Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman Fan Fiction ❯ The Timepiece ❯ Chapter 13 ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter 13 -

"DUCK!"

Jun had managed to scream out in warning right before the land-to-land mini-missile blown up the car sending an orange ball of flames into the sky.

Jun sprang towards Jinpei, knocking him onto the ground and rolling with him away from the car right before the explosion. Joe had looked up at Jun's warning cry. Throwing himself on Yuki, he sheltered her from the metal rendings from the explosion. Meanwhile, Ryu and the rest of the emergency crews, who were further away, ducked and threw themselves onto the ground.

After the explosion was over, all that was left of the car was a charred piece of junk. The fire-fighters who had arrived a bit earlier now rushed over to put out the remaining blaze.

The team pulled themselves up from the ground and looked at one another stunned.

"That was close!" Jinpei remarked, dusting his pants. "Thanks, Oneechan."

"Yeah, good sighting, Juni! If not for you, we'd all have been caught in the explosion!" Ryu said, getting up from the ground himself.

Jun blushed and then frowned, "That was nothing, pals. Though, why would they want to blow up the car?"

"Elimination of evidence, of course. Those Bastards!" Joe growled while helping Yuki up from the ground.

"Any idea why they are after you, Yuki?" Jun looked over at Yuki and asked.

Yuki shook her head and said, "I have no idea, frankly. I do not believe I have any enemies here. And only a selective few know where I am from. So, I am really puzzled as to why I would be targeted."

Meanwhile, Jinpei was looking around the wreck curiously. Suddenly he exclaimed, "Oneechan, where are those two bastards?"

"Jinpei! Watch your language!" Jun barked back. "But yeah, where are those two?"

Everybody turned their heads and looked towards where the two kidnappers were left lying before the explosion. Obviously, they were no longer there.

"Was that explosion a distraction so that they can escape?" Jun asked.

"Unlikely," One of the Emergency crews remarked, "We had examined them briefly before the explosion. They were both too badly injured to have run off by themselves."

Joe nodded frowning, "I was under the same impression when we pulled them out from the car. The driver had at least a few broken ribs and I believe the other one to be drugged even before the car flipped over."

Yuki nodded with a rueful smile, "Yes, he plunged the needle of sedatives into his own thigh instead of mine."

Joe smirked, "He did, didn't he? What a smart guy!"

"Well then, in that case, where could they be? Somebody came and picked them up?" Jun asked puzzled.

Ryu shook his head, "They would have to be real fast to do that within such a short time. Plus, we did not see any vehicles came by at all."

Jun nodded, "It's really interesting."

Yuki went over and thoughtfully examined the ground where those two had been laid. Jinpei followed her, watching her closely.

"What are you looking for, Yuki?" Jinpei asked.

"Shhhhhh… I'll tell you when I found it." Yuki was concentrating hard on her searching.

After a while, she looked up and motioned the others to come over. She pointed to a small patch of murky fluid on the ground.

"Get Forensic Investigation to get a sample of this and be careful not to touch it. If I am not mistaken, that's what left of those two." Yuki told the others in a matter of fact tone.

The others looked at her incredibly. Jun put her hand on Yuki's shoulder and asked, "Yuki, you are not joking, are you?"

Yuki shook her head thoughtfully and left out a sigh. "I am afraid I am not, M…Juni. In our era, there is a new type of weapon called the Vaporiser. It is sort of like your laser guns but the energy is highly intense and can thoroughly vaporise a human being within minutes. The explosion could have provided enough distraction for us to not notice them getting rid of those two witnesses."

"Witness!" Jinpei exclaimed, "I call them villains!"

"They are too amateurish to be called villains, Jinpei. Looks like they are just pawns in some big guys game." Joe smirked. He turned to whatever was left of the two guys and a dark unreadable look engulfed his face. "This type of inhumane weapons should be banned." He said with a hint of cold anger in his voice.

Yuki looked up at him, puzzled at the hint of anger in his voice, "They are, only a selected few government agents have them legally. However, it had been rumoured that the design had leaked out to some gangsters."

Joe merely nodded, he inwardly winced at the thought that such dangerous arms could be in the hands of some lawless gangster.

Jun looked up from the puddle thoughtfully, "If Yuki is right, then we are up against somebody from the future. But what could their motive be?"

Joe narrowed his eyes and put a protective arm round Yuki's shoulder, "Whatever their motive is, Yuki would be in danger. Let's get back to Ken and Kamo. We need to up the security around Yuki."

Ken was just coming out of Kamo office when they arrived back at the base. He smiled at them and asked, "Hey, aren't you all going to Joe's race? How come you are back so early?"

"We had an accident." Joe said plainly.

"An accident? You are not telling me that our race track hero had an accident, are you?" Ken smirked and was about to continue teasing Joe when the sinister look on Joe's face stopped him mid-track. He straightened his face and asked, "What exactly do you mean by an accident, Joe?"

But before Joe could make an answer, Jinpei had ran up to Ken and tucked at his arm, "Oh Aniki, you wouldn't believe how much excitement we had. Yuki got kidnapped from the racetrack when she ran down to congratulate Joe on his winning the cup. Of course you have to know that Joe won the Cup, right. There were so many people around. And they sneaked out and grabbed Yuki. And then Joe ran out and there was such a chase…"

"JINPEI!" Jun yelled at her little brother. "By the rate you are going at it, we'd be standing here till tomorrow morning."

Jinpei stuck his tongue out at Jun.

Ken had however heard enough to be concerned. He gave Jinpei a pat on his shoulder to stop him from continuing. "Jinpei, I think we need to go over this with Dr. Kamo. We'll listen to your story when we see him." With that, he led them all back into Kamo's office.

Kamo had been looking out the window of his office since he finished listening to Joe's recount of the incident and examining the report from the Forensic Science Department. He had heard his young charges filing into the room after a short break. Yuki's team had been notified to join them in the meeting as well. When they had all assembled there, he turned towards them, his face screwed into an impenetrable mask.

Dr. Kamo studied all of them for a minute before he spoke. Yuki and Joe had come in late and she had sat herself on a lone chair by the side of his desk. Her hair was still a bit dishevelled and her slightly agitated stance clearly showed that she was still shaken from the incident. Joe, instead of taking his normal place leaning against the back wall, was standing behind Yuki's chair. Ken, Jun and Jinpei were sitting in one of the two couches in the office. Jinpei seemed to be trying hard to entertain them with another joke. Yuki's team members sat silently on the other couch except for Doberman, who had taken place of Joe at the back wall.

"Yuki, how are you doing? Feeling better?" Dr. Kamo asked.

Yuki managed a polite smile and replied, "Much better now! Thank you very much for asking, Dr. Kamo."

Dr. Kamo nodded, turning to the rest of his audience, he said, "I have here the report from Forensic Science." He looked around. The room remained silent even though everybody's attention were then turned towards him.

"Looks like we are having more visitors from the future." Kamo continued. He held up the Forensic report, "The fluid collected from the scene of the explosion has been confirmed as containing human tissue. That means Yuki's assumption that her two kidnappers had been vaporized does hold and so does her assumption that we are facing some enemies from the future. I currently cannot pinpoint the motive behind Yuki's attempted kidnap but I am suspecting that it has to do with her being the key to ISO's development of the time-traveling and cancer-treatment technology."

"But wouldn't they already have the time-traveling technology if they can travel back here and killed those two kidnappers?" Jun ventured.

Dr. Kamo nodded in answer to Jun's question, "You are correct, Jun, however, there could be parties who would not want ISO to be the first to get those technologies. You see, there is a certain commercial value in both of those technologies and a delay in ISO discovery of them would means a delay of Federal Legislation restricting their legal uses."

Both teams agreed to Kamo's hypothesis.

"Regardless of their motive, I would say that Yuki and possibly her team are in grief danger."

"Mainly Yuki and Chris, they are the ones with the technology background." Pepsi remarked.

Kamo nodded, "Anyway, I would want you guys protected and have at least one member of the KNT with you whenever you go out."