Looking down at the twins as they huddled together, seeming to be on the verge of some kind of emotional breakdown, Star wondered what that new Teknoman of Darkon's had said or done to have such a profound effect on the twins. And Saber in particular, since he always seemed to go out of his way to appear completely composed and unaffected, even during the times she suspected that he wasn't either of those things.
"C'mon," Ringo said, moving to put his hand on Slade's back. "Let's get you kids back to the Blue Earth."
They rose, moving almost listlessly toward the waiting Blue Earth, and Star gave Ringo a look over both of the twins' backs. He returned it with a solemn nod; whatever they could do to help Slade and Saber recover from... whatever it was that had happened to shake them up so much, they would do it. No matter what it was; neither of the twins was really the type to ask for anything unreasonable, she knew.
Shepherding them back into the Blue Earth, her right hand on Slade's left shoulder and Ringo's left on Saber's right, Star felt her heart swell with compassion for both of them. They had always seemed so strong, like they could handle anything the world in general or the Radam in particular could unleash on them, that to see them both so broken made her feel as if the world had tilted off its axis. As the four of them drew closer to the ship, Slade and Saber each drew closer to the other, and by the time they had made it to the boarding-ramp the twins were leaning heavily on each other in on obvious effort just to keep going.
Part of that seemed to be simple physical exhaustion from having fought for so long, but she could see in the eyes of both twins that the emotional side of things was also weighing them down. She just didn't know why they would have such an emotional reaction to Darkon's new Teknoman; they hadn't had a reaction like this to facing Gunnar, and he'd caused them a lot more trouble than this new Teknoman. But, it was like they had both forgotten about Gunnar entirely.
She didn't know just what had made them feel this way after only one battle with that new Teknoman, and she didn't know if she would ever find out, but Star was determined to do whatever she could to make them feel better after what they had just gone through.
Helping them into their respective seats aboard the Blue Earth, Star wasn't surprised to see Slade turn his chair around entirely, facing Saber, and as the Blue Earth lifted into the sky, Slade wrapped his arms around Saber and buried his face in his younger brother's chest. Saber wrapped his own arms around Slade, gently leaning his right cheek against the top of his brother's head.
"Well, time to head back to the Command Center," Ringo said, sounding like he was trying to distance himself from what had just happened and not entirely succeeding.
"Can we not do that?" Saber asked, turning to look back over his shoulder at Ringo; Star caught the haunted look in Saber's eyes and sighed in sympathy.
"Look," Ringo said. "I know you kids have had a rough time of it lately, but we've really got to get back to the Command Center and report this to the Commander. He's going to want to know what happened to you boys, and you both need your rest; anyone can see that."
"Yeah," Saber said listlessly, seeming to fold in on himself as he held Slade tighter. "Rest; right."
With a last look over at the twins, Slade with his head nearly buried in Saber's embrace, and Saber himself closed off from the world just like his brother, Star turned her attention back to her navigational duties. She had to get them all back to the Command Center, or the twins would never get their rest. Still, hearing how Saber had sounded at the prospect of returning, she thought that it might be good for the both of them to spend some time in the bio-dome.
It wasn't entirely like going outside, but the outside world wasn't a very safe place at the moment.
010010001
When he and the mount that Lord Darkon had bred for him returned to the Space Ring, Spear resumed his human form and entered the teknopod that had been prepared for his use when he had been given the mission to deal with his wayward younger brothers. His clothes were neatly folded, laid just outside the teknopod that was infusing him with energy for the final leg of his return journey to Lord Darkon's ship. It was a journey that he had been hoping to make with Ness and Cain in tow, but apparently that would have to wait.
He was not going to just give up on his own younger brothers; he simply had to find a way to present his case that his younger brothers would not be able to argue against. Or, failing that, he would simply have to overpower the both of them and bring his younger brothers back to Lord Darkon by force. He was the eldest of them, after all.
It was the duty of an elder brother to look after his younger siblings, and that included bringing them back onto the right path when they strayed every once in awhile. He'd never expected Ness and Cain to actually fight his influence, but then they were still at that rebellious age. He'd just have to handle them differently next time; and to hope that Lord Darkon could be persuaded to be understanding about the matter.
He would have to present his case carefully, Spear knew.
0101001000
When they'd all made it back to the Command Center, with the Wonder Twins looking like the end of a whole month's worth of bad days, he and Star helped the kids out of their seats and gently guided them into the building. They seemed to have recovered a bit, though the both of them still looked pretty beaten-down. Star was clucking over the both of them like some kind of hyperactive mother-hen, so Ringo figured he'd leave her to it.
It wasn't like those boys had anyone else to take care of them when they were having especially bad days.
Guiding the boys back to their respective quarters, after they had unwound their limp arms from around the other's, he took charge of Saber while Star helped Slade to get back to his own room. The kid was leaning on him now, since he didn't have Slade with him, and when Ringo looked into his eyes, he shuddered. He'd only seen eyes that empty on people who'd lost everything in the world that they had ever cared about, or someone who'd just come out the other end of a war.
Now sure, they were in a war against the Radam and all their creepy Spider-crabs, not to mention those freaky Teknomen that the enemy seemed to love throwing at them, but the battles against the Spider-crabs just seemed to consist of the Wonder Twins going through them like wet tissue paper. Sure, the Teknomen were a lot tougher than any Spider-crab alive, but the only one who'd caused them any real trouble was Gunnar, and Slade had atomized that guy about a month or so ago.
This new guy, whatever his name was, was just one more in a long line of lackeys that that maniac Darkon had sent out, and the Wonder Twins would handle him just like they had handled Gunnar. Still, anyone could see that neither of their boys were in any kind of emotional state to talk about what was going on with them. Of course, since Slade never seemed to be in the right kind of emotional state, Ringo knew that he would have to go to Saber if he ever wanted any kind of answers about what was going on in their heads.
When the two of them finally reached Saber's quarters, the kid himself seemed to wake up a little. It was a good thing, too; Ringo hadn't been about to open the door for someone who wasn't conked out, but he hadn't been quite sure how he was going to handle the issue of getting Saber to come out of his funk for long enough to get inside his room. It was nice to see that the kid hadn't completely gone bye-bye on him.
"Try to get some sleep, Saber," he said gently, as the kid made his way over to the bed that he nominally slept in; Ringo didn't know if he was going to get much actual sleep, not after how he'd been looking, but he could at least plant the idea.
"Yeah," the kid said, falling listlessly on top of his bed, still wearing his full uniform. "Sleep. Right."
His last words were muffled by the pillow he'd buried his face in, but Ringo heard them well enough.
"Good night, kid," he said softly, turning to head for his own room as the door to Saber's slid closed.
1101001001
He felt like he had fever-chills, like he couldn't stop shivering; Saber knew why, of course, and he knew that neither he nor Slade would be getting much sleep tonight. Not alone, anyway.
(Saber?)
(Your room or mine, brother?) he asked, already knowing just what it was that Slade wanted.
(I'm not really up to moving much right now, little brother,) Slade said, and Saber could tell that Slade was just about to fall asleep from the sheer emotional exhaustion they had gone through earlier in the day.
Levering himself up and out of bed, Saber headed out the door and down the corridor that would lead him to Slade's room. Using the code that Slade had given him, Saber opened his brother's door and walked in. Slade was lying face-down on his bed, the same way that Saber himself had been doing not so long ago, and as he heard the door slide closed behind him as he made his way over to Slade's bed, Saber sighed. They were both dealing with the aftermath of seeing... him again; he'd have to handle it a bit better, though, for Slade's sake.
Kicking off his boots, he set them down by his brother's bed, then slipped off his Space Knight vest, folded the thing, and set it down on top of the table by his brother's bed. When he climbed into bed, Slade scooting back a bit to accommodate him and then wrapping his arms around Saber's waist as they settled into bed together, Saber breathed deeply. The nightmares would still come, of course, but at least they wouldn't have to face them alone.
Closing his eyes as Slade buried his face in his chest, his brother shuddering slightly, Saber gently kissed the top of his older twin's head as he himself began to drift off into a troubled sleep.
10100100001
When his personal stores of energy had been fully replenished, Spear took the clothes that he had appropriated for his own use and put them back on. Then, transforming once again into his armored form, Spear met up with his mount and resumed his interrupted journey toward the moon and Lord Darkon's vessel on the far side of it. He had soon passed out of sight of the Space Ring, though not without a last look back at the planet it encircled. His dear little brothers were down there, somewhere.
They were still clinging to the illusion that they were mere, weak, ultimately worthless humans. It was, however, somewhat understandable considering their circumstances. Those humans in that spacecraft had obviously done something to his younger brothers; something that made them think they had to stay back on that little mudball hovering so innocuously behind him.
Spear didn't know just how those humans had managed to turn his own younger brothers against him, as well as forcing them to think they had to abandon their proper places in the cosmos, but he was determined to ensure that they suffered for it; no one would keep his family from him.
The side of the moon that was bathed in both the bright light of the Sun, and the meager light reflected by the planet that was the focus of Lord Darkon's attention for the moment, filled the whole of Spear's field of vision as he dropped low to skim just above the surface of the satellite. Following the natural curvature of the moon, dodging and weaving around the larger of the craters that scarred the surface of the satellite, Spear blew silently past the sharp line that divided lunar day from night.
He could sense Lord Darkon's presence in his mind growing ever stronger as he neared the site of his master's damaged vessel, but Spear could also feel his body steadily weakening as he drew closer. He would have to rest before making his report, but he thought it best that he informed Lord Darkon that he had something to report before he slept.
(Lord Darkon, I've returned,) he said, still disappointed by his failure to retrieve Ness and Cain, but the feeling was now tempered by the knowledge of what those filthy humans had done to them.
(How did your mission go?) his Warlord asked. (I see your brothers have failed to return with you.)
(Yes,) he said, feeling a slight pang at the mention of his dear little brothers but quickly suppressing it. (I understand what happened to them now, however. And you may rest assured that I will handle it.)
(I will leave it to your discretion, then, Spear.)
(Thank you, my Lord,) he said, relieved. (I also have a more relevant matter to report.)
(I trust that you will do so after you have replenished your spent energy,) Lord Darkon said, his tone giving nothing away.
Spear smiled nonetheless. (Thank you for your understanding, my lord. I will be returning to the ship shortly.)
(As you will, Spear.)
10100100100
His eyes snapped open on darkness, and for a few panicked moments Slade thought that he had been captured by Spear and was even now in Darkon's hands awaiting death by torture... if he was lucky. Then, as he felt the warmth of his surroundings and heard the reassuring beat of another human heart coming from very close by, Slade relaxed. He knew where he was, now: he was safe at home, in bed with his younger twin, where they could both be safe from the nightmares that had haunted them ever since the Radam had ripped the rest of their family away from them.
Well, safe insofar as neither of them would have to face their nightmares alone.
Leaning his forehead against Saber's chest again, having moved back when he'd awakened suddenly, Slade squeezed his eyes shut; it really had been better not to know what had happened to Conrad. At least that way they'd been able to believe that he'd died in the latter stages of the transformation process; rejected like their father, just one more reason for them to hate the Radam. Now, though... Slade didn't know if he would have been able to face Spear alone.
But he wasn't alone, Saber was there; Saber would always be there, that was their promise. As he curled in closer to his brother, taking comfort from Saber's simple presence and the warmth of his younger twin's body, Slade tried to relax again. He was still a bit tired from yesterday.
0010010010
When she'd rung the privacy chime for Saber's room a full three times and still had no answer, Star turned and made her way toward Slade's room. She still remembered where she had found Saber yesterday, it was embarrassing enough that Star didn't think she would forget it anytime soon. Maybe that was a good thing, though; if she remembered it well enough, how annoyed the twins were when she and Ringo had barged in on them while they were sleeping, then there would be much less of a chance that she would repeat the mistake she had made by letting Ringo talk her into breaking into Slade's room.
Ringo, fortunately, hadn't been up when she had come out to see if one or both of the twins would be interested in coming out to the bio-dome with her, so she at least thought that she would be able to meet with the twins on their terms.
As she made her way down the corridor that lead to Slade's room, Star began to hear raised voices coming from that direction. Turning the last corner, Star stopped in her tracks as she saw Ringo go flying out of Slade's room to slam into the opposite wall. As he stood back up, rubbing his backside where he had impacted with the wall, Ringo had just opened his mouth – likely to yell, judging by the expression on his face – when another, smaller object came sailing out of Slade's room to impact with shattering force on the wall right next to Ringo's head.
"Hey!" Ringo shouted, looking from the door to the shattered pieces now scattered on the floor. "You owe me a new camera, Saber!"
"Consider it payment for spying on us again," came Saber's retort, and as she drew closer to the scene of their confrontation, Star could see him standing just inside Slade's doorway.
He had his uniform boots on, and the white pants, as well as the white shirt with long, black cuffs; the only thing missing from his ensemble was the red vest that he and Slade always wore, and of course the belt. Star hadn't thought about what the twins wore to bed, but this made a lot of sense considering the fact that neither of the twins had any form of sleepwear.
When Saber's eyes landed on her, he smirked slightly. "Deal with him, would you, Star? I'm going back to bed."
"Sure," she said, and saw Saber wink over his shoulder just before the door slid closed to block him from sight.
Turning on her heel, Star grabbed Ringo by his right ear, ignored his protests and indignant rambling, and dragged him back down the corridor to his own quarters. She would meet up with the twins later, if there wasn't some kind of an emergency that needed dealing with, and then she would talk to them about making an excursion to the bio-dome so the three of them could have some much-needed time off.
And maybe she could find out a bit about why the twins had seemed so unnerved by that new Teknoman that Darkon had sent out.
0001001001
As he settled back into bed, Slade curling back around him in the way that his older twin never did unless he was feeling particularly vulnerable, Saber sighed. He really should have expected Ringo to pull a stunt like that, especially given how funny he'd seemed to find seeing him and Slade sharing a bed. Still, there were things a man needed to be able to do in order to preserve his own sanity; their usual nightmares could be handled with just a bit of time spent together in the mornings, but after seeing Darkon's newest Teknoman, and hearing just how much the Radam influence had warped his mind... neither of them had been in the mood to test their luck.
Now, though, with Slade beginning to stir more noticeably and his own feeling of actually being rested for the first time in several days, Saber thought it was probably best that they get their day properly started. There was probably going to be another Radam attack today, and knowing Darkon he wouldn't pass up the chance to sic Spear on them again, so it was really best that they get their fill of both food and quiet-time before they had to go out and face the newest of Darkon's armored attack dogs.
"Hey," he said, looking down into his older twin's green eyes as Slade opened them. "You feel like going out for some breakfast?"
"Don't I always?" Slade asked, looking up at him with a strained sort of good-humor.
"I guess you have a point, there, brother," he said, making an effort to smile; he didn't know if it came out quite right, since like Slade he wasn't quite at his personal best right now, but Slade seemed to accept it.
Climbing out of bed, Saber made his way to the bathroom while Slade fixed up his bed. Shucking his clothes and tossing them into the hamper as he stepped through the door into the bathroom that he had used only yesterday; though it felt like a hell of a lot longer, given all the emotional upheavals that he and Slade had been put through between then and now. Climbing into the shower when the water had reached the right temperature for him, hot enough to relax his muscles and let him wash away his tension without being hot enough to scald, Saber washed up, wrung out his hair, and headed over to grab the towel he'd used.
There was only one, and while it felt a bit strange to be using the same towel that his brother used, it also kind of reminded Saber of the times that he and Slade were bathed together, back when they were just little kids.
Heading out of the bathroom, dodging around the bare-chested form of his older twin as Slade made his own way inside, Saber dressed in one of his brother's spare uniforms and gathered the vest and boots that had been left around the room when he and Slade had settled down to sleep. Setting the boots down by the side of the bed, he went to drop the vest in the hamper and then doubled back to put on his boots. Well, they could have been either his or Slade's, but given the fact that both sets were identical in every respect he figured that something so trivial wasn't worth thinking much about.
Slipping the boots on, Saber looked up as Slade came back into the main room, smiling slightly and giving his brother a small wave. Slade returned both gestures, heading over to his closet to pull on one more in the long line of uniforms that he had been to use by the Space Knights. Saber himself would have been more amused by the fact that he was wearing Slade's clothes if there was even the slightest way of telling one Space Knight uniform from the next.
As things stood, though, he was still a little amused by the idea.
The left Slade's room together, just like they'd done yesterday, only without Ringo and Star accompanying them to the lounge that neither of them had had any reason to suspect existed before yesterday. In fact, it was kind of debatable whether Ringo would want to hang around with them after the way that he'd smashed the man's camera. Still, Ringo had been asking for it when he'd come barging in the way he did.
The man should have been grateful that Saber hadn't decided to pitch that camera at his head; though he'd been a bit tempted at first.
Heading down to the cafeteria with his older twin by his side, Saber tried to put the events of yesterday behind him. There was really no point in dwelling on them, and if they were going to be able to do... what they would have to do to protect the Space Knights, themselves, and the Earth as a whole, then he at least was going to have to get ahold of himself. Slade would need him to help keep his head on straight; god knew that Slade could never quite manage without him, or maybe he just didn't want to try.
Either way, he'd need to have his head on straight to deal with things as they were now, not to mention when things started getting worse.
1110101001
Making her way into the cafeteria, after she'd finished lashing Ringo up and down for the stupid stunt he'd pulled this morning, Star took a moment to look for the twins. She knew they would likely still be there, since given what their powers demanded of them it was obvious that they needed to eat larger meals than anyone else that she had ever come to know in her time. Knowing that, Star had made some sandwiches for them all to share while she showed them around the bio-dome.
She had a feeling that they would both enjoy what she had to show them; well, she knew that Saber would, anyway. She'd never really gotten to know what Slade liked, outside of the things that made his brother happy. Star often wondered just why Slade still seemed so reluctant to open up to the rest of the Space Knights, since it was clear that there was still a distinct wall, a separation, between the twins and the rest of the Space Knights.
Even Saber seemed to be holding to that, in spite of how easygoing he seemed if you didn't look too deeply.
Looking out over the cafeteria, Star found that the twins were just leaving, so she slung the bag of sandwiches over her left shoulder and hurried to catch up with them.
"Hey, wait up!" she called, smiling as both of them turned to look back at her.
"What is it, Star?" Saber asked, after he had traded a speaking glance with his brother.
"I just thought that you two might want to have some time off," she said, falling into step with the twins as they continued down the corridor.
"You really think that would work out?" Slade asked, his eyes slightly narrowed.
"Well," she trailed off; Star in fact didn't know if this latest attempt at relaxation would go over any better than the last one had.
Sure, since they were all going to be inside the Command Center, there wasn't much of a chance that either of the twins would encounter someone that they seemed to know, or else someone that seemed so familiar as to unnerve them, but there was still a chance that she, Ringo, and the twins would be called out to deal with another attack by the Radam. Star hoped that something like that wouldn't happen, or that if it did it wouldn't be as bad as whatever had happened yesterday, but you could never really know what would happen in the future.
As she and the twins made their way down the corridors, Star told them about the bio-dome and the plans that she had tentatively made to show them around it. She didn't mention her thoughts about the activity helping them to get over whatever it was that they had had to face yesterday that had shaken them up so badly. Star didn't want to remind them of bad things when she was trying to help them feel better; she just hoped that the Radam wouldn't attack so early in the morning.
1110101110
Shinji, my name is Shinji Mabashi. Well, if you really wanted to get technical about things, then you'd say his name as Mabashi Shinji, but the principle still stood. He knew who he was, and he definitely knew who he wasn't; he wasn't Teknoman Lance, and he would have nothing to do with the Radam for as long as he could hold his own mind together. Shinji didn't really know just how long he would be able to hold out, and he didn't know if any of the others were in the same position.
Hell, he didn't even know if any of the others were even alive at this point; he hoped not, though.
There'd been an old joke that Ness and Cain used to tell about his last name, something involving an old cartoon that they had all liked to watch, but he couldn't remember what it was anymore. That frustrated him; sure, it was just some silly little word game that he and his friends used to play when they all got together, but it was still theirs. It had been something that he remembered enjoying back when they had all been together on Earth.
Back before he'd gone to sleep in a steel chamber, then awakened screaming inside an alien plant.
00001010001
As Grant Goddard tried to hold the dissolving links between his memories together, not wanting anything that was his to fall into the abyss of oblivion that was waiting to claim him like it had claimed Sam, Conrad, and Fritz before them, Grant wondered for a moment how the others were doing. None of them had his full training in mental discipline, so he didn't know if any of the others – the ones who hadn't been his students – had managed to hold their own minds together for as long as he had.
He still took comfort in the fact that the twins had escaped all of this, that they had been set loose by his old friend Ulysses and were even now working to frustrate Darkon's plans to add the Earth, all of the remaining people living on her, and their remaining natural resources to the Radam's interplanetary empire. He held to that knowledge, and the pure satisfaction of having it, and used both feelings to bolster his will to resist.
He was going to hold out, to hold onto his humanity and his memories, for as long as he possibly could; he was not going to give these monsters another enslaved super-soldier. Not until or unless he was forced to. He would hold to that promise, even when all other things were being taken from him.
1110101001
Rising from his teknopod, his energy fully restored and wearing the armor that had been granted to him by the transformation process, Spear moved through the dark, solitary space of Darkon's vessel toward the place where he had met up with the Warlord before. On his way there, Spear passed those members of the Argos' crew who had been fortunate enough to survive the transformation process. He could see their armored forms through the thin-seeming, transparent skins of the teknopods, but he was moving too quickly to be able to have a chance to identify them.
Perhaps he would come back later, to see if he could hazard a guess as to who they might have been; for the moment, however, he had a report to make.
(I see you have managed to recompose yourself,) Lord Darkon said, and he was again aware of the ancient weight of his Warlord's mind pressing down on his own. (Very well; give me your report, Spear.)
(Yes, my Lord,) he said, bowing his head slightly as an image of Ness, clutching at his head with his right hand with Cain's limp, unconscious form dangling from his curled left arm seemed to appear before his eyes. (I have uncovered Slade's weakness, as well as that of Saber.)
(Then put that knowledge to good use,) Lord Darkon said sternly. (Destroy them, neutralize them; do what you must. But I want those renegade Teknomen standing in my way no longer.)
(As you command, master,) he said calmly; Lord Darkon had not ordered him to kill his younger brothers, but even he could agree that Ness and Cain needed to be stopped. Poor, misguided things; he didn't know what those humans in that spacecraft had done to them, but Spear was determined to correct it.
(You must also locate a new source of energy, to replace those generators destroyed by the humans. Accomplish these tasks, and you shall be rewarded. Fail, and my wrath shall be great.)
(Yes, master; I understand. There is an old saying from Earth: I'll kill two birds with one stone.) He fully understood the necessity of what he was about to do, what he had to do; it was necessary that he secure a new power-source, to prevent the needless deaths of more Spider-crabs, and it was necessary to remove his younger brothers as an obstacle, so they wouldn't be killed in the ensuing battles. Still, he thought, reaching out to cup the image's armored cheek, that didn't mean that he was particularly pleased about the idea.
He knew what he had to do, he had seen the Spider-crabs on the Space Ring dying out from the lack of energy that they needed to be able to metemorphosize into their adult phase, and he wasn't about to let anything like that happen to any of his fellow Teknomen. Intellectually, he knew that such a thing was unlikely in the extreme, since even damaged as it was the engines of Lord Darkon's vessel were still capable of generating power. He hadn't been about to suggest something so absurd as drawing power from Lord Darkon's vessel to supply the Spider-crabs on the Space Ring, of course.
It was completely impractical, to say nothing of the fact that the engines were needed to supply power to the Teknosystem.
No, he would need another power-source to replace the one destroyed by the humans' forces. Finding it somewhere on Earth would also be sure to draw out Ness and Cain; misguided as they were, his younger brothers were certain to come out from wherever it was that those humans in the spacecraft were holding them, if only to satisfy their human captors. He would have to be prepared to fight them, as much as he didn't particularly want to, and the plan that he was formulating would be the best way to draw them out.
Still, he would need to return to the Space Ring, so that he wouldn't need to use up so much of his own energy moving back and forth between Lord Darkon's vessel, the Space Ring, and the Earth itself. Best to start now, then, before he could be distracted by something else. Leaving the chamber where he had made his report, bypassing the teknopods that contained his fellow Teknomen quickly so as not to be distracted by his own curiosity, Spear made his way back out to the far forward-section of the vessel so that he could launch.
The mount that Lord Darkon had bred for him followed along docilely as Spear made his way out of the main area of the vessel, Spear absent-mindedly patted the creature as he continued on his way out. He had plans to detail and finalize, before he could bring his younger brothers back into Lord Darkon's fold. First, he needed to cut their ties to those humans and whoever else it was that was holding them captive; it would be a hard thing for all of them to bear, but this new plan of his would make that possible.
11010100111
Waking up with Saber, since the nightmares that had driven them to this in the first place were only slightly less prevalent than they had been yesterday, Slade turned his head so that his right cheek rested against his brother's chest and tried to relax. He, Saber, and Star had spent most of yesterday and the day before it in the indoor gardens that the Space Knights maintained. He hadn't been particularly interested in them, since they'd just seemed to be a place where the Space Knights grew the food they ate, until he and Saber had been shown the other side of the dome.
The side that hadn't been used for growing food plants; the side that had looked more like some kind of garden for people here to just enjoy during the times that they weren't being buried under an avalanche of Spider-crabs. That had been interesting, but only because of certain things that he'd been able to see growing there. Things that had reminded them both of happier times.
He didn't know if he actually wanted to go back, now that he knew what was planted there he also knew that he and Saber would have a hard time staying away from that place. They'd taken something of a memento with them when it was time for them to leave, something to remind them of happier times back at home. Times that they would never have again.
Someone rung the chime on the door just as he was thinking about trying to fall back to sleep; he thought it was probably Star, since she seemed to be the one most interested in them even in spite of the fact that there was no pressing need for the three of them to stay together, with the Radam being so quiet lately. Star actually seemed to be making an effort to get to know them, which was something that no one else but Tina seemed to be interested in doing. Slade didn't know quite how he felt about that, not really, since he was still getting used to having all of these people around.
People who actually wanted them around. At least, most of them seemed to. Commander Jamison was still as unreadable as ever.
(You want to get that?) Saber asked, and Slade looked up into his brother's still sleep-fogged blue eyes.
(Yeah; it's probably Star again,) he said, levering himself up and pulling back the covers so he could tuck them back around his younger twin. (I'll go see what she wants.)
Leaving his younger twin to his rest, Slade shoved his feet into his boots and strode over to the door. Opening it, he saw that it was Star, just like he'd thought.
"I brought you a vase for your flowers," Star said, holding out a pale violet vase that tapered from a wide base to a slightly narrower tip.
"Thanks," he said, as she handed over the vase.
He wondered for a moment where she had gotten it, but not enough to call her back when she wished him a good day and then left. Turning around as the door slid closed behind him, Slade headed over to the table by his bed. On top of the table was a jar, filled to about an inch below the rim with water and holding the two amaryllis flowers that he had picked, as well as the clipping from the lilac bush that Saber had managed to find.
The amaryllis flowers were for Shara, she had loved them since she was just a kid, and seeing them had always made Slade feel closer to her. The lilacs were for Saber and Shara both; Shara had found the idea of such tiny flowers adorable and funny, and both she and Saber had come to love the scent of them. Especially once she had realized that the amaryllis didn't have any scent at all.
Taking the flowers out of the jar, Slade poured the water into the vase and set the flowers in that.
"It looks good," Saber said, and Slade turned to smile at his younger twin.
"Yeah, it does," he said, looking back at the new vase; it really did look good, the white petals of the amaryllis made a nice contrast, and the lilacs added a different shade. Not to mention their scent.
When the chime on his door was rung again, Slade went over to answer it. It was probably Star again, coming to ask him how he liked the vase that she had given him. When the door to his quarters opened, however, Slade was surprised to find Tina of all people standing just outside.
"Star said you were up already, Slade," Tina said, smiling up at him. Then she looked past him, smiling a bit wider. "Hi, Saber!"
"Morning, Tina," Slade heard his brother call back, then he felt his younger twin's hand on his right shoulder. "Did you sleep well?"
"Better than I have in awhile," she said, smiling. "It's been nice, having so much time off. I think it might be fun to go into the city, if all this peace and quiet holds out for a bit longer." Tina grinned, looking up at him with a distinctly mischievous expression. "And don't think you're going to weasel out of going with us this time, Slade. Star and I will drag you out of here kicking and screaming if we have to."
Saber laughed. "I think you might be in for some interesting times, brother."
Slade sighed, shaking his head. "You're both crazy."
"Hey, why don't you come out of this stuffy old room, and we can go do something together? Star told me that you guys seem to like spending time in the bio-domes," Tina said. "So, let's go back there."
"Actually, Saber and I were just about to head to the cafeteria, then to gym for some sparring, and maybe a workout," he said; sure, it had been an interesting diversion, seeing a place that he hadn't had a reason to believe had ever existed before, but the break in his and Saber's routine had been just that, a break.
Besides, this peace and quiet couldn't last forever; Darkon and his forces were still out there, and he and his brother needed to be in top form to stand against them.
"Oh, you guys can do that later," Tina said, pursing her lips in annoyance.
Before he could say anything else, Tina pushed past him and headed into his room. For a few moments, Slade was too surprised to do anything but watch as the youngest of the Space Knights came into his quarters and looked around. He didn't know what it was that she was looking for, and Saber was clearly having too much fun with the whole thing to be of any use at all, and thus Slade found himself just standing there staring for the few moments it took Tina to get over to the table where the flowers that they had picked were standing in the vase that Star had brought for them.
"These look really nice in here," Tina said, looking down at the vase with an unreadable expression.
"Yeah," Saber said, striding over to the table to stand next to her. "Star gave us the vase; we originally had the flowers in a jar."
"I see," Tina nodded. "I didn't know either of you liked flowers so much."
Then, without another word, Tina snatched up the vase and turned to leave the room. Still stunned by the way Tina had barged in, not to mention what the young Space Knight had just done, Slade reacted a bit too late to stop her.
"Tina!" Saber exclaimed, sounding like he'd been caught somewhere between amusement and annoyance and couldn't quite decide which side to fall on just yet. "Get back here!"
Tina laughed. "You're just going to have to catch me, Saber!"
"I swear, Tina, if you break that vase I won't just tell Star whose fault it was, I will never speak to you again!" Saber shouted, dashing out of the room after Tina.
Following the echo of his younger twin's voice, Slade jogged down the corridor to meet up with his brother again. Catching up with Saber as his brother was just about to turn a corner, Slade ran with him. Tina's lead was shrinking fast, both since he and Saber had longer legs than her, and because of what they had been made into by the Radam.
Though Slade tried not to think about that so much.
When he and Saber were almost on top of her, Tina turned around and shoved the vase into his arms. Quickly re-balancing himself so he wouldn't either drop the vase or end up spilling the water still inside it, Slade blinked, feeling more than a bit stunned by this sudden turn of events.
"Very funny, Tina," he heard Saber say, just as he noticed what was missing, himself. "Now give back the flowers, too."
"You're just going to have to catch me!" laughing, Tina stuck her tongue out at them and ran off down the corridor again.
"Is this starting to remind you of something, brother, or is that just me?" Saber asked, turning an expression of wistful amusement on him.
Slade smiled slightly. "Come to think of it, it does."
This was something like Shara would have done, whenever she'd wanted them to pay more attention to her; it seemed like Tina was just the same.
Saber took off, running down the corridor after her just slightly faster than the average human with their kind of physical conditioning would have been capable of. Slade, knowing that he had to move more carefully if he didn't want to end up spilling the water, or breaking the vase that Star had given them himself, followed his younger twin at a much more sedate pace. He could still hear Tina and Saber, even after the two of them had passed out of his line of sight down yet another corner.
He was starting to recognize the place they were all heading, and for a moment he wondered just what was going on in Tina's head; they'd both find out soon enough, though, so he wasn't going to think about it too much.
11101001010
When she made it into Comm. One, with Saber dogging her heels like some kind of bloodhound, Tina couldn't help but laugh. She hadn't quite known just how she was going to get Slade and Saber to come out and rejoin the rest of the Space Knights, instead of sitting around moping in Slade's quarters or trying to hide in the bio-domes, but when she had seen the flowers that both of them had seemed to like so much, the idea had just come to her. Saber had seemed to be enjoying the chase, at least.
Scampering over to the front of the room, just as she heard the doors sliding open behind her, Tina clasped the flowers in both hands and turned to watch as Saber made his way into the room. Saber wasn't running anymore, and since she'd pretty much let him corner her, she smiled as he came forward. Now he'd smile in that way he always did, and she'd hand him the flowers and tell him to try to keep Slade from getting too depressed and shutting himself up in his quarters again.
When Tina saw his face up close, the expression he was wearing as his eyes came to rest on her, she wasn't really sure what to make of it. Saber was smiling, but the smile itself was small; nothing like the wide grins or sly smirks she'd usually seen on his face, in fact the expression itself was almost... sad, in a way. And the look in his eyes, it was like he wasn't seeing her at all, not really; like Saber was lost in his own memories somehow.
Though how in the world someone could be lost in memories they didn't even have was a question that she would probably be thinking about later, but that was what it looked like.
When Saber came up to her, that same strange, almost sad smile on his face as he turned one of the chairs around and sort of slumped down into it, Tina offered him the flowers. But, if anything, that only made the smile on his face look sadder. When he reached out, stroking her head with his right hand, Tina looked right into his eyes. She knew then that it wouldn't do any good to talk to him; he didn't even seem to be looking at her so much as he was looking past her, into some place that she couldn't see or even make any real guess at.
When she noticed Slade coming up to where she was standing, Tina was just about to ask him what might be wrong with Saber when she noticed the expression on Slade's face. It was almost the same as Saber's. He wasn't smiling, but then Slade never seemed to smile for anyone but Saber. They were both staring at her now, but it was clear that neither of them were seeing her at all. Slade and Saber were looking at someone else entirely.
When Slade put the vase carefully down on the inter-base communication console, moving slowly so that none of the water would end up spilling out, Tina waited until Slade had finished getting Star's vase settled, and then she put the flowers that she had snatched away from them back inside. Saber seemed to come back to himself then, if the way he'd stopped mussing her hair was any indication. In fact, when she looked from Saber to Slade and then back again, Tina found that the both of them seemed to be looking at her now instead of whoever it was that had seemed to make them so... sad and kind of happy at once.
"So, Amaryllis and Lilac flowers," she said, leaning back against the console and letting her eyes come to rest on Slade; he seemed to be the one most likely to want to talk at the moment, especially given the way Saber's eyes were still lingering on the flowers themselves. "Why are they so special to you?"
"I don't really know," Slade said, looking at the flowers for a long moment, before he turned his attention to her. "It's like, the Amaryllis is important to us, but I don't really know why."
"The Lilac smells nice, though," Saber said, drawing Tina's attention to him "I think that might be why we were drawn to it. Or why I was, at least. I don't know if Amaryllis flowers even have a scent."
"Maybe you gave them to an old girlfriend," Tina said. "Well, you probably didn't, Slade," she amended, considering who she was talking about; Slade wasn't really the type to get close to people; well, people who weren't Saber, anyway. "But, Saber probably had lots of girlfriends," she said, winking at Slade's brother.
Saber laughed. "Yeah. Maybe," he grinned.
"Don't get too full of yourself, little brother," Slade said, the slightest little smile on his face; almost like he was actually teasing.
It was such a weird thing for her to see that Tina didn't notice that Star and Ringo had come in sometime earlier and were even then having a conversation of their own.
1111010100
"All quiet on the western, eastern, northern, and southern fronts," Star reported. "It's been days now since the perimeter observation-post has reported any sign of Radam activity. It's so peaceful, not a single 'pinger' anywhere on the screen."
"It's peaceful, all right," he agreed, leaning over Star's left shoulder to get a better look at the radar screen. "So peaceful it's boring,if you ask me." Turning, he moved away from the entirely-too-empty radar screen.
"Speak for yourself, Ringo," Star said, and he could swear she was chiding him. "You may prefer a Spider-crab attack, but me, I'll take boring any day, thank you very much."
"At least if they were attacking, we'd know what they were up to," he said, trying to get Star to understand; it wasn't that he minded all the R&R he was getting, he just didn't want to get complacent. Getting complacent was pretty much bound to get people killed nowadays. "It won't last; take it from me, those crab-legged creepazoids are up to something. And, the only ones who might know what it is aren't saying anything." He made sure not to look over his shoulder when he said that, though he was fairly sure that he could feel one of the Wonder Twins' glares boring into his back; he'd give fairly good odds that it was Saber, too. "It's nuts," he continued, opening his eyes slightly; Saber was glaring at him, so he won that bet. "Just how long are we supposed to keep working in the dark? It's not like I don't understand scientific explanations for someone having amnesia, but I'm starting to think that certain people might know some things that they just don't want to tell us about."
"Hey, Ringo, if you don't want another boot to the head, I'd suggest you shut up," Saber said, and out of the corner of his right eye he could see Slade's younger brother turning his chair around to face him more squarely.
"Really, Ringo, you're too much," Tina snapped. "I can't believe you'd say that. Slade and Saber are both doing everything they can to recover their memories. And we should be helping them, not trying to-"
"Hey, I'm all for helping those kids get their memories back, but if you ask me, they're the ones who aren't doing anything to help."
"Stop talking like that!" Tina shouted. "Stop talking about them like they're not even in the room!"
Of course, as decried by the Gods of Irony, the next thing the Wonder Twins did was to haul themselves up and out of their swivel-chairs and march right out of the comm. room; Saber didn't even shoot him any dirty looks over his shoulder, though why that was he didn't quite know. Tina tried to call them back, but not even Saber turned to look back at her.
"Honestly, Ringo, you can be such a jerk, sometimes," Star said, her eyes still lingering on the door that the Wonder Twins had just left through. "As if they didn't have enough problems without your riding them all the time."
"Okay," he said, not wanting to concede the argument but not particularly wanting to get into a fight about it, either. "I was a bad boy; I'm sorry. But now that they're not in the room, can't we at least talk about them like they're not in the room?"
"Put a cork in it, Ringo," Star said, sounding fed up.
"Those poor guys," Tina exclaimed, running off after the Wonder Twins the way he'd been starting to suspect that she would. "I'm going to make sure they're okay!"
Left alone in Comm. One with only Star to keep him company, though he doubted that she would be particularly enthusiastic about talking to him for awhile, Ringo rolled his eyes. Sure, he might have been a bit to-the-point with what he'd had to say, but it wasn't as if he'd said anything too out of line. Besides, anyone could see that the Wonder Twins didn't act like your typical amnesiacs.
1110101001
Saber had looped his arm around Slade's own as they walked, and for once Slade found that he didn't care what anyone who saw thought of them. He was actually starting to feel that he and Saber had a place, here with the Space Knights; of course, there were still issues. Mostly involving Ringo, and his constant demands for information that neither he nor Saber actually had.
He'd wanted to yell at the man, to tell him that he hadn't the slightest idea of what the Radam were planning, and that all of this peace and quiet was making him just as nervous as any of them. He wouldn't, though; Slade knew that if he ever got into an argument with Ringo, given the way the man still seemed bound and determined to antagonize him and Saber both, then things were bound to become uncomfortably complicated. The man was like a bulldog; he wouldn't let up on something until he found out everything he wanted to know.
And, there were just some things that couldn't be talked about with outsiders; and, no matter what kind of place that he and Saber had found here with the Space Knights, these people weren't family.
The scent of hot coffee wafting up toward him broke Slade out of his musings, and he looked to his right to see Saber just settling back down next to him.
"I figured we could both use something hot to drink," his brother said, before Slade could ask or even say anything.
"Thanks," he muttered, wrapping his hands around the cup, both to absorb the heat and so that he could tell when it was cool enough for him to drink without burning his tongue. "What did you get?"
"Guess," Saber said, smirking slightly.
"Chai?"
Saber chuckled. "Close."
That meant that it was probably hot chocolate; his brother had always had something of a sweet-tooth, and this was just the kind of chance to indulge himself that he would take. It was nice to know that, while they weren't quite the people that they had started out as, his brother hadn't really changed all that much. It was nice to have something he could depend on.
As the chatter in the lounge washed over him, Slade tried his best not to listen in on any particular one; it was kind of hard, what with the enhanced senses that had been forced on him by the Radam, but Slade didn't want to eavesdrop. He heard a pair of women, chatting amiably to one another, passing by on his left-hand side, and he tried to ignore what they were talking about. It didn't really involve him, and he wasn't going to start eavesdropping on people.
But, when he started hearing the sounds of someone calling for their father, a little kid; a boy, just the same kind of boy that he and Saber had both been. A long time ago...
He could remember the fields of Amaryllis flowers that Shara had loved so much; he saw them in his mind's eye, even as his gaze settled on the man and his small family. He could see things the way that they had once been...
Cain was there, laughing as Shara showed him the Amaryllis flowers that she had picked; he could see himself, as if he was standing outside of his own body, as Ness Carter laughed with the two siblings he'd once had. He wanted to shout to the boy he'd once been, to yell at him to enjoy these times while he could; to warn him that everything he had ever known would be gone in an instant, and he would have to hold tight to the few things that had been saved.
He couldn't, however; these were just memories of days gone by, and he had no voice in any of them.
He watched, heartsick with the knowledge of what his eldest brother had become, as Conrad crouched, folded his arms on top of his knees and spoke to his younger siblings. Grinning, Conrad reached out to muss Shara's hair; Ness and Cain stood next to her, laughing as she did under the comforting touch of their older brother's hand. Slade, watching all of this from the sidelines, wanted to close his eyes; to look away from what he knew was going to happen, what he knew had already happened.
Conrad rose back to his feet, dark purple armor surrounding and encasing him, and by the time he stood back up, it wasn't Conrad anymore; Teknoman Spear had taken his place. Spear towered over them all, a terrifying apparition, powerful and deadly; Darkon's attack dog. Cain ran, ran at the Teknoman; the same armor that had encased Spear covering his younger brother from head to feet; Teknoman Saber interposed himself between Slade and the towering form of Spear, his arms spread as if to ward off an attack.
This... this was wrong; things weren't supposed to be this way. He was the older brother, he was supposed to protect Cain; Cain wasn't supposed to have to protect him.
When he heard someone calling his name, Slade looked over his shoulder, away from the tableaux of Saber facing down Spear, Slade felt his heart just about freeze in his chest. Shara was there, unarmed, clutching at a bunch of Amaryllis flowers. She was defenseless, and even though he knew that Saber would be at her side in a second if Spear made any kind of aggressive move, he was still terrified to see her like that. Saber might easily die fighting Spear; he called out to her, Slade was sure of it, but...
"Hey, are you feeling all right?" Tina asked; Slade tried to calm his pounding heart.
"Yeah; you just startled me, that's all."
"So I noticed," she said, crouching down to pick up the cup that he hadn't even noticed he'd dropped. "Who's 'Shara'?" the small family left the lounge; Slade watched them go, trying not to wish for things that couldn't happen. "You said Shara, just now, when you saw me. Who is she? Do I remind you of her?"
"You actually have the same face," Saber said, sweeping his gaze over Tina, his cup of hot chocolate held in his left hand, with his right supporting its base. "But your hair is different. Also, your eyes aren't the same."
Tina laughed, closing her eyes. "Maybe I was right about you buying flowers for someone. So, was Shara one of your girlfriends, Saber?" she asked, giving his younger twin a sly glance.
"Actually, Shara was our younger sister," Slade said, before Saber could get too into the spirit of things.
"Oh, I didn't know you two had a sister," Tina said, leaning forward a bit. "And I really look that much like her?"
"Yeah, you do, actually," he said, briefly worrying the inside of his lower lip with his canine teeth.
"Hard to say whether I'm flattered or not, not having met her," Tina said, looking between the two of them; then she seemed to have some kind of revelation. "Wait a minute! This means that pieces of your memories are falling back into place! Are things starting to get clearer for you guys now?"
"Not much, and I'm not sure that I'd want them to," he said; he sometimes he wished he actually could forget, just forget what the Radam had done to them. To him, to Cain, to Conrad, and to everyone else who had been a part of the Argos' crew.
"What do you mean?" she asked; for a moment he envied Tina her innocence. "Everyone wants to know where they've been in their lives, and what they've done."
"Maybe Saber and I abandoned those memories for a reason," he said; Slade was grateful for his brother's hand on his arm, and he moved closer so that he could lean on Saber for a bit more support. "Maybe, it's a mistake to try going back. A terrible mistake!"
"I can't believe something like that," Tina said; she seemed about to say something else, but the emergency-alert started going off right then.
"Let's move out, people." Saber had laced his fingers together with Slade's own, and as the two of them were forced to separate in order to make their way back to Comm. One, Slade bumped Saber's shoulder in passing.
He hadn't believed for a second that this quiet spell they'd been having was going to last; now that it was over, though, Slade didn't quite know whether he was relieved to be right, or angry that he and Saber were being forced onto the front-lines again; Darkon and Spear had to have something in mind for them to be doing this.
When the three of them made it back into the comm. room, he wasn't surprised to see the others standing there waiting for them; Commander Jamison nodded in acknowledgement as he, Saber, and Tina took their respective places among the gathered Space Knights.
"They've concentrated their attack on one target," the Commander informed them, as the main screen displayed scenes of Spider-crabs descending upon a power plant like some horrible parody of carrion birds. "Cooper nuclear fusion plant. They're not even trying to disguise their objective. The Radam are obviously desperate to secure a new source of energy, since we managed to knock out their primary generators during our last assault."
"Yeah," Ringo said, sounding like he didn't quite believe what he was seeing. "But how are those things able to collect the energy without zapping themselves to bits?"
"I'll let Tina explain that," the Commander said calmly.
"The Spider-crabs can actually absorb energy into their bodies," Tina said, turning away from her post at the main comm. console. "Pretty efficiently, too; they've already drained the fusion plant of twenty percent of its power."
"So, they suck up the energy, and then carry it back home," Ringo summarized.
"Like bees bringing pollen to the hive," he muttered.
"Isn't AEM Command doing anything to stop these vampires?"
"Are you kidding?" Saber demanded, and out of the corner of his left eye Slade could see his brother turning a frankly incredulous look on Ringo. "Against that many? They'd be lucky not to get slaughtered just trying to cover their own retreat."
"Sir?" Star asked, when the Commander fell silent for a bit too long.
"I want you to secure that power plant," Commander Jamison said, as calmly as he ever did. "Be ready to launch in ten minutes."
He and Saber were out of the room almost before the Commander finished speaking; Saber was a bit faster than him, but the two of them made a point to keep pace with each other, at least when they weren't having a race. This wasn't the time for playing, Slade knew, so he and Saber were careful to keep pace with each other on their way to the Blue Earth. He knew that they were going to have to break into the spare rations that had been laid in for them, but it was better that they did something like that rather than trying to make a stop off at the cafeteria before such an important mission.
1101001001
As he watched the Spider-crabs that had been given to him for this mission descend upon the nuclear plant like the swarm of worker bees that they so closely resembled, Spear held his red teknocrystal, key to the power that Lord Darkon had granted him and his misguided younger brothers, with both hands. He had accepted that this subterfuge he was participating in was necessary, both to preserve and increase the amount of Spider-crabs that they needed in order to keep the humans from mounting any kind of organized resistance against them, and to protect the lives of his dear younger brothers. Spear didn't know if any of the other Teknomen that Lord Darkon had created would be so understanding about the plight of his younger brothers.
Shara and Sam probably would be, but those two were going to have enough on their respective plates just overcoming the obstacles that their comparative youth would present for them without attempting to argue for the sake of those who had abandoned their own cause, as well as their proper place in the universe, family or not. So, that meant that he had to convince Ness and Cain to return to Lord Darkon's fold with him. And that would entail breaking the both of them free from those humans who had taken them captive.
In light of that, this plan of his was a necessary evil; still, as Spear pressed his thumbs against the sides of his red teknocrystal, clutching the gem that granted him access to his full power, he was forced to concede that necessary evils were still evil in the end.
1110100100
As the Blue Earth flew steadily toward her destination, Slade gripped the armrests of his chair briefly, trying without too much success to calm his jangling nerves. He knew that Spear was there, he could sense the person that had once been their older brother; Saber was so clearly trying not to fidget that for a few moments Slade was reminded of the long car trips that their family had taken. Back when he and Saber had actually had a family.
"You were right, Saber: there's too many of them for the Military to handle," Star said, as they drew close enough to the power plant to see the full extent of the massive swarm of Spider-crabs attacking it. "All of their units have been either wiped out, or pinned down without any hope of breaking free."
"That's no surprise, considering the AEM command; they wouldn't know a foxhole from an open pit-latrine."
"Thanks so much for the mental pictures, Ringo," Saber called over his shoulder, even as the two of them climbed out of their seats and made for the main air lock at top speed; he vaguely heard Saber calling out in acknowledgement when Ringo wished them good luck, but for the most part Slade's focus was on what he and Saber were about to be doing.
What they had to do.
"Pegas, power on!"
"Tekno-power!"
Leaping into Pegas' interlock-chamber as the echoes of his younger twin's shout reverberated in the air behind him, Slade felt the familiar rush of energy as he engaged his own transformation. The rush of energy filled him, and he felt it as Pegas was launched from the Blue Earth; he could also sense Saber nearby, and it was with decidedly mixed feelings that Slade flew into battle this time. Spear was waiting for them, Slade was more than certain of it by now, and the evil Teknoman had already attacked Saber once; Slade didn't know what he would do if Spear tried to deliberately attack Saber in an effort to get to him. He still remembered Spear doing the reverse, just a few days ago.
Landing on Pegas' back, Slade looked over his left shoulder as Saber landed just behind him.
"Just another day in the life, eh brother?" Saber drawled, a wry tilt to his head.
"Yeah," Slade said, trying to match his younger twin's tone but not knowing if he'd managed it. "The usual." Turning his attention to the masses of Spider-crabs that had swarmed the fusion plant that they had been sent to rescue, Slade took a deep breath; it was time to get down to business. "Pegas, take us down!"
"Got a sudden craving for minced crab meat, brother?" Saber laughed.
"You know it!" he called back over his shoulder, shoving his fears, doubts, and worries into a dark closet in his mind and then bolting it shut; they would be fine. Everything would be fine.
Spinning his teknolance to deflect several sprays of sticky venom from the small group of Spider-crabs that had broken off from the main force, smiling slightly as Saber made exaggerated gagging noises behind him, Slade cut down the strays even as Pegas shot them down with his blasters.
"Saber, you want to give me a hand, here?" Closing his eyes as he heard the sound of armored hands clapping, Slade cast an annoyed glance back over his left shoulder. "Wiseass."
"You literally asked for it, brother," Saber said, that same, wry tilt to his head that Slade had seen before; he could all but see his brother's amused smirk.
Without another word, Saber stepped forward, standing next to him, the two of them drew back their respective teknolances and hurled them into the mass of Spider-crabs swarming over the fusion plant. Given what he'd been sensing, and the fact that the feeling had been growing stronger the nearer he got to this place, Slade wasn't surprised at all when a spinning teknolance slammed into both his and Saber's. The new teknolance knocked them both off-course, and caused the three teknolances to bury themselves point-down in the sand about ten or so feet from the place where they had originally been aimed.
"Well, look who it is," he heard Saber mutter, and as he cast another glance back over his shoulder, Slade made a silent promise to himself that, no matter what else happened, he would not let Saber suffer like he had last time. "Hey, Spear, nice of you to show up like this!"
"Yeah; I was starting to wonder when you were going to show your face!" he shouted. "I was getting worried!"
"If you thought I was going to miss out on a reunion like this, little brother, you've been more misguided than I'd supposed." Spear's arms were folded over his broad, armored chest, his right pointer finger tapping on his left arm; Conrad's usual pose when their older brother had been exasperated with them.
"Oh look, we've insulted Darkon's little errand-boy," Saber sneered, his tone matching anger with fierce sarcasm.
"Cain, don't be juvenile."
As Pegas swooped down after Spear's flying-platform / Radam-mount, the three of them yanking their respective weapons out of the sand that they had stuck themselves in, Slade looked over his shoulder. Saber was standing just behind him, his gray-armored hands fisted tightly on the shaft of his teknolance; if he hadn't known full well that Saber would have told him to shove it, he would have asked his younger twin to break off and let him handle Spear. He didn't want his younger brother to be hurt, but he knew that Saber would go his own way.
His brother always had.
"I'll give you one, last chance to come home with me quietly, little brothers," Spear said, his teknolance having been stuck point-down in the sand, close at hand but not quite close enough to be threatening.
"Hmm, let me think about that," Slade heard Saber say, and he turned to look back over his shoulder; Saber had to be planning something devious, there was no way that he would even consider going over to the Radam, but Slade didn't know just what it was, yet. "Uh, no."
The forward-point of Saber's teknolance, trailing its bright, dangerous ribbon of energy, launched from the space just under Slade's left arm. Slade, watching as the energy-ribbon lashed out at Spear, knocking the evil Teknoman from his perch atop that strange-looking mount of his, breathed a quiet sigh of mingled relief and apprehension. He'd known that Saber hadn't been about to go over to the Radam, but Spear wasn't going to be happy with them now.
"So, that's your answer, is it, Cain?" Spear growled, rising back to his armored feet.
"That goes for both of us, Spear," he snarled, moving to the right so that Saber could stand beside him rather than just behind; so that the two of them would be able to bring their lancers to bear on Spear without worrying about the other being in their way.
"I suppose then, little brothers, that I must carry through with this," Spear sighed, shaking his head. "To the bitter end."
Not particularly caring about the mental anguish of Darkon's pet assassin, Slade directed Pegas forward, charging flat-out at Spear with his lancer aimed forward to stab or slash, and Saber's right next to it. Before they could come within arm's reach of Spear, though, a shadow fell over them and Spear's mount knocked both him and Saber off Pegas' back.
"Damn; forgot about that little thing," he heard Saber's annoyed mutter, as he picked himself up from where he'd gone sprawling in the sand after being knocked free of Pegas.
Saber had already gotten back to his feet, using Slade's own body to help lever himself up since the two of them had landed on each other because they'd been standing so close, and Slade could see his younger twin scanning the skies for any sign of Spear's mount. Spear, of course, chose that very moment to rush at the two of them. Spear seemed to be focusing most of his attention on him, something Slade was grateful for insofar as it kept the evil Teknoman's attention off Saber. Even knowing that his younger twin could handle himself in battle didn't mean that Slade worried about him any less.
Out of the corner of his left eye, Slade saw Saber climb back up onto Pegas and swoop off after Spear's mount; at least he wouldn't have to worry about that thing attacking him again, Slade reflected, turning his attention to Spear. The evil Teknoman was standing there, holding his lancer at a shallow angle, seemingly content to just watch. Slade rushed him; he needed to get this over with quickly.
There were still things he needed to do; there were still Spider-crabs to deal with out there.
0001001010
As he and Pegas pursued the freakish-looking flying-platform that Darkon had probably made in mockery of his big brother's combat partner, Saber began to consider just what it was that he was doing. Sure, he knew that Slade was good in a fight and all, but the both of them had sworn to protect each other, no matter what. He wasn't going to be the one to break that promise.
"Hey, Pegas, do you think you can handle things here on your own?"
"Affirmative."
"Good," he said, nodding. "I'm going to go help my brother."
"Affirmative. Good luck."
"Thanks," he said, with a soft chuckle.
Opening up his thruster units, Saber found that he didn't even need to bother looking for Slade; his brother and Spear were fighting in the air, lancers clashing amid the kind of high-speed kicks and punches that seemed to be a staple of battles between one or more Teknomen. Aiming to ram Spear's left side, knocking the evil Teknoman away from his brother, Saber wasn't entirely surprised when Spear cut his own thrusters and dropped out of the way.
"Saber, what-"
"Don't ask stupid questions, big brother," he said, brandishing his own lancer as the both of them swooped down on Spear.
The evil Teknoman dodged back into the air, and as he joined his brother in chasing him down, Saber couldn't quite help the feeling that he and Slade weren't so much chasing Spear as they were being lead somewhere. Almost like lambs to the slaughter. Saber would have smacked himself upside the head for having such a stupidly morbid thought, since things like that were pretty much inviting his and Slade's capricious luck to turn against them again, but he had other things to think about at the moment.
He, Slade, and Spear all slammed into the top of a particularly tall tree, the three of them slashing and hacking their way through the foliage as gravity pulled them all back down to the ground.
"Now, do you know why I chose to bring you to this place, little brothers?"
"You don't have any right to call us that, Spear," Slade hissed.
"Stop babbling, anyway," he added, tightening his grip on the shaft of his own lancer. "There's nothing important here."
1010001000
"Don't play pretend with me, little brothers. Not here."
"Why?" he demanded, looking around at the place where they had all ended up. "What's so important about... this..."
He hadn't seen it; not when he and Saber were both fighting for their lives against Spear, not when he'd had the sharp end of a teknolance aimed at either his head or Saber's heart, but now...
"It seems you remember more than you want to admit, Ness," Spear said; Slade breathed heavily, his eyes roving to take in one familiar landmark after another: the lighthouse, the beach, the cliffs that bordered it... and, even though he wasn't in a position to see it, he could remember the cove that he and his younger siblings had once found.
"Why?" he muttered, seeing this place for the first time since they had all come here; seeing what would never be again. "Why here?"
"This place holds so many happy memories for us," Spear said, as he jammed the butt-end of his teknolance into the grass just beside him. "Don't you want to have those times back, little brothers?"
Spear didn't... no, he probably did know just how close to home that was hitting; Slade would have given almost anything to have the rest of his family back, to have them all free from the Radam, or even to have not had the Radam come in the first place. If he could have turned back time, somehow managed to convince their father not to explore that ship... He knew, though, that what Spear was offering them wasn't at all what he or Saber had in mind.
It was just slavery, nothing more.
"Not on Darkon's terms," he said firmly, gripping his lancer tighter as he brought the point to bear.
"Then, I am truly sorry."
"For what?" he heard Saber demand, and Slade moved to stand closer to his brother.
"For this."
Without even a second's warning, Spear retrieved his teknolance and brought it down in a sharp, sudden slash. Since he and Saber were about three feet beyond the range of Spear's teknolance, Slade didn't worry so much about this first attack. He didn't, that was, until the crackling arcs of electrical energy that had somehow been generated by Spear's teknolance came crashing down.
Crashing down into Saber; as his younger twin's screams filled his ears, Slade froze. He hadn't even expected that Spear's teknolance would have been capable of something like that.
"Was that the best you can do?" Saber demanded; Slade could hear his younger twin's heavy breathing, and knew that his brother was just putting up a front. "Here, let me show you how it's done!"
The tip of Saber's teknolance lashed out, wrapping around Spear's teknolance and the hand that held it, Slade breathed a brief sigh of relief, stepping slightly to the right and bringing his own teknolance into line for a charge; one that would end with his lancer slicing through Spear's armor, or at least forcing him to back away from Saber. When Saber pulled on his teknolance, obviously trying to unbalance Spear, Slade crouched slightly and prepared to spring.
Spear moved faster than the both of them; the armor on his right shoulder dropped down onto his arm, revealing the same long, thin, swordlike blade that he had stabbed Saber with only a few days earlier. Saber screamed as Spear rammed the blade into his left side, just below his arm. Saber's teknolance fell from his hands, as his younger twin fell to his knees.
"Spear!" Slade raged, running flat-out at the evil Teknoman that had just impaled his younger brother; their younger brother, but Slade was trying not to let himself think about that. (Saber, listen to me: you have to get out of here! Go help Star and Ringo deal with the Spider-crabs. I have to deal with Spear on my own; and don't argue.)
(What kind of masochist do you take me for, big brother?) Saber retorted, as he shot back to his feet and slammed a hard side-kick into Spear's face. (I just took about a foot-and-a-half of extremely sharp metal through the mid-section; only an idiot would want to stay after something like that. Besides, I know how you worry.) Saber grabbed his teknolance, opened the covers of his thrusters, and jetted off into the sky in almost a single, smooth motion. (Make sure you call me if you need me, spaz,) Saber said, his teasing tone making Slade smile, just a bit.
(I'll try to remember that,) he grinned under his helmet. (Slacker.)
"So, you've decided to face me alone, Ness?" Spear asked, his armored head turning briefly to watch Saber's progress before he focused his attention solidly on Slade.
Slade was almost glad for it. "Don't sound so happy, Spear. You're not going to win this."
"So you say," Spear retorted flatly.
Slade almost expected him to attack after that, but he turned tail and flew off, with only a single look back over his shoulder, as if beckoning Slade to follow him. Knowing as he did just how dangerous a Radam Teknoman on the loose would be to everyone and anyone in the vicinity, Slade tailed Spear without hesitation. Spear turned on him quickly, hammering Slade with swift, brutal strikes from the bladed end of his teknolance, forcing Slade to block and dodge.
Spear was moving too fast for Slade to try taking back the initiative, so when Spear slammed both feet into the top of Slade's head, all Slade could do was try not to land too awkwardly. Pulling himself back to his feet, he saw something delicate-looking sticking out from his armored left hand. Holding his hand up, Slade opened it to reveal the detached blossom of a mostly-intact Amaryllis.
"Do you remember more clearly now, Ness?" Spear asked, almost gently. "This was always Shara's favorite place," a couple steps forward saw Spear sliding down the small, rocky outcropping where he'd previously landed. Crouching for a moment, Spear picked one of the many Amaryllis blooming in this field. "I don't want to hurt you, believe me, I don't," the evil Teknoman said softly, once again sticking the sharpened base of his teknolance into the ground as he made his way forward. "I just want you and Cain to come home. Is that so wrong?"
Slade, seething, gritted his teeth. How dare this monster try to talk to him about home! How dare he speak to him and Saber of family, when all he wanted was to drag them screaming back into Darkon's clutches!
Their own father had died so that he and Saber could be free! Slade wasn't about to forget his sacrifice.
Roaring his fury as he charged, teknolance held high in preparation for slamming it down on Spear's armored head, Slade was caught entirely by surprise when Spear brought his own teknolance back to bear. As the arcs of electrical energy generated by Spear's lancer slammed home, Slade screamed in agony. He had a brief thought for Saber, and what his younger twin had suffered when Spear had attacked him, but that was quickly overwhelmed by the pain that he was feeling.
As Spear continued to torture him, Slade only hoped that Saber would be all right, wherever he was.
00100100111
Landing back on top of the Blue Earth, Saber breathed deeply to regain his bearings. He'd been dealing with Spider-crab swarms taking pot-shots at the ship he was on for longer than he really liked to think about, and definitely longer than he could keep track of without a watch. There were several hundred marauding Spider-crabs, however, and just one of him, so he wasn't making much of a dent in their numbers. He couldn't even use his Tekno-bolt, since the Spider-crabs were all so close to the power plant.
And, just to make things just that much more fun, he was starting to feel the familiar disorientation that meant his time in Teknoman form was almost up.
Throwing his lancer at another knot of Spider-crabs, even as he saw the Blue Earth's laser-cannons firing into a lower part of the group, Saber retrieved his lancer and took a moment to catch his breath again.
"How are you two doing in there?" he asked, tapping the Blue Earth's comm.; the one he really wanted to speak to was Slade, but he knew that his older brother probably had his hands full with Spear. Best not to distract him.
"We're better now that you're here, Saber," Star said warmly.
Saber smiled. "Glad to hear it."
"Saber, five-minute warning," Ringo said, drawing Saber's attention back to the matter at hand. "If you're not getting your armored butt back in the ship, you'd better be moving."
"Just give me a minute, here," he responded, boosting himself up above the Blue Earth with his thrusters and straight into another knot of Spider-crabs; slicing and slashing with his teknolance, Saber dealt with them and landed back on the Blue Earth.
"Your minute's past, Saber," Ringo said, sounding a bit annoyed. "I'm not going to be the one to have to tell Slade that you died out here, just because you were too stubborn to fly back into the air lock while you still could. Besides, I thought you said that being stubborn to the point of sheer stupidity was Slade's job."
Saber laughed. "You know, Ringo, I'm almost starting to regret telling you that."
Leaping from the top of the Blue Earth, Saber angled his way back to the secondary air lock and landed inside. Well, he didn't so much land as slump to his knees in the exhaustion he'd been pushing away for the last maybe-twenty minutes, but that was all right. He was safe here.
Still, just because he was safe didn't mean that everyone he cared about was; Star and Ringo still had to deal with all of the Spider-crabs that he hadn't managed to kill, and Slade was still out there somewhere fighting against Spear. But there was nothing that he, personally, could do about that right now, so Saber focused on what he could do at the moment. He could get some rest, so he'd be able to help Slade get settled when they both got back to the Command Center, and he could make sure that his brother took care of himself when they were resting up from this ordeal.
His resolution made, Saber let his transformation fade. The energy that had been sustaining him, keeping him conscious in spite of how much he'd used fighting those Spider-crabs, faded away. Slumping the rest of the way to the ground as the last of his energy deserted him, Saber spared a brief thought for Slade.
He hoped his older twin was going to come out of this without getting too beaten up.
001001010010
Ness' screams filled his ears, and Spear closed his eyes as he continued to press the tip of his electrified lancer into his younger brother's armored back. At least Ness hadn't tried to beg him to stop; Spear didn't know if he would have been able to continue under those kinds of circumstances. Hearing his younger brother, someone he still honestly cared about in spite of the harsh circumstances that the both of them were faced with now, beg him to stop what he was doing might have just managed to persuade him to do so.
Lord Darkon would not have been pleased with him if he did so, and so he was glad that Ness refused to beg; it might have just been foolish pride, but in this case Spear was glad for it.
The alarm on Ness' helmet had started to ring by this time, letting Spear know that this plan of his, ruthless as it was, had begun at last to bear its bitter fruit. His younger brother had begun to call out for something, or possibly someone, named Pegas. Not knowing exactly what his younger brother was talking about, but suspecting that if he let Ness meet up with this Pegas then his well-laid plan would go more awry than he could cope with, Spear raced forward and drove the point of his teknolance into Ness' chest.
"I'm so sorry, little brother," he said, his words lost in the harsh sound of Ness' screaming. "Believe me, I am. But this... this is necessary. I have to bring you and Cain back home, you see?"
Ness' screaming vied for prominence with the sound of his younger brother's helmet-alarm, and Spear turned away slightly; he couldn't bear to see his younger brother suffer this way. Still, it was for Ness' own good; Spear found that he had to keep reminding himself of the truth of that statement as he carried through with his plan. He also took what little comfort he could in the fact that he would not be forced to make Cain suffer to such a degree.
He would simply have to track down the ship that carried the second of his lost, misguided younger brothers, and then take Cain back after he had dealt with the humans.
The momentary distraction nearly cost him, as he saw Ness' pauldrons splitting open to reveal his younger brother's energy-condensers. Dodging back and out of the way of the Tekno-bolt that Ness had just attempted to fire at him, Spear sighed. It was good that Ness was so tenacious, since such a trait would serve him very well among Lord Darkon's ranks, but under the circumstances Spear wish that, just once, Ness would be amenable to reason.
He truly hated to see his dear younger brother suffering this way.
Ness fell to his knees, his breathing ragged and his helmet's alarm sounding almost like it was screaming; that harsh, shrill ringing coming at such rapid intervals that it sounded almost continuous at this point.
"Please, little brother, don't make me carry this any farther," he entreated, moving slowly closer to the kneeling form of one of his misguided younger brothers. "I don't want to hurt you anymore. Please, just rest now; you'll be all right."
Ness was still facing him, his ragged breathing and the quasi-shriek of his helmet's alarm unchanged, but as his younger brother hadn't made any aggressive moves, Spear felt safe enough to move slightly closer. The alarm on Ness' helmet fell silent then, winking out almost as if a switch had been thrown, and Spear breathed a soft sigh of mingled relief and sorrow. This wasn't what he truly wanted, merely a first step; it was, however, an important one. The humans who sought to use his dear younger brothers as weapons against the very one who they had been reborn to serve, and against those who they shared bonds of both friendship and family, were not likely to tolerate one of their prize "weapons" going out of control to such a degree.
Moving to stand in front of Ness, knowing that his younger brother would be unable to move for the few moments that it would take his mind to recover from the strain of being forced into a position like this, Spear jabbed his lancer into the ground within easy reach. Even after Ness recovered, he knew that Ness' mind would only be operating in the most rudimentary sense. His younger brother would be feral, a berserker, until such time as Spear was permitted to bring him back to Lord Darkon's vessel to complete his transformation.
"I'm so sorry that it came to this between us, Ness," he said, cupping his younger brother's right cheek as he stood before him; he knew that his younger brother was incapable of understanding him at this point, so Spear spoke for his own benefit. "Still, I know that someday, you'll come to understand my reasons." Turning to leave, mentally signaling to the mount that Lord Darkon had bred for him, Spear looked back over his shoulder. "I'll see you again," he promised.
Lifting off, he quickly located the ship carrying the humans who had taken the second of his lost younger brothers captive. Confronting them head-on, intending to carve open the cockpit and rip Cain free, Spear was confronted by the oddest sight: the woman, the one who had been communicating with Ness the last time that he had seen this selfsame ship, was holding Cain in her arms. She actually seemed to be taking great care as she moved closer to the front of the cockpit, seemingly trying not to jostle Cain as she walked.
When she saw him, the oddest expression came over her face. It was almost... defiance, of a sort; the human held Cain closer, almost clutching his younger brother's insensate form to her bosom, and glaring up at him as if daring him to make an aggressive move. It was almost a maternal gesture; a mother defending her young against all comers. It was noble, in its way.
Perhaps not all of the humans working for those who had stolen two of his younger brothers away from him needed to be dealt with so harshly or permanently as he had once thought. Perhaps this female, whatever her name was, could be convinced to leave with himself and Cain. It was something to consider, given the way she seemed so determined to protect his other younger brother.
However, the fact that he could sense Ness re-awakening from his fugue-like state let Spear know that now was no longer the time to contemplate his actions. Nodding in slight respect to the human female who still held Cain in her arms, Spear ordered his mount to turn and leave. He would have to speak to Lord Darkon about what he had found, once he had returned to the Space Ring.
000010010111
When that evil Teknoman had appeared in front of the Blue Earth, staring down at her like some kind of nightmare creature, Star hadn't known if she was going to live to see the next few hours. Still, with Saber lying helpless in her arms, and Ringo trying to get a lock on the Teknoman when he was barely an arm's length away from the cockpit windows, Star wasn't about to give one of Darkon's monsters the satisfaction of seeing her cower before him. Holding Saber closer to her body, even as she was completely aware that this Teknoman could kill her and Ringo, and even Saber without expending much of his energy, Star glared defiantly up at the Teknoman. There were clear differences between this new Teknoman and the twins, though his armor was almost as dark as Saber's own.
She could hear the sounds of the targeting computer signaling a lock, when the tall, dark-purple Teknoman nodded and suddenly turned away.
"What the hell was that about?" she heard Ringo mutter from behind her.
"Nevermind that," she said, strapping Saber tightly into his seat. "Slade's time is up! We need to get him into the Teknobot!"
"Right," Ringo said. "Slade, Pegas is coming into position now. Slade? Slade, come in!"
Star clutched the armrests of her chair briefly; Slade had to be all right. They might have cut it a bit fine considering his time-limit, but Saber had almost done that, too, and now he was here with them. Slade was coming home with them, too.
"All right, Slade," Star said, having regained her composure. "Pegas is hovering just above you, can you make it to the interlock-chamber? Slade, please respond! Are you all right?" When Slade turned around, Star sighed in relief. "Thank goodness," she muttered. "Slade, are you reading me?"
The only thing Slade did in response was to fire his thrusters and come flying at them.
"What is he doing?!" she demanded, as the white-armored form of Saber's twin brother lashed out at the Blue Earth with his weapon.
"Hold on, Star!" Ringo ordered fiercely, and Star braced herself against his sudden evasive maneuvers. "The poor kid; we came too late! I gotta take him out."
"Ringo, wait!" she exclaimed, running to place herself in front of the pilot's station.
"Get out of the way, Star! Slade's lost it! He's gone off the deep end!"
"What do you think Saber would say if he knew that you had shot his twin brother to death in front of him?" she demanded, trying to get Ringo to see sense.
"Look, Star-" Ringo trailed off, focusing past her at something over her left shoulder. "He's even attacking Pegas!"
Turning so that she could see what Ringo was looking at, Star saw that it was true; Slade had just attacked his and Saber's combat partner.
"Blue Earth to Command Center," Ringo said, having obviously activated the secondary comm. unit. "Bad news, Commander: Slade's thirty-minute window in Teknoman mode expired before we could get him into the Teknobot. Saber's still with us, but he's not going to be happy to hear about what happened to his brother. We're returning to base."
That was really all that anyone could say, and as she returned to her seat, Star looked over at Saber. Ringo's maneuvering had caused him to shift a bit from the position he'd been in when she'd settled him into his seat. Now, with his head bowed as if in sorrow, it was all Star could do not to go over to comfort Saber where he sat.
Instead, Star turned her attention back to her navigational duties, trying to immerse herself in ship's business so she wouldn't have to think so much; so she wouldn't have to feel.
