Flesh and Blood revisited: Gemini

by Cyblade Silver

Takaya and Shinya Aiba: twins divided by a cruel fate. Sometimes, however, fate can be more kind...

13. A fated battle between brothers

Folding his arms, and trying to ignore the foreboding feeling that he had been pushing away ever since he had sensed that new Tekkaman searching him and Shinya out through the psychic link that they all shared, Takaya looked back out at the Earth as they descended back toward it. They'd be back on the ground soon, and he would be able to take a closer look at Shinya's tekkaset. He didn't want his younger brother to suffer if he could do anything about it, and while Shinya might have said that he felt fine if he managed to transform back before his twenty-five minutes was up, Takaya wanted to make sure of that.

He needed to know that his younger twin was going to be all right; he'd never forgive himself if something happened to Shinya when he could have prevented it.

He was starting to get a bit drowsy now, though, and he'd long since learned that he could trust Aki and Noal to get them all back down to Earth safely, so he let his eyes slip closed and relaxed as much as he ever did. Just before true sleep claimed him, though, he had a mildly amusing thought: this was the first time that he and Shinya hadn't fallen asleep in the air lock.

I

Looking over at D-Boy, Aki found that he'd just fallen asleep. She was glad that he felt safe enough with her and Noal now to be able to relax so much when they were around. He'd been asleep in the Blue Earth before, of course; both he and D-Two had, but that had only been because they were too exhausted by their battles with the Radam to remain conscious for another minute.

That wasn't trust, that was just circumstance.

Turning her attention back to her navigational duties, even though they were near enough to the ground that she probably could have turned the duty over to Noal without much of a hitch. But she was trained better than that, and there was always the chance of something unexpected happening, so she kept her eyes on her instruments and helped to guide the Blue Earth all the way back to OSDG Headquarters. They didn't meet up with any opposition on their way back, something she was thankful for, but also a bit surprised about considering the fact that D-Boy had been so worried about that new Tekkaman that Omega had sent out.

She still wondered why D-Boy had sounded so... so angry about this new Tekkaman. He hadn't seemed that way about Dagger, and Dagger had done a lot of damage to him and D-Two both. The way D-Boy had reacted to the idea of this new Tekkaman, though, it was almost as if he expected something worse to happen than what Dagger had done.

She didn't like to think that he might be right, but then he and D-Two did have more experience dealing with the Radam than she and Noal did; even in spite of all the time that they had spent working with the twins.

Once the Blue Earth was settled back inside the hangar where Honda and Levin would be able to check her for damages, Aki rose from her seat and headed over to where the twins were sitting. Gathering D-Boy up into her arms, smiling briefly down at him as his head came to rest against her body, she looked over at Noal as he chuckled.

"Oi, oi, Aki. Aren't you being a bit forward?" Noal taunted, looking amusedly over at her as he gathered Varis up in his own arms and stood back upright.

"Noal," Aki said, as she made her way out of the Blue Earth's cockpit to the boarding-ramp.

Aki would have smacked him if she'd had an arm free, but she was forced to settle for a ringing glare and the promise of a good smacking later, since she didn't want to jostle D-Boy or risk dropping him. As she and Noal split off from each other, carrying D-Boy and D-Two to their respective rooms, Aki looked down into the face of the man who she was just beginning to fall in love with. She didn't get to see him like this often, with his face relaxed in sleep and the only thing showing that he had suffered at the hands of the Radam being the scar on the left side of his face; it was nice, really, seeing D-Boy the way he could have been if it hadn't been for the Radam.

Still, she wondered for a moment if, if the Radam had never come to Earth in the first place, would she ever have met D-Boy and his brother at all?

Who had they been, before the Radam had come to Earth? And how had they gotten their powers? What were they doing that had made it possible for them to become Tekkamen, when the only other Tekkamen in existence seemed to be under the control of the Radam themselves?

These were things she often wondered about, when everything was quiet and there were no Radam attacks to distract her from wondering just who D-Boy and D-Two had been before they had become the heroes of the war against the Radam. She wondered just what kind of life the twins had lead, and why they sometimes seemed so far away when they were together. She still remembered what D-Two had said to Dr. Cal, about the fact that he and D-Boy remembered.

But what? What was it that D-Two had been so adamant that he and D-Boy had remembered, and why had he sounded so sad about the fact that they did? Was there something that he and D-Boy knew that someone else hadn't wanted them to, and what could it have been?

Laying D-Boy down in his bed, Aki took off his boots and vest, then gently tucked him in. For a moment, she was tempted to kiss his cheek, or just to touch his face in passing. He looked so peaceful, and she knew that he wouldn't look that way once he woke up again.

Still, she knew full well that D-Boy didn't like being touched by anyone but his brother, and even if he didn't ever find out about what she had done, Aki herself would still know.

"Goodnight, D-Boy," Aki said, as she turned and left his room.

II

When he'd finished putting D-Two to bed, making a mental note to talk to the kid about how they could work on getting his idiot of a brother to notice that Aki was falling head-over-heels for him, Noal wondered for a second or two just what had gone on between D-Boy and Aki. It couldn't have been anything too out of line, since he knew Aki well enough to know that she wouldn't do anything she knew D-Boy wouldn't want her to. And he knew the kid himself well enough to know that he didn't like being touched by anyone who wasn't D-Two.

It was kind of funny how all of D-Boy's normal prickliness and standoffishness seemed to completely evaporate when he was around his brother, and it was even funnier how all of that stuff came right back up again the few times that the two of them had been separated. He also thought it was funny how, while D-Boy had often referred to D-Two as his younger brother, D-Two actually seemed to be the more mature of the pair. He also seemed to be a bit more protective of D-Boy than D-Boy was of him, but only someone who was really looking for it would ever notice any difference between the two of them.

Leaving D-Two in his room, with his boots set next to his bed so he could get to them easily, Noal turned and headed for his own room to get in what sleep he could before the next crisis came up.

He knew that it was only a matter of time before a new one came up, what with the Radam and their armies of mutant space crabs hanging over all their heads, to say nothing of that new Tekkaman that D-Boy had sensed. He didn't doubt that the kid knew what he was talking about, not now that he had gotten to know those kids as well as he did. He knew that they could in fact sense others like them, and even that they somehow seemed to know what the other was thinking most of the time.

He'd heard that twins were kind of freaky that way, but this seemed to go beyond even that.

Still, there would be plenty of time to ask D-Two to explain what went on between him and D-Boy after he'd hashed out how to get D-Boy to stop being an idiot and notice that Aki was falling for him. As he made his way down the corridor to his own quarters, Noal began to hear footsteps coming up from behind him and to his right. Turning to look over his shoulder, he saw that Aki was coming down the corridor behind him.

"Hey, Aki," he said, just before she drew back and slapped him right across the cheek. "What was that for?"

"You know," she said, giving him a withering look.

As she walked on past, Noal laughed softly; he hadn't really expected to get away with that one. Still, it was kind of fun to wind Aki up sometimes.

III

When he woke up in his room, tucked under the covers with his vest off, Takaya wondered for a second just why Noal would take the time to do something like this, before he decided to put aside the odd and probably one-time occurrence and concentrate on what was really important. Shinya's tekkaset might not have been shattered like his was when Dagger had caught them in that trap of his, but there was obviously something wrong with it. He didn't want to think that something might happen because of that, but he knew better than to trust to luck by now.

Takaya didn't want anything to happen to his brother, and he would hate himself if anything happened to Shinya because of him.

(Shinya, are you up?)

(No, Ta-kun, I'm still sleeping,) his younger brother playfully grumbled. (Did you want to talk to me, right now?)

(As soon as you can, Shinya,) he said. (Now's not the time to be lazy.)

(All right, Ta-kun,) Shinya said, sounding amused. (I'll come.)

(Thank you, Shin-chan,) he said, smiling as he heard Shinya's silent laughter in his mind.

Knowing that Shinya was getting closer, the sense of his brother's mind intimately familiar to him by now, so he shoved his feet into the boots that Noal had dropped by the side of his bed and headed over to the door. And, just as he made it there, the chime rang, and he opened the door on his younger twin's smiling face.

"Good timing," Shinya said; they shared a grin, both knowing just how this little feat of theirs had been arranged.

"Come on," he said, stepping aside so that Shinya could get into his room.

Sensing a short, brief surge of energy from his younger brother, Takaya caught Shinya's tekkaset as it was tossed to him. Holding his brother's sky-blue crystal, Takaya headed back to his bed and sat down on it across from him. His brother had taken his boots off so he could sit cross-legged on top of the bed; it almost reminded Takaya of back home. Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Takaya took a long look at Shinya's tekkaset.

He'd done this once before, back on the Orbital Ring when they had been trying to escape from Dagger's trap, but back then he'd been a lot more preoccupied with the fact that his younger brother was in pain than with what might have been happening to his crystal. Sure, he'd managed to keep Shinya from having his crystal shattered the way his had been, but it looked like he hadn't managed to keep Shinya entirely safe. He hated that.

Staring at the almost straight, vertical crack that ran up the middle of his younger twin's sky-blue tekkaset, Takaya ran his finger over it. It didn't actually seem any deeper than it had been the last time he'd seen it, but then he hadn't really been given a chance to look back then; both he and Shinya had been a lot more concerned with keeping their heads and skins intact, since Dagger had been hunting them down throughout the Orbital Ring. Not to mention all of the Radam monsters that they had been forced to deal with.

Still, Takaya wasn't the type to take chances with his younger brother's life; Shinya was all he had left.

"It doesn't look like that crack is any bigger than it was," he said, looking up at Shinya. "But, I think it would be best if I had a look at it after the next time we fight together."

"So, late today or early tomorrow?" Shinya asked, a wry smile on his face.

Takaya laughed ruefully. "Yeah." He rose, and waited a few moments for Shinya to shove his feet back into his boots and stand back up. "How about breakfast?"

"You mean start the day without my morning shower? When we're probably going to be facing off against another legion of Radam monsters?" Shinya gave him a Look for that and Takaya rolled his eyes.

"Well, I suppose it was a bit much to ask from you. Go take your shower, stinky Shinya."

Laughing as Shinya grabbed him in a headlock and noogied him, Takaya stood back upright as his brother let him up. Squeezing Shinya around the waist as his younger twin gave him a soft kiss on his left cheek, Takaya headed for his own bathroom as Shinya left. He might not have been taking a shower like Shinya was planning, but he was at least going to wash up and brush his hair.

In other words, the usual things he did before he started the day.

IV

He'd managed to arrange things so that neither Levin nor Honda would have any objections to his looking at Pegas when they weren't in the general vicinity, so he'd made a habit of appearing there at odd intervals; there never seemed to be a time when the machine shop, which also seemed to serve as a repair bay the way it did in pretty much every one of the ADF bases that he had served at, was actually empty. So, he did still have to be careful about how he looked and what he seemed to pay attention to. But now that most of the staff seemed willing to treat his presence as just another thing that happened, he had at least a bit more leeway.

Today he intended to find out just what that geometric shape, Levin had said that Blade and Varis called the things tekkasets, on the front of Pegas was.

Moving over to a better vantagepoint on the railing where he stood, he zoomed in on the shape. The thing was the same color as Blade's eyes, and for a moment he wondered if that also held true for Varis' crystal. He knew that the chances of him ever finding that out were about the same as his chances of ever being able to lift Pegas over his head, but maybe he wouldn't have to ask... something to think about later, probably.

It was something to keep in mind, at least.

As he zoomed in closer to that tekkaset of Blade's, he began to see the probable reason that this Pegas Unit had been built in the first place: there were hairline fractures running through the entire structure of the crystal. The crystal itself looked like it had been pieced back together after breaking apart, somehow. Now, he didn't know just what could have caused that kind of damage to those crystals of theirs, aside from a hammer or something, but he didn't see either of those boys being stupid enough to let someone deliberately break their transformation artifact.

Both of them were incredibly standoffish, not to mention obstinate as all hell, but neither of them had struck him as particularly stupid; all the more reason to keep avoiding them while he was on assignment here.

V

When he'd gone down to the cafeteria for breakfast, he found the Gemini Boys just leaving the place.

"Hey, D-Boys," he said, grinning at the two of them as they made their way past.

"Hey, Noal-kun," D-Two said; D-Boy just offered him a small smile. "Just heading in?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "You know, it always seems like we just miss each other every time we get up."

He could tell that D-Two was just about to say something, probably something snarky judging from the look on his face, but the general-alert went off before any of them could say anything else.

"Well, looks like I'm going to have to skip breakfast this time," he said, taking a moment to promise himself a snack later and an extra large lunch to make up for it. Turning around quickly, he followed just behind the twins as they jogged to Comm. One. He fell pretty far behind them once they'd really gotten going, but he wasn't so worried about that. Chief Freeman wasn't the type to begin a meeting unless all of them were present.

Heck, there were times he'd even waited for Balzac, and that guy wasn't even a member of the Space Knights.

When he finally made it to Comm. One, he looked around for Balzac first of all. The Gemini Boys, D-Two in particular, always seemed to be a bit wary around him. Moreso than they'd been around him or the others back when they'd all met up in the first place, even; of course, sometimes those boys could be a bit overly cautious, but they hadn't once been wrong about the big things. So he'd keep an eye on Balzac, even though the man seemed fairly harmless, and seemed to keep to himself for the most part.

The Chief's briefing was short and to the point, the way pretty much all of them were, and soon enough they were all heading toward the Blue Earth, preparing for a combat mission at the ADF's insistence.

It'd become something of a routine, these days: head to Comm. One for one of the Chief's briefings, find out that the ADF needed their fat pulled out of the fire again, then fly off in the Blue Earth with the Gemini Boys in tow. Simple, if you didn't think about the fact that the Space Knights were being treated as the Military's errand boys. Or, in the case of the twins, their attack dogs.

Still, he tried not to think about that kind of thing so much, since it pissed him off and made him want to track down one of those Military bastards and punch them; something that would be bound to get him in the same kind of trouble that the Gemini Boys had probably bought for themselves, but without the kind of leeway they were given because of their power. Shoving those thoughts out of his mind as he settled into the Blue Earth's piloting station, Noal began the preflight sequence as Aki and the twins settled into their own seats. It felt like no time at all had passed before they were riding up and out of the atmosphere on the launch-ramp, and then blasting into space on their way to their latest mission.

The ADF hadn't been the only ones worried about that new Tekkaman that had shown up at the end of their last mission; both D-Boy and D-Two had tried to cover it, but he could tell that those kids of theirs had been worried about whatever new Tekkaman that Omega had sent out. D-Boy hadn't even wanted to tell D-Two at first, he could tell from the way D-Boy had looked on their trip back to Earth after their last battle; D-Two must have weaseled it out of him somehow, though, since the two of them were both clearly on the same page about just what it was that they might be facing this time around.

Noal didn't know quite what to think about the new situation; on the one hand, it was good that both of them knew just what it was that they were getting into here, and on the other he knew that those boys tended to worry more than what was really healthy for either of them. Too much stress could cripple even the best of fighters or soldiers, he knew, and he didn't want anything like that happening to the twins if he could help it. He didn't really know if he could help it, though; it wasn't like their worries were unfounded or anything.

He knew better than most just what kind of damage a Tekkaman, even one on their own, could do.

"Good luck out there, D-Boys," he said, turning to look over his shoulder at the twins as they raced past his station on their way to the main air lock.

"Thank you, Noal," D-Two said, grinning back at him. "Try to keep the Blue Earth in one piece up here, all right? I don't think brother would like having to fly us back to Earth by himself; I know I wouldn't."

"Hey, it's me," he shot back, smirking.

"I know."

D-Two, still grinning like the little wiseguy he so clearly was, was through the air lock doors and sealed behind the thick, airtight metal before Noal could even start to think up a properly crushing response to that. Seconds later, he and D-Boy were blazing out into space; one aboard Pegas and the other following close beside. It summed up their relationship pretty perfectly, in Noal's opinion: no matter what changed with one of them, the other would always be right there by their side.

VI

As she watched the twins finish transforming and join up with each other on Pegas' back, Aki took the opportunity to pray for their safety. She'd done it every time they went out, ever since their encounter with Tekkaman Dagger had left D-Boy unable to transform without Pegas' help. Now, with this new Tekkaman out there somewhere, Aki knew that the twins were going to have their work cut out for them.

Anyone who'd seen the recordings or read the after-action reports knew that the Tekkamen were dangerous; even to the twins themselves, she knew.

However, right now the only thing that they were facing was another in a long line of Radam monster swarms. She was grateful for that, small mercy that it was in the end, since D-Boy and D-Two had both seemed to be more concerned about this new Tekkaman than they had been about Dagger himself. Not that they hadn't been worried about him, it was just clear that there was something about this new Tekkaman that concerned them even more.

Aki didn't know what that was just now, but she hoped that she would have the chance to find out when they all went back to Earth. Probably not from D-Boy, since he didn't even like to talk about what he was thinking even on a good day, but she could always ask D-Two. Although, she did know full well that, if D-Boy really didn't want to talk about it, D-Two was likely to feel the same way.

And even if he didn't, he would still respect his brother's wishes if D-Boy didn't want him to say anything.

The swarm of Radam monsters didn't seem to be getting smaller at all, even in spite of all of the Radam monsters that the twins had already killed. Aki didn't know how Omega and the Radam had managed to maintain these kinds of numbers after the power generators in the Orbital Ring had been destroyed during Operation Joker. It seemed that they had, though, and now all she could do was keep an eye on Blade and Varis' time-limits so that the twins wouldn't end up becoming just as much of a danger to Earth as the new Tekkaman that D-Boy had sensed just yesterday.

They had only used up ten minutes so far, so the situation hadn't become urgent just yet, but Aki was keeping a close watch on the Blue Earth's chronometer all the same.

The voice of one of the Military's pilots came over the radio then: "What in the heck is- Winters! Get out of there! That thing's right on top-!"

The transmission dissolved to static, and Aki realized then just what it was that had happened: that new Tekkaman was after them now.

"Break off," she called over the radio; she didn't have any real authority over the Military's pilots, Aki knew, but she doubted that anyone would be inclined to stand on propriety now, of all times. "Head back to Earth; I'll get our Tekkamen to deal with this."

She didn't say the last of her thoughts out loud, the fact that nothing made by human hands had any kind of chance against a Tekkaman. She knew that was the truth, though; their air- and spacecraft had been destroyed by the Radam's monsters, and the Radam's monsters were nothing compared to the Tekkamen that commanded them. She didn't know just how Omega managed to command them all, since each of the Tekkamen on their own was powerful enough to decimate armies all on their own.

Though, when she found herself thinking too much about what Omega must have been like, to be able to command the Tekkamen the way he did, Aki would always shudder.

"Confirmed, Blue Earth," said one of the remaining pilots, sounding relieved in spite of himself. "We'll leave this to you and yours."

She barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief on behalf of the pilots, when something attacked the Blue Earth itself. As the ship rocked and bucked under the onslaught, and Noal shouted in disbelief at what he had just seen. She didn't know quite what it was, but she suspected that that new Tekkaman had more than a passing involvement in it. Focusing her attention on the radio console, blocking all other things out of her mind and trusting Noal to keep that new Tekkaman from killing them both, Aki set about contacting the twins.

She hoped that they were in a position to help, for all their sakes.

VII

So, this is the ship that my little brothers have been traveling in for so long, Spear mused, casually dodging the hail of shots the gunner was sending his way. It seemed to carry only a minimal crew; the gunner was also clearly the pilot, and there was only one other person inside. There were also places for his little brothers, though the second seat was clearly an add-on and not a standard feature on ships of this kind.

The fact that it was not set directly in front of any control panels was clear proof of that.

This tiny vessel was nothing at all like the Argos, so there was little chance that Takaya and Shinya were traveling with these humans out of a sense of nostalgia, no matter how misplaced it was. It did beg the question of just why his little brothers were staying with these humans at all; even if Father had taken them out of their tekkapods before they were finished with their respective transformations – something he fully intended to address when they all arrived at Omega-sama's own vessel – they were still Tekkamen. Still a part of the glorious Radam Empire.

Don't worry, Takaya, Shinya, I'll bring you back home soon, he mused, then chuckled softly. Well, back to our new home, anyway. We can't exactly return to our old home yet. Perhaps in the future, once this first stage of the invasion was over and Omega-sama had solidified his control over this planet, he and the rest of their family would be able to move back into their old house. It was a pleasant thought, that; the place held many fond memories for all of them.

Not just the ones that had been captured in photo albums, but the more intangible things that each of them carried in their own hearts.

All of that, however, would have to be postponed until he had dealt with the humans in their spacecraft. In deference to their part in returning Takaya and Shinya to him, however, Spear felt that he could afford to show them at least a modicum of mercy. Therefore, he would be quick.

When he began to sense the approach of his little brothers, he looked back into the cockpit of the spacecraft that had carried them up to this place. The woman who had been stationed forward of the pilot was speaking to someone; she had to be using the ship's radio, since the pilot was not responding in any way to what she was saying, and as Spear focused more closely on her face in order to read her lips, he found that she was calling out to his brothers. She was using the names that Omega-sama had given them; a good thing, that, since it meant that they had accepted their new identities.

He'd been worried that their father's interference might have had some pronounced effect on their minds, but if they had accepted the names that they had been granted so easily, then that was a very good sign. He might not be forced to work so hard to bring them back into Omega-sama's fold. That was a comforting thought; he didn't want to have to fight his own younger brothers.

He would if he had to, but he didn't relish the prospect in the least.

However, when he sensed the approach of his younger brothers, charging in on that strange construct of theirs, Spear realized that, after having faced off with the Radam monsters that Omega-sama had allowed him to use for this mission neither Takaya nor Shinya would be particularly inclined to come along quietly. Still, they were both bound to be rather worn out from the battle that they had just participated in, so subduing them so that he could bring them back to Omega-sama's ship would be at least somewhat easier.

Not entirely easy, but moreso than if he were to attempt the same kind of thing when his younger brothers were newly-transformed and well-rested.

VIII

When he and Varis had gotten the transmission from Aki, the only one that had really mattered to either of them; the one about the Blue Earth being under attack, both of them had known that they had to get back to the ship. He also knew that Varis' time was almost up, and so that was one more thing for them to worry about. And, since Varis' time was almost up, Blade knew full well that he didn't have much time left himself.

(Shinya, go back to the Blue Earth; you're almost out of time. I'll handle things here.)

(All right; I'll see you back on Earth, brother,) Varis said, in a tone that said he'd better.

Blade smiled slightly. (I'll be with you soon, little brother.)

Raising his tekkalance, Blade flew over the Blue Earth. He checked in with Noal and Aki briefly, letting them know that he was all right and that Varis was going to be coming back inside. Looking up as he and Pegas flew over the Blue Earth, Blade got his first real glimpse of the new Tekkaman that Omega had released. This new one was taller than both him and Varis; his shoulders were less broad, though, and he was more sleek-looking than any other Tekkaman that he had ever seen before.

And, where Blade was white, and Varis was black, this new Tekkaman was a purple so dark that it almost looked black itself, though there were also red parts on this new Tekkaman. This new Tekkaman's weapon was different as well: it looked a bit like a harpoon, though the leading edge of the blade was smooth rather than serrated, though it was also clear that this new Tekkaman's tekkalance was double-ended just like all the others.

This wasn't going to be easy; he still remembered the trouble that Tekkaman Dagger had given them, and unlike his first battle with Dagger, he couldn't rely on Varis to help him. He was alone this time, and in this situation he didn't like it. He briefly noted that this new Tekkaman had a flying platform of his own, some kind of one-eyed Radam monster, and he wondered for a moment just why that was.

Then the two of them clashed, and there was no more time for him to think.

He had also been trying not to think about who this new Tekkaman might have been, before the Radam had sunk their hooks into him and turned him into one of their monsters. Slamming into the new Tekkaman, he blocked a slash from the new Tekkaman's tekkalance and slammed bodily into the other Tekkaman. All of the Radam monsters were gone by this time, and he had a moment to feel relief about that fact just before the new Tekkaman slammed into him again.

"D-Boy!"

"I don't really," he blocked another slash from the other Tekkaman's tekkalance. "Have the time to talk," he ducked and used the staff of his tekkalance to block a downward swing that would have ended up spitting his skull if he'd let it connect. "Right now, Aki."

"Your time limit is almost up! You have to get back to the Blue Earth!" she shouted; he winced, he'd almost managed to forget about that fact while he'd been fighting.

That wasn't good.

As the Blue Earth started firing on the other Tekkaman, Blade tensed for a moment. He was sure that one of Omega's chosen warriors would never refuse the chance to attack the Blue Earth when he left, but just before he pulled back behind a barrage from the Blue Earth's laser cannons, he saw the other Tekkaman stand back up straight. For just a moment, as the glowing red eyes of Omega's newest slave-warrior stared into his own, Blade shuddered briefly. He almost felt like he should know who this newest Tekkaman was, but there wasn't any time for him to think about anything but getting back to the Blue Earth before he could start to lose control.

Flying into the Blue Earth's air lock, just beginning to feel the edges of the paralysis that he had felt the last time that the Radam influence that he would be prey to if he ever did overshoot his time-limit had nearly claimed his mind, Blade gratefully climbed down off of Pegas' back and ordered the mech to open its interlock-chamber. As he tiredly climbed inside and felt the energies of his transformation fade, Blade just managed to catch himself on his hands before he hit his head on the deck.

As his eyes slipped closed, Blade almost thought he saw Aki coming into the air lock with him.

IX

While Aki went to take care of the last of the Gemini Boys, Noal busied himself with getting them all back down to Earth in one piece. He knew that D-Two was all right, since Aki had strapped the kid into his seat as soon as she had gotten him out of the air lock. Now that she was coming back, with D-Boy in her arms this time, Noal allowed himself to relax just a bit. They were all as safe as they could be for the moment, now he just had to get them back home.

As he guided the Blue Earth back to OSDG Headquarters, keeping a sharp eye on the instruments so he could make this trip as smooth as possible, Noal found himself thinking back on what he had just seen. That new Tekkaman had been a real piece of work; he'd managed to drive the thing off with the laser cannons, but he still couldn't help thinking that the Tekkaman had only retreated because it had suited the thing's purposes. He really didn't like that thought, but it was probably true.

There was no way in hell that something that could rip Radam monsters to shreds with the kind of ease that the twins demonstrated on an almost-daily basis would be scared off by a couple of dinky laser cannons.

As the Blue Earth slipped through the intervening layers of atmosphere, headed for OSDG Headquarters where the four of them could get some rest and relaxation, Noal breathed a bit more easily. They might not have been out of the woods just yet, but they were nearly there, at least. OSDG Headquarters was the closest thing to a safe haven that any of them had in these times, and it almost seemed at times like it would always be there.

He didn't really know if that was entirely true or not, but with the Gemini Boys around to protect them it was easy to believe that they were all perfectly safe.

Noal know better than to fall into that trap, though; nothing in the world was ever perfectly safe, not with the Radam constantly hovering over their heads. Once the Blue Earth was back on terra firma and rolling neatly into her hanger, Noal began the shut-down sequence just as the ship came to a complete stop. Rising from the pilot's station, he made his way over to the chairs where the Gemini Boys had been strapped in during their ride back to Earth.

Those boys of theirs were pretty much dead to the world right now, and as he un-strapped D-Two from his chair, he looked over his shoulder at Aki. She'd gone right over to D-Boy as soon as the Blue Earth had settled on the ground, and now she had the big lug in her arms and was obviously getting ready to carry him to bed the way that she had done after the last battle that the Gemini Boys had participated in.

Grinning slightly as Aki disappeared from his line-of-sight, Noal picked D-Two up and took the kid back to his own room. He really had to remember to talk to the kid about Aki and his brother, and what the two of them might be able to do to get those two, D-Boy in particular since he was kind of a idiot, to at least admit that they were starting to feel something. Well, at least to get D-Boy to notice that Aki was; the kid himself was enigmatic enough that Noal wasn't sure sometimes if D-Boy even knew he had feelings.

When he'd gotten D-Two back into his bed, his boots off and tucked at least semi-neatly under the covers so he could get some much-needed sleep, Noal turned and left.

D-Two was all snug as a bug in a rug, and Noal's stomach was starting to aggressively remind him that he'd skipped breakfast just before the battle that he'd been a witness to. That, in turn, reminded him of the newest threat to Earth that he'd seen while they had all been up in space; he'd have to remember to mention that thing prominently in his report to the Chief. Sure, the cameras on the Blue Earth had been recording that entire skirmish of theirs, and it wasn't like Chief Freeman didn't know just as well as he did that any new Tekkaman – any one that wasn't on their side, and so far none of the others seemed to be – was a threat to anything and everything that both the Space Knights and the ADF were fighting to protect, but he wasn't about to let himself start to slack off in his duties.

That was a bad habit to get into in the first place, and it was more than likely going to end up getting him killed if he let himself slip that way.

Once he'd finished with the extra-large breakfast that he had promised himself in light of the fact that he hadn't had time for breakfast at all before he, Aki, and the Gemini Boys had been called out to participate in that skirmish, Noal left and made his way back to his quarters. He had a report to start writing.

X

When he woke up, staring at the ceiling of his room and trying not to think about why that new Tekkaman of Omega's had pulled back so suddenly, Takaya sensed the familiar presence of his brother approaching. He wondered for a moment just what it was that his younger twin wanted, before he remembered, with a hint of embarrassment for his own forgetfulness, that he had asked Shinya to come to him after their next battle against the Radam's forces. Hauling himself up and out of bed with a bit more reluctance than he had previously felt, Takaya sighed.

He might even try to take a bit of a nap today; god knew if he'd actually get one, but he'd probably at least make the effort.

"Hey, brother," he said, smiling at his younger twin as Shinya made his way into the room he'd only recently come to think of as his own.

"Hey," Shinya said, turning a look of obvious concern on him. "Are you feeling all right, big brother? You look a bit pale."

"I'm just tired," he said, opting not to mention the strange way that Omega's newest Tekkaman had reacted to being fired on by the Blue Earth; he was probably just looking too deeply into something that really didn't mean anything.

At least, that was what he was going to hope, anyway.

"That makes sense," Shinya said, and Takaya sensed the short, muted surge of energy that he always did when either he or Shinya materialized their tekkasets. "You had to fight longer than I did, eh Ta-kun?"

"Yeah," he said softly, taking Shinya's tekkaset as his younger twin handed it to him.

As he sat back on the bed to examine it, taking special care to remember exactly what it had looked like the last time he'd seen it, just yesterday, Takaya breathed a sigh of relief. The crack wasn't any deeper, nor had it gotten any longer since Shinya had last used his tekkaset to transform into Tekkaman Varis.

"It looks all right, Shin-chan," he said, the relief he had felt at knowing that his younger brother was safe tempered by the fact that he knew Shinya well enough to know that he would be right beside him every time Takaya himself went into battle.

It wasn't supposed to be that way; he was the older brother, he was supposed to protect his younger siblings, and it was all the more urgent now that he only had one of his younger siblings left to protect.

Biting the inside of his lower lip as he handed Shinya his tekkaset, he watched as Shinya prepared to leave his room.

"Shinya?" he called, before his younger brother could start shoving his feet into his boots but just after he had unfolded his legs and started to slide off the bed.

"What is it, brother?"

"Why don't you stay here?" he said, responding to the nonplussed look that his younger brother had given him in response to that admittedly impulsive suggestion. "The last time…" he trailed off, not wanting to remember what had happened to Kengo, but not wanting to be alone with his thoughts in the wake of this new development in their war against the Radam.

"I'll stay," Shinya said, and he smiled; it was good to have someone who understood him so well.

As his younger brother settled himself more comfortably on the bed, Takaya arranged his own body so that he himself would be able to sleep soundly. Both of them were the same height, so they would end up breathing in each other's faces unless they paid attention to how they laid themselves out when they were sleeping double like this. As he tucked his pillow under his left arm and felt Shinya leaning his forehead against his collarbone, Takaya smiled slightly.

At least he wouldn't be alone this time.

XI

When she and Noal had finished compiling and comparing their reports for Chief Freeman, all Noal had wanted to do was head out to the now-little-used lounge and settle down. Aki didn't quite know how long all of them would be able to rest like this, so she didn't begrudge Noal his desire. In fact, she had suggested to him that they invite the twins to come, too. A lot of the others seemed to have the same idea, she noticed, having seen Levin, Honda, and even Milly heading for the lounge.

It was about then that she remembered that there was supposed to be a news broadcast today, something to tell the world how the war against the Radam was going; and, while she often found herself on the front lines of that very war, Aki found herself craving that wider perspective at times.

Making her way through the corridors leading to D-Boy's room, Noal having volunteered to wake D-Two and invite him in to watch with all of them, Aki wondered briefly if the twins would even want to come in the first place. Both of them seemed to be a great deal more focused on the present moment and what they were doing then as compared to what might happen in the future or what was going on in the world at large. Aki supposed that she could understand, though; both of them had more than enough to concern them without burdening themselves by thinking about things they might not be able to change.

When she reached D-Boy's room, she rang the charm and waited. There was no answer, but just as she was about to ring it again, though, Noal came striding up.

"D-Two wasn't there," he said, before she could ask him anything. "Have you talked to D-Boy yet?"

"I was just about to try again," she said, with a gesture to the privacy chime on D-Boy's door.

"Yeah," Noal said, folding his arms over his chest and relaxing a bit. "After we get D-Boy up, I'll see if I can get him to tell us where D-Two is."

"Right," she said, nodding as she pressed the chime again.

When there was no answer for a second time, Aki wondered if this was D-Boy's way of saying that he didn't want to come out. But no, it was more likely that if D-Boy didn't want to come watch the broadcast with them that he would get up and tell them that himself. She was starting to get a bit worried, since D-Boy and his brother always seemed to be so aware of their surroundings; it wasn't like either of them to be so silent.

"I can override the lock, if you want me to, Aki," Noal said, slanting a look at her just as she was starting to wonder what could have happened to D-Boy to make him so reclusive.

Sure, he was quiet, but he wasn't usually like this; he and D-Two would have usually come out for breakfast by now, if nothing else. Nodding to Noal just as he'd opened his mouth, probably to repeat his earlier question, Aki clasped her hands and rested her chin on them. She hoped that nothing had happened to D-Boy, and that he wouldn't be too upset with them for essentially violating his privacy like this. He and D-Two were both such independent people, and she really had tried to respect D-Boy's privacy; but the Space Knights looked after their own, and if there was even a chance that D-Boy was injured or sick, she wasn't going to leave him to suffer alone.

When Noal opened the door for them and stepped out of the way so she could have the first look inside, though, she found that her fears had run away with her. D-Boy was sleeping on his bed, though oddly enough he was sleeping on top of his covers. As Noal started moving into the room, looking like he'd just seen something particularly interesting, Aki wondered just what he was thinking.

"Aki, come look," he whispered, grinning like a cat up to his whiskers in cream. "It's so cute."

"Noal, we should leave," she said, striding over to him and grabbing his arm. "If D-Boy's just sleeping, we shouldn't disturb him. Let's just see if D-Two wants to come"

"Aki," Noal said, giving her a sly look. "Come on; it's really funny."

Sighing in not-entirely-fond exasperation, knowing that Noal would stay in here and bother either her or D-Boy until he had managed to get his way, Aki made her way over to him.

"Noal, you…" she whispered, annoyed.

Trailing off as she actually took the time to look down at the bed where D-Boy usually slept, Aki found that it wasn't D-Boy that she'd seen when she had first glanced at the bed. D-Boy was there, of course since it was his bed she was looking at, but so was D-Two, and it had been him that she'd seen when she first came in. When she'd seen the person in the bed, their back to the wall and the bright red of a Space Knight vest calling most of her attention to it, Aki had just figured that it was D-Boy. Now, though, she saw that D-Two was sleeping in his brother's bed too.

D-Boy had his hand on D-Two's waist, D-Two's hand was in almost the same place on his brother's body, and D-Two's head was resting just below D-Boy's neck.

"They look like a pair of kittens. I wish I had my camera," Noal whispered, grinning.

"You're being annoying, Noal," D-Two said, his words, spoken at a normal volume, sounded almost like a shout after the near-silence that Aki had gotten used to.

Noal jumped back from the bed like he'd been stung, or like one of the twins had taken a swing at him; they hadn't, but as she watched D-Boy and D-Two sit up on D-Boy's bed, their bright eyes raking over her and Noal, Aki couldn't help the feeling that they both would have deserved it. Here she had been going on and on about not violating D-Boy's privacy, and she hadn't done a single thing to stop Noal once she had realized that D-Boy was all right; that really wasn't something a friend would have done.

D-Boy's icy stare, backed by D-Two's annoyed expression, made Aki feel about three inches tall.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, making a concerted effort to look them in the eyes; they deserved at least that much.

"It's all right, Aki. I'm sure you didn't mean anything," D-Two said, giving Noal a pointed glance.

"What do you two want?" D-Boy asked, his voice as flat as ever, but his tone colder than it had been even during the first time that they had spoken to one another.

"There's going to be a news broadcast this morning, we haven't missed it," she rushed to reassure them, feeling their eyes on her as they continued to fix her with that steady gaze. "Noal and I were wondering if the two of you wanted to come out to the lounge and watch it with us."

"That is, if you're not already busy," Noal said, giving the twins a sly, under-the-eyelashes look.

Aki was just about to berate him for that; here he was in D-Boy's room, having walked in on what was obviously a very private moment between the twins, and he was making fun of them! Before she could say even a single word, though, something hit Noal right in the forehead with enough force to both knock him to the ground as well as to send the object itself bouncing off in another direction. Looking down at what the thing that had been bounced off of Noal's head actually was; it turned out to be a boot, one of the red ones that both of the twins wore with their uniforms.

Looking back at the twins, still sitting as neatly as you please on top of D-Boy's bed, Aki saw D-Two smirking slightly and holding a red boot. She didn't know if it was one of his or one of D-Boy's, but since both twins wore the same uniform she didn't think it quite mattered.

"D-Two!" Noal shouted, right hand pressed against his forehead where the boot had struck him.

"Noal!" D-Two said, his smirk widening into a grin that Aki had never seen on his face; it almost made him look like an entirely different person. "Give me my boot, Noal."

"I'll give you your boot!" Noal snapped, hurling the footwear at D-Two's head.

Aki almost expected him to struggle a bit to catch it, since Noal had a good throwing-arm and he never hesitated to use it, but D-Two's arm moved so quickly it only registered as a sort of blur, and when he stopped moving the boot was clutched in his hand again. "Thank you, Noal-kun," he said, still grinning.

Trying to stifle her laughter, even as Noal grumbled in annoyance, Aki watched as D-Two and D-Boy both rose from D-Boy's bed.

"So, did you two want to watch the broadcast with us?" she asked again, since they had all gotten a bit distracted. "Or was there something else that you were planning to do today?"

"I think brother might want to take a shower," D-Boy said, glancing over at his brother as he padded his way to the attached bathroom in his socks. "I'm going to go wash up," he continued, as he turned and followed D-Two.

"It's not till later," she said, smiling. "You'll have time to get cleaned up."

Grabbing Noal's right ear, she dragged him out of D-Boy's room, over his protests and complaints. Once they were both outside in the corridor, she let go of Noal's ear and stood in front of the door to D-Boy's quarters; her left hand close enough to the controls that she would easily be able to stop Noal if he tried to override the lock again. It wouldn't really make up for her violating the twins' privacy in the first place, but it was a start.

That would have to be enough.

XII

When the Gemini Boys came out ten minutes later, D-Two's hair still a bit damp but otherwise with no signs of what they'd been doing with their time, Aki smiled sheepishly at them as she apologized; though more at D-Boy than D-Two, and he really had to talk to the kid about his brother and Aki. It was his sworn duty as her friend to annoy her about her crushes, and it was D-Two's duty as D-Boy's brother to tease him about his potential girlfriend.

So, that worked out really nicely.

As the four of them made their way down the corridors to the lounge, well the one that served this section of OSDG Headquarters anyway, he sidled up next to D-Two and gently bumped the kid's shoulder to get his attention.

"Noal?" the kid asked, looking as if he wasn't quite sure to be annoyed or amused by what had gone on when they had all met up just a few minutes ago.

Of course, knowing that kid, he'd probably find it funny even without any prompting. "You've seen how Aki acts around your brother, right?" he asked, after giving D-Two a bit of time to simmer down.

"You'd have to be an idiot not to," D-Two said, then he smirked. "Which explains D-kun, since he is an idiot. Why?"

"Well, we're both Aki's friends, you know," he said, slinging his right arm around D-Two's shoulders as he, D-Two, D-Boy, and Aki made their way closer to the lounge and the TV waiting there. "And, as her friends, and with you being D-Boy's brother and all, there are certain things we have to do."

As he explained to D-Two just what their sworn duty as brother and friend, respectively, to the happy-couple-to-be entailed, Noal wondered again about what they were going to see on the news today. He didn't know quite what the broadcast was going to be about, well, he knew it was going to cover the state of the war in general and that it would probably mention Operation Joker and a few of the other missions that they had been on since then; what he didn't know was whether it was going to mention the twins, or the Space Knights in general. He thought that it would only be fair, what with the twins doing everything they could to bring an end to the invasion, and the Space Knights being their loyal support crew.

When they all finally reached the lounge, he settled down on the faded, beige mini-couch on the left-hand side of the large flatscreen TV that dominated the room and watched as the news started up.

"Sixteen ships, bearing such precious cargo as power generators and metal ore returned from the moon Io today," the newscaster, a good-looking lady with hair as dark as Aki's, cut so that it hung just below her ears. The choker she was wearing was a nice touch, too; it offset the dull off-white of her blouse nicely. "Of the transports, two were incinerated on reentry, but the rest were able to land safely. Brigadier General Colbert, supreme commander of this operation, had this to say about the success of the operation."

The feed switched to what was obviously a press-conference, formed for the express purpose of pumping up that overstuffed jerk's already-huge ego. Colbert was speaking to the small mass of reporters: "The significant goal that we achieved during this operation was the complete destruction of the power generators on the Orbital Ring with our own forces. Because of this, the enemy can no longer cultivate Radam monsters, and since their forces were so debilitated by the battle, they were left unable to attack the transport ships."

"Hey; it was because of us and our Tekkamen that the generators were destroyed in the first place," he snapped, having started to suspect that none of the Space Knights' contributions would be mentioned, especially with that jerk General speaking to the press, but still annoyed to be right about it. "They're totally stealing our thunder!"

"Yeah, well you can't really expect anything better from Colbert," D-Two scoffed, sounding both amused and annoyed. "He's a very rude man."

"Who cares if it's rude or not? We should just be happy that most of the transports made it here from Io. Think how many more lives were saved," Aki admonished, looking back over her shoulder to where the twins were, both of them leaning back against the far wall.

"Oh, but he is rude, Aki-chan," D-Two said, smirking. "Do you want me to lie?"

Aki shook her head in exasperation, as he flashed D-Two a thumbs-up; D-Two winked.

"She's right. I haven't felt so relieved in a long time!" Milly said, with a light laugh.

"Absolutely," Honda added, smiling too.

"Hey, Chief? Just for today, can't you take us off emergency standby status?" Levin added, turning to look at the Chief, who'd been standing behind and to the right of the half-couch that he, Honda, and Balzac were all sitting on.

"All right," the Chief said. "I don't think the Radam will be making trouble for us anytime soon."

"Yay! This is great!" Milly exclaimed, leaping up from the couch with a squeal of excitement that served to remind Noal of just how young she really was.

"It's our first day off in three months! I'm so excited, I don't know what to do first!" Levin added, sounding surprised and pleased.

"Oh, Aki, let's go shopping, okay?" Milly said, rushing over to clap her hand on Aki's right shoulder.

"All right," Aki said, and Noal saw the soft, happy smile that she wore when things were going well; or when she was thinking about D-Boy.

"Just one thing," the Chief said, drawing their attention back to him. "You must return by three' o'clock. Be sure to return to base on time."

"Only three' o'clock?" he protested. "I thought the Chief was being too generous."

"You won't have time to pick up any girls. Don't let that get you down, Noal," Honda mocked.

XIII

With all of the others busy working out what they were going to do with the time they had off, and the prospect of a half a day where they wouldn't have to worry about being interrupted during a free-spar or when they just wanted to have some time off from all of the Space Knights, Takaya bumped Shinya's shoulder to get his attention and the two of them left the lounge together. He heard Aki wondering if she was the one who had driven them off, and then Noal making a joke about them not being interested in girls, before the two of them managed to make it out of the lounge.

(So, are we going to spar, Shin-chan?)

(You're that eager for me to beat you, Ta-kun?) Shinya said, giving him a sidelong smile.

(Oi, oi, Shinya,) he said, giving his younger twin a gentle punch on the shoulder.

"Hey, D-Boys!" both of them turned to face Balzac as he came up from behind them. "You're not going out?" He and Shinya gave the man their best are-you-sane look, and he backed off a bit.

They walked off with Balzac's voice still echoing in the corridor behind them; he didn't quite know what to make of the man, even with all the time that he'd spent at OSDG Headquarters with them. He tended to keep to himself, at least when he wasn't wandering the corridors and trying to get to know him and Shinya. Takaya didn't know just why Balzac insisted on trying to get to know them when they both went out of their way to make it clear that they didn't want to have anything to do with him; Takaya didn't know if it was a part of the man's job to be so irritatingly persistent, but he wasn't going to submit to whatever it was that Balzac had in mind.

He knew that Shinya wasn't going to, either, and so he did everything he could to keep his younger brother away from the man; of course, if Balzac did anything really drastic, Shinya was likely to start seeking him out for a good pranking.

"Wait!" it was Aki calling them this time; with a glance at Shinya, who shrugged as if it didn't matter to him either way, he stopped. "Do either of you want to go out shopping with Milly and me?"

"I don't think so," he said calmly. "Brother and I had other plans."

Aki, while she looked a bit disappointed in to hear that, nonetheless seemed just about ready to turn and leave him and Shinya to their own devices. Milly, on the other hand, clearly wasn't in the mood to leave well enough alone.

"Aw, come on," she said, and for just a few moments Takaya was reminded of Miyuki, trying to get her older brothers to take her along with them; he shoved the memory aside. Now wasn't the time for that kind of thing. "I know that you're just a big stick in the mud, D-Boy, but I think D-Two would want to go with us," she said, turning her wide, blue eyes on his younger twin in an expression that would have been perfectly at home on the face of one of their old cats when they had been begging for table scraps. "Won't you, D-Two?"

"I don't know," Shinya said, deliberately looking just over Milly's head rather than right at her; he'd always been one to let the cats eat out of his hand, back when they'd both lived in their old house. "Brother and I do have a lot of things we'd like to do today, since we have the time."

"Oh, you can go do them anytime," Milly interjected, wrapping both of her arms around Shinya's right and trying to drag him off down the corridor. "This might be the one chance that we're going to have to go into the city, I'm not letting both of you waste it staying around here doing nothing."

For a few, long moments, watching as Milly tried to convince Shinya to go with her to the mall for a shopping trip, he saw Miyuki, trying to convince one of her beloved older brothers to take her along with them when they were going somewhere that she enjoyed. He could tell that Shinya was seeing the same thing, since there was a softness in his eyes that he hadn't seen since the two of them had been in the company of the second-youngest of their siblings. When Shinya looked back at him, Takaya smiled slightly and nodded almost imperceptibly; Shinya's lips curled upward slightly.

"Yeah," his younger twin said, and Milly stopped tugging at his arm.

"You really mean it?" she asked, and for a moment Takaya was reminded of Miyuki all the more; that was something he'd heard her say often enough that he'd lost count.

"It might be fun," Shinya said, grinning down at her as Takaya bit back his own smile.

"Great!" Milly exclaimed, and then she hugged Shinya around the waist; when Shinya gently reached up to stroke her hair, Takaya shoved his hands into his pockets.

His eyes were starting to sting a bit, but he wasn't going to cry; not here, at least. "Enjoy yourself, brother," he said, as Shinya, Milly, and Aki all started to walk away; he was glad that he'd managed to keep all but the slightest quaver out of his voice, and he was sure that no one but Shinya would have noticed it, anyway.

"I'll get you something, too, big brother," Shinya said, winking over his shoulder as they all made their way down the corridor.

After the three of them passed out of sight down a bend in the corridor, Takaya turned and headed back to his personal quarters. He wasn't going to break down in a public place, and especially not in a corridor where anyone could just walk in on him. Moving quickly down the corridors between himself and his quarters, Blade hoped that he didn't run into anyone.

XIV

Having landed in a secluded, back area of one of the clothing stores that seemed to have been shut down by the encroachment of the Radam spore plants that had been seeded on Earth before any of them had been awakened to take their places within Omega-sama's ranks, Spear willed his transformation to recede. Of course, that left him in the slightly embarrassing situation of being completely naked, but he was in a clothing store after all. Unfortunately, there was one obstacle that he would have to deal with before he could obtain what he needed.

Apparently, this store was not quite as deserted as he had thought; there was a woman in the room with him.

She hadn't looked his way yet, but Spear knew that it was only a matter of time before the human took notice of him. He would have to deal with her, and quickly, if he didn't want to make this mission any more complicated than it was going to be by its very nature. He wasn't particularly eager to handle the situation in the way that expedience dictated he should, but that didn't mean much compared to the security of his mission. He couldn't afford having someone who could identify him running around loose.

She was wearing a pink suit, with a knee-length skirt; she was blonde, and even with the lights off he could tell that she was fairly young. He didn't relish what he was about to do, what he needed to do to preserve the secrecy of his mission, but he would do it. His loyalty to Omega-sama demanded nothing less.

Moving quickly, he covered the distance between her and himself in a movement that would have only registered as a vague sort of blur to any human who had been watching. Grabbing her neck, he wrenched it hard enough to shatter the human's spinal column.

"Forgive me," he muttered to the corpse, dropping it gently to the floor.

Gathering the clothes that he had decided to wear during this mission, Spear dressed quickly and left the room behind him; it was time to start searching for his dear little brothers.

XV

Once they had made it to the mall, Milly had said that D-Two was going to need new clothes if he was going to go shopping with them. D-Two seemed amused by the idea, and willing enough to go along with it that Aki decided to go along herself. All of them had been saving up their pay by default during the invasion, given that there had been no real chance for any of them to go anywhere too far away from OSDG Headquarters, especially to somewhere so far away.

The city had had a name once, Aki knew, but it had been a long time since she had had the time to think about something so mundane and ultimately trivial as that.

"Come on!" Milly called gleefully over her shoulder, scampering into a cheerfully lit clothing store and waving to her and D-Two. "D-Two, hurry up!"

She heard D-Two chuckle softly, and when Aki turned to look at him she found that there was a small, almost wistful smile on his face; for a long moment, Aki wondered just what D-Two was thinking of. "We're coming," he called, walking a bit more quickly. "Don't get uptight."

Smiling as they all made it inside the store, Aki watched as heads turned in their direction. She figured that it was only natural, since D-Two was one of the heroes who helped to save the world on an almost daily basis; D-Two seemed a bit bemused by all of the attention, though. Aki couldn't help thinking that it was a good thing that D-Boy had decided not to come; he didn't seem to do well around large numbers of people.

"Look, it's Tekkaman Blade!" cried a boy who looked about five or six years old, racing over to them with his parents following close behind; D-Two laughed.

"I'm very sorry about this, D-Boy," the woman, obviously the boy's mother judging from the family resemblance, said, as her son tugged on the bottom of D-Two's red Space Knight vest.

"No problem," D-Two said, reaching down to ruffle the boy's hair a bit. "Though, I have to admit, I'm not actually Blade."

"Oh," the woman said, her expression sheepish. "I'm sorry, D-Two."

D-Two smiled, with a shrug of one shoulder and a soft chuckle. "We are twins."

"You mean you're actually Tekkaman Varis?" the boy asked, looking up at D-Two. "That's so cool! Your armor looks the best!"

"Really?" D-Two asked, looking down at the boy with a gentle smile on his face.

"Yeah! It's all black and has these really cool horns!"

"Brother's helmet has horns, too," D-Two said, his smile a bit more whimsical.

"Yeah, but they're just plain old white," the boy said, grinning up at D-Two. "Yours are red, and there are three of them, and they look really cool!"

D-Two laughed.

"I do apologize for my son's mistaking you for your brother, D-Two," the woman said, and Aki saw D-Two smiling gently.

"I don't mind," D-Two said, his smile widening a bit. "Actually, there are three ways you can tell me apart from brother," he elucidated, holding up three fingers presumably to count them off. "I have blue eyes," he said; one finger went down. "Brother as a scar over his left eye, and I don't." Another finger down. "And I don't have a mullet."

Aki laughed; she couldn't help it, D-Two somehow managed to look so solemn while he was making such an absurd statement. D-Two turned his head, winking at her as the small family walked away, seeming almost as amused by D-Two's antics as Aki herself had been. Milly came back then, having left before the boy had started talking to D-Two and hence having missed the funny things that D-Two had said.

They had pretty much managed to contain their mirth, or at least she had, since D-Two had just seemed like he was amused because she had been laughing at what he'd said, so Milly wasn't left to wonder what it was that they both found so funny.

"All right, D-Two," Milly said, grinning impishly as she held up the bag that most likely contained the clothes that she had bought. "I got you an outfit you can wear."

"Thank you," D-Two said, reaching out for the bag; Milly pulled it just out of reach, then she did it again when he made another grab for it. "Milly-chan, I can't put on those clothes you bought if you won't give me the bag."

"I want this to be a surprise, D-Two," Milly said, grinning as she held the bag up close to her chest.

"So, I have to dress with my eyes closed?" D-Two asked, obviously a bit nonplussed by Milly's intent.

"No!" Milly laughed, grinning impishly again as she grabbed D-Two's right hand and started to tug him forward. "Aki and I are going to help you get dressed. I saw some dressing rooms on my way here, so you two just come with me."

D-Two seemed more than a little bemused by Milly's insistence that he not see the clothes he was going to wear until he was actually wearing them, but he also seemed willing to follow her lead. Letting Milly show them the way to the dressing rooms, Aki turned to look at Varis as the two of them fell into step beside each other. He was looking down at Milly as they walked, but it didn't seem like he was actually seeing her.

It was a strange thought, but the look in D-Two's blue eyes was far-off, and if it had been anyone else Aki would have said that they were likely looking into the past, but D-Two and D-Boy had both... Right then, Aki recalled what D-Two had said to Dr. Cal again; they remembered; could that be it? But why would they lie about something like that?

What had happened to them, that they had decided to pretend that they didn't know anything about themselves, not even their own names?

Before she could begin to speculate further, the three of them came to the dressing rooms that Milly had found on her way to get D-Two's new clothes, or maybe on her way back.

"Here we are," Milly said, letting go of D-Two's hand as she turned to grin up at him.

D-Two, for his part, seemed to regain his composure almost instantly, smiling down at Milly and clearly seeing her now instead of whoever or whatever he had been seeing before.

"I'll just go and get undressed," D-Two said, smiling almost whimsically at her and Milly.

"All right, D-Two," she said, smiling back at him; she still wondered why it was that he and D-Boy hadn't spoken about their past, if they actually did remember them, but when she thought about it again she decided that it was their business what they did and that she shouldn't interfere. "Just tell us when you're done."

"Yeah," D-Two said, giving Aki a sly look back over his right shoulder. "Just don't start looking at me while I'm undressed, all right? I know you like brother, but he's not here."

Aki felt her cheeks start to burn, and saw D-Two wink knowingly at her as he disappeared behind the swinging door of the dressing room. Palming her face in mingled amusement and embarrassment, Aki laughed softly. Count on D-Two to notice something his brother hadn't solely for the purpose of teasing her about it. For a moment she wondered if Noal had put him up to it, then decided that he'd probably thought of that on his own.

Anyone could see that D-Two and Noal had the same oddball sense of humor.

"All right, I'm ready," D-Two called from inside the dressing room.

"All right, D-Two, we'll be right there," Milly called back; Aki, still a bit off-balance from D-Two's teasing, followed without a word.

She found D-Two, stripped down to his standard-issue undergarments, sitting on the bench at the far end of the dressing room with his eyes closed. For a moment, Aki was reminded strongly of the first time that she, and Noal of course, had met the twins. Of course, back then both of them had been severely injured; she often suspected that Dagger had been the one responsible, but since he was dead she elected not to mention anything, and both she and Noal had been more concerned with getting them to Outer Space Development Group's Headquarters for medical treatment than anything else.

Now, though, she could clearly observe the toned musculature of D-Two's body and the way he held himself; it reminded her of a cat: resting for the moment, but still clearly capable of springing into action at the slightest hint of trouble.

"Aki, are you staring? D-Two told you not to," Milly said, grinning impishly up at her.

"Aki, did you forget what I said?" D-Two tsked, smiling mischievously at her, his eyes closed and his arms folded across his broad chest. "What's brother going to think when I tell him?"

"Don't worry, D-Two," Milly said, grinning. "I'll keep Aki in line."

"That's good. Thank you, Milly."

"All right, no more distractions," Aki said, amused but wanting to get on with what they were really going to be doing here.

"Oh? Do you really mean that?" D-Two responded, wearing an impish grin of his own.

"Silly D-Two," Aki said, as Milly set down the bag with D-Two's new clothes and they both began to dig through it.

The outfit itself was pretty basic, though the colors were a bit unusual: a pale turquoise v-neck t-shirt, brown leather jacket with a wide collar, and denim jeans that hovered indecisively between violet and a dark, charcoal gray. The simple, slip-on ankle boots were the same color as the jacket, though a few shades darker, looking almost black as opposed to the dark-chocolate color of the jacket itself.

As she and Milly helped D-Two to get dressed, handing him his new clothes and helping him to pull them on when that became necessary, Aki began to see why Milly had picked out this particular outfit. As strange as it looked seeing them separate, on D-Two the outfit actually worked. She thought that it was probably because D-Two was actually quirky enough to pull such an outlandish-seeming outfit off.

"D-Two," Milly chided. "Stop trying to peek!"

D-Two smiled, laughing softly as he shut his eyes again. "I'll be good now, Milly-chan."

Milly nodded sharply, and Aki had to swallow a laugh at the look of satisfaction on the younger girl's face.

"All right, all finished," Milly said, stepping back with a wide, satisfied smile. "You can open your eyes now, D-Two."

"You really mean that?" D-Two asked, all wounded innocence and so obviously faking it that Aki just had to laugh. "You yelled at me the last time."

"D-Two," Milly said, rolling her eyes. "Let's get going, silly; we've been standing around here doing nothing for way too long! Let's go!" she chided, grabbing D-Two's hand and pulling him out of the dressing room.

Aki, smiling softly, followed them out of the store. She wished for a few moments that D-Boy had come, but in the end it was his decision, and she had to respect that. Once they were all back in the open air, she smiled. While she might wish that D-Boy had come with them, D-Two certainly had his own charm about him.

XVI

"It's still safe around here," Aki said happily, looking around at all of the people walking around in the mall's main concourse.

"Walking around with ordinary people like this, it's easy to forget that we're always fighting the Radam!" Milly exclaimed happily, her right hand still firmly wrapped around Shinya's left.

"If only we couldn't see that, it would be even easier," Aki said, catching sight of one of the many large, purple plants that were growing all over the planet.

All three Space Knights looked with varying degrees of contempt at the Radam plant, but Shinya felt a special kind of revulsion for those plants. It wasn't just the fact that they were Radam constructs, it was also something else. Something far more personal.

"Where should we start, clothes?" Aki asked cheerily, breaking the sudden melancholic mood that had come over the three Space Knights.

"I'm going on a shopping spree!" Milly exclaimed.

With a sigh and a dramatic roll of his eyes, Shinya followed the two women deeper into the mall. "I just don't want to end up carrying all the packages."

"D-Two," Aki said, smiling in a manner that didn't reassure Shinya in the slightest. "You shouldn't worry about that, you know?"

"I don't really like the mall."

"Really?" Aki asked, genuinely curious. "You've been here before?"

I guess I shouldn't have put it like that, Shinya winced internally. "Really, it's nothing," Shinya said, hoping Aki would see fit to drop the subject.

"Oh," Aki said, seeming to be disappointed with Shinya's reply but not saying anything else.

"Oh come on, you two!" Milly exclaimed with equal measures of excitement and impatience in her tone. "We're shopping, have fun!"

"Yeah!" Aki exclaimed, getting into the spirit of things.

Shinya rolled his eyes again.

XVII

Far away from his three fellow Space Knights, Noal was sitting on a low wall eating a chocolate bar and watching some kids play a game of soccer. Noal loved soccer, and he often wished that he could have more time to play. Heck, he often wished he had more time to have a normal life. But all that came in second to stopping the Radam invasion, Noal knew.

When one of the kids kicked the ball over to where he was sitting, Noal couldn't resist the urge to join the game. Jumping down off the wall, Noal kicked the ball up into his hands and then started dribbling it on his knee. As the kids all gathered around him, Noal grinned at them. He was glad that he had the chance to do things like this; things that were normal and fun and really had no purpose beyond that.

Playing with these kids would definitely fit the bill.

"Hey, will you kids let me play, too?" he said, grinning down at the kids as they all looked up at him. "I'll treat you all to candy bars!"

"Yeah!" the three kids called happily.

XVIII

"It's not that I mind being your draft-horse," Shinya said lightly, leaning his head out from behind the two stacks of boxes that he had been asked to carry. "It's just that when you two insisted that I go with you to see the city, I actually thought that I would be able to see the city."

Shinya, having said his piece, straightened back up. The stacks of boxes were once more blocking his line of sight, but he could hear Aki giggling softly beside him. Milly was laughing, and Shinya grinned at them both. "Oh, and I feel that I should warn you ahead of time about this: if either of you tries to put a bell around my neck, I'm going to scream."

"Now there's an idea," Milly said with a laugh. "Hey, Aki, see anywhere we might be able to buy a bell?"

"You are both evil," he flatly informed them; they laughed.

"Oh, that stuffed animal is so cute!" Milly exclaimed; groaning semi-theatrically, though he wasn't even close to reaching the limits of his endurance, Shinya followed her.

"You're giving me more things to carry," he groused, grinning as Milly laughed. "Evil, evil Milly."

"D-Two is so funny," Milly laughed.

Once they'd gotten into the relative darkness of the shop, Shinya took another step and smacked right into an obstacle.

"Milly," he said, exasperated but mildly amused. "Haven't I told you not to guide me into the walls?"

"D-Two?"

"Levin?" he echoed the other man's question, tilting his head in confused recognition, and then smiling slightly. "Hi! I didn't expect to meet anyone else, here."

"Well, I would say it's nice to see you, but I can't actually see you behind those boxes," Levin said.

He laughed. "Why are you here?"

"Well, I'll have you know I'm a long-time customer here, D-Two."

"Ah," he said, looking at the various gadgets and devices in the store. He would have liked Goddard-sensei, I think.

"Here, let me take some of those packages off your hands, D-Two," Milly said.

"It's nothing, really," he said. "I can handle some packages."

"We're going to be getting lunch soon, and I thought you might like to have a break before we eat."

"That would be nice of you," he said, as he let Milly take her stack of packages. "Thank you."

When they left the shop without buying anything, Shinya breathed a short sigh of profound relief; he really hadn't been looking forward to being handed yet another package to carry. Peeking out from behind the stack of boxes that he was still carrying for Aki, Shinya managed to find her fairly quickly. Just as he was about to call out to her, though, someone passed between them.

That face... The familiar lines, that strong chin, even the way he moved; it was almost as familiar to Shinya as his own name. It can't be; not him. Not now, after all we've been through.

"D-Two?" Aki said; he looked up as he felt Aki's hand resting on his left arm; he hadn't even noticed her taking the packages from him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," he said, still a bit shaken up by what he hoped he hadn't seen. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, tucking his now-free hands into the pockets of his pants.

"I wonder how my cute D-Boy is doing," Levin mused, and for a moment Shinya was surprised by his composure.

It made sense, though; none of them had ever seen any of the others, and it wasn't like he or Takaya had been particularly forthcoming about anything related to their shared past. Those wounds had still been too raw when they had first arrived, and things had been entirely too hectic afterward.

"I'm sure brother's fine," he said, working up one of his usual smiles; he didn't want to worry them, especially since he was hoping that he'd been wrong about what he'd seen. "He's probably doing something he likes right now."

XIX

Breathing deeply as he slammed kick after knee-butt after kick into the bright red bag in front of him, both his Space Knight vest and his undershirt neatly folded and lying on the counter where the sinks were, Takaya imagined for a few seconds that he was facing Shinya. He could almost see his younger brother's grin, as he blocked and dodged, keeping just out of reach of Takaya's strikes.

(Shinya, how are you? Are you all right?) he asked, having long since fallen into a rhythm and hence not having to think too much about what he was doing.

(Well, I know what a sled dog feels like,) Shinya said, but he could tell that his younger brother was enjoying himself. (I don't really know if that's a good thing.)

(Well, you were the one who volunteered to go out with them, little brother,) he chided, grinning a bit.

(Of course. My fault,) Shinya retorted, laughing.

For a few moments, as he continued with his routine, Takaya had the fleeting idea that Shinya was uneasy about something. But that was stupid; Shinya would have told him if there was something bothering him. It was what they always did for each other.

"D-Boy, didn't you go out?" Turning to face Honda, Takaya breathed deeply to steady himself, the way he had long since learned to do.

"No, going into town wouldn't do anything for me; not like my lazy brother," he said, landing on his feet and panting slightly. "Brother and I were planning to spend some time sparring, but…"

Turning back to the bag, which had almost stopped swaying from the earlier momentum he'd imparted to it, Takaya began kicking it again. He was just starting to think about contacting Shinya again, maybe so they could talk about that feeling of unease that he'd gotten from Shinya; and probably so that his brother could tell him to stop being so uptight, he heard Honda speaking up again.

"Hey, D-Boy, too much tension will wear you out. You should try to relax," the man said, sounding bemused. "Why don't you come over to my quarters?"

As Honda took him by his right wrist, Takaya decided that he would follow him; it wasn't as if he couldn't leave if he found what Honda was doing too boring, and Shinya probably would have left to take his bath by now, anyway.

XX

While the four of them, Levin having been invited along by Aki, settled down at the table to eat their respective lunches, Shinya tried not to dwell on the person he might or might not have seen going down the escalator when he, Milly, and Levin had met up with Aki outside of that last shop. It probably wasn't who he thought it was, anyway; he could hope so, at least.

"D-Two, are you feeling all right?"

Looking up, Shinya found that he was the center of attention for three very worried people. "Why wouldn't I be, Aki?"

"You seemed so far away just then," Aki said, looking at him with such genuine concern that Shinya felt warm just thinking about it; he also felt like kind of a jerk for worrying her so much.

"I was just letting my mind wander a bit; don't worry, it always comes back," he said, winking.

Levin and Milly both laughed; Aki smiled, but the look in her eyes still clearly showed that she was worried about him. He was touched, but he didn't even know if what he'd seen was right or not, and explaining it to them would mean that Takaya would end up finding out. He didn't want his older twin to worry about what might have just as easily been a case of mistaken identity.

No; I know what I saw there. I just don't want to believe it, Shinya mused, maintaining firm mental walls between his own mind and Takaya's.

"Well, now that we've all had some actual food," Levin said, drawing Shinya's attention back to the present and the people he was currently with. "What's say we get some of those churros that D-Two caught a whiff of while we were on our way here."

"Well, I'd really like that," he said, grinning slyly at the other man.

"I knew you would," Levin said, grinning right back at him. "How about you two? Aki? Milly?"

"I think I'd like to try one," Milly said. "D-Two certainly seemed happy about them, and they really did smell good."

"None for me, thank you," Aki said. "I'm full."

"All right, so that'll be five churros," Levin said, giving him a knowing look; he laughed. "I'll go get them."

"For mine," he said, digging his cash card out of his wallet.

"Don't think of it," Levin said, smiling as he pushed the offered card back to him. Then he winked. "I couldn't let my sexy D-Two pay so much."

"Thank you," he said, laughing, and then tucking the card back into the wallet that had been the first purchase he'd made with the money he'd made over his and Takaya's time with the Space Knights.

Sometimes it felt like they'd just gotten there, and sometimes it felt like they had been there forever.

"Thank you so much, Levin," Milly said, smiling happily.

As Levin went off to get them some sweet snacks, the kind that Shinya hadn't had since his and Takaya's life had been all but destroyed by the Radam, Shinya wondered how his older twin was doing; he certainly hoped Takaya wasn't working himself too hard.

He'd have to yell at him if he was.

XXI

Having straddled a chair next to Honda's work area, the one next to the large computer console that he was starting to suspect was a standard feature of the quarters that the Space Knights were given, Takaya settled himself into it and clasped his hands together loosely over the back of it. He was almost reminded of the way he and Shinya would clasp hands, just to let the other know that they were there. He was having some trouble getting his attention to focus on just what it was that Honda was actually doing, though.

"What are you making there?" he asked, as the man finished carving a stick of what he thought for a few moments might have been Balsa wood, and ran it through a small fire for some reason.

"A kite," he said, after having examined the stick.

"A kite?" he asked, surprised; whatever he'd been expecting, it hadn't quite been that.

"Yes. Someday, when it's peaceful on Earth again, I'm going to fly them higher than anyone else," Honda said, looking over at the wall opposite where he was working; Takaya followed his gaze. "Hey, do you want to try your hand at this?" he asked, tossing Takaya the stick he'd been working on.

Contemplating the stick in his hands for a few moments, Takaya considered the kites that he'd just seen; there were four of them in the room, hanging neatly together on the wall; the topmost on the left was an idyllic rural scene, with a big red barn as a centerpiece and fluffy white clouds in the sky; the one next to it had a simple pattern of bold, gold and brown stripes; the one on the bottom left had a picture of a sunset behind a large mountain, with wide, green fields in the foreground; and the last one was a simple, bold red, with black calligraphy. It was a nice collection, Takaya had to admit, lending a bit of color to a room that would have otherwise been completely indistinguishable from his quarters, or Shinya's, or anyone else's that he could think up.

It was also nice to think that, someday, he and his brother would be finished with their personal war; no matter what the final cost ended up being, Takaya wanted things settled.

Takaya tilted his head, offering a slight smile in response to Honda's wink.

This was something that he had never done before, and wouldn't Milly have laughed; him finding something to do that didn't involve sparring with his brother or fighting against the Radam. He thought Shinya would find it kind of funny, too, but then his younger twin would probably understand just why it was that he did it. That both needed to be reminded that they were still human, sometimes; it sometimes seemed like he needed it more than Shinya, though.

But then, Shinya had always been the stronger one.

XXII

He was almost done with the last of his churros, his lips covered in a light dusting of cinnamon and sugar that he hadn't yet licked off, when he heard the sound of voices drawing nearer. Looking up, Shinya found that Noal was just finishing a talk with some woman. The woman was fairly nice-looking, he noted distantly, as he watched Noal say what looked like a farewell to her and then wave to the four of them.

"Hey, guys," Noal said, swaggering a bit as he joined up with the four of them.

"Oi, Noal-kun. Out romancing girls?" he said, smirking as Noal fell into step with them as the five of them as they came up to the side of the Jeep that they had used to travel down to the city in the first place.

"You should try it, sometime," Noal said, grinning at him as he climbed into the passenger seat; he'd driven them to the city, so he'd said that it was only fair that someone else get to drive them back. "Girls love a pretty face."

Shinya would have offered to drive himself, but since he'd only gotten his learner's permit before the Radam had come, and since he'd never gotten a license in this new identity of his, he climbed into the back seat with Milly and Levin. The rumble of the Jeep's engine as it started up almost reminded him of the thrum of the Blue Earth's engines as it lifted off; on a much smaller scale, of course. It was good to think of those kinds of things, they helped to distract him from other things.

Other things that he was trying very hard not to think about.

"D-Two!"

Startled, Shinya tried to suppress the slight, unnerving urge he'd gotten to go for the throat of the person who had just spoken. "What, Aki?" he asked, once he'd shoved that urge back into the Radam-influenced part of his subconscious where it belonged.

"We're back at Outer Space Development Group Headquarters," she said, looking worriedly at him as Milly and Levin exited the car.

He smiled, putting out nonchalance like he'd been doing more often lately. "Sorry, I just got a little absorbed in the scenery. The countryside is beautiful, this far out."

The others seemed to take that in stride, Noal already launching into a tale of his exploits in the city while the rest of them had been browsing the mall, but Aki was till looking at him like she suspected something. He tried out one of his more winsome smiles on her, but she turned away before he could tell if it was working or not. After a quick stop at each of their quarters in turn, to change back into their respective uniforms and drop off their respective purchases, Shinya making a mental note to show Takaya what he'd gotten for him later, the five of them met up in the corridors leading to Comm. One.

There were probably going to check in with Chief Freeman, since he was the one who had given them leave in the first place and so it was probably standard procedure to let him know that they were back. Noal was currently talking about the woman that he had met, presumably the one that he had been saying goodbye to when he, Milly, Levin and Aki had met up with the man.

"Out on the town for the first time in a long time," Noal said, stretching his arms up above his head. "I feel so refreshed!"

"Right," he said, giving Noal a sidelong, amused look.

"By the way, D-Two, what was bothering you so much back when we were about to leave for lunch?" Aki asked, turning that same, worried look on him that she'd had before.

"Something was bothering you?" Takaya asked; Shinya cursed silently.

This was just what he'd been hoping to avoid.

"He must have recognized someone at the mall," Aki said. "He seemed tense ever since he saw them."

"He seemed a lot like you, D-Boy," Milly giggled.

"I wasn't that bad," Shinya protested.

"Yes, you were," Milly and Aki both said at once.

"What happened?" Takaya asked cautiously.

"Well, it happened awhile after D-Two had offered to carry our packages for us," Milly said.

"Not by choice, really," Shinya cut in. Milly stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, anyway, D-Two was carrying our stuff. And then this guy brushed past us. He wasn't rude about it or anything, and all he did was get on the escalator and go down. But D-Two acted like… I don't know, like the man was familiar somehow," Milly said.

"Really?" Takaya asked warily, thinking about just who would cause that kind of a reaction in his normally composed brother. "What did he look like?" Takaya asked Shinya.

"He had short hair," Shinya said, hoping that Takaya would be able to tell him that he'd just been seeing things. "He was wearing a white tee-shirt and blue jeans, and he had a brown jacket on over it. I don't think he was shopping. He looked more like he was trying to find someone. Trying to find a very specific someone," Or maybe two, Shinya added silently.

"What else?" Takaya demanded.

"He was tall," Shinya went on almost-reluctantly, but only Takaya noticed his brother's hesitation. "Taller than me, even. His hair was black, and cut very short like I said earlier. He was kind of pale, though not as much as I am. Just like he hasn't been out in the sun for some time."

"You never look like you've been out in the sun, even when you have," Milly said, winking.

"Brat," Shinya shot back, giving her a short, gentle swat on the top of her head.

Milly stuck her tongue out at him again.

Watching Shinya with Milly, anyone else would have thought that he didn't have a care in the world; but Takaya wasn't like most people. He knew when his brother was trying to talk around something; there was something bothering him, but he was trying to avoid saying it. More than anything, that scared him. Shinya wasn't the kind to go dancing around the truth, he always tended to push for a confrontation; even when it hurt.

That was really what made him who he was.

If something could be bad enough to make Shinya fear confronting it, then Takaya didn't want to face whatever it was alone. He had a feeling, though…

(Takaya. Shinya. Are you well, little brothers?) a curious, wistful voice echoed through the minds of both twins at the same time.

And, unseen to all the other Space Knights, a pair of symbols that looked like miniature, glowing outlines of their respective tekkasets appeared on their foreheads. The symbols were even in the correct colors.

(Will you come out to meet me, now? I need to speak with you both.)

Takaya had covered his tekkaset symbol with his right hand, to keep anyone else from seeing it and starting to ask questions. Shinya, meanwhile, was trying to deal with having a suspicion confirmed that he'd so badly wanted to be wrong. It had been hard enough to deal with Dagger, and he'd only been a friend. A very close friend, one who Shinya had once felt as if he could share all his problems with, but not quite family.

Fighting your own family was always different, always worse, than fighting someone who wasn't related to you. No matter how close the two of you had been, or at least that was what Shinya had kept telling himself during the times that he and Takaya had been forced to fight Dagger. Now, though... Shinya sighed; it wasn't going to be so easy to distance himself from what he and his brother would have to do, not this time.

"Hey, what's going on?" Milly asked, looking from Takaya to Shinya and then back again. "What's wrong?"

Neither twin had the presence of mind just then to answer, but Shinya was the one who stayed the longest. Longest being a relative term in this case, since he cut and ran only a few seconds after Takaya had. The other Space Knights stared in mute shock at the place where the twins had been standing.

XXIII

(It's him now, Ta-kun. I don't like it.)

Takaya could hear the stunned dejection in his brother's 'voice', but he didn't answer for fear that the action would make the situation all too real for him. As long as he didn't think about it too much, then he could fight. It was what he had to do; none of… them would ever give any quarter. It just wasn't in their nature anymore.

And now, with Dagger gone, they had to face down one of the others. One of the people who had been related to them by blood; who still was, if either of them would have let themselves think about that. Thoughts like that would have made it all but impossible to fight what was now their enemy, however, so he tried to keep that out of his mind; he knew Shinya was doing the same.

He was the first one to make it to the Jeep, so by silent agreement he got to drive. They were soon enough on their way out of the base, following the trail of psychic impressions that their once-older brother was leaving for them. Takaya knew who it was now, and a quick glance at Shinya's face told him that his brother had recognized the one who was calling them as well by this time, too.

He'd been one of their first friends, and now they were going to face him in a battle to the death; Takaya didn't want to think of the possible outcome, but he couldn't help wondering what would happen when they arrived. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good.

The wind whipped through their hair where it got past the Jeep's windows, ruffling the long black strands as the two brothers made their way closer to their inevitable fight. A fight with someone who had once been both a family member and a close friend. Takaya pushed a few speed limits on his way there, wanting to have the confrontation over with but not wanting to deal with the police if he could avoid it.

Luck, if one really wanted to call it that, was on their side; there was no police presence in this area. In fact, the roads they took were deserted but for the jeep they were riding in. Neither of them quite knew if they should take that as a good omen or a bad one. Still, nothing would be solved if they didn't solve it, and leaving him out on his own wasn't really an option.

Not with what he would be willing to do to make them come and confront him. Not with him being as dangerous as he was. This wasn't their older brother they were dealing with anymore; this was one of Omega's Tekkamen, coming to kill them because they had escaped his control.

They were going to have to fight to survive, just like they had done with Dagger.

Arriving at the battleground, they started moving through the long rows of tekkaplants on their way to meet… their enemy.

Seeing him, staring up at one of the tekkaplants as he almost lovingly caressed the large root standing just in front of him, Takaya bit the inside of his cheek so that he wouldn't wince. Kengo had always had something of a thing for plants; not anywhere near the passion that he'd had for cooking, but enough that this wasn't so much of a surprise. That was what made it hurt more: the mannerisms were the same, but this wasn't Kengo they were dealing with anymore.

This was one of Omega's assassins.

"Hello, little brothers," the Tekkaman said.

He was smiling; he actually managed to look kind, as if he was actually happy to see them. Takaya wasn't going to fall for it. Grabbing for Shinya's hand, wanting reassurance that he wasn't alone, Takaya stepped forward to confront the newest of Omega's Tekkamen.

"So, it's you now," he growled, realizing then that he knew the name of Omega's newest servant. "Spear?"

"Yes, It's me, Takaya, Shinya," Spear said, still wearing that happy smile on his face, though it seemed a bit condescending now.

"You're here for us?" Shinya snapped.

"We're not going," he snarled. "We're never going back!"

"Come now, little brothers, don't be difficult," Spear said, the smile on his face slipping away, leaving him with an expression of mild annoyance. "Neither of you could possibly belong here, so why don't you just come back with me, where you do belong?"

"We're humans," he said, opting not to mention his and Shinya's place with the Space Knights; god only knew what Spear would do with that kind of information.

Spear chuckled, clearly amused. "Oh? Is that right? You're still dreaming, Takaya. Humans could never be like us. You know very well that we're Radam."

"Tekkamen started out as humans!" he shouted, spreading his arms wide to encompass the world at large; everything that Omega was threatening by his presence and his plans. "All of us were human; you, Shinya, me, and all of the others!"

Spear sighed, the fingers of his right hand pressed to his forehead, in the way that Kengo had always done when he was exasperated by something. "Stop pretending, Takaya. We've become Radam now; it only stands to reason that we should fight for the Radam's cause."

And there it was; something Kengo would never have said, under any circumstances. Now he could fight; he didn't know if he could win, since brother or not this Tekkaman still had all of Kengo's skill and experience, but he could fight.

"That's never going to happen," he heard Shinya say, and he smiled slightly; whatever else might happen, at least he didn't have to face Spear alone. "You're the one dreaming, Tekkaman Spear."

Spear sighed, looking slightly more annoyed. "Is this really how it's going to be, little brothers?"

"You're no brother of ours, Spear," he snarled.

"We'll never be Radam," Shinya said flatly.

"I see," Spear's eyes had gone flat, now, the expression on his face completely blank. "I suppose, if I can't reason with you now, than I'll simply have to take you back to Omega-sama by force." A tekkaset, red as all Radam Tekkaman had, appeared as Spear drew his hand out of his right pocket.

"Come and try, Spear," Shinya snarled, his own glittering, cracked, sky-blue tekkaset appearing in his hand as his younger twin prepared to charge into battle again.

Takaya hated himself for a moment, knowing that he would have to leave his younger twin all alone to fight the latest of Omega's servants, while he waited for Pegas to arrive. Tekkaman Varis was strong, though, so he hoped that he would be all right. He couldn't exactly voice-activate Pegas from this far away, but when he transformed, he had always felt an echo from his own tekkaset; every time.

He would just have to hope that Pegas' close connection with his tekkaset would be enough to help; Takaya didn't know what he would do, otherwise. "Pegas!"

XXIV

"Teksetta!"

It was a bit strange, hearing his voice overlapping with someone who wasn't Takaya, but as the armor of his Tekkaman form appeared and hardened around him, forming a nigh-impenetrable shell, Tekkaman Varis put all of that aside. He didn't know just how Takaya was going to manage to get into this fight, what with Pegas all the way back at OSDG Headquarters and with no real way to get it here without probably getting whoever was transporting it killed by way of Spear and his homicidal tendencies, but he knew that his brother was looking for a way nonetheless.

"Has Takaya been forcing you into this, Shinya?" Spear demanded, even as their respective tekkalances slammed into each other and deadlocked.

"I make my own choices, Spear," he said, straining a bit against the larger Tekkaman's superior weight and leverage. "Don't underestimate me."

Shoving back with all of his enhanced strength, Varis almost overbalanced and face-planted into the ground when Spear drew back suddenly.

"Shinya, you're being too stubborn."

"Shut up, Spear," he snarled; he was only glad that Takaya didn't have to deal with this right now, it always seemed to affect him more.

"Really, Shinya; name-calling? You're such a child," Spear chided, having landed atop a broken-down, abandoned four-story building just back from where the two of them had started fighting.

"You're nothing but Omega's dog, Spear," he drawled; it had often been said that he could irritate just about anyone if he put his mind to it, now it was time to put that to the test.

"I know what you're trying to do, little brother," Spear said calmly, his oversized harpoon of a tekkalance held diagonally in his hands, the point aimed up at the sky. "It will not work."

"And you know me so very well, Spear," he drawled, flipping his left palm dismissively.

"Shinya, I've known you since you were a child," Spear said, sounding like Kengo did when he was particularly annoyed with something. "There is nothing that Shinya-sune could do that would surprise me."

He didn't have time to ask just what the hell Spear meant by that; hell, he barely had time to react when Spear drew back his tekkalance and threw it. He was almost ready to start taunting the evil Tekkaman about his completely pathetic aim, when he realized just what it was that said evil Tekkaman had probably been aiming at in the first place… Takaya!

Turning on his heel fast enough to rip a hole in the concrete underneath him, Varis ran full-out for the place where he could now see Takaya standing, scanning the skies in what looked like a mixture of hope and fear. He didn't take even a moment to wonder what his older twin was looking for, but quickly raised his tekkalance and slammed it into the spinning form of Spear's. Takaya, his attention obviously having been drawn by the loud 'clang' of the two lancers crashing into each other, turned to look at him as Varis himself planted his feet and skidded to a stop.

"Shinya-!"

Screaming, his own and not Takaya's, drowned out the rest of his older twin's sentence. Varis felt like someone had driven a burning spike through his right shoulder, then his right hand went slack, dropping his tekkalance as he fell to his knees. Summoning the last of his temporarily-spent strength, Varis looked his older twin dead in the eyes.

"Takaya! Get away from here!"

"See that, Shinya?" Varis bit back another scream as Spear twisted the blade in his shoulder; he managed to cut it down to a low moan. "I know you."

"I can still fight, Spear," he snarled.

"I forgive you, Shinya," Spear said, and the insane Tekkaman actually reached out to cup his cheek with his armored right hand! "Now, come with me. We'll bring Takaya along, and our family will be whole again."

Dipping his fingers into the blood welling up in his perforated right shoulder, while Spear was still distracted with waiting on his response, Varis lunged forward and smeared it across the evil Tekkaman's visor as he shoved them apart to give himself more room to maneuver. Spear stumbled backward, blinded by Varis' own blood, and Varis himself took a moment to catch the breath that he'd had knocked out of him. That had been one of his more insane stunts, but since it had worked he wasn't going to complain about it.

Sinking to his knees, all the while making sure to keep a sharp eye on Spear so that the evil Tekkaman wouldn't be able to attack him while he was facing a completely different direction, Varis breathed slowly and deeply. He could feel his right shoulder already starting to heal up, the flesh knitting itself back together under the perforated armor, but as Spear angrily wiped away the blood smeared across his visor, the red lights of his eyes narrowing furiously, Varis got the feeling that however he was managing to heal himself, it wasn't going to last for long once Spear got to him.

He barely got his feet under him again before Spear slammed into him, forcing him down through the concrete of their battleground, and dropping him down into the old, abandoned subway tunnel that he hadn't even expected to be there in the first place. Panting, he began to feel the familiar disorientation and weariness that meant that his time in his Tekkaman form had just about run out. I'm almost at the end, Varis gasped, firming up his mental walls a bit; no sense worrying Takaya more than he probably already was.

(Shinya! Hold on for a bit longer, brother; I'll be there soon.)

(I'm glad Pegas came to you out here,) he said, relieved, but also wanting to subtly remind a certain someone of just how bad of an ass-kicking he would be in for if he was being a self-sacrificing idiot again.

(Yes. Hold out a little longer, Shinya. I'll be with you soon,) Takaya said, and he could sense that his brother was closing in on their position; he could also sense that his brother had managed to transform, so that was a load off of his mind.

Staggering a bit as he got back to his feet, then bracing himself with his tekkalance when a wave of tiredness nearly brought him to his knees again, Varis faced Spear.

"Little brother, you're tired." Damn him, he actually sounded concerned! "Just go to sleep. I'll take you back now, Shinya."

"Shut up, Spear," he hissed, in between the deep breaths of air that felt like they were the only things keeping him on his feet. Then, as he felt a sudden rush of energy leaving his body and saw a wash of bright turquoise light, Varis gritted his teeth in helpless fury. Dammit! Not this! I still have to fight!

The energy of his transformation and the tekkalance that he'd had in his hand, in short the only things still keeping him on his feet, were gone now; as he toppled forward, feeling something grabbing the back of his Space Knight vest, Shinya hoped that Tekkaman Blade would have a better time of things than he had.

XXV

Shinya's mental signal had gotten weaker, it hadn't cut out entirely so he knew that his younger twin wasn't dead, but knowing that Shinya was unconscious in close proximity to one of Omega's Tekkamen was enough. Following the mental link that would lead him to Shinya, Tekkaman Blade leaped down into the hole leading into the subway. Spear was there, standing with his back to the impromptu entrance, and for a moment Tekkaman Blade was overcome with fury.

He'd been forced to watch as this sadist had attacked his younger twin, helpless to do anything but listen to Shinya's screams as Spear had shoved a foot-long spike through his shoulder. Shinya's trick with his blood had been the last thing he'd seen, before he'd ran to meet up with Pegas so that he could transform. Now, though, seeing Spear with his back exposed, Blade narrowed his eyes in fury.

Spear was going to suffer for what he had done. This is for you, Shin-chan; give me your strength, little brother. Charging full-out, his tekkalance held forward like he was in some kind of renaissance faire joust, Blade aimed for the upper-middle of Spear's back, meaning to stab through the left thruster and impale one of the evil Tekkaman's lungs.

Spear turned then, Blade's perception of time slowing to a crawl as he realized that something – someone – particularly important to him was being held in the armored hands of Omega's servant. Residual momentum from Spear's turn rocked his younger twin's head back on his neck, causing Shinya's long, black hair to flutter in a short-lived breeze. Digging his heels and toes into the ground, kicking up crumbling concrete and digging short, deep trenches into the ground where he'd been running, Tekkaman Blade managed to cancel his forward-momentum just as the very tip of his double-ended tekkalance touched the point a few inches below Shinya's collarbone.

Shivering briefly, horrified at what he had almost done however inadvertent it was, for a few moments all Blade could see was his tekkalance plunging forward those last few, fatal inches; the tip ripping through his younger twin's throat, perforating his chest cavity, and spilling bright red blood all over his brother's red vest and white shirt. But that hadn't happened; he'd stopped in time, and the only red thing that had been disturbed was Shinya's vest, rumpled where the tip of his tekkalance pressed against it. Shaking in horrified relief, Blade quickly gathered his composure and stood back upright.

What he hadn't done didn't matter, he had to get Shinya out of Spear's hands before anything else could happen to him.

"Takaya, what were you thinking?"

Tekkaman Blade didn't dignify that with a response, instead rushing forward to try to sweep Spear's legs out from under him. Watching as Spear switched Shinya's insensate form from being gripped in both hands to being slung under his left arm, brandishing his retrieved tekkalance in his right hand, Blade sighed in relief. At least now he would have a slightly easier time getting Shinya away from Spear.

Flinging off the two bladed boomerangs at the leading edge of his tekkalance, Blade waited until Spear was distracted by having to duck out of the way, then lunged forward to rip his younger brother out of the evil Tekkaman's grasp. Catching his boomerangs on the end of his tekkalance, Blade ran for more open ground. Finding his way onto the long-disused station platform, Blade paused to catch his breath and check on Shinya.

His younger twin seemed to be all right, his hair a bit disheveled from the run but nothing else seemed to be wrong with him aside from the usual exhaustion of being forced to transform out of his Tekkaman form suddenly. Blade barely had time to breathe a soft sigh of relief, before Spear appeared on the loading platform opposite him.

"Why do the two of you insist on making this difficult, Takaya?" Spear asked, sounding so much like Kengo always had when he was disappointed in them for something. "Do you think I enjoy having to hunt down my family? My flesh and blood?"

"You're not any family of mine," he snarled. "You are Omega's assassin!"

"Takaya, I am your brother, and you and Shinya are mine." Spear held his right hand out, his tekkalance held loosely in his left. "Come home now."

"Shut up!"

Leaping into the air with the aid of his thrusters, Blade slammed his own tekkalance into the ceiling of the subway tunnel and twisted hard, bringing down enough rubble to bury Spear deep enough that Blade felt safe to turn his back so he could get more distance. Fighting in confined spaces like this, especially when he had to watch how he moved so that he didn't endanger Shinya, wasn't something that he was going to try to keep up for longer than he absolutely needed to. Hearing the heavy tread of a Tekkaman, and more than that sensing that Spear was coming up behind him, Blade turned to face the evil Tekkaman.

"You tried to bury me in rubble? I'm very disappointed, Takaya."

Just as he was about to turn and shout at Spear, a sudden spike of pain in his head and the harsh sound of his helmet's alarm ringing in his ears let Blade know that his time, like Shinya's, had just about run out. Screaming as the hot spike of pain drove itself into his brain, Blade knew that his only chance was to get back to Pegas and reverse his transformation before he lost control.

Shielding Shinya's vulnerable head with his armored arm, Blade burst through the roof of the subway and landed back on the surface of the roadway where he, Tekkaman Varis, and Spear had started their fight. Only it wasn't quite the same place they had all started, since he couldn't see Pegas anywhere, and he'd had to punch another hole in the tunnel instead of coming out through the one that had already been made. The pain spiked suddenly, driving Blade to his knees and making him inadvertently lose his grip on Shinya as he clutched at his head, screaming in the throes of agony.

Shoving the pain aside, Tekkaman Blade caught his younger brother's body as it went sprawling across his lap. Gently cradling Shinya's head, gritting his teeth as waves of pain burned into his brain, Blade checked his younger twin for any injuries that might have been caused by his flight from Spear. There were none; nothing was wrong with Shinya that wouldn't be cured by a good rest, which he was getting to at least some degree right now.

"Pegas," he said, having spotted his partner some distance off.

Clutching at his head as the head as the agony in his brain spiked again, Blade made an effort not to dig the fingers of his opposite hand into Shinya's cheek.

XXVI

Hearing Takaya's screaming, knowing now that his dear younger brother had only a short time before he lost control of his power and became a mindless berserker, Spear moved forward. He didn't want to hurt either of his younger brothers, but they were being so stubborn that he knew that any further attempts at persuasion were likely to be met with the sharp ends of Takaya's tekkalance. His younger brothers must have been more confused than he'd thought, if they were still claiming to be part and parcel of the pitiful insects crawling around on this little mudball of theirs.

For a few moments, Spear was reminded of Sasuke, and his baby brother's stubborn insistence on maintaining the charade that he was still one of the insects. Since Sasuke had been brought into Omega-sama's fold, Spear was at least reasonably confidant that he would be able to do the same for Takaya and Shinya.

"Takaya, let's end this," he said gently, stabbing the base of his tekkalance into the ground and leaving it to stand freely behind him as he made his way over to where Takaya knelt with Shinya in his arms. "I won't make you let go of Shinya, if that's what you're worried about, Takaya. Come, I'll take you both home now."

Frowning in mild confusion as a large, humanoid mecha landed in front of Takaya, Spear watched as the machine used a pair of small thrusters built into its legs to turn so that its back was facing Takaya as he knelt, Shinya still in his arms. Unfortunately, that was all he managed to see; a barrage from a laser-cannon or two rained down on him, and Spear looked up to see the spacecraft that his little brothers had been traveling in when he had first met up with them as he was now.

"Worthless little pests!" he snarled; he had no desire to get into another fight, and little enough power to spare besides. "I'll come back soon, Takaya, Shinya; wait for me."

Firing his thrusters, he ripped his tekkalance out of the ground and flew off to meet with the mount that Omega-sama had bred for him; looking back over his shoulder, he memorized the ship that carried his little brothers. He would deal with them soon enough.

XXVII

The energy rushing out of him nearly knocked Takaya to his knees when Pegas' interlock-chamber released him, but he was just able to stumble past the place where he'd laid Shinya down on the ground to rest. Shinya was just starting to stir as Takaya picked him up, wrapping his arms around his younger brother, his only brother, Takaya listened as the Blue Earth landed next to them and Noal and Aki rushed out.

Burying his face in the fabric covering Shinya's left shoulder, Takaya squeezed his eyes shut as they began to water. Brother or not, that had felt like ripping his own heart out.

"D-Boy! D-Two!"

"Hang in there, you two!"

"Who the hell was that, anyway?" he heard Noal ask; he turned his head so that his forehead pressed against Shinya's neck, flesh to flesh. "Was he after you boys or something?"

"What's going on?" Aki asked; he didn't feel the need to answer. "Please, you've got to tell us, D-Boy!"

Resting his chin on Shinya's shoulder, Takaya said nothing; as much as he didn't want it to be true, he still knew. He knew what had happened to Kengo, and he knew that there was nothing that he or Shinya could do would ever change that.

"Are there even more Tekkamen out there?" Noal asked, and he saw him looking from him to Shinya. "Why won't you talk to us?"

He could still hear them calling to him, by the name that they'd given him when he couldn't give them his own, but as he held Shinya tighter, Takaya found that he couldn't care about any of that.