(Recommended listening: Start To Investigate by Sagisu Shiro, from the second BLEACH movie OST)
Vela was unconsolable.
The Gemini team made their way down the corridor the tunnel fed into, following the troupe of Tribal's that had come to their rescue. Vela walked in front of Juno and Lupus, arms wrapped around herself, staring sullenly ahead, eyes blank and dull.
Juno knew it was only a phase. Soon, his sister's melancholy would be replaced by a burning fire of anger and vengeance. If there was one thing he knew, it was that his sister loved her guns. She wouldn't let this die. Not easily, at least.
"We're back," the male Tribal in front announced. The corridor opened up to an underground cavern. Groups of Tribals sat inside, huddled together, whispering incessantly. Juno could make out their names being passed along between the Tribals, and could see a few Tribals that recognized them. Some faces were familiar to him, too, and he realized that some of the Tribals here were ones that the team had rescued a year ago.
A lone Tribal stepped forward, a Drone head worn on his own as a headdress, and another affixed to his staff. "My friends… it has been too long."
Vela broke from her silence when she recognized the voice. "Jeff? Jeff!" Vela kneeled down and gave the furry bear a hug, one which he gladly returned. "Are you okay? What are the Drones doing here? Are all your people okay? Where can I find their base? They blew up my guns…" she paused, then looked back at Juno. "They blew up my guns, Juno! I told you! I told you, but nooooooo… you owe me. You owe me big."
Juno smiled briefly. There it was… his sister was back to normal.
"Not so many questions at once!" Jeff stepped back. "I'll explain from the beginning, follow me."
Jeff receded further into the caver, and the team followed him. The Tribals that had been escorting them returned to their families and friends.
"They came about two months ago, out of the blue, attacking villages left and right. As far as we know, no one has been killed, but everyone who's been captured has been taken to do forced labor in the Goldwood Mine."
"Where's Barry?" Juno jumped straight to the point. Jeff's brother was the cause of all this trouble last time, there was no reason to believe he wasn't behind this incident as well.
"I'm right here," a voice came from further down the tunnel. Near a makeshift hut surrounded by torches, Barry the Tribal sat at a workbench, engrossed with whatever was in front of him. Vela spared no time grabbing him by the collar and slamming him against a wall.
"Vela!" Jeff objected.
"What are you up to?" Vela shouted, Barry's face nose to nose with her own.
"If I did this, do you really think I'd be here right now?" Barry answered calmly and cooly. His placidness ticked Vela off even more, and she raised a fist.
"Vela!" Juno's voice sounded. "Put him down. We don't have anything on him. Yet."
His sister scowled, the let go of Barry, letting him drop to the ground. Barry sat up, brushing the dirt off of himself and returning to his workbench.
"Think what you want," Barry spoke. "But I had nothing to do with this. In fact, I've been sending distress signals to Earth for the past two months. Apparently, the Jet Force Corps can't find the time to pay Tribals a visit every now and then."
"We didn't get any distress signals," Juno pointed out.
"Jammer," Barry answered.
"UMHQ has been getting regular status updates from the Tribals all year!" Vela responded, confused.
"Did you see them yourself?" Barry questioned.
Lupus lowered his head to the ground and whined.
"I'll take that as a no, then," Barry stood up from his workbench and walked over to the team. "You said you lost your weapons, right? Here. These are traditional Tribal weapons, but I've modified them for your use, and even added a few features. I believe you've seen Juno's at work already."
Barry handed each member of the Gemini team a different weapon. Juno received a sword, about the length of his arm, curved like a katana, with etchings along the handle.
"This is a blade, obviously." Barry explained. "The etchings were there to begin with. Not to my tastes, but I guess it's for aesthetic quality. Pull on the pommel."
He hesitated, then pulled on the end of the sword. The blade's edge began to glow orange, and heat radiated from it. A low hum could be heard emanating from it.
"Don't touch that," Barry warned. "It'll cut through your fingers like a hot knife through air."
"Butter," Juno corrected.
"No, air. It's that sharp," Barry continued. "The internal mechanics heat the blade to extreme temperatures, and vibrate the edge of the blade."
Barry stepped over to Vela. "Promise not to use this on me?" he asked, presenting her with a bow and quiver of arrows.
Vela just stared back, every pore of her being seething hatred.
"Right, well… this bow has a lock-on feature. Lock-on to a heat signature, and every arrow will be drawn to that target, until you cancel or switch targets."
Vela continued to stare, dissatisfied.
"Oh, and the arrow heads are packed with explosives, activated remotely by the bow."
Vela's face suddenly lit up, and she grabbed the weapon from Barry. "Well, I guess arrows aren't all that bad…"
Next, Barry fitted two circlets to Lupus' two front legs. "These are claws, made from some off the toughest metal in our galaxy. They should be able slice through just about anything that's alive. You can extend and retract them as you wish, and if you clench your paw, your can shoot the claws a fair distance as well. You'll have to retrieve them once you shoot, though, so be careful."
Lupus barked in thanks.
"We'd begun to give up hope for any help from the outside," Jeff rejoined the conversation. "so we started taking matters into our own hands. Earlier today, we raided a poorly defended Drone outpost, where we got the materials for your weapons. We have to be extremely cautious, though. Our melee weapons don't do much against guns, you know."
"You don't have any guns of your own?" Juno inquired.
"We have the molds," Barry spoke up. "Or, rather, I have the molds. Unfortunately, the metals required to make decent guns comes from our mine, which is unfortunately where all the captured Tribals are being held and guarded."
"How did you know we were coming if the radar was jammed?" Vela asked. "It must have taken time to build that tunnel to our ship. It was like you knew we were coming."
"That outpost we raided earlier had a message stored in one of their computers," Jeff explained. "It was intercepted, technically, even though the message was sent directly here. That was something else I needed to talk to you about…"
"What?" Juno asked, curious as to how the Drones had discovered their location.
"The message simply stated that Jet Force Gemini would arrive at Goldwood, today, and that they must be destroyed at all costs."
"Who knew, though?" Vela was confused. "We didn't run into any Drone ships on the way here!"
"The message wasn't from other Drones," Barry stated. "It was from Earth."