Katse.
"The Black Ray hasn't finished boarding yet, has it?" He smiled at the Galactor leader, as he touched a few keys, "You know, Katse. If we opened all the water ports now, everyone on this base will drown."
"That includes yourself!"
"Oh shut up!" Ryu hurled a chair at the monitor, shattering it.
Seawater flooded into the base and swamped the Black Ray with all aboard. Ken and Ryu were quickly aware of the effects of the open water ports as seawater started to seep under the door.
"I'm sorry Ryu, I wanted to give you a chance to leave."
"I couldn't be happier to die side by side with a braver man."
"Then I should make sure the others are aware of your bravery and sacrifice, Owl Ryu." Ken raised his wrist communicator, "Nambu Hakase, this is Gatchaman... "
But they cheated death again that day. With Ken's transmission, Joe managed to find the stricken base and bring the God Phoenix close enough for Jinpei to go in after them in his space buggy.
It had been close. Jinpei had reached them just as the water had closed over their heads.
Ryu didn't say anything about what he had witnessed. By the time the others saw Ken, any outward traces of his ordeal had been washed away by the seawater. He was content to let Ryu bask in the warmth and admiration of his village.
Nambu himself had flown in to present Ryu with his communicator and welcome him back to the Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman. Joe and the others could only express their relief to have them back. Though Jinpei could not resist adding a jab at Joe for his rather turbulent piloting. Ken and Ryu grinned and laughed at the antics of the pair.
For a moment, the events of the last few days were easily forgotten in their camaraderie. No one noticed Ryu's surreptitious glance at his commander to see if his ordeal had left any noticeable impression on his person. If Ken was under any strain, he hid it well.
As he piloted the God Phoenix back to Crescent Coral, Ryu wondered if his commander would approach Dr. Nambu later, or if he would remain silent. While Jinpei's attention had been on piloting his space buggy back to the God Phoenix, Ryu had promised Ken that he wouldn't say anything about what had happened to him. Now Ryu had to wonder if the promise would do more harm than good for his commander.
After giving over his command chair to Nambu, Ken had stood behind it, leaning his arms lightly on the back of the chair. He stayed in that position on the entire flight back and it quickly became apparent that he had fallen asleep. The others had loathed waking him for the boring flight.
The first indication the others got that something was wrong was when they landed.
"Hey commander, wake up! We're home."
Ken didn't stir to Joe's yell.
"Ken?"
Ryu growled and he left his seat to stand beside the white winged figure. "Kuso! He said he'd be all right."
The others were already on their feet in alarm. Ryu ignored them as he concentrated on gently unhooking Ken's arms from the back of the seat and cradling the slumbering figure in his arms.
"Ryu, what happened to Ken?" Nambu had come around the chair to take a closer look at Ken.
"He said he was okay. The bastards drugged him to--stop him from escaping." Ryu managed to bite back his angry words.
"Let me take him." Joe offered as he also left his seat to approach them, "You still have to lock down the God Phoenix."
"No. That's okay, I'll--I'll take him. Can you lock down the old girl, Joe?"
They stared at him in surprise. Ryu loved the ship and unless he was incapacitated, he usually insisted on carrying out the procedure himself.
"I feel responsible for this, okay?! It's--just this once, so don't expect me to give these chances away so easily--please, Joe?"
"S--sure. Don't make it a habit though." A sly grin touched his lips, "I might like it so much, I won't let you fly her."
"You're gonna have ta fight me for her, Joe." Ryu responded automatically.
In spite of himself, Ryu chuckled when he heard Jun push Joe aside to take Ryu's seat.
"Better let me do the lock down, Joe. The only controls you really know are the ones for the bird missiles and we know how pissed Hakase will be with us if we trash the docking bay."
"Hey! I *flew* the God Phoenix."
"And Jinpei and I are so grateful we survived the experience, we will be praying to the high heavens for the rest of our lives."
Ryu didn't catch Joe's reply, because by that time he and Nambu had entered the lift to be taken to the Infirmary level.
Nambu performed a cursory examination of Ken as he lay in Ryu's arms.
"Ryu, what happened?"
"He was--drugged. May--maybe interrogated."
Ryu was cursing himself inwardly. He could tell from Nambu's expression that the doctor knew he wasn't being told everything.
They continued their journey to one of the teams' high security recovery rooms in silence.
"Over there." Nambu gestured for the bed while he went straight for the medical cart to select the equipment he needed.
The trouble began when Ryu tried to lay Ken on the bed. He had been forgetful enough to try and place Ken down rump first. Ken immediately surged forward in pain back into Ryu's arms. He barely avoided the lashed out fist when Ken felt Ryu's arms reach around him.
"Ken, it's Ryu." The big guy did his best to avoid the buffet of limbs, "Ken, we're at Crescent Coral. You're okay. It's Ryu. Ken, it's Ryu."
Nambu was frozen in shock. He didn't want to believe what he was witnessing and the implications, which were screaming at him.
"Ryu, let me stand." Ken gasped as he stopped struggling. "It hurts. Please let me stand."
Ryu helped him up again and let him lean against him. "There's a shower here, Ken."
Ken nodded and looked up to notice Nambu silently staring at him.
"Ken, what--did Katse--?" The controlled fury behind the words was unmistakable.
Ken looked away. Nambu desperately wanted to have his suspicions disproved. He wanted Ken to *not* confirm the thoughts, which had suddenly lanced into his mind.
It looked as if Ken was gathering himself together first, before he finally turned his gaze back to lock eyes with his mentor.
"I was gang raped. The--rapists were--all drowned with the destruction of the base."
The words were spoken quietly, but to the other two men it sounded as if they had been shouted in their face.
Nambu's face had gone very pale and his hands gripped the medical cart as if to keep him from falling.
"If you don't mind, Hakase, I think I need a shower."
Ken gently but firmly extracted himself from the encirclement of Ryu's arms and entered the adjoining bathroom.
The sound of the shower starting jerked Nambu from his shocked silence. He stumbled over to the visitor's chair and sank into it.
"Wha--what do you know of--of this, Ryu?"
"I--I saw some of it. The Galactors recorded it. But I destroyed the recordings, Hakase. No one need ever know."
Nambu looked up at him expectantly. Since Ken had voiced it himself, Ryu felt no more need to keep his silence with their mentor.
"He tried to fight them off, Hakase. But there were--there were too many of them. They drugged him... " Ryu could not meet his eyes anymore. "I don't think Ken wants the others to worry, Hakase."
Nambu looked back at the shower, his face suddenly haggard and pale.
"Ryu, keep the others occupied. Let me talk to Ken. I--I'll let you know when he'll be ready to face them again."
"I won't say anything to them, Hakase."
"I know you won't, Ryu. Tell them--tell them that I need to run Ken through detox. Clean the drugs out of his system. That isn't a lie. I--I'll talk to you again later if he's--if--Just--keep them away."
"Hai."
"Why can't we visit Aniki no Ken?" Jinpei wailed as he despondently moped about the Crescent Coral family room.
"Jinpei, you know detox can be a trying enough procedure. Ken doesn't need us hovering around him and making him feel like an invalid. You know he hates that." Jun didn't look up from the magazine she was flipping through for the fourth time since they entered the room.
She shuddered inwardly, thinking of her own experiences in detox after some missions. The tubes that had to be run though them to clean the blood was bad enough, but the controlled air intake mask to make sure no traces of residual gas were left in their system was murder. She could almost feel the rise of a sympathetic line of pimples on her face where the uncomfortable mask had to be clamped on over nose and mouth.
"But that was ages ago! Detox doesn't take *that* long."
A fact they all knew as well. Which meant some complications must have arisen and they really wanted to know what was going on. But Ken would be cranky enough with the tubes and mask, to want spectators watching as well.
"Hakase, will tell us when we can see him." Ryu took another swig of beer. "He probably has a few tests he wants to run first."
Joe hadn't said anything yet, but he was looking at Ryu rather intensely.
"Hitting the beer a bit early aren't you, Ryu?"
Ryu managed to hold back his flinch as he placed the now empty bottle beside the ones at his feet. "Galactor hospitality stinks. I didn't have a beer in three days. I have some catching up to do."
"I suppose."
The minutes ticked by again. Ryu contemplated getting another beer from the bar, but decided that Joe would probably start asking probing questions if he did. The reek of suspicion was just rolling off the Kagaku Ninjatai second-in-command.
"Ryu... "
The swishing slid of the door never sounded so welcomed to Ryu. Clearly, it was enough to draw Joe's attention away from him when Dr. Nambu entered the room. Ryu noted that their mentor looked much better than he did several hours ago. He was even at ease enough to smile at the clamor Jinpei created when the boy saw him.
"So? How's Aniki no Ken? Is he all right? Can we see him? How come you took such a long time?"
Nambu waved the questions off, "We weren't familiar with the drugs Galactor used this time. But it's been resolved and I've given him a clean bill of health. We still want to keep him under observation for a while though."
"Can we see him, Hakase?" Jun carefully placed the magazine down and turned towards him.
"Of course."
"Yeeaaaa!"
"Jinpei!" Jun missed catching their G4 as he tore out of the room.
"We'd better catch up with him before he knocks Ken out of his bed." Joe pushed himself out of his chair and started in a dead run after the boy.
Jun was only two steps behind him.
"Hakase?"
Dr. Nambu's facade slipped for just a moment as he turned towards Ryu. "He says he's all right and he can deal with it. Ken doesn't want it to become a team problem."
Ryu nodded and started for the door.
"Ryu?"
"Hakase?"
"Are you--sure you destroyed all the recordings?"
"There was only one disk." Ryu's face grew black at the hated memory. "I tore it into as many pieces as I was able to and it's now at the bottom of the sea."
Nambu nodded and waved him off.
After he was left alone, Nambu went to the bar and poured himself three fingers of whisky.
Dear lord,> He downed the alcohol in one gulp, should I tell Kentaro what I've let happen to his son?>
Ryu nodded to the guard before he entered the recovery room to see Ken, who was looking only a touch pale as he was propped up on the bed with half a dozen pillows.
"Feels worse each time doesn't it?" He heard Joe ask him.
"Gods. You'd think it would be easier to just give me a complete blood transfusion. Hakase must have run my blood through that damn machine *three* times. At least he let me ditch the mask."
Jun chuckled at his exasperated expression as she occupied the only visitor's chair in the room. She turned to Jinpei who was now perched at the foot of the bed with the remote control for the TV.
"Jinpei, is *this* why you wanted to come see Ken? For the TV in the bedroom?"
"Hey, that's not true." But Jinpei didn't even take his attention off the tube as he flipped through the channels.
"Leave him alone, Jun." Ken laughed as he nudged the boy through the blankets with his toe. "Jinpei, you do realize there are no games on this console?"
"None? That's criminal! You should complain to the management."
They all laughed. Ken looked towards the door where Ryu stood. The big guy's expression was still troubled and he was a little surprised at the change, which Ken had effected for them.
"You can come in Ryu. He's not going to bite." Joe called over to him.
Ryu was the only one who saw the slight muscle twitch on Ken's face.
"I'm sorry." The words were blurted out before he could stop them.
Ken closed his eyes and shook his head in dismissal of his statement.
"For what?"
"I should have told you--" Ryu rushed to his side and knelt beside the bed.
"And *I* should have called for backup before I followed you." Ken waved away his apology, but his eyes caught Ryu's with an intensity that prevented Ryu from looking away, "You couldn't have done anything to prevent my capture, Ryu. Even with backup, I would have still been a prisoner for at least several hours."
"*None* of this is your fault, Ryu." Ken reached out to grip his shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze.
"I still feel responsible."
"Don't think of it."
"I'm sor--"
"Ryu." Ken gave him a gentle shake. "As your commander, I am ordering you to drop it. You are blameless. And I *mean* it."
The silence was deafening, broken only by the noise from the TV as Jinpei continued to channel surf.
"Hey! Cartoons! All right! They're showing the classic Looneytunes."
"I like Bugs."
"Oh, I could imagine you and Katse in the Rabbit season, Duck season exchange, Joe." Ken grinned slyly.
"'Wabbit.' 'Duck, fire!' Bang! That was a classic. But you, I could see as 'Duck Dodgers of the 24th and a half century!'"
"Naahh, Marvin. He's the one I wanted to be as a kid, 'Where's the Ka-boom? There was suppose to be an earth shattering, Kaboom?'"
The atmosphere of the room turned boisterous as they tried to outdo each other with impersonations of the old cartoons.
Maybe I've been worrying too much.> Ryu thought to himself. It's like--Ken is acting like nothing happen-->
The TV transmission dissolved into static stopping all conversation. Ryu felt his blood go cold. The Galactor Empire was about to broadcast another of their propaganda transmissions. He could feel it in his bones.
"Well, greetings Gatchaman. I must apologize for not giving you my personal attention during your last stay as my guest. It was such a pity that the base was destroyed and your vacation slides gone with it."
Ken began to go white. Ryu grabbed the remote control from Jinpei and tried to change channels.
"We can listen to this later. We're off duty now."
But every channel Ryu tried had the same transmission. He couldn't even turn off the TV.
"But never fear, you should be pleased to know we didn't lose everything. I did manage to recover some footage."
Jun overturned the chair and shrieked as she covered Jinpei's eyes and turned them both away, as Joe slammed back against the wall in shock. Ken dived forward to snatch the remote control from Ryu's numbed hands and throw it at the TV tube.
Red Impulse breathed raggedly as he stared at the spluttering television in his office. He could hear Masaki's shocked cries outside.
There was nothing he could do to stop the broadcast. At this moment, footage of the Galactor gang rape of his son was being transmitted to homes and offices around the globe. And there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing!
"I will destroy the Empire. I swear, Berg Katse, I *will* kill you for this." Kentaro Washio stared with insane hatred at the remains of television.
To be continued ...
Looneytunes, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Duck Dodgers, Marvin the Martian, and their dialogue are all trademarked, copyrighted and property of Warner Bros.