Chapter 10
Madeline woke up with the weight of someone lying on top of her.
She coughed, as dust that was still settling filled her lungs and she tried to look up, all she could see was pitch blackness and the feel of cold hard stone underneath her.
Still feeling nauseous from the fall and the dust, she tried to remember what exactly had happened to her…there was and explosion and rocks falling towards her and then nothing. She did not know how long she been lying there for, and were she was.
She tried to push the person off her.
He was heavy but she managed it after some effort. She sat still a few moments more trying to get it straight in her head how she got there, and where in the castle she was.
Her thoughts were still foggy, but she tried to retrace the last moments in her mind…
When she got to the end of the corridor she thought she saw the Swan and the swallow, the Condor came through a door on the far side of the room and called out her name.
"He called out her name" she thought. As she tried to stand up she could hear his voice in her head again and felt her heart quicken as his voice continued to go over in her mind.
She knew his voice, he sounded like… he sounded so much like Joe.
But that could not be possible. Joe was the Condor?
No, it could not be …could it; Joe had secrets…she put that thought aside and looked around her again.
She felt the cold stone floor for clues; she had somehow ended up in a chamber she figured out as she felt her way along the floor in the pitch blackness.
She felt the cold smooth stone of walls under her hands.
The area was not very wide, she assessed from the distance and she gingerly pulled herself to her feet hoping they would hold her from still feeling weak.
Maybe it was not a room but a passage. So she began to move, feeling her way slowly along the smooth stone walls.
At times the darkness seemed to swallow her up, and she felt panic rising as her breath began to get heavy, so she stopped a moment to compose herself before she continued. "Breath steady" she told herself softy out loud, over and over.
As she crawled her way along the passage wall she remembered the goon falling in on her, and then being pushed through what seemed like a crack in the wall.
Rubble and dust filled the crack now, so that was why there was no light and complete darkness, the memory was no comfort to her.
This had to be a secret passage way, like the ones that you read about in books. She thought and almost smiled at that, it probably saved her life.
It felt like an eternity, but it must not have been to long before she had signs of her progress, time was nothing in that dark place.
At times she had to stop herself from giving into the panic of being buried alive.
The thoughts of never being found that came into her mind; the pitch blackness seemed to press in on her more as she continued to feel her way along the stone wall.
After a while she realized that she was steadily winding in a wide spiral downward.
Good or bad she had no choice but to continue.
Then she felt the a light breeze and a small cry of relief left her lips as the cool feel of the wonderful air that smelt of salt hit her face, and she began to move a little faster with hope in sight.
A moment later she saw a small hint of light up ahead, and made her way towards it. Then the ground seemed to move under her feet, and a close rumbling sound came closer and some of the tunnel behind her caved in.
The Eagle went to his station as some of the rage he felt left him, and looked down at his console.
He hadn't looked at Jun yet, but he knew that she would be in a lot of pain, and he didn't know how to comfort her, he felt empty himself.
He had a feeling of failure upon him; he had let Joe down, and Masaki.
If he had lost Jun he would have felt the same way as Joe was right now, the suffering evident in his actions and his face as he stood in front of the view screen of the ship with his arms folded in a rigid stance and tears staining his face, his eyes looked cold and lifeless.
Ken knew he hadn't been treating Jun well of late, but he had felt so sick at times that he had to hide it from her, especially after using the Hypershoot weapon. Rage was one way to doing that.
How could he tell her that he thought that he was dying from it, and after the promises he had made to her?
He loved her so much, and he knew he was hurting her badly but his duty to save Earth out weight his personal feelings and needs.
So he gave to order to leave this place, and the owl steadied the ship and turned her around to the ocean cliff face side of the Castle to make the way home.
Madeline almost ran towards the light and tripped over on the uneven ground tearing the dress around the hem.
Not that she cared about the gown just that her ankle hurt. She got up again and hobbled to the mouth of the cave and looked out at the ocean that lay far bellow.
Things hadn't really improved for her.
She felt the rumble again, and more of the cave collapsed in behind her.
Then she spotted the metal ladder that seemed to go to no where from the edge of the cliff down towards the ocean to the rocks bellow.
More loud rumbles, and collapsing of the passage behind her, it seemed like it was only meters away from where she was standing, and then she saw the man in green running towards her and her decision was made.
She'd take her chances with the ladder!
So she began her decent holding the hem of the gown up as best as she could.
It wasn't until she reached the bottom that she realized that is was probably a mistake to climb down the ladder as she looked up at the rusty rivets coming out of the walls.
The Goon was looking over the edge at her holding and it was pointed at her.
Ryu was an excellent pilot, next to Gatchaman he was the best that the UN and the ISO had ever seen.
So as he made his way around the cliffs and began to veer for home, it took all of his skill to do the sharp angled turn that was required at the loud cry of the Swallow, as they had already turned the course for home.
"Look its Madeline, on the side of the cliff." He was pointing at the view screen.
The sun was going down and the last rays had hit the sequins on the dress causing them glimmer brightly as she clung to a ladder on the side of the cliff. Her long copper red hair stood out against the dark cliffs.
"Ryu take her around," the Eagle ordered, the owl had already actioned the order before it was given. "I'm onto it boss," he said.
The Condor had looked up at the view screen as the Swallow had called out in his excitement, he stood up from his station and without saying a word quickly made his way to the top of the ship before the order could be issued.
He waited impatiently on the far wing of the ship as Ryu bought the ship around for the pick up.
The Condor looked up and saw the Goon that was standing at the mouth of the cave; the goon met his fate with a rocket powered feather shrunkien.
Then Joe saw the ladder give way, and she started to fall, he could here her screaming as he shot of the wing of the ship like a bullet, catching her mid air. T
he sudden weight of the extra person caused him to spiral downwards towards the rocks and crashing waves of water as he took a firm hold of her his arms.
He managed to hold her front onto him with her arms around his neck and spread his wings to steady them, the warship came up underneath them and he landed with her still in his arms.
He looked down into her eyes, Madeline stared up into the face of the Condor under his purple visor.
She looked with a sense of relief at him, and the realization crossed her face as to why the man she loved seemed to be so secretive. "Joe" she said before she lost all consciousness and became limp in his arms…