Chapter Text
“They’re recruiting from our prisons, Hakase?” Joe whistled low as he gave the idea some thought.
“When you’ve hit rock bottom, where else is there to go?” Ken shook his head as he looked at his second. “We’re talking about maximum security prisons where the convicts with life sentences’ and no hope of parole would be sent.”
“Right, the ones with convicts who have nothing left to lose.” Nambu nodded to the team as he pulled up a picture of one such institution. “This is one of the suspected recruitment centres.”
“But, Hakase, how could the Galactors have set up a relationship? The prison directors—” Jun started to protest.
“Most personnel at the big facilities are honest and strong people. And the management is rotated fairly often to maintain security.” Nambu agreed, as he started to flash some pictures of various directors and heads at the particular facility they were focusing on. “But all it needs is one corrupt cog with well hidden subordinates…”
The pictures stopped at two particular shots. “For the past three years, we’ve received private information at the ISO pointing to these two men as suspects at this facility; Officers Ives and Carson, second level administrators in the prison. But official evidence is lacking. The last director was close to exposing them, but had to be removed for his own safety after several failed assassination attempts.”
Joe’s eyes narrowed as he started to glare at Nambu. “You have got to be kidding me! You’re thinking of sending us in undercover? Now?!” He waved angrily at his sprained knee, a casualty of his recent spill from his last race.
Ken’s eyes widened as he too glared at Nambu. “You’re not sending Joe—”
“No! He’ll send you in instead! And that’s worse!” Joe struggled to his feet before hopping forward to shove Ken back in his seat and stand right in Nambu’s face. “Ken will not last a day—!”
“What?!” That statement knocked the wind out of Gatchaman’s sails while Jun and Jinpei’s jaws dropped at the unexpected direction the argument took.
Nambu spared a glance at the stunned Ken and gave Joe a dirty look. “I would not ask this of him if the timing wasn’t so crucial.”
“Hakase? Look at him!” Joe pointed at Ken. “You’re never going to pass him off as a—an axe murderer or—or—a psychopath who’d deserve to be thrown into something like that.”
Ryu looked at Joe then turned to study their leader thoughtfully. He barely kept his snort of amusement to himself. The truth hurts. For sure, Ken looked far too much like a clean cut boy next door to pass as a hardened convict. Then again, most of the world’s renown serial killers looked like harmless ordinary citizens too, that’s why many could get away with it long enough to be considered legends. And Ken certainly could count on his ‘harmless’ image as a great cover to protect his identity as Gatchaman.
“Now wait a min—” From Ken’s expression, it was apparent that he wasn’t sure if he was being insulted, but he did understand the assessment Joe was making was far from flattering. And he was getting mad at the idea that Joe didn’t think he could handle the undercover mission.
“What makes you think I’d try to pass off any of you as a convict transferred to the facility?” Nambu waved him off. “Convicts aren’t the only ones being recruited. There have been young men kidnapped or missing over the years, and we believe that this is one of the processing centres too.”
“This is getting better and better.” Joe was really winding himself up into a temper. “You’re actually considering sending jail-bait-butt into a maximum secur—”
“Enough.” Ken’s voice was soft, but it was one that Nambu and the team recognised immediately as the tone Gatchaman used when he wanted everyone’s attention. *Immediate* attention. Joe’s teeth clicked almost audibly as he shut up to give Ken his full consideration.
“Now then, Hakase, you said this was a timing issue, and since Joe is temporarily out of action I’m assuming that you intended to have Ryu and I go in as ‘victims’ picked up for recruitment?”
“This facility is currently one of the oldest maximum security prisons in the country and will be decommissioned in ten weeks’ time. Most of the convicts will be moved to a new facility which should be finished in three weeks, but some will be dispersed to other facilities starting two weeks from now.”
“So, it would be an ideal opportunity for Galactor to winnow out the convicts they want to keep and have their transfer intercepted?”
“That’s correct.”
“Hakase, just give me another week!”
“Condor, just what is your problem?” Ken turned towards his second in annoyance. “You’d have me believe you don’t think I can defend myself.”
Joe visibly winced at that plainly ridiculous idea. They never ‘competed’, but Joe knew that Gatchaman’s kill records far exceeded his. Not to mention Ken could usually pin him three times out of five. Still, Joe wasn’t going to back down on this. He’d hung out with the rough crowd and enough ex-cons to know what kind of attention a man—boy like Ken would attract in a testosterone filled environment which saw very little female company.
Dressed in his civilian gear, in relaxed and unguarded moments, with his large blue eyes and long lashes Ken could appear effeminate. It was an observation some of his pit crew had made jokingly in Joe’s hearing whenever Ken visited to watch him race or helped in the pit. Gatchaman’s deadly grace in battle came across much like a dancer’s grace when he wasn’t in uniform.
“It’s not a question of how well you can defend yourself, Ken” Joe gritted out as he threw a glance at Ryu. “You can’t kill your opponents here and—with you holding back, enough numbers can wear you down…”
Ken frowned at him, clearly not understanding what Joe was trying to say. “You’re not making any sense, Joe. You make it sound as if I’ll be attacked from the moment I appear in the facility.”
“You could very well be.” Joe ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
Ken raised an eyebrow at that. “I’ve handling bullying before when we were in high school, you know? And I was fine on my own at Flight School, even though l was three to four years younger than all my classmates.”
“It’s not the same! Look, don’t get me wrong but—some guys—” Joe shot a quick glance at Jinpei and Jun. “I’ve heard some of the scuttlebutt around the track and some guys think—”
Joe looked towards Jinpei again and gave Jun a worried look, making her huff and pull the boy from his seat. “Okay, tough guy. I’m guessing you’re expecting me to kick your butt if you introduce certain concepts to the young and impressionable?”
“Hey!” Jinpei protested as he was dragged out of the room. “I’m not that young and I can hold my weight in the team!”
“It’s got nothing to do with fighting and technical abilities, Jinpei!” Joe called after him grateful for his absence.
*Ahem* Ken coughed quite impatiently drawing everyone’s attention back to him after Jun and Jinpei’s departure. “Has this got to do with your earlier comment of my looking like, I quote ‘jail-bait-butt’?”
Joe swallowed uncomfortably. “Er—something like that and ‘yes’ I can count, I know you’re less than a year younger than me, and we’re already half way to twenty.”
Nambu coughed as well and looked uncomfortably at Ken. “Believe me, Joe. I know what you’re getting at and if we could wait for you—”
“Well—would you all mind explaining to me why you consider Joe more suitable in this set of mission specs?” Ken gave them his wide-eyed sincere look of promised violence if they didn’t stop beating around the bush. “Most of the time, we’re perfectly and equally capable of switching undercover roles.”
Ryu sighed and decided to take pity on the surrogate father and brother trying to work up the nerve to tell their still so innocent commander the facts of life. “Ken?” Bright blue eyes turned towards him, their depths filled with confusion and a desire to understand.
“I promise you this has a point behind it, so can you tell me what comments you hear from others around us when they describe—Joe?”
Ken looked at Ryu as he seriously gave the question his consideration. “Hot?”
Joe’s demeanour perked as he caught on to Ryu’s line of thought. “And? There must be something more.”
Ken shot Joe an annoyed look. “Rugged… handsome… Masculine… Which I thought was a stupid description since you are a man.”
“Okay, that’s good.” Ryu drew Ken’s attention back to him. “What about me then?”
“Solid.” Ken told him immediately. “Strong… Muscular…”
“That’s enough.” Ryu interrupted him. Those were good enough descriptions for him to work with. “Joe, what have you heard as descriptions for Ken from around your pit when he visits you? Be honest here.”
Joe’s eyes went wide in almost comical fear as he threw a look towards Ken. “Ahh—it’s not stuff I’d repeat—”
“The truth, and don’t sugar coat it, Joe.” Ryu shook a finger at the Kagaku Ninjatai second. “Even I know ‘jail-bait-butt’s’ one of the tamest. And they only call him that because you managed to convince most of them that Ken’s barely sixteen.”
“You did what?!” Ken gave Joe an incredulous look.
“I only did that to make sure the perverts kept their hands off you!” Joe protested his innocence.
“Say what?!”
“And while we’re at it—Ken, you know I love ya. But please do not *ever* do a strip tease down to white shorts in the pit again, no matter how hot it gets.” Joe gave him a very pained look. “I don’t want to remember how many heads I busted last summer stopping guys from grabbing your arse.”
Ken went fire engine red with that statement. “I—It’s hot in the coveralls! And I didn’t want to get my white jeans messed up in gunk and oil.”
“Whatever. No tiny white shorts this summer. Someone’s going to tumble the fact soon that I’ve been saying you’re fifteen for over two years now.”
Nambu covered his eyes. And for a moment Ryu was hopeful the man was going to call off the mission and save them from the trauma he was suddenly sure it would bring to their innocent commander. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be.
“Joe?”
Joe gritted his teeth as he glared at Ryu. “The tamer stuff will do. I’m not repeating any of the rest, especially since I’ve stopped them from using those words too.”
“Joe?” Ken’s tone was one they hardly ever heard anymore; younger, almost uncertain. “What are you all getting at?”
“Slender… Graceful… Pretty… F—feminine…”
“Feminine?!”
Joe took a deep breath and let it out again. “Ken, don’t take it to heart, but—I’ve heard it among the Galactors as well when we’re undercover. New people to the track who see you for the first time always ask if— if there’s anyone f—fucking you.”
This time Ken was left completely flabbergasted. “But I—I’m not—”
“There are a lot of shallow people in the world, Ken. What you are or are not doesn’t matter to those who are going to make judgement calls on looks alone.” Nambu strode from around his desk to stand beside Ken’s chair. “It’s what keeps your identity as Gatchaman safe. What makes you a better undercover operative than Joe.”
“But in this case, that look of youthful innocence will put Ken in danger, Hakase.” Joe told him firmly. “What he’s getting into—”
“But Ryu shouldn’t go in alone.” Ken interrupted Joe softly. “He’ll need back up and—what better cover have we as—a frightened boy with his elder broth—No… that’s not going to work, is it?”
Ryu swallowed hard as Ken looked up to lock eyes with him. “A brother’s not going to cut it in this environment. You’ll have to be a— the dominant lover.”
Joe’s eyes went wide at this. “Now wait a minute here!”
“Ken…” Ryu’s eyes widened in fright as Joe swung around at him with an unreadable expression on his face. Fortunately, for them, Ken was no longer paying them much attention.
“Joe, Ryu, this needs to happen and I won’t let Ryu go in without backup. Hakase, I’m in.” Ken told them firmly.
*~*~*~*~*
“Ryu…” Joe struggled to get his words out.
“You didn’t know I was Bi.”
Joe almost spat his beer across the table. “Shit! Ryu, you’re blunt.”
“Better than wasting time,” Ryu sighed as he took a swig of his beer. “And ‘no’ I’m not holding a candle for our commander, though ‘yes’ I’ve ‘looked.’”
“And?”
Ryu gave Joe a look. “You, of all people, know that ‘sexual’ and ‘Ken Washio’ are words that do not get along when he’s conscious of it.”
“Spare me, Ryu. If he was a girl at the pit…” Joe took a long swig of beer. “I could have strangled him over the shorts debacle last summer—”
“Only he’s completely oblivious of the effect he has on other people,” Ryu grinned at him. “Male or female.”
Joe sobered up. “It’s gonna be bad in there, big guy.”
“I know—at least—least—Damn it, Joe! I never gave myself hope—never thought—” Ryu leaned over his knees. “It’ll be hell—letting—letting myself believe we’re lovers.”
“Ryu—If—If push comes to shove—” Joe looked at him seriously. “Promise me you’ll be gentle. *Promise* me, you’ll treat him right.”
“You don’t need a promise, Joe. I won’t hurt him. If I can help it, I’ll not let *anyone* hurt him.”
Joe stared into his beer. “The—the problem is—you may not be in the position to be of help if—if things go south.”
“Does Ken realise this?”
“He won’t care if he’s the only casualty.” Joe growled. “He— he’d just rationalize it as being for the sake of the mission.”
“Yeah… He’s stubborn like that…”
*~*~*~*~*
“I’ve already put Jinpei to bed.” Jun told him softly as she gazed up at him. “Would you let me in?”
Ken took a deep breath and stood aside, allowing Jun to intrude upon his ISO apartment. It brought a grin to her face to see the perpetual mess of magazines, newspapers, dirty clothes and old food cartons which Ken used to deliberately ‘decorated’ the living area. She wasn’t sure about his bedroom, or bath, but his study in sharp contrast was always immaculate. Ken had tried to explain it to them once, about his life being too orderly and his needing a place of chaos to relax in sometimes. It wasn’t something he carried over to his airfield though. That place wasn’t the mess that was his ISO apartment but a comfortable relaxed neatness befitting a struggling young pilot trying to run a courier business.
“Drink?”
“Diet coke, if you have it?”
“I’m afraid it’s probably already gone flat.” He showed her the half-filled 1.5 litre bottle.
“It’ll be fine.” Jun sighed inwardly as she shuffled his things around to find a seat on the sofa. They all knew that if they wanted a proper drink when visiting Ken, they’d have to bring their own. When Ken bought soft drinks, he always got the economy-sized bottles, which were cheaper. As a result, unless he was opening a fresh bottle for them, the drinks were more often than not quite flat.
He handed her the glass and sat on the coffee table facing her expectantly. At the least, he waited for her to take a sip of her drink before he spoke. “I’ve heard Joe and Ryu.” He told her frankly. “I suppose it’s your turn?”
“Yes, it is, now that I’ve read the complete mission specs.” Jun set aside her drink to grip his arm. “Ken! You can’t take this mission! How could you think—?”
“Jun—”
“No! Listen to me!” She growled at him angrily. “What if it was me? What if *I* was the one about to be exposed to the same level of danger? Of— you could be raped, Ken! Gang raped even. You’d *never* let *me* take on a mission like this. Why—?”
“It’s not the same!” Ken interrupted her, “because for you, rape could be worse!”
“How can you say—?” She was getting angry.
“*I* couldn’t get *pregnant*.” Ken stopped her rant in its tracks. “And *I*—would have no worries about risking the loss of the ability to carry a child to term.”
This instantly deflated her memorized argument on stubborn male protectiveness and out dated rape myths. She had no counter for this argument.
“Jun.” Ken sighed as he briefly glanced up at his ceiling before looking her in the eye. “I’m not trivialising the consequences to me psy—psychologically. Hakase has given me the reading material. Hell, we’ve all had the classes and lectures on sexual assault and what it could do to us; mentally and emotionally. And—about the existing support groups in Utoland, because we all know we’d have to resort to those available to the public like any other ordinary citizen.”
“Yeah.” She answered, her whole being cold and afraid for Ken. “‘cause we can’t—we can’t let Galactor trace our civilian identities by using the best doctors or psychologists money could buy if we get caught that way. But Ken, support for males are—”
“Pretty abysmal.” He finished for her. “Jun, it’s not like I didn’t think about it too. And I’m prepar—”
“No one can prepare for being ra—!”
“No! You’re right of course.” He interrupted her, not willing to let her say the word again. “But this mission is *important*, Jun. Have you read the complete mission specs?”
“Ken, why do we care about the scum of the earth?!” She asked him angrily. “They’re convicts. Put away for life or more. So what if they join Galactor?”
“Jun, there’s more to it than that.” Ken got up to briefly nip into his study and come out with his briefing package. “So far, the major crime families have stayed clear of Galactor and the war. From what we know, the majority of the people in the Galactor armies are made up of Citizens of Hontworl and their allies.
“The Kagaku Ninjatai have seen and fought these soldiers, and killed hundreds whenever we take down a mecha or a base. So how are Galactor able to men these mecha and bases? They’d have to be practically striping their citizenry of every able bodied man and woman to fill the ranks, and it’s clear that they’re not.”
“So the convicts…?”
Ken shook his head. “Not yet. Including the men and women who have been kidnapped and brainwashed into service, right now, it’s just a trickle of men who are being filtered out of the prison system into Galactor.” Ken pointed to the pictures of the facility he was infiltrating. “With this particular prison being decommissioned, the Galactors have a chance to stage a massive prison break and absorb these convicts straight into their ranks. This could be the Galactor Empire’s big production to the crime families to overthrow the justice system and join Galactor who will embrace their ‘kind.’
“Ryu and I have only this chance to ‘join’ that prison break and gain access to their processing centre.” Ken told her earnestly. “If we can break up the operations and furthermore try to do so without too many of the convicts losing their life in the mix up, it’ll embarrass Galactor. And the existing Criminal empires will continue to stay out of the war.”
“Ken…”
“I can’t let Ryu go in alone, Jun.” Ken told her sincerely. “If—if anything happens to me, Ryu’s got my back. And—it’ll be an exceptional masquerade.”
“Ken!” She looked at him, outraged at his suggestion of accepting rape to help establish his undercover identity.
“I’m not going to change my mind, Jun.” He told her firmly.
Jun closed her eyes and counted to twenty. She knew well enough when Ken used that tone of voice that he wouldn’t be shaken from his path. “You’re insane.” She told him softly.
“Sanity’s over rated.” He gave her a sad smirk. “Public opinion is still out on the mental health of the Kagaku Ninjatai over the missions and stress we face.”
Jun couldn’t stand to speak any more of Ken’s misguided decision, so she decided to continue with the second reason behind her visit. “I saw Joe heading in Ryu’s direction just now.” She looked up at him, noting as she did so that Ken started to relax again.
“Probably to read him the riot act.” Ken gave her a wry smile.
“Ken—” He gave her a questioning look at her hesitation. Sometimes it killed her to see so clearly, how truly innocent the older youth was. “You—know that I love you, right?”
“I love you too, Jun.”
“But do you love me the way I want you to?”
Ken cringed as he abruptly released her hands; his actions driving a sharp spike of pain in her heart. “Why Ken? I really—”
“Jun—Jun-hime…” In spite of her pain, she couldn’t help smiling a little at hearing her childhood nickname. “We were—we were practically raised together like—brother and sister.”
“I never wanted to—just be your sister.” Jun looked down.
“Like Joe never really wanted to be suddenly lumped with a set of siblings either.” This brought a grin to her lips at the memories the statement invoked. But the smile faded again with his apologies. “I’m sorry Jun-hime, but I—I don’t think I could ever not think of you as my little sister; my little princess.”
“And Ryu—is different because?”
“He has existing family.” Ken confessed to her. “We never— *shared* Hakase as a surrogate father with him. I never thought of him as any more than a friend staying over with us when he did.”
“And so it’s—really all right for you to—ask him to—”
“Juunnnn.” Ken started to blush madly. “You’re only sixteen. Should we really be—”
“And not a virgin anymore.”
“What?!” Ken yelped at her pronouncement. “Who—?!”
“None of your business.” She looked at him superiorly. “You were away at flight school. I was really curious and had a huge crush on the guy.”
“But that would make you—?”
“Ken!” Jun looked at him dangerously, and with a saccharine sweet voice gave him fair warning. “Yes, it was a mistake to experiment so young back then. But I’m older now and legal. *And* it’s my body, my life, and *my* decision what I want to do with it.”
“But he—”
“Was younger than I was.” She gave him a wicked grin. “So who was taking advantage of who? We’re still friends.”
Ken’s eyes boggled at this revelation, and he remained in a daze until Jun shook him by the arm. “Hey—so… It’ll be Ryu?”
The blush that had been lightening on Ken’s cheeks flared to life again. “Yeah…”
“Ken, are you sure…?”
“Jun, there’s no one I would trust more. And—” Ken looked at her shyly. “I would never have approached Joe, or you.”
“And why not?” The cogs were turning in Jun’s head. “Why—”
“Because—” Ken looked at her, clearly missing the meaning of the gleam in her eyes. “Remember the day we first got our birdstyle?”
The grin on Jun’s face nearly split her face in two. “Do I ever.”
Ken gave her a sharp look then groaned as he caught on to what she was referring to, “Oh yeah… The first time we saw your nudie flash before your birdstyle appeared.”
“You should have seen the look on your faces.” Jun laughed as she mock preened. “You and Joe turned such a lovely shade of purple and I thought Hakase was going to have an aneurism.”
“Yeah, you and your bright ideas…” Ken grumped as he glared at her. “But you got what you wanted. We were distracted enough to pass over the design you insisted on for your birdstyle to focus on getting that nude transition removed.”
“Hey, you’ve got to be fair.” She punched him on the arm brightly. “It’s for the same reason Hakase insisted I have white wings too.”
“That’s different!”
“Yeah, in that he insisted on it so that in the heat of battle I could sometimes be mistaken for the great Gatchaman and thus be avoided.” Jun rolled her eyes at him. “But I didn’t want to look like a miniature version of you either!”
“And the hip high slits on your birdstyle was because?”
She sniffed at him superiorly. “Most men carry their brains in their groins. If they’re going to be focused instead on my legs and catching a flash of my panties, it makes it all the easier for me to kick their heads in.
“Come on, Ken. I was being realistic. I don’t have your skill, Joe’s passion or Ryu’s strength. I have to seize an advantage in battle any way I’m able to.”
He gave her a dubious look. “And when the tech boys couldn’t get rid of the nude transit?”
“Hey, at least they reduced it to two seconds.” She shrugged it off as immaterial concerns. “Besides, it’s not like I’d ever transmute in public.”
“No comment.” Ken shook his head at her reasoning.
She grinned at him impishly. “Okay, enough about me. What else happened that day?”
“It’s—something I only realised in hind sight.” Ken flushed lightly. “Honestly? Just a few hours ago actually…”
“Don’t keep me in suspense, Ken. What was it?”
“Ryu looked at me.”
Jun cocked her head at him in puzzlement. “I don’t get you.”
“I mean—” Ken glared at her for her obtuseness. “Okay, I didn’t understand his expression then, but now that I’m putting it in another context… He *looked* at me and this isn’t like the way Joe and I reacted to your bird style. More like—”
“The way Joe’s eyes stray when he sees a pretty girl.” Jun caught on, but she was put out by Ken reasoning. “Then what about me, Ken. What about the way I look at you?”
Ken cringed at her guiltily. “Jun… It’s definitely going to be different when it comes time to—perform and I—I can’t get it up because of how I feel about you. Whereas with Ryu, I don’t need to—be arouse to— to…”
Jun’s blood went cold. “Ken, you can’t… Don’t go on that mission, Ken. Please!”
“I *can’t* not go.” Ken told her softly. “I’ll be okay, really.”
“I don’t believe you, Ken. Please!”
“I have to do this, Jun. I can’t shirk this duty.”
“Ken!”
“I trust Ryu, Jun. He’ll treat me right and we’ll be together on the mission. He’ll be my support just as I’ll be his.”
Jun couldn’t hold herself back anymore and seized Ken in a fierce hug. “As much as he can… Yes, I trust that Ryu will try to be there for you as much as you will be for him. But he can’t be everywhere, Ken. And neither can you. Be careful…”
“Never.”
Jun snorted in laughter at his cheeky answer, but her arms tightened around Ken as if she didn’t want to let him go. She feared for him on this mission.
*~*~*~*~*
“P—probably…”
“Ken, Hakase’s not going to respect you any less if you want to pull out.” Ryu told him honestly. “It’s for sure going to get rough and Hakase is having second—”
“We’d never have a better chance to get in and—” Ken interrupted him, but his head remained bowed and his hands were tangled in the tie strings trailing from his sweater’s hood.
Ryu sat back patiently waiting for Ken to say his piece. He didn’t have to wait too long. “Ryu? I—I’ve never—”
“Shit, Ken? Not at all?” Ryu’s alarm was rising as he read Ken’s embarrassed expression. “I’d have thought—I mean you were a wild kid. And when you got away from Hakase to military school…”
“I completely passed over the sex circles, Ryu. I was having too much fun in the cockpit and in the air.” Ken blushed harder. “I—” He looked up at Ryu at last. “We’ll be drugged near the beginning and—You and Joe seem to think I’m—that I’m in a high rape-risk situation…” Ken’s hands twisted at the hem of his sweater nervously. “Ryu, I— I want my first time to be with— with someone I trust.”
“Ken—”
“I—know you’re Bi, Ryu and that I’m probably not your type, but—”
Ryu placed a finger on Ken’s lips to stop his babbling. “Ken, let’s not rush things. I know we’ve got to—practice our roles as—”
Ken pulled Ryu’s hand away from his lips and spoke firmly. “Kiss me.”
“Ken!”
“Like you said, we need to practice.” Ken gritted his teeth as he tried to hide the tremble in his body. “You’ve got to take the role of a dominant lover to—to protect me. So do it now, Owl. Get used to the idea and I—I’ll try to learn how not to pull away.
“Pre—pretend that I look like one of your type of—”
Ryu’s hands closed over the sides of Ken’s face. He could not help but be aware of how frightened Ken was, or of the trembling he could feel in his commander’s body. “I’ll start this slow, okay, Ken? If you feel uncomfortable, *tell* me and I’ll stop.”
“Ry—”
“I won’t rape you, Ken. Don’t make me rape you.” Ryu ordered him firmly. “‘Stop’ means stop to me.”
“That’s a lousy word to use.” Ken’s hands came to rest over Ryu’s. “Who—whoever else I’m with won’t respect it like you will… I—I can’t allow myself to believe—another safe word, Ryu, we’ll use ‘Nambu.’”
Ryu grimaced. “Way effective to cool ardour of any sort, Ken.” He agreed immediately, then got to his feet and pulled Ken after him. “Go use the bathroom and I’ll get the bed ready for us, okay?”
As soon as he was sure that he’s safely muffled by the sounds of the running shower, Ryu flopped back on the sofa and softly cursed a blue streak. Ken had just given him explicit permission to touch him intimately; to tease and taste and—fuck him… He’d never dared to let his dreams lead him in that direction, ever. This mission was going to kill him before they started.
*~*~*~*~*
“You have had make out sessions before, right?” Ryu asked quietly as he took Ken’s smaller hands in his.
Ken blushed. “I—I’m not entirely innocent, Ryu.”
“Then you know what’s involved.” Ryu smiled encouragingly at him. “Just that it’s with a man, and not a woman.”
“Well…” Ken looked up at him shyly, “I *was* ‘wild’ enough to try it out with both, Ryu. Though nothing came of it.”
“And? Did you realise a preference?”
“No.” Ken admitted with a bit of confusion. “It was— I didn’t— I *don’t* think I felt any preference of one over another.”
“I won’t hurt you, Ken.” Ryu let go of one of his hands and slid an arm around Ken’s waist to pull him closer. “I’m one of your oldest friends, you can relax. It’ll be just fine.”
Ken looked up into his eyes. In such close quarters, the Kagaku Ninjatai Pilot had to observe that Ken did have pretty long lashes for a man. Still, Ken’s lashes paled against the bright blue of his eyes as they gazed upon him full of trust and acceptance.
“I know.”
The words were said softly, almost inaudibly, but Ryu heard and took that as permission to draw closer and lay a soft kiss on Ken’s lips. He drew back to look at Ken to catch his reaction for that tiny start. From the spark in Ken’s eyes, Ryu guessed that Ken must have come to some decision in his head after that first kiss. The smaller man’s eyes fluttered closed and he leaned towards Ryu again, offering his lips for another kiss. Ryu was happy to oblige, giving Ken a longer and much more thorough kiss.
Perhaps it was Ken’s nervousness coupled with Ryu’s anticipation and eagerness to know a partner he never thought to have, but impatience fairly boiled between the two lovers to consummate the act. It hadn’t proceeded as slowly as Ryu would have liked with a virgin. Somehow, Ken had managed to work him into an impatient enough frenzy that Ryu quickly had the smaller man on his hands and knees with himself embedded in Ken’s exquisitely tight arse and suddenly afraid that he may have nearly torn his lover to pieces.
Ken’s gasps and the almost crushing clench of muscles over his cock screamed to Ryu of the man’s pain for this first penetration. But before Ryu could gather his wits to think of offering to withdraw, the punishing grip over his cock eased and Ken started a tentative attempt to move.
Keeping a tight rein on his own body, Ryu carefully moved with Ken, rocking his body gently to meet his backwards thrusts. Soon though, Ken’s moans and gasps took on a different tenor and the heat between them escalated.
Ryu carefully moved Ken with steadying hands around his chest and belly into a position where the smaller man could straddle his thighs, giving him a little more control of their lovemaking. Ken was quick to show his appreciation by reaching behind him to clutch at Ryu’s hair, and pull on it while offering his neck for his lover to ravage. And Ryu was all too eager to seize the invitation to feast upon his hitherto unrequited desire. His mouth freely roamed from ear to shoulder to nip, suck, and tease uncontrollable moans of needful noises from Ken’s panting lips.
It did not take long for them to lose it, thrusting and slapping eager buttocks against firm thighs at an almost breakneck speed. Ryu barely kept enough cognisance to move his possessive hand from Ken’s belly to his cock, intending to stroke him off and hope he wouldn’t come into the smaller man before Ken hit his orgasm as well. Ryu needn’t have worried. His gentle touch was enough to set Ken off in a howl of release. And that ripple of clenching muscles sucked Ryu’s orgasm out of him, prompting him to grab Ken’s hair to turn his face towards him just so he could ravage the younger man’s mouth while his cock spasm and pulsated within Ken’s sweet warmth.
It took a long moment for them to come down from that high. Ryu calmly turned the flavour of his kisses from hungry and devouring, to gentle and exploratory as his satiated cock slowed in its spurts of release. Ken lay trustingly limp in Ryu’s arms, responding quite languidly to the bigger man’s kisses. Much to Ryu’s delight, he made no effort to lift himself off Ryu’s cock or extract himself from the encircled arms.
Ryu’s cock was still quite firm and erect within Ken’s arse and Ken’s awakening awareness of it made the smaller man wiggle upon his perch experimentally. Ryu had to muffle his moan of arousal against Ken’s shoulder. Once would not cut it for the big man, and Ken could probably see it in his eyes when he blinked open his own eyes to gaze at Ryu.
“Again.” Ken’s tone was almost commanding, and Ryu was very happy to oblige him.
A second round was all Ken was up for. His irritating sense of responsibility curtailed any request Ryu had for more in favour of a good night’s sleep before they set off on their mission. Still, Ryu managed to get the last word on their sleeping arrangements. He lay spooned behind Ken, chest to back with an arm possessively wrapped around Ken’s waist and his spent cock nestled in the cleft of the smaller man’s arse. It was the Kagaku Ninjatai Pilot’s thought that Ken might be persuaded into a morning quickie if he woke feeling Ryu’s morning wood poking him intimately.
As he settled in for the night to bask in the afterglow of sex, Ryu gave thought to his earlier dreams and expectations. Ken certainly fulfilled them all. For all that Gatchaman was clearly a consummate commander on the field, Ryu was extremely pleased to note that he made an excellent uke in the bedroom.
*~*~*~*~*
It was a surety that they would be divested of all their belongings the moment they reached the prison. As such, there was no way they could bring in the bracelets or their clothes, so their armoured leathers would be denied of them for the duration they were on the mission. It was not a situation that anyone liked, but there was no choice. The most that Nambu could do was to hide tracers with concealed skin patches under their arm and along one rib. Ken also insisted on secreting at least one lock pick on their person. It was only prudent. Otherwise, they were on their own.
“There’s a particular resident at the facility you should take note of.” Nambu passed some pictures to Ken and Ryu of a scruffy looking unshaven Asian with unruly shoulder length black hair. Despite the apparent lack of care to his personal appearance, he was still clearly a handsome man with a strong square jaw and aquiline nose. A long jagged scar leading from his left temple and across his cheek marred the clean lines of his face. But that surprisingly wasn’t his most arresting feature. The man’s golden brown eyes stood out, filled with the gaze of hard uncompromising experience and maturity which seemed unequal to his thirty-something appearance.
“Furikata Kimiya. He is a special— ‘guest’ of the facility. If you can, I want you to get close to him.”
Nambu actually flinched under Joe, Jun and Ryu’s glares. “I did not mean to imply anything by that!”
It took a little longer for Ken to understand what the others were on about and break into a full blush. Fortunately, Jinpei remained blissfully clueless over what the rest of the room was referring to and so unconsciously carried their meeting past the awkward moment. “What’s so special about him?”
“He is Yakuza, apparently a favourite of an influential Don.”
“He can’t be that favoured if he’s been left in the slammer.” Joe protested.
“No one really knows why he’s there.” Nambu shrugged at them. “He’s not been convicted of any crime, or charged with any misdemeanour. All we have is that his Don has connections, and left him there. And he’s been given privileges and facilities that are unheard of in this type of prison.
“The last Prison Director has stated that if there’s a man of influence among the convicts, he’s it.”
Ken took a moment more to commit the face to memory then nodded. “He’s probably been approached by Galactor before.”
“But apparently, he’s never accepted an invitation to ‘talk’.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way. We’ll sound him out if we can.”
“Ken?” Nambu made sure he looked him in the eye. “I’m not expecting you to— Don’t think you have to— Just— please don’t do anything foolish.” Nambu told Ken gruffly.
“I’ll think it through.”
“Ken.” Nambu’s eyes went stern as he stared at the younger man.
“I’ll think it through.” Gatchaman told him firmly.
It was clear to all of them that Nambu wasn’t satisfied with Ken’s answer, but he let it go. The others weren’t any happier, but when Ken was determined about a course of action they knew they’d be wasting their breath if they attempted to sway him.
“Then dismiss, Eagle Ken, Owl Ryu. We’ll begin radio silence when you’re dropped off with your vehicle. You have your emergency wire. And I *expect* you to *use* it if you need it.”
“Roger.” They saluted him and turned to go.
Joe caught Ken’s arm before he could leave. Anyone could have seen from his expression that he was plainly worried as he regarded his brother and best friend. “Are you sure you won’t reconsider this mission.”
“I won’t, Joe. And I’ll be fine.” Ken gave him a reassuring smile before he brushed off Joe’s hand and headed for the door.
“Joe…” Ryu slapped a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I swear… whatever I can do to protect him, I will do it.”
“You—took care of his innocence last night, didn’t you?” Joe quietly challenged Ryu before he’d let him leave.
“Yes, I did, Joe.” Ryu met his eyes. “He asked, and I agreed that his first time should be with someone he knows and could trust.”
Joe just nodded and let him go without anything else said. He hated the war.
*~*~*~*~*
“Hey there, looks like you boys could use a lift.” The greeting was friendly as the prison officer leaned out his window to look down on them.
“Man, are you guys a sight for sore eyes. Thought we were totally sunk.” Ken greeted them enthusiastically. His natural easy tone made Ryu cringe inwardly. This was Ken’s greatest asset when he went undercover, his young innocent demeanour. The older ninja hoped it wasn’t going to come back and bite them.
Two half-filled 1.5 litre-size bottles of water were tossed over to them. “Here, you boys must be parched. Have a drink while we see what we can do.”
By force of will, Ryu stopped himself from looking towards Ken as he twisted the screw cap off the bottle he held. This was it. If the Galactors intended to drug them, this was the easy way. As he took a generous gulp of water, Ryu wondered if the two bottles held the same drug.
Fully aware that the drinks offered to them were probably drugged, Ken tipped back his head and swallowed enough to quench his thirst anyway. From here on out, he knew he and Ryu had decidedly relinquished control of their fates to the Galactors. However, as prepared as he thought he was for what was to follow, Ken was to realise that what he was about to experience was nothing anyone could ever conceivably brace oneself to go through.
He had started in alarm to see Ryu suddenly keel over at the same time a wave of dizziness made him stumble and lean against the car. Unfamiliar arms encircled Ken to stop him from falling to the floor himself as he tried to wave off the vertigo.
“Ryu—?”
A hand gripped his chin to turn his face from side to side even as the arms holding him shifted him in their grip to pick him up in a bride carry. “No need to worry about your friend, precious. Hey, looks like we’ve got a right pretty one this time.”
“We haven’t had one this pretty for a while.”
“For sure! It’s about time we had a little perk in this job.”
“Hell, yeah. I’d like to tap that.”
The strangers’ tones chilled Ken’s blood, prompting him to raise a trembling hand to pull ineffectively at the one holding his face. His efforts were laughed at and easily brushed off. Besides, Ken soon found he had no more strength to lift his arms, much less move them to ward off molest.
The man carrying him was surprisingly gentle as he brought Ken into the police vehicle and laid him on the rather spacious floor between the long benches. Ken remained aware enough to notice that he had been leaned against Ryu’s unconscious bulk. Then there were several hands all over him pulling his clothes and shoes off. He knew what that meant.
Through the heavy fog that clouded his mind, Ken struggled almost desperately to push the hands away. His own hands clawed uselessly at his clothes, unable to prevent them from being dragged off him.
“No—stop… Lea—leave me alone… Ryu—?”
“He can’t help you, Sweetness.”
Ken sobbed as he was pulled away from Ryu and laid nude and flat on his back on the plywood floor with all four limbs in the firm grips of his captors. He had talked about the possibility of rape or even gang rape with various people the day before. Now with his legs hoisted into the air and vulnerably spread by the gloved hands holding tight onto his calves and ankles, and his wrists pinned to the floor over his head, Ken knew what his reality was soon to be and he was terrified.
A hand gently traced the contours of his well-muscled stomach up to his chest where the fingers circled one of his nipples before pinching on one hard enough to make him wince. “Not bad, not bad at all.”
“Yeah, this one has a nice bod.” A hand familiarly slapped one of his arse cheeks. “He’s been bedded before but he still looks good and tight.”
Ken felt the sting and ache of numerous wet fingers pushing insistently into him. “St—stop—please… I—I don’t—don’t want this—”
“Relax, Sweetness.” The violating fingers departed and a shadow fell over him as the first man appeared between his wide stretched legs. Ken felt something slick, spongy and much thicker than fingers teasingly slide up and down along the cleft of his arse before it rested against his hastily lubricated and stretched pucker. He knew it was a pre-come drooling cock and he couldn’t help but pull more desperately upon his trapped limbs, though to no avail.
“Relax, kid.” The Galactor told Ken almost gently as he lowered his face to nibble upon the love bite Ryu had left on his neck the previous night. “Relax and let us to show you a good time. If it makes you feel better about it, you can even pretend it’s your useless lover.”
“N—no— please, Ryu!” Ken stared blurrily at the many faces looking down upon him. He was suddenly grateful he'd thought to give Ryu his first time. However— it hadn't even been 24 hours since he willingly surrendered his virginity to his friend and now... The part of his mind that was still distressingly alert told Ken there were just under a dozen men surrounding him. He suspected they weren’t going to fuck him just once.
“Ryu...”
“He can’t hear you, Sweetness.”
Ken wailed with his first brutal penetration.
*~*~*~*~*
“Ken.”
His gut told him that they had made a very bad decision in sending the teenager on this undercover mission. The sour feeling had only become more pronounced when additional files arrived on Furikata Kimiya and Nambu found pictures of him with past companions; one of whom was reportedly killed during a botched assassination attempt some weeks before the Yakuza prince retreated to the prison facility which Ken and Ryu were sent to infiltrate.
If he didn’t know better, Nambu would have sworn that Kentaro had an illegitimate son. If Ken had an older twin, he couldn’t have looked more similar to this deceased man.
How ever he looked at it, Nambu knew he had placed Ken in a very bad situation. And he prayed that his young protégé had the strength to survive the mission.
Even as he thought this, Nambu felt another shiver run through his frame. As much as he didn’t want to think or consider the possibility of it, his every instinct screamed at him that his ‘kids’ were in danger— that Ken was in *peril.* It was— after all, due time that the Galactors had taken the bait and picked them up…
He stared blankly at the phone he found in his hand for a minute before he deliberately put in back on its cradle. Even if his instincts were true, Nambu knew it was already too late to preserve Ken’s innocence. If one of his greatest fears had just become a reality, anything he did now would make a mockery of Ken’s sacrifice and Nambu couldn’t do that to him.
In hindsight, if he had really thought about it properly, Nambu knew he would never have even suggested the mission to Ken. If Red Impulse squadron had been available, he would have sent for Kentaro instead. But the older man and his team were weeks away from being able to clear out of their current assignments and the Kagaku Ninjatai were currently unoccupied and on ‘too long’ a break; one where Condor Joe had even taken a careless spill during a practice race. The sudden urgency of the mission had caused Nambu to think of deploying the Kagaku Ninjatai without a thought of the consequences brought on by the team’s youth.
If it had been Jun at risk, he would never have let her go. Until Joe and Ryu brought his attention to the idea, it had never occurred to him that he would be placing Ken at risk of sexual assault with this mission. And now it was too late to do anything about it. If—when Kentaro heard what he had sent Ken into, Nambu was sure he’d be lucky if he walked away with just a black eye and some broken ribs.
There was no turning back now. He had allowed Ken to make the decision to proceed with the mission. They had to play the cards that had been dealt and Nambu could only hope and pray for the sanity and survival of the young man he’d raised and thought of as his son in all but name.
*~*~*~*~*
“K—K—Ken?”
The name fell from his lips before he even understood its significance. Something clutched about his arm, and it took a couple more blinks for Ryu to realise that he wasn’t shivering but the body beside him was. Then his memories and knowledge of who he was and who he was with came flooding back to him.
“Ken!”
He sat up abruptly and almost fell back down again from the wave of dizziness that engulfed his senses. It took another half a dozen careful deep breaths before Ryu could shake the nausea enough to open his eyes and take in his surroundings.
The first thing Ryu noticed were the well-armed smirking guards sitting relaxed along the side benches of the large bus-like vehicle. Eight men, and he thought a further two up front driving and navigating.
The second was the hands holding tight to an arm; hands that belonged to his friend and recently acquired lover. Ken’s unresponsive nude body lay curled against him, and the younger man was liberally smeared and dripping with fresh and crusting come, attesting to how recently and thoroughly the disguised Galactors had gang raped their drugged and helpless prisoner.
Letting out a low cry at the sight, Ryu scooped his clearly unconscious friend in his arms. “Ken?! KEN?!”
“Hey, chill, big guy. The kid’s still alive.”
“You—” Ryu looked up at their captors with fury blazing in his eyes. The surrounding guards only smiled broader with a few of them shifting their guns deliberately in reminder to Ryu that he was in no position to retaliate.
“You have a right sweet little bitch there, big guy.” One of the guards smacked his lips in relish. “Gave us all an excellent ride.”
“Yeah, better watch him good or you’ll see him made a pretty little queen of the exercise yard or maybe even the shower block.”
“That’s assuming you can still see any part of him when he’s having his brains fucked out of him by an endless train of cock.”
Ryu determinedly refused to respond to the taunts and laughter. Instead, he forced himself to sit back and just cradled Ken more protectively in his embrace.
Though the younger man was unconscious, Ryu could see that his expression was hardly peaceful. Even as he looked upon his friend’s face, the swelling of a tear would gather under his lashes and break free to trickle down his come stained cheeks.
Cradling his friend and lover in his arms then, Ryu felt like a complete failure. It hadn’t even been a day since he gave his promise to Joe that he would do everything in his power to shield Ken from assault. Intellectually, the Kagaku Ninjatai pilot knew there was nothing anyone could have done once they knowingly drank the offered drugged drinks. But he’d never thought he’d be drugged unconscious at this first encounter, leaving Ken alone and helpless to suffer gang rape by ten Galactors; ten rapists Ryu couldn’t do anything about even though he knew he had the strength and fighting skills to very easily kill them all despite their holding all the arms. These men were their ticket into the prison facility he and Ken were sent to infiltrate. It left a sour taste in his mouth to know that he had to let them live unpunished.
He felt Ken stir in his arms. “R—Ryu?”
“I’m here, Ken.” Ryu responded gently as Ken raised his head to let him stare into his tear glistening, devastated blue eyes.
“N—n—nothing— c—can— ade— adequately— pre—pare you— f— for ra— rape, Ryu.” Ken’s tone was almost emotionless if not for the stuttered pace of the softly spoken words.
“I don’t think you truly believed you were at all prepared for rape, Ken.” Ryu told him quietly.
“Y—you— would be r—right, Ryu.” Ken looked down again and buried his face against Ryu’s shoulder.
Ryu felt his failure keenly as he hugged his shivering and shaking friend in his arms. This was worse than the time he had fallen asleep at the controls of the Phoenix and missed a bird scramble, then later compounded his errors by quitting and insisting on investigating the Galactor Beta Ray base on his own.
Back then, Ken had understood what he was going through and quietly tried to assist him in regaining his lost honour *and* have him restored to the team. As bad luck would have it, Ken had followed him into a trap. And since the rest of the team didn’t know where they had disappeared to, it had left Ken in Galactor’s clutches to torture and abuse for over two agonising days as they interrogated him to try and pry ISO secrets from the leader of the Kagaku Ninjatai.
Ryu remembered how he had felt after what they had initially thought was the successful conclusion of that mission. His commander and friend had been trying not to let anyone know how badly he’d been hurt, so as not to spoil Ryu and the team’s elation with their reunion. Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to hold out long enough to sneak off to the infirmary on his own. Ken had collapsed from his injuries shortly after they reached crescent coral.
Ryu hadn’t hesitated when he realised what Ken had been trying to do for him when he stumbled and started to sink to his knees in the Crescent Coral docking bay. The pilot quickly scooped the smaller man up in his arms in a bride carry and ran for sickbay with his precious charge, leaving Nambu and the rest of the team gaping after them.
At that moment, Ryu suddenly remembered that only he had heard Berg Katse’s observation that the Galactors had tried numerous methods of torture upon Ken for two days. In the excitement of their rescue, and joy with Ryu’s return to the team, Ken never mentioned to the others how he had spent his captivity. And while Ryu watched the doctors swarming over his unconscious commander, he had castigated himself for not adequately checking on Ken to ascertain just how badly the Galactors had hurt him during his interrogation.
Ryu remembered sitting vigil with the team in Ken’s hospital room hours later, waiting for Ken to regain consciousness after the doctors had patched him up. He remembered thanking the gods of science and technology then that Ken’s bird style had weathered the abuse and protected his friend from the worst of what Galactor had done to him. And he remembered thinking of how he had sat bored and alone in his cell at the Galactor base, doing nothing though he knew that the Galactors had captured the Eagle. Doing *nothing* while the Galactors were trying their damnedest to torture ISO secrets from Ken’s lips.
He remembered how awful he had felt then. However, it couldn’t compare to what Ryu was feeling now with his recently gang raped friend and lover cradled in his arms and sobbing against his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Ken.” Ryu patted his back awkwardly, feeling totally inadequate in offering comfort to his devastated commander.
“N—not your fault.” Ken gritted against his shirt. “*Not* your fault, Ryu.”
But despite Ken’s firm words, Ryu still could not help the feeling of responsibility. Ryu thought that he could have, at the least, been conscious during Ken’s assault.
One of the Galactors had moved forward in a gesture that showed he was thinking of familiarly running his fingers through Ken’s hair. Ryu’s glare warned him that he would be in danger of losing the hand if he proceeded with the foolish thought.
The Galactors wisely kept their silence as the Black Maria continued on its journey.
End Part 1