Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman Fan Fiction ❯ The Timepiece ❯ chapter 19 ( Chapter 19 )

Chapter 19

BANG!

A loud crash turned everybody's head over to Joe. He was leaning on both his hands against the remains of what used to be a fir tree. With his cybernetic hearing, Joe had been able to pick up every detail from Jun's conversation with Pepsi. He was seething in anger, though he did not even know what made him so angry. Was it the devious scheme of this character named Scorpio? Was it Scorpio's ill usage of Pepsi? Was it Pepsi's disloyalty towards Yuki and her team? Or was it the fact that Yuki was stupid enough to fall for such a scheme and got captured? All the above crossed his mind but he was mostly angry with himself for not having seen through it. Though he would not admit it, he was feeling angry with himself for not having trusted Yuki and having gone off at her. He blamed himself for fighting with Dobby, giving Yuki the chance to run out and got kidnapped.

Ken exchanged a glance with Jun and then went over to Joe. He gave Joe a squeeze on his shoulder and was about to comfort Joe for a bit, "Joe…" he started.

Joe spun around and shoved Ken's hand off. He glared at Ken, fist clenching, and growled, "What? Do you want a fight? I definitely have a use for a punch-bag right now."

Ken met Joe's flaming eyes. He could feel his own temper rising. He narrowed his eyes at Joe and said in a highly controlled tone, "If all that you care for is to fight, then I am definitely game. Though, we have much more important business on hand and Yuki's safety depends on us."

For a moment, it looked as if Joe was going to hit Ken. But after an awkward silence, Joe shrugged, "Fine, let's get going then. That is, if we know where we should be going to."

"We do, in fact." Jun walked over and shoved a piece of paper into Ken's hand.

"What's that?" Joe impatiently tried to snatch the piece of paper from Ken, but Jun slapped him on his wrist. "Can't you just wait?" she snorted.

"Well, looks like at least somebody is working when you are brooding, Condor." Ken smirked. Turning to Jun, he asked, "You got this address off Pepsi?"

Jun nodded in reply.

"Do you think she can be trusted?"

"She does not look to be faking her grief. And any woman who got used like that should want to get some revenge from that guy." Jun answered.

"Well, what are we waiting for then? We have to check it out anyway." Joe reached over and successfully snatched the piece of paper from Ken.

"Okay, let's go then." Ken summoned Ryu and Jinpei over and briefly brought them up to date with the latest news.

Ryu cracked his knuckles, "Cool! We have been starving for actions for months now. This should give us a nice workout."

"Workout, Ryu? Thought you only care about sleeping and eating." Jinpei snickered.

"Yeah right…" Ryu was about to come back with a retort when Joe suddenly cut in.

"Are you two done yet? Where do you think we are going? A pleasure trip?" Joe growled. "Get going! We have a stupid ass to pull out of deep shit and we don't have all day for your bickering!"

Ryu and Jinpei grimaced and stuck their tongue out at one another as Ken and Jun flashed Joe a curious look regarding that nasty remark. It was not totally uncommon that they bicker a bit in missions.

Ryu sobered up and asked Ken, "So where exactly are we going?"

"The factory district at the North end of the city." Ken replied. "And Joe is right, we don't have all day. The longer it takes us to find Yuki, the more danger she'd be in."

"And the less likelihood we'd find her."

They all turned towards the source of the comment. It was Dobby who had been quiet all this time.

"Why did you say so, Dobby?" Jun asked.

"Scorpio belongs to the Zodiac Group which is in essence a band of time-traveling outlaws across different eras." Dobby continued. "That means he has the ability to take Yuki to whichever era he chooses to." They all nodded their understanding.

"But wouldn't you or somebody be able to track them down?" asked Jinpei.

"Yes, our Time-traveling Squad can do that. But that takes time and if he chooses to move her again, it would take more time. Meaning, if we don't get to them before he make off with Yuki to another era. It might be a while before we could catch up with them." Dobby replied matter-of-factly.

Jun gasped, "And that means, during that time, anything can happen to Yuki?"

"Bingo! And I guess I don't need to remind you that this Scorpio is a bastard"

"Oh crap!" exclaimed Ryu, "And you said a band of outlaws. You mean he could have contact here?"

"Most definitely, how would he be able to hide in a factory if not so?"

"Baka!" Ken muttered.

BANG!

Another loud crash turned their heads towards Joe again. Another fir tree had been broken in half and it's top part was now lying next to the broken half of first one.