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...

21. Premonition of Love and Death

When Tekkaman Blade landed, stepping down from Pegas' back with D-Two cradled in his arms, it was all Aki could do to keep herself from rushing over to embrace him. His armored form wasn't really made for things like that, and she wouldn't have asked him to leave D-Two behind for anything. She wasn't that kind of person.

Noal had been keeping pace with the two of them almost perfectly, still wearing the Sol-Tekkaman that he had "borrowed" from the ADF; the one that the Chief was probably going to have to personally insist that he return to them. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, knowing the kind of smug grin that Noal was most likely wearing underneath the armored helmet of his borrowed Sol-Tekkaman, Aki continued to make her way closer to the three of them.

Not that Noal didn't have a right to feel proud of himself, after helping to drive off an offensive by the Radam's monsters and helping to protect D-Two at the same time, but she knew he was going to be insufferable for the first few hours after they all returned to Headquarters; she'd known him long enough to know that much, at least.

"All done?" Noal asked.

Aki smiled briefly. "D-Boy?" she called, trying to be clear enough for her voice to carry over to him, but not loud enough that she would disturb D-Two; after what he'd been through, he deserved all the peace and quiet he could handle. "We're going to head back to the Blue Earth."

"Yeah," Tekkaman Blade said, with a soft laugh.

She heard the heavy, metallic sounds of Tekkaman Blade's footsteps as he made his way back over to Pegas, and she smiled. It was good to have him back again, especially after all that she and the others had gone through to get him back; she would have done it all over again if she had to, true, but it was nice to have it done with all the same.

As the four of them, well three of them and one unconscious passenger who needed his rest, made their way back to the Blue Earth, Aki couldn't help but feel sorry for the people who had been caught up in this attack. Not the upper-echelons of the ADF Command, of course, since most of them had brought this on themselves by doing everything they had done to D-Boy and D-Two; but the people who served under them, the ordinary soldiers who had likely had nothing to do with the way the twins had been treated. They hadn't deserved to suffer for the arrogance of their leaders.

Still, what had happened here had already happened; it was in the past and there was nothing that anyone could do about it, so it was just best that she didn't dwell on it. That had become her policy for this war: don't focus on what had already happened, don't look back, just take care of what needed to be dealt with. It was the best way not to collapse from the strain of the war; she knew that better than most.

I

Making his way through the darkened, shrapnel-strewn corridors of the Orbital Ring, Balzac gave brief thanks that he had managed to evade that bloodthirsty Tekkaman that had been dogging his tail for so long; he'd had to play dead, his eyes open to see any moves that his psychopath of an opponent might try to use on him, but thankfully all that Spear had done was prod him with that giant weapon of his. He was well-disciplined enough not to react to something like that, and he'd thanked every deity he could remember that the Tekkaman had left before deciding to impale him, or whip him with lightning, or anything else that would have either killed him or gotten him to reveal himself.

Which would have inevitably ended up with him getting killed anyway, so that was one more reason to be thankful for that.

Now, having found a useable piece of debris and appropriated it as a crutch, Balzac limped through the corridors of the space station. He could only be grateful that he hadn't been really hurt by any of the attacks that Spear had launched at him; the evil Tekkaman had mostly been focused on picking off the men who had come with him, so that was one reason to be grateful that he hadn't been alone up here. He really hated to think about what might have happened if he'd managed to talk the General into letting him go alone.

He'd have more than likely ended up either impaled or blown to pieces if that had been the case.

Finally making his way into a shuttle bay that hadn't been ravaged by Radam monsters, Balzac limped his way over to one of the few working escape-pods. Climbing inside, he took a moment to scan for any Radam monsters that might be in his way, but luckily for him the area of space he was facing was completely clear. He didn't know just how long that was going to hold true for, though, so he launched the escape-pod as quickly as he could.

He was finally on his way back to the only real home he had; he'd survived, that was what really mattered, in the end.

II

Rejoining his mount in space, having heard Omega-sama's orders for him to return to the ship and not having seen any evidence that his presence in the current battle would have been anything more than a mere formality, Spear nudged his mount onto the proper course and was soon making his way through the void back to Omega-sama's base on the Moon. Looking over his shoulder only once, Spear beheld the blue-green and white sphere of the Earth receding behind him.

There was something about the planet, something that had captivated both of his younger brothers' attention; he couldn't understand why, but he knew that he would have to be more stern with them if he was going to bring them back to where they were supposed to be.

As the Moon grew larger in his field of view, Omega-sama's presence in his mind growing stronger as he drew closer to the surface of the satellite, Spear wondered what his younger brothers could have been thinking; why would they have chosen to stay on Earth, when it was clear that they no longer belonged in such a place? True, it seemed as if Shinya had become rather enamored of that woman, but it would have been simple for him to ask that she be taken into Omega-sama's service as well; the woman might have resisted the idea at first, true, but the human had not been born who could resist a Tekkaman.

Returning to Omega-sama's vessel, he dismounted and made his way back to the tekkapod that had been reserved for his use. He'd tired somewhat on his way back, and now wanted nothing more than to rest within it. Dismissing his armor, Spear made his way over to his tekkapod and climbed inside. The warm, soft membrane of the pod enabled him to relax, and as the tekkapod began to fill with fluid again, Spear felt his body almost instinctively curl up into the position that he had always taken while he rested.

Curled as tightly as he had ever been within his tekkapod, Spear drifted back to sleep.

III

Waking up back in his own room, with the last thing he remembered being his loss of consciousness in Noal's arms after firing a Voltekka at all those Radam monsters, Shinya smiled softly. It looked like his idiot of an older twin had come through for them, after all.

(Shinya? You are up now.)

(Good morning, big brother,) he said, both amused by the greeting and touched by his older twin's concern for him.

(Yeah,) Takaya said, with a brief mental chuckle. (Good morning, Shin-chan. You want to come run with me, after we finish breakfast?)

(Sure,) he responded, hauling himself up and out of bed with a yawn as he made his way to his attached bathroom. (Come meet me at my room.)

(As long as you don't spend all morning in the bathroom, lazy Shinya,) Takaya retorted, and Shinya could hear the amusement in his brother's mental tone.

(Unlike certain people I could mention, I want to be clean when I come out of my room,) he responded, smirking slightly.

(I'm clean when I get out of my room,) Takaya retorted, and Shinya just knew that his brother would have stuck out his tongue if the two of them had been in the same room. (Obsessive Shin-chan.)

Laughing softly as he tossed the last of his uniform into the hamper, Shinya climbed into his personal shower and turned it on. If he was going to go for a run with his brother, he was at least going to be refreshed beforehand.

IV

When consciousness returned to him, along with the energy that he had been forced to expend while he had been dealing with those human soldiers who had been foolish enough to challenge him, Spear considered what he was going to do with his current, and likely limited, free time. Omega-sama was likely to give him new orders soon, but before that time came, Spear decided that he would check on Miyuki.

Her mental silence had begun to worry him, during the time that she had been within the pupation-chamber and he had still been completely unable to contact her; he had been able to speak with Sasuke, during the time that the youngest of his siblings was undergoing the transformation-process, but he had never been able to contact Miyuki. Perhaps she had been more exhausted by the transformation than he had thought; he'd never heard from Feng Li while they had been inside Omega-sama's vessel, but then he had never thought to call to her.

He had reached out for his baby sister; reached out, and gotten no response.

He was determined to find out what might be wrong with Miyuki, even if there wasn't anything that he could do about it; Omega-sama would most likely have the knowledge he would need to help Miyuki, if something was truly wrong with her. Pulling himself free from the tekkapod that had healed and nurtured him for the duration of his stay aboard Omega-sama's vessel, Spear made his way across the main area of Omega-sama's vessel, bordered as it was by the structures that housed the tekkapods and other structures that Spear didn't have the knowledge to put names to as of yet.

He wondered for a moment if he ever would, but then put that aside; all of that was for later, Spear's concerns were for the present.

Standing before the pupation chambers that his remaining family and friends had been moved to during some time when he had been either unaware of his surroundings or simply absent from them, Spear paused for a moment to examine the chamber that held Miyuki. It was glowing the same, healthy green that it had been the last time he'd laid eyes on it, but the minds within it were all dormant now. He could sense them on some level, yes, but the fact that he had never been able to make contact with Miyuki still worried him on some level.

"It's good to see you're still doing so well, Miyuki," he said, more to break the almost oppressive silence than anything; he knew that she wouldn't be able to hear him until she had awakened fully. None of the others would. Still... "You know, you're going to feel so much better when you wake up, little sister," he said, reaching out to gently caress the membrane of the pupation-chamber that Miyuki rested inside.

Spear knew the strength in his armored fingers, knew that he could rip open the thin membrane that was all that protected his dear little sister from the harshness of the environment around her, and so he restrained himself even more than usual. The world felt so much more fragile when he was wearing his armor, so he was always careful to treat it as such.

At least, those parts of it that mattered to him.

"I do hope you're doing all right, little sister. I've been worried." He didn't want to say about what, since there was a chance – a small one, but a chance all the same – that his fears would be realized if he spoke them aloud.

He knew it was likely just superstition, but there was also the chance that Miyuki was aware of him, at least on some level. He didn't want to give her anything to worry about when he could avoid it.

Still, he was fully aware of what would happen to Miyuki if she was truly incompatible with the Tekkaprocess: she would be rejected; turned out before she had been truly completed. She would still have more power than any mere human could ever hope to have, but she would be burning up her own lifespan with every transformation, and eventually she would die for it. Even placing her inside one of the tekkapods would not be able to save her for long if that turned out to be the case.

That was yet another reason that he wished to return his younger brothers to Omega-sama's fold: they were incomplete as well, and while they might not have been outright rejected – and Spear honestly doubted that such would be the case; discounting their late and unlamented father, his family had always been a strong one – he still wanted them here with the rest of their family.

And, perhaps that woman could be convinced to come along peacefully as well.

V

They'd made it outside the perimeter of Headquarters, or at least off the steel, asphalt, and tarmac that bordered the buildings, and onto the natural rock formations that Takaya could remember seeing back... before. Shinya was running along beside him, and Takaya didn't bother holding back a chuckle when he saw what his younger twin had chosen to wear. Sure, he'd seen it before, back when they'd both been getting ready to run, but it hadn't really registered to him then.

He'd been more interested in running than studying what Shinya had chosen for himself to wear at that point.

But now, looking over his younger twin as Shinya ran beside him, Takaya reflected on how funny it was that they had both made pretty much the same choices when it came to what they were wearing: he'd chosen a jogging outfit that matched his eyes, and now he saw that Shinya had, too. Part of the suit was lighter than the rest; the lighter-patches both formed a roughly triangular shape on both of them, but they were placed differently. On his suit, the pale-green patch began at his right shoulder and continued all the way to his waist, only stopping when it reached his right thigh just a few inches above his knee.

The pale-blue patch on Shinya's suit, on the other hand, started at his left shoulder, and continued down until it stopped just above his right elbow.

When the two of them made it to the edge of the low cliff that they had chosen as their stopping-point, a place close enough to Headquarters that they would be able to get back quickly, but far enough to allow the both of them to get a good amount of exercise in the time they would likely have between now and the next Radam attack, Takaya sighed. There was always a next Radam attack, and there would always be a "next" attack until they found a way to get to wherever it was that Omega had managed to hide himself.

Until Omega and the last of his Tekkamen died, this personal war of theirs couldn't come to an end.

Still, as he stared out at the harsh landscape that surrounded Headquarters, Takaya found his thoughts turning to things that weren't nearly so harsh. He remembered what Aki had said to him, back during the last battle with the Radam monsters; he'd needed that, back then he'd been suffering the after-effects from what Balzac and the ADF had done to him.

It hadn't been his greatest moment, he had to admit; still, he'd been under a lot of stress from what had been happening, both to him and to Shinya, before that.

It wasn't an excuse, and he wasn't about to try to use it as one, but all the same there was a reason that he hadn't been up to fighting in the last battle. Things would be different next time, though; Takaya was determined that they would be.

"Thinking too much, brother?" he heard Shinya's voice, bringing him back to the present as the wind tousled both their hair.

Takaya allowed a small halfsmile to show on his face. "I'm just glad: we're back together, now."

There were some other things he was thinking about, but Shinya knew him well enough to know those kinds of things without him having to say them out loud. It was kind of nice, that.

"Let's go back," Shinya said, clapping him on the left shoulder as he turned and made his way back toward Headquarters.

"Yeah," he said to Shinya's retreating back. Pausing for a moment, for one last look at the harsh Arizona landscape and the remains of the ADF's decimated base that he'd seen when he and Shinya had crested that last rise, Takaya turned to follow his younger twin back to their home-base.

Whatever else came, he, Shinya, and the rest of the Space Knights would face it together; just like they'd done before, and just like they always would.

VI

Handing in the largish flash drive that contained the data that the Chief had asked her to correlate, Aki breathed a sigh of relief. She would at least have some time off, even though she honestly doubted that this would be a day completely free of Radam attacks, and she'd been making at least tentative plans about how to capitalize on it. Tentative because, while she knew what she wanted, she didn't quite know what D-Boy wanted.

She didn't know yet if the two of them wanted the same thing.

"This is the data we collected on the distribution of the Radam trees last month," she said, as she handed the flash drive over.

"Thank you," the Chief said, holding it up to look at for a moment.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, hoping that there wouldn't be.

"Nothing, you're dismissed."

"Roger," she acknowledged, saluting just before she left Comm. One.

Passing through the corridors on her way to her own quarters, Aki smiled slightly. She'd worn this new scent, lilac since it seemed to be something that D-Boy would like, with the hope of getting D-Boy's attention. She didn't quite know if it would work, since she didn't know how D-Boy would react to the scent; or if he would even notice it at all.

D-Two was bound to, but then it wasn't D-Two's attention she was trying to attract; he'd probably know that, but he wasn't likely to say anything unless the situation called for it. Or unless it amused him, really.

Aki thought that she'd heard someone calling out to her, someone who sounded kind of familiar if she were honest, but that might have been just a figment of her imagination. She had been working hard, after all, and she did have a lot on her mind. Continuing on her way without breaking her stride, knowing that anyone who really wanted to talk to her about something would catch up with her later, Aki wondered what would happen today.

She wondered, also, if D-Boy would take any more notice of her than he seemed to normally.

VII

Lining up yet another perfect shot with the fermion rifle built into the Sol-Tekkaman that he'd "borrowed" from the ADF – and that Chief Freeman had promised on all their behalf to return – Noal smirked slightly. This might not have been what it was like to be a real Tekkaman, but it was as close as he was probably going to get. Especially since the Radam were the only one who seemed to have the capability to make Tekkamen, and there was no way in hell that he was going over to the Radam.

"Oi, let's take a break, okay?" he asked; even as excited as he had been to get his hands on this hardware, things were bordering on the ridiculous. "Honda, Levin?"

"All right, it's tea time then, huh?"

Of course, when he heard Aki over the comm., offering just the kind of drink that Honda had brought up, he'd had to bite back a laugh. The Irony Gods strike again, he thought, with some definite amusement. He could hear Aki and Levin chatting each other up over the still-open channel, and he figured that since Honda wasn't going to say anything about it, he was going to take the opportunity to leave.

Three hours was more than enough to gather data.

Noal climbed out of the Sol-Tekkaman and made his way over to the computer room where Levin and Honda were working with a definite sense of satisfaction. As interesting as it had been to test out this rig of theirs had been to test, he was looking forward to taking a break. He kind of wondered how long the Space Knights were going to be able to keep the thing, especially given that the Chief himself had promised that they would return the thing, but he wasn't going to complain as long as he had it.

Heck, he'd had his first chance to get into battle with the Radam monsters, and he was kind of looking forward to more; not like he was hoping for it or anything, but he wasn't stupid enough to think that the Radam were going to give them anything resembling a break.

Continuing on his way up the stairs to the computer room, Noal paused for a couple seconds as the door "swooshed" open in front of him. Grinning ever-so-slightly, still coming off the high of the hardware he'd been testing, and now amused by the interplay between Aki and Levin, Noal made his way inside the computer room at last.

"Hey, that Sol-Tekkaman's got some sweet moves!" Taking a whiff of the air as it wafted past his face, always having loved the smell of fresh, hot tea, he paused as a new and definitely unexpected scent came to him. "Huh? What's that smell?" he smiled slightly. "I guess it's you. So, you trying out a new perfume today, Levin?"

"Oh, that's not me," the other man said. "Look over there."

He resisted the urge to take a step back, even though he was still fairly shocked. "What?! Don't tell me it's… But, you never wear perfume or makeup or anything, Aki!"

"So, what if I am now?" his old friend, the woman he'd known for as long as the two of them had been a part of the Space Knights; something that seemed almost an eternity, given what was happening in the world around them, said. She sounded defensive, which didn't really lend credibility to whatever story she was going to try to tell them. "Even I like to put on perfume sometimes, for a change of pace."

She left without another word after having said that, but he knew what she wasn't saying. He couldn't have mistaken it; the way she spoke and the look in her eyes, not to mention the man she'd so obviously been pining over all the time lately. She'd taken an interest in both twins when they'd first arrived, but that had clearly been an artifact of their sheer novelty.

Nothing that wasn't dangerous had fallen to Earth in the six months proceeding their arrival; and while it was an indisputable fact that the Gemini Boys were dangerous, they were only dangerous to the Radam and their hordes. That was something that hadn't been seen on little ole Earth since the invasion began. Maybe even before, since humanity in general hadn't had much of a reason to develop hugely devastating super-weapons before the Radam had made planetfall.

After that, yeah, but then they hadn't had either the infrastructure or the manpower for it; besides, the Gemini Boys were better than any kind of tactical nuke any day of the week, even if they did have to eat half their weight in food whenever they wanted to spend any appreciable time in battle.

Be careful, Aki, he thought in her direction, even though he knew by now that D-Boy wasn't the kind of person to abuse a trust or to treat Aki badly in any way. Still, it was a clear fact that the kid was dense enough not to recognize his own feelings sometimes, and while he did have D-Two around to slap whatever sense needed slapping into his big, empty head, the fact remained that D-Boy's ignorance – deliberate or not – was bound to cause Aki at least some distress.

Looked like he'd be having that talk with D-Two a bit sooner than he'd been planning to.

VIII

Continuing on his way down the corridors to his and Shinya's rooms, Takaya continued to towel himself off; he was walking a bit more briskly than he usually did, to cool down from the exercise that he'd been doing. He could hear Shinya doing the same, and he smiled briefly, but he could also hear someone else coming up the other way and he was curious. He couldn't see who they were, not while he was toweling off his face the way he was, so Takaya slowed his pace so that he wouldn't risk running headlong into this new person for the short time that he wouldn't be able to see.

"Aki," he said, pulling the towel away from his face at last and realizing that it was Aki that he'd been hearing coming down the hall.

"Have you been training?" Aki said, smiling softly at him. He smiled slightly, turning away and moving out of her path; she probably had more important things to do today than just talking to him.

"We've been running. It's nice," he heard Shinya say from behind him.

"Yeah," she said, and he saw her smile a bit wider.

"Aki, I really owe you," he said, wanting to be polite, and knowing how much Shinya in particular would want to get on with things. He did too, of course, but Shinya had always enjoyed taking showers a bit more than he did.

"See you soon, Aki-chan," Shinya said, and he could almost hear his younger twin's wide smile. It made him smile a bit, himself.

"Aki?" he called, not wanting things to be unsaid between them, but not quite knowing how he could say them without being misunderstood.

"Yeah?" she said, and he smiled a bit sheepishly.

"Well," he smiled wider. "I just wanted to thank you," he said, knowing that Shinya would probably be a lot more interested in getting back to their respective rooms and taking one of his famous long, hot showers than in holding any kind of conversation at the moment. Takaya knew that he had been a hell of a lot more ungrateful for the help, but since Aki didn't seem inclined to bring it up, he wasn't going to, either. "You're… never mind."

"Don't mind him; brother's kind of an idiot," Shinya said, moving to stand a bit closer behind him and putting a hand on Takaya's right shoulder. "Still, I owe you for him, too. You're a good friend, Aki-chan."

Aki smiled, making Takaya's heart feel a bit lighter, but he knew the dangers of those kinds of feelings. He knew what they could lead to; it wasn't safe for him or Aki to be getting into any kind of a close relationship, not now anyway, with the constant threat of the Radam and all their Tekkamen hanging over them. Maybe, once this long battle of theirs had been finished at last, then he and Aki would be able to safely explore what it was that they felt for each other.

But not before; he didn't want to subject anyone else to the pain that came with losing a loved one. He'd become all too familiar with that; sharing it with anyone else, and especially someone that he was starting to care for, just wouldn't be right.

"Yeah; you're a good friend," he echoed, wanting to be as firm as he could, without making Aki feel like she was being rejected.

"What?" Aki asked, the look on her face almost making Takaya feel bad for what he'd just said.

Still, this was the best thing that he could do for them both. "Let's… try not to go too far."

Yelping as he found the towel that he'd had draped around his neck suddenly pulled up over his head, Takaya knew the culprit even before he said a word.

"Idiot," Shinya said, and Takaya could just see him smirking.

"Brother," he said, pulling the towel back down around his shoulders so he could give Shinya a ringing glare; his younger twin just smirked a bit wider.

Leaving before either Aki or Shinya could think of anything else to say to him, Takaya made his way down the corridor, heading for his room a bit faster than he'd been moving before.

(What is it, Ta-kun?) Shinya asked, sounding a bit more irate than Takaya had expected; but, then again, Shinya always did seem to be annoyed when he thought Takaya was being deliberately stupid.

That wasn't the case this time, but the only way that Shinya could know that was if Takaya told him.

(I just…) he said, moving in beside Shinya as the two of them continued on their way down the corridor. (We're dangerous, Shinya. Noal was right, when he called us Dangerous Boys.)

(Oh,) Shinya said, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Shinya rolling his own eyes. (Is that what this is about?)

Before he could think of anything else to say, some way to convince his younger twin – or at least to explain – about his position, Takaya heard Noal's voice, coming from somewhere up ahead and to their right.

"Hey, lover-boy," Noal said, and Takaya could see the man in question leaning against a bare patch of corridor wall, just in front of an open door. The blond's arms were folded, and he winked at the two of them as he and Shinya made their way closer. Then, before either of them had the chance to give any kind of answer, but not – Takaya noticed – before Shinya had a chance to chuckle about it, Noal continued speaking and gave him a particularly pointed look. "Come with me."

Shinya, who he'd heard just starting to snicker while Noal had been talking, finally burst out laughing. "So forward, Noal-kun."

"You're both crazy," he deadpanned, shooting an annoyed look at Shinya and then turning one on Noal.

The both of them just smirked back at him, and Takaya was sorely tempted, for just a few moments, to stick his tongue out at the both of them. The urge itself was short-lived, and since it was really more something Shinya – or Takaya Aiba, but he didn't like to think about that – would have done, Takaya was perfectly happy to forget about it.

"D-Two, was your brother being dumb again?" Noal asked, in a tone that suggested that he wasn't going to be taking no for an answer.

"Yes," Shinya said, wearing his usual, semi-amused expression.

"Oi, oi, D-chan" he said, smirking slightly at Shinya.

The interior of the room Noal led them to was padded, and lit about as well as any of the other exercise rooms that Takaya had come across during the time he'd spent in these areas of OSDG Headquarters. Looking around as he and Shinya made their way inside, trailing a bit behind Noal, Takaya saw the three rackets that Noal had presumably set out for them.

"Here," Noal said, tossing him and Shinya a racket each.

The ball was tossed into play, and Takaya swiftly found his rhythm as he, Shinya, and Noal all vied for control of it. It was nice just not to have to think, for a bit, just to do things, and hence to avoid thinking about the complexity of his life lately. Still, even then he knew that he couldn't avoid it for long; something would happen, something always did.

IX

Something had changed within the environment of his tekkapod, something that was making his mind and what he could feel of his body feel heavy and sluggish. He didn't even know that one could feel heavy when they were floating like this, but that was what he felt. There were others around him, he could remember at least that much, but he couldn't remember who any of them were, anymore.

He could recall knowing at one point, but it was as if his mind had fragmented at one point; all he had left was basic data, and little enough of that. That, and then sense that he had somehow failed, that something important had been taken from him. He didn't know just what it was, not anymore, but he was still aware of it on some level.

He wondered what else would happen, what else could be taken from him, now that he had almost nothing left?

X

While he, D-Boy, and D-Two continued playing their game, Noal decided that there wouldn't be a much better time to talk to D-Boy about him and Aki and what they were going to do to move their relationship forward. Or to even get D-Boy to admit that he and Aki had a relationship at all.

If he gave D-Boy time to think about what he was going to say, that would only lead to more stalling on the kid's part. The key was to catch him off-guard, so Noal kept playing the game. He knew that, sooner or later, D-Boy would relax just a bit, and then he would have the opportunity to talk to him without the kid's defenses getting in the way.

As the three of them continued their game, Noal saw that D-Boy and D-Two had started to compete more with each other than they were with him. Which had pretty much been part of his plan, too: get those kids focused on each other, or really get D-Boy thinking of him as just another part of the scenery, and it would make things just that much easier for him.

"Women might not like a man who talks too much," he said, taking a swing at the ball as it pelted toward him after a particularly good swing from D-Two. "But you're not really a man if you can't be honest about how you feel."

"What are you talking about?" the kid asked, and Noal resisted the urge to roll his eyes, strong as it was.

He thought he might have heard D-Two sigh, and while he fully echoed the sentiment, he was at least going to try getting through D-Boy's thick skull.

"I think Aki's interested in you," he said, swatting the ball back to D-Two with about as much force as the kid himself had used.

Turning when he heard D-Boy's pained yelp, Noal saw the kid rubbing his forehead. He also saw the ball bouncing out of the court, and D-Two staring at his brother for a long moment before bursting out into snickers.

"Brother?" D-Boy asked, turning a stink-eye on D-Two.

D-Two, still stifling the occasional snicker behind his wrist, grinned. "Sorry, brother."

"That might've been just what you needed, D-Boy," he said, grinning widely himself. "Now, what about Aki?"

"What about her? She's one of our comrades," D-Boy asked, no longer looking as playful as he had sounded when he and D-Two had been talking.

Heck, the kid looked completely serious again; something he hadn't seen since the three of them were talking in the hallway.

He'd clearly have to make this more plain. "Oh?" he elaborated, calling attention to one of the many things that D-Boy – being a dolt – probably hadn't even noticed. "Only a comrade? Or are you just saying that because you think you're not allowed to fall in love?"

"Brother has dumber ideas than that," D-Two said, drawing his attention back to the third person in the room; the only one who wasn't completely thickheaded.

"Oh?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and inviting D-Two to elaborate; it wasn't often that he pegged someone wrong, but it did seem to happen more often than usual when he was dealing with the twins.

He'd always liked to think that he was a good at figuring people out, but then most people that he had managed to figure out he'd either known a lot longer than either of them – like in Aki's case – or they were a heck of a lot more open than either of these boys. Even D-Two didn't really talk much about himself, when you came right down to it.

"Brother keeps talking about how we're dangerous," D-Two said, giving D-Boy a look that mixed amusement with annoyance.

D-Boy sighed, even as Noal turned to look at him; there definitely seemed to be a story behind why the kid was reluctant to get close to Aki, but since they'd said that it wasn't the one he'd originally thought, Noal wondered just what that story was going to end up being.

"Oh, D-Boy?" he asked.

"You know I'm right, Noal," the kid said, his eyes downcast for just a moment before he seemed to come back to himself. D-Boy shook his head, though he seemed more honestly morose than trying to deny what Aki was feeling about him.

Well, that certainly hadn't been anything like what he'd expected; he'd known D-Boy was one of those types, but he hadn't really expected that it even extended to the kid's love life. Maybe he should have, but D-Boy's whole self-sacrifice thing hadn't really been the first thing on his mind while he'd been talking to the kid.

"So, that's it?" he asked, giving D-Boy a sidelong look.

D-Two chuckled. "Yeah, that's it."

"You're right, D-Two. Your brother's an idiot," he said, even as D-Boy turned to give him a stink-eye. "You should already know by now, no matter how dangerous a boy you are, D-Boy, that Aki won't stop caring about you," he said, grinning at both of the twins. "Besides, that's how things are between grown ups: even if one of them is as dangerous as you D-Boys, when grown ups fall in love they can share each other's burdens."

"That's really smart," D-Two said, turning one of his infamous smirks on him. "Who are you, and what did you do with Noal-kun?"

Noal chuckled. "Come on; let's have one more match. All right?"

Today was really starting to look up; he wondered for a moment when the other shoe was going to drop, but he pushed those morbid thoughts out of his mind with only a bit of effort. The other shoe would drop when it dropped, and the only thing that worrying about it would get him was a tension-headache or an ulcer.

XI

Omega-sama had ordered him to return to his tekkapod, telling him that – in light of the power that his younger brothers had displayed, and their continued defiance – he was to be equipped with a new weapon to counter them: the Psy-Voltekka. He'd known, given the fact that he had not managed to bring Takaya, Shinya, and that woman that Shinya seemed so attached to into Omega-sama's fold, Omega-sama would naturally see fit to escalate things between them.

It was not a prospect that he was particularly happy about, but he knew as well as any Tekkaman – and certainly better than some – that Omega-sama's dictates were not to be disobeyed.

XII

The sensation of waking was so sharp, so sudden, that it was almost painful. Far more painful, though not in any kind of physical sense, was the piercing, bone-deep knowledge that the only two members of her family that she could really trust weren't even here. She would have to go and find them, but to even have a chance at that, she would first have to escape from this place. Escape from a creature whose mind had been pressing against her own ever since she had regained the slight shreds of awareness that she had had while she was in the tekkapod.

Escape from her eldest brother, who would be hunting her down on Omega's orders once the evil alien realized that she was gone.

Looking over her shoulder one last time, knowing that there was nothing she could do for the rest of her family but feeling like she needed to do this one, last thing at the end of it all, Miyuki turned to see Sasuke. Her younger brother – the youngest out of all the Aibas – was curled up as tightly as she had once been, inside those glowing, green pods where she and all of the others had been for so long. She could see the outlines of his closed eyes, the way his body moved ever so slightly as he continued breathing, and the way his short hair gently wafted in the minor currents caused by the pod's pulsing; she could see more than she had ever been able to see as a human.

But, she could also see the one thing that she would never have wanted to see in the first place, especially on any member of her family; she could see it, settled just below the base of Sasuke's neck, and spreading out veins that pulsed in time with the beating of her younger brother's heart: the Radam mind-parasite. She could even see, vaguely through the membrane that protected it, the parasite itself, twitching slightly as it adapted to the rhythms of her younger brother's body.

Sasuke-chan. Miyuki, not for the first time, found herself wishing that none of them had ever encountered that ship; or that Father had decided not to explore that ship in the first place. Still, wishing that things had turned out different wouldn't do anyone any good; she could feel what was wrong with her body, the incomplete transformation that would be the death of her in the end, and she knew that she would have to be quick if she wanted to do any good before she died.

"Sasuke… Goodbye," she whispered, closing her eyes, briefly allowing herself to feel the almost crushing sorrow of what had been done to the crew of the Argos; not even Takaya and Shinya had come through unscathed.

She still had to get to Earth, to find Takaya and Shinya so she could tell them where Omega's ship and the rest of the Tekkamen were; she would have to move quickly, if she was going to have any hope of getting to Takaya and Shinya while her strength held out.

Concentrating on the power that had been forced upon her – the power that was going to be the death of her no matter what she or anyone else did – Miyuki transformed and flew; breaking free from the moon's gravity-well and streaking back down to Earth… back to the last of her family.

XIII

The sense of someone missing from the Tekkasystem, the very person that he had been thinking about these past few days, shocked Spear out of the usual torpor that being inside his tekkapod had always seemed to put him in. The fact that he could no longer sense her at all prompted Spear to tear himself free from the membrane enclosing him and sprint over to the chambers where the remaining crew of the Argos had been transferred to. The modifications that Omega-sama had wanted to make to his weapons system were complete by this time, but even if they hadn't been, Spear would have dealt with the consequences when they came.

Some things were simply more important.

Digging his armored toes into the living hull of Omega-sama's vessel, Spear found himself standing in front of the chambers that held his remaining friends and family; he found himself staring in helpless horror at the empty chamber, the chamber that was now scattered in pieces on the floor. The chamber that had once held Miyuki in stasis-sleep as her body underwent the final stages of the Tekkaprocess.

No, please; not Miyuki, not my little sister. I've already lost so much; Takaya and Shinya, taken from me before their time, and now Miyuki? He knew that there was little that he could do, if Miyuki had truly been rejected at this final stage, but he was resolved to do whatever he could to help his little sister. He would beg for whatever reprieve that Omega-sama would be able to provide for her, if that became necessary.

There were some things in this world that were far more important than pride, after all.

XIV

The sense of one of the others on Earth, washing over him like he'd just been swamped by a tsunami, prompted Takaya to whip around. Looking over his shoulder in the direction that he could sense the newcomer's mental signature coming from, Takaya knew without even having to check that Shinya had noticed it at just the same time he had. It felt familiar, but then all of the mental signatures of Omega's Tekkamen were familiar; he'd known them from the Argos, or even from before.

It didn't make what they were going to have to do any easier, of course; but knowing helped, even if only a bit.

"What's the matter?" Noal asked, and Takaya turned back to see his fellow Space Knight looking warily from him to Shinya and back again.

"Trouble," Shinya said, sighing with the same kind of weariness that Takaya could feel pressing down on him at times like this.

He might have been completely aware of the fact that this private war of theirs wouldn't end until they finally killed Omega himself, and that they wouldn't even have a chance of that until they dealt with the rest of his servants – until they had killed the rest of their family and friends – but that didn't mean that he didn't hope for at least a small reprieve, sometimes. He just knew that it wasn't likely to happen. He hated it, but he knew it all the same.

XV

Calling his mount, Spear burst free from Omega-sama's vessel and then from the gravity-well of the moon itself, Spear used the mental-link that all Tekkaman had with one another to locate the precise point where Miyuki's trajectory through the sky of Earth would end. He didn't know just why she had left, and at this point he was far too concerned about her continued health to worry about such a small thing as that.

As he cleared the upper atmosphere, closing the distance between himself and Miyuki's landing-point as fast as he possibly could, Spear couldn't help but be concerned for his younger sister. She must have been so frightened when she had been ejected from the chamber; alone in the world, without even knowing why she was suddenly awake, and most likely in pain from the rejection… he wouldn't have wished that on any member of his family, nor on any one of his friends.

When he finally managed to find the impact-crater caused by Miyuki's landing, Spear was unnerved to realize that he couldn't sense his younger sister anywhere in the vicinity. Miyuki would have naturally been disoriented by such a rough landing, and so it would have stood to reason that, even if she had possessed the curiosity or presence of mind to climb out of the crater that her landing had caused, Spear would have been able to locate her through the mental-link that the two of them possessed.

The fact that he was unable to do such a simple thing could only mean that Miyuki was blocking him, and the fact that his younger sister could even consider something like that… the implications were not at all pleasant, and nor were they lost on him.

In the end, he could only wonder why; why, out of the five siblings that he had loved so much for all of his life, had he ended up with only one who he could truly call family?

XVI

When he'd finally managed to at least get D-Two to settle down enough to tell him what was going on, Noal hadn't been particularly happy to hear it: there was a new Tekkaman that had come down to Earth. Sure, it was nice to know in advance when one of the Radam's Most Vicious would be making an appearance, but it still didn't make him any happier about the situation in the first place.

They'd stopped off at Comm. One to give the Chief the basic rundown on the situation; which had mostly involved him talking, since the twins were obviously a bit too absorbed in what they were sensing to contribute much of anything, and now the four of them were making for the Blue Earth so they could take her up again. So they'd be able to take out this new Tekkaman before he caused them more of the same kind of trouble that Spear had already caused for so long.

Once they were all onboard the Blue Earth, strapped in and riding her up into the sky so they could deal with this new Tekkaman quickly, Noal couldn't help but wonder just what else they were going to have to face today. It was pretty much a given that they would end up facing Tekkaman Spear again, what with how he always seemed to be involved in some greater or lesser degree with whatever nasty things the Radam were planning. Not to mention that new Tekkaman that the twins had sensed, and the fact that they were probably going to get involved in the fight, themselves.

All in all, it wasn't a situation that Noal particularly liked, but then he wasn't going to end up being the one on the sharp end of it, so he wasn't going to complain; not too much, at least.

"D-Boy, are you sure that you and D-Two lost the signal from Tekkaman Spear at point MM120?" Aki asked, quickly and professionally as ever.

"I'm positive!" the kid responded, though there was that same intensity to his voice that suggested he wasn't paying much attention to the conversation.

Heck, given what he could see from his position in the pilot's chair, even D-Two seemed tense, and D-Two wasn't the type to be tense except when things got really bad.

That, more than anything else, let Noal know that it was time to do some of his patented tension breaking: "All right, I'll take you all to Point MM120," he said. "Fasten your seatbelts, and make sure you return all chairs and tray-tables to their upright and locked position."

That managed to get a reaction, even if it was just D-Two looking back over his shoulder to give him a semi-amused look. Smirking back at the kid, Noal saw D-Two rolling his eyes just before he turned back to watching the sky passing them by. They'd nearly reached their destination, and this time he was actually going to be able to do something; something besides just sitting in the pilot's chair and waiting for whatever fight the twins had gotten themselves into to be finished.

Even if he couldn't help them deal with Spear or that new Tekkaman that they were sensing, he would at least be able to keep the Radam monsters off their backs.

As he settled the Blue Earth down on the closest safe LZ – putting enough distance between her and the sector where Spear was presumably hanging around for whatever incomprehensible reasons the Radam Tekkaman had for doing anything, without getting far enough away from her that they wouldn't be able to get back quickly if they had to – keeping his eyes on the controls except for the occasional glance back up at the twins to make sure that they were doing all right, Noal breathed more easily. They might all be heading into a battle-zone, something that was pretty much guaranteed given the fact that both D-Boy and D-Two had reported sensing Spear in the area, but at least he wasn't completely useless this time.

"Time to go," D-Two said, not sounding particularly enthusiastic about the prospect but hauling himself up and out of his seat anyway.

"Yeah," he said, clapping D-Two on his right shoulder as he joined the kid and D-Boy on their way to the main air lock.

Pegas wasn't the only machine waiting there, though Noal had to concede that he was the only one that could possibly be called a combat-partner to anyone; for reasons that would have been completely obvious to anyone who spent more than a few minutes around the big mech.

"I'll check the southern side of town," he said, once he'd gotten the Sol-Tekkaman fully sealed and ready to move; D-Boy, the lucky cuss, just had to tell Pegas to keep up with him and D-Two as the two of them moved out.

"We'll move in from the north, then," D-Two said, looking like he was more focused on what could be happening rather than what was; still, it wasn't as if the kid didn't have perfectly valid reasons for that.

Something nasty did always seem to be just around the corner, after all.

As they stood on a hill overlooking the place, Noal noticed with a slight chill that this was one of the many small resort towns that had been abandoned in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. There were enough empty buildings to keep even someone who did know what they were looking for guessing, if the guy they were looking for was smart enough to keep his head down, at least. Luckily for all of them, Spear had always seemed to be more of the smash-first-and-don't-bother-asking-questions type, so it probably wouldn't be that hard finding him.

"You sure he's here?" he asked, not really doubting the twins' senses – since generally when they said that one of the Radam's Tekkamen had been somewhere, they had been there – but fully aware of the fact that where any of the Radam's Tekkamen showed their armored faces, a trail of destruction wasn't that hard to find.

"Yeah," D-Boy said, his eyes narrowed, making him look like he was either thinking really hard about something, or nervous about something. Though, knowing D-Boy, it was probably both. "He'll be here."

"He's planning something," D-Two said flatly, glaring down at the town in front of them like it had personally offended him.

Well, so much for finding Spear the easy way, he groused, knowing that D-Two's assessment of Spear was probably right on the money, in spite of how much he really, really didn't want it to be. "In that case, you kids better stay together. Strength in numbers, and all," he said, looking from the kids standing next to him, to the resort town they were all gathered above and back again.

"Take care, Noal-kun," D-Two said, giving him an honestly concerned look from those blue eyes of his.

"Worried, D-Two?" he asked, smirking even though he was perfectly aware that D-Two wouldn't be able to see it through the helmet that he currently had on. "Don't be; I'll be all right," he continued, unable to resist the urge to pull D-Boy's string just a bit more. "You and Aki have fun now, D-Boy."

He could hear D-Two's badly-hidden snickering coming from behind him as he jetted off, and Noal grinned. If nothing else, that would probably get D-Boy's head out of the clouds.

XVII

Making their way through the small town, their senses primed to detect any trace of Spear's mental signature, Takaya found himself steadily distracted by one of his other senses. The perfume that Aki was wearing – had been wearing since before the start of this latest mission – was as nice as Noal had said; and better still, it helped to distract him from the scent of the spore-plants and the confusing way his body was reacting to it: on the one hand, he knew that large enough concentrations of the gas that the spore-plants put out would have knocked anyone human unconscious, yet another reason he was grateful to be out in the open whenever they had to pass them, but he was also becoming aware of just how the gas made him – and probably Shinya, since they had both gone through the same thing and were both the same kind of… being – feel lighter and more energized.

Takaya knew why that was, too, for all that he didn't want to think about it.

Forcing his thoughts away from the past, and all of the pain that it held, Takaya concentrated on what he was sensing. Or rather, what he wasn't sensing. He paused, nibbling his lower lip with his canine teeth.

"D-Boy, can you sense anything? Either of you?" Aki asked.

"No. Nothing yet," his younger brother said, looking like he didn't know quite whether he was happy about the situation or not.

Takaya could definitely sympathize: if Spear wasn't here, then that meant that they wouldn't have to face him today, but it also meant that he could have been in any one of those buildings, just plotting when and where he was going to strike; it certainly wouldn't have been his first experience with having someone block his telepathic sense of them. Shinya had done it, too; only once, but the feeling of reaching out for his younger twin only to be rebuffed by a wall of nothing wasn't one that he was going to forget anytime soon.

"Let's go farther, okay?" Aki asked, bringing his attention back to the present again.

"Yeah," he said, even though the mental silence was starting to become a bit unnerving under the circumstances.

"Come on," Aki said, pointing forward for a second, before she started moving.

(Idiot,) Shinya said, starting to move a bit faster himself.

(I am not,) he shot back, falling into step with his younger twin as the two of them continued on their way into the town. The scent of Aki's perfume, carried on the wind as she took point for their group, prompted Takaya to smile, just a bit.

"Aki?" he called, ignoring the fact that Shinya was probably going to rib him mercilessly for what he was about to say. "You smell nice," he said, almost in a single breath.

"What?" she asked, her tone making it clear that she hadn't quite been able to parse his phrase.

"Your perfume," he clarified. I really do sound like an idiot.

"Thank you," Aki said, sounding like she was genuinely surprised, and not just teasing him the way that Shinya was probably going to be doing for the rest of the day.

(Now, was that really so hard, Ta-kun?)

(Shut up.) Before either of them could get too carried away with their teasing – fun as he had to admit that it was – the sense of Spear's presence washed over him, feeling all the stronger for the fact that their older brother had been suppressing it for so long.

What"?" Aki gasped.

"Come on, Pegas!" he called back, not even slowing to hear his combat-partner's acknowledgement; he knew from long experience that Pegas would follow his orders.

He also knew, that given the strength of Spear's mental signature, the Radam Tekkaman had to be leading them into some sort of trap. He might not have known exactly how or when that trap was going to be sprung, but he knew that it was there, at least; that would have to be enough. He'd make sure it was enough.

When the mental-link guiding him felt like it was as strong as it was ever going to get, Takaya dug in his heels and stopped himself before he could overshoot their target. Their target, as it turned out, was the one place that he would never have expected to find their brainwashed older brother: a church. Kengo had never been one for going to church – none of them had been, really – so to find that the telepathic trail that they had been following ended here was surprising, to say the least.

"This is sick," he heard Shinya mutter, and when he looked back over his shoulder at his younger twin, he found Shinya leveling an annoyed glare on the run-down building in front of them.

"Yeah," he muttered, turning his attention back to the church, and more than that, to Spear.

Really, he would have expected to find their older brother in a library, or a bakery, or some kind of store that sold cooking supplies; a church just didn't fit that pattern. But then, when Takaya had thought a bit more about the situation – while he was shoving open the doors in front of him and making his way into the church – Takaya realized that Spear's presence made a bit more sense than he'd thought at first. He'd… well, Kengo had always considered libraries to be special places; almost bordering on sacrosanct, to hear him tell it sometimes.

He wouldn't have been willing to fight someone in either of the other two places – not under anything but the most extreme circumstances – since he had always been the type to respect the work that other people had done; particularly bakers, since he'd enjoyed that, himself.

With all of that in mind, finding Spear in a place like this made more sense to him, for all that Takaya would have preferred not to meet him again at all.

"It's good to see you again, Takaya, Shinya," Spear said, and even as far back as he was, Takaya could see the evil Tekkaman's soft smile.

"What do you want?" he demanded, not anywhere near in the mood to deal with the Radam Tekkaman's false friendliness; even if it was real, he still couldn't trust it.

He knew that better than anyone, now.

"Really, you're still playing games, Takaya?" Spear asked, the friendly smile on his face slipping away, replaced by the kind of disappointed expression that, back when the two of them had actually been family, he'd hoped not to be the cause of. "Oh? We have a guest."

Whipping around, knowing that there was only one person who Spear wouldn't have recognized right away, Takaya saw Aki standing in the doorway. He froze for a moment, seeing the woman he was just starting to admit aloud that he cared about facing someone with both the power and the sheer lack of anything to hold him back from just killing her right where she stood, Takaya felt like his heart had just stopped. It started again after a few, long seconds, pounding loud enough that he was almost shocked that neither Shinya nor Spear mentioned it.

"Get out! Run!" he shouted, hoping that his and Shinya's combat-partner would be enough to keep Aki out of harm's way; even if he was just in his human form right now, Takaya was fully aware that Spear could transform in nearly an instant.

XVIII

"Don't you think you're overreacting, Takaya?"

Hearing Spear, the evil Tekkaman who had done so much damage to Earth and the people trying to fight for the planet, speaking so softly – almost kindly – to D-Boy, came as a shock. Aki would have expected someone so dangerous to… well, look more dangerous. Spear, without his armor and that creature that he rode on, was actually almost handsome. Really, if she'd met him on the street or in the city somewhere, she would have probably thought that he was a nice person; someone she'd liked to have known better.

That thought, more than anything else, let her know just how potentially dangerous Tekkaman Spear really was.

"I've been meaning to find you," Spear said, and Aki was startled to find that the evil Tekkaman's gaze was resting on her; not either of the twins, but her. "I wanted to thank you, for what you did," the evil Tekkaman clarified, obviously having seen her confusion and just as obviously having mistaken the cause of it for something else entirely. "You've done a very good job, taking care of my younger brothers."

The gentle smile on Spear's face didn't fit at all with the mental image of the brutal combatant that she had seen whenever the Radam Tekkaman had shown his face, but it seemed genuine all the same. "What?"

"I'm sure you've noticed that they can be quite the handful, but you seem to have them both well in line. And also, I saw you that day on the ship. You've done well for the both of them. Aki-san, was it?"

D-Boy and D-Two were both tense – more tense than she had ever seen D-Boy, and certainly moreso than she had ever seen D-Two – looking as if they didn't quite know what to do. She could certainly sympathize: sure, it looked like all Spear was going to do was talk, but none of them had any way of knowing just when or how he was going to attack. There was only the certainty that he would; he was a Tekkaman under the command of the Radam, it was what they did.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, not thinking that a question that simple would be enough to provoke him, and wanting to know just what one of Radam's own Tekkamen could have ever wanted with her.

He smiled gently, the corners of his unnaturally red eyes even crinkling up the way her father's would when he smiled like that. "Because, I had once thought that I would have to kill all of the humans who had taken my younger brothers captive. I'm glad not to have to do something so drastic," the Radam Tekkaman said, his smile becoming more gentle than before, but also slightly knowing.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, beginning to suspect that she knew what he was thinking; he was wrong, and his concern for her well-being – under the circumstances – was fairly unnerving to her, but she could at least guess what he was getting at.

"I know that this couldn't have been easy for you, looking after my foolish little brothers in this kind of situation," Spear said, tilting his head slightly in what she took to be a conciliatory gesture.

She heard a sound, like quickly smothered laughter, coming from just behind her and to the left; Aki wondered for a moment just what D-Two had been so amused by, but decided to ask him later. There would be plenty of time for all of them to talk once they weren't being confronted by one of the Radam's most powerful enforcers. Even though this wasn't at all like what she had imagined such a confrontation would entail.

"You're being annoying, Spear," D-Two interjected suddenly, seeming to put particular emphasis on the Radam Tekkaman's name for whatever reason.

"Don't be rude, Shinya," Spear chided, his attention momentarily distracted from her; Aki was grateful for the reprieve, short as it ultimately was. When the Radam Tekkaman turned his inhumanly red eyes back to her, she couldn't help but tense; his unexpected kindness notwithstanding, he was still one of Earth's most dangerous enemies. "Forgive me, I've forgotten my manners. My name is Aiba Kengo: Tekkaman Spear."

He was holding out his hand, and though Aki knew the etiquette for times like this, she wasn't about to shake the hand of someone who had hurt her friends and the man she loved. After standing with his right hand extended for a few, long moments – moments during which Aki couldn't help but watch the expressions that played across the Radam Tekkaman's face – Spear retracted said hand with an expression that seemed both disappointed and resigned at once.

Seeing Spear look at her like that, as if he was somehow blaming her for being wary around him – as if he wasn't a monster that had attacked not only the Earth and her people as a whole, but the very people who he was trying to act so protective of – Aki felt a surge of anger. Before Aki could think twice about what she was doing, before she could consciously recall the fact that this was one of the Radam's own Tekkamen and that for all his apparent kindness and even-temper he was still perfectly capable of killing her with what would probably seem like a trivial effort to him, Aki slapped Spear right across the face.

However, when she saw the evil Tekkaman with his head turned slightly to the left, a slight patch of red on his right cheek from the force of her slap, blinking in what had to be surprise – more than that, once she saw the way that D-Boy and D-Two both seemed to have to suddenly stop themselves from leaping forward – Aki cringed inwardly at what she had just done.

However, the Radam Tekkaman's reaction surprised her once again: reaching up to touch the cheek that she had slapped, the look Spear turned on her was one of honest hurt. "Why would you do that, Aki-san?"

The anger that had been buried under the sudden fear of what Spear might do to her surged back to the forefront of her mind then, and Aki stepped forward to confront the evil Tekkaman. "You said that you remembered me from when you saw me holding D-Two inside the Blue Earth," she snapped, just managing to resist the urge to grind her teeth at the expression on Spear's face. "Do you remember what else you were doing, that day? Do you remember what you were doing to D-Boy?" Aki narrowed her eyes, seeing the expression on Spear's face. "Do you care?"

The evil Tekkaman's eyes sank closed for a long moment, as if what she had just said had caused him actual, physical pain, and when he opened them Aki swore that he was on the verge of crying. "I love them both, but I know my duty."

She didn't even notice that Spear's left hand was resting on her shoulder until she felt the weight of it, and the warmth through her vest. Shoving Spear's hand off, enraged that the evil Tekkaman could even think that the anguish he had caused himself with his own actions could even begin to compare to what he had done to D-Boy; and the anguish that he had put D-Two through during that horrible day and night.

"Your duty," she snapped, her fists clenching as she continued staring at the expression on the evil Tekkaman's face; Aki had never truly hated anyone before this war against the Radam had stared, but now she knew what it was like. She'd hated General Colbert for what he had done to D-Boy, and indirectly to D-Two by separating the two of them, and now she had found someone else that drew that same, seething loathing from her.

She didn't like hatred; she didn't like the feel of it, the way it seemed to burn inside her, the way it seemed to take over her mind – shoving all other feelings aside – when she was forced to confront one of the few people that she truly hated. But, seeing all that General Colbert – and now Tekkaman Spear – had done to the men that she had come to love, though in different ways, Aki found that she couldn't just let the feeling go.

She had hated General Colbert, still hated the man; and now, she hated Spear, for all that he had done and for all that he was continuing to do. Both to the twins, and to the people of Earth as a whole.

"Your duty should be to your family, you liar!" she said, furious at the self-justifications Spear was trying to use on her. Even if he did believe them, she wasn't about to let him think he could get away with it. "You don't love anyone! You don't even know what love is!"

XIX

(Wow. Aki-chan can be really scary,) he said, though the thought of Aki confronting Spear while completely unarmed made him feel like someone had dumped a bucket of ice down his spine whenever he paused to actually think about it.

(Yeah,) Takaya said, and he could tell that his brother was almost more tense than he was; that fit, though, considering the way he obviously felt about Aki.

And, considering that his idiot of a brother had finally admitted how he felt about her, that just made it all the more understandable.

(Come on, we have to save her.)

(Right,) he said, worried all over again; as much as he didn't like thinking about it, he knew just what kind of low opinion the Radam had of humanity in general.

Falling into step with Takaya as the two of them made their way to stand beside Aki, he studied Spear's stance. Sure, the Radam Tekkaman seemed relaxed and completely at ease, but Varis knew better than most just how deadly a combatant his and Takaya's brainwashed older brother was. Tekkaman Spear seemed to be extremely calm and at ease, even in the face of Aki's clearly deep and abiding loathing of him.

But, like Takaya, he wasn't willing to trust that Spear would be so placid forever.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Aki-san," Spear said, the look on his face still that same, allegedly understanding one that Shinya had seen on their brainwashed older brother's face the last time they had seen him untransformed. "But, no matter what you think, I really do love my little brothers. Still, you should know by now that I can't let that stop me. I have my duty, Aki-san."

Spear seemed almost about to reach out, like he wanted to try to comfort her, the same way that Kengo would have done if he'd found someone in distress. Kengo hadn't been the kind of person who could just stand back and watch when he saw someone who was clearly not feeling at their best, even if he didn't know them very well. He might not have tried to do anything for those people that he didn't know well enough to talk to, but it was always clear that Kengo felt bad about that.

It was kind of disconcerting, seeing this distorted version of their older brother in front of them, but Shinya wasn't going to let himself think about that; he wouldn't be able to fight if he let himself think about just who he and Takaya were fighting.

"Liar," Aki snapped, clearly not in the mood to listen to any more of Spear's crap; Shinya could completely sympathize.

He could almost see the moment when Tekkaman Spear's friendly façade slipped; oh, it wasn't anything drastic – anyone else would have probably just thought their older brother was disappointed in them; which he probably was, but Shinya made it a point not to think about things that didn't matter. Things that couldn't matter – but Shinya could spot the changes as easily as if they'd been highlighted in bright colors, and he knew that Takaya could, as well. As Spear sighed, that look of pained disappointment that Shinya had long since resigned himself to seeing – and subsequently ignoring – on the Radam Tekkaman's face, Shinya fell into step with Takaya as the two of them moved to stand in front of Aki.

He knew what was going to happen next; he'd gone too far along this road not to know it, and now all that mattered was to keep Aki from becoming the latest victim of their brainwashed, psychotic older brother.

"I'll give you another chance to come home quietly, little brothers," Spear said, and Shinya could sense the subtle, charged feeling in the atmosphere for just a few moments when the Radam Tekkaman pulled out his tekkaset.

Shinya was quick to do the same. "No," he said lightly, smiling as calmly as he ever had, his fingers clenched tightly around his own tekkaset.

"Never," he heard Takaya say, though most of his attention was focused on Spear; he couldn't afford a lapse, not with Takaya needing to get back to Pegas the way he did.

"Good luck, you two," Aki said, and he could hear her light – well, lighter than his and Takaya's, anyway – footsteps retreating from the battlefield.

For a moment, Shinya saw Spear's eyes flick over his left shoulder, as if he was still tracking Aki's movements even then. His jaw tightened slightly, even as the Radam Tekkaman's bright crimson eyes settled on him again. Smirking at the anguished expression on Spear's face, he bared his teeth in a fierce grin.

"Best of luck, niisama."

"Shinya-"

"Teksetta!" he shouted, before Spear could articulate whatever it was that he'd been about to say; there was nothing that the evil Tekkaman could say that Shinya would be even remotely interested in.

Nothing at all.

He could feel a surge of energy as Takaya transformed, even as he burst through the roof of the church and his lancer deadlocked with Tekkaman Spear's. (Ready, Ta-kun?)

(Yeah,) Tekkaman Blade said warmly.

He'd thought, for a few moments, about asking how Aki was doing, but that wasn't something that either of them could be thinking about. Not right now, with Spear in front of them; the only thing that mattered right now was to survive the fight they were in.

Varis took the offensive quickly, driving Spear back for the few moments it took for Blade to join him, and then he allowed himself to relax slightly. Turning briefly, still a bit worried about Aki even in spite of the fact that he knew that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, he caught sight of her standing with Pegas. The big mech was standing at her back, close enough to get her out of the way if – somehow – the tides of battle turned against them, and they were forced to move in that direction.

Varis honestly hoped they wouldn't, but there was no real predicting things like this; no matter how much he might have wished otherwise.

Turning his full attention back to Spear, Varis tensed as he saw the all-too-familiar crackling of electricity at the tip of Spear's tekkalance. Shoving Blade aside, not wanting the both of them to end up being hit by Spear's attack if he could help it. Gritting his teeth as the channeled electricity slammed into him, Varis was distantly aware of Blade calling his name.

(I'm all right,) he said, breathing deeply in an effort to regain his equilibrium. (It just rattled me a bit.)

There was no response from Blade, but Varis had a feeling that he knew what his big brother would have said, all the same.

Raising his lancer to deflect a blow from Spear's, Varis turned and delivered a powerful side-kick to the Radam Tekkaman's armored face. When Spear broke off, likely trying to get some distance so he could do more damage, Varis was quick to pursue him. Harrying the evil Tekkaman, swiping at him with the energy-ribbon contained within his tekkalance, Varis made it a point to keep at least one eye on his surroundings even as he did so.

He wouldn't do anyone any good if he let himself be lead into a trap.

As he and Blade crossed paths mid-flight, looping back around so that they could continue engaging Spear, he noticed the Radam Tekkaman attempting to break off again. But, when he and Blade turned again, so that they could close with him and hopefully end this fight quickly, Spear suddenly cut his thrusters and dropped out of the air.

"I had hoped not to have to resort to such brutal tactics, but I suppose in the end you're not giving me a choice in the matter, little brothers."

"Shut up!" he heard Blade snarl, obviously angrier with Spear than Varis had ever let himself become.

As Spear tilted his head slightly more toward Blade, but before their brainwashed older brother could start to say another word, Blade flung the two bladed boomerangs at the leading edge of his lancer right at Spear's head. Sure, the Radam Tekkaman dodged fast enough that neither of them even came close to scratching him, but if that couldn't make him finally get the message and shut up, Varis was going to personally electrocute him with his lancer.

But, all Spear did was bow his head, shaking it slowly once, before he leaped into the air and sped off with a burst from his thrusters. Hissing through his teeth in furious annoyance, he flew after Spear; he could see Blade flying next to him, and for a moment he hoped that the two of them weren't being lead into some kind of a trap.

Spear paused for a moment in the air, staring down at whatever his target was like some kind of hunting hawk, and Varis pushed his own thrusters in an effort to catch up to the evil Tekkaman. He knew damn well, after all that he and Blade had been forced to deal with, that any plans Spear was making were best nipped in the bud quickly.

He was distantly aware of Blade's shout, a name that Varis was sure he would have recognized under any other circumstances, but he was a bit more focused on his pursuit of Spear than he was on listening to Blade at the moment. When Spear threw his lancer, aimed forward like the harpoon it so closely resembled, Varis cursed under his breath and threw his own lancer, aiming to knock Spear's off-course the way he had done before.

Spear, however, did something that he hadn't thought to expect: the Radam Tekkaman threw out his arm, wrapping his laser-line around Varis' tekkalance and pulling it off-course. Startled to see his tekkalance in Spear's hand, Varis was almost unprepared when the Radam Tekkaman threw his own lancer back at him. Dodging out of the way, nearly at the last minute, Varis grabbed his tekkalance out of the air and faced Spear once more.

He wasn't particularly happy, with himself for reacting slower than probably would have been best for him, and with Spear for being one of Omega's brainwashed lackeys, but he supposed that happiness wasn't really in the cards for the moment.

XX

When Spear had thrown his tekkalance at Aki, Blade felt like his heart had leaped up into his throat; then, when Varis had attempted to deflect it with his own lancer, Blade had let himself relax slightly. Then, when Spear had grabbed Varis' lance, pulling it off-course and throwing it back at his younger twin, Blade had found himself getting tense all over again.

He was also furious; Spear had not only tried to kill Shinya, who was clearly a threat considering the fact that his younger twin was attacking him, but Aki, who couldn't do anything to fight him at all. Seeing her, frozen in stark terror as Spear's lancer had bore down on her, he'd felt a surge of protective fury. He wanted Spear to suffer for what he'd tried to do, not only to Aki but to Shinya, as well.

Concentrating, Blade drew on the power that the Radam had forced on him, channeling it into his pauldrons so that he would be able to unleash it on Spear. Spear landed on top of an old, run down building, one that was dilapidated enough that he probably wouldn't have been able to tell what it was even if he had been paying attention, Spear stared down at him with clear annoyance.

"What are you planning now, little brother?" Spear asked, his tone flatter than Blade had ever heard it.

He snarled, the energies contained in his body reaching their peak and just waiting to be released. "Voltekka!"

"Psy-Voltekka," he heard Spear muttering, almost tonelessly.

The energy he'd been channeling burst out in a pair of bright, coruscating green streams of light, heading straight where he aimed them; straight for Spear. He was expecting the Radam Tekkaman to dodge, or to lunge at him in an attempt to attack him. What he was not expecting, was for Spear to fire his own Voltekka, or for said Voltekka to break into flashing streams of red light that – after they had lashed out and hammered both him and Pegas to the ground – wrapped around the Voltekka that he had just fired and then contained it somehow.

But, that was what happened all the same, leaving him to stare at the hovering form of his Voltekka, pulsing obediently just above Spear's open right hand.

"I had once hoped that I would not have to resort to these measures," Spear said, his tone eerily dead once again; if Blade had been particularly concerned with the personal feelings of one of Omega's servants he might have been worried. "However, it seems as if I have no more time for negotiation."

"You think you can kill me with that?" he snarled, tensing in preparation to leap out of the way of the inevitable Voltekka that was likely to be thrown at him sooner than later.

"I'm not aiming for you, Takaya."

He didn't have more than a few seconds to wonder what Spear was talking about, before the Radam Tekkaman turned on his right heel and launched the gathered energy right over them. Varis' scream alerted Blade to just where Spear had aimed.

"Shinya!" he shouted, diving forward to catch his younger twin as he fell out of the air.

The ridges of Tekkaman Varis' armor began glowing as he lay in Blade's arms, shining with the turquoise light that Blade had become so familiar with during the time that the two of them had fought together, and the crystal-field had soon enveloped him and then his armor vanished entirely. Out of the corner of his left eye, Blade noticed a blast of energy screaming over his head. Most of his attention was focused on Shinya at the moment, however; he didn't take much note of Noal's voice, shouting at Spear.

"D-Boy!" Aki said, standing in front of him, her right hand helping to support Shinya's unconscious body. "Don't worry, I'll get D-Two back to the Blue Earth."

"Thank you," he said, nodding shakily as he levered himself back to his feet.

He was worried more about what might have been happening to Shinya than anything else, and so he was almost completely blindsided by the sudden sense of yet another Tekkaman pressing down on his mind. He knew who it was, or at least who it once had been: Miyuki. He didn't like the thought that he would soon be forced to fight his little sister, but then he hadn't liked the idea of being forced to fight his and Shinya's older brother, either.

He'd long since come to understand, if not accept, the fact that life wasn't fair.

As Spear flew off, probably going to meet up with the Tekkaman who had once been Miyuki, Blade couldn't even let himself relax slightly the way he otherwise would have under these kind of circumstances. Shinya was still injured, stripped of his armor and unconscious in Blade's arms – vulnerable to anything that might try to attack them on either Spear's or Omega's orders – so the only thing Blade could really focus on was getting his younger twin back into the Blue Earth so he could get Shinya into the infirmary.

Being hit with a Voltekka point-blank, even in full armor, couldn't have been healthy.

"Come on," Aki said, smiling kindly at him. "He'll be all right, D-Boy. You'll see."

"Yeah," he said, bowing his head slightly as he handed Shinya over to Aki; he knew that he could trust her, but he still couldn't help worrying. Shinya would have done the same, he knew. "Thanks, Aki."

"Of course," Aki said, her eyes crinkling up a bit as she smiled wider. "D-Boy."

With a last look back at Shinya and Aki, Blade made his way back over to Pegas. Ordering the mech to open its interlock-chamber so he could reverse his transformation, Takaya felt the energy he'd been using flow quickly out of him. Since he hadn't taken too much damage while he was fighting Spear – though that thought didn't comfort him much under the circumstances – he didn't quite feel the need to pass out, the way he usually did.

It was still a near thing, but Takaya was determined to at least make it back to the Blue Earth's cockpit before he lost consciousness; he wanted to do at least that much for his younger twin, after all that Shinya had done for him. Settling back into his chair, feeling the weight of the exhaustion he'd been pushing away up to this point, Takaya just managed to turn his chair so that Shinya was in his line of sight before he lost consciousness entirely. He hoped, for just a moment, that things would be better when he woke up, but he'd been dealing with this kind of thing for too long to think that that would happen now.

Maybe later, but not now.

XXI

For a few moments, even when he had sensed Miyuki's presence so clear and so close, Spear had been tempted to deal with the false Tekkaman that had tried to set himself against him. Those fakes were an insult to every true Tekkaman, and while he normally wasn't one to put too much stock in pride – he'd never seen the point, honestly; it was far too easy for an opponent to hold something over you if you were a slave to pride – he couldn't deny the urge to destroy that pitiful false Tekkaman where he stood.

Still, the welfare of his family had and always would come first; even if Miyuki had come to Earth to make contact with Takaya and Shinya, he would find her and bring her back where she belonged. He wouldn't let his little sister die for her own foolishness. He was the eldest brother, it was his duty to protect his younger siblings.

Tracking Miyuki's mental signature with the same ease as he did any of the others – at least those who had been awakened thus far – Spear also made sure to search for physical signs of where his little sister had gone. The mental signals she was giving off were strong enough to suggest that she had transformed, and so could just as easily have flown away from whatever point of impact she had made when she landed on Earth, but finding that landing point would at least give him a place to start his search.

Under the circumstances, Spear would take what he could get.

Guiding his mount forward, following the psychic trail that all Tekkamen left unless they were particularly careful to shield their minds, Spear swept his gaze slowly from side to side, taking in the whole of his surroundings with his usual patience even in spite of the fact that he honestly doubted he would find any signs of Miyuki's presence when her mental signature was so far away.

It wouldn't do to lose her just because he thought he could overlook something.

Miyuki, why did you run away from us? he wondered, still scanning the empty desert despite the fact that Miyuki's mental signature had weakened too much to be of use in tracking her anymore. She had obviously resumed her human form, and could be either unconscious or just out of his immediate range. I suppose it doesn't really matter in the end, though. I'll find you and bring you home again, Spear mused to himself, feeling the same calmness that he sometimes felt in battle descending on him once again. Just as I'm going to bring Takaya, Shinya, and that human named Aki home, too.

His resolution made, Spear took one last look at the empty landscape surrounding him, then gently tapped his mount with the toe of his left foot, commanding it to head back into the sky; he would return later and continue his efforts to search for his little sister, but for the moment he needed to rest.

XXII

Aki found D-Boy exactly where she had been expecting to: sitting at D-Two's bedside, with his twin brother's left hand clasped tightly in both of his. Smiling gently, Aki made her way over to his side.

"D-Boy?" she asked softly, knowing that D-Two was a fairly light sleeper and so wanting to be quiet for his sake.

"Aki," D-Boy muttered, his attention clearly more focused on his brother than on anything she was saying.

"That other Tekkaman," she said, setting her right hand on his left shoulder as she came over to stand next to him. "He called you Takaya."

"Only Shinya calls me that," D-Boy muttered, his gaze still fixed on the subtle rise and fall of his brother's chest as he breathed.

"So, Tekkaman Spear is our D-Boys' big brother?" Aki heard Noal call, and she turned to look over at the door to the infirmary.

"Yeah," she said, when it had become plainly obvious that D-Boy himself wasn't going to say anything.

"What the hell is going on here?" Noal said, though he was clearly looking at D-Boy when he said that, so Aki thought he might have been speaking more for D-Boy's benefit than anyone else's. "Just when I thought things couldn't be weirder."

"D-Boy? Are you all right?" she asked, smiling as she turned back to the man she had come to care so much for during the months and months that they had spent together. "D-Boy?" she called softly when he didn't respond.

When she saw him slumped over D-Two, Aki felt a momentary jolt of fear, but when she looked closer she found D-Boy's breathing was deep and even, and there was a peaceful expression on his face. He'd clearly just fallen asleep during his self-appointed vigil, and Aki smiled in relief. It looked like he wouldn't have to deal with the uncertainty he'd so clearly been prey to for too long.

She was glad for that; he worried so much when D-Two was injured or unconscious, he deserved the small mercy of being unconscious during that time, himself.

"Do you think they'll be all right?" Noal asked morosely, after having studied the slumbering forms of the twins for a long moment.

"I hope so. Still, let's not ask them about it; either of them. Not until the both of them decide to tell us on their own," she said, turning back to look at the slumbering forms of D-Boy and D-Two; she couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for them, having to fight a member of their own family.

The way Tekkaman Spear had acted, the clear worry he'd been showing for the both of them – warped as it so clearly had been by whatever the Radam had done to him – made her heart swell with sorrow for the both of them. And, even though she still hated what he had been trying to do to the two of them, Aki found that she could still find it in her heart to feel sympathy for Spear.

He had clearly been twisted by whatever it was that the Radam did to make their Tekkamen loyal to them, and for a moment, Aki found herself wondering just how D-Boy and D-Two had managed to escape that same, sad fate themselves.

"Men are complicated creatures, you know," Noal said, distracting Aki from her semi-morbid thoughts. "There's a kind of loneliness that even your closest guy friends – even a brother – can't fill. Try to help them out, all right?" Noal continued.

"Yeah," she muttered, continuing to stare down at the twins, turning over Spear's earlier actions in her mind; he'd seemed like the kind of person she would have liked, if she'd met him when he was still human.

She couldn't see herself doing anything else, really; not when she cared so much for the both of them, not after they had both done so much for the Earth in general and the Space Knights in particular. Not when they so clearly needed someone here with them.

XXIII

He'd been wanting to leave the dry-dock ever since she had seen poor D-Two carried out of the Blue Earth, but Levin knew just as well as anyone that he had just as much work to do as any of them: it was his job to make an assessment of Pegas' condition, so Honda could at least know where to start his repair efforts, and what systems needed the most attention on top of that. He could leave the rest of the assessments to some of the junior staff, but Levin at least wanted to finish this part himself.

"Did you hear, Levin?" Honda asked, and Levin turned his attention to the other man, grateful for his company.

"Yes," he said. "I can't believe the Voltekka's useless against the enemy, now."

Making his way out of the dry-dock and away from the Blue Earth and Pegas, Levin headed determinedly for the infirmary. Even if his poor, sexy D-Two wasn't conscious yet, he could at least spend time with him, even if D-Two wouldn't be aware of it. Once he had finally made it to the infirmary, Levin was greeted by the sight of D-Boy startling himself out of what was clearly supposed to have been a sound sleep.

"You fell asleep," he heard Aki saying, as D-Boy jerked up, blinking in obvious surprise. "You're all right; D-Two's been right here with you; your brother isn't going to leave you, D-Boy."

"Aki," D-Boy said, nodding though he still seemed a bit off-balance.

"You were having a bad dream; that's all it was," Aki said.

"Oi, oi," he called softly, not having wanted to interrupt their conversation while it had been going on. "How is everyone doing?"

"We're all right," Aki said, turning to smile at him. "Thank you, Levin."

"I'm glad," he said, smiling as he made his way into the infirmary and up to D-Two's bedside. "How's my sexy D-Two?"

"Brother…" D-Boy said, the point of his left canine tooth showing over his lip for a moment. "He's doing all right. He's just been asleep for the last three days."

"You mean, I haven't had a shower in three days?" D-Two asked, his beautiful blue eyes still closed, but with an amused smirk just starting to show on his lovely face.

D-Boy opened his mouth for a few moments, looking as if he was going to say any number of things, before he simply sunk his face into his right palm. "Brother, why did you do that?"

"Sorry, D-kun," D-Two said, his smirk widening slightly as he opened his eyes halfway. "I didn't mean to worry you," he said, his tone more earnest and his expression smoothing out as he spoke.

"D-chan," D-Boy said, a slightly crooked smile on his face. "You shouldn't do things like that."

"Oh, I hope you haven't forgotten about me," he said, leaning down over D-Two and smiling widely. "My sexy D-Two."

Before anyone else could say anything, Levin wrapped his arms around D-Two's beautiful, slender neck and leaned in to kiss him deeply. For a few minutes, as the two of them shared the same kind of deeply intimate kiss that they had only once before, Levin felt as if the world had narrowed down to encompass just the two of them. There was no Radam, no war, no ADF making plans that might not have been in anyone's best interests but their own; there was just him and his sexy D-Two.

When Levin pulled back, his face still feeling warm from the contact, she saw that there was a tinge of pink in D-Two's creamy, pale cheeks, as well.

"I missed you," Levin said, feeling a smile stretching his own lips to match the knowing one on D-Two's beautiful face.

Aki laughed, and Levin even thought he could hear D-Boy chuckling softly. Helping D-Two back to his feet when he made it clear that he wanted to get up, Levin slung his right arm around his waist and hugged him tightly. "I'm so glad my sexy D-Two is all right again."

He felt more than heard D-Two's soft chuckle. "Thanks, Lev-chan."

XXIV

As the windblown sand continued to swirl around her, causing her to pull up the hood of the cloak she had finally managed to find, Miyuki concentrated on the sense she had of her two older brothers. She had been forced to lock down her mind more than a few times over the course of her impromptu journey, not wanting the Tekkaman who had once been their eldest brother to be able to track her.

Opening her eyes with a sigh, feeling the exhaustion of both her condition and her current circumstances pressing down on her like a wet, heavy quilt, Miyuki continued on her way. She knew that, if she just kept walking, she'd find Takaya and Shinya eventually. She had to; too much depended on her success.