Folding his arms, and trying to ignore the foreboding feeling that he had been pushing away ever since he had sensed that new Teknoman searching him and Saber out through the psychic link that they all shared, Slade looked back out at the Earth as they descended back toward it. They'd be back on the ground soon, and he would be able to take a closer look at Saber's teknocrystal. He didn't want his younger brother to suffer if he could do anything about it, and while Saber might have said that he felt fine if he managed to transform back before his twenty-five minutes was up, Slade wanted to make sure of that.
He needed to know that his little brother was going to be all right; he'd never forgive himself if something happened to Saber when he could have prevented it.
He was starting to get a bit drowsy now, though, and he'd long since learned that he could trust Star and Ringo to get them all back down to Earth safely, so he let his eyes slip closed and relaxed as much as he ever did. Just before true sleep claimed him, though, he had a mildly amusing thought: this was the first time that he and Saber hadn't fallen asleep in the air lock.
101000100
Looking over at Slade, Star found that he'd just fallen asleep. She was glad that he felt safe enough with her and Ringo now to be able to relax so much when they were around. He'd been asleep in the Blue Earth before, of course; both he and Saber had, but that had only been because they were too exhausted by their battles with the Radam to remain conscious for another minute.
That wasn't trust, that was just circumstance.
Turning her attention back to her navigational duties, even though they were near enough to the ground that she probably could have turned the duty over to Ringo without much of a hitch. But she was trained better than that, and there was always the chance of something unexpected happening, so she kept her eyes on her instruments and helped to guide the Blue Earth all the way back to the Space Knight Command Center. They didn't meet up with any opposition on their way back, something she was thankful for, but also a bit surprised about considering the fact that Slade had been so worried about that new Teknoman that Darkon had sent out.
She still wondered why Slade had sounded so... so angry about this new Teknoman. He hadn't seemed that way about Gunnar, and Gunnar had done a lot of damage to him and Saber both. The way Slade had reacted to the idea of this new Teknoman, though, it was almost as if he expected something worse to happen than what Gunnar had done.
She didn't like to think that he might be right, but then he and Saber did have more experience dealing with the Radam than she and Ringo did; even in spite of all the time that they had spent working with the twins.
Once the Blue Earth was settled back inside the hangar where Mac and Maggie would be able to check her for damages, Star rose from her seat and headed over to where the twins were sitting. Gathering Slade up into her arms, smiling briefly down at him as his head came to rest against her body, she looked over at Ringo as he chuckled.
"Well, this is definitely a change of pace," Ringo said, looking amusedly over at her as he gathered Saber up in his own arms and stood back upright.
"I guess so," Star said, as she made her way out of the Blue Earth's cockpit to the boarding-ramp.
"Just make sure you don't get distracted in there," Ringo said, wearing a sly smirk as he walked next to her on the Blue Earth's boarding-ramp. "You're putting Slade to bed, not getting in there with him."
Star would have smacked him if she'd had an arm free, but she was forced to settle for a ringing glare and the promise of a good smacking later, since she didn't want to jostle Slade or risk dropping him. As she and Ringo split off from each other, carrying Slade and Saber to their respective rooms, Star looked down into the face of the man who she was just beginning to fall in love with. She didn't get to see him like this, with his face relaxed in sleep and the only thing showing that he had suffered at the hands of the Radam being the scar on the left side of his face; it was nice, really, seeing Slade the way he could have been if it hadn't been for the Radam.
Still, she wondered for a moment if, if the Radam had never come to Earth in the first place, would she ever have met Slade and his brother at all?
Who had they been, before the Radam had come to Earth? And how had they gotten their powers? What were they doing that had made it possible for them to become Teknomen, when the only other Teknomen in existence seemed to be under the control of the Radam themselves?
These were things she often wondered about, when everything was quiet and there were no Radam attacks to distract her from wondering just who Slade and Saber had been before they had become the heroes of the war against the Radam. She wondered just what kind of life the twins had lead, and why they sometimes seemed so far away when they were together. She still remembered what Saber had said to Dr. Random, about the fact that he and Slade remembered.
But what? What was it that Saber had been so adamant that he and Slade had remembered, and why had he sounded so depressed about the fact that they did? Was there something that he and Slade knew that someone else hadn't wanted them to, and what could it have been?
Laying Slade down in his bed, Star took off his boots and vest, then gently tucked him in. For a moment, she was tempted to kiss his cheek, or just to touch his face in passing. He looked so peaceful, and she knew that he wouldn't look that way once he woke up again.
Still, she knew full well that Slade didn't like being touched by anyone but his brother, and even if he didn't ever find out about what she had done, Star herself would still know.
"Sleep well, Slade," Star said, as she turned and left his room.
00101000111
When he'd finished putting Saber to bed, making a mental note to talk to the kid about how they could work on getting his lunkhead of a brother to notice that Star was falling head-over-heels for him, Ringo wondered for a second or two just what had gone on between Slade and Star. It couldn't have been anything too out of line, since he knew Star well enough to know that she wouldn't do anything she knew Slade wouldn't want her to. And he knew the kid himself well enough to know that he didn't like being touched by anyone who wasn't Saber.
It was kind of funny how all of Slade's normal prickliness and standoffishness seemed to completely evaporate when he was around his brother, and it was even funnier how all of that stuff came right back up again the few times that the two of them had been separated. He also thought it was funny how, while Slade had often referred to Saber as his younger brother, Saber himself seemed to be the more mature of the pair. He also seemed to be a bit more protective of Slade than Slade was of him, but only someone who was really looking for it would ever notice any difference between the two of them.
Leaving Saber in his room, with his boots set next to his bed so he could get to them easily, Ringo turned and headed for his own room to get in what sleep he could before the next crisis came up.
He knew that it was only a matter of time before a new one came up, what with the Radam and their armies of mutant space crabs hanging over all their heads, to say nothing of that new Teknoman that Slade had sensed. He didn't doubt that the kid knew what he was talking about, not now that he had gotten to know those kids as well as he did. He knew that they could in fact sense others like them, and even that they somehow seemed to know what the other was thinking most of the time.
He'd heard that twins were kind of freaky that way, but this seemed to go beyond even that.
Still, there would be plenty of time to ask Saber to explain what went on between him and Slade after he'd hashed out how to get Slade to stop being a lunkhead and notice that Star was falling for him. As he made his way down the corridor to his own quarters, Ringo began to hear footsteps coming up from behind him and to his right. Turning to look over his shoulder, he saw that Star was coming down the corridor behind him.
"Hey, Star," he said, just before she drew back and slapped him right across the cheek. "What was that for?"
"I think you know," she said, giving him a withering look.
As she walked on past, Ringo laughed softly; he hadn't really expected to get away with that one. Still, it was kind of fun to wind Star up sometimes.
1110101001
When he woke up in his room, tucked under the covers with his vest off, Slade wondered for a second just why Ringo would take the time to do something like this, before he decided to put aside the odd and probably one-time occurrence and concentrate on what was really important. Saber's teknocrystal might not have been shattered like his was when Gunnar had caught them in that trap of his, but there was obviously something off with it. He didn't want to think that there might be something wrong with it, since with their luck being the way it was, just considering that kind of thing might be inviting who-knew-what kind of disaster.
Slade didn't want anything to happen to his brother, and he would hate himself if anything happened to Saber because of him.
(Saber, are you awake yet?)
(Well, I am now,) his younger brother playfully grumbled. (You want to have that talk of ours now?)
(I think that would be best,) he said, thinking back over the duration of their stay with the Space Knights and all the things that had happened to them. (Things usually seem to start getting hectic after breakfast.)
(You know, I think you might actually be right about that, brother,) Saber said, sounding amused. (Everything usually does seem to start happening after breakfast.)
(I guess even alien invaders need their three square meals a day,) he said, smiling as he heard Saber's silent laughter in his mind.
Knowing that his brother was getting closer, the sense of his brother's mind intimately familiar to him by now, so he shoved his feet into the boots that Ringo had dropped by the side of his bed and headed over to the door. And, just as he made it there, the chime rang, and he opened the door on his younger twin's smiling face.
"Nice timing, brother," Saber said; they shared a grin, both knowing just how this little feat of theirs had been arranged.
"Thanks, brother," he said, stepping aside so that Saber could get into his room.
Sensing a short, brief surge of energy from his younger brother, Slade caught Saber's teknocrystal as it was tossed to him. Holding his brother's sky-blue crystal, Slade headed back to his bed and sat down on it across from Saber. His brother had taken his boots off so he could sit cross-legged on top of the bed; it almost reminded Slade of back home. Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Slade took a long look at Saber's teknocrystal.
He'd done this once before, back on the Space Ring when they had been trying to escape from Gunnar's trap, but back then he'd been a lot more preoccupied with the fact that his younger brother was in pain than with what might have been happening to his crystal. Sure, he'd managed to keep Saber from having his crystal shattered the way his had been, but it looked like he hadn't managed to keep Saber entirely safe. He hated that.
Staring at the almost straight, vertical crack that ran up the middle of his younger twin's sky-blue teknocrystal, Slade ran his finger over it. It didn't actually seem any deeper than it had been the last time he'd seen it, but then he hadn't really been given a chance to look back then; both he and Saber had been a lot more concerned with keeping their heads and skins intact, since Gunnar had been hunting them down throughout the Space Ring. Not to mention all of the Spider-crabs that they had been forced to deal with.
Still, Slade wasn't the type to take chances with his younger brother's life; Saber was really all he had left.
"It doesn't look like that crack is any bigger than it was," he said, looking up at Saber. "But, I think it would be best if I had a look at it after the next time we fight together."
"So, in other words, late today or early tomorrow?" Saber asked, a wry smile on his face.
Slade laughed ruefully. "Yeah; probably." He rose, and waited a few moments for Saber to shove his feet back into his boots and stand back up. "D'you want to get some breakfast now?"
"You mean start the day without my morning shower? When we're probably going to be facing off against another legion of Spider-crabs?" Saber gave him a Look for that and Slade rolled his eyes.
"Well, I suppose it was a bit much to ask from you. Go take your shower, stinky."
Laughing as Saber grabbed him in a headlock and noogied him, Slade stood back upright as his brother let him up. Squeezing Saber around the waist as his younger twin gave him a soft kiss on his left cheek, Slade headed for his own bathroom as Saber left. He might not have been taking a shower like Saber was planning, but he was at least going to wash up and brush his hair.
In other words, the usual things he did before he started the day.
11000101000
He'd managed to arrange things so that neither Maggie nor Mac would have any objections to his looking at the Teknobot when they weren't in the general vicinity, so he'd made a habit of appearing there at odd intervals; there never seemed to be a time when the machine shop, which also seemed to serve as a repair bay the way it did in pretty much every one of the AEM bases that he had served at, was actually empty. So, he did still have to be careful about how he looked and what he seemed to pay attention to. But now that most of the staff seemed willing to treat his presence as just another thing that happened, he had at least a bit more leeway.
Today he intended to find out just what that geometric shape, Maggie had said that Slade and Saber called the things teknocrystals, on the front of the Teknobot was.
Moving over to a better vantagepoint on the railing where he stood, he zoomed in on the shape. The thing was the same color as Slade's eyes, and for a moment he wondered if that also held true for Saber's crystal. He knew that the chances of him ever finding that out were about the same as his chances of ever being able to lift the Teknobot over his head, but maybe he wouldn't have to ask... something to think about later, probably.
It was something to keep in mind, at least.
As he zoomed in closer to that teknocrystal of Slade's, he began to see the probable reason that this Teknobot had been built in the first place: their were hairline fractures running through the entire structure of the crystal. The crystal itself looked like it had been pieced back together after breaking apart, somehow. Now, he didn't know just what could have caused that kind of damage to those crystals of theirs, aside from a hammer or something, but he didn't see either of those boys being stupid enough to let someone deliberately break their transformation artifact.
Both of them were incredibly standoffish, not to mention obstinate as all hell, but neither of them had struck him as particularly stupid; all the more reason to keep avoiding them while he was on assignment here.
0001001001
When he'd gone down to the cafeteria for breakfast, he found the Wonder Twins just leaving the place.
"Hey, kids," he said, grinning at the two of them as they made their way past.
"Hey, Ringo," Saber said; Slade just offered him a small smile. "Just heading in?"
"Yeah," he grinned. "You know, it always seems like we just miss each other every time we get up."
He could tell that Saber was just about to say something, probably something snarky judging from the look on his face, but the general-alert went off before any of them could say anything else.
"Well, looks like I'm going to have to skip breakfast this time," he said, taking a moment to promise himself a snack later and an extra large lunch to make up for it. Turning around quickly, he followed just behind the twins as they jogged to Comm. One. He fell pretty far behind them once they'd really gotten going, but he wasn't so worried about that. Commander Jamison wasn't the type to begin a meeting unless all of them were present.
Heck, there were times he'd even waited for Balzac, and that guy wasn't even a member of the Space Knights.
When he finally made it to Comm. One, he looked around for Balzac first of all. The Wonder Twins, Saber in particular, always seemed to be a bit wary around him. Moreso than they'd been around him or the others back when they'd all met up in the first place, even; of course, sometimes those boys could be a bit overly cautious, but they hadn't once been wrong about the big things. So he'd keep an eye on Balzac, even though the man seemed fairly harmless, and seemed to keep to himself for the most part.
The Commander's briefing was short and to the point, the way pretty much all of them were, and soon enough they were all heading toward the Blue Earth, preparing for a combat mission at the AEM's insistence.
It'd become something of a routine, these days: head to Comm. One for one of the Commander's briefings, find out that the AEM needed their fat pulled out of the fire again, then fly off in the Blue Earth with the Wonder Twins in tow. Simple, if you didn't think about the fact that the Space Knights were being treated as the Military's errand boys. Or, in the case of the twins, their attack dogs.
Still, he tried not to think about that kind of thing so much, since it pissed him off and made him want to track down one of those Military bastards and punch them; something that would be bound to get him in the same kind of trouble that the Wonder Twins had probably bought for themselves, but without the kind of leeway they were given because of their power. Shoving those thoughts out of his mind as he settled into the Blue Earth's piloting station, Ringo began the preflight sequence as Star and the twins settled into their own seats. It felt like no time at all had passed before they were riding up and out of the atmosphere on the launch-ramp, and then blasting into space on their way to their latest mission.
The AEM hadn't been the only ones worried about that new Teknoman that had shown up at the end of their last mission; both Slade and Saber had tried to cover it, but he could tell that those kids of theirs had been worried about whatever new Teknoman that Darkon had sent out. Slade hadn't even wanted to tell Saber at first, he could tell from the way Slade had looked on their trip back to Earth after their last battle; Saber must have weaseled it out of him somehow, though, since the two of them were both clearly on the same page about just what it was that they might be facing this time around.
Ringo didn't know quite what to think about the new situation; on the one hand, it was good that both of them knew just what it was that they were getting into here, and on the other he knew that those boys tended to worry more than what was really healthy for either of them. Too much stress could cripple even the best of fighters or soldiers, he knew, and he didn't want anything like that happening to the twins if he could help it. He didn't really know if he could help it, though; it wasn't like their worries were unfounded or anything.
He knew better than most just what kind of damage a Teknoman, even one on their own, could do.
"Good luck out there, boys," he said, turning to look over his shoulder at the twins as they raced past his station on their way to the main air lock.
"Thanks, Ringo," Saber said, grinning back at him. "And try to keep the Blue Earth in one piece up here, all right? I'm not too fond about the idea of trying to fly back to Earth on my own."
"Hey, this is me you're talking to here," he shot back, smirking.
"I know."
Saber, still grinning like the little wiseguy he so clearly was, was through the air lock doors and sealed behind the thick, airtight metal before Ringo could even start to think up a properly crushing response to that. Seconds later, he and Slade were blazing out into space; one aboard Pegas and the other following close beside. It summed up their relationship pretty perfectly, in Ringo's opinion: no matter what changed with one of them, the other would always be right there by their side.
1010000101
As she watched the twins finish transforming and join up with each other on Pegas' back, Star took the opportunity to pray for their safety. She'd done it every time they went out, ever since their encounter with Gunnar had left Slade unable to transform without Pegas' help. Now, with this new Teknoman out there somewhere, Star knew that the twins were going to have their work cut out for them.
Anyone who'd seen the recordings or read the after-action reports knew that the Teknomen were dangerous; even to the twins themselves, she knew.
However, right now the only thing that they were facing was another in a long line of Spider-crab swarms. She was grateful for that, small mercy that it was in the end, since Slade and Saber had both seemed to be more concerned about this new Teknoman than they had been about Gunnar himself. Not that they hadn't been worried about him, it was just clear that there was something about this new Teknoman that concerned them even more.
Star didn't know what that was just now, but she hoped that she would have the chance to find out when they all went back to Earth. Probably not from Slade, since he didn't even like to talk about what he was thinking even on a good day, but she could always ask Saber. Although, she did know full well that, if Slade really didn't want to talk about it, Saber was likely to feel the same way.
And even if he didn't, he would still respect his brother's wishes if Slade didn't want him to say anything.
The swarm of Spider-crabs didn't seem to be getting smaller at all, even in spite of all of the Spider-crabs that the twins had already killed. Star didn't know how Darkon and the Radam had managed to maintain these kinds of numbers after the power generators in the Space Ring had been destroyed during Operation Joker. It seemed that they had, though, and now all she could do was keep an eye on Slade and Saber's time-limits so that the twins wouldn't end up becoming just as much of a danger to Earth as the new Teknoman that Slade had sensed just yesterday.
They had only used up ten minutes so far, so the situation hadn't become urgent just yet, but Star was keeping a close watch on the Blue Earth's chronometer all the same.
The voice of one of the Military's pilots came over the radio then: "What in the heck is- Winters! Get out of there! That thing's right on top-!"
The transmission dissolved to static, and Star realized then just what it was that had happened: that new Teknoman was after them now.
"Break off," she called over the radio; she didn't have any real authority over the Military's pilots, Star knew, but she doubted that anyone would be inclined to stand on propriety now, of all times. "Head back to Earth; I'll get the twins to deal with this."
She didn't say the last of her thoughts out loud, the fact that nothing made by human hands had any kind of chance against a Teknoman. She knew that was the truth, though; their air- and spacecraft had been destroyed by the Radam's Spider-crabs, and the Spider-crabs were nothing compared to the Teknomen that commanded them. She didn't know just how Darkon managed to command them all, since each of the Teknomen on their own was powerful enough to decimate armies all on their own.
Though, when she found herself thinking too much about what Darkon must have been like, to be able to command the Teknomen the way he did, Star would always shudder.
"Confirmed, Blue Earth," said one of the remaining pilots, sounding relieved in spite of himself. "We'll leave this to you and yours."
She barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief on behalf of the pilots, when something attacked the Blue Earth itself. As the ship rocked and bucked under the onslaught, and Ringo shouted in disbelief at what he had just seen. She didn't know quite what it was, but she suspected that that new Teknoman had more than a passing involvement in it. Focusing her attention on the radio console, blocking all other things out of her mind and trusting Ringo to keep that new Teknoman from killing them both, Star set about contacting the twins.
She hoped that they were in a position to help, for all their sakes.
0101000101
So, this is the ship that my little brothers have been traveling in for so long, Spear mused, casually dodging the hail of shots the gunner was sending his way. It seemed to carry only a minimal crew; the gunner was also clearly the pilot, and their was only one other person inside. There were also places for his little brothers, though the second seat was clearly an add-on and not a standard feature on ships of this kind.
The fact that it was not set directly in front of any control panels was clear proof of that.
This tiny vessel was nothing at all like the Argos, so there was little chance that Ness and Cain were traveling with these humans out of a sense of nostalgia, no matter how misplaced it was. It did beg the question of just why his little brothers were staying with these humans at all; even if Father had taken them out of their teknopods before they were finished with their respective transformations – something he fully intended to address when they all arrived at Lord Darkon's own vessel – they were still Teknomen. Still a part of the glorious Radam Empire.
Don't worry, Ness, Cain, I'll bring you back home soon, he mused, then chuckled softly. Well, back to our new home, anyway. We can't exactly return to our old home yet. Perhaps in the future, once this first stage of the invasion was over and Lord Darkon had solidified his control over this planet, he and the rest of their family would be able to move back into their old house. It was a pleasant, thought, that; the place held many fond memories for all of them.
Not just the ones that had been captured in photo albums, but the more intangible things that each of them carried in their own hearts.
All of that, however, would have to be postponed until he had dealt with the humans in their spacecraft. In deference to their part in returning Ness and Cain to him, however, Spear felt that he could afford to show them at least a modicum of mercy. Therefore, he would be quick.
When he began to sense the approach of his little brothers, he looked back into the cockpit of the spacecraft that had carried them up to this place. The woman who had been stationed forward of the pilot was speaking to someone; she had to be using the ship's radio, since the pilot was not responding in any way to what she was saying, and as Spear focused more closely on her face in order to read her lips, he found that she was calling out to his brothers. She was using the names that Lord Darkon had given them; a good thing, that, since it meant that they had accepted their new identities.
He'd been worried that their father's interference might have had some pronounced effect on their minds, but if they had accepted the names that they had been granted so easily, then that was a very good sign. He might not be forced to work so hard to bring them back into Lord Darkon's fold. That was a comforting thought; he didn't want to have to fight his own younger brothers.
He would if he had to, but he didn't relish the prospect in the least.
However, when he sensed the approach of his younger brothers, charging in on that strange construct of theirs, Spear realized that, after having faced off with the Spider-crabs that Lord Darkon had allowed him to use for this mission neither Ness nor Cain would be particularly inclined to come along quietly. Still, they were both bound to be rather worn out from the battle that they had just participated in, so subduing them so that he could bring them back to Lord Darkon's ship would be at least somewhat easier.
Not entirely easy, but moreso than if he were to attempt the same kind of thing when his younger brothers were newly-transformed and well-rested.
0101000100
When he and Saber had gotten the transmission from Star, the only one that had really mattered to either of them; the one about the Blue Earth being under attack, both of them had known that they had to get back to the ship. He also knew that Saber's time was almost up, and so that was one more thing for them to worry about. And, since Saber's time was almost up, Slade knew full well that he didn't have much time left himself.
(Saber, go back to the Blue Earth; you're almost out of time. I'll handle things here.)
(All right; I'll see you back on Earth,) Saber said, in a tone that said he'd better.
Slade smiled slightly. (I'll be with you soon, little brother.)
Raising his teknolance, Slade flew over the Blue Earth. He checked in with Ringo and Star briefly, letting them know that he was all right and that Saber was going to be coming back inside. Looking up as he and Pegas flew over the Blue Earth, Slade got his first real glimpse of the new Teknoman that Darkon had released. This new one was taller than both him and Saber; his shoulders were less broad, though, and he was more sleek-looking than any other Teknoman that he had ever seen before.
And, where Slade was white, and Saber was black, this new Teknoman was a purple so dark that it almost looked black itself, though there were also red parts on this new Teknoman. This new Teknoman's weapon was different as well: it looked a bit like a harpoon, though the leading edge of the blade was smooth rather than serrated, though it was also clear that this new Teknoman's teknolance was double-ended just like all the others.
This wasn't going to be easy; he still remembered the trouble that Gunnar had given them, and unlike his first battle with Gunnar, he couldn't rely on Saber to help him. He was alone this time, and in this situation he didn't like it. He briefly noted that this new Teknoman had a flying platform of his own, some kind of one-eyed Radam creature, and he wondered for a moment just why that was.
Then the two of them clashed, and there was no more time for him to think.
He had also been trying not to think about who this new Teknoman might have been, before the Radam had sunk their hooks into him and turned him into one of their monsters. Slamming into the new Teknoman, he blocked a slash from the new Teknoman's teknolance and slammed bodily into the other Teknoman. All of the Spider-crabs were gone by this time, and he had a moment to feel relief about that fact just before the new Teknoman slammed into him again.
"Slade!"
"I don't really," he blocked another slash from the other Teknoman's teknolance. "Have the time to talk," he ducked and used the staff of his teknolance to block a downward swing that would have ended up spitting his skull if he'd let it connect. "Right now, Star."
"Your time limit is almost up! You have to get back to the Blue Earth!" she shouted; he winced, he'd almost managed to forget about that fact while he'd been fighting.
That wasn't good.
As the Blue Earth started firing on the other Teknoman, Slade tensed for a moment. He was sure that one of Darkon's chosen warriors would never refuse the chance to attack the Blue Earth when he left, but just before he pulled back behind a barrage from the Blue Earth's laser cannons, he saw the other Teknoman stand back up straight. For just a moment, as the glowing red eyes of Darkon's newest slave-warrior stared into his own, Slade shuddered briefly. He almost felt like he should know who this newest Teknoman was, but there wasn't any time for him to think about anything but getting back to the Blue Earth before he could start to lose control.
Flying into the Blue Earth's air lock, just beginning to feel the edges of the paralysis that he had felt the last time that the Radam influence that he would be prey to if he ever did overshoot his time-limit had nearly claimed his mind, Slade gratefully climbed down off of Pegas' back and ordered the mech to open its interlock-chamber. As he tiredly climbed inside and felt the energies of his transformation fade, Slade just managed to catch himself on his hands before he hit his head on the deck.
As his eyes slipped closed, Slade almost thought he saw Star coming into the air lock with him.
111010100
While Star went to take care of the last of the Wonder Twins, Ringo busied himself with getting them all back down to Earth in one piece. He knew that Saber was all right, since Star had strapped the kid into his seat as soon as she had gotten him out of the air lock. Now that she was coming back, with Slade in her arms this time, Ringo allowed himself to relax just a bit. They were all as safe as they could be for the moment, now he just had to get them back home.
As he guided the Blue Earth back to the Command Center, keeping a sharp eye on the instruments so he could make this trip as smooth as possible, Ringo found himself thinking back on what he had just seen. That new Teknoman had been a real piece of work; he'd managed to drive the thing off with the laser cannons, but he still couldn't help thinking that the Teknoman had only retreated because it had suited the thing's purposes. He really didn't like that thought, but it was probably true.
There was no way in hell that something that could rip Spider-crabs to shreds with the kind of ease that the twins demonstrated on an almost-daily basis would be scared off by a couple of dinky laser cannons.
As the Blue Earth slipped through the intervening layers of atmosphere, headed for the Command Center where the four of them could get some rest and relaxation, Ringo breathed a bit more easily. They might not have been out of the woods just yet, but they were nearly there, at least. The Command Center was the closest thing to a safe haven that any of them had in these times, and it almost seemed at times like it would always be there.
He didn't really know if that was entirely true or not, but with the Wonder Twins around to protect them it was easy to believe that they were all perfectly safe.
Ringo know better than to fall into that trap, though; nothing in the world was ever perfectly safe, not with the Radam constantly hovering over their heads. Once the Blue Earth was back on terra firma and rolling neatly into her hanger, Ringo began the shut-down sequence just as the ship came to a complete stop. Rising from the pilot's station, he made his way over to the chairs where the Wonder Twins had been strapped in during their ride back to Earth.
Those boys of theirs were pretty much dead to the world right now, and as he un-strapped Saber from his chair, he looked over his shoulder at Star. She'd gone right over to Slade as soon as the Blue Earth had settled on the ground, and now she had the big lug in her arms and was obviously getting ready to carry him to bed the way that she had done after the last battle that the Wonder Twins had participated in.
Grinning slightly as Star disappeared from his line-of-sight, Ringo picked Saber up and took the kid back to his own room. He really had to remember to talk to the kid about Star and his brother, and what the two of them might be able to do to get those two, Slade in particular since he was kind of a lunkhead, to at least admit that they were starting to feel something. Well, at least to get Slade to notice that Star was; the kid himself was enigmatic enough that Ringo wasn't sure sometimes if Slade even knew he had feelings.
When he'd gotten Saber back into his bed, his boots off and tucked at least semi-neatly under the covers so he could get some much-needed sleep, Ringo turned and left.
Saber was all snug as a bug in a rug, and Ringo's stomach was starting to aggressively remind him that he'd skipped breakfast just before the battle that he'd been a witness to. That, in turn, reminded him of the newest threat to Earth that he'd seen while they had all been up in space; he'd have to remember to mention that thing prominently in his report to the Commander. Sure, the cameras on the Blue Earth had been recording that entire skirmish of theirs, and it wasn't like Commander Jamison didn't know just as well as he did that any new Teknoman – any one that wasn't on their side, and so far none of the others seemed to be – was a threat to anything and everything that both the Space Knights and the AEM were fighting to protect, but he wasn't about to let himself start to slack off in his duties.
That was a bad habit to get into in the first place, and it was more than likely going to end up getting him killed if he let himself slip that way.
Once he'd finished with the extra-large breakfast that he had promised himself in light of the fact that he hadn't had time for breakfast at all before he, Star, and the Wonder Twins had been called out to participate in that skirmish, Ringo left and made his way back to his quarters. He had a report to start writing.
0100010000
When he woke up, staring at the ceiling of his room and trying not to think about why that new Teknoman of Darkon's had pulled back so suddenly, Slade sensed the familiar presence of his brother approaching. He wondered for a moment just what it was that his younger twin wanted, before he remembered, with a hint of embarrassment for his own forgetfulness, that he had asked Saber to come to him after their next battle against the Radam's forces. Hauling himself up and out of bed with a bit more reluctance than he had previously felt, Slade yawned.
He might even try to take a bit of a nap today; god knew if he'd actually get one, but he'd probably at least make the effort.
"Hey, brother," he said, smiling at his younger twin as Saber made his way into the room he'd only recently come to think of as his own.
"Hey," Saber said, turning a look of obvious concern on him. "Are you feeling all right, big brother? You look a bit pale."
"I'm still a bit worn out from the last fight," he said, opting not to mention the strange way that Darkon's newest Teknoman had reacted to being fired on by the Blue Earth; he was probably just looking too deeply into something that really didn't mean anything.
At least, that was what he was going to hope, anyway.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Saber said, and Slade sensed the short, muted surge of energy that he always did when either he or Saber materialized their teknocrystals. "I'm not really feeling entirely up-to-par myself, and I didn't end up in a scrap with one of Darkon's Teknomen."
"Yeah," he said softly, taking Saber's teknocrystal as his younger twin handed it to him.
As he sat back on the bed to examine it, taking special care to remember exactly what it had looked like the last time he'd seen it, just yesterday, Slade breathed a sigh of relief. The crack wasn't any deeper, nor had it gotten any longer since Saber had last used his teknocrystal to transform.
"It looks like you're in the clear, little brother," he said, the relief he had felt at knowing that his younger brother was safe tempered by the fact that he knew Saber well enough to know that he would be right behind him every time Slade himself went into battle.
It wasn't supposed to be that way; he was the older brother, he was supposed to protect his younger siblings, and it was all the more urgent now that he only had one of his younger siblings left to protect.
Biting the inside of his lower lip as he handed Saber his teknocrystal, he watched as Saber prepared to leave his room.
"Hey, Saber?" he called, before his younger brother could start shoving his feet into his boots but just after he had unfolded his legs and started to slide off the bed.
"Hmm? What is it, brother?"
"Why don't you stay here, just this once?" he said, responding to the nonplussed look that his younger brother had given him in response to that admittedly impulsive suggestion. "We both had kind of a bad time of things in the last battle," he said, not wanting to be alone with his thoughts in the wake of this new development in their battle against Darkon's forces, but not wanting to worry Saber if he could at all help it. "So, why don't you and I take a nap; I'll even let you use my shower when you wake up."
"Well, if you're going to offer something like that," Saber said, trailing off with one of his more amused smirks.
As his younger brother settled himself more comfortably on the bed, Slade arranged his own body so that he himself would be able to sleep soundly. Both of them were the same height, so they would end up breathing in each other's faces unless they paid attention to how they laid themselves out when they were sleeping double like this. As he tucked his pillow under his left arm and felt Saber leaning his forehead against his collarbone, Slade smiled slightly.
At least he wouldn't be alone this time.
11010100001
When she and Ringo had finished compiling and comparing their reports for Commander Jamison, all Ringo had wanted to do was head out to the now-little-used lounge and settle down. Star didn't quite know how long all of them would be able to rest like this, so she didn't begrudge Ringo his desire. In fact, she had suggested to him that they invite the twins to come, too. A lot of the others seemed to have the same idea, she noticed, having seen Maggie, Mac, and even Tina heading for the lounge.
It was about then that she remembered that there was supposed to be a news broadcast today, something to tell the world how the war against the Radam was going; and, while she often found herself on the front lines of that very war, Star found herself craving that wider perspective at times.
Making her way through the corridors leading to Slade's room, Ringo having volunteered to wake Saber and invite him in to watch with all of them, Star wondered briefly if the twins would even want to come in the first place. Both of them seemed to be a great deal more focused on the present moment and what they were doing then as compared to what might happen in the future or what was going on in the world at large. Star supposed that she could understand, though; both of the twins had more than enough to concern them without burdening themselves by thinking about things they might not be able to change.
When she reached Slade's room, she rang the charm and waited. There was no answer, but just as she was about to ring it again, though, Ringo came striding up.
"Saber wasn't in his room," he said, before she could ask him anything. "Have you talked to Slade yet?"
"I was just about to try again," she said, with a gesture to the privacy chime on Slade's door.
"All right," Ringo said, folding his arms over his chest and relaxing a bit. "After we get Slade up and out of his room, I'll see if I can get him to tell us where Saber's gotten himself off to."
"Right," she said, nodding as she pressed the chime again.
When there was no answer for a second time, Star wondered if this was Slade's way of saying that he didn't want to come out. But no, if he honestly hadn't wanted to go somewhere with them, it was more likely that if Slade didn't want to come watch the broadcast with them that he would get up and tell them that himself. She was starting to get a bit worried, since Slade and his brother always seemed to be so aware of their surroundings; it wasn't like either of them to be so silent.
"I can override the lock, if you want me to, Star," Ringo said, slanting a look at her just as she was starting to wonder what could have happened to Slade to make him so reclusive.
Sure, he was quiet, but he wasn't usually like this; he and Saber would have usually come out for breakfast by now, if nothing else. Nodding to Ringo just as he'd opened his mouth, probably to repeat his earlier question, Star clasped her hands and rested her chin on them. She hoped that nothing had happened to Slade, and that he wouldn't be too upset with them for essentially violating his privacy like this. He and Saber were both such independent people, and she really had tried to respect Slade's privacy; but the Space Knights looked after their own, and if there was even a chance that Slade was injured or sick, she wasn't going to leave him to suffer alone.
When Ringo opened the door for them and stepped out of the way so she could have the first look inside, though, she found that her fears had run away with her. Slade was sleeping on his bed, though oddly enough he was sleeping on top of his covers. As Ringo started moving into the room, looking like he'd just seen something particularly interesting.
"Star, c'mere," he whispered, grinning like a cat up to his whiskers in cream. "You've got to see this."
"Ringo, you know we just came in here to see if Slade was all right," she said, striding over to him and grabbing his arm. "We shouldn't disturb him if he's sleeping."
"C'mon, Star," Ringo said, giving her a sly look. "Just one, little peek before we leave."
Sighing in not-entirely-fond exasperation, knowing that Ringo would stay in here and bother either her or Slade until he had managed to get his way, Star made her way over to him.
"All right, Ringo," she whispered, annoyed. "Now what was it you wanted-"
Trailing off as she actually took the time to look down at the bed where Slade usually slept, Star found that it wasn't Slade that she'd seen when she had first glanced at the bed. Slade was there, of course since it was his bed she was looking at, but so was Saber, and it had been him that she'd seen when she first came in. When she'd seen the person in the bed, their back to the wall and the bright red of a Space Knight vest calling most of her attention to it, Star had just figured that it was Slade. Now, though, she saw that Saber was sleeping in his brother's bed too.
Slade had his hand on Saber's waist, Saber's hand was in almost the same place on his brother's body, and Saber's head was resting just below Slade's neck.
"This has to be the cutest thing I've ever seen since the invasion," Ringo whispered, grinning. "Look at them; just like a pair of kittens. Makes me wish I'd thought to bring my camera."
"We can hear you, you know," Saber said, his words, spoken at a normal volume, sounded almost like a shout after the near-silence that Star had gotten used to.
Ringo jumped back from the bed like he'd been stung, or like one of the twins had taken a swing at him; they hadn't, but as she watched Slade and Saber sit up on Slade's bed, their bright eyes raking over her and Ringo, Star couldn't help the feeling that they both would have deserved it. Here she had been going on and on about not violating Slade's privacy, and she hadn't done a single thing to stop him once she had realized that Slade was all right; that really wasn't something a friend would have done.
Slade's icy stare, backed by Saber's annoyed expression, made Star feel about three inches tall.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly, making a concerted effort to look them in the eyes; they deserved at least that much. "I didn't mean to disturb your rest."
"Oh, the rest was pretty much over once Bigfoot there came in," Saber said, giving Ringo a pointed glance.
"What do you two want?" Slade asked, his voice as flat as ever, but his tone colder than it had been even during the first time that they had spoken to one another.
"There's going to be a news broadcast this morning, we haven't missed it," she rushed to reassure them, feeling their eyes on her as they continued to fix her with that steady gaze. "But Ringo and I were wondering if the two of you wanted to come out to the lounge and watch it with us."
"That is, if you're not too busy getting busy," Ringo said, giving the twins a sly, under-the-eyelashes look.
Star was just about to berate him for that; here he was in Slade's room, having walked in on what was obviously a very private moment between the twins, and he was making fun of them! Before she could say even a single word, though, something hit Ringo right in the forehead with enough force to both knock him to the ground as well as to send the object itself bouncing off in another direction. Looking down at what the thing that had been bounced off of Ringo's head actually was; it turned out to be a boot, one of the red ones that both of the twins wore with their uniforms.
Looking back at the twins, still sitting as neatly as you please on top of Slade's bed, Star saw Saber smirking slightly and holding a red boot. She didn't know if it was one of his or one of Slade's, but since both twins wore the same uniform she didn't think it quite mattered.
"Thanks a lot, Saber!" Ringo shouted, right hand pressed against his forehead where the boot had struck him.
"You're welcome, Ringo," Saber said, his smirk widening into a grin that Star had never seen on his face; it almost made him look like an entirely different person. "Can I have my boot back now?"
"Oh, I'll give you your boot back!" Ringo snapped, hurling the footwear at Saber's head.
Star almost expected him to struggle a bit to catch it, since Ringo had a good throwing-arm and he never hesitated to use it, but Saber's arm moved so quickly it only registered as a sort of blur, and when he stopped moving the boot was clutched in his hand again. "Thanks, Ringo," he said, still grinning.
Trying to stifle her laughter, even as Ringo grumbled in annoyance, Star watched as Saber and Slade both rose from Slade's bed.
"So, did you two want to watch the broadcast with us?" she asked again, since they had all gotten a bit distracted. "Or was there something else that you were planning to do today?"
"I think Saber might want to take a shower," Slade said, glancing over at his brother as he padded his way to the attached bathroom in his socks. "And I think I'll go wash up, myself," he continued, as he turned and followed Saber.
"It's not going to be for awhile yet," she said, smiling. "You'll have time to get cleaned up."
Grabbing Ringo's right ear, she dragged him out of Slade's room, over his protests and complaints. Once they were both outside in the corridor, she let go of Ringo's ear and stood in front of the door to Slade's quarters; her left hand close enough to the controls that she would easily be able to stop him if he tried to override the lock again. It wouldn't really make up for her violating the twins' privacy in the first place, but it was a start.
That would have to be enough.
1010100101
When the Wonder Twins came out ten minutes later, Saber's hair still a bit damp but otherwise with no signs of what they'd been doing with their time, Star smiled sheepishly at them as she apologized; though more at Slade than Saber, and he really had to talk to the kid about his brother and Star. It was his sworn duty as her friend to annoy her about her crushes, and it was Saber's duty as Slade's brother to tease him about his potential girlfriend.
So, that worked out really nicely.
As the four of them made their way down the corridors to the lounge, well the one that served this section of the Command Center anyway, he sidled up next to Saber and gently bumped the kid's shoulder to get his attention.
"What, Ringo?" the kid asked, looking as if he wasn't quite sure to be annoyed or amused by what had gone on when they had all met up just a few minutes ago.
Of course, knowing that kid, he'd probably find it funny even without any prompting. "You've seen how Star acts around your brother, right?" he asked, after giving Saber a bit of time to simmer down.
"You'd have to be completely oblivious not to," Saber said, then he smirked. "Which is probably why Slade still hasn't after all this time. What's that got to do with anything, though?"
"Well, we're both Star's friends, you know," he said, slinging his right arm around Saber's shoulders as he, Saber, Slade, and Star made their way closer to the lounge and the TV waiting there. "And, as her friends, and with you even being Slade's brother and all, there are certain things that we have to do."
As he explained to Saber just what their sworn duty as brother and friend, respectively, to the happy-couple-to-be entailed, Ringo wondered again about what they were going to see on the news today. He didn't know quite what the broadcast was going to be about, well, he knew it was going to cover the state of the war in general and that it would probably mention Operation Joker and a few of the other missions that they had been on since then; what he didn't know was whether it was going to mention the twins, or the Space Knights in general. He thought that it would only be fair, what with the twins doing everything they could to bring an end to the invasion, and the Space Knights being their loyal support crew.
When they all finally reached the lounge, he settled down on the faded, beige mini-couch on the left-hand side of the large flatscreen TV that dominated the room and watched as the news started up.
"Now there's a sight to make us all feel a little bit safer: for the first time in recent memory a supply-convoy has made it to us completely intact," the newscaster, a good-looking lady with hair as dark as Star's, cut so that it hung just below her ears. The choker she was wearing was a nice touch, too; it offset the dull off-white of her blouse nicely. "There was no alien opposition to the landing, largely thanks to the Allied Earth Military's recent assault on the Radam forces occupying our orbiting Space Ring. The man most responsible for that strategic masterstroke: General Xercese Gault, had these comments today."
The feed switched to what was obviously a press-conference, formed for the express purpose of pumping up that overstuffed jerk's already-huge ego. Gault was speaking to the small mass of reporters: "There is absolutely no doubt that the attack on the Space Ring and the destruction of their power-generators have dealt the enemy a crippling blow. This is by no means the end, or even the beginning of the end, of the invasion. But we can now see a light at the end of the tunnel. In short: the Allied Earth Military Command has turned the tide of the battle."
"Typical," he snapped, having started to suspect that none of the Space Knights' contributions would be mentioned, especially with that jerk General speaking to the press, but still annoyed to be right about it. "That pompous old windbag takes the credit, when it was the twins and I who did the damage while he sat at home polishing that billiard ball he's got for a head!"
"Yeah," Saber scoffed, sounding both amused and annoyed. "He's really what you'd call an armchair jackass."
"Armchair General, Saber," Star admonished, looking back over her shoulder to where the twins were, both of them leaning back against the far wall.
"Oh, right," Saber said, smirking. "What did I say?"
Star shook her head in exasperation, as he flashed Saber a thumbs-up; Saber winked.
"Anyway," Star said, rounding on him again. "What were you expecting, Ringo? A victory parade or something? We're not doing this for brownie points. The convoy got through safely, and we know it was mostly thanks to us. That's all the reward we can expect."
"For the first time in weeks I feel like the pressure's off," Tina said, with a light, relieved laugh.
"At least for awhile," Mac added, though he was smiling too.
"What do you say, sir?" Maggie added, turning to look at the Commander, who'd been standing behind and to the right of the half-couch that she, Mac, and Balzac were all sitting on. "Considering the situation, do you think you could allow us to stand down from general-alert? We could all use the rest, I think."
"I couldn't agree more, Maggie," the Commander said. "As of now you're on shore leave; all of you."
"Shore leave?!" Tina exclaimed, leaping up from the couch with a squeal of excitement that served to remind Ringo of just how young she really was. "I can't believe it!"
"First one since the invasion," Mac added, sounding surprised and pleased.
"Star, let's you and me go shop till we drop," Tina said, rushing over to clap her hand on Star's right shoulder.
"Sounds like fun," Star said, and Ringo saw the soft, happy smile that she wore when things were going well; or when she was thinking about Slade.
"Hold on," the Commander said, drawing their attention back to him. "This isn't summer vacation. I want you all back here by 15:00."
"Come on, Commander, have a heart," he protested. "That's not enough time to even meet a girl, let alone find out her astrological sign or any important stuff like that."
"'Hey, baby, what's your sign'?" Star mocked. "You really think anyone's going to fall for that old line?"
1010100000
With all of the others busy working out what they were going to do with the time they had off, and the prospect of a half a day where they wouldn't have to worry about being interrupted during a free-spar or when they just wanted to have some time off from all of the Space Knights, Slade bumped Saber's shoulder to get his attention and the two of them left the lounge together. He heard Star wondering if she was the one who had driven them off, and then Ringo making a joke about them believing in astrology, before the two of them managed to make it out of the lounge.
(So, dare I ask what you're going to do with the majority of your time off, little brother?)
(I'm going to see if I can find somewhere to take a nice, hot bath,) Saber said, giving him a sidelong smile.
(That's what I thought,) he said, giving his younger twin a gentle punch on the shoulder.
"Hey, boys!" both of them turned to face Balzac as he came up from behind them. "Don't you two want to join them for some R&R?" He and Saber gave the man their best are-you-sane look, and he backed off a bit. "Geez; don't get bent out of shape, I just thought you kids could use a break, that's all. Hey, no offense. I was just trying to help."
They walked off with Balzac's voice still echoing in the corridor behind them; he didn't quite know what to make of the man, even with all the time that he'd spent at the Command Center with them. He tended to keep to himself, at least when he wasn't wandering the corridors and trying to get to know him and Saber. Slade didn't know just why Balzac insisted on trying to get to know them when they both went out of their way to make it clear that they didn't want to have anything to do with him; Slade didn't know if it was a part of the man's job to be so irritatingly persistent, but he wasn't going to submit to whatever it was that Balzac had in mind.
He knew that Saber wasn't going to, either, and so he did everything he could to keep his younger brother away from the man; of course, if Balzac did anything really drastic, Saber was likely to start seeking him out for a good pranking.
"Hey!" it was Star calling them this time; with a glance at Saber, who shrugged as if it didn't matter to him either way, he stopped. "Do either of you want to go out shopping with Tina and me?"
"I don't think so," he said calmly. "Saber and I have a lot of stuff to do today; thanks for the offer."
Star, while she looked a bit disappointed in to hear that, nonetheless seemed just about ready to turn and leave him and Saber to their own devices. Tina, on the other hand, clearly wasn't in the mood to leave well enough alone.
"Aw, come on," she said, and for just a few moments Slade was reminded of Shara, trying to get her older brothers to take her along with them; he shoved the memory aside. Now wasn't the time for that kind of thing. "I know that you're just a big stick in the mud, Slade, but I think Saber at least would want to go with us," she said, turning her wide, blue eyes on his younger twin in an expression that would have been perfectly at home on the face of one of their old cats when they had been begging for table scraps. "Won't you, Saber?"
"Well, I don't know," Saber said, deliberately looking just over Tina's head rather than right at her; he'd always been one to let the cats eat out of his hand, back when they'd both lived in their old house. "Slade and I do have a lot of things we'd like to do today, now that we actually have some time off."
"Oh, you can go do that anytime," Tina interjected, wrapping both of her arms around Saber's right and trying to drag him off down the corridor. "This might be the one chance that we're going to have to go into the city, and I'm not letting both of you waste it staying around here in the Command Center doing nothing."
For a few, long moments, watching as Tina tried to convince Saber to go with her to the mall for a shopping trip, he saw Shara, trying to convince one of her beloved older brothers to take her along with them when they were going somewhere that she enjoyed. He could tell that Saber was seeing the same thing, since there was a softness in his eyes that he hadn't seen since the two of them had been in the company of the second-youngest of their siblings. When Saber looked back at him, Slade smiled slightly and nodded almost imperceptibly; Saber's lips curled upward slightly.
"All right," his younger twin said, and Tina stopped tugging at his arm.
"You really mean it?" she asked, and for a moment Slade was reminded of Shara all the more; that was something he'd heard her say often enough that he'd lost count.
"Yeah," Saber said, grinning down at her as Slade bit back his own smile. "Who knows, it might be fun."
"Great!" Tina exclaimed, and then she hugged Saber around the waist; when Saber gently reached up to stroke her hair, Slade shoved his hands into his pockets.
His eyes were starting to sting a bit, but he wasn't going to cry; not here, at least. "Have a good time out there, little brother," he said, as Saber, Tina, and Star all started to walk away; he was glad that he'd managed to keep all but the slightest quaver out of his voice, and he was sure that no one but Saber would have noticed it, anyway.
"I'll bring you back something nice, big brother," Saber said, winking over his shoulder as they all made their way down the corridor.
After the three of them passed out of sight down a bend in the corridor, Slade turned and headed back to his personal quarters. He wasn't going to break down in a public place, and especially not in a corridor where anyone could just walk in on him. Moving quickly down the corridors between himself and his quarters, Slade hoped that he didn't run into anyone.
00101001111
Having landed in a secluded, back area of one of the clothing stores that seemed to have been shut down by the encroachment of the Radam spore plants that had been seeded on Earth before any of them had been awakened to take their places within Lord Darkon's ranks, Spear willed his transformation to recede. Of course, that left him in the slightly embarrassing situation of being completely naked, but he was in a clothing store after all. Unfortunately, there was one obstacle that he would have to deal with before he could obtain what he needed.
Apparently, this store was not quite as deserted as he had thought; there was a woman in the room with him.
She hadn't looked his way yet, but Spear knew that it was only a matter of time before the human took notice of him. He would have to deal with her, and quickly, if he didn't want to make this mission any more complicated than it was going to be by its very nature. He wasn't particularly eager to handle the situation in the way that expedience dictated he should, but that didn't mean much compared to the security of his mission. He couldn't afford having someone who could identify him running around loose.
She was wearing a pink suit, with a knee-length skirt; the was blonde, and even with the lights off he could tell that she was fairly young. He didn't relish what he was about to do, what he needed to do to preserve the secrecy of his mission, but he would do it. His loyalty to Lord Darkon demanded nothing less.
Moving quickly, he covered the distance between her and himself in a movement that would have only registered as a vague sort of blur to any human who had been watching. Grabbing her neck, he wrenched it hard enough to shatter the human's spinal column.
"I'm sorry," he muttered to the corpse, dropping it to the floor.
Gathering the clothes that he had decided to wear during this mission, Spear dressed quickly and left the room behind him; it was time to start searching for his dear little brothers.
0100100101
Once they had made it to the mall, Tina had said that Saber was going to need new clothes if he was going to go shopping with them. Saber seemed amused by the idea, and willing enough to go along with it that Star decided to go along herself. All of them had been saving up their pay by default during the invasion, given that there had been no real chance for any of them to go anywhere too far away from the Command Center, especially to somewhere so far away.
The city had had a name once, Star knew, but it had been a long time since she had had the time to think about something so mundane and ultimately trivial as that.
"Come on, you slowpokes!" Tina called gleefully over her shoulder, scampering into a cheerfully lit clothing store and waving to her and Saber. "Time's a wasting!"
She heard Saber chuckle softly, and when Star turned to look at him she found that there was a small, almost wistful smile on his face; for a long moment, Star wondered just what Saber was thinking of. "We're right behind you, Tina," he called, walking a bit more quickly. "Don't get uptight."
Smiling as they all made it inside the store, Star watched as heads turned in their direction. She figured that it was only natural, since Saber was one of the heroes who helped to save the world on an almost daily basis; Saber seemed a bit bemused by all of the attention, though. Star couldn't help thinking that it was a good thing that Slade had decided not to come; he didn't seem to do well around large numbers of people.
"Look, it's Slade!" cried a boy who looked about five or six years old, racing over to them with his parents following close behind; Saber laughed.
"I'm very sorry about this, Slade," the woman, obviously the boy's mother judging from the family resemblance, said, as her son tugged on the bottom of Saber's red Space Knight vest.
"It's not really a problem," Saber said, reaching down to ruffle the boy's hair a bit. "Though, I have to admit that I'm not actually Slade."
"Oh," the woman said, her expression sheepish. "I'm sorry, Saber."
"It happens," Saber said, with a shrug of one shoulder and a soft chuckle. "We are twins, after all."
"You mean you're actually Saber?" the boy asked, looking up at Saber. "That's so cool! Your armor looks the best!"
"Really?" Saber asked, looking down at the boy with a gentle smile on his face.
"Yeah! It's all black and has these really cool horns!"
"You know, my brother's helmet has horns, too," Saber said, his smile a bit more whimsical than it had been before.
"Yeah, but they're just plain old white," the boy said, grinning up at Saber. "Yours are red, and there are three of them, and they look really cool!"
Saber laughed.
"I do apologize for my son's mistaking you for your brother, Saber," the woman said, and Star saw Saber smiling gently.
"It's not a problem," Saber said, his smile widening a bit. "There's actually three ways you can tell me apart from my brother," he elucidated, holding up three fingers presumably to count them off. "I have blue eyes," he said; one finger went down. "Slade has some scarring over his left eye, and you can see that I don't." Another finger down. "And finally, I don't have a mullet."
Star laughed; she couldn't help it, Saber somehow managed to look so solemn while he was making such a patently absurd statement. Saber turned his head, winking at her as the small family walked away, seeming almost as amused by Saber's antics as Star herself had been. Tina came back then, having left before the boy had started talking to Saber and hence having missed the funny things that Saber had said.
They had pretty much managed to contain their mirth, or at least she had, since Saber had just seemed like he was amused because she had been laughing at what he'd said, so Tina wasn't left to wonder what it was that they both found so funny.
"All right, Saber," Tina said, grinning impishly as she held up the bag that most likely contained the clothes that she had bought. "I got you an outfit you can wear."
"All right," Saber said, reaching out for the bag; Tina pulled it just out of reach, then she did it again when he made another grab for it. "Tina, I can't exactly put on those clothes you bought for me if you don't give me the bag."
"I want this outfit to be a surprise, Saber," Tina said, grinning as she held the bag up close to her chest.
"So, I have to dress up with my eyes closed?" Saber asked, obviously a bit nonplussed by Tina's intent.
"No! Of course not," Tina laughed, grinning impishly again as she grabbed Saber's right hand and started to tug him forward. "Star and I are going to help you get dressed. I saw some dressing rooms on my way here, so you two just come with me. Okay?"
Saber seemed more than a little bemused by Tina's insistence that he not see the clothes he was going to wear until he was actually wearing them, but he also seemed willing to follow her lead. Letting Tina show them the way to the dressing rooms, Star turned to look at Saber as the two of them fell into step beside each other. He was looking down at Tina as they walked, but it didn't seem like he was actually seeing her.
It was a strange thought, but the look in Saber's blue eyes was far-off, and if it had been anyone else Star would have said that they were likely looking into the past, but Saber and Slade had both... Right then, Star recalled what Saber had said to Dr. Random again; they remembered; could that be it? But why would they lie about something like that?
What had happened to them, that they had decided to pretend that they didn't know anything about themselves, not even their own names?
Before she could begin to speculate further, the three of them came to the dressing rooms that Tina had found on her way to get Saber's new clothes, or maybe on her way back.
"All right, here we are," Tina said, letting go of Saber's hand as she turned to grin up at him.
Saber, for his part, seemed to regain his composure almost instantly, smiling down at Tina and clearly seeing her now instead of whoever or whatever he had been seeing before.
"I'll just go in there and get undressed, then," Saber said, smiling almost whimsically at her and Tina.
"All right, Saber," she said, smiling back at him; she still wondered why it was that he and Slade hadn't spoken about their past, if they actually did remember them, but when she thought about it again she decided that it was their business what they did and that she shouldn't interfere. "Just tell us when you're done."
"I will," Saber said, giving Star a sly look back over his right shoulder. "Just don't start ogling me while I'm undressed, all right? I know you have a crush on my brother, but let's not go overboard here."
Star felt her cheeks start to burn, and saw Saber wink knowingly at her as he disappeared behind the swinging door of the dressing room. Palming her face in mingled amusement and embarrassment, Star laughed softly. Count on Saber to notice something his brother hadn't solely for the purpose of teasing her about it. For a moment she wondered if Ringo had put him up to it, then decided that he'd probably thought of that on his own.
Anyone could see that Saber and Ringo had the same oddball sense of humor.
"All right, I'm all ready for you," Saber called from inside the dressing room.
"We'll be right in, Saber," Tina called back; Star, still a bit off-balance from Saber's teasing, followed without a word.
She found Saber, stripped down to his standard-issue undergarments, sitting on the bench at the far end of the dressing room with his eyes closed. For a moment, Star was reminded strongly of the first time that she, and Ringo of course, had met the twins. Of course, back then both of them had been severely injured; she often suspected that Gunnar had been the one responsible, but since he was dead she elected not to mention anything, and both she and Ringo had been more concerned with getting them to the Command Center for medical treatment than anything else.
Now, though, she could clearly observe the toned musculature of Saber's body and the way he held himself; it reminded her of a cat: resting for the moment, but still clearly capable of springing into action at the slightest hint of trouble.
"C'mon, Star," Tina said, grinning impishly up at her. "Saber told you not to ogle him."
"Taking shameless advantage of someone in my position," Saber tsked, smiling mischievously at her, his eyes closed and his arms folded across his broad chest. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Don't worry, Saber," Tina said, grinning. "I'll keep Star in line."
"Thank you, Tina. It's nice to know I have someone here I can count on."
"All right, that's enough," Star said, amused but wanting to get on with what they were really going to be doing here. "I just got a little lost in thought."
"It must have been unfamiliar territory, then," Saber responded, wearing an impish grin of his own.
"Very funny, Saber," Star said, as Tina set down the bag with Saber's new clothes and they both began to dig through it.
The outfit itself was pretty basic, though the colors were a bit unusual: a pale turquoise v-neck t-shirt, brown leather jacket with a wide collar, and denim jeans that hovered indecisively between violet and a dark, charcoal gray. The simple, slip-on ankle boots were the same color as the jacket, though a few shades darker, looking almost black as opposed to the dark-chocolate color of the jacket itself.
As she and Tina helped Saber to get dressed, handing him his new clothes and helping him to pull them on when that became necessary, Star began to see why Tina had picked out this particular outfit. As strange as it looked seeing them separate, on Saber the outfit actually worked. She thought that it was probably because Saber was actually quirky enough to pull such an outlandish-seeming outfit off.
"Saber," Tina chided. "Stop trying to peek!"
"All right, you caught me," Saber said, laughing softly as he shut his eyes again. "I'll be good."
Tina nodded sharply, and Star had to swallow a laugh at the look of satisfaction on the younger girl's face.
"All right, all finished," Tina said, stepping back with a wide, satisfied smile. "You can open your eyes now, Saber."
"You really mean that?" Saber asked, all wounded innocence and so obviously faking it that Star just had to laugh. "The last time I tried that, you yelled at me."
"Say-ber," Tina said, rolling her eyes. "Let's get going, you goof; we've been standing around here doing nothing for way too long! We haven't got all day, you know," she chided, grabbing Saber's hand and pulling him out of the dressing room.
Star, smiling softly, followed them out of the store. She wished for a few moments that Slade had come, but in the end it was his decision, and she had to respect that. Once they were all back in the open air, she smiled. While she might wish that Slade had come with them, Saber certainly had his own charm about him.
"Look at this place, it all seems so normal," Tina said happily, looking around at all of the people walking around in the mall's main concourse.
"It's like a whole other world out here, isn't it Tina?" Star asked.
"Yeah!" Tina exclaimed happily, her right hand still firmly wrapped around Saber's left. "This place is so happy and peaceful, you'd never know there was a war going on or that the whole planet was fighting for its life."
"Until you look up and see that thing," Star said, catching sight of one of the many large, purple plants that were growing all over the planet. "Another one of those Radam spore plants."
All three Space Knights looked with varying degrees of contempt at the Radam plant, but Saber felt a special kind of revulsion for those plants. It wasn't just the fact that they were Radam constructs, it was also something else. Something far more personal.
"Come on," Star said cheerily, breaking the sudden melancholic mood that had come over the three Space Knights. "We've got some serious shopping to do."
"Shopping, yay!" Tina exclaimed.
With a sigh and a dramatic roll of his eyes, Saber followed the two women deeper into the mall. "I just hope I don't get relegated to package-carrying duty."
"Now, Saber," Star said, smiling in a manner that didn't reassure Saber in the slightest. "Why would you be worried about a silly little thing like that?"
"Let's just say I've had some rather unpleasant experiences with the mall."
"Really?" Star asked, genuinely curious. "You've been here? Or at least gone to places like this before?"
Oops, said too much, Saber winced internally. "It's not a big deal, really," Saber said, hoping Star would see fit to drop the subject.
"Oh," Star said, seeming to be disappointed with Saber's reply but not saying anything else.
"Oh come on, you two!" Tina exclaimed with equal measures of excitement and impatience in her tone. "We can all talk when we get back to the Command Center. Right now we're on shore leave, so let's enjoy it!"
"All right Tina, let's go do some power-shopping!" Star exclaimed, getting into the spirit of things.
Saber rolled his eyes again.
00101000101
Far away from his three fellow Space Knights, Ringo was sitting on a low wall eating a chocolate bar and watching some kids play a game of soccer. Ringo loved soccer, and he often wished that he could have more time to play. Heck, he often wished he had more time to have a normal life. But all that came in second to stopping the Radam invasion, Ringo knew.
When one of the kids kicked the ball over to where he was sitting, Ringo couldn't resist the urge to join the game. Jumping down off the wall, Ringo kicked the ball up into his hands and then started dribbling it on his knee. As the kids all gathered around him, Ringo grinned at them. He was glad that he had the chance to do things like this; things that were normal and fun and really had no purpose beyond that.
Playing with these kids would definitely fit the bill.
"You know," he said, grinning down at the kids as they all looked up at him. "I used to be pretty good at this game. Mind if I join you?"
"Okay!" the three kids called happily, though they seemed to be more focused on his chocolate bar than on him; maybe he'd buy them some of their own later.
10100010001
"It's not that I mind being reduced to the status of a pack mule," Saber said lightly, leaning his head out from behind the two stacks of boxes that he had been asked to carry. "It's just that when you two insistently 'suggested' that I go with you to see the city, I actually thought that I would be able to, you know, see the city."
Saber, having said his piece, straightened back up. The stacks of boxes were once more blocking his line of sight, but he could hear Star giggling softly beside him. Tina was laughing, and Saber grinned at them both. "Oh, and I feel that I should warn you ahead of time about this: if either of you tries to put a bell around my neck, I'm going to scream."
"Now there's an idea," Tina said with a laugh. "Hey, Star, see anywhere we might be able to buy a bell?"
"I hate you both," he flatly informed them; they laughed.
"Wow! A store full of stuffed animals!" Tina exclaimed; groaning semi-theatrically, though he wasn't even close to reaching the limits of his endurance, Saber followed her.
"Tina, grow up," Star chided, but Saber could tell by her tone that she was only teasing.
"Plenty of time for that later," Tina retorted. "C'mon, Saber."
"You're trying to bury me in packages, aren't you," he groused, grinning as Tina laughed. "You and Star have been conspiring against me all day; admit it."
"You're so weird," Tina laughed.
Once they'd gotten into the relative darkness of the shop, Saber took another step and smacked right into an obstacle.
"Tina," he said, exasperated but mildly amused. "What have I told you about steering me into walls?"
"Saber?"
"Maggie?" he echoed her question, tilting his head in confused recognition, and then smiling slightly. "I wasn't expecting to run into anyone I knew here, especially not literally."
"Well, I would say it's nice to see you, but I can't actually see you behind those boxes," Maggie said.
He laughed. "Yes, well, you can blame Star and Tina for that. I certainly do. So, what brings you to a place like this?"
"Oh, this place always has the latest in high-technology: fractal-imagery scanners, meta-logarithmic encryption decoders; you name it."
"Ah, I get it," he said. Super-geek strikes again.
"Sounds fun," Tina said, though she didn't really sound like she meant it. "Here, let me take some of those packages off your hands, Saber."
"You sure?" he asked. "It's no real trouble to carry."
"Yeah; we're going to be getting lunch soon, anyway, and I just thought you might like to have a break before we eat."
"Well, that would be nice," he said, as he let Tina take her stack of packages. "Thanks."
When they left the shop without buying anything, Saber breathed a short sigh of profound relief; he really hadn't been looking forward to being handed yet another package to carry. Peeking out from behind the stack of boxes that he was still carrying for Star, Saber managed to find her fairly quickly. Just as he was about to call out to her, though, someone passed between them.
That face... The familiar lines, that strong chin, even the way he moved; it was almost as familiar to Saber as his own, true name. It can't be; I must be seeing things. I hope I'm seeing things.
"Hey, Saber?" Star said; he looked up as he felt Star's hand resting on his left arm; he hadn't even noticed her taking the packages from him. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," he said, still a bit shaken up by what he hoped he hadn't seen. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, tucking his now-free hands into the pockets of his pants.
"I wonder how Slade's doing," Maggie mused, and for a moment Saber was surprised by her composure.
It made sense, though; none of them had ever seen any of the others, and it wasn't like he or Slade had been particularly forthcoming about anything related to their shared past. Those wounds had still been too raw when they had first arrived, and things had been entirely too hectic afterward.
"I'm sure my brother's fine," he said, working up one of his usual smiles; he didn't want to worry them, especially since he was hoping that he'd been wrong about what he'd seen. "He's probably found some way to amuse himself without us already."
1010010100
Breathing deeply as he slammed kick after knee-butt after kick into the bright red bag in front of him, both his Space Knight vest and his undershirt neatly folded and lying on the counter where the sinks were, Slade imagined for a few seconds that he was facing Saber. He could almost see his younger brother's grin, as he blocked and dodged, keeping just out of reach of Slade's strikes.
(Hey, little brother, how've you been doing? They treating you all right?) he asked, having long since fallen into a rhythm and hence not having to think too much about what he was doing.
(Well, I know what a sled dog feels like,) Saber said, but he could tell that his younger brother was enjoying himself. (Whether that's a good thing or not is still up in the air.)
(Well, you were the one who volunteered to go out with them, little brother,) he chided, grinning a bit.
(I know: my own fault,) Saber retorted, laughing.
For a few moments, as he continued with his routine, Slade had the fleeting idea that Saber was uneasy about something. But that was stupid; Saber would have told him if there was something bothering him. It was what they always did for each other.
"Take a break, will ya?" Turning to face Mac, Slade breathed deeply to steady himself, the way he had long since learned to do. "Relax; go get some fresh air."
"You mean go gallivanting around the city, like my slacker brother? No thanks; there's nothing for me out there."
Turning back to the bag, which had almost stopped swaying from the earlier momentum he'd imparted to it, Slade began kicking it again. He was just starting to think about contacting Saber again, maybe so they could talk about that feeling of unease that he'd gotten from Saber; and probably so that his brother could tell him to stop being a spaz, he heard Mac speaking up again.
"This is the first day off we've had in over two months," the man said, sounding bemused. "Why not take it easy for awhile? Why're you pushing yourself so hard, lad?"
"It kind of helps me take my mind off things," he said, landing on his feet and panting slightly. "Saber and I were planning to spend some time sparring, but that kind of went out the air lock, what with Star and Tina dragging him off and all."
"You really need to learn to relax better, lad," Mac said, coming over with an amused look on his face. "Come on."
As Mac took him by his right wrist, Slade decided that he would follow him; it wasn't as if he couldn't leave if he found what Mac was doing too boring, and Saber probably would have left to take his bath by now, anyway.
01010010011
While the four of them, Maggie having been invited along by Star, settled down at the table to eat their respective lunches, Saber tried not to dwell on the person he might or might not have seen going down the escalator when he, Tina, and Maggie had met up with Star outside of that last shop. It probably wasn't who he thought it was, anyway; he could hope so, at least.
"Hey, Saber, are you feeling all right?"
"Huh?" looking up, Saber found that he was the center of attention for three very worried people. "Sure I am. Why wouldn't I be, Star?"
"It was just that you seemed so far away just then," Star said, looking at him with such genuine concern that Saber felt warm just thinking about it; he also felt like kind of a jerk for worrying her so much.
"I was just letting my mind wander a bit; don't worry, it always comes back," he said, winking.
Maggie and Tina both laughed; Star smiled, but the look in her eyes still clearly showed that she was worried about him. He was touched, but he didn't even know if what he'd seen was right or not, and explaining it to them would mean that Slade would end up finding out. He didn't want his older twin to worry about what might have just as easily been a case of mistaken identity.
Right; maybe if I keep telling myself that, I'll start to believe it sometime soon, Saber groused, maintaining firm mental walls between his own mind and Slade's.
"Well, now that we've all had some actual food," Maggie said, drawing Saber's attention back to the present and the people he was currently with. "What's say we get some of those churros that Saber caught a whiff of while we were on our way here."
"Well, I'm definitely in favor of that," he said, grinning slyly at her.
"I knew you would be," Maggie said, grinning right back at him. "How about you two? Star? Tina?"
"I think I'd like to try one," Tina said. "Saber certainly seemed happy about them, and they really did smell good."
"None for me, thanks," Star said. "I'm full."
"All right, so that'll be five churros," Maggie said, giving him a knowing look; he laughed. "I'll go get them."
"Here," he said, digging his cash card out of his wallet. "For my share."
"My treat," Maggie said, smiling as she pushed the offered card back to him.
"Wow; thanks," he said, tucking the card back into the wallet that had been the first purchase he'd made with the money he'd made over his and Slade's time with the Space Knights.
Sometimes it felt like they'd just gotten there, and sometimes it felt like they had been there forever.
"Thanks a lot, Maggie," Tina said, smiling happily.
As Maggie went off to get them some sweet snacks, the kind that Saber hadn't had since his and Slade's life had been all but destroyed by the Radam, Saber wondered how his older twin was doing; he certainly hoped Slade wasn't working himself too hard.
10101001011
Having straddled a chair next to Mac's work area, the one next to the large computer console that he was starting to suspect was a standard feature of the quarters that the Space Knights were given, Slade settled himself into it and clasped his hands together loosely over the back of it. He was almost reminded of the way he and Saber would clasp hands, just to let the other know that they were there. He was having some trouble getting his attention to focus on just what it was that Mac was actually doing, though.
"No offense, Mac," he said, as the man finished carving a stick of what he thought for a few moments might have been Balsa wood, and ran it through a small fire for some reason. "But, I've had more fun watching a glacier melt. What're you doing, anyway?"
"I'm making a kite," he said, after having examined the stick.
"A kite?" he asked, surprised; whatever he'd been expecting, it hadn't quite been that.
"Someday, when the war is over, I'm going to fill the sky with them," Mac said, looking over at the wall opposite where he was working; Slade followed his gaze. "You want to try your hand at one?" he asked, tossing Slade the stick he'd been working on. "They're not as simple as they look."
Contemplating the stick in his hands for a few moments, Slade considered the kites that he'd just seen; there were four of them in the room, hanging neatly together on the wall; the topmost on the left was an idyllic rural scene, with a big red barn as a centerpiece and fluffy white clouds in the sky; the one next to it had a simple pattern of bold, gold and brown stripes; the one on the bottom left had a picture of a sunset behind a large mountain, with wide, green fields in the foreground; and the last one was a simple, bold red, with black calligraphy. It was a nice collection, Slade had to admit, lending a bit of color to a room that would have otherwise been completely indistinguishable from his quarters, or Saber's, or anyone else's that he could think up.
It was also nice to think that, someday, he and his brother would be finished with their personal war; no matter what the final cost ended up being, Slade wanted things settled.
"Mm-hmm. Why not," he said, offering a slight smile in response to Mac's wink.
"That's the spirit, laddie," Mac said, as Slade himself climbed down from the chair and joined Mac on the mat.
This was something that he had never done before, and wouldn't Tina have laughed; him finding something to do that didn't involve sparring with his brother or fighting against the Radam. He thought Saber would find it kind of funny, too, but then his younger twin would probably understand just why it was that he did it. That both needed to be reminded that they were still human, sometimes; it sometimes seemed like he needed it more than Saber, though.
But then, Saber had always been the stronger one.
1110100010
He was almost done with the last of his churros, his lips covered in a light dusting of cinnamon and sugar that he hadn't yet licked off, when he heard the sound of voices drawing nearer. Looking up, Saber found that Ringo was just finishing a talk with some woman. The woman was fairly nice-looking, he noted distantly, as he watched Ringo say what looked like a farewell to her and then wave to the four of them.
"Hey, guys," Ringo said, swaggering a bit as he joined up with the four of them. "I guess all good things must come to an end; a bit early for my tastes, though."
"Yes, we all know how you like to spend your time, Casanova," he said, smirking as Ringo fell into step with them as the five of them as they came up to the side of the Jeep that they had used to travel down to the city in the first place.
"You should try it, sometime," Ringo said, grinning at him as he climbed into the passenger seat; he'd driven them to the city, so he'd said that it was only fair that someone else get to drive them back. "That pretty face of yours is bound to get you a lot of attention."
Saber would have offered to drive himself, but since he'd only gotten his learner's permit before the Radam had come, and since he'd never gotten a license in this new identity of his, he climbed into the back seat with Tina and Maggie. The rumble of the Jeep's engine as it started up almost reminded him of the thrum of the Blue Earth's engines as it lifted off; on a much smaller scale, of course. It was good to think of those kinds of things, they helped to distract him from other things.
Other things that he was trying very hard not to think about.
"Saber!"
Startled, Saber tried to suppress the slight, unnerving urge he'd gotten to go for the throat of the person who had just spoken. "What is it, Star?" he asked, once he'd shoved that urge back into the Radam-influenced part of his subconscious where it belonged.
"We're back at the Command Center," she said, looking worriedly at him as Tina and Maggie exited the car.
He smiled, putting out nonchalance like he'd been doing more often lately. "Sorry, I just got a little absorbed in the scenery. It's a beautiful countryside out there, you know."
The others seemed to take that in stride, Ringo already launching into a tale of his exploits in the city while the rest of them had been browsing the mall, but Star was till looking at him like she suspected something. He tried out one of his more winsome smiles on her, but she turned away before he could tell if it was working or not. After a quick stop at each of their quarters in turn, to change back into their respective uniforms and drop off their respective purchases, Saber making a mental note to show Slade what he'd gotten for him later, the five of them met up in the corridors leading to Comm. One.
There were probably going to check in with Commander Jamison, since he was the one who had given them leave in the first place and so it was probably standard procedure to let him know that they were back. Ringo was currently talking about the woman that he had met, presumably the one that he had been saying goodbye to when he, Tina, Maggie and Star had met up with the man.
"So I said to her 'sorry, but the boss hasn't given me time to flirt, let alone go out on a date'. She was obviously nuts about me," Ringo bragged, stretching his arms up above his head. "But, sometimes you have to say sorry, not available."
"Of course," he said, giving Ringo a who-do-you-think-you're-kidding look.
"By the way, Saber, what was bothering you so much back when we were about to leave for lunch?" Star asked, turning that same, worried look on him that she'd had before.
"Something was bothering you?" Slade asked; Saber winced inwardly.
This was just what he'd been hoping to avoid.
"I think Saber might have recognized someone at the mall," Star said. "Whoever it was, seeing them really shook him up."
"Yeah, he was all agitated and quiet on the ride back to the Command Center. In fact," Tina giggled. "He was almost acting like you, Slade."
"I wasn't that bad," Saber protested.
"Yes, you were," Tina and Star both said at once.
"What happened, anyway?" Slade asked cautiously.
"Well, it happened awhile after Saber had offered to carry our packages for us," Tina said.
"Under extreme duress, I might add," Saber cut in. Tina stuck her tongue out at him.
"Well, anyway, Saber was carrying our stuff. And then this guy brushed past us. He wasn't rude about it or anything, and all he did was get on the escalator and go down. But Saber acted like… I don't know, like he knew the guy or something," Tina said.
"Really?" Slade asked warily, thinking about just who would cause that kind of a reaction in his normally composed brother. "What did he look like?" Slade asked Saber.
"He had short hair," Saber said, hoping that Slade would be able to tell him that he'd just been seeing things. "He was wearing a white tee-shirt and blue jeans, and he had a brown jacket on over it. I don't think he was shopping. He looked more like he was trying to find someone. Trying to find a very specific someone," Or two, Saber added silently.
"What else?" Slade demanded.
"He was tall," Saber went on almost-reluctantly, but only Slade noticed his brother's hesitation. "Taller than me, even. His hair was black, and cut very short like I said earlier. He was kind of pale, though not really as much as me. Just like he hasn't been out in the sun for some time."
"You never look like you've been out in the sun, even when you have," Tina said, winking.
"Quiet, you," Saber shot back, giving her a short, gentle swat on the top of her head.
Tina stuck her tongue out at him again.
Watching Saber with Tina, anyone else would have thought that he didn't have a care in the world; but Slade wasn't like most people. He knew when his brother was trying to talk around something; there was something bothering him, but he was trying to avoid saying it. More than anything, that scared him. Saber wasn't the kind to go dancing around the truth, he always tended to push for a confrontation; even when it hurt.
That was really what made him who he was.
If something could be bad enough to make Saber fear confronting it, then Slade didn't want to face whatever it was alone. He had a feeling, though…
(Ness. Cain. How are you, my dear little brothers?) a curious, wistful voice echoed through the minds of both twins at the same time.
And, unseen to all the other Space Knights, a pair of symbols that looked like miniature, glowing outlines of their respective teknocrystals appeared on their foreheads. The symbols were even in the correct colors.
(Can't you hear me calling, little brothers? I'm waiting for you. Won't you come out to visit me? I've been thinking about you all this time; we really need to talk.)
Slade had covered his teknocrystal symbol with his right hand, to keep anyone else from seeing it and starting to ask questions. Saber, meanwhile, was trying to deal with having a suspicion confirmed that he'd so badly wanted to be wrong. It had been hard enough to deal with Gunnar, and he'd only been a friend. A very close friend, one who Saber had once felt as if he could share all his problems with, but not quite family.
Fighting your own family was always different, always worse, than fighting someone who wasn't related to you. No matter how close the two of you had been, or at least that was what Saber had kept telling himself during the times that he and Slade had been forced to fight Gunnar. Now, though… Saber sighed, it wasn't going to be so easy to distance himself from what he and his brother would have to do, not this time.
"Hey, what's going on?" Tina asked, looking from Slade to Saber and then back again. "What's wrong?"
Neither twin had the presence of mind just then to answer, but Saber was the one who stayed the longest. Longest being a relative term in this case, since he cut and ran only a few seconds after Slade had. The other Space Knights stared in mute shock at the place where the twins had been standing.
01001000101
(I can't believe it's him; I think I could have handled one of the others.)
Slade could hear the stunned dejection in his brother's 'voice', but he didn't answer for fear that the action would make the situation all too real for him. As long as he didn't think about it too much, then he could fight. It was what he had to do; none of… them would ever give any quarter. It just wasn't in their nature anymore.
And now, with Gunnar gone, they had to face down one of the others. One of the people who had been related to them by blood; who still was, if either of them would have let themselves think about that. Thoughts like that would have made it all but impossible to fight what was now their enemy, however, so he tried to keep that out of his mind; he knew Saber was doing the same.
He was the first one to make it to the Jeep, so by silent agreement he got to drive. They were soon enough on their way out of the base, following the trail of psychic impressions that their once-older brother was leaving for them. Slade knew who it was now, and a quick glance at Saber's face told him that his brother had recognized the one who was calling them as well by this time, too.
He'd been one of their first friends, and now they were going to face him in a battle to the death; Slade didn't want to think of the possible outcome, but he couldn't help wondering what would happen when they arrived. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good.
The wind whipped through their hair where it got past the Jeep's windows, ruffling the long black strands as the two brothers made their way closer to their inevitable fight. A fight with someone who had once been both a family member and a close friend. Slade pushed a few speed limits on his way there, wanting to have the confrontation over with but not wanting to deal with the police if he could avoid it.
Luck, if one really wanted to call it that, was on their side; there was no police presence in this area. In fact, the roads they took were deserted but for the jeep they were riding in. Neither of them quite knew if they should take that as a good omen or a bad one. Still, nothing would be solved if they didn't solve it, and leaving him out on his own wasn't really an option.
Not with what he would be willing to do to make them come and confront him. Not with him being as dangerous as he was. This wasn't their older brother they were dealing with anymore; this was one of Darkon's Teknomen, coming to kill them because they had escaped his control.
They were going to have to fight to survive, just like they had done with Gunnar.
Arriving at the battleground, they started moving through the long rows of teknoplants on their way to meet… their enemy.
Seeing him, staring up at one of the teknoplants as he almost lovingly caressed the large root standing just in front of him, Slade bit the inside of his cheek so that he wouldn't wince. Conrad had always had something of a thing for plants; not anywhere near the passion that he'd had for cooking, but enough that this wasn't so much of a surprise. That was what made it hurt more: the mannerisms were the same, but this wasn't Conrad they were dealing with anymore.
This was one of Darkon's pet assassins.
"Hello again, little brothers," the Teknoman said.
He was smiling; he actually managed to look kind, as if he was actually happy to see them. Slade wasn't going to fall for it. Grabbing for Saber's hand, wanting reassurance that he wasn't alone, Slade stepped forward to confront the newest of Darkon's Teknomen.
"Drop the act, Spear," he growled, realizing then that he knew the name of Darkon's newest servant. "What've you come for?"
"I've come to bring you and Cain back into Lord Darkon's fold, Ness," Spear said, still wearing that happy smile on his face, though it seemed a bit condescending now.
"No thanks," Saber snapped.
"That goes for me, too; we're not going back to be mind-slaves to that monster," he snarled. "And nothing you can say or do is going to make us."
"Come now, little brothers, don't be difficult," Spear said, the smile on his face slipping away, leaving him with an expression of mild annoyance. "Neither of you could possibly belong here, so why don't you just come back with me, where you do belong?"
"You know just as well as we do that what Darkon is attempting here is madness," he said, opting not to mention his and Saber's place with the Space Knights; god only knew what Spear would do with that kind of information.
Spear chuckled, clearly amused. "That's called survival of the fittest, little brother. It's a simple fact of life, and you have to deal with it."
"You, and I, and all the other Teknomen, come from this planet! These are our people you're helping him exterminate!" he shouted, spreading his arms wide to encompass the world at large; everything that Darkon was threatening by his presence and his plans. "They're human beings, just like the three of us!"
Spear sighed, the fingers of his right hand pressed to his forehead, in the way that Conrad had always done when he was exasperated by something. "You know, little brother, it sounds like you actually believe that. These insects shouldn't mean anything to us; yes, some of them might very well be strong enough to properly serve the Empire, but by and large they're worthless to us."
And there it was; something Conrad would never have said, under any circumstances. Now he could fight; he didn't know if he could win, since brother or not this Teknoman still had all of Conrad's skill and experience, but he could fight.
"These people are under our protection, Spear," he heard Saber say, and he smiled slightly; whatever else might happen, at least he didn't have to face Spear alone. "We're not about to let Darkon, or anyone else, kill them without a fight."
Spear sighed, looking slightly more annoyed. "Is this the way it's going to be, little brothers? A fight?"
"You're no brother of ours, Spear," he snarled.
"You lost the right to call us family when you gave up your humanity," Saber said flatly.
"I see," Spear's eyes had gone flat, now, the expression on his face completely blank. "I suppose, if I can't reason with you right now, than I'll simply have to take you back to Lord Darkon by force." A teknocrystal, red as all Radam Teknoman had, appeared as Spear drew his hand out of his right pocket.
"I would love to see you try," Saber snarled, his own glittering, cracked, sky-blue teknocrystal appearing in his hand as his younger twin prepared to charge into battle again.
Slade hated himself for a moment, knowing that he would have to leave his younger twin all alone to fight the latest of Darkon's servants, while he waited for Pegas to arrive. Saber was strong, though, so he hoped that he would be all right. He couldn't exactly voice-activate Pegas from this far away, but when he transformed, he had always felt an echo from his own crystal; every time.
He would just have to hope that Pegas' close connection with his teknocrystal would be enough to help; Slade didn't know what he would do, otherwise. "Come, Pegas!"
1100101001
"Tekno-power!"
It was a bit strange, hearing his voice overlapping with someone who wasn't Slade but as the armor of his Teknoman form appeared and hardened around him, forming a nigh-impenetrable shell, Saber put all of that aside. He didn't know just how Slade was going to manage to get into this fight, what with Pegas all the way back at the Command Center and with no real way to get it here without probably getting whoever was transporting it killed by way of Spear and his homicidal tendencies, but he knew that his brother was looking for a way nonetheless.
"Why are you wasting your time on this minor little mudball, when you could join us as the lords of the cosmos?" Spear demanded, even as their respective teknolances slammed into each other and deadlocked.
"This 'minor little mudball' just so happens to be the property of the human race," he said, straining a bit against the larger Teknoman's superior weight and leverage. "And we're not about to let you or anyone else take it away from us."
Shoving back with all of his enhanced strength, Saber almost overbalanced and face-planted into the ground when Spear drew back suddenly.
"Ah, Cain, you were always a bit too stubborn for your own good."
"Shut up, Spear," he snarled; he was only glad that Slade didn't have to deal with this right now, it always seemed to affect him more.
"Really, Cain; name-calling? You're so childish sometimes," Spear chided, having landed atop a broken-down, abandoned four-story building just back from where the two of them had started fighting.
"I do not have to take this from Darkon's lapdog," he drawled; it had often been said that he could irritate just about anyone if he put his mind to it, now it was time to put that to the test.
"I know what you're trying to do, little brother," Spear said calmly, his oversized harpoon of a teknolance held diagonally in his hands, the point aimed up at the sky. "It's not going to work."
"This, folks, is what we call overconfidence," he drawled, flipping his left hand palm-up as if he was gesturing to a large crowd.
"Cain, really, we've known each other for all of your life, and most of mine," Spear said, sounding like Conrad did when he was particularly annoyed with something. "Do you honestly think any of your little tricks will work on me? I do know your weak point, however."
He didn't have time to ask just what the hell Spear meant by that; hell, he barely had time to react when Spear drew back his teknolance and threw it. He was almost ready to start taunting the evil Teknoman about his completely piss-poor aim, when he realized just what it was that said evil Teknoman had probably been aiming at in the first place… Slade!
Turning on his heel fast enough to rip a hole in the concrete underneath him, Saber ran full-out for the place where he could now see Slade standing, scanning the skies in what looked like a mixture of hope and fear. He didn't take even a moment to wonder what his older twin was looking for, but quickly raised his teknolance and slammed it into the spinning form of Spear's. Slade, his attention obviously having been drawn by the loud 'clang' of the two lancers crashing into each other, turned to look at him as Saber himself planted his feet and skidded to a stop.
"Saber-!"
Screaming, his own and not Slade's, drowned out the rest of his older twin's sentence. Saber felt like someone had driven a burning spike through his right shoulder, then his right hand went slack, dropping his teknolance as he fell to his knees. Summoning the last of his temporarily-spent strength, Saber looked his older twin dead in the eyes.
"Run, you idiot!"
"You see, Cain?" Saber bit back another scream as Spear twisted the blade in his shoulder; he managed to cut it down to a low moan. "You're so pathetically predictable."
"You'll have to forgive me for not being at my best," he snarled with violent sarcasm.
"I'll forgive you, Cain," Spear said, and the sadistic Teknoman actually reached out to cup his cheek with his armored right hand! "Just as soon as you come home with me."
Dipping his fingers into the blood welling up in his perforated right shoulder, while Spear was still distracted with waiting on his response, Saber lunged forward and smeared it across the evil Teknoman's visor as he shoved them apart to give himself more room to maneuver. Spear stumbled backward, blinded by Saber's own blood, and Saber himself took a moment to catch the breath that he'd had knocked out of him. That had been one of his more insane stunts, but since it had worked he wasn't going to complain about it.
Sinking to his knees, all the while making sure to keep a sharp eye on Spear so that the evil Teknoman wouldn't be able to attack him while he was facing a completely different direction, Saber breathed slowly and deeply. He could feel his right shoulder already starting to heal up, the flesh knitting itself back together under the perforated armor, but as Spear angrily wiped away the blood smeared across his visor, the red lights of his eyes narrowing furiously, Saber got the feeling that however he was managing to heal himself, it wasn't going to last for long once Spear got to him.
He barely got his feet under him again before Spear slammed into him, forcing him down through the concrete of their battleground, and dropping him down into the old, abandoned subway tunnel that he hadn't even expected to be there in the first place. Panting, he began to feel the familiar disorientation and weariness that meant that his time in his Teknoman form had just about run out. Talk about bad timing, Saber groused, firming up his mental walls a bit; no sense worrying Slade more than he probably already was.
(Saber! Hold on for a bit longer, brother; I'll be right there.)
(I'm glad you managed to get Pegas to come this far out,) he said, relieved, but also wanting to subtly remind a certain someone of just how bad of an ass-kicking he would be in for if he was being a self-sacrificing dumbass again.
(Yeah; me, too. Just hold on for a bit longer,) Slade said, and he could sense that his brother was closing in on their position; he could also sense that his brother had managed to transform, so that was a load off of his mind.
Staggering a bit as he got back to his feet, then bracing himself with his teknolance when a wave of tiredness nearly brought him to his knees again, Saber faced Spear.
"Little brother, you're not looking well at all." Damn him, he actually sounded concerned! "Why don't you just rest now? I'll take you back with me."
"Drop. Dead," he hissed, in between the deep breaths of air that felt like they were the only things keeping him on his feet. Then, as he felt a sudden rush of energy leaving his body and saw a wash of bright turquoise light, Saber gritted his teeth in helpless fury. No! Not this! Not now!
The energy of his transformation and the teknolance that he'd had in his hand, in short the only things still keeping him on his feet, were gone now; as he toppled forward, feeling something grabbing the back of his Space Knight vest, Saber hoped that Slade would have a better time of things than he had.
11101011111
Saber's mental signal had gotten weaker, it hadn't cut out entirely so he knew that nothing too drastic could have happened, but knowing that his younger twin was unconscious in close proximity to one of Darkon's Teknomen was enough to give him chills. Following the mental link that would lead him to Saber, Slade leaped down into the hole leading into the subway. Spear was there, standing with his back to the impromptu entrance, and for a moment Slade was overcome with fury.
He'd been forced to watch as this sadist had attacked his younger twin, helpless to do anything but listen to Saber's screams as Spear had shoved a foot-long spike through his shoulder. Saber's trick with his blood had been the last thing he'd seen, before he'd ran to meet up with Pegas so that he could transform. Now, though, seeing Spear with his back exposed, Slade narrowed his eyes in fury.
Spear was going to suffer for what he had done. This is for you, Saber; guide my hand, little brother. Charging full-out, his teknolance held forward like he was in some kind of renaissance faire joust, Slade aimed for the upper-middle of Spear's back, meaning to stab through the left thruster and impale one of the evil Teknoman's lungs.
Spear turned then, Slade's perception of time slowing to a crawl as he realized that something – someone – particularly important to him was being held in the armored hands of Darkon's servant. Residual momentum from Spear's turn rocked his younger twin's head back on his neck, causing his long, black hair to flutter in a short-lived breeze. Digging his heels and toes into the ground, kicking up crumbling concrete and digging short, deep trenches into the ground where he'd been running, Slade managed to cancel his forward-momentum just as the very tip of his double-ended teknolance touched the point a few inches below Saber's collarbone.
Shivering briefly, horrified at what he had almost done however inadvertent it was, for a few moments all Slade could see was his teknolance plunging forward those last few, fatal inches; the tip ripping through his younger twin's throat, perforating his chest cavity, and spilling bright red blood all over his brother's red vest and white shirt. But that hadn't happened; he'd stopped in time, and the only red thing that had been disturbed was Saber's vest, rumpled where the tip of his teknolance pressed against it. Shaking in horrified relief, Slade quickly gathered his composure and stood back upright.
It didn't matter what he hadn't done, now he had to get Saber out of Spear's hands before anything else could happen to him.
"Little brother, what were you trying to do?"
Slade didn't dignify that with a response, instead rushing forward to try to sweep Spear's legs out from under him. Watching as Spear switched Saber's insensate form from being gripped in both hands to being slung under his left arm, brandishing his retrieved teknolance in his right hand, Slade sighed in relief. At least now he would have a slightly easier time getting Saber away from Spear.
Flinging off the two bladed boomerangs at the leading edge of his teknolance, Slade waited until Spear was distracted by having to duck out of the way, then lunged forward to rip his younger brother out of the evil Teknoman's grasp. Catching his boomerangs on the end of his teknolance, Slade ran for more open ground. Finding his way onto the long-disused station platform, Slade paused to catch his breath and check on Saber.
His younger twin seemed to be all right, his hair a bit disheveled from the run but nothing else seemed to be wrong with him aside from the usual exhaustion of being forced to transform out of his Teknoman form suddenly. Slade barely had time to breathe a soft sigh of relief, before Spear appeared on the loading platform opposite him.
"Why do the two of you insist on making this so difficult, little brother?" Spear asked, sounding so much like Conrad always had when he was disappointed in them for something. "Do you think I enjoy having to hunt down my own family? My flesh and blood?"
"You're no family of mine," he snarled. "You tried to kill my brother!"
"Ness, I am your brother, and you and Cain are mine." Spear held his right hand out, his teknolance held loosely in his left. "Come home with me."
"Shut up!"
Leaping into the air with the aid of his thrusters, Slade slammed his own teknolance into the ceiling of the subway tunnel and twisted hard, bringing down enough rubble to bury Spear deep enough that Slade felt safe enough to turn his back so he could get more distance. Fighting in confined spaces like this, especially when he had to watch how he moved so that he didn't endanger Saber, wasn't something that he was going to try to keep up for longer than he absolutely needed to. Hearing the heavy tread of a Teknoman, and more than that sensing that Spear was coming up behind him, Slade turned to face the evil Teknoman.
"Really now, little brother, did you think that a measly rock pile would be enough to stop me? I'm disappointed in you, Ness."
Just as he was about to turn and shout at Spear, a sudden spike of pain in his head and the harsh sound of his helmet's alarm ringing in his ears let Slade know that his time, like Saber's had just about run out. Screaming as the hot spike of pain drove itself into his brain, Slade knew that his only chance was to get back to Pegas and reverse his transformation before he lost control.
Shielding Saber's vulnerable head with his armored arm, Slade burst through the roof of the subway and landed back on the surface of the roadway that he, Saber, and Spear had started their fight. Only it wasn't quite the same place they had all started, since he couldn't see Pegas anywhere, and he'd had to punch another hole in the tunnel instead of coming out through the one that had already been made. The pain spiked suddenly, driving Slade to his knees and making him inadvertently lose his grip on Saber as he clutched at his head, screaming in the throes of agony.
Shoving the pain aside, Slade caught his younger brother's body as it went sprawling across his lap. Gently cradling Saber's head, gritting his teeth as waves of pain burned into his brain, Slade checked his younger twin for any injuries that might have been caused by his flight from Spear. There were none; nothing was wrong with Saber that wouldn't be cured by a good rest, which he was getting to at least some degree right now.
"Pegas, come here, quickly," he said, having spotted his partner some distance off.
Clutching at his head as the head as the agony in his brain spiked again, Slade made an effort not to dig the fingers of his opposite hand into Saber's cheek.
0101000111
Hearing Ness' screaming, knowing that his dear little brother had only a short time before he lost control of his power and became a mindless berserker, Spear moved forward. He didn't want to hurt either of his younger brothers, but they were being so stubborn that he knew that any further attempts at persuasion were likely to be met with the sharp ends of Ness' teknolance. His poor little brothers must have been more confused than he'd thought, if they were still claiming to be part and parcel of the pitiful insects crawling around on this little mudball of theirs.
For a few moments, Spear was reminded of Sam, and his baby brother's stubborn insistence on maintaining the charade that he was still one of the insects. Since Sam had been brought into Lord Darkon's fold, Spear was at least reasonably confidant that he would be able to do the same for Ness and Cain.
"Now then, little brother, let's end this absurd, pointless struggle," he said gently, stabbing the base of his teknolance into the ground and leaving it to stand freely behind him as he made his way over to where Ness knelt with Cain in his arms. "I won't make you let go of Cain, if that's what you're worried about, little brother. Come, I'll take you both back home with me."
Frowning in mild confusion as a large, humanoid mecha landed in front of Ness, Spear watched as the machine used a pair of small thrusters built into its legs to turn so that its back was facing Ness as he knelt, Cain still in his arms. Unfortunately, that was all he managed to see; a barrage from a laser-cannon or two rained down on him, and Spear looked up to see the spacecraft that his little brothers had been traveling in when he had first met up with them as he was now.
"Insects, how dare they?!" he snarled; he had no desire to get into another fight, and little enough power to spare besides. "I'll be back soon, little brothers; wait for me."
Firing his thrusters, he ripped his teknolance out of the ground and flew off to meet with the mount that Lord Darkon had bred for him; looking back over his shoulder, he memorized the ship that carried his little brothers. He would deal with them soon enough.
00010010011
The energy rushing out of him nearly knocked Slade to his knees when Pegas' interlock-chamber released him, but he was just able to stumble past the place where he'd laid Saber down on the ground to rest. Saber was just starting to stir as Slade picked him up, wrapping his arms around his younger brother, his only brother, Slade listened as the Blue Earth landed next to them and Ringo and Star rushed out.
Burying his face in the fabric covering Saber's left shoulder, Slade squeezed his eyes shut as they began to water. Brother or not, that had felt like ripping his own heart out.
"Take it easy, kids," he heard Ringo say; he turned his head so that his forehead pressed against Saber's neck, flesh to flesh. "You both all right?"
"You nearly exceeded your time limit, didn't you, Slade?" Star asked; he didn't feel the need to answer.
"Just who was that nut in the purple costume? It sounded like the three of you knew each other."
"Who was that guy to you boys?" Star asked, echoing Ringo's earlier question.
"Family," he muttered, resting his chin on Saber's shoulder; as much as he didn't want that to be true, he still knew that it was. Nothing he or Saber could do would ever change that.
"What do you mean family?" Star asked, and he saw her looking from him to Saber. "What's going on here? Slade? Saber?"
