Author's Note: I just can't help writing about this couple—the end of the series just shows them so close and I wrote this as an epilogue to "To Tomorrow" as after their visit to the future, both 009 and 003 strengthen their resolve to defeat Black Ghost. Both are so sensitive and to me connect on such a deep level both in the series and the manga so I wrote that they both were so effected by the ordeal they have renewed their focus on the task at hand. And just a side note, I'm nearly finished with a synopsis for a Cyborg 009/ Speed Racer crossover so that will probably be my next single project. I don't own Cyborg 009 it is owned by TokyoTV, Avex-Mode and Toei Animation and was created by the late Shotaro Ishinomori.

A NEW RESOLVE

Albert Heinrich, Cyborg 004 hoisted Joe Shimamura, Cyborg 009 on his shoulder as the Japanese youth, with both knees and his right wrist shattered in the battle with Gamo's psychic assassin Kane had been returned to them. Joe was battered, stoically bearing his pain as his mind was filled with the horrors of the future he had experienced as he and Lina had been psycho-jumped to the future that she and her companions had come from. His experience had as all things in his life, affected him significantly and he quietly brooded as he and the rest of the cyborgs boarded the Dolphin to head home.

As they entered the walkway to the bridge, Dr. Gilmore directed Albert to carry Joe into the lab/infirmary for treatment and repairs. Kane had used his psychic energy to cause Joe's cybernetically enhanced joints to shatter, making him crippled and rendered immobile.

They entered the room and after flipping on the light, Albert gently lowered his burden on the examination table.

"Here you go, my friend," 004 said as he lifted Joe's limp extremities onto the platform. He stood back and Joe's face was pale with pain as he grimaced.

"Thanks 004," he rasped as the pain had dulled to a steady throbbing. He closed his eyes as a weariness settled over him.

"Don't mention it. We're just glad you're back here with us. We really missed you, especially 003."

003 Joe said to himself it was her sweet voice that I heard calling out to me as I walked among the desolation of the dark future I saw. Francoise, you're the main reason I came back, that I wanted to come back after I realized that all the fighting we're doing against Black Ghost is just a practice in futility. When you asked me to come back to our time and I saw the love in your shimmering tropic eyes, how could I refuse?

"009? Hey, 009 are you okay?" Albert's concerned baritone reached through Joe's reverie.

He shook his mahogany head and smiled weakly. "Yeah, I'm just tired. I'll be fine so don't worry and please tell 003 not to worry either."

Albert chuckled, "That's easier said than done, Joe. You know our Francoise, she has to worry about all of us but especially you. She was inconsolable when you had disappeared, isolating herself from the rest of us as she grieved for you. You going to be all right?"

"Yeah."

Albert gazed at the young man in concern. "The professor's on his way. So sit tight and get some rest."

"Will do. Thanks 004."

"No problem." Albert grinned and gave Joe a thumbs up as he said, "See ya later." He disappeared through the door and headed down the hall.

Joe laid back his cinnamon eyes soft as he thought of the beautiful ex-dancer who was so devoted to him. He again wondered what he had done in his disaster ridden life to deserve to have someone like her to care for him, it was an inconceivable notion before he had been made into a cyborg by Black Ghost.

Black Ghost The hated name was like bile in his throat as he felt fury wash through him anew and Joe closed his eyes as Scarl's leering visage taunted him in his mind's eye. So we never defeated him, his organization lives on in the future. What good are we and what kind of future do we all have if after everything, he wins? Damn it and damn him!

Dr. Gilmore who entered the infirmary clad in a surgeon's gown and gloves interrupted his brooding thoughts. The kindly scientist approached the examining platform. "Hello, Joe. How are you feeling?"

Joe gave Gilmore a wan smile that turned to a grimace as a surge of pain hit his knees. "I'm hanging in there, Doctor. What are you going to do?"

Gilmore dragged a chair over, sat, and began, "Well first I plan to do a scan to see what damage you sustained and then I'll replace the parts. I also plan to check to see if the lines attached to your accelerator are intact and undamaged."

"Uh-huh," Joe said as a general unease went through him, anxiety that the damage could be serious enough to keep him out of commission and away from his objective, to annihilate Black Ghost. That was becoming his reason for being and he was fiercely determined to carry it out.

"I can assist you, Doctor," a soft yet determined voice stated. Francoise Arnoul, Cyborg 003 stood in the doorway, her gentle presence a calming influence as Joe gazed at the pretty blonde.

"003, I appreciate that you want to help but my dear, you haven't rested in days. You need some rest and nourishment and besides, Ivan needs you."

She stepped forward. "I just put Ivan down. He finished a bottle and then fell fast asleep so I can help you with 009." She gazed affectionately at Joe and he returned the soft look as she reached for and clasped his left hand. "How are you, Joe?"

He gave her an airy grin. "Don't worry about me, tenshi. I'm indestructible, remember?" His bravado had the opposite effect as tears flowed from Francoises eyes. His heart constricting Joe withdrew his hand and brushed the warm rivulets from her ivory cheek.

The tender exchange made Gilmore uncomfortable as he cleared his throat. "Very well, 003, you can monitor the printout as I scan 009's body. I know Kane's attack shattered the joints of both his knees and his right wrist but I need to be sure that there isn't any other damage done to him. Then we'll do the repairs."

Francoise brushed her aqua eyes dry as she said, all business, "Yes, sir." She headed to the computer to boot it up and prepare for the examination.

Dr. Gilmore placed a mask over Joe's mouth and nose as he said, "Now just breathe deep and relax, 009. 003, is the computer ready?"

"Yes Doctor." She sat before the monitor and brought up the screen to start the scan.

"All right here we go," Gilmore took the sensors attached to the computer and began…

As he slipped into unconsciousness Joe saw several scenes from recent missions flash in his mind. The first was from the visit of the aliens who had been transported to Earth and were forced to fight against their peaceful will. The next was the Blue Monster that was killing humans because of humans' disregard for the earth. Then his memory brought him back to Computopia, the automated so-called perfect community run by a super computer Sphinx that became obsessed with 003 and tried to draw her into its virtual world. It had observed the closeness between her and himself and tried to kill him and then tried to kill them both.

Joe's mind continued with the mental memory slide show as he recalled his ordeal with his malfunctioning accelerator and how he experienced an entire month pass in but a few minutes. He remembered as the situation corrected itself and as he came back to present time and it was 003 who he saw first. Overjoyed, he rushed over to embrace her, to feel her soft presence as his heart pounded with relief that he was alive and so was everyone else.

Then the scene abruptly changed and he was back in the ruins of the future but instead of Lina being with him, Francoise was. The two of them were running as the robotic sweepers made crossovers, firing at them randomly. He scooped her up and like he did when they fought the Blue Monster, accelerated to flee to bring her to safety but he was a millisecond too late, a laser blast hit them and they both screamed at the kinetic force blew them apart. The robot observed the two prone cyborgs and in its limited comprehension was satisfied and left. However, once the mechanical assassin had departed, 009 got up slowly. Covered in a tough synthetic skin, Joe was fine so he glanced over at where 003 had landed. Alarmed he rushed over to her and tried to revive her but his attempts were fruitless, and since she was not a true cyborg, she was dead.

Joe was filled with a miasma of mixed emotions, unbelieving that she was actually gone while his heart felt as if it had cracked and split in two, with an intense pain that sent him into spasms as he cradled her, his vision blurring with tears. Then as he realized who was behind killing 003, he became filled with a red hot fury as he let go of her and jumped to his feet bellowing for Black Ghost to show himself. . . .

"No, no! It can't be! Black Ghost, show yourself you miserable bastard!" 009 mumbled as he was moving restlessly about and the anesthetic was wearing off.

Francoise hurried to his side. "Joe, Joe! It's all right," she soothed as she placed her hands on his shoulders to still him but he was unaware as his movements became more distressed.

"Try to calm him down, 003. I'm finished but he needs to be still or the tubes with the replacement fluids to lubricate his new joints will be pulled out and he'll start bleeding," Dr. Gilmore ordered as he had completed the repairs to 009's knee joints and wrist.

Joe thrashed about and he bolted upright, pulling out the sensors and causing the intravenous tube to strain as his cinnamon eyes opened wide and frightened but yet unseeing. He called out frantically, "No, no, I can't believe it, she can't be dead! 003 can't be dead! 003!"

Francoise glanced at Dr. Gilmore and sat on the edge of the table, taking Joe's shoulders in her hands as she shook him gently and spoke to him.

"Joe, Joe, wake up. I'm fine, I'm right here." When he calmed down enough to focus his eyes on her, 003 smiled sweetly and said, "See?"

He stared at her like he was coming out of a trance. "Francoise?" he asked uncertainly.

"Uh-huh. It's okay, Joe I'm right here." She reached and brushed his bangs back as Joe wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her shoulder sobbing. She glanced up at Dr. Gilmore who nodded and slipped out discreetly, leaving the pair alone.

Francoise's arms encircled Joe's bare torso, rhythmically stroking him on the back as she whispered soothing words to his troubled soul. She said nothing as she allowed her actions to speak more profoundly to be a balm as gradually his tears subsided and he pulled back to face her.

"Forgive me for falling apart like that," 009 said, his head lowered in shame for his lapse. "It's just that while I was under, I had the worst nightmare and I thought it was true." He sighed as he took her hands in his. "It was like my world had shattered all because of Black Ghost."

"Our worlds were already shattered by Black Ghost, that's why we're here," 003 pointed out but 009 shook his head.

"I mean my present world, the world that has you," Joe said softly.

Francoise was more than a bit curious as she gently urged him, "Well, I'm here for you so tell me, Joe."

009 took a deep breath and ran a hand through his unruly mahogany locks as he began, "I dreamed I was back in the future only instead of Lina being there with me it was you. The Black Ghost sweepers were attacking us and as we had nearly escaped, one got us with a high power laser and blew us away from each other." He suppressed a shudder and continued, "When I recovered the first thing I did was come looking for you and I couldn't find you."

She studied him intently as he lowered his head and squeezed her hands tightly then finished the story. "I finally found you and you were…were..," Joe said haltingly and then sighed as he ended tonelessly, "dead. And that's when I woke up."

Francoise watched speechlessly as Joe lifted her hands and buried his face in them as the thought tormented him again. Her heart pounded as she saw the mighty cyborg leader humbled and he became like a small boy, seeking comfort from a bad dream.

"Oh Joe," she murmured. "I'm so sorry."

He looked up, his cinnamon eyes dark with abject misery. "It's useless, Francoise. Everything we've done and are doing to rid the world of that monster is futile. They exist in the future, koishii, we saw them."

"I-I know Joe." 003 was at a loss, she knew he was right. When the team had Mai psycho jump them to go to get him and finally convinced him to come back with them to continue the fight when he wanted to pack it in, she knew deep down he was still wrestling with the facts and typical of him, his sensitive heart was in conflict. But she also knew his ironclad will and relentless quest for righteousness would make him even more determined.

She reached a hand to lay on his cheek. "Everything you said is true. But remember what 005 said, that the future we saw was not absolute, that we still have the power to alter the results we saw. We can direct our destiny and create the circumstances that give us that something wonderful waiting for us you promised me when we talked on the Dolphin."

Joe's eyes began to glimmer as he turned his head and planted a soft kiss in her palm. "You are an amazing woman. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Joe shook his head. "I don't know how you always manage to make sense out of the utter mess in my mind."

Francoise smiled as she said coyly, "Could be the wisdom of my years."

Joe chuckled as it was a running private joke between them about the chronological reality that had them actually seventy years apart. "No doubt about it," he agreed with a twinkle in his eye.

Francoise favored him with a fond look as she leaned back and said firmly, "So now you have to get better so we can eliminate Black Ghost for good. The team needs you." She got up and pushed his shoulders back on the pillows as she whispered, "And so do I."

Joe said nothing as he obediently laid back but then cupped her lovely face in his hands as he teased her mouth open to receive him for an unhurried kiss. When they finally drew apart he said softly, but with resolve, "He won't beat us, I promise."

END