Joe was walking through G-Town, as the team had just been summoned by Dr. Nambu for a briefing. He could have taken one of the transport tubes, but he wanted to ensure he arrived last, so he wouldn't find himself alone there with Jun.

There was one small comfort in Jun knowing the truth about him; no matter what happened to him, there really wasn't much now that could make his life any harder. It had been six weeks now since she'd found out –six weeks of avoiding her absolutely as much as he possibly could, six weeks of making sure he wasn't anywhere near her unless some of the others were there too, and six weeks of constant anxiety –always nervously watching Ken, expecting at any moment to be confronted. He'd acquired a motorcycle and he spent as many hours alone as he could, just driving… nowhere really -just driving fast, just trying to be away.

But Jun had apparently kept her promise, at least so far. Yet every time she so much as glanced at him, he felt like one of those repulsive bugs that run scuttling for cover when the rock they dwell beneath is overturned.

A few weeks ago, he'd been swimming alone in the pool at G-Town. Then Jinpei had shown up, and before he knew it, the kid had called all the others to come there too. The very last thing he'd needed to see was Jun's beautiful body in a bikini. She'd dived into the water; she'd been swimming in his direction. He couldn't have exited the pool faster if she'd been a shark. Ken and Ryu had just been walking in, and he'd hesitated, wondering if it would seem too strange if he fled them all now.

He'd cast a hasty glance back at the pool, only to see Jun staring straight at him, her eyes moving slowly from his feet all the way up his body…

No! He'd nearly jumped in panic, yet somehow made it over to a chair behind a poolside table.

Stop examining me, Jun!

Ken and Ryu had joined him there. Then Jinpei had challenged Jun to a race, and they'd begun swimming, much to his relief. He'd had to sit there at the table, though, fighting the urge to run and forcing himself to make small talk to Ken and Ryu.

"Don't let a girl beat you!" he'd called out to Jinpei. A rotten thing to say, but he couldn't seem to help it.

It had been maybe a week later that he'd been out driving his motorcycle through a desolate area near a volcano, and he'd been irresistibly drawn to it. All he'd been able to think about was the explosion of the Swan Rocket in space, and the high electric current he'd channeled through himself on the God Phoenix…

He'd found a tunnel into the center of the volcano. In that moment, he'd wanted so desperately to believe that however much of him was gone now, that he might yet be more human than cyborg. He'd shoved his hand into a pool of glowing lava; was it insane that he'd actually been hoping that it would burn through his hand, make him scream in pain?

But it hadn't harmed him.

Then he'd found out that Ryu had been captured by Galactor and trapped in the empty space of an alternate dimension. He'd made sure he was the one who had left the God Phoenix during their rescue operation, that he had been the one who'd been hit with flaming meteors on his way to retrieve Ryu and bring him back to the God Phoenix. The meteors and their flames hadn't hurt him at all. But later, he'd noticed Ryu giving him some strange looks.

Joe stopped where he was, in the corridor, and shook his head. Whether Jun kept her promise or not, it was all going to unravel on him, sooner or later…

But he was almost to the briefing room now; he could hear all the others' voices in there already. Dr. Nambu began speaking as soon as he entered the room.

"I need you to go and investigate the Carl Corporation. Its current CEO is the founder's grandson, Carl III, and under him it has become one of the most powerful corporations in the world. However, recent intelligence reports have given me cause to think that he may have… sinister intentions where world peace and stability are concerned."

Ken didn't move, but his eyes had widened in alarm.

This was the same Carl that Ken had known at the Flight Academy in Hontwohl all those years ago, wasn't it?

"I believe you have a past acquaintance with this man, Ken," said Dr. Nambu.

Ken sighed and closed his eyes briefly before speaking.

"Actually, I just received an invitation to a reunion of our Flight Academy class. It was sent by Carl, as he's hosting it. I had no intention of attending it…"

"Your intentions will change, then," replied Dr. Nambu, "This is an ideal opportunity for you, Ken, to infiltrate his home and investigate his activities without raising any suspicion. My sources tell me he is engaged to another graduate of the Flight Academy –perhaps you know her too."

"If you say so, Doctor, I'll go," said Ken softly, now staring off across the room. Jun had turned to look at Ken now, remembering.

Joe could remember too. When he was seventeen, he'd travelled with his racing instructor to watch some of the world's best drivers race and while near Hontwohl, he had made a side trip to visit Ken at the Flight Academy. Ken had been training as a jet pilot there, despite being a year shy of its minimum required age. Dr. Nambu could pull strings when he wanted to; even Jinpei had had a special ISO driver's license by that point and he'd barely been ten.

And Joe remembered Carl; he remembered being about three seconds from punching the guy's lights out, shortly after Ken had first introduced them. He couldn't even remember now what exactly Carl had said that had pissed him off; he could only remember being dragged away by Ken, who'd kept saying stuff like "Look, he's not so bad… really –it's just his way; let it go!"

But then he'd met Ken's other friend, Lisa, and it had all made sense. He'd understood Carl's surliness, and he'd figured out who owned the bra that Ken had suddenly noticed on his floor and hastily kicked beneath his bed when Joe had first entered his dorm room. Lisa had been nearly twenty, but other than having blue rather than green eyes, she had looked so very much like Jun.

Upon his return to Utoland, a fifteen year old Jun had practically pounced on him.

"Joe, you're back! You saw Ken, right? Tell me everything!"

"How did you know I visited Ken?"

"We got a letter from him today, and he wrote you'd been there. He also sent some photos. Look here–did you meet his friends?"

Jun had shown him a photo of Carl, Lisa and Ken, all arm-in-arm and wearing flight suits. Lisa had been in the middle.

"Yeah, I met them."

Jun had been staring at the photo, but Joe had only been looking at her. She'd been so beautiful –far more than she could have known- and she'd looked as if she were made of delicate porcelain. But Joe had known how strong she really was. Barely a year earlier, Dr. Nambu had assembled them all in the dining room, looking haggard with despair and resignation, and had grimly asked them if they were willing to train for real –train to be an elite squad of soldiers against a global menace that he, and practically he alone, had been convinced was imminent.

Galactor.

Jun had agreed without any hesitation. For years, Joe had burned with a desire for revenge against Galactor, but that night there had been fire in Jun's eyes too. And she had become a highly talented motorcyclist and demolition expert, in addition to her combat and weapons skills. Joe had known without a doubt that when the time came, she would be truly lethal.

But when Jun, still staring at the photo, had asked him about Lisa, all he'd seen was a beautiful girl, sheltered and still so innocent.

"What's she like?" she'd asked him, brow furrowed with unease, "She looks so… glamorous."

He'd realized that he couldn't tell her what he knew. That had been something for only Ken to do, if he chose, and even if it had been otherwise, Joe had felt he could never bear to tell Jun anything that would bring her pain.

"Lisa? She's nice enough, but she's nothing special. If you ask me, she's trying to get her hooks into Carl, though –his family's filthy rich and no girl can resist that."

"You jerk!" Jun had said, punching him. "Girls aren't all like that!"

But her forehead had smoothed, and a hint of a smile had appeared on her lips.

But Ken was speaking again, and it pulled Joe's thoughts back to the present.

"The reunion is in three days, Doctor," said Ken, now looking down at the floor. "I'll send a message that I'll be attending after all."

"So where is this reunion, anyway?" asked Jun, "I want to know where we're going."

Ken had blanched slightly, until Dr. Nambu cut in, informing Jun that the God Phoenix might attract too much attention and that it would be best if the investigation of Carl Enterprises was conducted, at least initially, by Ken alone.

Joe could almost read Ken's thoughts. He could still recall when Ken had been peremptorily summoned back to Utoland by Dr. Nambu before he could graduate from the Flight Academy; he'd had to pack his stuff and clear out of there quickly in order to begin leading the nascent Science Ninja Team's first real, not simulated, drills in the newly completed God Phoenix. Joe had no precise idea how Ken had left things with Lisa more than four years ago but he could read him pretty well –then and now- even when he wouldn't say much. It was obvious that Ken was reluctant to see her again, and didn't want Jun or any of the rest of them around when it happened.

So be it, thought Joe. He could stay in touch with Ken through their bracelets, and be ready to go if Ken discovered any dirt on Carl.

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As it turned out, Ken wouldn't respond to any of Joe's attempts to contact him at the reunion -not until the second night.

"G2 to G1, over!"

"What do you want, Joe?"

Shit, thought Joe. Ken sounded awful. What the hell had Lisa done to him?

"I want to know what's going on! Have you found anything on Carl?"

There was a long silence.

"Carl's dead." Ken's voice sounded… empty.

"What happened? Where are you now?"

"I'm flying back to G-Town."

"Damn it, Ken, what happened?"

"Carl was with Galactor." Ken's voice was raspy, as if he'd been crying… hard. "There was even a secret Galactor base beneath his mansion, with goons and everything. But it's all destroyed now."

Joe sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry, Ken. I know he was your friend. And I know you, Ken –you only did what you had to do!"

Ken was laughing, horribly.

"I didn't kill him! He was shot by Galactor goons."

Joe's mind raced. What else had happened then, to reduce Ken to this state? Something with Lisa?

"Lisa and I discovered the secret base, and confronted Carl there. He said he was going to have us both killed…"

"Come on, you can tell me what happened, Ken," said Joe, speaking more softly now.

"I should never have dragged her into it! I should have confronted Carl alone but…" Again, the ragged laughter that wasn't laughter at all.

How was Ken even managing to fly a jet right now? He sounded almost crazed.

"With Carl and me, it was always a big competition and I just had to expose him in front of Lisa… I just had to win, one last time!"

Oh no…

"What happened to Lisa?"

Another long silence.

"She's dead too, Joe," whispered Ken. "Gel Sadra was there, and she had no further use for Carl so she ordered the goons to shoot him. Lisa threw herself in front of Carl, before I could do anything! She took the bullets aimed at him –she loved him that much, even knowing the terrible things he had done- and now she's dead. And then they just shot Carl anyway!"

Poor Lisa, she had been Ken's substitute for Jun and now she was dead. Joe knew all about being drawn to women who, no matter how much you cared for them or tried to convince yourself you cared for them, were in the end just substitutes for the real thing...

Substitutes for Jun.

And if they died… oh, he knew all too well the guilt that that unleashed, and he also knew just how badly Ken, for all his self-discipline, handled the death of anyone he cared about…

Especially women.

He'd been out driving around on his motorcycle, but he realized now that he had to get back to G-Town fast, to do some damage control on Ken when he returned.

"Look, Ken, just concentrate on your flying now –we can talk about this when you get back to G-Town."

That bottle of Scotch might be in order here, thought Joe, sighing to himself again.

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Somehow he'd missed Ken. When he'd reached the docking bay at G-Town, the jet Ken had flown was there, but he was nowhere in sight and this late at night there'd been no one to tell him where he might have gone. Joe checked Ken's quarters, but he wasn't there either. And, he wasn't answering his bracelet –not a good sign. So, he'd set out to wander around G-Town until he found him.

Now, he was approaching a small, dark observation room on the lower level that he was fairly certain no one used, but he was running out of options.

But as he approached the entrance, he could hear voices… voices that sounded like Ken and Jun's.

He knew it was wrong in so many ways, but he couldn't seem to stop himself from silently sliding up to the entrance and peering around it. There was a couch in the room, facing the windows, and Ken and Jun's heads and shoulders were visible above its back.

"A good friend to her?"

That was Ken and he sounded, if anything, worse now than he had when Joe had spoken with him. And his hair was disheveled and his eyes, raw.

"I think I was probably the worst thing that ever happened to her…"

Jun was close to Ken and facing him, but from his vantage, Joe couldn't see her expression, and she was silent for a moment.

"You loved her. You loved her, didn't you?" said Jun softly, as one finally seeing what had long lain unobserved.

Ken was looking at Jun now, eyes stormy and so, so sad.

"It was never going to work between Lisa and me; I knew that. I knew that even before Dr. Nambu recalled me to Utoland… You see, there was always someone else."

"Of course…" said Jun, "Carl."

"No, Jun, not Carl! It was you," Ken said almost wildly, clutching Jun's shoulders, "I could never give her what she really wanted; I was in love with you… only you!"

Joe realized he'd stopped breathing.

Jun made some wordless sound, but then Ken pulled her towards him and began kissing her passionately, desperately…

It was as if he were in a pocket of frozen time; he wanted to flee –why weren't his legs moving?

Jun's arms rose up and encircled Ken, and then he was pressing her down with his body and they both disappeared from view, behind the back of the couch.

Joe wrenched his legs into motion, disgusted at himself for watching… what he'd no right to see, for not moving away the instant he'd recognized their voices. Rapidly but silently, he moved up the corridor and away from them.

Now he was almost running, for the submarine bay. He needed to be far away from G-Town, and far away from them.

This is good, he told himself. They belong together, and Ken will get it right this time.

She will never be with you again.

You were a substitute.

But the defiant ache in his chest told him that no matter how much his reason bludgeoned his emotions, and no matter what he'd been trying to accomplish ever since Jun had learned the truth of his degraded existence, he would never be able to stop loving her.

In the days that followed, he was closer than he'd ever been to wanting to just end his existence –closer even than when he'd first regained consciousness in Rafael's lab and learned what had been done to him. With the reckless way he'd behaved so much of his life, he knew that many had often thought he had a death wish, but the reality was completely different; life was utterly precious to him. Now he was a cyborg and he no longer had a true life, but Jun did. So did Ken, and Jinpei, and Ryu and Dr. Nambu.

Despite his despair, he still wanted them to live. If he were going to end his existence, he would sacrifice himself to save one or all of them. That was the one thing of value he had left –that, and his dream of destroying Leader X.

In the days that followed, Ken and Jun had made no outward show of being together again, but he was certain that he saw a subtle difference in the way they looked at each other, in the way they moved around each other. He couldn't bring himself to ask Ken anything about it though. It was then that he fully understood why, years ago, Jun had wanted to keep his and her relationship covert; she'd said it would be easier for Ken.

She was right –even knowing what was going on, it was more bearable if you didn't have to see it going on right in front of your face.

But a month later, when Dr. Rafael asked him to submit to an upgrade of his cyborg components and capabilities, to become even more of a machine, he acquiesced and submitted to the surgeries.

What did it matter now?

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