Seeing D-Boy go running out of the room like that, leaving the pitiful remains of what had clearly once been that magic crystal of his behind, Noal couldn't help but wish that they had managed to find out just what Dagger had been planning to do sooner. It might have been enough to keep D-Boy from getting his crystal shattered like that, and it probably would have kept the Gemini Boys away from Dagger and his homicidal lunacy.
At least until the next time that that guy in charge of the Radam's invasion sent him out to cause trouble again.
Aki was fidgeting in her seat, so he wasn't really that surprised to see that – once she had their proper coordinates programmed into the navcomp – she quickly left her station to head back into the main air lock. He might have been tempted to do the same, if he hadn't known that she would report the twins' condition back to him if there was anything out of the ordinary – at least for a certain value of ordinary – going on, or that the Blue Earth needed him to guide her safely back to OSDG Headquarters, and that the twins were as safe as anyone ever could be in this world.
Everything would be all right.
OSDG Headquarters was fully in sight now, just up ahead, and Aki came back into the cockpit with a look of relief plain on her face, so that meant that the Gemini Boys were doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances. So, all was right with the world, and they could call this one a win. Well, mostly a win, he mused, glancing back at the pitiful pile of shards on the deck.
They'd have to do something so D-Boy could keep transforming into Tekkaman Blade; there was no way that Tekkaman Varis would be able to hold back the Radam's legions of monsters on his own, no matter how much D-Two would try, and no way in hell that the Radam wouldn't try to take advantage of D-Boy's being out of commission.
All of that would have to wait until they actually got back into OSDG Headquarters, of course, but that didn't mean he had to stop thinking about things. Even if he couldn't do anything to help D-Boy, which he knew he couldn't since he knew next to nothing about how either of the twins managed those transformations of theirs, he would do everything he could to help D-Two while his brother was out of the fight. God knew the kid was going to need all the help he could get, since they were probably going to have Radam monsters raining down on them non-stop once Dagger reported in that his mission had been completed.
At least, near enough that the Radam weren't likely to care about the specifics.
Landing back in the hangar bay, he quickly ran through the power-down sequence for the Blue Earth, then got out of his chair and headed to the aft storage section. He figured that, after he emptied it of supplies and things, one of the emergency med-kits would be good for holding the shards of D-Boy's magic crystal until he could get them to either the Chief, or Levin and Honda. Any of those three would be able to do a heck of a lot more with those shards than he could even think of.
Emptying out the med-kit onto the shelf where it had been sitting, strapped neatly into its holder so it wouldn't become a nuisance when they were in freefall or a projectile-hazard during the times they encountered turbulence – or Radam monsters – during reentry, Noal carried it back into the cockpit and knelt down next to the shards of D-Boy's crystal. Carefully picking up the larger pieces, he set them carefully into the box, and then set about scooping up the shards that he could now see scattered around the spot where the broken crystal had landed. He managed to get all of the ones that he could see, but there might have been more that he was missing.
He didn't intend to spend all of his day, what little there was of it left, staring at the deck in the Blue Earth's cockpit, so he closed up the box he'd packed the shards in and left the ship. It was time to see what he could get done with these things; time to see what Levin and Honda or the Chief would make of this.
I
Leaving the twins in the care of the medical staff, still wondering with some degree of embarrassment just why D-Boy had ended up naked when he had transformed back into a human when D-Two hadn't, Aki headed back to her quarters. Seeing D-Boy, staring down helplessly as the shattered remains of his crystal fell to the Blue Earth's deck, had made her heart go out to him. He must have felt so powerless, and he'd clearly been worried about the same kind of thing happening to his brother, given the way he'd run right into the air lock to check on D-Two once he had gotten over his obvious shock at seeing his crystal break like that.
But in the end, D-Two had clearly been safe, and D-Boy had looked so peaceful sleeping there next to his brother. The both of them really only seemed to look that way when they were asleep, since even when they were together they seemed to have some sort of shadow hanging over them. It was strange, but it was also clearly something that neither of the twins wanted to talk about, so she wasn't going to pry.
Heading for her quarters, wanting to get some rest and to have a chance to get the events of this particularly eventful day all settle within her mind, Aki wondered for a moment just how the Space Knights would be able to recover from this; true, when D-Two had been laid up in the infirmary D-Boy had been forced to fight the forces of the Radam on his own as Tekkaman Blade, but that had only been once, and there had been a definite timetable concerning when D-Two was going to be able to rejoin his brother in battle. This time, there wasn't any such reassurance. Tekkaman Varis might be forced to fight alone for weeks, months, or even longer.
There was even the possibility, as much as she didn't like to even consider it, that D-Boy would never be able to transform into Tekkaman Blade again. She didn't think about that for long, forcing it out of her mind with the certainty that Honda and Levin were either working on the problem already, or were at least being fully informed about it, and that with their combined abilities they would be able to solve D-Boy's problem. She'd known those two the entire time that she had been part of the Space Knights, a time that seemed immeasurably longer now that the war against the Radam had begun in earnest.
It was a good thing that D-Boy and his brother had come falling out of the sky so soon after the Radam had started attacking, almost like some kind of a miracle; the two heroes falling out of the sky like shooting stars, just in the nick of time. Helping to save all of the people who had been put in harm's way by the Radam and their merciless monsters.
It was a nice thought, that, almost like someone had seen the invasion coming, and had decided to give the Earth a fighting chance. It was a nice thought that someone had been looking out for them. She wouldn't say anything, though; other peoples' potential interest notwithstanding, it didn't seem like the twins would have appreciated the sentiment if they found out about it.
For whatever strange reason, neither of them seemed to think of themselves as the heroes they so clearly were.
It was just one of the many mysteries that she was beginning to realize surrounded the twins. They seemed to attract them, or at least to do nothing to dispel the ones that surrounded them. They had clearly been through some kind of a horrible experience, like she'd told Noal all those weeks ago when they had both first met the twins, but now more than ever she wanted to find out what it was.
She wanted to help them, to support them in a battle that they had clearly not chosen to fight of their own free will; well they had, but they obviously wouldn't have gotten involved with the war if they had been given any kind of a choice about it. Still, that brought up the question of just what kind of thing would be able to force the twins, with all their power, to do something that they were so clearly ambivalent about. Whatever it was, though, Aki knew that she didn't want to have to deal with it.
II
Once he was completely certain that the once-human who had been named Kengo Aiba would not attempt to resist the commands that he would be required to carry out in the service of the Radam Empire, Omega turned his attention to the youngest of the humans that he had captured: the youngest of the family he had captured, and in fact the youngest of the humans overall. He found it odd that such a young human had even managed to survive the tekka-process at all, much less that he would prove to be as useful as he seemed to be. It was a fact, however, that the little one would not have the sheer, overwhelming power of one of the older Tekkamen until he had been allowed to mature.
Still, young Sasuke Aiba would be quite suitable as a scout, or an assassin; tasks where his smaller size and more docile appearance would serve him well.
His elder sister Miyuki, one of the three surviving females out of the crew and the only female member of the family to which his little traitors belonged, was still in the latter stages of analysis. These human females were quite different than the females of his own species, and would have to be handled with care. Their reproductive abilities would prove useful in future campaigns – just as those of his own peoples' females had proven to be – and so it was important to ensure that they remained in good health.
For the moment, however, he could allow the automatic subroutines imbedded within the ship's bio-computers to attend to the females. The youngest of the captive humans was the more pressing subject at the moment. He would have to be carefully shaped, if he was to be of any use.
He woke up to the blaring of the emergency-alert, only to find Noal just starting to come into his room.
"Good," the blond said, sounding genuinely relieved. "You're already up. We're going to need to move quickly; it's raining monsters out there, and your brother… well, let's just say he's not quite up to fighting-form at the moment."
"All right," he said, making a mental note to find out what Takaya was really feeling later; his brother's part of their link was quiet, a sure sign that Takaya was still asleep. "Let's go."
Following Noal out of his quarters at a brisk jog, he vaguely noticed that they were heading for Hangar Three rather than the comm. room; obviously they were skipping the Chief's usual briefing in favor of simply heading out to deal with the Radam monsters. Something he was admittedly in favor of, but he couldn't help the feeling that this was a bad sign of things to come. Not stopping for a briefing meant that they weren't just flying blind, it also meant that they didn't have the luxury of time to spare.
That wasn't good; it probably meant that something had gone more wrong than usual on their last mission, since he couldn't think of any other reason why Omega would choose now to start swamping them with Radam monsters again.
Once they were all seated in the Blue Earth, with Aki wordlessly inviting him to take his brother's seat – something that he assured her would be only temporary, which she smiled at in a way he didn't quite know how to interpret – he looked out the large cockpit windows at the rank upon rank of Radam monsters descending in front of them. I hope you're doing all right back at OSDG Headquarters, brother, he thought to himself; Takaya had to have been really wrung-out not to have contacted him for their becoming-usual early morning talk, so Shinya wasn't going to bother him.
Heading for the air lock, alone for the first time since his and Takaya's personal war had started, Shinya tried not to think about what might have happened to his older twin. He'd be able to find out once he dealt with the Radam monsters, and distractions would only end up costing him in battle. Probably not his life, but it was still best not to take those kinds of chances.
"Teksetta!"
III
Meeting with the leaders of the Allied Defense Force had never been something that he had enjoyed, but in this case it was a necessity. The loss of D-Boy's ability to transform into Tekkaman Blade, while it had not entirely crippled the Earth's capability to defend itself, placed an unfair burden on D-Two as Tekkaman Varis. Despite the fact that the young man himself would not likely be inclined to complain about the situation, likely seeing it as his responsibility to his brother to put himself forward, it would not be fair to that young man to ask him to take over sole responsibility for the Earth's defense for a prolonged period of time.
"None of this would be happening if you'd turned those Tekkamen of yours over to us," General Colbert accused, slamming his hands down on the computer console he had been sitting behind. "Even your Tekkaman Varis is being overwhelmed! Just how do you plan to take responsibility for this?! It's still not too late; turn Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis over to us, and we'll handle everything!"
He had expected this argument; Colbert had never been one to tolerate a situation that wasn't under his direct control, and the power that those two young men wielded had been bound to attract his attention at some point. It was better that it had happened after D-Boy and D-Two had established themselves as a part of the Space Knights, even though he would have personally preferred that it had not happened at all. Still, he would always make it a point to deal with things as they were; for the sake of the Space Knights and that of the Earth itself, he could not afford to be distracted with musings about an ideal world.
"Sir, I refuse," he said calmly.
"What?!"
"If I were to take responsibility, I believe it should be to the whole of humanity, rather than the military," he said; Colbert was not even one of those who understood responsibility. He owed humanity as a whole his protection, yes, but he also owed his Space Knights protection from the exploitation of the Defense Force.
"Watch your mouth!" one of the other Generals, a man whose name he didn't quite recall at the moment, spoke out.
Brusquely, Colbert waved him down. "Freeman, don't make me repeat myself."
"The Space Knights will handle this crisis in our own way," he said calmly. "Good day, gentlemen."
He knew very well what would happen to either of those young men if he allowed the military in general or Colbert in particular to get their hands on them; people in the midst of what looked like a hopeless situation were a great deal less likely to consider the morality of their actions, particularly when those actions seemed as if they would provide salvation to them and those under their protection. The fact that Colbert was not particularly inclined to put any ethical constraints on the scientists that he would no doubt assign to studying D-Two's ability to transform into Tekkaman Varis and exactly what mechanisms he used to accomplish his transformation meant that if D-Boy or D-Two fell into his hands, through whatever kind of accident or misfortune would place them there, they would be treated like laboratory specimens rather than the human beings that they so clearly were. Those two brave, intelligent, resourceful young men deserved better than to be slowly picked apart by Colbert and his cadre of scientists and lab technicians simply to obtain data that could be gathered in a more humane, albeit indirect, manner.
Aside from that, once they had – informally, yes, but somewhat sincerely nonetheless – declared themselves a part of the Space Knights, they had come under his protection; he would not sacrifice any of his Space Knights to the military, no matter what kind of potential benefits might be promised by doing so.
As he continued on his way out of the Allied Defense Force's main command center in this sector, he turned his attention to another matter, one that was far more urgent at this point than dealing with Colbert and his ambitions. When Noal had delivered the shards of D-Boy's crystal to him, he had immediately begun discussing ways that D-Boy's ability to transform might be restored with Levin and Honda. The idea that they had come up with, once it was completed, would not only provide D-Boy with his transformation capability once again, but it would also provide him and his brother with a viable combat partner.
Activating his comm. unit, he contacted his own personnel.
"Yes, this is Milly."
"This is Freeman. How is the Pegas project coming along?" he asked, noting the slightly downcast expression on her face when he asked; not particularly good news, then.
"Yeah. Levin and Honda are working hard, but I couldn't tell you just when they're going to be done," she said.
"I see," he conceded.
With at least some hope that D-Boy would soon be able to transform into Tekkaman Blade again, he continued on his way out of the Allied Defense Force's command center.
IV
He'd been up since the nightmares woke him, trying to sort through all of the data that the Radam had implanted in his head while they were trying to make him into one of their obedient slave-warriors. There had to be something useful in all that data, something that he could use to restore the powers that Fritz had taken from him. Shinya couldn't be everywhere at once, after all, and the longer his brother was forced to fight alone, the greater the chance that something would happen to him. He would never forgive himself if Shinya ended up hurt – or was even killed – because of something he had or hadn't done; he had made a promise to Father that he would always protect Shinya, and he and Shinya had promised that they would always fight together.
Takaya was determined to keep both of his promises, no matter what it cost him in the end.
So he was going to go over every scrap of information that had been forced into his mind by those damned aliens, and then he would find a way to transform again. Aki and the others could worry about providing moral and material support; he was the only real partner that his brother could count on in battle. That was why he had to get back into the fight, and as soon as was possible.
Some of this data, though… it just didn't make sense! The rest of it seemed to be useless to him; some kind of logistics reports. So the Radam scouted the galaxy, looking for sentient beings with the same general bodily-configuration as humans; so Omega was most likely one of the aliens that had been captured by the Radam on some of their previous raids, so he was most likely incapable of leaving the ship for whatever reason; none of that was going to help him get his powers back! It was all as useless as he was right now!
Shoving the papers that he'd covered with handwritten notes to one side of the desk that he hadn't used for anything prior to this, Takaya buried his face in his hands. He couldn't deal with this; Fritz had crippled him and there seemed to be nothing he could do about it. He really was useless.
Prodding his link with Shinya, not wanting to wake his brother if he was in the middle of a fight, he found that his younger brother was pretty much dead to the world. Apparently he'd just come back from a fight; scrubbing his face with his hands, Takaya gathered the papers he'd shoved aside and started going over them again. Even if he was less than useless right now, Shinya was alone out there, fighting what should have been their fight. All alone, against whatever Omega and Tekkaman Dagger could throw at him.
He wasn't going to let that stand, even if he did feel like some pathetic cripple right now; Shinya deserved much better; Takaya would keep his promises.
Glancing over a list of names that he'd written down, Takaya found that he could easily picture the alien races that went along with them.
Nandorians, for instance: they were the same kind of bipedal, bilaterally-symmetrical aliens that the Radam favored as Tekkamen; they looked more like kangaroos, though: they were generally more broad-shouldered than humans, with three thick fingers and an opposable thumb; their digits were all tipped with bony claws covered by a keratin sheath, they had to file the sheaths frequently to keep them from growing too long; they subsisted on a purely carnivorous diet; and they had three, thick toes that could grip slightly better than their hands, though they lacked most of the dexterity. The Radam used them as hunters, scouts, and trackers; their main senses were sight, hearing – a fact made plain by their six-inch ears, both equipped with seven muscles each for swiveling, lowering, and raising the ear itself, as well as moving each ear independently of the other – and smell; their sense of touch, while not quite as dramatic as the other three, was still better than any human's, due to their coats of short, dense fur and their long whiskers; most of the whiskers were in what people would consider to be normal places, but there were a pair each behind the ears, and several in a straight line leading to the tip of their tails. Any one of them, with the exception of the very young or the very old and infirm, would be able to run down even the most highly-trained of human athletes, wrestle them to the ground, and bite them to death.
That was how they hunted prey back on their own planet, in fact.
He would have wondered why the Radam hadn't had any of their Nandorian Tekkamen in stasis aboard that ship, but he already knew the answer: each time a new planet was discovered by one of the Radam's probe-ships, the first invasion would consist of the inhabitants of that planet. They were expected to be able to deal with any and all opposition that could be found on the target planet, as well as being able to almost seamlessly blend back into the society they had left. He didn't know if anything like what had happened to him and Shinya had ever been repeated on one of the Radam's subject-planets, but he found himself hoping so.
Having one or more Nandorians on their side could only help Earth's chances.
Still, he knew that the chances of them making contact with any extraterrestrial Tekkamen hinged on the Radam consolidating their power on this planet. Something he and Shinya were both determined to prevent.
"Hey, D-Boy," Noal said, startling him out of his musings. "What's with all the kangaroo-man sketches? You planning a funny comic, or something?"
"Noal. Aki," he acknowledged, trying to settle his jangling nerves. "What are you two doing here?"
"Just came by to see how you were doing," Noal said, grinning. "You look a lot better than you did yesterday, I have to say."
"D-Boy, why don't you take a break and have something to eat?" Aki asked, and he noticed then that she was holding a tray of food. "You have to think about your health."
"This is more important," he said firmly, turning back to his work and dismissing Aki and Noal from his thoughts; he still hadn't found anything he could actually use, just a bunch of trivia about the Radam that he could have just as well done without. "I have to find a way to transform again; brother is all alone out there."
"Hey, we know that," Noal said, sounding conciliatory and yet still a bit put-out. "I just finished putting D-Two to bed; he was asleep before he made it out of the Blue Earth. I know you're both trying to do your parts to help stop this invasion, but you'll be no good to anyone if you work yourself into exhaustion."
"I'm not any good to anyone now, Noal," he bit out. "I have to find a way to regain my powers; I made a promise."
"Promise or not, you have to eat," Noal said, leaning over him with his right hand splayed out over the notes he'd been making. "You'll get sick if you don't."
"I can't stop for that," he said, setting down the pen he'd been using so he wouldn't end up throwing it; either at someone or just at the wall. "What do you think all these notes are for? I'm trying to find a way to regain my powers." It just seems so hopeless and confusing right now, he added silently.
"Why don't you come see something," Aki said, coming over to his side just as he stood up from his chair. "It'll be good for you."
"I don't have time for that," he said.
"Come on," she said, already starting to pull him along by his right arm.
"Where?" he asked; she was remarkably strong for her size, almost like Sa-someone he had known before. He could have broken free, but with how tightly her arms were wrapped around his right, he was worried about hurting her if he tried.
"We want to help you," she said, still pulling him along. "All the people hard at work; it's not all on you to find a way to help yourself. We Space Knights are a team."
He didn't know just how to respond to that; he and Shinya had always been on their own, standing alone in their war with the Radam. There had been no one else that he could count on to help them, no one else who was actually on their side, for so long that he had actually expected to have to stand on his own. Shinya would probably say he was being an idiot; maybe he needed that.
(Shin-chan?)
(Ta-kun? Is there something wrong?)
(Aki's not happy with me.)
(Oh, why is that?) Shinya said; Takaya's stomach growled, reminding him of something else that he hadn't been thinking about. (Are you being stupid again?)
(Yeah; I think so,) he said, noticing that a railing at the end of the long hallway they were coming to was growing steadily clearer in his line of sight. (I haven't been eating since yesterday.)
A pause, then: (You're hopeless, Ta-kun.)
(Sorry,) he said, as he began to see the large room, with the large assortment of heavy equipment and the one very large thing that seemed to be the focus of all that work, clearly over the top of the railing and through the gaps in it.
(I guess I really did get all the brains when we were born,) Shinya said, sounding like he was probably rolling his eyes right about now.
(Sometimes I think that, too,) he said, as he and Aki stopped at the railing, which he now saw bordered a wide catwalk, and looked down into a large machine shop. (Would you lend me some of yours?)
(I guess; but only a little.)
"Do you know what they're doing?" Aki asked kindly. "They've been working round the clock, going without meals even. A bit like you." He really hoped that was hyperbole; he'd feel like more of an idiot than he already did if that were true. "Go ahead, watch."
"Why?" My tekkaset is up there? It looked like it had been roughly pieced back together, too, inside the glass case where he had seen it resting.
"They've all been working to research your crystal's system; staying up through the nights they've been working here," she turned a wide, bright smile on him. "They're all working to help you become Tekkaman Blade again."
All of this, just to help him; he really had been an idiot. "Thanks," he muttered; he didn't know if any of this would work any better than what he'd been trying, but with so many extra minds on the task, it was bound to produce better results. Or at least, that was what he was hoping.
Aki started forward again, and he had to hurry to stay close to her. They were moving closer to what looked like a research room, and he could just see the back of Levin's head through one of the windows. Shinya liked him, so that was a big point in his favor, and in a weird way he kind of reminded Takaya of his brother; actually, he reminded him of Aiba Shinya, really.
That might have been why Shinya liked him so much, in fact: as a reminder of a more innocent time.
Levin was waving to them. He looked enthusiastic, which either meant he was close to some sort of a breakthrough, or he was just really happy to see them. Takaya didn't know just which, yet.
"Hey, D-Boy!" Levin said happily; it still might have meant he'd made a breakthrough. "Did you come here to give us moral support?" he asked.
Okay, maybe it hadn't been from a breakthrough; Takaya would have sighed if he hadn't been confronted with Levin's seemingly boundless enthusiasm.
"How's it going?" Aki asked, smiling.
"We're getting really close, at least I think so." Takaya could understand the frustration in Levin's voice when he said that.
"Trying to make me Tekkaman Blade again," he said. "Do you really think you can do it?"
He wasn't going to mention the imprinting they'd done on him, not until he'd actually found something useful buried under all that minutia and logistics; he didn't want to offer the Space Knights false hope. More than that… well, he didn't want them to think that he had been brainwashed or something. It might have just been unreasoning paranoia on his part, but he didn't want to take those kinds of chances.
It wasn't just his life at stake if he'd somehow misjudged these people.
"Well, God only knows if we can actually make this work," Honda said, laughing in what Takaya took to be a fond sort of exasperation.
"I'm glad you have so much confidence," he said, tucking his hands into his pockets so he wouldn't be tempted to start fiddling with something; waiting had never really been his strong point.
"Well, there's always that last push that's a problem…" There was a wide grin on Levin's face as he said that, and he tried to smile for the other man's sake.
"Yeah, there is," he muttered.
"Come on," Levin said.
"Let's go, D-Boy," Noal said, coming up from behind him and gently starting to push him forward with a hand on his right shoulder. "Levin's going to show us something."
Finding himself inside the computer room where Levin had been working, he watched with a mix of emotions as Levin began entering data into the terminal in front of him. He hoped Levin could do it, for all of their sakes.
"We've managed to find a way to block the enemy's Interference Spectrum," Levin said, his fingers practically flying over the computer's keys. "But it's the transformation itself that's got us stumped," he continued, as the image on the computer screen shifted to a strange, blue figure on a shifting green-and-black background. "I've got to find some kind of material capable of withstanding the compressed electromagnetic waves generated when either of you transform." As Levin continued typing, the screen displayed a schematic that Takaya wasn't equipped to understand at this point with the word 'change' flashing over it in red. The schematic for what he could swear was some kind of a giant robot began to light up in red, spreading out to engulf a featureless, pale blue human figure that he knew was meant to represent him. The machine filled with red, the words 'energy full; charge on' appeared, and then an image of a wireframe of a human head, neck, and shoulders appeared, and was swiftly covered by the armor he'd worn back when he was a Primary Body, before being overlaid with his own, proper Tekka-armor.
Unfortunately, that was as far as things went; the word danger started flashing on the screen. The image of him in full armor shattered, dissolving back to the schematic, with a pair of large wireframes of his whole, undamaged crystal, and the word 'error' in white overlaying it all.
"And there you have it," Levin exclaimed; he sighed.
"This high-energy electromagnetic wave is something we've never seen before, so that's hampering the development of the new material. Some of us thought about asking D-Two for help, just so we could take some closer readings of it, but D-Two has his responsibilities just like the rest of us. It wouldn't have been right to burden him like that right now," Honda said.
Takaya turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose in an effort to ward off the tension headache he could feel creeping up on him. No luck at all; not for him, not for Levin; he hated being helpless.
"Don't worry so much! Come on, this isn't the time to worry," Levin said, his hands on Takaya's shoulders. "I don't think I could cope if I never got to see my sexy Tekkaman Blade again! I'm really into this, more than I've ever been! You just leave everything to me!"
Coughing into his fist to hide a laugh, Takaya smiled slightly; that was definitely something Aiba Shinya would have said, just because he thought it would be funny. "Yes; right."
The base's alarms sounded then, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.
There were no words exchanged; everyone already knew what they had to do, and they were all out of the machine shop and moving down the corridors at a brisk clip. Shinya joined up with him on the way, nodding briefly to Aki and Noal before falling into step beside him. They soon arrived in the comm. center, with the Chief waiting for him they way he'd come to expect.
Milly, hard at work at the console she always seemed to be manning, was the first one to speak: "The transmission's being interrupted!"
"I'm warning you," said a familiar voice; one he'd come to hate with a passion. "I'm warning you, Earthlings."
"Dagger!" he and Shinya both snarled.
"You are to hand over Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis to the Radam by 1200 hours, Earth Standard Time. The dropoff location will be: the Orbital Ring 823rd area."
"I'm tracking the transmission's point of origin!" Milly reported.
"If Blade and Varis do not arrive by the designated time, we will launch a dedicated, indiscriminate laser attack on these areas." Tekkaman Dagger; Takaya wanted to reach through the screen and strangle him, then stab him in the face with his own bow. Still, there was really only one thing they could do, now. Only one course of action that Takaya could live with. "We hope you will consider your actions wisely."
He turned slightly, catching Shinya's eye as his brother turned his way. When the rest of the Space Knights began to discus their plans, moving toward the front of the comm. room, he and Shinya both moved to the back of the room, leaving once it was clear that they were all deeply absorbed in their discussion. He sighed as the doors hissed closed behind them.
"Well, I guess that's it," Shinya sighed.
"Yeah," he said, resisting the urge to look back over his shoulder; there was nothing to do but move forward, he'd accepted that a long time ago. "Come on."
Without another word, he slung his right arm around Shinya's shoulders, and felt his brother do likewise; maybe things could have gone differently, but there was no point in thinking about that now.
V
I'll never forget the pain of this scar. Tekkaman Blade; Tekkaman Evil, I'll kill you both with my own hands! he snarled, knowing that it was true; he'd offered the most sublime of baits this time. He was going to kill them, even if Evil had managed to somehow retain the use of his Tekset System, that would not be enough to save him. He would be hampered with trying to protect his precious older brother, who was now as weak and frail as any of the pathetic little insects crawling around on that little mudball they were so annoyingly determined to protect.
It would be a truly fortuitous advantage, that, and once the traitors arrived he was going to press it for all it was worth.
Still, the waiting could be rather tedious; he comforted himself with the thought that he would soon have all of the excitement that he craved. And more, the satisfaction of finally watching the traitors die by his hands. Lord Omega was truly generous, to give him this mission, even in spite of the fact that Evil had somehow managed to retain his powers after the perfect – or so he had once thought – trap that he had set for the traitor and his brother.
He would have to ask just how the little traitor had managed it; before he buried the full length of his bow in Evil's armored chest and felt the life drain from his pitiful, incomplete form.
VI
They'd had a last meal, since it was the last they were going to get for awhile and Shinya needed all the energy he could get if he was going to be able to transform into Tekkaman Varis, and then cited a need to think about things when Aki had asked them why they'd left the comm. room so suddenly after Dagger had delivered his ultimatum. He hadn't felt entirely good about lying to her, what with how nice she had been to him and Takaya while they were settling in, but there were times that want just didn't enter into an equation. This was one of them.
Now, heading for the secondary launch bay of the Space Knights' OSDG Headquarters – they couldn't very well expect to use the Blue Earth; even if she had been in flying condition, they would have needed to tell Aki and Noal what they were planning, and then everything would have gone to hell – he and Takaya were both careful to stay out of sight of any of the personnel they might have otherwise encountered on their way there. This was something they had to do on their own, whatever else happened.
The secondary launch bay was almost three times the size of the comm. room, but something almost immediately caught his eye; Takaya's too.
"That's it," his brother said, even as he craned his neck to get a better look at the large, three-stage rocket that they had just seen.
"Well, they do say that old ways are sometimes the best, brother," he said. "Let's get going, eh?" he said over his shoulder, as he turned and went in search of a way to power up this part of the launch bay.
And hopefully only this part; they didn't need the Space Knights in general or Noal and Aki in particular to be getting causing problems for them now, of all times.
VII
He knew that there was no real way of him being able to convince Shinya to stay back at OSDG Headquarters while he went off to face Tekkaman Dagger alone. Even overlooking the fact that Dagger's ultimatum had called for both of them, Shinya would stay with him through anything; he couldn't help but know that, now. Still, the thought of his brother – his younger brother, even if only by thirty minutes – going off to face Tekkaman Dagger alone made him fear for Shinya's life whenever he thought about it for too long.
Anyone could see that Takaya wouldn't be any use to anyone when it inevitably came down to a fight.
(Shinya?) he asked, climbing up onto the gantry so he could get a look inside the ship they'd be flying.
(Yeah?)
(What would you say if I asked you to stay behind?) he asked, climbing inside the small, cramped space that he – and only he, if he got his way – would be traveling up to the Orbital Ring in.
(I'd say you were an idiot, Ta-kun.)
Sighing, he climbed into the ship; Shinya would do things his way, like he always did, but that wouldn't stop him from at least trying to protect his younger brother. The interior of the ship was as small as he had been expecting from what he'd learned about the things, and there was only the one chair to sit in, but there were two EVA suits stored inside. Takaya was starting to wonder why, when he caught sight of the second, smaller, more rudimentary seat off to the left of the chair, placed forward of the computer.
There was a wrist-loop on the right of the seat, and a pair of handles that were obviously for bracing someone during acceleration.
(There's one normal chair, and an acceleration seat,) he reported, taking stock of the ship again. (Whoever pilots is going to be in the chair.)
(You can pilot, Ta-kun. I've got enough work with the computer down here. Besides, the quicker we get prepared for launch, the less time there will be for any of the Space Knights to try stopping us.)
(Good point,) he conceded, climbing fully into the body of the shuttle and heading for the EVA suit at the back. (Are you almost finished?)
(I just finished a second ago; I'll be right with you,) Shinya said, and Takaya smiled.
(Thank you, Shin-chan.)
VIII
When she had come to D-Boy's room, intending to tell him about the decision that Chief Freeman had come to after due consideration of Dagger's message, she had been surprised to find it empty. Then, she had realized that D-Boy would most likely be talking things over with D-Two, since that was generally what he did when there was something going on that affected the two of them. So, letting D-Boy's door hiss closed, she started heading for D-Two's room.
The general-alert sounded not soon after that, though, leaving her to wonder just what was going on.
The twins would have heard it, though, so that meant that she would be able to tell them both about the consensus when they came into the comm. room for this new briefing. Turning away from the corridor that would have lead her to D-Two's room, Aki made her way back to the comm. room. She wondered what the Radam could be up to now; whatever it turned out to be, she, Noal, and D-Two were going to make sure that their horrible plans weren't going to succeed.
When she arrived at the comm. room, however, she immediately noticed that three people were missing. Noal, D-Boy, and D-Two were nowhere to be found, and the Chief was standing over the base-wide radio with an expression that almost looked like stern disappointment on his face.
"D-Boy! You and D-Two come back at once!" the Chief ordered; there was no mistaking his orders when he gave them.
"You two can't do this on your own!"
"Do you want to get yourselves killed?" Noal demanded, hurrying over to the console. "You're just a human now, D-Boy; D-Two's going to have to spend all his time just making sure you don't die!"
"Hey, Aki-san," she heard D-Two say. "Thank you for taking us in like this. Sorry it couldn't have lasted longer. I hope you know how grateful we are, even if my brother is too much of an idiot to say it."
"Noal, you know that if we don't go, the Radam will launch their attack on Earth," D-Boy said, his tone as grim and serious as she'd ever heard it.
"You both know that they're not going to stop attacking just because you show up!" Noal shouted.
"We do know they won't stop if we don't," D-Two said, leaning forward to get closer to D-Boy so that he could be in range of the comm. screen in the rocket. "We can't just do nothing."
"Hey!"
"We might have worked together for only a short time, but…" D-Boy muttered, as D-Two climbed back into the seat that she could just glimpse at the edge of the viewing screen's range.
"Goodbye." The comm. switched off, just as D-Boy and D-Two's overlapping voices faded away.
IX
Cutting Noal off, just as he'd started to say something else, Takaya turned his attention to the launch-sequence. It was kind of funny, he reflected for a moment, that he had almost been making those same arguments himself with Shinya; weird how you could be on one side of an argument with one person, and on the direct opposite side of that same argument with another person. He supposed he knew how Shinya felt, now.
Flipping the proper switches and pressing the indicated buttons, Takaya set about getting ready .
(You still have it, brother?) he heard Shinya ask; the comm. was still on, so he was glad for their link.
(I've got it,) he said, reaching up to touch the concealed bomb; his last-ditch trump card.
(I still hate your plan, big brother,)
(We don't have any other options, little brother. I'm not going to let you die out there. Once I kill Tekkaman Dagger, I want you to-)
(Return to the Space Knights, and do whatever I can to stop the invasion. I know, brother.)
(Good,) he said; at least Shinya had a place to come back to now.
(I still hate this; I always will,) Shinya said. (Didn't we make a promise? Didn't we both say forever and after?)
(I know, Shin-chan,) he said, sighing. (You'll have to be strong. And... I'm sorry I couldn't stay with you longer.)
He'd said nothing of import to the Space Knights, only offering them a brief salute while he and Shinya had said their final farewells. They weren't his family, and while they might have wanted him and Shinya to be their comrades, he had to do this. He had to make sure that Shinya would be able to live; he'd failed too many times already.
Catching a glimpse of Shinya, passing his tekkaset from hand to hand in an obvious effort to relieve his tension, Takaya reached forward to clasp his brother's right hand. The crystal itself disappeared as Shinya dismissed it, and his brother squeezed as tightly as he dared. With his free hand, Takaya grasped the throttle and pulled it all the way back; this would have to be quick. He not only had to break the hold of Earth's gravity, he had to do it before anyone could try to stop them.
The rumble of the engines behind him, reverberating through the entire ship and causing his teeth to rattle, prompted him to sigh and Shinya to grip his hand all the tighter before slowly, reluctantly letting go. The atmosphere thinned and disappeared around them, as the Earth itself fell away beneath them. He thought he might have had some more profound thoughts, this being his last day alive and all, but all he felt was the strained anticipation of an unpleasant job than needed doing.
Hitting the command-sequence that would release the third- and second-stages of the rocket, now that they were no longer needed, Takaya looked to the Orbital Ring. There was still some time left before they would reach it, and while he still wished that Shinya would leave and let him handle this, a part of Takaya was glad to have him there; a part that he wasn't going to admit to.
Not ever.
"We're almost there," Shinya said solemnly, turning so that he could look Takaya square in the eyes; Takaya would have smiled for him, if his mouth had been visible. Just to try to make his younger brother feel better.
"Yeah." He reached forward to clasp Shinya's hand again, squeezing tightly.
They were in space proper by this time, and the screen on the right side of the ship was showing him an image of what had once been home. He'd miss it, since he was never going back, but this was for his brother's sake. The space in front of them was quickly filling with Radam's flying beasts, and the tension in the cabin quickly ratcheted up.
"They're here," Shinya bit out, his tekkaset clenched in his left hand in the time it took Takaya to blink.
"Yeah." But, just as he got the word out, the huge group of Radam monsters in front of him began to… Takaya laughed; it was a rhetorical question and they both knew it, but this was Shinya talking. "I guess the little grunts aren't allowed to attack right now."
The screens all around the seat were all showing Radam monsters, unnervingly docile ones; flying beasts that moved out of the way of their rocket as it coasted past them with the aid of short bursts from the maneuvering thrusters. The Orbital Ring was just up ahead of them, now, and he almost reached for Shinya's hand again; but he needed to keep this ship flying, at least long enough to get to Tekkaman Dagger, so he focused on the controls.
Shinya would understand.
When he didn't catch sight of Tekkaman Dagger through any of the screens, he paused. Their luck could never be that good. It wasn't, of course, and he soon spotted Tekkaman Dagger standing on the Orbital Ring itself.
"Good morning," Dagger said jovially, tapping their rocket's comm. in the same way he'd always done with the Blue Earth. "Blade and Evil."
He could see Tekkaman Dagger launching himself forward, and even the streak of red-tinted light from his thrusters as they propelled the evil Tekkaman forward relentlessly.
"Here you are," he heard over the comm., just before Tekkaman Dagger's bow perforated the body of the rocket.
He and Shinya both leaped free of their seats, darting out of the new hole using their thrusters, and Shinya gave him a last, reassuring glance before he pulled out his tekkaset and transformed. Tekkaman Varis was at his side in a heartbeat, then; his brother's right arm around his waist as he flew them both to the Orbital Ring just ahead of the quickly-expanding hail of debris that was all that remained of the rocket they had both come here in.
When they landed on the Orbital Ring, Tekkaman Varis raised his lance and used it to slash apart or bat away the debris that rained down around them. Breathing more easily for his brother's presence, Takaya gripped Tekkaman Varis' wrist opposite the hand he held his lancer in, and pointed to a more open part of the Orbital Ring.
(Right, big brother,) Tekkaman Varis said, still sounding annoyed. (I'll carry you over there. Just carry you over there to die.)
Sighing, he wrapped his arms around Tekkaman Varis' left and let his brother drop him off at the lower, more level part of the Orbital Ring. Letting go as Tekkaman Varis set him down, he looked up to see his brother jetting off to confront Tekkaman Dagger. Touching the concealed bomb on the front of his EVA suit, Takaya sighed.
Goodbye, little brother. Be strong; for both of us, Shin-chan. Live.
X
He was going to kill him, the arrow-happy little bastard; old friend or not, no one threatened his brother and lived to tell about it. And, if he did manage to kill Dagger, that meant that his idiot Ta-kun wouldn't have to waste his own life in attempt to take out the evil Tekkaman with a kamikaze attack. All the more reason for him to end Dagger's miserable, brainwashed little life.
As the evil Tekkaman in question fired yet another of his exploding arrows past his head, Varis gave his thrusters more juice and rammed him head-on.
(Well, you're certainly fiercer than usually today,) Dagger said, sounding amused; Varis snarled at him. Bastard. (No matter, though; nothing you do is doing to help you, Tekkaman Evil. I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to kill that other traitor you're protecting.)
He didn't answer; Dagger was trying to provoke him. It was a standard tactic in any fight you were serious about winning: get your enemy angry enough, and you would have a much easier time dealing with them. He'd done that often enough, and he wasn't about to let the same tactic be turned back on him.
There were more important things at stake here than pride.
Lashing out with his energy-ribbon, he shifted out of the way of Dagger's retaliatory bow-slash. For a moment, he contemplated using the secondary ability of his lancer, the one that would turn it into an oversized, returning boomerang. Then, deciding that it wasn't worth the risk of disarming himself even for so short a time, he raised his lancer and drove forward again.
He had to finish this quickly, for both his sake, and for Takaya. He wasn't going to lose any more of his family; not one more person.
XI
The repairs to the Blue Earth had been completed, and the newest of Levin's little projects had been loaded into the cargo bay. The cargo bay, which had the capability to air- or space-drop its contents when those kinds of things became necessary. He just hoped the Gemini Boys hadn't managed to get themselves killed yet; he had a lot of yelling that he wanted to do at them, and he wasn't particularly in the mood to wait.
Finally, Aki reported that they had a launch-window, and they were off.
The comm. screen came on once they were in space proper, and the very people that he'd been expecting showed up on it:
"I poured my soul into this, so handle it gently, Noal."
"Make sure you get there in time!" Honda said, his demeanor more serious.
"Just leave it to me!" he called good-naturedly.
"Please… be safe," Aki prayed.
Yeah; the sooner they got there, the sooner he could get the Gemini Boys back to the base, and the sooner he could give them a good, long tongue-lashing for being so unutterably, stupidly self-sacrificing as to walk blithely into an obvious trap. He was already marshalling his arguments, so the sooner they got out to those boys, the better as far as he was concerned.
XII
As Tekkaman Varis and Tekkaman Dagger darted around each other, Varis obviously making a game attempt to kill Dagger so that he himself wouldn't end up having to when the time came, Takaya was touched by his brother's determination. He was also making sure to keep an eye on his younger brother's time-limit, since he knew that there would be no possible way for him to survive a fight with two evil Tekkamen. He also knew that he wouldn't have the heart to kill Shinya in any case.
(Shinya, draw Dagger back this way,) he said. (You've used up twenty minutes already; don't argue with me.)
(Yeah.)
The twin flares of Varis' blue and Dagger's red thrusters became more clearly visible as Varis forced Dagger back into his line of sight.
(Oh, look,) he heard over his link; Dagger. (You brought us back over to Blade! Poor, stupid Evil. I'm going to kill him, you know.)
Reinforcing the mental walls that he had built, Takaya glared up at Dagger. The only one dying here is you, Fritz.
A quick burst from the thrusters built into his EVA suit was enough to get him out of the path of the arrow that Dagger fired at him, but he had to rely on Varis to smack the larger chunks of debris out of the way.
(Ta-kun, do you really think this is the only way?)
(It has to be,) he touched the bomb nestled into his EVA suit a last time. (Without my power, this is all I can do for you, Shin-chan.)
(I hate this.)
So do I, he thought; he didn't project that, though. Shinya would have started arguing again, and they didn't have time for that.
XIII
Blasting his way through the ranks of mutant space crabs, Noal began to scan the area for any sign of the Gemini Boys. They'd be out there somewhere, he knew, but D-Two would probably be easier to spot. Him still being able to transform into Tekkaman Varis, and all.
When he saw the flashes of light, one bright blue and one the kind of bright red he'd learned to associate with the Radam, he smiled slightly. At least he'd managed to find one of those idiots before he'd gone and gotten himself in too deep to be pulled out.
XIV
(What happened to your bomb, Blade?) he heard Dagger taunting him, as he dodged out of the way of another exploding arrow. (Weren't you going to kill me?) he laughed.
No; he wasn't going to detonate the bomb for as long as he could sense that Varis was still in the blast-radius. (Shinya! Get inside the Orbital Ring! Contact the Blue Earth from there, and get back to OSDG Headquarters.)
(Takaya-)
(Don't argue, Shinya!) he shouted, just as a hail of broken piping and assorted Orbital Ring debris started raining down on him. (You've only got six minutes before you completely lose control!)
Tekkaman Varis conceded. (Good luck, brother.)
Just before Tekkaman Varis jetted off, though, a pair of shots from something that could only be the Blue Earth's laser cannons slammed into Dagger, driving the evil Tekkaman off and giving them some much-needed breathing room. Takaya was pleased to know that the ship was out there, more for Shinya's sake than his own, and he smiled wistfully.
(I guess I don't have to worry about contacting anyone,) Varis mused, sounding like he wasn't quite sure what to feel in this situation.
(Go now, Shin-chan,) he said looking back over his shoulder; Varis was staring up at the Blue Earth.
Then, without another word, and with only a single look back at him, Tekkaman Varis flew off to join them.
XV
He could see Tekkaman Varis getting closer, and he smirked slightly. Get a good rest there, pal. I want you nice and lucid when I start tearing strips off your hide.
"Secondary air lock is open, D-Two," Aki said. "I'm glad you're safe."
"Yeah," Tekkaman Varis said, sounding like he'd been put through a hand-crank wringer. "So am I, Aki-san."
The monitor camera in the air lock caught Tekkaman Varis flying inside, and then being enveloped in that weird glow of his before he had even managed to land. The toes of his left foot were just nudging the floor, in fact, while his right was still about six inches from the deck. His armor disappeared into that weird light, and he fell unconscious to the deck.
It didn't look like he was injured, though, so he'd let the kid get his sleep.
"Hurry the hell up, D-Boy," he said, after having located the kid's comm. frequency.
XVI
As he jetted into the Blue Earth's secondary air lock, Takaya could hear Dagger's annoyed shouting through their link. Walling off his own mind, the same way he always did when he wanted to have some privacy from Shinya, he made his way into the ship. Takaya didn't have to ask where to find it, since the large, gleaming form rising up from the hold in front of him was obviously what Noal had been talking about.
It looked like the thing he'd first seen in the machine shop, back in OSDG Headquarters all those hours ago.
"Pegas, huh? I can use this to become Tekkaman Blade again?" he mused. "Noal?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you know where brother is?" he asked, pretty sure that Shinya had been taken care of, but wanting to be completely sure for his own peace of mind.
"Aki hauled him out of the air lock before we picked you up," Noal said, and the picture on the comm. screen switched to a shot of Shinya's slumped, slumbering form. "He's strapped into his seat, getting a good nap as we speak."
"Thank you," he said, closing his eyes briefly as a wave of relief washed over him. He caught a brief glimpse of utter surprise on Noal's face, before he turned his own attention to this Pegas Unit that he was likely to be working with from now on. "Pegas, Teksetta!"
"Roger."
He was mildly surprised that Pegas had been given such a deep, powerful voice, but since that wasn't really important right now, he put it out of his mind.
After he saw a flash of light from his crystal, a pair of crane-arms clamped down on the body of Pegas, turning it around halfway. The back of the robot opened up, revealing a chamber just his size, filled with blinking, coruscating light. I hope this works, he mused, running to throw himself inside.
He felt the familiar, welcome energies of his transformation filling him, and he closed his eyes in mingled excitement and resolve. It was good to feel complete again, but this was also a reminder of the promise that he and Shinya had made to each other so long ago: they would always be there for the other, and when one of them couldn't keep going, the other would support them. They would keep moving forward; their past was dead and buried, they had nothing but the future.
He could feel Pegas moving, in a vague sort of way that was almost completely overshadowed by the transformation he was undergoing, but there was a slight lurch that suggested he'd dropped out of the Blue Earth. Then there was a sensation of forward-movement, but the transformation ended and he was ejected from Pegas' interlock-chamber before he could wonder too much about where he was going to end up.
Jetting off, feeling a thrill of pure pleasure at the feel of his own thrusters firing, he came back around and landed on the back of Pegas. Pulling out the two halves of his tekkalance, he connected them and spun his tekkalance over his head. Just for show, really, since there were no Radam monsters in his path at the moment; it was just good to be back in top form.
"Tekkaman Blade!" he shouted into the void, declaring himself once again; after everything that had happened, it felt wonderful.
(Tekkaman Blade! That's impossible.) Dagger exclaimed. (You can't be a Tekkaman again!)
(Pegas has given me another life, so that I can fight the Radam!) he declared. (And, until I've destroyed every last one of you, I'll never die!)
That, of course, was when more Radam monsters showed up. Spinning his tekkalance to deflect the spays of sticky venom, he started carving them up with swift, economical strokes.
(Damn you, Blade!) Dagger shouted, having obviously regained his equilibrium.
Charging full-out, angling so that he would hit Dagger head-on, he wasn't surprised to see the evil Tekkaman pulled back and started launching a hailstorm of exploding arrows and needles at him. Spinning his tekkalance, he deflected these new hazards the same way he'd done with all of the venom that had been fired at him. Deciding not to bother with a drawn-out battle, wanting to have this over and done with so he could check on Shinya, he began charging up a Voltekka.
(What?! That's impossible!) the evil Tekkaman sneered.
(You're history, Tekkaman Dagger!) he snarled. "Voltekka!" Directly at his enemy; directly at what was left of an old friend. Goodbye, Fritz.
XVII
The light… the light was all he could see, now. And, as it broke his armor apart and blinded him with its fury, he could hear the screeching of the Radam mind-parasite that had been attached to the back of his neck ever since he had been awakened in Omega's moon base. It was a sound more mental than physical, and he was glad for it. That thing had caused him no end of sorrow, and its pain was like a balm to him now.
Takaya, you did it… he thought, with the last moments of consciousness that remained in him. …Thank you…
XVIII
As the last of the energy from his Voltekka dissipated into interplanetary space, Tekkaman Blade felt the expected rush of weariness that he always found himself dealing with after firing off one of those. Dagger was gone, though, so he was... not pleased, but satisfied with the outcome of this battle. Now all that remained was to head back to the Blue Earth and go… back.
Chuckling, Blade realized that he'd been just about to think of OSDG Headquarters as home. Still, maybe that wasn't so bad; Shinya was there, and there were also people who he was starting to become friends with. Home wasn't really a place, it was the people who lived there with you; the people you looked forward to seeing day-in and day-out.
He had people like that again, even though that wasn't what he'd been looking for when he'd begun this war, and he wasn't about to lose them this time. I'm going to kill you, Omega, he vowed silently, his fist tightening on the shaft of his tekkalance. For everything you've done; I'll never forgive you.
He sighed. This wasn't the end of things.
XIX
As he felt his mental connection to Dagger go violently dormant, Omega pondered his next move. It was clear that merely having an emotional connection to the traitors would not be enough to prevent the deaths of whatever warrior he sent out to deal with them. So, perhaps a closer connection would be required next time.
It was, after all, a common expression on that little planet, that blood was thicker than water.