Chapter 8
Jun opened her eyes slowly, taking in the sight of the muscled form and chiseled features lying next to her.
"It wasn't a dream…" she whispered to herself, the surreal nature of their shared passion sinking into her mind.
The Swan lay very still, not wanting to disturb the exhausted Condor, who had fulfilled her fantasies more thoroughly than she could have ever imagined, only a few hours ago. She had never woken up in a man's arms like this, and in a way, it was even more intimate than what they had shared the night before.
She breathed slowly, matching the rhythm of her lungs to his, so that her chest rose as his fell, maintaining a constant pressure between their bodies. It almost felt as if they were still connected. Their entwined limbs did nothing to diminish this image in her mind.
Twenty-four hours ago, Jun had cried as Joe had coldly ignored her in the Common Area, before rushing off to answer Galactor's falsified signal. And now…
She could hardly believe what had happened to her. To them.
But could it last? Joe had admitted that he had still been feeling the effects of that Galactor compound the previous evening, but by now it was sure to have dissipated from his bloodstream.
Would he still be interested in being with her, now that this catalyst was gone? It was possible that the Condor would return to his standoffish attitude, ignoring her as he had for the past few weeks.
But even if he did, Jun didn't regret their intimacy. The experience was something she would always cherish, and she was grateful that Joe had shown her what true passion could be.
Of course, if Joe didn't want her, she was destined to be alone. Jun would never be able to be with Ken, or likely any other man, after this… after knowing what it could be like, when two lovers were equally matched in passion and spirit.
Uncertainty began to gnaw away at her sense of peace, ruining the precious moment. She reached out, intending to wake the Condor, and find out where she stood.
"Jun…" Joe murmured, as her small movements roused him. His eyes were still closed, but his lips were smiling. "You're really here, with me."
"Yes." she smiled as well. It certainly didn't sound like he regretted their close proximity this morning. "How are you feeling?"
"Like a new man." he grinned, opening his eyes to gaze at her. Slowly, he brushed his hand from her shoulder, down her body, exploring her curves at his leisure. Jun felt herself responding to the Condor's touch, as her body remembered what he had evoked from her the night before.
"Ohhhhh…." she sighed, leaning her head back. "I don't suppose we could…"
But a harsh beeping noise interrupted her request. Red lights flashed on their bracelets.
Grunting his displeasure, Joe rolled onto his back, raising his communicator to his mouth.
"G2 here."
"Joe, I need to see everyone. Meet me in my office in five minutes." came Dr. Nambu's voice.
"Understood." the Condor groaned, reluctantly slipping out from under the sheets and picking his shorts up from the ground.
The moment the communication ended, Jun answered her own summons, receiving the same message.
"So much for sleeping in." she winked at the Condor.
"Maybe tomorrow." he grinned, before slipping through her door and into the hallway.
Jun sighed in frustration. Duty came first. Didn't it always?
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When she arrived in Nambu's office, Joe was already there. He had taken his usual position against the wall, physically separating himself from the rest of the team. A familiar cold mask covered his handsome features, sending a definite chill around the room.
Jun sank onto the couch next to Jinpei and Ryu.
"What do you think this is all about, Onechan?" the Swallow asked her.
"I'm not sure." Jun shrugged. "But I'm sure Hakase will tell us shortly."
"Damned inconvenient timing, as usual." grumbled Joe.
"It's unfortunate that Galactor doesn't consult you before executing any of their plans." said Ken irritatedly as he walked into the room. "On the other hand, I believe the timing of our mission yesterday was entirely in your hands."
It was obvious that Ken hadn't gotten over his anger at Joe's unscheduled absence the day before. The fact that he hadn't been able to reprimand his second had only added to his frustration.
"Hey, that's enough, guys." Ryu tried to pour oil on troubled waters. "Let's just focus on whatever the Doctor is going to tell us." None of them relished yet another confrontation between Ken and Joe. They were becoming all too frequent, of late.
"That's an excellent idea, Ryu." Dr. Nambu remarked dryly, as he entered his office. "We certainly have more important things to attend to, today."
The Doctor turned to the Science Ninja Team, surveying each member in turn, as if to assure himself that they were all giving him their complete attention. Once he was satisfied that this was the case, he brought up the image of a young man on his computer monitor.
"This is Simon Murfitt." he informed the team, as he gestured for them to examine the picture closely. "Until recently, he has been one of our top informants in the Galactor organization. He was trained as an ISO field agent and volunteered to be 'recruited' into Galactor nearly two years ago."
The team nodded, murmuring softly to themselves. They all knew how important agents such as these were to the ISO, and to them. Without the information such men and women provided, the Science Ninja Team would always be at least two steps behind Galactor.
"The data Agent Murfitt has sent to us over the last eighteen months has proven invaluable. It is thanks to his efforts that we know as much as we do about Leader X's Solar Shift Plan. Simon was also the agent who informed us about Leader X's activities in the Oshia Region, before you encountered the Galamoeba weapon."
Ken nodded curtly. He didn't want to be reminded of how his carelessness had trapped the New God Phoenix in an alternate dimension and nearly cost the entire team their lives. The Eagle had underestimated the resourcefulness and ingenuity of Leader X one too many times, and he didn't intend on doing so again.
"Unfortunately, thirty minutes ago, Agent Murfitt sent me an urgent message." the Doctor informed them. "He suspects that his cover has been blown. He is not certain how, but he has requested an immediate pullout."
"And we're being sent to pick him up?" Jinpei asked.
"Ken will be contacting him at the Café du Palais in Nice, France, in two hours." Nambu stated. "Once you have found Agent Murfitt, you will return with him to G-Town."
"This doesn't sound like something we should be doing." Jun pointed out. "Aren't these pullouts usually handled by other ISO agents?"
"You are correct, Jun." the Doctor replied. "In this case, your aid is required, because Agent Murfitt suspects he is being followed. He possesses valuable knowledge about the location of Galactor's bases for the Solar Shift Plan, and the layout of those bases. However, his access to such information, combined with Galactor's suspicion of his loyalties, makes him a prime target for elimination."
"Will I be meeting him alone?" Ken asked.
"I hope not!" exclaimed Joe. "If it's truly that dangerous, he needs backup. I'm going with him."
"Unfortunately, Joe, this mission requires the utmost secrecy." Nambu explained. "We cannot use you, since your face is well known to Galactor. Jun will be accompanying Ken."
Joe grimaced, but acquiesced with as much grace as he could muster.
"We'll get Agent Murfitt out alive." promised Jun. Ken nodded in agreement.
"The rest of the team will await your arrival in the New God Phoenix." the Doctor ordered. "I pray for your success."
"Roger!"
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Exactly ninety minutes later, a graceful young lady bearing a number of shopping bags entered the Café du Palais in Nice, France. Despite her unconventional attire (which could be forgiven for 'les touristes') she had an air of elegance about her, and her flashing green eyes immediately attracted the notice of more than one waiter.
"Madmoiselle, puis-je vous aider?"
"Café au lait, s'il vous plait."
The woman's dazzling smile sent the waiter scurrying to secure her a table. She sank gracefully into the chair her held out for her, seemingly exhausted from her 'faire des achats'.
Emerald eyes scanned the room in an offhand manner, noting the other patrons seated around the café. Most appeared to be tourists, although a few locals read newspapers while sipping a glass of red wine, and two burly construction workers appeared to be trying to simultaneously order an early dinner and flirt with their waitress.
The lucky waiter attempted to speak with the mysterious woman, but alas, her Francais was limited. Quelle domage! In France, beautiful women were always appreciated, no matter their nationality.
A quarter of an hour later, a young man with a Bohemian air (For how else could you describe the rather scruffy combination of longish, unkempt auburn hair and a t-shirt with the number one on it?) entered the café, heading straight to the bar and ordering a beer. Only the young woman noted that he was more interested in giving the impression of drinking, rather than actually imbibing the beverage that was brought to him.
After another few minutes, another young man found his way into the establishment. His curly brown hair, and the splattering of freckles across his face were instantly recognizable to the young woman, who merely smiled speculatively from behind her coffee cup. This newcomer sat down at the bar, next to the Bohemian man, from whom he asked to borrow a cigarette.
"Desolee, Monsieur, but I am out of cigarettes." the Bohemian shrugged. "However, I do have some matches."
The young woman could not hear the conversation between the two men, but glanced occasionally in their direction, as if she had only a passing interest in the pair. The Bohemian man passed a matchbook to the newcomer, who placed it in his pocket. But when he removed his hand, the woman could see that the curly-haired man was holding something very small. She watched as he placed the item on the back of the Bohemian's shirt, apparently without notice.
Her café au lait finished, the woman left a few francs on the table (including a generous tip for the waiter who, after all, had been most accommodating) and carefully gathered her bags together. As she began to stand, the two young men left the café together, passing by her table. She moved to follow them, but was pushed rudely aside by the two construction workers, who had apparently decided to return to their wives rather than continuing to pursue the reluctant waitress.
"Desolee, Madmoiselle." the waiter rushed to apologize for the ill-mannered patrons, casting a withering glare at their backs.
"Pas de tout." the woman waved her hand graciously and departed, leaving an admiring Frenchman in her wake.
Once outside, the woman noted the construction workers rounding a corner into a nearby alleyway, and walked casually in that direction, as if their shared destinations were entirely coincidental.
Once out of sight of the cafe, the shopping bags were quickly deposited behind a nearby bench, and the woman hastened to catch up to the burly men.
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"Where are we going?" Agent Murfitt asked Ken. Despite his urgent request for extraction only a few hours before, the curly-haired man did not appear nervous in the least, but merely curious as to the method with which he was to be removed from the Galactor organization.
"Nowhere, for the moment." Ken replied. "I simply want to ensure that we are not being followed."
"Oh, but you are being followed, Gatchaman." Murfitt grinned, as he pulled a small pistol from his pocket.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about." Ken said, seemingly unconcerned with the appearance of the firearm that had appeared so unexpectedly.
"Let's not play games, Gatchaman." Murfitt said, as the two burly construction workers appeared at either end of the narrow alleyway.
Ken merely raised an eyebrow at the man, his face the picture of calm.
"Then, I'll go first." Murfitt grinned, grabbing the corner of his jaw and pulling upward. A thin layer peeled away from his head, exposing an entirely different face underneath.
"I am not Simon Murfitt." the Galactor agent grinned with his revelation.
"And I am not Gatchaman." Ken shrugged.
"Don't give me that!" the agent hissed, his good mood turning to one of irritation. "Your ISO spy told me that Gatchaman himself was coming to 'extract' him. You wouldn't believe the amount of torture it took to get that out of him."
"Information obtained via torture is always suspect." the Eagle said blandly. "The victim will usually say anything his tormentor desires to hear, in an effort to end his pain."
"I am confident in my information." the Galactor smirked. "And so are my friends." He gestured with his pistol, and the burly men produced large rifles, pointed at Ken's chest and back.
"Now, Gatchaman, you will come quietly with me." smirked the Galactor.
Without warning, the burly man in front of the Eagle collapsed to the ground, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, and the graceful form of the Swan was revealed behind him. Even as she completed her drop kick maneuver, her Aurora Ribbon shot out from her hand, looping around the neck of the other man behind her Commander, strangling him where he stood.
The Eagle used his opponent's surprise against him, slamming the Galactor's head into the wall. A sickening crack was heard as the man's skull hit the stone building, and blood trickled slowly from his ears.
"It was a setup." Ken hissed. "They knew we were coming."
"Then we should get out of here." Jun said, quickly returning to her civilian clothes even as she stepped over the lifeless bodies slumped in the alleyway. "Just one thing…"
Casually, she reached behind Ken's back, plucking a small pin from his shirt before dropping it to the ground and crushing it beneath the heel of her shoe.
"Tracking device." she explained.
"Thanks." said Ken, his eyes widening at the sight of the mangled technology. He grabbed Jun's hand and they quickly departed the scene, returning to their rendezvous point with the New God Phoenix.