Chapter 20

Jun stood back from the brewing argument unfolding before her eyes. They had been in 's lab for the past hour while he laid out just how serious Ken's illness had become over the few weeks since they first discovered it.

"No way are you going on missions without me!" Ken fumed, jerking his arm out of Joes grasp.

"You saw the results from those tests; there is no way you're fit-"Joe's voice deepened as he prepared to fight his commander.

"I'm fit to command this team- just who do you think you are Joe." Ken cut him off. Joes temper stepped up a notch and the Condor ceased to use words and just levelled a punch into Ken stomach.

Ken flinched from the blow but he was quick to retaliate.

That's when Jun decided it was time for her to step in. "Will you two hot heads stop and think for just a minute."

Ken's eyes had become brighter from the mounting tension with Joe- his chest heaved from the anger swelling up and spilling out of him. The tension of his jaw line didn't ease when he looked into her eyes.

"This is why no one else but Ken could operate the hypershoot." Dr. Nambu said walking into the room with Kamo.

"His passion was what we needed for it to work…" Kamo completed 's sentence.

Jun's eyes locked with Ken's, she watched him begin to calm down while Joe eased off his stance against his commander.[i] I did it for you… [/i] his eyes said to her. No she had to be wrong. She thought. Staring deeper into clear blue depths of his gaze.

Eventually she broke eye contact but not before she saw something in his eyes that she hadn't seen for a long time. She knew the source of his passion from the way he looked at her.

"You have to find a way to fight this illness Ken, until then I support Joe and 's decision to keep you away from duty,"

"So do we Ken." Jinpei jumped in, along with Ryu.

It broke Jun's heart in two when she saw the look of betrayal in his eyes directed at her. His shoulders slumped and he walked solemnly over to stare out the window.

"If that's what you want Jun…" Ken's voice became heavy with emotion. "I'll sit tis one out."

"Yes…I want to stay here and find a way to get better." Jun said softy to the back of his shaggy dark hair. She watched him clench his fists and slam his tight fists down on the window sill. "Useless…I've become so useless…"

"Common team lets go, we have a mission to run." Joe said abruptly, ignoring Kens aguish he strolled towards the door- they all turned to follow him.

"Wait!" Ken yelled stopping them all abruptly in their tracks his voice filled with passion. "I'm Gatchaman, and I'm the only one who can operate the hypershoot. You're not going without me damn it!"

"Yes we are Ken…" Joe's voice went dead calm. "If you try what I think you're going to do forget it…"

"Since when have you been able to stop me Joe?" Ken's tone became deadly.

"Like this…" With a quick flick of hands Joe pulled out his gun set on stun and directed it at a surprised Eagle who fell to floor within seconds. Mutiny against Gatchaman was something none of ever thought it would come too.

"You've been watching way too much Indiana Jones." Jinpei's face become serious as the joke fell flat on rest of them. Deep inside it they all felt a little lost without him leading the way.

"Team, we'll look after him." Kamo reassured them.

"I have no doubts about that." Jun fought back her tears as she looked at the still form of Ken before her laid out on the floor. She knew why he insisted on going, every mission was also a search for Dyami. Secretly after every competed mission she'd find a place on the Gatchasparten to cry in frustration, only to look up into his haunted eyes when he came looking for her to share their grief at losing him all over again. And the longer they were going to slimmer the chances would be of every finding them again.

Running along side Joe she glanced at the Condor taunt features. Joe had been someone she had been drawn to at one time but found him to be in some ways more closed off then Ken. She could never really tell what he was thinking, even though he expressed how he felt often in anger openly.

"Why did you let him do it… you could have insisted that he give you the job of operating the hypershoot…" She scolded him over the intercom as they prepared to leave the base in their individual mecha's. During the time they were in the office it came out who the hypershoot was really designed for.

"Now not the time Jun we have Galactor to defeat-" Joe said tensely.

"-Now is better than never." Jun retorted. "Just answer my question Condor Joe."

"Ken's Gatchaman remember the man in charge, he calls the shots… why don't you two try talking to each other rather than going through me all the time." He answered. "You're like a pair of kids running to daddy to sort out your problems."

"You're not my daddy, so quit the insults." She flung back, then silence fell between them as they left the base.

For a moment and though about it, from the time Joe entered their lives again he had become kind of a middle man. The one both of them had turned to talk about the real issues in their life.

"We sometimes talk…" Jun became defensive. "We used to talk, for a short while…before everything changed…"

"Maybe you did, but that's not really the way it is now Swannie, things did change…it changed for all of us." Joe's voice became a dead calm. She could tell he was worried about Ken.

"At least they might find a solution, that's why he couldn't come on the mission." Jun lost her anger- she was worried sick about him too.

"Yeah, and soon I hope, be damned if you want me to command too many missions." Joe smirked through the intercom.

"It's not the same without the five of us." She agreed staring at the road in front of her, and flicked the switch in her mind that forced her to stay on the mission and leave her problems with the smoking ashes of what was once the Snack J.

* * * *

The commotion taking place down hall was enough for Matt to stick his head out of the door in curiosity.

"No…No… My dearest Count Egobossler, one more chance and I'll produce a mecha like you have never seen before that will bring victory-" The Engineer and mecha designer of the last one the few up against the Science Ninja Team pleaded profusely.

"Shut up!" Count Egobossler snarled." Whimpering fool… that's what you promised me for the last six months…well Sosai Z is demanding I get rid of liabilities. I should have done this long ago when your first few failed against them, but you see I'm a generous man."

The man crumbled to the floor in terror. "Just one more chance…" He blubbered.

"What happened?" Matt hissed at the assistant who scurried through the door least Count Egobossler would see him and diver some of his rage towards him.

"He…his, mecha was destroyed by the Science Ninja Team." His wiry assistant Gerald licked his lips nervously. "It was goin well for him, you know the mecha was his best one yet, and the Eagle was no where in sight… they really thought it had em in the bag."

Gerald paled, and began to tremble. "But he turned up…I think , mmm then again someone said the condor was in charge, " He shook his bald head thoughtfully…"Whatever…well its predictable anyway, I don't have all the details but it was destroyed…and then Count Egobossler went insane when came back from reporting to Sosai Z."

Matt heard the sound of Count Egobossler's cold voice again and stuck his head out the door.

"Execute him in front of the firing squad! I want him to pay for it and to remind everyone what happens when Sosai Z is unhappy with Galactor." Egobossler shouted so anyone near by could hear the doomed engineers sentence for failure. The terrified whimpering man tried to grab the hem of Count Egobossler's long flowing cape.

"You can't so this I have a family." He pleaded.

Egobossler's second in Command Kempeler kept his face cold and still while his lord dealt out his second blow to the condemned man.

Egobossler's lips turned up into a half cold smile as he looked down upon the man. "Not any more you don't… it looks like you'll be meeting them in the after life, that should satisfy Sosai Z's need for blood for the failure of this organisation."

Kempeler's face flickered for an instant with appeared to be conflict to Matt- that puzzled him, from what he had come to know of Kempeler he was the most evil man in Galactor aside from Mekandor his battalion commander.

Kempeler resumed his cold expression as soon as he met Matt's eyes. It sent shivers down his spine, and so did the order for the former engineer's family meeting the same fate because of his failure. He couldn't stop the image of Natasha and Dyami being dragged before a firing squad if he failed from flashing through his mind. Kempeler again studied his face. Matt prayed his fears wouldn't betray him and make him vulnerable to this man. He thought for a moment Kempeler looked like he was going to walk down the hallway instead he turned abruptly followed Count Egobossler.

Matt quickly closed the door and slumped against it in a cold sweat.

"Lucky the equipment we needed to finish Iron Beast Bantegron was delayed, or it could have been us going before the firing squad." Gerald sighed heavily and went back to his work. Matt watched him with some curiosity as he picked a small electronic device, about the size of his finger nail. Matt knew it was a side project Gerald was working on for Count Egobossler. Aside from telling him it was an implant of some sort that was meant for a human being and it was found in an old lab of some crazy scientist called Raphael he wouldn't talk about it any further.

"It still could be us." Matt said hoarsely turning his eyes back to the blue print covering the wall. "Do you have a family Gerald?"

Gerald shook his head sadly. "Nope, just me…If you do, then I'd get em as far away from here as possible, things are really looking dismal of late around here."

"Yeah, might take you up on that…" Matt said thinking of the irony in what he just said since he didn't have clue where they could be. Gerald didn't respond, so Matt walked over to his desk and sat down. He thought about the remote control detonator he'd made for when it went up against Science Ninja Team. Could he do it, knowing it could spell the death of his wife and son when the mecha failed. Again he felt the conflict rising within him. The death of his family would destroy him, but it could save millions if the Science Ninja Team and the ISO won this war. He thought about them and wondered if these kinds of sacrifices had been asked of them had they lost what the treasured most in the world to this war? He hoped not.

Best get on with it. He thought. Picking up his pen he began going over the recent changes in the internal mechanisms. Focus he told himself stay focused on the job before you just like the days you were a squadron commander. Turning in his seat he heard the sound of the door opening and Gerald being dismissed from the room. The sound of boots on the smooth metal floor made him draw in a sharp breath. He had to produce results or his family were doomed…or he sacrifice the world for them. Matt knew in heart what he had to do, but could he? Only when Bantegron was launched would he have his answer.