Well, happy Easter one and all, and it seems my laptop has finally bit the dust. I'm only managing to post this with thanks to my boy! Anyway, it's making me wonder what we are going to do for Entertainment over the weekend..... So, my apologies if I'm not around for a while, but have fun with he prompt.

Eek I'm sorry your laptop died!

The first goon reached for the wrench, only to find it missing. This was unfortunate, as he was stretched out across the empty air between the work platform and the mecha's hull. He was unable to move, as he was harnessed into a work-rig that had taken three hours to set up. As such, he called out to his partner, a second goon, on the platform. The second goon realized that the wrench had been borrowed by a third goon (who shall remain nameless) because he had needed it to adjust his bed, whose legs had come loose after testing the previous evening of Galactor's new 'earthquake ray' had impacted the base. He called to a fourth goon to go find the third goon. The fourth goon returned some time later, empty-handed. Apparently, the third goon had gone off on leave, but the fourth goon had eventually managed to track down his bunkmate, the fifth goon. The fifth goon vaguely remembered seeing the wrench in the cafeteria (although how it had gotten there, he could not recall). The first goon began yelling loudly, uncomfortable in the rig and hanging over empty space. The sergeant came over to see what was the matter, and the fourth goon left in a hurry. After hearing the explanation of what was going on, the sergeant corralled a sixth goon to find the wrench. After another hour of waiting, the sixth goon finally came running into the mecha hangar, wrench in hand. But in his haste he slipped on a puddle of oil and went careening into the side of the mecha, causing it to rock and knock the first goon aside, such that he was now swinging wildly in the air in his rig. The sixth goon dropped the wrench into the puddle in his shock. The second goon angrily climbed down from the platform, only to find that by the time he had reached the bottom, the sixth goon had disappeared. Scowling, the second goon picked up the wrench and began to climb back up. Unfortunately, the wrench had acquired a thin coating of oil from its brief sojourn in the puddle, and as such slipped out of the second goon's hand as he was passing it to the first goon. The first goon made a wild lunge for the tool, causing his head to knock against the mecha. Now unconscious, he was unable to rescue the wrench, which clattered to the floor, unseen amongst the numerous tools and mecha parts littering the hangar. The second goon, worried for his friend, hurried to unstrap the first goon from the rig and rush him to Medical. "And this is why the hull plating was not properly bolted onto the mecha, and why the Science Ninja Team were able to pull it apart to infiltrate the robot?" Berg Katse demanded of a cowering captain, throwing the report onto his desk. "Yes, Sire." the captain trembled. "I had no idea about any of this, until after the mission had ended." "I see." Katse's lips twitched, and the captain nearly wet his pants. This couldn't be a good sign. Yet then, to his shock and horror, the Galactor leader began to laugh. "Lord Katse?" he gasped helplessly. It took some moments for a response, so great was the laughter. "I can't believe the incompetence I have to work with!" Katse finally exclaimed, wiping at his eyes. "But I'll give you one thing: that report is the best entertainment I've had in weeks. Find these men and arrange for them to join the ISO as a repair crew. I have an idea..."

TJ: LOLOL, this is a pretty brilliant plan

TJ - This reminds me of the kind of story James Thurber would write!

Originally posted by ChrisW TJ: LOLOL, this is a pretty brilliant plan

Go for it! Write it up...

KT...hoping you get back online soon! TJ...a comedy of errors...brilliant! Rofl!

[unrecoverable text]

I hope Joe gets some sort of satisfaction...not to mention keeping Jinpei stowed in a good safe place until the Condor cools down!

They landed in an empty lot one block over. There were a couple of vans painted to look like they belonged to a package delivery company. He had just gotten his footing when he felt a prick on the back of his neck. A tingling numbness exploded through his body, and his legs buckled beneath him. A cold floor. The sigh of air conditioning. A faint tinge of motor grease. Jinpei was lying on his belly when he finally came around. He opened his eyes just enough to see what, if anything, was right by him. He couldn't see anything. He heard a shuffling sound and someone letting out a tiny cough. "How much longer do we gotta stand here and wait?" Asmodeus, the older boy from the juvenile detention center who hooked Jinpei up with Galactor recruiters, whined. "He should be awake by now." Ms. Rechtsanwalt replied, "Maybe he needs some stimulation....a cattle prod, perhaps?" Jinpei let out a low moan and slowly pushed himself up to a seated position. He acted as though he was groggy and in a bit of pain while he quickly cast his eyes about, trying to assess his situation. He was in the center of a spotlight that shone from somewhere directly above him. It was pitch black beyond the light, though he could sense he was surrounded. Before he could do anything else, a lanky boy about Jinpei's age charged out of the darkness. The Swallow jumped up and dodged him. An older boy came next, and Jinpei stepped aside. But then he had an onslaught of people -- different sizes and ages, both boys and girls -- come at him. Some had martial arts training, others were experienced street fighters, and still others simply threw blind punches. He did his best to dodge and deflect his attackers, but they kept coming. He didn't want to risk hurting the kids if he tried to temporarily disable them, but -- "Enough!" Rechtsanwalt shouted. The attackers stopped and stepped out of the spotlight. More lights clicked on, and Jinpei saw that he truly was surrounded; he couldn't tell exactly how many there were, but there were more than enough to keep the entire Science Ninja Team busy in hand-to-hand combat. He slowly turned, taking in as many of the faces as possible; a few tried to maintain a mean, hardened expression, but most had a dull-eyed look. Finally, he stopped when he faced Rechtsanwalt -- or, rather, the head of the Devil Stars. Asmodeus stood on her left, and a Devil Star was on her right. Instead of the purple pantsuit she wore when she posed as Jinpei's lawyer, she was in a very form-fitting catsuit. And instead of being in a severe bun, her blond hair was in a ponytail that flowed over her right shoulder. She ran her fingers through the ponytail as she fixed him with a look that said you're prey. "What the hell?" Jinpei cried in the toughest voice he could muster, "If that was some sort of entertainment to you ---" "Number One," the leader said without taking her eyes off Jinpei, "assessment?" "Even though he held back," the Devil Star answered, "I believe he has a black belt, maybe in multiple disciplines, Mistress." "Well, Percy," the leader said without looking to her left, "things may finally be looking up for you." "Could you at least call me Asmodeus?" the boy grumbled. "A minor imp doesn't get an archdemon's name." she replied while still finger-combing her hair. A quick thought dashed through Jinpei's mind: what would she do with her hands if someone cut off her ponytail? "Recruits," Rechtsanwalt let go of her ponytail as she commanded, "go to your assigned areas and await instructions from your commander." The crowd -- including Percy -- turned and started shuffling away. "You all did well." she added as an afterthought. Jinpei stayed rooted to the spot, trying not to return the hard stare he felt was coming from behind the emotionless Devil Star mask. "Is there a problem, Number One?" So he wasn't the only one who sensed it. "Mistress, doesn't it strike you as odd how a boy just happens to be the one to fulfill our needs?" "Odd? Perhaps." The leader fixed her eyes on the Devil Star. "But there have been far stranger things in Galactor." The Devil Star leader returned to Jinpei. "I have a special job in mind for you." She gestured toward an exit behind him. He turned and started walking toward the door, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds to see where the two women were. Rechtsanwalt seemed amused by this. Jinpei pushed open the door and saw only darkness -- the rectangle of light the open door allowed in was no help. "Go on in," the leader breathed into his ear, "we're right behind you." Jinpei took a breath and stepped through the door. He took a couple more steps, but stopped, determined to stay in the patch of light. The two women stepped in and closed the door behind them. Jinpei tried not to feel choked by the all-consuming darkness. But then the lights clicked on. After he blinked the spots out of his eyes, he found himself in a room about the size of a walk-in closet. There was a mannequin about 3/4 the length of the room away from the door they had just come through. The mannequin wore a BirdStyle.....Jinpei's BirdStyle.

It'd be fun to see what other people wrote as sequels to TJ's piece. (Not necessarily to mine.) EW: Looks like Jinpei might have been brought into impersonate himself, heh! Or assassinate himself ...

EW, this is certainly a twist! But I have a feeling that Jinpei might have given himself away by fighting *too* well... Chris, you didn't write enough! I really want to know what happened to the G-2! Or what the heck made everyone think those guys were qualified to work on the G-2...

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Chris, you didn't write enough! I really want to know what happened to the G-2! Or what the heck made everyone think those guys were qualified to work on the G-2...

Uh oh, CW! You took up the challenge, so how are you gonna keep TJ happy?

I think that's all I have to say on the matter. Someone else is willing to fill in some gaps, though! Maybe someone wants to write Nambu watching the footage.

[unrecoverable text]

KT: Wow, Julia just gets more and more off-putting. I'm surprised that Joe wasn't completely grossed out by her behavior, and I'm more surprised that he felt safe bringing her to meet the others.

safety in numbers perhaps??

I think I just lost any respect I had for Julia.

Nambu needs a paternity test I think...

Originally posted by E.D. Darling Nambu needs a paternity test I think...

Ooh, good point!