New Orleans
Kiko hurried through
the restaurant area of 'Hey, Pizza!' and into the
dark back room where she found Ikku watching
television while Sei occupied himself with Trick's
computer. Neither of them looked up as she entered
the room; neither of them questioned where her
clothes were, what could have led to her discarding
them and revealing her robosuit.
"Ikku!
Sei!" she said loudly.
Ikku did not
respond, but Sei stood up and moved in front of Kiko.
"Where is
Cog?" he asked.
"We were at the
mall when a giant pixie spider-thing attacked,"
Kiko explained. "I left Cog while I went to deal
with it, and when I came back she was gone."
"We need to
find her," Sei said simply. "Ian - "
"No!" Kiko
interrupted. "I mean... I think I can
handle that. The pixie is still on the loose. You
guys should take care of that."
Sei raised his
eyebrows.
"You lost
Cog," he said. "Why would we trust you to find
her?"
"Hey!"
Ikku said. He jumped up from his seat and stood
between his friends. "Sei, was that really
necessary?"
"It would not
be logical for Miss Sato to - "
"Geez!"
Ikku rolled his eyes. "The appropriate answer
was 'sorry'."
Kiko sighed.
"No,
Ikku," she said. "Sei's right. I messed up
and you've got no reason to think it won't happen
again... but I don't care. I said I'll find her, and
I will. Alone."
Sei opened his mouth
to protest, then closed it again. He did not think
Kiko was the best-suited to searching for Cog, or
that any of them should do it alone, but he
heard the determination in her voice. No matter how
strongly he argued, Kiko would still do things her
own way. He realised that that was not at all like
the Kiko he had known for the previous two-and-a-half
weeks; that Kiko had been polite, compassionate and
willing to follow his direction. There had to be more
to the story than Kiko had told him and while he was
tempted to ask, he suspected that if she was prepared
to reveal it all she would have done so from the
beginning.
"Maybe there's
a way we can find her?" Kiko asked. "She
found exactly where we were when she first came to
New Orleans."
Sei rubbed his chin.
"Cog is able to
detect any technology developed by Doctor
Nagura," he said, "and we have been able to
contact Cog with our communicators. Perhaps they can
be adjusted to track her."
Kiko looked down at
the large communicator strapped to her left wrist.
"Sei... why
hasn't Cog tried to contact us?" she
asked.
"You can ask
her when you find her!" Ikku said cheerfully.
"Sei, you start working on the communicators.
Miss Sato, we'll - "
"No!" Kiko
interrupted again. "I mean... no. I
know more about the communicators, I think. I was the
first one to figure out how to use them. I will work
on modifying them. You guys go find the pixie."
Ikku and Sei looked
at one another.
"O-kay,"
Ikku said. "Let's go, Sei."
Ikku and Sei left
the room and Kiko sat down at the computer. She
removed the communicator from her wrist and stared at
its ten buttons and small display panel. She really
did not know what she was looking at - her knowledge
was very specialised, focussed on the field of
biorobotics, not electronics and wireless
communication.
She typed in the
same sequence of keys that had allowed her to contact
Cog two weeks earlier, but nothing happened, so she
laid the communicator flat on the desk and rummaged
through the desk drawers for something she could use
to open it up.
In the first drawer
she found exactly what she needed - a screwdriver.
Kiko wondered why Trick would have kept a screwdriver
near his computer, then decided it was not important;
what mattered was getting to work, and doing what she
could to find Cog as quickly as possible.
I know she's
safe, Kiko thought to herself as she opened up
the bulky device. I know who has her, and I know
they'll give her back... but I was lucky this time.
What if it had been Miko who took her? What if she
goes missing and -
"Kiko?"
Kiko pulled herself
upright with a start as she heard Trick's voice from
the doorway. He stared at her with narrowed eyes and
she found herself blushing just a little.
"Kiko, you've
been back here for hours," Trick said.
Hours? Kiko
repeated silently. She looked down at the
communicator, which was almost completely reassembled
in front of her. Time flies when you're worried
sick and angry!
"Sei and Ikku
left in a hurry," Trick remarked. "Is
anything wrong? Where's Cog?"
Kiko smiled.
"Everything's
fine, Trick," she answered, "but while
you're here, there's something I wanted to talk to
you about."
Trick pushed his way
through the door and sat on the back of the couch
that rested between Kiko and the television. He
looked back at the door and nodded slightly.
"Shoot,"
he told Kiko, "but we can't be too long; I have
to send Kageki home soon."
Kiko smiled again.
"Kageki's dealt
with everything so well!" she exclaimed.
"How old is he again?"
"Sixteen."
"When I was
sixteen my head would have exploded if I saw people
turning into armoured Robomen right before my
eyes," Kiko revealed. "He was a little
hyper at first but now it's almost as if he's been
around us his whole life... and the idea never seemed
to faze you."
Trick shook his
head.
"Best not to go
there, Kiko."
Kiko nodded.
"That's not
what I wanted to talk about anyway," she said.
"I wanted to talk money."
Trick arched his
left eyebrow.
"Giving or
taking?"
"Giving. You've
been so kind to us, giving us somewhere to stay,
feeding us... We have to repay you somehow."
Trick laughed.
"I knew if
anyone was going to bring it up it would be you,
Kiko," he responded. "To be honest, it is
getting a bit difficult to keep you guys here,
but I'm not about to throw you out just yet."
Kiko frowned.
"You should
have said something! What can we do?"
Trick looked up at
the ceiling, narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin.
"Well," he
said. "You're not famous enough to make a guest
appearance as Robomen yet..." He turned to Kiko
and winked. "Seriously, Kiko, it's not a
problem. Aaaaand... I've got to go take over for
Kageki." He rose and made his way to the door.
"I'll think of
something!" Kiko called after him. "And -
wait! Trick, I need you for a second." Trick
turned just in time to catch the communicator that
Kiko tossed his way. "Hold down the 'Enter'
key." Trick did as he was asked.
"Electro
Blaster!"
Kiko said. There was a sudden blue flash as the
yellow weapon materialised in her right hand. The
communicator began to emit a regular beep.
"You can let
go," Kiko said, and as Trick released the button
the beeping stopped and the Electro Blaster
vanished. "It works!"
"Yay?"
Trick threw the communicator back to Kiko, and she
immediately re-attached it to her wrist.
"With this we
can find anyone using Eternity energy,"
Kiko explained. "It was already set up to do it,
I just had to reconnect a few switched wires."
Kiko looked over
Trick's shoulder and through the doorway; outside,
beyond the store's wide glass windows, she could see
the sky darkening. The sun had nearly set; she really
had been working for hours.
"I've got to
go!" she said.
She ran past Trick
and out through the store, the only two occupants of
which stared at her in her form-fitting yellow
uniform. She made her way through the glass doors
which led out into the street and, once she found
herself alone, shouted "Let's go,
Robo!"
Energy crackled
around her as jagged pieces of metal passed through
the pores in her robosuit, forming silver boots,
gloves, a chestplate and a helmet.
"Go!
Robo Vehicles!" she shouted. The
metal separated from her body and hovered in the air
a few feet in front of her - surrounded by blue,
mist-like energy - where it bent, twisted, expanded
and reformed as the yellow-coloured Lightning Jet.
Kiko climbed into the jet's cockpit and, using the
road as a short runway, took to the air.
It took the
Lightning Jet only a few moments to reach Lake
Pontchartrain and Kiko needed only a few moments more
to spot the person she was supposed to meet. He stood
near the edge of the lake, as close as it was
possible to get to the point where she, Sei and Ikku
had first formed Gattai Robo two weeks earlier.
It took longer for
Kiko to find somewhere large and clear enough to land
the Lightning Jet and begin to make her way to where
the man waited for her and, much to Kiko's surprise,
the Lightning Jet did not disappear once she had
disembarked.
That's odd... she
thought. Normally it fades away as soon as I
don't need it.
Kiko pushed through
a cluster of trees and bushes and found herself
emerging only a few feet behind the man, who looked
out across the lake with his arms crossed. She took a
moment to scrutinise him more thoroughly - he wore
only black; tall black boots, neatly pressed black
trousers and a black shirt, black fingerless gloves.
Two handguns rested in holsters at his side.
"I'm glad you
came, Kiko," he said.
"You didn't
give me any choice," Kiko responded. "Only you
would leave a friend in the hands of someone
like... you."
The man laughed.
"The robot is
fine. In fact, we had a long talk while we waited for
you to come."
He turned around and
Kiko saw Cog resting calmly on his arm. He lifted one
hand, palm up, and Cog made her way onto it as he
walked forward and waited for Kiko to take her back.
Cog jumped into Kiko's cupped hands and sat down.
"What would Cog
possibly have to discuss with you, Senshi?" Kiko
asked.
"You remember
my name! I'm surprised, imouto-chan," Senshi
said.
Kiko rolled her
eyes.
"You're a jerk
who walked out on his own family, big brother,"
Kiko replied, "but you're still my
brother. I'll never forget you, no matter how much I
may want to!"
"Kiko!"
Cog cried.
"Sorry,
Cog," Kiko said.
Senshi looked at the
ground.
"I apologise
for what happened, Kiko," he said, "but
it's been years. Can't you just forget about it? Move
on?"
Kiko shook her head.
She felt the burning sensation of tears welling in
her eyes, but she was determined not to cry. Senshi
had put her through a lot and it had taken a long
time to get over it all. She would not allow herself
to cry or do anything else to show Senshi that
anything he did affected her at all.
"You said you
wanted to talk," Kiko reminded him.
Senshi nodded.
"As I said, Cog
and I already had a long talk," he explained.
"It turns out we have a mutual
acquaintance."
"Senshi knows
Doctor Brachis!" Cog said.
Kiko frowned.
"Doctor
Brachis? That was the woman that sent you to us,
wasn't it?" Kiko asked.
Cog nodded.
"Doctor Brachis
was more than that," Senshi told Kiko. "She
was the Head of Security on Science Island, and I was
her deputy. In addition to her regular security
duties, Doctor Brachis also had some control over the
Earth Defence/Leadership Directorate and one of your
friends."
"M-my
friends?" Kiko repeated.
Senshi nodded.
"I know you are
a Roboman," he said.
Kiko scowled
angrily.
"Those guns...
you were the one who helped me at the mall this
morning! What were you doing there? Were you following
me?"
Senshi nodded again.
"Yes, but I
knew you were a Roboman two weeks ago. I saw you
transform outside a pizza shop and I met your ally
Sei even before that."
Kiko swallowed hard.
"Good for you,
Senshi," she said. "Cog and I are leaving
now."
Kiko turned and
started to walk away; the moment her face was out of
Senshi's view she finally allowed herself to cry.
Tears streamed across her cheeks and dripped onto her
hand, and Cog had to quickly dodge each droplet which
to her may as well have been entire buckets of water.
"Kiko! What's
wrong?" Cog asked, but Kiko did not answer.
"Wait!"
Senshi called after her.
Kiko stopped moving.
"I told you
Doctor Brachis had some control over one of your
friends. Don't you at least want to know who?"
Senshi asked.
I know who, Kiko
thought.
"Sei was in
contact with Doctor Brachis for some time before
Sorceress Miko's attack on Blizzard Base Zero,"
Senshi revealed. "I know you were there too,
Kiko. Sei kept in contact with her even after you
arrived in New Orleans. She was the one who gave you
permission to use your powers, to use your Robo
Defender, to use your vehicles... she even got Damien
Sinclair off your back."
Kiko took a deep
breath.
"What are you
saying, Senshi?" she asked. "Are you trying
to tell me I can't trust Sei?"
Senshi shook her
head even though, with her back turned to him, Kiko
could not possibly see it.
"Far from
it," Senshi answered. "Your friend Sei did
the right thing; there was no-one better for him to
work with than Doctor Brachis. Between the two of
them, I'm sure everything possible was done to keep
you safe."
"Then why tell
me this? I already trusted Sei."
"I'm telling
you this..."
Senshi paused and
took a long, deep breath. He let it out slowly. For
most of his life, Senshi had relied on his expertise
and confidence in making snap decisions to guide him.
There were very few things he had given a lot of
thought and consideration to, and when he did it made
him anxious and uncomfortable.
"I'm telling
you this," he finally continued, "to
reassure you that I know about you and about your
team."
"Why?"
"Because,
Kiko... I want to be a Roboman."
