Striding across the sand, trying to drown his anger in the crashing of the waves at his back, Takaya was still acutely aware of Shinya's presence at his side. Once he and Shinya had made it back inside the Blue Earth, he reluctantly let go of Shinya's arm and slumped down in his seat. Shinya wasn't about to let him go that easily, of course, something he'd been expecting, and it did made him feel better to have Shinya's hand still holding his.
At least I know now why father disliked the ADF so much, he mused, resting his forehead on Shinya's right shoulder as the full impact of what he'd seen and done today finally registered with him. He'd been pushing it aside, focusing on what was in front of him and what he still had to do, and then on the danger that Shinya had been in, but now there was nothing else. Nothing else to keep his mind off of the fact that Dr. Silas Cal, who had been their last known link to their father and a good man besides, had basically died while they watched.
And no one but them had even seemed to care.
When he heard the sounds of more people boarding the Blue Earth, Takaya looked up to see the only two other people that he was particularly pleased to see under the circumstances. Once Noal and Aki had both settled into their seats, though Noal shot them a look of mild approval before he was fully settled into his seat, Takaya let himself relax a bit. Takaya gave him a smile, tight smile in return, not really feeling up to anything more demonstrative than that.
"Well, that was a bit more excitement than I like to have at the end of the day," Noal said, though he still sounded pretty amused. "It's not like I disapprove or anything, but you kids might want to pick your battles better in the future. Those Army guys have long memories, and they don't forgive easily," Noal sighed. "Or at all, I don't think," Takaya heard him mutter.
(That could be bad for us, brother,) Shinya said.
(I know,) he said, turning back to the control panel in front of him, as Noal and Aki made preparations to lift off again. (But we weren't wrong.)
(No,) Shinya said, then he subsided into watchful silence with a short yawn.
With the Blue Earth in the air at last, Takaya let himself relax a bit. There was nothing else to hold him here, and while he would mourn for Dr. Cal later with Shinya, he was glad to be getting back home. He'd be glad to fall into bed and sleep, after all of this.
I
Settled within his base, monitoring the humans who were undergoing the Tekkaprocess, Omega sensed that another of his humans was nearing completion. More precisely, it was the youngest of the humans that was at such a stage.
(I see you have managed to will your way through, young one,) he said, focusing on the young once-human's mind and feeling it open to him. (Now then, tell me your name.)
(I am Wraith.)
(Good, young one. Now, what is your purpose?)
(I am to be your hidden eyes; your shadow assassin. The one who is never seen, until it is too late.)
(Excellent,) he said, feeling his unused lips pull back to reveal his pristine teeth, all the sharper for their months upon months of disuse. (I am pleased to know that you have absorbed your lessons so well, my dear Wraith.)
(Thank you, Omega-sama.)
(Sleep now,) he commanded, willing the youngest of his Tekkamen back into peaceful slumber. (Your time will come soon enough.)
II
It was the first time he had felt honestly rested since his fight against the Radam had begun; Takaya could only speculate that it had been because of to his three transformations on the same day, two of them without the benefit of food or sleep beforehand. Though, if that was the kind of price he was going to have to pay to have a night free of terror, it wasn't quite worth it.
Sitting up in bed, Takaya yawned deeply and blinked up at the ceiling. (Shinya?)
(Good morning, Ta-kun,) Shinya said, sounding well-rested himself. (Did you sleep well?)
(Yeah,) he said, smiling as he slid out of bed and stood up.
Yawing as he made his way to his personal bathroom, Takaya peeled off his old clothes and tossed them into the hamper by the door. Quickly going through his morning routine, knowing that Shinya was likely doing the same in his own bathroom, Takaya finished with another jaw-cracking yawn. Padding out of the bathroom on slippered feet, Takaya toed off his slippers and removed the last of his clothes to throw in the hamper.
Heading over to his closet, Takaya pulled out one more in the long line of Space Knight uniforms that he had in his closet and put the thing on. It was nice to have at least one routine in his life that didn't involve fighting mutant space insects or dealing with the ADF in any way, shape, or form, he reflected. When the door slid open, revealing his younger twin smiling at him, Takaya smiled back.
"It's good to see you again, my Shin-chan," he said, smiling softly himself.
"Yeah," Shinya said, stepping forward to take his hand and gently tug him out of his room. "Come on, Ta-kun."
The door slid closed as they walked away, heading for the cafeteria for some food. The only really good point that he could see about the increased metabolism that he had as a Tekkaman, that he and Shinya both had, was the fact that he didn't have to wait nearly as long as a normal person after eating to exercise. Of course, the obvious downside to that was that they needed to eat a lot more than a normal person did to feel full.
And, even then, the feeling itself didn't last for very long.
When they made it to the cafeteria again, Shinya having let go of his hand along the way so that both of them would be able to carry their trays when they got them, they got right into line for food. After they had gotten all of the food they were going to have this morning, or at least right now, he and Shinya went to sit down at their usual table. They didn't talk while they ate, preferring instead to focus on getting as many useable calories out of their meal as they could, but he would always take comfort in the fact that his younger brother was right there with him.
It was one of the few things he could really count on, with the Radam here in force and the rest of their family enslaved by them.
When they had finished the last of their food, he and Shinya traded grins as they stood up to leave. He took their trays to the counter, the way he had always done, and met Shinya at the door the way he had yesterday. It was strange to think, he reflected as they walked, that all of those world-shaking events had taken course over the span of just one day; it felt like a whole lot longer, yes, but whenever he checked one of the calendars he saw again that just a single day had passed.
It was such a strange thing to think about.
As he and Shinya made their way down to the gym, Takaya wondered for a moment just what was going to happen today. Something involving the Radam, no doubt, and maybe even something with the Allied Defense Force if they were especially unlucky. Which they had usually seemed to be, ever since they had been forced to abandon the Argos and everyone onboard her to their fates.
Sometimes he wondered if this capricious luck he and Shinya seemed alternately cursed and blessed with was fate's way of punishing him for that abandonment; still, if it was what he had to do to save the Earth, he would learn to live without depending on luck.
When they actually made it to the gym without being called away by either the emergency or the general alerts, Takaya smiled slightly while Shinya outright grinned.
"I think we just might get some free-sparring in after all, Ta-kun," Shinya said, his grin now more of a smirk.
"I think you might be right about that, Shin-chan," he said, smirking back with that same mischievous air that Varis had shown him.
Shedding their Space Knight vests and shirts, leaving themselves in just a pair of white tank tops, he and Shinya stepped into the ring and began to circle each other, both of them looking for an opening to make their first attack. He'd learned well enough over all the time that he had sparred with Shinya never to attack first; he'd end up getting thrown all over the place, all the while getting more irritated by the way Shinya would smirk at him, which would only lead to him getting thrown around more. Finally, he spotted what looked like a slight opening.
He knew it was a ruse even before he committed to his charge, but he feinted before Shinya could grab him, and aimed a punch for his younger brother's left flank. Shinya was just a bit too fast for him to tag, though, and his younger twin managed to knock his legs out from under him with a sweep-kick that he was just a few seconds too late to dodge. Continuing the motion with a forward-roll, Takaya got back to his feet just in time to dodge Shinya's own punch.
Grinning at his brother as they both reoriented themselves, Takaya saw the answering grin on Shinya's face.
"Nice reflexes, Shin-chan," he said, as they began to circle each other again.
"Yours aren't so bad, either, Ta-kun," Shinya said, winking.
Takaya laughed, as the two of them dove back in on the attack again. After that, things kind of blurred into just move and countermove; strike and block and be struck at and blocked in return. It was the way every real fight, even a relatively tame free-spar like this one, became in the end: a flurry of moves, shoving your conscious mind aside and immersing you in the muscle-memories that had been ingrained into you through years of rigorous training. It was definitely freeing, not having to think; not to think about all the things that had gone wrong, or else about all the things that still could.
When he began to tire slightly, he felt Shinya grip his hands; their fingers interlaced almost on reflex, and he set his stance and began to push. Shinya didn't quite have his strength, which was why his younger brother tended to rely on throws, joint-locks, slams, and submission holds in his fights, but he'd learned really well not to underestimate his twin's sheer, bloody-minded stubbornness in these kinds of situations. As if to prove this point, Shinya sank into a deep forward-stance and drove into him.
Tried to, anyway, since he was shoving just as hard against Shinya as Shinya was against him.
"No finger-crushing, Ta-kun," Shinya said, with a slightly whimsical smile.
"And no throwing, Shin-chan," he retorted, smiling back.
Even the sound of someone coming into the gym with them didn't distract him from his little test of strength against Shinya. He did notice them, in the vague sort of way he registered the edges of the mat that they were standing on so he wouldn't end up getting shoved off and losing, but they weren't moving or talking so he didn't devote any extra attention to them. If they wanted to talk, they were going to have to wait.
Digging his heels into the mat as Shinya continued to push against him, all the while grinning back at his brother as they continued to test each other's resolve; not to mention the other's footing, he smiled widely. He thought for a moment that he could hear someone talking, but it didn't really sound like they were talking to them, so Takaya felt safe ignoring whoever it was. When he heard someone shout, though, someone who was obviously in the same room as them, Takaya was distracted for one quick second.
Unfortunately, he let up on Shinya at that crucial second, allowing his younger brother to tackle him to the ground and almost ending up with the two of them face-planting into each other.
"Thank you so much, Noal," Shinya said as he looked up, and Takaya couldn't quite tell if he was being serious or sarcastic; knowing him, though, it was probably both.
"What is it, Noal?" he asked, as he and Shinya disentangled themselves and helped each other back upright.
"Milly just called us in for a meeting in the Main Room," the other man said, grinning slightly. "There's something going down, but you kids might want to wash up before you report in; I can't imagine that either of you smell good right now. Sinks are in the other room, and you can toss those shirts of yours in the hamper."
"Right," he said, as he and Shinya headed to the far end of the gym.
There was a door on the far wall of the room, which he'd sort of figured lead to some sort of washroom or other, and he proceeded Shinya through it and held the door open for his brother. Peeling off his tank top and tossing it in the hamper the way Noal had instructed him to, Takaya headed over to the sink and began to wash up for the second time that day. Shinya was using the sink next to him, of course.
When they had both finished, with him waiting a bit until Shinya was fully done, he grabbed a pair of towels, tossed one to Shinya, and then dried himself off quickly. Tossing his used towel into the hamper on top of his brother's, Takaya headed for the door and then held it open for Shinya. His brother gave him a sidelong smile for that, obviously amused but Takaya wasn't quite sure about what.
Maybe he'd ask about it later, but for now they had a briefing to attend; and probably a plan by the Radam to deal with.
Noal was watching for them when they came out, and as they got closer he picked their shirts up, rolled them into bundles, and tossed them both over. He caught his, and looked over his shoulder to make sure that Shinya had caught his, and continued walking forward as he pulled his own shirt down and tucked it back into his white pants. He and Shinya both grabbed their respective vests and put them back on, zipping them up as they fell into step beside Noal on their way out of the gym.
"So, did Milly mention what this was about, or are we going to find out when we get there, like before?" he heard Shinya ask, and he realized that he was curious about that himself.
"No," Noal said, rolling his eyes. "Milly never tells us what's going on unless it's some kind of an emergency."
Sharing an aside glance with Shinya, he saw his younger twin roll his eyes as well. It was kind of annoying, the way Milly couldn't just add a few more words to inform them all about just what it was that they were all about to get into. Noal took the lead as they all headed down the corridors to the main room, and he and Shinya both fell in more directly behind him as they continued on their way.
Once they had all made it there, he nodded back to the Chief's usual non-verbal greeting.
"So, what's the situation this time, Chief?" Noal asked, as the doors slid closed behind them and they headed into the middle of the room.
"We've received word that the ADF's European 4th Special Squadron has infiltrated the Orbital Elevator, but has been isolated by a Radam attack. The original plan was for the Special Squadron to pass through the Orbital Elevator on their way to retrieve a quartet of high-speed spacecraft, but they came under attack before they could do so."
"They tried to outrun the Radam's monsters on foot?" Shinya asked. "Are they idiots?"
"They couldn't have expected to make it anywhere without some sort of protection; that place has been overrun by the Radam," Aki said.
"And now, when the ADF brass finally realizes how much trouble they're in, they come to us," Shinya said, with an annoyed roll of his eyes. "It's always the same."
"I have no intention of defying your orders, but the military is rotten to the core," he said, in response to the expression on the Chief's face. "And I'm getting sick of cleaning up their messes."
"Yeah," Shinya said, folding his arms. "The Allied Defense Force can eat shit."
Turning, clapping a hand on Shinya's shoulder as they both left the room, Takaya could hear Aki and Noal talking about them. About what had happened between him, Shinya, and Dr. Cal. He still remembered that bastard Captain's callous dismissal of Dr. Cal's life, and everything that he and his people had done to get the convoy that he had been leading safely down to Earth. And, even after the way Colbert had treated them, he still had the nerve to demand that they go out and help with this new mission of theirs.
Sure, neither of them were the type to just leave people who needed their help in a bind like anyone who was being swamped by Radam monsters would be, but it still felt like they were being taken advantage of during times like this.
(So, do you think he's going to be sticking his nose into this?)
(Yeah,) Takaya barked a laugh; he knew just who Shinya was talking about. (Probably.)
(Well then, this should be interesting,) his younger brother said, giving him a sidelong look; Takaya laughed.
Aki and Noal caught up to them on their way to Hangar Three, and the four of them fell into step with each other. It was obvious that they wanted to talk about something, or at least that Aki had something to say, but he wasn't really in the mood to listen to anything about how he shouldn't take what had happened to Dr. Cal personally. He'd been one of their father's friends, though Takaya wasn't about to say anything about that, and there were few things more personal than that.
About the only thing more personal than an old family friend was family itself, and neither he nor Shinya had very much of that; not anymore.
III
Grant Goddard; I am Grant Goddard. He'd been repeating that, his name, whenever he had started to feel his body settling down into the dark oblivion that had already claimed so many of his friends. His students were already gone for the most part; Kengo had been dragged down into that abyss some time ago, his mind twisted and his will forcibly subverted to serve the Radam Empire. Fritz had been taken early; he was a good kid, but between his low tolerance for pain, and his mild claustrophobia, the sensory deprivation that all of them were subject to for long periods of time had worn away at him until he simply hadn't had the will to resist anymore.
Grant hated himself for the fact that he'd lost consciousness with Fritz's screaming, his pleas, and his begging for help echoing in his ears; by the time he'd managed to regain enough awareness of his surroundings to realize again where he was, Fritz had been shattered. So desperate for reprieve that had ended up trusting his fate to the very being that had dragged them all into this sad, sorry situation in the first place, Omega, of course, had been swift to take advantage of Fritz's misplaced trust in him; implanting him with the mind-parasite that had warped Fritz von Braun into the vicious, homicidal Tekkaman Dagger.
Although, considering the fact that Dagger didn't seem to be anywhere in evidence anymore, and the way Omega had been concentrating so much of his attention on Kengo, Grant thought that he could at least hope that what remained of Fritz von Braun had been finally laid to rest.
He knew that the twins had escaped; knew that they had been set loose by Kouzu as a last, desperate act, just before he had self-destructed the Argos and crippled Omega's ship. The only reason that the probe hadn't landed on Earth, bringing its complement of enslaved super-soldiers with it, had been because of the last act of Kouzu Aiba. That man had saved the Earth, in more ways than one, and Grant didn't know if anyone but his remaining human sons would ever know about it.
All he himself could do, deprived of an escape rout and incapable of moving even one of his limbs, was fight a holding action against the Radam influence that inhabited this ship. It wasn't Omega, though it was obviously connected to the Warlord in some way or another, but something that seemed to inhabit the ship itself. This probe had been created by the Radam, and something of their evil, depraved ambition lived on in the very walls and corridors of the ship.
It was the only way that he could think of to explain the presence that seemed to watch him, even when Omega's attention was so clearly absorbed with other matters. The Warlord's attention hadn't fallen on him yet, the depraved alien's focus clearly absorbed in breaking Kengo and Sasuke to his twisted will, and Grant didn't know quite how he felt about that. On the one hand, the fact that Omega's attention was distracted meant that Grant could focus more of his own attention on holding his mind together; on the other hand, what Omega's focus was distracted by was breaking and warping his students, his friends, into obedient, brainwashed servants of the Radam and their Empire.
He could only hope that the twins would be strong enough to do what they had to when the time came.
It was good that they were still together; Takaya and Shinya completed each other, each adding his own contribution to the team that they had formed when they were just boys. Grant didn't want to think of what would have happened to those boys if they had been forced to fight on opposite sides of this war; what either of them would have been going through if both of them hadn't been freed together. Kouzu had had to have known that; Grant was just glad that his late friend had been given the chance to act on what he knew.
It was better this way; both for the twins, and for the planet they were still fighting for.
IV
They'd headed out to the Blue Earth, and as Aki watched D-Two stow away the ration containers that he and D-Boy had just finished cleaning out, she couldn't help but feel sorry for them. They had been through so much, yesterday seeming to be the worst of it, and now they were going right back into battle again while they were still clearly hurting from what had just happened. It wasn't fair to them, but Aki didn't quite know what she could do to help them.
"Blue Earth, launch!" Noal said, as the engines thrummed and rumbled.
The Blue Earth's pre-launch vehicle soared up the launch-ramp, giving their small ship the extra power it needed to clear the planet's atmosphere. Something they did quickly, leaving them out in the void of interplanetary space. And also giving them a clearer view of the Orbital Ring, where all of those brave men and women were fighting for their lives against the army of horrible Radam monsters attacking them.
She just hoped that they and the twins would get there in time to help.
"We'll arrive at our destination in 120 seconds," she reported, as the last wisps of the exosphere passed them by.
They were following beside one of the huge support-pillars of the Orbital Ring, the ones that had originally been used to access the huge space-elevators that connected to the Ring from the ground. After the Radam had come, of course, there had been a mad scramble to shut the elevators down, in the hopes that that would at least delay the advance of the Radam onto Earth. No one had known that they could fly, back then, and the elevators were still shut down.
It didn't make much of a difference logistically, but it seemed to make people feel better about the situation.
Aki was pulled from her contemplation about the past by multiple contacts on her radar screen, and when she glanced up she saw that the forward windows were filling up with Radam monsters. D-Two was muttering something under his breath, and knowing him it was probably either vulgar or sarcastic.
"Damn, the little grunts are out here in force!" Noal reported, having obviously been keeping an eye on his targeting screen.
Her hands flew over the controls in a pre-determined sequence that was almost as familiar to Aki as her own name, guiding the Blue Earth out of danger even as Noal immersed his attention in the interplay of target and trigger, shooting down the Radam monsters that were close enough to threaten their ship and driving off the ones that weren't quite close enough to hit. But even with every Radam monster that the laser cannons were able to kill or drive away, three more seemed to come out of the woodwork.
They were being swarmed, and there seemed to be nothing they could do about it.
As more and more of the Radam's monsters began to make it past the barrage of laser cannon-fire that Noal was laying down, moving in close enough to slam into the Blue Earth and potentially tear a fatal hole in her hull, Noal yelled for them all to hold on. Bracing herself against the crazy bucking and jolting of ship as Noal spun them around and fired, diving the Radam monsters off and giving them a temporary reprieve, she sighed in relief.
The relief she felt was short-lived, though, since what she saw on her ship-board status monitor was extremely bad; not nearly on the level of a hull-breach, but bad: "The vertical fin has been damaged!"
"Damn! That's just our luck," Noal said.
"Noal, we have to do something, or we'll never be able to make it back to Earth."
"Brother and I will complete this mission on our own!" D-Boy shouted, he and D-Two bracing themselves against the back of their chairs as they rose to their feet. "Come on."
"How could we leave without you?" Noal asked, though he seemed to find something kind of funny. "Well; I suppose I could have said that. But, under the circumstances, I'll have to accept your kind offer."
"I'm sure it's very hard for you, Noal-kun. But, just try to cope," D-Two said, just as another Radam monster or two slammed into the ship.
"I'm glad to know that you understand the kind of man I am, D-Two," Noal chuckled, then he became serious.
"Yeah; I know just what kind of a man you are," D-Two said, as he and D-Boy came out from behind their respective chairs.
Another jolt rocked the Blue Earth, and the twins both crouched to ride through it.
"Brother, we should go now," D-Boy said, grabbing D-Two's hand so he could help his brother back to his feet.
"Be careful out there," she said to the twins' retreating backs, as they left for the main air lock. "Both of you."
"Yeah," D-Boy muttered, as D-Two winked and blew a kiss to her over his left shoulder.
V
The air lock doors slid shut behind them, sealing him, Takaya, and their little pocket of atmosphere into the last threshold between them and the cold, airless, unforgiving vacuum beyond. Takaya didn't even break stride as the doors closed behind him, and as Shinya recalled his tekkaset, he heard his brother activating Pegas.
"Teksetta!"
The energies of his transformation filled him, and as his armor formed around him, Tekkaman Varis activated his thrusters and paced Pegas as it launched. Seconds later, Tekkaman Blade himself was ejected from the interlock-chamber. His red-on-white armor contrasted sharply not only with the darkness of outer space, but with Varis' own red-on-black.
Before he could get too philosophical, he and Blade were out into space proper, and smack in the middle of the swarm of Radam monsters that had nearly crippled the Blue Earth. Both he and Blade summoned their respective tekkalances, and he quickly landed on Pegas behind Blade.
(Good to have you here, Shin-chan,) Blade said, twirling his lance to deflect a spray of venom.
(Yeah. You too, Ta-kun,) he said, splitting his own tekkalance into its dual-mode, then hurling it at the five Radam monsters in front of them.
(We're going to be heading in through that observation window, just up ahead,) Blade said, and Varis looked at where his brother was pointing even as he reached out to catch his spinning tekkalance as it rebounded back to him, collapsing it back into its standard form. (Brace yourself.)
(Right, Ta-kun,) he said, wrapping his right arm around his brother's waist as Pegas plowed through the large, round observation window in front of them.
He thought that Blade might have squeezed his hand, since that was what he would have been doing if their positions had been reversed, but he could barely feel those kinds of physical sensations through his armor. He did close his fist a bit more tightly, though; just in case. The armored shutter sealed shut behind them when its system detected the sudden drop in atmospheric pressure, just the way Blade had so clearly planned to happen, and he sighed with relief; it wasn't a long-term solution, since if those monster space crabs didn't break through they would just circle around until they found another way in, but it was a reprieve and Varis was grateful for it.
"We've made it," Blade said, sounding grimly satisfied. "Pegas, begin scanning for lifeforms."
"Right behind you, Ta-kun," he said, smirking slightly under his helmet as he peered over his older twin's left shoulder.
Blade looked back over at him, and Varis could just tell that his brother was rolling his eyes. "Shinya-sune."
As they glided through the abandoned halls and corridors of the Orbital Ring, Varis briefly wondered when they were going to meet these commandos that Chief Freeman had briefed them about. He wondered for a lot shorter a time than he had been expecting to; he and Blade found themselves the targets of a bunch of standard-issue pulse rifles within a few minutes of starting their search.
"Stop right there," a strong, commanding, and interestingly enough Irish-accented, voice said, just as Varis was starting to wonder just who they'd run into now. The man who had just spoken, a middle-aged guy with short, brown hair who was emphatically not his and Takaya's old martial arts teacher Grant Goddard, jumped down from atop a pile of debris and strode up to meet them.
"Good morning," he said, wanting to put him and his men at ease so they wouldn't start shooting; they would need all the ammo they could get for dealing with the Radam monsters, so it was best that he kept them from getting too trigger-happy.
"Ah, how polite," O'Toole said, laughing, then turning his attention to Blade. "So, you're those Tekkamen; Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis. I'd never thought to see the two of you in person before. I'm Bernard O'Toole, a sergeant with the Allied Defense Force's 4th Special Squadron, of the European Zone. First off, why don't we welcome you both with a toast?"
"Now detecting signs of life," Pegas said; O'Toole looked like he'd just been slapped with a fish.
O'Toole stared up in surprise at Pegas. He looked back at them, then. "Now, I suppose I can't really say I've met either of you lads when I haven't even seen your faces."
After a look of confirmation passed from him to Blade, his brother ordered Pegas to open its interlock-chamber while Varis himself concentrated on reversing his own transformation. Feeling the rush of energy departing as he let his transformed state fade, Shinya was peripherally aware of O'Toole and the rest of his commandos all staring at him and Takaya like they were the strangest and most interesting things that they had ever seen. Which, given the fact that they had all been fighting Radam monsters for who knew how long, was kind of funny.
Once he was free of the confining, protective armor of Tekkaman Varis, Shinya took a deep breath of the relatively fresh air in this section of the Orbital Ring as Takaya climbed back out of Pegas. Nodding to his older twin as they fell into step beside each other, he and Takaya made their way up to where O'Toole was standing, surrounded by his soldiers.
"My name is D-Boy. I'm a member of the Space Knights," his brother said, nodding to O'Toole as they both stopped in front of him. "This is my younger brother, D-Two."
"Only by thirty minutes, D-kun," he said, giving Takaya a sidelong smirk.
"It's still the same, D-chan," Takaya said, resting his left hand on Shinya's right shoulder.
Shinya rolled his eyes. "Brother is just too protective." he said, holding out his own left hand in airily mocking supplication.
He knew why Takaya did it, though; his brother needed someone to protect, needed to feel that he was still keeping at least one of the promises he had made to Dad all those years ago. Takaya still needed to see that he was the same person that he'd always been, and he'd pretty much always been the protective type; that was the whole reason that Shinya had nicknamed him their Blessed Protector back then. And, if that meant that he would have to put up with a bit of over-protection every now and then, he'd deal with it gracefully.
Though no one said he couldn't cheerfully rib his older twin for all he was worth.
"Well, who'd have thought that the famous Tekkamen, Blade and Varis, would be twins too young to have even tasted their first drink," O'Toole said, staring hard at them as he settled himself down behind what Shinya could have sworn was a salvaged coffee table. "Since you kids are too young to drink, then I guess that you haven't done it yet, huh?."
He liked this O'Toole guy already; at least he was funny. "No, we haven't done anything like that. But now isn't really the time for that, anyway. Your colleges have asked us to help you," Shinya said, smirking at both the beginning-to-be-amused expression on O'Toole's face and the flash of disbelieving amusement he got from Takaya. "And, while the ADF are a lazy bunch of bastards, we're not the type to just abandon people who need help."
O'Toole laughed heartily. "You're right, D-Two: the Allied Defense Force are a lazy bunch of bastards," then, taking a moment to regain his composure, the soldier continued. "But, who said that we need your help?"
"We're here to bring you back to Earth," Takaya said, taking up the main thread of the conversation again. "D-Two and I are going to do whatever it takes to see that that happens."
"That's right," Shinya said.
"Whatever it takes?" O'Toole said, his eyes flickering from him to Takaya as if sizing them up. "Are you really sure you know what that means?"
"I am," Takaya said firmly; Shinya valiantly resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
While it was true that O'Toole was being kind of stupid, refusing the help that they could offer getting them away from the swarms of Radam monsters that Omega was going to be swamping them with, he was starting to see some definite similarities between this O'Toole guy and Takaya. Both of them were incredibly stubborn, for one thing.
"All right, then," O'Toole said. "What's say that we settle this, one-on-one? I'll even agree to leave your little brother out of things. If you win, I'll do whatever you say."
Wonderful; the battle of the oversized egos, Shinya groused, putting up firm mental walls between his mind and Takaya's. His older twin was obviously going to be part of the problem this time; Takaya was enough like O'Toole in certain aspects that dealing with them both at the same time was going to be interesting. He hated when things were interesting, they had a marked tendency to end badly lately.
"One-on-one?"
"Yeah; I'm not one to bring family into things like this. But, you're going to have to do things our way, you understand?" Shinya held back a sigh through sheer force of will; this was starting to get really stupid. When O'Toole poured out two shots of that whiskey that he'd been drinking, Shinya forced himself not to wrinkle his nose; he'd never liked the smell of alcohol. It smelled like something better-suited to de-greasing engines than drinking. "If you get plastered before I do, you lose, kiddo! Then you, your little brother, and that robot of yours will all have to what I say!"
Sighing in annoyance, even as he heard one of the other soldiers coming up behind him, and then felt the man putting a hand on his right shoulder, Shinya forced himself not to shake his head. As Takaya and O'Toole's conversation degenerated into Takaya berating the man for the many failures of the Allied Defense Force as a whole, Shinya found himself agreeing with what his older twin was saying. Still, O'Toole seemed to have been jaded by the whole experience of being a soldier; he seemed more like a tired old man than anything else, though Shinya had good enough manners not to mention it in front of the man, at least.
When Takaya lost the drinking contest at last, just like Shinya had been suspecting he would, Shinya had only a few moments to wonder just what O'Toole intended to do next, before he found a wet cloth shoved over the lower half of his face. The scent on the rag was worse than just smelling the alcohol from farther away, and as Shinya struggled to remain conscious, he saw O'Toole smirking at him.
Bastard…
VI
"Tekkamen, eh? Well, you're going to be working for us now."
He had to at least give those superhero twins credit for one thing: the both of them were incredibly determined. He wondered, with a bit of morbid amusement, just what D-Boy would have done to him if he'd insisted on the boy's little brother participating in their little game. Or else, just what he'd have done if he'd seen how they'd dealt with D-Two, in the end.
As he moved closer, looking down at the two unconscious boys and the way they had fallen, Bernard caught sight of something. Something that summed up the feelings these two lads obviously had for each other without a single word. The two of them had grabbed instinctively for the other's hand, thus showing Bernard everything he needed to know about their relationship. He'd seen brothers die before, even twins, as rare as it was for him to meet up with people like that, and the ones who were truly as close to each other as a good family was always reached for each other when there was something terrible facing them.
These lads clearly had that kind of a bond, and it almost made him wish that he could have gotten to know them a bit better; but if there was one thing he wasn't going to tolerate, it was having help forced on him and his Squad when they didn't really need it.
Still, looking down at the way these two lads had fallen, their hands grasping the other's as if it was some kind of a lifeline for them, he couldn't help a flash of admiration. These two might very well have been able to fit in with his Squad. Particularly that 'D-Two' lad, if his attitude towards the ADF was any indication.
"All right, lads, let's move out!" he directed.
However, before the soldier he'd sent out to get the ropes needed to tie those two boys to that metal man of theirs, that same ten-ton metal man came marching up to them. Without even a word, even as the rest of his Squad started talking amongst themselves, wondering just what the metal-man was doing, the machine lifted them both up off the floor and cradled each of the twins in one of its huge hands. D-Boy was in the left, and D-Two was held in the right; it was kind of touching, and all the stranger to see a machine being so gentle.
"So, what's all this, then?" he asked, looking from the clasped hands of the twins to the towering, ten-ton tin-man that had just scooped them up.
"I will protect them," the robot said firmly, as it started to trail after them as they formed up and started to move out.
"Will you?" he asked, feeling a flare of both admiration and curiosity for this metal-man of theirs.
Instead of answering him in any normal sense, the twins' ten-ton tin-man played some type of recording. The first voice he heard was D-Two's: "Take care of him for me, will you?" a chuckle. "Brother, I mean." Then he heard from D-Boy himself: "Pegas, please protect my brother."
"Ah, I see," he said, walking up to this 'Pegas' of theirs. "So both of those lads asked you to protect the other, and so you decided to protect them both."
"Roger," Pegas said.
It was time that they got on with this mission. And, with any luck and a lot of skill, he and all his people would be able to go home alive. However there was no real way of telling; he'd lost good people before, much as he still didn't like to think about it.
As he and his commandos suited up, Bernard spared a thought for the superhero twins that had been effectively foisted off on them. They weren't exactly secure, held loosely in the giant hands of their robotic companion, but then it wasn't as if the metal-man could have held them any tighter anyway. Not without the risk of hurting them, which it- he obviously wasn't willing to take in any case.
"Pegas!" he called. "We're going to be moving out soon."
"I will follow."
"Yes," he said, with a soft chuckle. "I expect you will. But we're going to be needing to move quickly, and I doubt that you're going to be able to hold onto those boys of yours for long at the speed we're going to be moving. So, I'd suggest you let us strap them on; both so you'll at least have your hands free to defend them if it comes down to that, and so you won't run the risk of crushing them if we get into a tight spot."
"I accept your reasoning," Pegas said.
So, as some of his men found some good, strong ropes for those lads to be slung in while they were all moving through the corridors of the Orbital Ring on their way to the fighters they were meant to be retrieving for the Military's next "glorious" operation, and as he and his demolition expert Daine Wilson strapped those lads onto their giant metal-man, and as the others worked to pack their gear into a makeshift sling on the metal-man's back, Bernard smiled slightly. Reaching out, he gently gripped the twins' clasped hands, tightening their grasp on each other since it had come a little loose while the two of them were being moved. With that done, he settled his helmet more firmly on his head, positioning the mic squarely in front of his mouth but leaving it inactive for the moment.
"All right, let's party!"
A short, rousing cheer went up from his commandos; they might have been in the midst of a fight for their lives, but even the best of soldiers would be crushed under the weight of their duty if they constantly reminded of it every step of the way, so it was the job of any good commanding officer to keep their morale up by not reminding them too constantly about just what they might be facing next. Any good soldier, and his were some of the best, knew that in any case.
As they moved down the wide corridor, eventually coming to an empty elevator shaft – the car having long since been destroyed by the Radam monsters, but it would have been too much of a liability to use in any case – he directed his people to enter the shaft so they could all move onto the next part of their mission. The ascent packs on their suits ballooned out, making them resemble nothing so much as a team of parachutists who had decided to practice their hobby in what had become one of the most dangerous environments in near-Earth space.
He hadn't really known just what he'd been expecting, when he'd seen those two oversized armored apparitions astride that giant metal-man that acted as both their guardian and a form of transport for the both of them, but it hadn't been the pair of young boys that he had seen coming out of that armor. In particular, he hadn't expected the almost demonic-looking red-on-black armored superhero to reveal himself to be a paler-skinned, good-humored, laid-back counterpart to his red-on-white armored elder twin brother. When he'd found out that they were brothers, he'd been expecting D-Boy's protectiveness, but D-Two's easy acceptance of the same had come as a welcome surprise.
Some younger brothers, he knew all too well, wouldn't have been nearly as sanguine about their older sibling's desire to protect them; he'd known some of those in his time, too, and it had never seemed to end well for either of them.
"Hey, you? Why don't you give us a song?" he suggested.
"I have no such data in my systems."
"You're really a bore," he said, with a small smile as they rose up toward the top of the shaft. Then, deciding that he might as well find out something more about this metal-man, he made up his mind to continue the conversation. "Well then, listen up! I'll just have to teach you. Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling. From glen to glen, and down the mountain side..."
There was more to the song, of course, but he was surprised enough by the fact that those superhero twins had just woken up, to say nothing of the fact that D-Boy was currently demanding answers from him, that he trailed off before he could even get through the first verse. His gaze drifted over to D-Two, who was being uncommonly silent for the kind of man he had seemed to be when the three of them had met for the first time, and he saw a bit more ice in those blue eyes of his than he was particularly comfortable with. D-Boy was the one most people would tend to watch out for, he thought, since the elder brother seemed to always put himself front and center when the two of them went anywhere, but D-Two would have to have had some skill of his own since the two of them were spoken of as being clear equals in combat.
And, given the way the lad was looking at him, he wasn't particularly pleased.
"Where are we?" D-Boy demanded, after he had exchanged a speaking glance and a tight squeeze of the hand with D-Two.
"Oh, so you kids are awake already?"
"What do you think you're doing?" the lad almost snarled, his scarring making his glare look all the fiercer; the way all facial-scars seemed to do, in fact.
"What are we doing? Don't tell me you've forgotten your promise already!" he said, casting his gaze over the twins again; D-Two seemed to have settled back down, or maybe the lad was just being patient. He didn't know either of them quite well enough to make those kinds of deductions just yet. "Kid, since you lost, you and your little brother have to do whatever I say, remember? So, I've decided to let you help us."
"And you call yourself a soldier?" D-Boy snapped, as his younger brother continued to watch in silence. Clearly, the lad was waiting for something.
"Yes, because there's something I have to do," he said, giving the elder of the two lads a small, bitter smile. "Just one thing, here."
Lifting his mini-computer, programmed with the location of the high-speed fighters they were all here for, he saw the bright blips on the screen that meant that all of them would soon be staring down the throat of another legion or two of those damned Radam monsters.
"Brother," he heard D-Boy say. "On it." Was D-Two's response.
"Pegas, Teksetta!"
"Teksetta!" D-Two shouted; Bernard, curious about why one of the lads would use Pegas and one of them wouldn't, turned his attention back to the superhero twins.
D-Two was glowing like the heart of a star, arcs of red lightning snapping through the crystal-cage that had surrounded him once before when he had shed that armored suit of his. Bernard was fairly sure that, if he could have seen inside that chamber that D-Boy had just jumped head-long into, he would have seen just the same kind of thing as he was seeing with D-Two; maybe it would have been in green, to match the lad's eyes, but he doubted it would have been different in any respect that had actually mattered. When the both of their transformations had finished, the crystal-cage around Tekkaman Varis bursting apart at the same time as Tekkaman Blade rose out of the top of Pegas' interior, Bernard was decidedly impressed by what he had just seen.
Their chances, at least, had gotten a great deal better than they had been earlier; and, given the attitude of these two lads, Bernard thought that he could even tolerate this forced partnership of theirs.
The both of them drew weapons out of some strange, glowing ports in their shoulders, and Blade connected the two halves of his into the same kind of long, double-ended staff-type weapon that his younger brother was wielding. Slamming down the handle that would open the shielded doors in front of them, he let his men and the twins move into the next section of the Orbital Ring.
A group of them formed up around Blade and Pegas, who had transformed back into that flying-platform shape of his, while he and the rest took up positions in the rear with Varis. The lad was obviously aiming to watch his older brother's back, just as any good soldier would have done in the field, and he could hardly let the lad stand alone after that kind of a gesture. "All we have to do is get through here to reach the hangar! D-boys, we're counting on you!"
They came into visual-range shortly after that, and he tucked away his mini-computer and quickly grabbed the pulse-rifle strapped to his back. Sure, it couldn't kill those oversized, hideous beasties directly, but it could stagger and disorient them badly enough that they would rush headlong into each other. Those nasty, pointed feet of theirs, driven by their mad flailing, would more often than not finish the job.
Now, however, with those superhero twins along for the ride, more of those damned beasties were dying than not; and soon the whole lot of them had been cleared. There would be more of them on the way, of course, since whatever supplies these Radam were drawing on never seemed to run out, the way that everything on Earth seemed to be running out at the moment, but it was still a damned satisfying sight to see.
"You're pretty good, kids," he said, not knowing if either of them would be able to hear him, but feeling the need to say something all the same. When he heard Varis' amused chuckle sounding over his radio, he grinned.
"Thank you; we try," the lad said, turning away from the corpse of a Radam monster that he'd just decapitated.
"Well, keep it up," he said, still grinning slightly. It wasn't really a time for tomfoolery, though, and with all the Radam monsters in the area dead, this was likely the best chance he would have for a position-check.
There were more of those damned Radam monsters in their way of course, but Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis were on top of them before he could even give the order to his people to move forward. The two lads moved together almost like they could see out of each other's eyes; he'd often heard that twins were one soul that had been divided to inhabit two bodies, and with these lads that seemed to actually be true. They even seemed to react to each other's pain; when they were facing in different directions, no less.
When Blade was knocked from Pegas' back, with Varis a few feet away dealing with a pair of Radam monsters that had tried to pin him down under their sheer bulk, the lad didn't even look back over his shoulder. He just hurled that lance-like, bladed staff of his as if it was some kind of giant, killer Frisbee, caught it as if it were the world's largest boomerang, and then rushed the Radam monsters gathering around his brother like some out of control locomotive. Bernard had to admit, it was a sight to inspire awe.
No wonder the Space Knights had rallied around these lads.
His bladed staff, like that of his brother, was almost a blur in Varis' hands as he and Blade cut through the ranks of Radam monsters in front of them. Soon enough, this new lot were just as dead as the old ones.
Blade stepped past a watchful Varis and a looming Pegas, with a comradely touch on his brother's shoulder. "All right?"
"Right," he said, feeling a swell of respect for these two; it took a lot of heart to put yourself on the line for soldiers you didn't even know, to say nothing of the fact that he was putting his younger brother in the line of fire in spite of his clear protectiveness of the lad. "We'll do fine, get going!"
"Good luck, Sergeant."
"Thanks!" he said, flashing the lads and their large protector a thumbs-up.
VII
As Bernard O'Toole and his soldiers moved off into the Orbital Ring on their way to the hangars and the high-speed space craft they were going to liberate from them, Blade turned his attention back to the placid-looking corridor in front of them. Just as it started filling up with Radam monsters again.
"Pegas!" he ordered.
"Roger," Pegas responded, as it started firing its gattling-cannons at the Radam monsters that had begun to show up.
(It seems like you and O'Toole have a lot in common, brother.)
(We both have hard heads?) he said, with a smirk for his younger twin.
(Well, yes,) There was a moment of mental silence, during which Blade scanned the corridor in front of them for more Radam monsters; you never really knew when more of those things were going to show up. (But there's something else, Ta-kun.)
(We're both handsome?) he offered, looking over his left shoulder and flashing one of his green eyes in a wink.
(You wish, Ta-kun,) Varis retorted; they both laughed.
Happily enough, they made it to the hangar without another encounter with any of the roaming groups of Radam monsters that he had been expecting to be patrolling the Orbital Ring. Maybe they'd gotten lucky, and all of them had died in the previous engagements. It wasn't likely, not with their luck being what it was, but it was a nice thought to have in any case. O'Toole was even singing again; Blade picked up on it when he got close enough to be able to pick up transmissions from the commandos' comm. units.
It wasn't like hearing Shinya sing, since his brother's voice was higher-pitched and a bit lighter than O'Toole's, but it was nice all the same.
Looking around at all of the commandos, as they prepared the high-speed fighters for the launch back to Earth, Blade breathed a soft sigh of relief. At least this one mission had gone off without too much of a hitch; he was so tired of failing lately. A long time ago, his younger brother – under a different name, but no less his brother – had named him Blessed Protector.
And, even though the name had been a reference to an old TV show, he'd appreciated the sentiment; Varis had always trusted him, and he in turn strove to be worthy of that.
Spotting O'Toole at last, he guided Pegas over to the man, passing over and by the piles of rubble that the Radam's attack had left scattered around the hangar. Slowing until he was moving at just above walking speed, or more of a stroll, really, Blade looked around. He tried not to see the bodies; there always seemed to be bodies drifting around in the Orbital Ring, no matter where you went.
More of the Radam's work; just another reason to hate them.
"Oh, you boys made it here, too," O'Toole said, as he turned around. He was standing in front of another one of the bodies that Blade was trying so hard not to notice, so Blade focused his attention on the man himself.
"Yeah," he said.
"I'm glad to see all of you have made it through this all right," Varis said, with a sincerity that most people were surprised to find that he was actually capable of; Varis did have hidden depths, of course, everyone did, but Varis just tended to keep them hidden.
"Are all of these people your comrades?" Blade continued softly.
O'Toole's bitter chuckle, coming right on the heels of what he thought the man would have considered a compliment, made him blink twice in sheer surprise. "Yeah; the 4th Special Squadron… we all came up here to recover our high-speed space ships. We only made it this far, and then the Radam attacked us. I was the only one to survive, and I ended up with this for my trouble," he said, pointing to the eye that it now seemed he'd lost.
"So, this is what you meant when you meant when you said you had something to do," he said, beginning to realize that he might have misjudged the man.
"Kid, I have some advice for you, if you and your little brother are really planning to make battle your career. No matter what your boss says, it's soldiers like us who fight on the battlefield. And if you die out there, nothing will matter anymore. The most important thing to do is survive! To come back alive, so you can protect the lives of your comrades," He must have reached back for Varis' hand, both because he felt slight pressure through the gauntlet of his armor, and because O'Toole looked at where his left hand had been resting with a small, bittersweet smile. O'Toole looked back up at him, and Blade had the odd, almost unsettling feeling that the man was actually looking right through his armor, right into Blade's own, human eyes. "But then, I think you already know that."
It sometimes felt like he was cursed, but the curse always seemed to miss; never hitting him like it was supposed to, but always buzzing right past him on its way to hurt everyone around him. Everyone who had nestled themselves into his heart, or even people who he just felt that he could respect. Of course, maybe that was his curse: to always watch the people he loved be hurt, and to never quite be in time to help them.
"Sergeant Bernard," he said, a little thickly because of the lump in his throat that he'd just swallowed; even with all of his power, he could barely manage to keep Shinya safe.
"That's the first time you've called me by name, kiddo," O'Toole said, with a short, self-depreciating chuckle.
Blade looked back over his shoulder at his brother as Varis leaned forward with his arm on his left shoulder. "You wanted to keep all of your people safe, and it hurts you to see that you couldn't. You're like brother, that way."
"Am I, now?" O'Toole asked, even as Blade himself laughed in rueful recognition.
"You know, he's right," Blade said, lacing his fingers together with Varis' and squeezing enough so that they could both feel it. "I mean, I try to keep the people who depend on me safe; but I don't-"
"You do your part, brother," Varis said, cutting him off as he squeezed Blade's own fingers just that much tighter. "It's enough."
Smiling slightly, all the while marveling at the way Varis seemed to instinctively know what to say to make him feel better about himself, Blade began to hear the rumblings that he now knew proceeded a Radam monster attack from underground. Two of the monstrous, mutant space insects burst through the floor just in front of them, and Blade instantly let go of Varis' hand so he could bring his own tekkalance back to bear. He felt the slight surge of energy from Varis that meant that his brother had drawn his own tekkalance again.
"O'Toole, brother and I will handle things here," he said, his left hand tightening into a fist. "Go now."
"Right," O'Toole said, kicking the ground and pushing himself toward the lead ship.
"Thank you," Blade said, nodding to him.
(I'll meet back up with you when the ships launch,) Varis said, and Blade looked back at his younger brother as he leaped off of Pegas and rushed to engage another force of Radam monsters that had just knocked down one of the far walls. (Stay out of trouble, all right?)
(All right, little brother,) he said, smiling wryly. (You try to stay out of trouble, too.)
Varis laughed. (Yes, big brother.)
Shaking his head in brief, fond exasperation, Blade raised his tekkalance and directed Pegas at the group of Radam monsters nearest to his own position. Slashing them apart with his tekkalance, Blade made sure to keep Varis in sight; both since he worried about his younger brother, and because they were going to meet back up when the fighters finally launched. Something that they were all clearly preparing to do.
(Shinya!) he called, even as his younger brother turned to deal with the Radam monsters that had started to bash their way through the observation windows that made up the ceiling of the launch bays. (They're heading out; we've got to go!)
(Coming,) Varis said, powering his thrusters and jetting back to land just behind him on Pegas.
(Hey, brother,) he said, reaching back to squeeze Varis' hand.
Varis chuckled, low and warm. (Hey, brother.)
As more Radam monsters appeared, directly in front of the fighters they were trying to protect, Blade gave Pegas the order to fire. The lasers burned out the monster's lowest set of eyes, blinding it and making it miss the strike it had been setting up. Breathing a bit more easily, though he knew this battle wouldn't be over until he and Varis had managed to guide all of these fighters back down to the Earth, Blade moved determinedly toward O'Toole's fighter.
They'd probably have to deal with the ADF again, and he might even end up punching one of them again, since they were a bunch of insensitive morons.
Still, it would be good to get back home; to find out how Aki and Noal had faired during their own trip back to Earth, and to get some rest and food. All of that would have to wait for later, though. There was still a few more things that he and Varis had to do before they were done; they had promises to keep, and miles to go before they could sleep. Grinning slightly as he leapt from Pegas to land atop the fighter, he and Varis spreading out so that they wouldn't be standing in each other's field of fire.
(Ready, Shinya?) he asked, already having begun the charging process to fire his Voltekka, his pauldrons raised in preparation.
(Ready, Ta-kun.)
He could feel the contained power crackling between the two of them, and when one of O'Toole's people warned them that there was only fifteen seconds left before they impacted the two Radam monsters in front of them, he assured the man that what they were preparing wouldn't take nearly that long. When the energies within his body couldn't be contained anymore, Blade fired at the same moment as his brother.
"Voltekka!"
Varis' Voltekka was different than his, being made up of six individual streams of energy that could either scatter out to hit different targets or be focused all on the same spot to do more damage, where his was just two beams that tended to wrap around each other. They could be directed outward, they just wouldn't be able to hit nearly as many targets as Varis'. Now, though, with the bright blue energies of Varis' Voltekka wrapping around the emerald green energy beam of his own, Blade felt a definite sense of satisfaction as he watched the Radam monsters in front of them be wiped out of existence.
"I'm coming back with the kids," O'Toole said, with what sounded like a slight chuckle. "You hear that? Don't let go until we've made it safely back to the ground!"
Blade took only a vague sort of notice as the other commandos made their reports, instead looking ahead to make sure that nothing else tried to jump out at them, but he was relieved to hear that there hadn't been any further loss of life. Even the fighters they had been sent out to protect had come through all right. It wasn't so bad a day after all, even in spite of how it had begun.
Even in spite of their losses.
When O'Toole started singing again, after teasing his people a bit about making it back down to Earth in their high-speed spaceship, he was almost surprised to hear Varis joining in. Sure, Aiba Shinya had liked to sing, but he'd never really had a taste for ballads like the one O'Toole was singing; Shinya's taste tended to veer towards pop music, at least so far as singing was concerned, sometimes he had even danced to it.
His brother had enjoyed classical music for just sitting back and listening to, or for when he just wanted something on in the background while he exercised or did something else.
Then again, it almost seemed like Varis wasn't quite aware that he was doing it; singing just for the sake of it, and completely oblivious to everything else around him. Smiling, Blade decided that he would keep watch for both of them; he wanted Varis to have moments like this, moments where his younger brother didn't have to keep watch for all of the Radam's vicious creatures, whether they were Radam monsters or Tekkamen, and could just be himself. The duet continued, and Blade let the song wash over him as he kept an eye out for any Radam monsters that might have escaped his and Varis' combined Voltekkas.
He was glad that there seemed to be none, and when O'Toole and Varis wound down, finishing their duet and falling silent, he reached back to clasp his brother's hand as they continued on their way back down to Earth.
"You know, D-Two my lad," O'Toole said, with an amused chuckle. "You have a very pretty voice; you ever thought about joining up with a boys' choir?"
"Not now; brother and I have too much to do," Varis said, after a short hesitation that Blade was sure no one else had noticed.
O'Toole laughed. "Fair point. Though it is kind of a shame; a man with your skills would find himself in pretty high demand, I should think."
Varis laughed, then. "How's your ship?"
"Well enough," O'Toole said, sounding pleased enough that Blade's tension began to ease slightly.
"Hey, D-Boys!"
Blade, hearing Noal's voice for the first time since they had been forced to separate by the swarm of Radam monsters that had ambushed them on their way to the Orbital Ring, smiled and chuckled softly. "So, you're finally here, Noal."
"You know, we could just turn this ship around and leave you and D-Two to hitch a ride back home with the commandos here."
"We'd be happy for the company," O'Toole said, sounding pleased but clearly also mocking Noal at the same time. "These superheroes of yours have done you credit today; you should be proud of them. And as for you, lads: you have the thanks of the 4th Special Squad, and that's not something given out lightly."
"We'll keep that in mind, Sergeant," Blade said solemnly, even as he signaled Pegas over so he and Varis could climb back on top of it. "Again, it was an honor to work with you and your people. I hope you all make it through this war all right."
"Thank you, lad," O'Toole said, enough genuine warmth in his voice that Blade found himself almost grinning. "And the same holds true from us: you lads take care of each other, and make sure that the both of you make it through this mess alive."
"Yeah, we'll do that," Varis said, as Blade himself guided Pegas into the Blue Earth's main air lock. "Good bye, Bernard O'Toole; Godspeed."
"To us all, lad."
Looking back one last time, before the air lock doors closed and sealed him and Varis into the Blue Earth, Blade raised his right arm and waved to O'Toole. He knew the man could see him, since the Blue Earth was pacing his ship as they both descended through the upper-atmosphere, and with his enhanced vision in this form Blade could see O'Toole raising his own right hand in greeting. He waved, and felt Varis doing the same from just behind him, until the air lock doors had sealed up completely, Blade breathed a sigh of relief. It was nice to have done something mostly right for a change, something that he didn't have to look back on in horror, or numb shock at what he'd seen.
He would have liked to have more days like this, but he honestly doubted that was going to happen; he and Shinya just weren't that lucky.
As Pegas rose back into the main hold, taking him and Varis up with it, Blade let himself relax a bit. He could never really let down his guard, since no one ever knew just when the next Radam attack was going to happen, but he could kind of stand down to a general alert, as he'd heard people say in the Space Knights. Feeling a weight pressing against his back, Blade turned to get a look back over his shoulder.
Varis was the only one standing close enough to him to be able to lean against him that way, and when Blade looked back, he found that it was indeed his younger brother leaning up against him; something seemed a bit off, though.
"Shinya?"
"Ta-kun," his younger brother said, after a short, confused noise; the kind someone would make when they were awakened suddenly from a nap that hadn't been quite long enough.
Varis' armor started glowing then, the familiar crystal-field enveloping his younger brother as the turquoise light of his transformation erased all his features from view. When Shinya's transformation faded entirely, Blade turned and caught his younger brother in his arms before he could fall down onto Pegas' back.
"D-Boy, five minute warning," Noal's voice came over the comm., drawing Blade's attention away from what might be happening to Shinya. "If you're not transformed out of that suit of yours already, you'd better be doing it now."
"I hear you, Noal," he said, stepping off the platform that held Pegas so he could set Shinya safely down on the deck. "Pegas, prepare to reverse Tekset," he said, already starting to feel the dull, heavy weight of the fatigue that Shinya had succumbed to earlier pressing down on him.
"Roger," Pegas said, his voice slightly softer than Blade was used to.
"Thank you," he said wearily, climbing into the interlock-chamber and feeling the usual rush of departing energy as he transformed back into his human form.
He managed to make it a few steps out of Pegas' back, over to where he had set Shinya down, before the weariness caught up with him and he stumbled to a halt. Takaya almost thought that he could feel something holding him up, and then warm flesh gently pressed against his own, but by then he was honestly too far-gone to really care.
VIII
When they were all finally back on terra firma, and he had finished guiding the Blue Earth to a full and complete stop, the first thing that Noal did once he'd deactivated all of the ship's various systems was to head for the main air lock to check up on those Gemini Boys of theirs. D-Boy had sounded a bit worried, though anyone else would have just noticed that the kid was tired, and Noal suspected that he knew why.
There was really only one thing that could get D-Boy worked up like that, and where you found one of them, you would always find the other.
With that thought in mind, Noal headed back into the main air lock to check on their boys. What he found in there was strange; oh, it wasn't the fact that the Gemini Boys were resting in the arms of Pegas, the boys curled up together like a pair of oversized kittens, since that was what they always did when they got back from one of their many fights against the Radam. But Pegas singing while they rested in its large, metal hands?
That was something new.
Now, Noal was perfectly aware that standing just inside the air lock, gawking like some slack-jawed yokel wasn't going to get anything done, either with respect to the Gemini Boys or even to his other duties. He couldn't really help it, though: Pegas was singing, for Christ's sake, if that wasn't a good reason for a little slack-jawed gawking, nothing was.
"Hey, Noal," Aki started to say, her footsteps on the deck mostly covered by the sound of Pegas' singing. "I was- what in the world?"
"That's pretty much what I was thinking," he said, chuckling at the dumbfounded expression on Aki's face. "Hey, Pegas? Would you mind stopping that?" he asked. "There are people trying to sleep here."
"Pegas will stop," Pegas said.
"Thank you," he said, walking up to Pegas as it moved its large right hand off of the Gemini Boys.
Gently separating D-Boy from his brother, he let Aki take D-Two's weight as the kid began to slip out of Pegas' grasp. Gathering D-Boy up into his arms, Noal nodded and thanked Pegas for taking care of their boys; these kids had the weight of the world on their shoulders, it was important that they had people to take care of them when they weren't quite in fighting form. And, in these hours after they came out of the fights that required them to transform; which was pretty much all of them, now that Noal thought about it, they needed their support staff more than ever.
As he carried D-Boy out of the Blue Earth, Noal heard Pegas start singing again. Well, no one can ever say that life with the Space Knights is dull, that's for certain, he mused, with a soft enough chuckle that he wasn't worried about waking D-Boy. That kid slept like the dead after a fight, just like Aki had reported his brother doing. When they made it to D-Boy's quarters, the kid still dozing in his arms, Noal maneuvered himself over to the keypad and awkwardly entered the code to open D-Boy's door, then turned and carried the kid inside to set him down on his bed.
Removing D-Boy's boots, which he would have done for any of the other Space Knights who he'd carried to their rooms after they'd conked out somewhere, he tossed one of the kid's blankets over him and left a bit more quietly than he'd come.
IX
When he woke up, not feeling quite as rested as he usually did, Takaya wondered for a moment if he would have the chance to just roll over and fall back to sleep this time. He didn't think even his luck could be bad enough to force him to face a Radam attack after having just barely recovered from his and Shinya's last battle. Still, he'd had to transform three times yesterday, so there was always that chance.
However, when he heard his door-chime, rather than either the general- or emergency-alerts, Takaya allowed himself to relax just a bit. Yawning, still wanting a bit more sleep and therefore just a little unsteady on his feet, Takaya made his way to the door and opened it. Levin and Shinya were both there, and when he shot an inquiring look over his shoulder at Shinya, his brother shrugged and rolled his eyes.
(Don't look at me, brother. Levin dragged me out of bed, too; didn't even give me a reason for it.)
Huffing slightly, not really annoyed enough for an actual sigh but still kind of irritated, Takaya followed Levin and Shinya off to wherever they were going.
"What's going on, Levin?" he asked at last, when it had become obvious that the three of them were heading for the machine shop. "Is there something wrong with Pegas?"
"No, not really. But, it's really hard to explain, so it would probably be better if I just showed you."
"If you say so, Levin," Shinya said, as Takaya himself tucked his hands into the pockets of his Space Knight pants.
As they made their way slowly closer to the machine shop, Takaya began to hear a strange sound; it sounded almost like Pegas' voice, but not in a way he'd ever heard it before. And, from the expression on Shinya's face when his younger brother had turned to look at him, he hadn't either. So, something new, then; nothing that tripped his finely-tuned danger sense, but something they hadn't dealt with yet all the same.
When they finally did reach the machine shop, or actually quite a bit before then in his and Shinya's case, Takaya heard just what was causing Levin, and Honda he soon noticed, such confusion: Pegas was singing. Looking over at Shinya, since his brother was laughing his head off over their link, he found that his younger twin was actually managing to look perfectly composed in the face of this new development.
"Well, this is- unexpected," Shinya said, only a slight quaver in his voice betraying how deeply, deeply amused he was by this whole thing.
"Well, Pegas' singing isn't bad at all," Honda said, with an expression of mild surprise.
As Shinya finally laughed aloud, he saw Levin turning an admonishing look on Honda out of the corner of his right eye. "No way! I can't believe someone would input a lame song like that into Pegas! Now I'll have to erase it."
"Levin, would you mind just leaving it as it is?" he asked, as Shinya smiled warmly, though still with a few hints of his earlier wry amusement.
"Yeah," Shinya said. "I really don't mind it." Gently squeezing his younger brother's hand, Takaya smiled.
"Well, of course I'll do anything you want, D-Boy, but…"
"D-Boy, did something good happen to you and D-Two?" Honda asked.
Shinya laughed. "No, not really."
(Come on, let's go, little brother,) he said, bumping Shinya's shoulder gently so his brother would know he was kidding.
(Yes, big brother,) Shinya said, bumping his shoulder back.
"D-Boy, the Chief wants to see you and D-Two right away," Aki said, and Takaya looked up to see her and Noal standing up on the railing overlooking the machine shop.
"Sounds like another mission from the Allied Defense Force," Noal said, still smiling but looking like he was trying to be at least a little bit more professional. "Pretty annoying, huh?"
"All right," he said, as he and Shinya moved to head back up the stairs.
Whatever else came, he and Shinya would face it together; together, they were stronger than anything the Radam could throw at them. And they would never forget what the Sergeant had taught them: the law of the battlefield.
X
All of the others were settled into the Pub, drinking fit to make up for lost time and lost comrades alike, but the first thing Bernard had done when he'd gotten there was to settle at the bar and order the man behind it – a middle-aged man by the name of Louis Collins – to leave a bottle of good Irish whiskey beside the three glasses that he'd set up earlier. Taking the bottle, he poured out a shot each for himself, D-Boy, and his little brother, D-Two.
And yes, while it was true that those kids were a bit young yet to be taking their drinks in a pub like he was, by his light if you were old enough to fight in life-or-death battles, you were old enough for a Pub.
"Those kids… they had a strong look in their eyes: eyes that have already looked into the face of hell." He smiled slightly; as close to a smile as he'd ever managed to get, these days. "I'll see you again, on another battlefield, D-Boys."