Chapter 23
Gel Sadra smiled to herself, observing the sleeping, restrained Condor lying before her. Even in this state, she could sense his power, and she longed to unleash that power for her pleasure. Her body was becoming agitated just thinking about it. Slowly, she smoothed her hands over herself, in the final anticipation of this moment that she had been waiting for.
They were alone. The Science Ninja Team was truly incapacitated, with the Eagle under her control, and the Swan drugged to the hilt. The Owl and The Swallow remained on their ship, but Gel Sadra knew that without the Eagle Sharp (which had been completely melted in the lava flow) it was impotent: unable to perform the Science Ninja Technique: Firebird or fire any weapons.
Now was the moment when she would finally realize her fantasies. This magnificent male specimen would show her what she had been missing. Briefly, Gel Sadra debated how long she could keep him alive, satisfying her needs, before Leader X demanded that he be killed. Hopefully, with the execution of Gatchaman to appease him, X would allow her to keep the Condor as a plaything for some time.
Her hands quivered slightly as she picked up the syringe. This time, nothing would go wrong. It would be as it should have been before; as it would have been, if that damned Swan hadn't interrupted them.
Gel Sadra approached the Condor, moving his head back so that a small amount of his neck was exposed above his cowl as an injection site.
She held up the needle. This was it: the culmination of the plan she had begun all of those weeks ago…
The Condor's hand snapped up, breaking his bonds and grabbing Gel Sadra's wrist all in one fluid movement. The Galactor Leader screeched in surprise and pain, as the raw power of her enemy quickly overwhelmed her.
"Now who's in control, Gel Sadra?" Joe hissed, forcing her hand. He silently thanked Dr. Nambu for creating the oxygen canister inside of his helmet. His protection against Galactor's sleeping gas was now allowing him to exact his revenge. And it would be very sweet indeed.
The needle moved perilously close to bare skin, and then in one smooth motion the Condor jabbed the Galactor Leader, plunging the needle into her neck and holding it there, until he was certain that the drug had entered her system.
Gel Sadra fell to the floor screaming, her terror only increasing as the drug began to take hold of her emotional and physical state. The Condor stood over his enemy, grinning wickedly at her panicked state. It was obvious that he was enjoying himself immensely.
Oh, how he wanted to kill her now, and be done with it. Joe's hands twitched, eager to close around her throat, to rip her heart out from her chest, to snap her neck like a twig.
But a small voice in the back of his mind protested. Certainly there would be temporary satisfaction in such an act, but what would it really accomplish? If Gel Sadra were dead, another person would be found to lead Galactor. The Condor knew Gel Sadra and understood her weaknesses. She was a spoiled, selfish, childlike woman who rarely thought for herself and who cared nothing for her troops. She was someone who was easily defeated; her replacement might not be.
The true enemy was the alien being known as X. The presence of the living death that resided inside his chest told him that. X didn't realize it, but having such a short-sighted, self-centered minion in charge of Galactor actually made the Science Ninja Team's job much easier.
Damn. He would have to let her live.
But there was no way the Condor was going to let Gel Sadra get away with what she had done to him in the Ural Mountains. Yet, as his enemy thrashed in terror on the floor in front of him, Joe realized that he already had his revenge. Gel Sadra was going to have to endure the agony of the serum that she had had created. And for her, there was no Dr. Nambu to alleviate its effects. She would have to live with the emotional extremes of the drug for days.
He smiled at the thought.
Gel Sadra's heart was pounding. She had never been so horrified to look upon a member of the Science Ninja Team. How could she have ever thought that the Condor could be brought under her control? He was a terrifying madman, a psychotic lunatic with cyborg strength, capable of killing her as much as looking at her.
Condor Joe leaned over her, the cold glint of sadism in his eyes. His hands reached out to her, and she screamed again, the high-pitched sound echoing throughout the room. Everything went black…
The next thing she knew, he was slapping her, tossing her head back and forth to bring her out of her faint. When he saw that she had awoken, the Condor tossed her onto the floor in an unceremonious heap.
"You're not worth my time, Bitch." he drawled, casually flicking feather shuriken at her so that they pierced her arms, her legs, her hands, effectively pinning her body to the floor. The Condor stepped over her, moving toward the door, sharply burying his boot in the pit of her stomach as he did so. His other foot crushed her hand as it came down, and she could hear the sound of breaking bones beneath his heel.
Still, that was nothing compared to the intense relief she felt at the thought that he might actually be leaving.
"Remember my mercy this time, Gel Sadra." the Condor intoned in a dreadful voice. "The next time we meet will be the last."
With that, he flung the door open, gave her one last scathing look, and took off down the corridor.
A few seconds later, three green-uniformed soldiers ran into the room, frantically looking around.
"Mistress!" one cried, "What has that maniac done to you?"
The goon ran to Gel Sadra, carefully lifting her to a standing position. Unfortunately, her legs buckled, and he was forced to bring her over to the table that the Condor had recently vacated.
Gel Sadra's heart beat faster, but her body was no longer consumed with terror. Instead, she was being taken over by different feelings… why had she never realized how attractive mullets and fangs were before?
"Come here, Soldier!" she ordered, gasping for air. "I need your services…"
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"Any sign of Aniki?" Jinpei asked Ryu nervously.
"No." the Owl replied. "And I don't think there will be. If Gel Sadra were going to release him, she would have done so by now."
"Why do you think she wanted Joe?" the Swallow asked.
"I'm not sure," Ryu shrugged, "but we've got a mission to finish. If we can destroy the mecha then they'll probably have a chance to escape."
"But, how can we destroy the mecha when we can't use weapons?" Jinpei asked.
"Says who?" Ryu replied. "You've still got the Helico, and I have the Horned Tank. And Jun could…"
"No." Jinpei shook his head. "When I went in to check on Onechan, she was completely out of it. She's not capable of doing anything, right now. Joe must have given her a pretty heavy sedative."
"Then it's up to us." Ryu said firmly. "Come on, Jinpei, you've got to find a weakness in that thing. How do we get past its shields?"
"How should I know?" the Swallow cried.
"You've seen Jun do this stuff lots of times!" the Owl pointed out. "You're supposed to be helping her. Haven't you learned anything?"
"Of course I have!" Jinpei said, his chest puffing out. "Let's see… what would Onechan do?" The Swallow bent over his console and began to run analyses of the mecha based on the data gathered by the New God Phoenix sensors so far.
A few minutes later, Jinpei called the Owl over to his station.
"Look at this, Ryu!" he said. "I ran a hyperspectral analysis, and this is strange. Do you think I did it right?" The boy looked up anxiously.
"I think you did it right, Jinpei." Ryu said slowly. "But I agree, this is strange. Look at this spike here…"
"Yeah, that's what I thought!" Jinpei replied, growing more confident. "It's almost as if the shields aren't part of the mecha."
"No, I think they're part of the mecha." the Owl said. "But… I think the shield generator isn't."
"That's it!" Jinpei cried, leaping up joyfully. "The shield generator is in the base! That's why we can't destroy it! We're not even shooting at it!"
"Okay, little buddy! You know what to do!" Ryu grinned.
"I'm on my way!" Jinpei cried, rushing to his Helico.