Timeline: after episode 15 in Gatch I

Kozaburou Nambu finally pried his eyes open only after the incessant pounding in his head had dulled slightly. He managed to focus on the ceiling tiles, their outlines blurry in the dim light; only a small table lamp across the room was lit and it was laying on the floor, casting elongated shadows at menacing angles around the room.

Have I been drinking? he wondered, but no, even if he'd been totally smashed, there was no way that he would have collapsed on the cold floor behind his desk in the conference room at the Crescent Coral Base, as was his current situation. Besides, this does not feel like any hangover I've ever had. So why does my head feel like someone's trying to beat their way out of my skull with a sledgehammer? He managed to drag himself into a sitting position, one hand to his head in an attempt to ease the pounding. He took off his glasses and rubbed his face vigorously with both hands, then ran his fingers through his thick brown hair. He reached up and rested his right hand on the edge of the desk and used it's sturdy bulk to pull himself to his feet. The room instantly began to swim and he gritted his teeth as a wave of nausea gripped the pit of his stomach. Somehow he managed to find his chair and collapse into it.

Dr. Nambu closed his eyes against the dim light and the pounding in his head and willed his stomach to settle. What the hell happened? Have I been attacked? Surely security would have responded if there had been an invasion..... But the base itself seemed absolutely silent, just as it did on any other late night; the silence and the stillness all suggesting that everyone had long since gone to sleep. The only sound was the faint humming of computer hard drives that had been left on and occasional flicker of the florescent lights in the hall way beyond the open door. Situation normal.

So, why do I feel like I've been run down by a train? Eventually, his stomach stopped doing back flips and Nambu pried his eyes open again. Other than the overturned lamp, the room looked normal. The couches and chairs were still there; nothing appeared to have been moved at all, in fact. He glanced down at his desk and found that even his papers looked the same, that nothing appeared to have been moved or disturbed.

Nothing except for the legal size, bright blue envelope on his desk in front of him; the bright blue envelope that sat on its edge, propped up against the reading lamp. Even with the lamp off, he could see the words "Nambu Hakase" printed in large, dark letters on it. His head swam again as memories abruptly flooded back to him, memories that should not have been there.

Oh, God, they didn't! Please, please tell me they didn't.......

He reached out and snapped on the light, closing his eyes and turning his head away as he did so, bracing himself for the pain that the sudden brightness was bound to cause. His eyes watered against the light even under his lids. If I feel this horrible, what is the team going through right now? he wondered as he sat there. It was several long moments before he managed to open his eyes enough to see the envelope again. His hands were shaking as he picked it up. He went to slide his index finger under the flap to rip it open, only to find that it had never been sealed. He let it fall to the floor as he removed the pages inside, eyes fighting to focus on the familiar handwriting. He couldn't actually read it for another moment, his mind still not quite believing that it was there, that they had left this for him, this testament to their presence, to their now completed mission. There should have been nothing at all. Nevertheless, he finally managed to read:

Dear Nambu Hasakse:

We couldn't do it. We tried, honestly, but we just couldn't leave you with nothing. We do understand that we're disobeying Ken's orders by doing so, but we just couldn't follow those orders. Our weak hearts wouldn't let us. Please forgive us for that.

But, we feel that if there is some way to ease the pain that you and the entire team are fated to go through, then we're willing to take the risk. We have erased the memories of everyone else, even the Red Impulse, but we left yours intact. The electric shock should just knock you out for a time, without erasing anything.

All our lives, we have been told how clever you are; how good and strong you are; about how your judgment, while sometimes cautious, is always for the greater good. We're putting our faith in that judgment now.

We don't expect you to tell the team everything that's going to happen. We don't even expect that you alone can change fate; perhaps, like the Sybil, you wouldn't be believed even if you tried. All we wanted to do was to leave you with some sense of hope. Hope that, no matter how bad things do become, that this will work out in the end. Hope can be such a fragile thing and yet it is the greatest thing that we can cling to.

We leave it to your good judgment to decide how and when to use your foreknowledge. We also hope that we haven't placed too great a burden on you. Horace wrote that "it is not permitted to know all things", but you now know more than anyone in your time. (Sorry! We know the quote, but only Kai can remember how to say it in Latin!) Maybe nothing can change our past, your future, but maybe the knowledge that we've left with you will give all of you strength.

We're grateful for the chance to spend time with all of you . For a time, we were a team of friends and equals. We had fun. We loved it. We will miss it, and you. We're even happier that we had the chance to meet and spend time with you, Hakase. We will never forget the time we spent here. We love you. We love all of you. We love all of you so much, in fact, that we simply couldn't walk away and leave you with nothing.

Please take care of all of them and our father in particular. After all, he's both stronger than he knows and more in need of help and support than he'd like to believe.

Thank you for everything!!

With all our love,

Vivianna & Katarina

Ad astra per aspera! Nemo me impune lacessit!

He read the letter twice before letting it fall to the desk. How could they take that risk? They don't know what kind of effect this might have on the future! He thought about the words: "We're even happier that we had the chance to meet and spend time with you, Hakase." So, I'm not in their time, am I? I must be dead long before they make that trip; perhaps even before they're born, any of them. Ah, said another voice in his head, but you knew that already, didn't you? The way they wouldn't come out and say what you were doing, what role you played in the whole affair. The way they looked at you, as if looking at a stranger, because that's what you were to them: a stranger. Well, at least they didn't tell me the date... or the how. He was suddenly very grateful for that.

The familiar handwriting and the slightly formal style told him that, in spite of the "we" used throughout, the letter had, in fact, been written by Katarina. Vivianna's style was completely different, more compact and informal. He looked at the last line, the two Latin phrases that they had remembered. Dr. Nambu didn't have to look them up, he already knew them, could read them, in fact. The first meant "to the stars by hard ways" and the second was "no one attacks me with impunity". Katarina had said that the Kagaku Ninjatai had adopted the first as their unofficial motto, while the second....

No, he didn't want to think about that; the others. Rather, he thought about the ones that had left that note and was surprised to realize that he would miss them. They had certainly been an interesting group! Both similar to and entirely different from his own team. He suddenly thought of Kai again, remembering how Vivianna had pointed out the tattoo of the words "Delenda est Galactor" under the image of a horned owl on his shoulder. He's the one who keeps giving them all those Latin phrases. "Galactor must be destroyed" indeed! I wonder how long it will take Joe to run out and get the same tattoo.... But Joe wouldn't, because Joe wouldn't remember.

Dr. Nambu settled back into his chair and cast his mind back, nearly a year ago, when Miko had first appeared. But, he reminded himself, that wasn't really the start of it. That was just the prologue. It really started when they all showed up, ready to fight, ready to die if they had to. He smiled to himself, remembering that Vivianna had asked him to explain everything to the team. "No sense giving them all heart attacks for no reason!" she'd quipped, that big, wicked grin spreading across her face. He'd agreed with her, at the time. He really had meant to tell them, but he never seemed to find the right moment, the right words to explain what he had a hard time believing himself. So I said nothing. Perhaps it was better that way; after all, they probably wouldn't have believed me. No, he decided, seeing had been believing. Seeing them had prepared the team for all that followed. Nambu sighed and began to drift off into sleep, letting his mind drift back to that first meeting.

****

"Welcome, everyone," began Nambu's usual introduction as he finally walked into the room. "I'm sure you've seen the news reports of the crisis in Utoland City" They had been called to the Crescent Coral base over an hour ago; the five of them had gotten tired of waiting and sat on the numerous couches that were arranged around the doctor's desk. Ken and Jun got to their feet as Nambu entered, while the rest remained seated.

Joe snorted. "All I've heard is some nonsense about mud monsters roaming the streets." He didn't even bother to look up from the magazine he was reading.

"That's exactly the problem."

The entire Science Ninja Team looked at each other in shock. Joe looked up from his racing magazine to meet Ken's gaze.

"But, Hakase," began Ken, "surely they're not real monsters. They must be machines from Galactor."

"Of course," crowed Jinpei. "Everyone knows there's no such thing as monsters!"

"Perhaps not," mumbled Dr. Nambu, "but it appears that these creatures come very close." He turned away to click on the big monitor that was in the wall behind his desk. The images that appeared in rapid succession seemed to have been taken from the news broadcasts. The monsters looked like sculptures, human in form but much larger and with limbs that were slightly squared off, as if they had been hurriedly carved from a block of stone. The shoulders, too, were square and broad and the eyes starred blankly ahead as they smashed anything in their path. The team watched as the monsters turned over cars and busses without any apparent difficulty. Jun gasped at a series of images of one monster ripping a taxi cab in two with it's bare hands.

"The army was mobilized immediately, of course," Nambu continued as more images of people running from the destruction flashed across the screen. "However, the creatures seem to have the ability to reconstitute themselves. Observe." The picture changed again and the team watched as the army blew up several of the creatures with hand grenades. They shattered like glass, appearing to splinter and collapse with the force of the explosion. The camera zoomed in closer, to catch the fragments beginning to quiver and move like things possessed, pieces connecting one to another to another until the limbs of each creature reappeared only to scrabble sickeningly along the ground until they met with the newly formed torso and head. Slowly, every one of the destroyed creatures literally collected themselves and began to get to their feet. The soldiers began to retreat as the creatures came after them, only to be destroyed again by a second wave of hand grenades. Once again, the splinters reconstituted themselves and the creatures rose up again, fully formed.

"Thatr17;s horrible!" moaned Ryu. "How are we gonna fight those things, Doc?"

"Frankly, I'm not sure. But we can't let the army fight them alone and we can't allow these creatures to destroy the city. I'm not sure what to tell you. These things are unlike anything we've ever seen. However," the doctor added as he turned away to stare at the monitors, "I have some hope that you may receive help in the field. Some backup, if you will."

"What kind of help?" Ken demanded. He tried to keep the hopeful note out of his voice as he asked:

"Is it the Red Impulse?"

"We don't need any help!" Jinpei protested.

"No," said Nambu firmly. "It is not Red Impulse; I haven't called them in. No, I can't say, but it is possible that some people may appear to help you."

"Who, Hakase?" Jun asked, but the doctor was all ready shaking his head.

"No, I can't explain any further. They may not appear at all, although it's very possible. I'll try to come up with some way to defeat these things, but in the mean time all I can do is wish you the best of luck. Go." With the last word, Nambu had taken off his glasses and begun to pinch the bridge of his nose, a sure sign that he was tired, or worried, or both.

"What the hell do you think he was talking about?" demanded Joe as they raced towards the God Phoenix. "What help?"

"No idea," Ken admitted. "I'm sure we'll find out."

"He seemed kind of distracted," muttered Ryu, "like he's busy thinking about something else."

"I noticed that, too." said Jun.

"Maybe no one'll show," Jinpei suggested, "then we don't have to share the glory with anyone else. It's bad enough having to share with Red Impulse!"

"Jinpei! Red Impulse has helped us out lots of times!" Jun scolded. "Where's your gratitude?" They'd reached the ship by this time and we're heading down to the main deck in the elevator.

"Who ever it is," Ken said to no on in particular, "Hakase must think that they can help us, or he wouldn't have mentioned it." Joe grunted, thereby registering his skepticism about the whole matter. Ken ignored him and continued: "Since the creatures are spread out all over town, we'll have to go out on foot to attack them. Until we have some idea how to defeat these things, I think we should stick together. Ryu,...."

"I know, I know! 'Ryu, you stay with the ship'!"

"Actually, I was going to suggest that you'd better come along; but if you'd rather stay with the God Phoenix...."

"No! No! I'll go!"

"Good. We'll try to keep the monsters busy until our backup arrives...."

"If it arrives," muttered Joe to himself.

Ken had never seen the city so quiet. Normally the streets of the metropolis were packed with people at any time of day or night. Now, however, every street was completely devoid of life and the only sounds were the wind groaning among the buildings and the tapping of their boots on the asphalt as the team picked their way along. Jun paused to stare at a car that had been crumpled up like a piece of tin foil, her face suddenly going rather pale.

"There must be some way to defeat them," Ken said suddenly, by way of reassurance, "or Hakase wouldn't have sent us in."

"He didn't sound all that confident to me," grumbled Joe.

"I wish he'd told us how we're supposed to fight these things," added Ryu.

Ken abruptly spun around to face his team. "We won't be able to put up a fight at all if all of you give up before we even start!" he said angrily. "Where are your fighting spirits? Are you....." he trailed off as he looked past them. The rest of the team turned to see one of the monsters rounding the corner. Everyone immediately stiffened into a fighting stance as the monster shuffled towards them.

It was much larger than the news footage had lead them to believe, easily reaching seven feet in height, the square shoulders perhaps three feet wide. The entire body looked like it had been carved from one single block of stone, leaving the body and the limbs still squared off. The artificiality of the thing heightened by its bright terra cotta red colour, even the eyes were the same shade as the rest of the body. The creature looked up and apparently saw them with its seemingly blind eyes because it suddenly started to run towards them, arms outstretched. It moved much more quickly than they expected from its ungainly appearance. The team scattered as it reached them, spreading their winged capes and taking to the air. The thing flung its arms out after them and managed to grab Jinpei's ankle. The boy drew his arm back, the string of his bolos clutched in his fingers as he prepared to throw them at the thing's head. He never got the chance as the monster suddenly slammed the boy to the pavement, knocking the wind out of him. Jun let out a strangled cry as the team landed in front of the monster, each one deciding the next best course of action.

Before they could move, however, there was a loud war cry from behind the creature. It turned its head and there was a metallic ping as a dark blur shot past the thing over its shoulder. A figure in dark indigo wings landed just in front of the monster, the cape just touching Jinpei's still prone body. Ken could see the metal baseball bat that it wielded over the figure's left shoulder. The monster turned to face this new figure and as it did the new attacker leapt again, swinging the bat from the left to connect soundly with the monster's jaw. Ken saw the indigo boots land briefly against the monsters shoulders as the figure sprang away again and somersaulted backwards, landing just to the right of Jinpei, who had regained his breath and was sitting up.

"Back up," the stranger said, the voice deep and husky, but certainly female. Jinpei did it, backpedalling quickly while the woman crouched again. The monster swayed unsteadily, its head turning slowly towards the female; it shifted its weight uneasily from one leg to another. Ryu, who had been standing some six feet behind the woman and to her right, noticed how off balance the monster was as it turned. He suddenly rushed forward and flung himself at the creature, slamming his right shoulder into the monster's stomach with his full weight behind it. The monster flew backwards, landing flat against the pavement.

"Way to go, Ryu!" the stranger shouted as she rushed past the Owl, bat raised high over her head. She dropped to her knees on the monster's chest and began jabbing at its head with the thick end of the bat; swift stabbing motions that quickly reduced the head to rubble. She reached into the mess with her right hand, brushing the quivering dust and rocks aside while the creature's legs spasmed and the arms reached out for her.

"Watch it!" Ken heard himself yell as the thing's right hand missed grabbing her shoulder by inches.

"I've got it!" she yelled back as she gathered her legs beneath her to leap away. Not quite fast enough, for just as she went to move the right hand caught her left wrist. She pulled herself as far away from the thing as she could get, laying across the monster's chest as she kicked at the arm with her heal. Ryu came to the rescue again, snapping the monster's arm off about the elbow as the woman scrabbled away. Ryu also retreated as the monster swung what was left of it's right arm around after him. The remains of the shattered head were already starting to come together; pieces shivering and shifting of their own accord. The woman slammed her arm against an nearby streetlight pole to dislodge the creature's broken arm, the pieces of which began to scuttle towards the monster like autumn leaves caught in a wind.

"Reminds me of my sister's last boyfriend," said the strange woman as she tossed her bat away, "all hands." Ken found himself moving closer, eyes wide as he looked at her birdstyle uniform. The wings were not only the same style and colour as Joe's, but so was the entire uniform. The boots and gloves were indigo, the body suit dark crimson with the Kagaku Ninjatai symbol emblazoned in bright red on the front. Even the helmet was the same with the violet visor, although where Joe's uniform had crimson pants that met the high boots, she wore a skirt longer than Jun's. There was a braid of bright red hair that hung down her back almost to her elbows. She was looking at a small square of white paper that she was holding in the tips of her fingers of her right hand. Now less than two feet away from her, Ken could see writing on it, although he couldn't make out what it said. In two swift movements she tore it into pieces and let them flutter to the ground, her eyes on the monster.

"Look!" yelled Jun from her place across the street, Jinpei by her side. The monster's movements had stopped, the one good arm no longer waving and the legs no longer twitching. The fragments had also stopped moving, stopped their regeneration. The team watched as the monster's bright colour leeched away, leaving it a cold, dead shade of beige.

The strange woman dusted her hands against each other and Ken noticed that she wore her transformation bracelet on her right wrist, the way a left handed person would wear their watch. She looked up at him and smiled. As her eyes met Ken's he got another shock as he found himself looking at Joe's predatory eyes, with the same arch to the brows and Joe's wicked grin spreading across her face. She even looked about the same age. "I hate golems," she said with a grin. "Golems suck." Ken could sense Joe hovering just behind him, and Ryu had positioned himself on the woman's other side, thereby cutting off one avenue of escape.

Ken felt Joe moving closer to him, surely he could see the resemblance as well as Ken could. "Who the hell are you?" growled the Condor.

One of her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What do you mean, r16;who the hell am Ir17;?" she shot back.

"Of all the greetings I thought I'd get, that wasn't one of them. You really are a bear, you know that?" She turned on her heel and headed back towards the now motionless monster, pausing long enough to pick up the remains of her bat, now battered almost beyond recognition. "Hm," she muttered as she looked at it, "it seems that the old saying 'they don't make it like they used to' is a blatant lie." She tossed it away again and began to look around her.

"You didn't answer me," Joe snapped. "I'll ask just once more: Who the hell are you?"

She glanced back over her shoulder and made a dismissive sound through her teeth. "Do you have a problem with your short term memory or something? Ooo, hardware store. Perfect." She bent down and picked up a chunk of the monster that was roughly the size of a football and set it against her left shoulder, preparing to throw it through the store's window.

"Hey!" protested Jun as she rushed towards the woman to stop her. "You can't break into a store like that, even if it's abandoned."

"Look, clearly the bats aren't going to work. So, either we break the window and get some crowbars and stuff, or the golems get you and we have to take you lot back to Nambu in sponges." She had started to grin once more and they could all see it again, that wicked smile that duplicated Joe's perfectly. "Personally," she continued as she hefted the stone through the window, shattering it completely, "I prefer the former, because I'd hate to have to explain the latter! 'Kay?" She strutted to the window and started to climb over the broken glass, pausing half way to glance back at the team, all of whom were still standing there, starring. "Hello? Guys? What, are you on vacation or something? Get the led out! Ooo, here we go, perfect!" She came back to the window, arms full of four or five big crowbars, which she unceremoniously dumped out the window. "I don't think there's enough of these," she mused as she headed back inside. "Hey, Ryu; how about a sledgehammer? You can handle that, right?"

Joe was heading towards her, fists clenched. "You smart-mouthed little...." Ken had to step in front of Joe to prevent him from throttling the woman. Unconsciously, they had all moved closer to the window and were now standing just a couple of feet away and had arranged themselves into a semicircle by instinct. If she tried to attack them, she would have to come through the window and her only escape would be through the store itself.

"I think," Ken began quickly, his shoulder pressed hard against Joe's chest as the Condor tried to push past him, "that you've made a mistake assuming that we know who you are."

"Because we don't have a clue," chimed in Jinpei.

"That's right," added Ryu. All eyes were on the woman as she appeared at the broken window again, lugging a big sledgehammer which she dropped out the window to land with a clang on the crowbars. She was frowning as she took a step back, broken glass crunching and popping loudly under her boots.

"What do you mean you don't know?" she finally demanded, eyes flicking from one face to another. "Didn't Nambu tell you?"

"No," snorted Joe.

"All he said was that we could expect backup," Jun explained.

The woman's jaw dropped. "Ex-squeeze me?" was her response, in English.

Jinpei snickered, while Ryu whispered "What'd she say?" to Jun, who shrugged.

" 'Backup'?" the woman repeated. "You mean that he didn't tell you anything? Not a word? No warning, nothing?" Everyone nodded. "Oh, pleeeease tell me you're joking!" She put her face in her left hand as she shook her head in disbelief. "I don't believe this. What is he thinking!?! OK, look, I could explain all this, but it would take ten or twelve hours or so and Mr. Trusting over here," she jabbed towards Joe with her right thumb, "would never believe me anyway. Let's just say that we're all on the same side and that we're here to help you guys out. OK?"

"Prove it," Joe shot back.

"Ask Nambu to prove it; he's got everything that he asked us for!" She shook her head again and

sighed. "I can't believe this. I can not do this right now! OK, look, the things you're fighting are called golems. They're not robots and they're not alive, which is why things like grenades and bird missiles," this, too, was aimed at Joe, who scowled, "don't work on them. You can't kill them and they have no moving parts."

"So, what makes them move?" Jun asked.

"Ah, that's the thing. A golem is basically a clay statue, kind of like a flower pot. Only, when it's being made, the maker writes an incantation, generally in Latin or Hebrew on a piece of paper and puts it inside the statue's mouth. It's the incantation that gives the statue the semblance of life, as well as enslaving it to the will of the maker. A golem has no will, no self-preservation instinct, so if you say to it, 'Walk off the edge of that cliff,' it'll do it. And, since it doesn't have any moving parts and isn't alive, you can't kill it."

"But you stopped that one," Ken said with a nod to the fallen golem. "So there must be a way to destroy them."

"Sure there is. Actually, there's a couple of ways, but the easiest one is to get the paper with the incantation. See, if you can smash the head open and get at that piece of paper, you can stop the golem. Rip up the paper and you destroy the incantation. No incantation, and the golem goes back to being a piece of lawn sculpture. Get it?"

Jun was scowling at the woman. "You're asking us to believe in magic, talking about incantations. There is no such thing."

A big smile spread across the woman's face. "So rational, scientific minds will tell you. Hence your need for 'backup'. Listen," she called to them as she disappeared back into the store to continue her hunt for more weapons, "I've fought against these things before. Geez, I got four broken ribs fighting them, and this really is the best way. Hey, tire irons! These'll work. I know you guys have no reason at all to trust me, but I'm asking you to, just for now, anyway. If you don't," she was back at the window again, arms full only to drop the tire irons onto the pavement with a clatter, "you're going to get your butts kicked."

Ryu was looking at the rather large pile she'd amassed. "Um, why do you need so much of this stuff?" he asked.

"Because besides us, there are five more pairs of hands that will need these." The team was shocked.

"What'd you do, bring your own army?" Ryu demanded.

"It's not my army. Geez, that reminds me.... This is G-8, come in anybody!" she said into the bracelet on her right wrist as she started to climb out through the broken window. Everyone exchanged glances and although Joe frowned, he said nothing. "Where the heck are you guys?"

A male voice that no one recognized came over the bracelet. "This is G-9! Kat, where the hell are you? We've got an army of golems here! And where's the old vanguard?"

"They're here with me, but they're a little lost in the fog, so to speak. Where are you guys, exactly?" A massive column of fire suddenly appeared above the buildings in response. It shot straight up from the ground into the sky before dissipating above the roof tops.

"It looks like it's coming from the center of town," said Ken.

"Gee, Miko" the woman said into her bracelet, "that was subtle." She scooped up an armful of tire irons and crowbars and took off towards the column at a run. "Come on, if we're going to back 'em up, let's go!"

Ken also grabbed two crowbars and took off after her, the others following suit. "You never told us your name!" he called after her.

She shot a grin back at him. "My family calls me Kat or Katty, but my name's really Katarina."

Several paces behind them, Joe felt himself go cold suddenly at the sound of her name, although he said nothing as he raced after the Ken and the stranger.

Phoenix Resolution

part 2

            They could hear the sounds of battle long before they reached the centre of town, sounds of stone smashing against cement and the crunching of metal as the monsters destroyed everything in their path. I can't believe I'm doing this, Ken thought to himself as he and the entire team raced along on the heels of the strange woman. Is she really the backup that Hakase talked about? Or am I leading us into a trap? Then again, why would she tell us how to destroy these monsters if she's a Galactor? He was still turning things over in his mind when the woman skidded to a stop.

"Sayo!" she yelled. Ken followed her gaze, which was turned upwards. Way up. Something with dark wings was flying toward them; Ken could hear the flapping as it neared. "Sayo!" Katarina yelled again. "Down here!" Ken saw it slow down, legs dropping down as it landed in front of her. Human legs, without question. It was another girl, looking even younger than Jinpei. She too, was wearing a birdstyle uniform, the body a bright yellow, while the boots and gloves were deep purple. The helmet was also purple, with bright yellow for the eye slashes. The beak-like visor was also yellow, and hooked slightly, although not as much as Ken's or Joe's, and not as long as Jinpei's. But the wings, that was the real shock. They stretched far over her head and the feathers, a dark iridescent purple that bordered on black, distinct and glistening in the sun. Ken froze several feet from the pair and his team stopped near him. He was still close enough to hear the strangers speak, however.

            "How's it going?" Katarina asked the child. "How many are there?" The child didn't answer, but her hands suddenly went up and she began making a rapid series of gestures.

            "What's she doing?" Ryu quietly asked no one in particular. Ken started to say that he had no idea, but Jun interrupted him.

            "It's sign language."

            "Sign language?" Ryu repeated.

            "At least, I think it is," Jun continued, as if she hadn't heard him. "But, it looks like there's something wrong with her hands, she's not making all the signs right."

            "You know what she's saying, then?" growled Joe.

            Jun nodded. "She's saying something like, there's dozens of them and.... someone... is getting worried.... I don't know. She's signing too fast for me."

            "That bad, is it?" came Katarina's voice. The child was nodding at her. "Here, Sayo, take a couple of tire irons, they're a bit smaller. Go ahead and tell Viv that we'll be there as quick as we can. And don't give into them whatever you do!" The little girl rolled her eyes at that last comment, an expression that had "no kidding" written all over it. She grabbed the tire irons from Katarina and turned and ran a few steps away from her, before her outstretched wings caught the air and lifted her from the ground with a couple of strong strokes.

            "Wow! I wish I had real wings to fly away like that." Katarina looked over her right shoulder at Jinpei, who was still watching the girl fly away between the buildings.

            "Be careful what you wish for," she muttered as she sprinted away again.

            Ken wanted to ask her who the child was, and how such a young girl was wearing a Kagaku Ninjatai uniform, but she was already far ahead of him. She rounded a corner to the right and vanished from view. Joe swore under his breath as he rushed past Ken after her, only to stop dead as soon as he reached the corner. Ken gritted his teeth, knowing that whatever had brought Joe to a halt had to be bad.

            The city centre had some time ago been made into a large park, a spot of green grass and trees in amongst the skyscrapers. The team found themselves facing that now, but instead of birds and kids playing, there were a couple dozen golems. The playground had already been destroyed, the jungle gym crumpled into a ball of metal, slides torn apart and several of the big trees had been ripped out by the roots. Indeed, one of the monsters was in the process of tearing out another tree, only to swing it wildly at the winged figure who was hovering a few feet above its head. The man dodged the branches easily in a flurry of flapping wings. Everywhere Ken looked, it seemed, there were more winged figures harassing the golems. He could see Sayo as well, as she smashed the head of one of the golems with her tire irons. It wobbled and fell to the ground as the child pounced on it and began beating the head in to get at the incantation in its mouth.

            "Scatter," he ordered the team, "but keep your eyes on each other." Immediately the team headed in different directions, except for Joe, who remained beside Ken.

            A figure in black and scarlet darted over Katarina's head. "Hey!" a female voice yelled, deep and husky, just like Katarina's and just as surely female. "Where the hell have you been? You decide to take a tea break or something?"

            Katarina grinned. "Bitch, bitch, bitch. Here, catch," she yelled as she threw one of the heavy crowbars at the woman in black. The woman caught it with no trouble, and dashed down to strike at a golem who had just pulled the teeter-totter out of the ground. The creature dropped the teeter-totter in an attempt to grab the woman, who simply fluttered beyond its reach, only to drop from the sky again and hit it again, her boots connecting with its shoulders. The golem grabbed her ankles as it fell backwards, taking her with him. This did not seem to faze her, however, as she kept swinging the crowbar until she got both of its arms broken off and then turned her attention to the head.

            "Hey!" came another voice, just over Ken's head. He looked up to find the one who had avoided the tree hovering above him. "You gonna throw me one? We're dying out here!" the young man yelled with a grin. The uniform was Kagaku Ninjatai again, only it was gold in colour, with dark crimson boots. The helmet looked like Ken's with the blue beak visor, but gold like the rest of the body suit. The wings, too, flashed gold with red tipped feathers. Ken just starred, suddenly distracted by the feeling that he knew this person. The face and the voice were creepy in their familiarity, but he couldn't place them. It was Joe who suddenly threw a crowbar, sending it flying toward the man like a javelin. The stranger caught it easily, and yelled a "thanks" over his shoulder as he flew off again.

            Ken saw another figure in blue and grey flash overhead. "Here!" he yelled as he threw his extra crowbar at it. "Cool!" called a female voice as the figure caught it. "Look out! One's coming at you," she added as she darted away. There it is again, Ken thought as he turned his attention to the golem who was running at him, arms outstretched, that feeling like I know her, that I know that other one, too. Knowing that Joe was still standing to his right, Ken made a dash at the monster's left leg, throwing all his speed and weight into the strike at its knee. Predicably, this unbalanced the thing, giving Joe a clear shot at its head. The condor took it, leaping high into the air, a crowbar raised well above his head, only to swing it down to connect soundly with the jaw as Joe descended back to earth. The lower part of the jaw snapped off and a rectangular piece of white paper fluttered out. Ken wheeled around and snatched it before the monster could collect itself. Just as the strange girl had said, there was something written on it in what appeared to be Latin. He watched for a moment as the golem picked up its broken jaw and fitted it back into place, as it began to gather its legs under itself and get to its feet. As it was still kneeling, Ken tore the paper neatly in two, causing it to freeze instantly. As the bright colour began to leach out of it, Ken stuck the paper into his pocket. Hakase will know what it says, he decided.

            Jinpei had followed Katarina when Ken gave his command to scatter. Still unsure whether she could be trusted or not, he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. She saved me from that golem, so she can't be all bad. He watched as she leapt up to take a swing at the shoulder of another golem, at least seven feet tall. Jinpei copied her, hitting the other shoulder as the creature turned to go after Katarina. There was a loud, metallic twang as steel connected with the hardened clay. The thing's not real smart, Jinpei thought as it turned its attention toward the boy, thereby giving Katarina another chance to attack it from behind. She leapt again, the crowbar high in the air when the monster suddenly wheeled back toward her. Before she could react, it grabbed her by the ankle and whipped her over its shoulder, sending her body hurtling toward the shadow-draped wall of the nearest building. Jinpei gritted his teeth and squinted his eyes, waiting for the sickening sound of Katarina's body hitting the wall.

            Only the sound never came. After a few seconds, Jinpei opened one eye to find the woman already on her feet, stalking back toward the golem with strong, purposeful strides. "Right!" she said to whoever happened to be listening. "That's it! You're goin' down, clay-fer-brains!" She charged the thing again, even though it was poised in a footballer's stance, crouched slightly and arms out, ready for her. Jinpei, suddenly realizing that he'd been forgotten about, took the chance to attack the golem from behind. Just as Ken had done, he went for the exposed legs, hitting it at the bend in the knees. Much to his surprise, the left leg broke off completely and huge cracks sprouted from the back of the right one. The golem listed to one side, staggering like some lame giant. Katarina grinned as she moved in for the kill.

            Ryu was having more luck on his own. The sledgehammer worked well against the clay monsters, the handle being just long enough for the owl to smash the heads without the acrobatics needed by the rest of the team. His massive strength perfectly suited to smashing the clay statues, his only problem stemmed from remembering to pause long enough to retrieve the paper from the crushed mouths and tear it up. Ryu almost hated to admit it, but he was starting to enjoy himself. It was a relief, to be facing things that weren't living human beings, things that didn't bleed when you killed them. It was almost like a training exercise and Ryu couldn't help but smile to himself as bits of clay flew away from the head of the nearest golem to bounce off his visor. He was bending down, pushing away the bits of golem, looking for the incantation amongst the rubble when there was a rumble right behind him. Ryu glanced over his shoulder to find yet another golem practically on top of him. Damn it! He hadn't heard it coming, and with the fallen one starting to collect itself already, the great owl found himself without anywhere to go. He tried to get the sledgehammer to his shoulder, but the thing was much too close to get a decent swing at it. Ryu braced himself.

            There was a deafening crack, and Ryu watched as a huge fissure suddenly appeared at the top of the creature's head and raced down between its eyes. A flash of silver sprouted out of the split and a massive dark form rose up from behind, looming over the monster's shoulder. Ryu tried to back up, nearly tripping on the still prone form of the fallen golem. There was a loud crunching followed by a pop as one side of the head suddenly broke off at the neck and slipped away. The body pitched forward to land with a crash and a dust cloud on top of its fallen companion, right at Ryu's feet. The owl found himself starring at the gleaming blade of a massive battle ax, which the bearer had twisted to the side in order to split the head. Standing behind the ax, eyes narrowed in concentration was an enormous man wearing a Kagaku Ninjatai birdstyle uniform, a uniform that bore a resemblance to Ryu's own. The helmet and the visor were shaped the same, although the visor was bright yellow rather than Ryu's violet. The colours too, were different, stark white with black boots, gloves and collar. The man's very real feathered wings stretched up above the shoulders and slightly out, bright white feathers tipped in black. For a long moment both owls starred at each other before the white one stepped forward to retrieve the incantations from the stricken monsters, smashing the head of the one Ryu had attacked open again with the heel of his boot. He tore both spells in half with his teeth and spit the paper away.

            He met Ryu's eyes. "Sometimes the best way to fight these things is a tergo," he said finally.

            "What?"

            "It means, ’Äòfrom behind'." There was a pause. "You're welcome, by the way." He was still grinning as he spread his wings and lifted himself into the air. Ryu was left to watch as the white owl headed off into the fray again. Oh-kay... that was strange. The great horned owl allowed himself a shake of his head before he, too, went back into the battle.

            For her part, Jun was having less success. The golems, with predatory instincts, seemed to sense some unseen weakness in the swan and had singled her out. She quickly found herself being accosted by three all at once, and although she kept striking the heads with the tire iron she had, she had no sooner smashed the jaw of one than the other two rushed at her, forcing her to keep leaping out of the way, giving the damaged one time to heal itself. This had been going on since the team had split, and she was starting to tire. She crouched down, with two in front and one just behind, thereby giving herself a second or two to catch her breath as she decided on her next move. She finally settled on her yo-yo, flinging it at the one in front and to her left, the short steal spike in the bottom of the yo-yo sticking into the monster's neck. It reached up to pull the thing out just as Jun twisted the ring on her finger that the yo-yo's wire was connected to. Instantly, a massive electric current shot down the wire and into the bomb the centre of the yo-yo. She was rewarded when the monster's head exploded, sending pieces of rubble flying in all directions. She then leapt away and to the left, narrowly avoiding the murderous grip of the golem behind her. She started to back up, both monsters following her, their dull eyes seemingly fixed upon her. What do I do when I run out of yo-yos? She turned her attention to one that had been behind her, sending another yo-yo bomb hurtling toward its throat. No sooner had the weapon struck than the monster reached up and tore it loose, crushing the yo-yo with its left hand. Nevertheless, Jun twisted the ring again and watched as the explosion took blew most of the monster's left side apart. The head had remained intact, however, so it only took a few seconds for the thing to start pulling itself back together. Before the dust had cleared, the undamaged golem moved in to charge Jun, trying to put itself between her and its injured comrade.

            The swan braced herself, one hand on another yo-yo bomb, teeth gritted as she took aim at the charging monster. She thought she heard Ken calling, but his voice seemed so far away; too far to understand what he was saying. She drew her arm back, fingers clutched tightly on the yo-yo when the golem's chest suddenly exploded before her eyes. She squeezed the yo-yo again, her right arm still drawn back as she watched as a large arrow head shape erupt from the thing's chest. It was attached to a heavy chain, which at that moment began to wrap itself around the creature's neck. Jun looked up to see a young man in a gold birdstyle uniform, his very real wings flashing in the sun as he hovered above the creature. He yanked back on the chain, sending the golem off balance and pulling it backwards to land with a loud crash on the pavement, smashing itself to pieces.

            "Look out behind you!" he yelled to Jun suddenly as he descended toward her.

            Jun wheeled around, and flung her yo-yo bomb directly at the mouth another golem who was rushing at her. A twist of the ring, and its head exploded.

            "Nice shot, Mum!" laughed the young man. Jun turned to stare at him as he retrieved the paper incantation from the rubble, his back to her. She could see each feather of his wings, the longer flight feathers tipped in crimson, the rest were bright gold, almost metallic in colour. Long, very black hair, the same colour as Jun's, hung down between the wings to the waist, running down his back like a night-time river. As he turned back toward her, he touched the paper to one of the red tipped feathers of his left wing, instantly causing the paper to burst into flames.

            Jun starred at the face as the young man grinned at her. The gold helmet with its bright red eye slashes with their false blue bird eyes; even through the distortion of the blue visor, she could clearly make out his features.

            This man could have passed for her brother. She could see the resemblance in the shape of his eyes, the curve of the dark brows, the shape of the face; all were more than familiar to her. While not exactly the same, there was no question in Jun's mind about the face she was looking at; it was her own face, almost perfectly.

            Almost, for the grin was not hers, that wicked, impish grin that spread across his face. Nor did the sleek frame and long legs belong to Jun, and yet these features, too, were familiar to her. That grin, the body, even the line of the jaw, these were Ken's features, appearing in this strange creature who stood before her.

            He must have seen her shock, because the dark eyebrows drew together in a frown as he moved closer to her. He was quite a bit taller than Jun, easily clearing six feet, noticeably taller than Ken. "Are you OK?" he asked as she starred up at him.

            Abruptly, his words came back to her. "You...called me ’Äòmum'," she said finally, her voice barely a whisper. He had to lean down to hear her clearly. "You called me ’Äòmum'," she said again.

            The man began to laugh. "What else should I call you?"

            Jun stared at him, unable to answer, barely able to breathe. She just starred at him, at that face that was almost, but not quite hers, but not quite Ken's, either. Even the laugh sounded similar. He was looking away from her, gathering up his chain and looking to his flying companions. "Looks like we've cleared out the last of them," he said, with relief in his voice. Then he frowned. "I don't see Sayo anywhere.... Oh. There she is... Kyra's with her. Looks like everybody's OK." He turned back to Jun, meeting her eyes again with a smile. "We'd better go before Viv wears herself out battering every one of the golems to dust for the hell of it." He offered Jun his arm and she took his elbow mechanically, her eyes glued to him as he lead her toward the centre of the park where the others were slowly gathering. "She will, too," he continued, cheerfully. "Are you sure you're OK?" he asked when she didn't answer. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

            Jun nodded and finally found her voice again although the words came out in a horse whisper: "Who are you?"

            "What?"

            "I said, ’Äòwho are you'."

            He let out a bark of laughter, a sound that would never have escaped Ken. "What are you talking about? You know who I am!"

            "No. I don't. You.... you look like me, but...."

            He gasped at that, the humour falling away from his face like a mask. "You mean that Nambu didn't tell you about us?"

            "No."

            "Oh my God!" He looked up again, eyes searching as he hurried toward the group,

unwittingly dragging Jun with him. "Viv!"

            A woman in a black birdstyle uniform with scarlet boots and gloves looked up. "Yo!"

            "Viv, we've got a problem!"

            She scowled and as Jun and the stranger got closer to her, Jun could see how she stood with her straight back and arms folded across her chest, a pose that Jun had seen Joe adopt many times. "Problem? All the golems are dust, no one's bleeding to death on the pavement... no problem." The voice sounded like the other stranger's, Katarina. Sounded identical, in fact.

            "No," came another familiar voice, this time from Katarina herself, who had just joined the group with Jinpei in tow. "We do. Seems Nambu wimped out on us." Jun was relieved to see that Ryu, Joe and Ken had arrived in time to hear Katarina's words.

            Vivianna's head snapped around. "WHAT??"

            Jun heard a rustle, as the child Sayo and another woman, dressed in light blues and greys landed just behind her. "Hey," said the newcomer breathlessly. "What's wrong?"

            Vivianna was facing Ken. "You mean to tell me that Nambu didn't tell you that we were coming?"

            Ken shook his head, as the enormous man in white and black loomed up behind Vivianna. "Not exactly," Ken added as Vivianna groaned aloud. "He said that we could expect some back up in dealing with the golems, but that was it."

            Joe was giving Katarina and Vivianna a murderous stare, standing beside Ken, the condor's hands spasmed into fists. Even from a distance, Jun could feel his tension and anger, his total distrust of these strangers. She couldn't blame him, she wasn't sure herself if these people were some twisted Galactor mind game and her training told her to be careful, to be on her guard.

             And yet....

            And yet, there was something about the man in gold that stilled the fear in Jun. She was no longer holding his elbow and found herself sandwiched between the man and the woman in blue. Jun got another shock as she looked at this other woman. Again, she saw features that bore a striking resemblance to Ken, even more so than the man's. She had Ken's stance, his tilt of the head, the shape of his eyes, even his nose. Jun could even see that the eyebrows were the same chocolate brown as Ken's. Jun should have felt uneasy, she should have felt trapped there, between two strangers, she should be braced to defend herself.

            Only she didn't and she wasn't. She felt comfortable between these two people of about her own age. She felt.... safe. No, she told herself severely, turning her attention back to the real Ken, standing just a few feet from her. I can't let myself be distracted by the fact that they look like him. I can't let down my guard because of my feelings for him. I can't....

            Still, there was a quiet, niggling little voice in her head that kept telling her: You're safe. Safe. No fear. It's OK. You're safe here.

            Vivianna, by contrast, was hardly quiet in her anger and distress. "How the hell could he not tell you anything?" she was demanding of Ken, as if he had something to do with what Hakase had or had not told the team. "What is he thinking? I mean, I thought this man had brains!"

            "Now, wait a minute...!" snapped Ken.

            "Perhaps he did what Don Quixote did," suggested in the man in white and black, "he read from dusk until dawn and from dawn until dusk until his brains dried up and blew out his left ear."

            The man in gold snickered quietly by Jun's side but Joe lost whatever minor shred of composure he had left. "If you think we're going to stand here and let you insult Hakase like that...!" he roared.

            "Cool it!" snapped Vivianna with the voice of someone who expected to be obeyed. "No one's trying to insult anybody. It was just a joke, so lighten up. Look," she continued to Ken and the others, ignoring Joe for the moment, "clearly there's been a screw up somewhere, so let's just figure out the best way to deal with it, OK?"

            "Fine," snorted Joe. "You can start by telling us who the hell you are."

            The woman in blue chuckled at that. "Oh, sure Joe. As long as you don't have any plans for the next few weeks. It shouldn't take much longer than that!"

            "That'll never work, Kyra," said the man in gold. "They won't believe it without some kind of proof, and Nambu has all of it."

            "Miko's right," added Katarina. "There's just no way to properly explain who we are and what we're doing here without the proof. They won't believe us, but if Nambu explains it, they might, just might believe it."

            Sayo went to Vivianna to tug at one of her black wings. "What do we do now?" the child signed to her.

            "Good question. Anyone got any suggestions?"

            "I suggest we let Nambu handle it," answered the one in white. "He did agree to explain everything, did he not?"

            "Yeah," said Miko.

            "You're saying that you've spoken to Nambu Hakase?" Ken demanded, glaring at the white owl.

             "Well, I suggest that we drag the whole bunch of you back to base, preferably in hand cuffs, and sort the whole mess later!" Joe's voice was strained. Jun couldn't remember ever seeing him so angry before. She watched him, watched his shoulders shaking with anger and marvelled that the condor had somehow restrained himself from attacking these strangers. Katarina and Vivianna were both watching him as well, although they totally ignored his comment.

            For his part, Jinpei had moved away from Katarina and placed himself beside Ryu, eyes darting to each face in turn. Jun noticed that he seemed passive, distant, as if he had sworn no allegiance to either side and was simply waiting to see who would win the debate. He's probably waiting to see what Ken and Ryu will do, Jun decided.

            "I believe Vivianna and Katarina made those arrangements, but, yes, I've spoken to him. We all have," was the white owl's answer. Joe stiffened even more, and Ryu was frowning to himself.

            "I'm really starting to wish that Hakase had told us whatever it is. It would have meant less arguing," Ryu mumbled to Jinpei, who nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

            "I agree with you, Ryu," said Katarina. Ryu looked up, surprised that she'd heard him. "I also agree with Kai. Nambu did tell us that he would take care of this, so I don't see any reason to let him off the hook. Let him do it. And, I think I know a way to make sure that he does just that." A wicked grin had spread across her face beneath the violet visor.

            "How?" Ryu's voice was tense, suddenly.

            "By giving you proof that you're not the victims of a mass hallucination, that's how," she reassured him. "Here, guys," she added to her companions, "each of you give me a feather shuriken." Vivianna pulled out a feather from one of her wings, the tip an electric blue that stood out sharply from the black.

            "Not those ones. The other ones."

            "Oh." Vivianna reached into her pocket and pulled out a steal feather shuriken that looked just like one of Joe's, except that it was bright scarlet red and handed it to Katarina, who added her own black shuriken to it. Every one of the strangers pulled out their own, the colours matching their uniforms and handed them to Katarina.

            She turned to Ken. "Here," she held out her left hand and let the steal feathers flutter down into Ken's open palm. "Give those to Nambu, so he'll know we were here." Ken was starring doubtfully at the brightly coloured feathers. "Don't worry," she added with a grin. "I swear that they're not bombs or anything!"

            Joe snorted. "We have your word on that, do we?" he asked contemptuously.

            "Actually, you do." As she spoke, she reached up and made a cross over her heart with her right pinky finger.

            "OK, OK," called Vivianna. "Enough with the verbal boxing. We've done what we were supposed to do. Let's leave the rest for now. I don't know about the rest of you, but I skipped lunch, so I'm ready to eat a horse! Let's go!" Indeed, the day had skidded away from them, and the sun was starting to set, causing the shadows of the buildings to lengthen and darken as it died. Vivianna took off at a jog, her wings spread wide as they caught the air, a couple of strong flaps and she was airborne, calling "see ya!" over her shoulder. The others followed suit, calling "so long" and "later" to the Kajaku Ninjatai as they one by one took flight.

            Miko paused, looking down at Jun with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry," he told her. "It'll be fine... I promise." He even winked as he moved away, grinning at Ken as he took to the air. "We're on the same side, you know!" he called back to the eagle as he flew off. Jun and the others watched as nearly all of the strangers flew away, disappearing around one of the buildings.

            All except Katarina. Katarina, whose indigo wings, while the same colour and shape as Joe's, looked a bit longer. Leather cape-like wings that hug limply from her shoulders. She was standing there, watching her friends fly off, her face totally unconcerned, her arms folded across her chest.

            Joe started to chuckle, a nasty sort of chuckle, made even more so by his gruff, deep baritone voice. Katarina just looked at him. "Your friends are idiots," Joe finally told her.

            "Oh? You think so?"

            "Of course. They've all flown away and left you here alone with us. You, the one who doesn't have wings and can't fly. They've left you behind."

            "That's right," said Ken. Everyone was starring at Katarina, who hadn't moved.

            "And?" she asked, finally.

            "And," grinned Joe, "do you really think we're just going to let you walk away? If you know us at all, you know that we've dealt with dozens of Galactors at one time and won. You're alone. You don't have a chance in hell of getting away." He began moving towards her as he spoke, stopping just a couple of feet away from her.

            Kat had begun to grin before Joe had finished speaking. "Aa, and you think you're going to take me back to the Crescent Coral base by force, do you?" As she spoke, she turned and slowly walked a few feet away to stand in the lengthening shadow of one of the buildings. Once there, she stopped to face Joe again.

            "That's the idea." He was moving towards her again, stopping just outside of the shadow.

            Kat snorted. "It won't be that easy. You've got to catch me first." Jun could see her grinning, a wicked smile that almost looked nasty.

            Joe was grinning as well, a similar nasty grin on his face. "Oh, I don't think that will be a problem."

            "Oh, really?"

            "Really." Joe lunged towards her. As soon as he moved, Katarina seemed to shrink. He stopped short as she simply sunk into the ground in front of him, vanishing completely in a matter of seconds. Joe gasped. Ken and the others rushed forward. "What happened?" Ken demanded.

            "Where'd she go?" asked Ryu.

            "Oneechan," said Jinpei, "I'm kinda scared. Was she a ghost?"

            "Don't be silly," Jun scolded out of habit. "There are no such things."

            "AHEM!" came a voice from the left. Everyone watched as something dark began to grow out of the shadows further along the building wall. The dark blob grew until it was over five feet, only to start to fall away like water. As it fell, a now familiar figure began to emerge from within it.

            She was smiling at them as the darkness fell away from her. Her arms were still folded. "See?" she called to them. "Told you it wouldn't be that easy."

            "How?" Jinpei asked.

            "Easy. It's just a little something you don't believe in.... magic."

            "Bullshit," spat Ken.

            "Kuso," growled Joe.

            "Aa!" Kat laughed. "That's always your stock answer, your favourite word! ’ÄòKuso'!" She grinned. "Never mind, you'll see. Anyway, I'm off. I've got a lot to do tonight and I want to eat before I get started. Ciao!" She turned on her heel at the last word and walked towards the shadowed wall. Everyone watched as she simply walked into it and disappeared.

            The Kajaku Ninjatai stood there, starring at the wall, looking after the woman who was no longer there. Joe started to swear again, but Jun wasn't listening to him. She watched Ken, who, after a few moments, opened his hand to stare silently at the brightly coloured feather shurikens in his palm.

He had his head in his hands, with the heels pressed hard against his eyes until all he could see were the swirls and pinwheels of colours created by the pressure. Despite his despondent posture, every muscle within him was tense, ears straining as he listened for the voices he both longed to hear and dreaded at the same time. There was only silence however, as he sat and waited.

Finally, he gradually sensed that he was no longer alone. He heard nothing, saw nothing but the lights behind his eyes; nevertheless, he began to sense the presence of another. Perhaps he heard, without being conscious of it, the rhythm of another heart beat. He looked up, but was forced to wait until his vision cleared. There was nothing to see at first, just the darkened room and the shadows that hugged the walls. Then he spotted the gleaming eyes that peered at him from the darkness, from the shadows against the far wall. Blue-green eyes that gathered the available light and reflected it back in feline fashion. Even the shape was cat-like with their sly, upturned angle and the strange glow caused the iris' and pupils to vanish completely, giving them an uncanny appearance as they regarded him.

"You really fucked up, do you know that?" growled the owner of the eyes from the shadow.

"Katarina, I was under the impression that you rarely swore," he replied dully.

She stepped away from the wall, the darkness clinging to her like mist, following her as she moved. "I rarely have such a good reason! How could you do that to them? How could you send them in like lambs to the slaughter?"

"I hardly think that an apt analogy."

"Well, I think it's apt! We asked you to talk to them, to explain it to them! We were counting on you to tell them everything...."

"When the time was right. That was how you put it, if I recall."

"Exactly! We counted on you to explain it to them. To reassure them that we are who we say we are." She stepped further away from the wall and he watched as the shadows dripped from her, falling away like water to lay in a puddle at her feet. "We were depending on you to do it so that when and if we finally met, they wouldn't have a stroke from the shock!" she added as she waded out of the darkness.

"And just when do you think would have been a good time to explain it, hmm? When? Tell me. When would you have had me do it? The first time I met Miko? That soon? Or just before they left for this mission? Do you think that this situation is an easy one to explain? I can barely believe it myself, so how am I supposed to convince them?"

She was across the room in an instant, a series of silent strides that really shouldn't have surprised him, but did when he suddenly found her at the desk, slamming her hands down on the hard wood. He could hear the leather of her uniform creak as her hands clenched into fists.

"Of course it's not easy! I don't blame you for not quite believing it! If I were you, I wouldn't believe us, either. But, the fact is that it is true, we are here, and it's going to be a lot harder to convince them of the facts now that they've met us. Face it... the shit has hit the fan, and you're the one who's going to have to clean it up, Nambu."

He got to his feet at that, he wasn't used to being addressed in such a fashion. She turned on her heel and headed back toward the wall, back to the darkness without bothering to notice his wrath. Halfway there, she paused. "By the way, I've given Ken something to give to you." She didn't bother to look over her shoulder as she spoke.

"What?"

"Just think of it as a gift; a bit more proof, shall we say. I wanted to make sure that they had something to bring back with them, something real. Something that would not only prove to you that we were there, but would prove to them that they're not having a mass hallucination or something."

"Katarina, what did you give Ken?" he demanded, his voice dangerously low. She glanced back at that, a sly grin spreading across her face.

"You'll see. We'll be at your place when you're ready for a formal introduction. Later." She was off, vanishing into the darkness against the wall, which seemed to reach out for her like a greedy lover, clutching her to its embrace. Gone.

Kozaburou Nambu stared after her, marvelling again at her, the way she simply vanished into the shadows, leaving the same way she came. The security cameras in the hall saw nothing of her passing; there was nothing to see. She was just gone.

After a long moment, he sat down again with a sigh, and waited.

***

It was angry again. It often was, these days, although what Berg Katse was expected to do to correct that was beyond him. Things had started off so well and now, due to things that really were beyond Katse's control, everything had begun to go wrong. The creature's eyes were narrowed and had darkened to a bloody red colour even before Katse arrived, so he wasn't surprised at all when it growled "Baka!" as soon as he entered the room.

Berg Katse lowered his head. "Sosai X-sama," he began, "forgive me."

"Baka," it growled again. "Katse, I am really beginning to wonder why I bother to put up with you."

"Your constant failures are a disgrace! You should fling yourself into the darkest pit of hell to make up for them."

"But, Sosai..."

"SILENCE. The second portal has been lost to the Gatchaman in the future, which would not have happened if YOU succeeded in destroying them! Clearly, you are doomed to fail at that simple task. The future is clear." "But, Sosai, is it not the fault of the other one that the portal was stolen? Surly, if Yoshiki had done his job...."

"Baka. If you destroy the Gatchaman and the rest of his wretched team, they will not be there to take the second portal. Understand?"

"Yes, Sosai. Once again, you are correct."

"Of course I'm correct, you fool! You must do everything within your power to protect the portal that we still have."

"Sosai, please forgive me, but, if we need two portals to complete the transfer and the second one has been lost, why do we still need this one? Sosai X laughed, a low, rumbling chuckle that sounded more like a bear growling than a laugh. Oh, this is bad, Katse thought. I hate it when he laughs. Every time he laughs it ends up being something more complicated than the last plan. More and more work. He held his breath.

"You are a fool, Berg Katse. Nevertheless, I will explain it to you. As long as we have one portal, we will be able to make another one. We can then send that new one through the first portal into the future and then we will have the two that we need. Then, and only then, can we once again exchange information with Yoshiki. We will bring even more of their knowledge of dark arts back here to the past, and the Gatchaman will not be able to stand against us. We will crush them and both the present and the future will be ours. Now do you understand?"

"Yes, Sosai-sama. I understand."

"Good. You will move the time portal to our headquarters and triple the guard around it. Under no circumstances can you loose that portal, Katse. You will forfeit your life if you do. We must make sure the Gatchaman of this time doesn't learn that we have it. We can't have them escaping into the future, or have their future colleagues coming back into the past. See to it. Remember: I will kill you myself if you fail in this."

"Yes, Sosai, I will remember." Katse began to bite his lip as he left the chamber, the heels of his boots clacking loudly on the steal floor, the sound reverberating off of the bare walls.Damn it! I can't screw up this time! I don't dare tell him that there were more of them in the city today. Six more that knew how to defeat the golems. Maybe it was a fluke, maybe that damned Nambu figured out how to destroy the golems.

He didn't even bother to look at the general who saluted him as he entered the room.

"Berg Katse-sama! We are prepared for your orders, sir!"

"Take the portal to our headquarters in the Stoney Mountains. Put a triple guard on it. No, quadruple the guard. Under no circumstances can it be damaged or lost." Katse looked up to meet the general's eye. "You will die if anything happens to it."

"Of course, Katse-sama! I understand!"

As he walked away, Berg Katse bit his lip until it began to bleed. He headed straight for his private quarters, the deep carpet muffling the sound of his boots; the smell of fresh paint still hung in the air despite the fact that the air circulation system had been turned up. He flopped down into an overstuffed chair, chin resting in his left palm.

What if they find the base? If the ISO found their base in the mountains, he was finished. Truth was, Katse had never been very pleased with the Stoney Mountains as a location for the Galactor headquarters. There were too many people living on the coast, both in America and Canada. Abruptly, Katse got to his feet. We need a different headquarters. Someplace really remote, somewhere where there's little population... where we won't be disturbed. He walked to his desk, a huge heavy oak monstrosity that looked as solid as a bolder. As usual, it was barren of any papers or any visible sign that Katse did any work. He leaned down to push the intercom button, bellowing

"Selkirk" into the machine as he did so.

"Yes, Katse-sama?"

"Bring me the files on the prospective base sites."

"Which ones would you like, sir?"

"What do you mean, 'which ones'? All of them, and don't question me again."

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!"

Katse strode across the room, suddenly very glad that the bar was so close to hand, and poured himself a large cognac. He had settled down into his leather ox-blood chair behind the desk when Selkirk, a pointy, nervous looking man with dull brown hair and watery eyes finally appeared, pushing a large book cart in front of him. The cart's three shelves were almost bending beneath the weight of dozens of binders and file folders. Katse set down his glass with a thump as he glanced over the massive pile of paper work.

"This is all of them, then?" he asked finally.

"Aa... no, sir, it isn't," was Selkirk's nervous reply. The man wouldn't even meet Katse's gaze, preferring instead to stare at the carpet, or the wall, or anything other than Katse. Katse stiffened.

"Well, how many more are there?"

"Um, I'm not completely sure, Katse Sama, but, it would appear that there are quite a few more." His eyes flitting around like sparrows, Selkirk searched for something to look at besides the hooded man behind the desk.

"How many more?" Katse growled, suddenly fed up with Selkirk's nervousness.

"Aa...., enough to fill up at least one more cart... maybe two."

Katse starred at the man for a moment before leaning back into his chair with a groan.

***

"Here," Ken said as he opened his right hand and let the feather shurikens fall to the desk, their deadly points hitting the wood first before the simulated feathers fluttered down. The bright colours caught the light, causing the weapons to sparkle like gems. Black, that one was Katarina's, then there was the red, the gold, the dark purple, the blue, and, finally the white one, although the feather of that one had been given a black tip. Nambu picked up this last one, carefully rolling the point between his fingers, so that the feather turned before his eyes.

"Those were given to us by our 'back up'," Ken added after a moment of silence. "I... we... would like to know who these people are. Are they Kagaku Ninjatai?" he demanded.

"They are." Nambu's reply was almost a whisper. There was a collective intake of breath from the team, all arranged behind Ken in a semi-circle, all with their eyes darting from Ken to Nambu and back again. All except Joe, who had his arms crossed and eyes closed, his chin lifted so that his stance was one of total indifference. It was a facade, of course, since Joe didn't miss a word despite his posture. He never did.

"Are they our replacements?" was Ken's next question. This notion had been suggested by Jinpei on the way back to the base and while Ken had dismissed it outright at the time, the idea had clearly weighed upon his mind. "Have we failed somehow?"

"No. Not in the way you mean by 'replacements', no."

Ken frowned at that. "What other meaning is there? Either we're being removed from active service and replaced, or we're not."

"You're not," Nambu's voice seemed firmer, more sure of itself.

"What, then? Who are those people? Are you expanding the team or something? You could have told us."

"You certainly seem to have told them enough about us," added Joe, his voice flat and cold.

"I told them nothing about you, Joe. I didn't have to." Everyone just starred at Nambu Hakase; no one could think of how to respond. For several long moments there was only silence as the team starred at Nambu while the doctor slowly twirled the white feather with the black tip between his fingers. It was Jun who broke the silence by whispering "Hakase", the word almost an exhalation of breath rather than true speech.

Nambu finally let the feather drop to the desk with the rest as he slowly got to his feet. Deliberately, he turned his back on his team to turn on a televison monitor. The image that appeared on the screen was of Nambu's office, although the image was black and white and the camera angle was high. Nambu was sitting at his desk, facing a young man with long, dark hair; hair that fell like a night-time river down his spine. The stranger had his back to the camera.

"This is footage from the security camera in my office at ISO headquarters. The young man you see came to me four months ago with an unbelievable story. He claimed to be from the future as well as claiming to be the son of Ken and Jun. He calls himself Miko Washio."

"Kuso," snorted Joe while Ryu and Jinpei burst out laughing.

"He's been reading too much science fiction!" howled Jinpei.

"Oh, you mean like the comic books you read?" Ryu shot back. "He needs his head read, Hakase!"

"I only get to read those comic books when I can get them back from you," was Jinpei's indigent response.

"You don't mean that you believed that nonsense," huffed the condor. Ken said nothing, just stared at Nambu in disbelief.

"Of course I didn't," Nambu answered without looking at him. "I pretended to listen and then insisted that he provide me with proof of his claim. The proof, of course, to be determined by myself. Firstly, there was a DNA test. To prevent him from attempting to cheat the test, I told him I needed saliva, hair and blood samples, as well as a skin scrapping. Usually, anyone who shows up claiming to be one of your long lost relatives will give up at this point or, if the tests are done, they always come back showing no relation. Most of the time the tests aren't done at all; however, I did choose to perform them in this case."

"Why this case in particular?" Ken asked quickly. His face was pale, his body stiff beneath his uniform. Jun watched him carefully, since he looked as if he might just faint.

The doctor finally turned to face the Gatchaman. "The simple reason was his resemblance to Jun. You can't see it in the footage, but the man could easily pass for her twin brother. There is also a more than slight resemblance to you, Ken. I suspected this to be some sort of Galactor plot; however, the man's appearance made me curious enough to want the tests done. I believed that if it was indeed some kind of plot he would try to talk his way out of taking the tests. This young man; however, readily agreed to the procedure." The security camera footage showed Nambu taking the various samples from the stranger, who seemed completely relaxed and even lowered his head so that Nambu could pull out whichever hairs he chose. "Naturally, I expected the results to show that there was no relation at all. I wanted to make sure that there was no way for him to cheat, so I had every sample tested against of both Ken and Jun's genetic profiles that we have on file."

"You have our DNA on file? I didn't know that," said Ryu.

"We have all of your genetic profiles on file. We made them up some time ago from blood samples from all of you, for security purposes. When the first results came back, I refused to believe them and had all the samples re-tested. Three times. Each time, the results came back the same way. The blood, hair, saliva and skin all matched. All the samples came from one individual and that individual is the genetic male offspring of Ken and Jun."

At that, Jun sunk into the nearest chair. The room had started to spin and she suddenly felt that she couldn't breathe. She couldn't hear the protests of the others since the sound seemed to have been sucked out of the room, neither could she take her eyes off the image of the man on the screen. She watched as the figure at last turned away from Nambu to leave the office. She gasped as his face came clearly into view for the first time. Nambu chose this moment to pause the image. Jun stared at the man. She could see the resemblance even more clearly now, since his face was not obscured by his helmet visor. A face and hair like Jun's, but the body and the build were Ken's.

"Hakase," Ken's voice was strained, sounding both angry and frightened at the same moment, "this must be a Galactor trick of some kind! They've sent this man here to trap us!"

"That's right," added Jinpei. "There's no way that Ken and Jun could have a child thatold! He looks as old as they are!"

"You're forgetting that Miko claimed to be from the future, in which case Ken and Jun would themselves be quite a bit older."

The boy gulped. "Oh, I didn't think of that."

"Miko appeared again at the office a week later, an appointment that we had scheduled previously, and again I took samples to be tested. More hair, blood, saliva and skin. This time, I took the samples from other areas of the body in order to keep him from falsifying the results in any way. I took blood from both arms and his index fingers, skin scrapings from various places, and pubic hair rather than from his head. Again, the results were the same. The samples all came from the same person and that person was the male child of Jun and Ken. Miko also came with a few items that I had requested the previous week. First, there was an audio tape, supposedly made by Ken." Nambu opened a drawer in his desk and removed a bright red portable tape recorder. He set it down carefully on the desk as if he thought it might break before pressing the play button.

"Nambu Hakase, this is Gatchaman," came the voice. It sounded deeper than Ken's, almost as if he were overly tired, but did seem to be Ken's voice. "I know you will not believe my son when he tells you who he is and why he has come back into the past. However, Miko, his sister Kyra and his cousins, Sayo, Vivianna, Katarina and Kai are all operating under my orders. The fact that you are listening to this tape means that their mission has not gone as originally planned. Please believe them and assist them in any way that you can." There was a long silent pause, as the speaker seemed to consider what to say next. "I know that this situation is almost impossible for you to believe, but please understand that we would not have taken this step if there was any other choice. To send ourselves back into the past is too dangerous, since there's no way to predict what will happen if our past selves meet our future selves. To be honest, I would rather have slit my wrists than have my children involved in any kind of war, let alone against the dammed Galactor again, but..." here he sighed, sounding slightly amused in spite of himself, "I had very little choice in the matter. They're a headstrong bunch... kind of like their parents. Hakase, please help them with their mission. Please watch over them and send them back to us. Please. Over and out."

Nambu pressed the button and stopped the tape. "We've checked this tape with various recordings of Ken's voice. Again, the results were a shock, so I've had it re-tested. The voice prints match; it is Ken's voice," he hurried on, not allowing the shock to really hit the team. "The thought occurred to me that Ken might have recorded the message under duress, so I also had it checked for stress levels. The voice does appear to be under some stress, although not anywhere near the levels that would suggest that Ken was recording it against his will. I also asked Miko for various extremely high level security codes. These particular codes are at a level beyond top secret and, even if Galactor had taken over the ISO, it would be impossible to get the codes. Jun is one of the few people who know the particular codes I'm talking about, so it stands to reason that if Miko really is her son, he would be able to get the codes from her." Everyone looked at the swan, who didn't respond at first. The eagle prodded her by whispering her name, but she didn't answer until Jinpei tugged at her winged cape: "Oneechan".

Jun finally looked up. "Hakase, wouldn't those codes have been changed several times, if indeed, he is from the future? I mean, wouldn't the future me have given him the wrong ones?"

"That is a possibility, but, the future you would have known the codes that were in use now. I've checked. There have been no security breeches at any level, and a breech at such a high security level would not have gone unnoticed. The codes must have come from Jun. Whether she gave them up willingly or not...."

Joe swore. "Give me ten minutes with the little bastard," he snarled. "I'll beat the truth out of him! Five minutes! Three, even...!"

"Hakase," the eagle started slowly, picking his words. "This is insane. There is simply no way for that person to be our son! This has got to be a trick of some kind. Time travel isn't possible, and I refuse to believe that I would, under any circumstances allow my son to join the Kajaku Ninjatai!"

"According to the tape that you just heard, you were 'given very little choice in the matter'. Miko tells me that Katarina was the one who made the case to the future Ken, and she told him that they would fight Galactor, with or without the help of their parents. At least if they are with you, you could keep an eye on them. In addition to the audio tape, I asked Miko for some visual proof of his claim as well, since, while we can't detect any evidence of it, it may be that the audio tape was faked. Again, I was surprised by how readily Miko agreed. He supplied me with this." Nambu pressed another button and the image of Miko vanished to be replaced with what looked like a home video. Everyone gasped as the image of their older selves appeared before them. The Kajaku Ninjatai were seated outside around a large picnic table, the adults sitting and eating while the younger ones placed plate after plate of food before them. Indeed, there seemed to be a swarm of young adults and children rushing around and calling to each other in loud voices.

"This video was, according to Miko, filmed last year, at Ken's birthday party. After careful consideration, I have decided against showing you the entire tape and have chosen two still images from the tape instead." He pressed another button, and the film disappeared again to be replaced with a still of Joe and Ken, sitting close together and laughing at some shared joke.

Both looked noticeably older. Joe, especially, despite his amused expression looked aged. The lines of his face were harder, with noticeable frown lines around his eyes and mouth. He still had a full head of hair, although there were broad grey streaks at the temples. He looked tired, as if the wars and the years of fighting had imprinted themselves upon his features. His eyes, however, had lost some of their former hardness, giving him a less predatory look than before.

But Ken's appearance, that was the real shock. Much of the skin on the left side of his face was darker in colour and looked sunken, as if someone had removed large portions of the flesh. It looked tighter as well, pulling the corner of his mouth and eye upwards slightly. The entire area up his neck and along the left side of his face up into his hair was a mass of burn scars, which had missed his left eye by millimetres. His former mop-like hair was considerably shorter and the hair line on the left side had receded somewhat, although whether from age or as a result of the burns it was impossible to tell.

"Miko wouldn't go into details about how Ken came by those scars," Nambu explained, "none of them would. They would only say that it happened some time before they were born. Naturally, I assumed trickery again. However, a close examination of the entire video tape showed no evidence of manipulation of any kind. This person is indeed, Ken, which we were able to confirm by an examination of his ears."

"His ears?" Ryu seemed on the verge of laughing again, until Ken shot him a withering glance that silenced the owl and forced him to look down at his green boots.

"Human ears are a little like fingerprints," Nambu went on. "Each one is unique, and this persons ears are definitely Ken's. There was another image that I had examined," he pressed a button on the screen again, and another still, this time of Joe, appeared. He had his arms wrapped around a woman with shockingly bright red hair. Her face was partially obscured by Joe's left arm, but she appeared to have her eyes closed. Joe's head was bent, as if he was planting a kiss on the top of her head. His fingers were tangled and almost lost amongst the red tresses.

"The woman is apparently, Joe's wife. I had this particular image looked at very closely," Nambu continued, "since, if the image of the woman were added to a pre-existing image of Joe, there would be evidence of that around the area of Joe's hands where they meet her hair. At high magnification, the image would start to break down, and show evidence of the one having been pasted over the other. Individual hairs would be missing, the shadows wouldn't match and so forth." Nambu's face changed, his expression becoming almost sad. "Again, there was no evidence at all of tampering. This picture of Joe hugging this woman was really filmed rather than pasted together."

"I think you're all missing one very important point," interrupted Joe, who suddenly sounded much calmer. "The people that we saw today all had wings, not capes. Real wings that they used to fly. Not glide. Fly. If these are supposed to be our children, would you mind telling me where the hell they got those wings?" He smiled at that, clearly feeling that he'd caught a fatal flaw in the entire tale.

"I wanted to know about that as well," responded Nambu. "However, the wings vanish when they transform out of birdstyle. I've seen this. They simply seem to shrink into nothing, although they are very real while they are in birdstyle. Vivianna said that the wings can even be broken, and Kai has apparently done this. I took an x-ray of his right wing, and the bone does show evidence of a recent fracture that has healed. According to what they've told me, their future is one where the power of science has been superseded by magic. That's what they claim their wings to be... magic. A 'gift' they call them."

"Where are they now?" Everyone turned to face the eagle. His eyes were lowered, his jaw was clenched and his entire body was ridged. No one breathed. "Hakase," he repeated, his voice quiet and dangerously low, "where are they now?" He looked up finally to meet the doctor's eye. Jun held her breath, hoping that Nambu wouldn't refuse to answer. Not this time.

There was a breathless pause before the doctor answered: "At my house." In unison, Ken and Joe turned to leave. "Wait," Nambu ordered, but both ignored him. "I said, 'wait'!" he snarled again. Ken stopped first, Joe was still heading to the door when he glanced back and saw that Ken wasn't following. The condor only reluctantly stopped.

"I will get to the issue of the wings in a moment," the doctor told them. "Please, let me do this my way. I've been rehearsing these conversations for some time now. Be patient."

"Some nut jobs have you convinced that one of them is Ken's kid and you want us to be patient?" Joe snorted.

"That's precisely why I want you to be patient, Joe. You have missed an important point. It's not only Miko who claims to be related to Ken and Jun. You'll recall, the others are referred to by the voice on the tape as Miko's 'cousins'. Katarina and Vivianna, in fact, claim to be your twin daughters." That was another shock, although it did explain why both girls resembled Joe so closely. Nambu pushed another button on the monitor and an image of both girls in full birdstyle replaced that of Miko. They were standing back to back, arms folded and smiling beneath their visors, looking as if they had planned this pose in advance. "As I did with Miko, I had numerous tests done on both girls, comparing their DNA with Joe's. The girls, it turns out, seem to confirm that this is not a Galactor plot, since their story is more easily verifiable. Not only do they claim to be Joe's children, they also claim to be mirror twins."

"Mirror twins?" Jinpei asked, feeling the need to join in this strange conversation. "What's that?"

"Mirror twins are a known phenomenon, although it is rare. Basically, when the developing embryo splits into two, the two foetuses develop opposite traits. One is right handed, the other left, for example. Everything is opposite, even a birth mark that one twin has on their right leg, will appear on the left leg of their twin. This is a known phenomenon, but, is also easily verifiable through various tests. Someone impersonating Joe's daughter would be unlikely to choose to pretend to be twins, let alone mirror twins, when that can be easily proved.... Joe!!"

Joe ignored the doctor and was indeed out the door even as Nambu called to him. Ken was right behind him with the others following and Nambu last of all. Ken noted with some amusement that the expression on Joe's face, paired with his long purposeful strides that ate up the corridors length were enough to send anyone in the hall scrambling out of the condor's way. He could hear Joe mumbling to himself as he rushed down the hall:

"Lies! All of it! Nothing but a pile of crap and Nambu's swallowed it!" He glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Ken was following him. "We've got to find out what their game is, Ken." "Don't worry," he assured Joe. "We will. One way or another, we'll find the truth." We have to, because, if this is a Galactor plot, we have to figure it out or we're dead.

And if it isn't a Galactor plot, what then? a voice in Ken's head demanded, only to be pushed away again. No, I'm not going to think about that, it's not possible.

Ah, but what if it is...?