Chapter 45

"Jun, I..." Ken started but was cut off by his hospital room door opening.

"Aniki! You're awake!" Jinpei bounded in, followed by Ryu and Joe.

"Jinpei! What are you doing here?" Jun asked surprised. "You and Ryu should be in your room resting!"

"Aw, Onechan, we're fine. Besides Hakase said it was ok for us to come see Ken."

Jun glanced back at Ken, disappointed. 'So close!' she thought to herself.

"Next time you want to follow Jun and me on a mission, why don't you call us first?" Joe chided.

Ken looked at his Second. "Nice to see you, too." he remarked, then shot back, "Next time you two decide to take a mission on yourselves, report to me first!"

Jun smiled and rolled her eyes. After all they'd been through, she was so happy to hear Joe and Ken goad each other on.

"Ah, let it go, Ken. We're all back here safe." Ryu broke in, trying to deflect what he was sure would become an ensuing fight before it began.

"Yeah, Aniki! I wanna hear about what happened. I don't remember anything after Galactor caught us in that gas chamber!"

"Maybe later." Joe cut in. "I'm not sure I want to re-hash everything again. Our marathon debriefing session with Hakase was enough for me for a while!"

Jun nodded in agreement as Jinpei pleaded, "C'mon Joe! I heard there were clones of Ryu, Aniki, and me. What was up with that?"

"If you can't wait for us, then I suggest asking Hakase for a copy of the mission report. All the details will be in there." Jun suggested.

"No, that's ok." Jinpei quickly answered. "I've seen those reports and I think I'll leave them for Aniki to deal with."

"Thanks..." Ken grumbled, realizing that this report was probably going to read like War and Peace. Not to mention the reprimand he was sure to get from Hakase for not only for letting G2 and G3 act on their own, but also for allowing himself to be deceived by Galactor.

Hakase then opened the door and came into the room. "I thought I told you only two at a time?" he reminded Joe, Jinpei and Ryu.

"Sorry, Hakase, but Ken was awake and we wanted to see him." Ryu explained.

"Well, everyone can go now. Now that Ken's conscious, I want to ask him a few questions and run a few more tests to make sure he has no after-effects."

The Condor, Swallow, and Owl all left, leaving Ken with well wishes and the promise that they would be back soon.

Jun lagged behind for a moment.

"You too, Jun." Hakase pressed.

"Ok, Hakase, "Jun said sadly as she gave a longing look back to Ken.