Keeping Secrets by Lyssa
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Author's Chapter Notes:

1)  This is my first BotP fanfic so please be gentle with me

2)   I first saw the show on Regional TV in the late '80s when it aired in Australia so forgive me if I get things wrong.  I'm writing this after re-watching the first ten to twelve episodes in thirty years.  I read somewhere the American actors and Japanese animators took at least that long to "get into character and develop the universe". 

3)   I've read some to the work on this site and have enjoyed the journey which allowed me to imagine this story.  It is not my first frantic but not my usual genera either, so I'm taking a hiatus into this world for a while.

4)   I always assumed Mark, Jason and Tiny to be in their mid-twenties,, Princess a year or two younger and Keyop at least eighteen but very small of stature due to his 'conception'. How far the world has come in thirty years - my son's conception occurred in a test tube and is considered normal.

5)   Finally, I've attempted to keep canon (what I remember and have read) but incorporated
some AU elements.

'I'm sorry, Chief,' Princess almost growled in an angry tone as she hurriedly exited his office, 'I don't buy it because it doesn't seem fair!'

A half hour earlier, the entire G-Force team could be found relaxing in the ready room. Mark and Jason, as usual, faced off across the table tennis net. Their ongoing battle tied evenly after so many games. Tiny lased on his lounge, a burger in his hand. He'd long given up attempting to muscle in as his skills out striped the others. At one point he played both Jason and Mark at the same time, winning every match.

Keyop, without his jamming partner, watched the Commander and his second from his Drummers seat. The four men bantered easily with each other to the constant sound of a bouncing ball. Moments earlier Princess excused herself. The rest of the team assumed she needed a bathroom break. Anderson had them in a holding pattern while Zark analysed new data on a possible Spectra threat. So far they'd been trapped in this windowless room for several hours without any information about the latest menace.

Failing to return after a few minutes, the ping pong match slowed. Neither opponent said anything however both felt the loss of their only female member. Finally, silently agreeing they no longer wanted to play, the game and any pretence of conversation came to a halt. Tiny noticed the strange atmosphere, taking a pause before shoving the last of his current burger into his mouth. His muffled sounds around masticated food might have been a question.

Mark looked up, ignored Tiny and requested of his second, 'I wonder what's taking Princess so long?'

'Making pretty,' Keyop used a hand to smooth down his hair in a very feminine gesture. Then he glanced at Mark with a teasing look on his face. The youngest member took delight in tormenting both Princess and Mark in light of the unspoken feelings between them.

'Keyop,' Mark warned his tone unusually sombre. Behind ice blue eyes a mind, augmented by his implant worked furiously to consider every possibility while ignoring Keyop's not so subtle hints. Usually Jason liked to see his senior officer teased about his affections for Princess. Mark worked hard to keep his composure at the throwaway line. This time, he noticed the tick in Mark's face displaying the cost of not allowing his emotions to be drawn. It demonstrated his concern for their missing team mate.

'I don't think this is a case of feminine whiles,' Jason broke in, hand on chin and a thoughtful expression on his face. He'd noticed a change, subtle though it might be, in his usually gagarious female team mate. Lately she'd had something on her mind turning her focus inward and adding a sad little smile to her expression. It had to be important not to share with the team.

'I get the feeling something going on,' Mark echoed Jason's internal thoughts, 'something Princess doesn't want us to know about.'

'We go,' Keyop managed without the usually stuttering, 'find out.'

Mark took exactly three seconds to think it over before nodding his consent. The four men took off. Their cerabonic implants connecting them in a way few would understand or want. The four, acting at one, missed the final link making them a truly unstoppable force. With a glance, Tiny and Keyop turned right while the other members of G-Force went in the opposite direction. After twenty minutes futile search, they approached Chief Anderson's office as a depressed group. No one wanted to report a missing team member, especially when she hadn't left the base, they'd already checked with security. The duty fell to Mark as the head of the unit.

About to lift his hand to knock on the door, it opened before him. Surprised, Mark took a step backwards, barely missing the furious ball of energy barrelling out of the portal. As Princess delivered her cutting remark over her shoulder, she cast her eyes floor ward. Uncaring of the response from her ultimate superior, she strode towards freedom. Upset by the content of the conversation, she didn't have a destination in mind.

'Princess,' Mark reached out a hand. It found her shoulder, ceasing her headlong flight. His palm flexed in a silent gesture as he asked gently, 'are you alright?'

Wiping a tear from her eye, the Commanders concern proved to be the last straw. Leaning his back against the wall, one foot resting on the vertical surface, Jason saw the moment Mark asked the wrong question. He'd taken up this vantage point to observe the interaction. Often people thought of Jason as aloof and uncaring. It couldn't be further from the truth. He tended to stand back and make up his mind on his own terms. He hated to feel the hypocrisy of injustice and untruth. While Mark hid behind duty, suppressing his personal thoughts and feelings so he could be seen to be doing and saying the correct things, Jason flew off the handle easily. It earned him a very unfair reputation as the hot headed member of the team.

Watching intently, Jason noticed Princess's body language became strangely stiff. Mark had touched a metaphorical nerve without actually saying anything. She neither wanted nor needed his, or anyone's sympathy. Whatever the Chief and the only female member of G-Force argued about, Princess didn't care to share.

'Fine, Commander,' she ground out in a tight voice, unable to meet his concerned gaze.

'I suggest,' the Chief added from his door way at the same time Tiny and Keyop made their presence felt from the other end of the hall, 'you all return to the ready room. Zark has almost completed his analysis.'

'Spectra at it again?' Jason asked, hoping for a little more information on the current threat.

'It certainly looks that way,' Anderson agreed, returning to his office and allowing the door to close behind him effectively dismissing the five young people.

Without a word, Princess shook off her Commanders tight grip and led the team to the ready room. Instead of taking up her customary position beside Keyop on her guitar, she chose Tiny's lounge. Almost plonking herself down, she crossed her arms over her chest in warning. Heading her dismissal, Jason and Mark glanced at each other, abandoning any thought of recommencing their game. Jason took up his customary stance against the wall, his arms crossed in a likeness of Princess’s stay away from me attitude. Mark moved around the room, pacing restlessly, unsure what he could do to break the mounting tension. Unsure how to cope with the earlier dismissal, the Commander desperately tried to get into his subordinates head. After several minutes he gave up, realising a feminine mind worked very differently from the masculine.

Put out, the largest team member stood at the door, scratching his head and wondered what to do. His customary seat now taken, he wondered where he could sit. Not feeling hunger for the first time, or at least not having access to a readably available food supply, Tiny's indecision blocked the doorway trapping G-Force in the small room. Keyop solved the issue by taking the ping pong paddles and handing the big guy one.

'Table's free,' he suggested with a minimum of words he'd come to realise aided his speech and increased others understanding.

'OK,' Tiny agreed because he couldn’t see anything else to allow them to pass the very uncomfortable time until Anderson recalled them.

'Watch out,' Jason warned the smaller player, 'Tiny's a shark. Why do you think Mark and I stopped playing him a long time ago?'

'Scared,' Keyop offered with a cheeky grin. Ten minutes later he understood Jason's warning too well. '15-0,' he lamented, greeted by his opponents joyous laughter, 'not play him again!'

Drawn from his introspection, the leader of G-Force came out of his daze. 'Just be grateful,' Mark offered sagely, 'you didn't bet on the outcome. How do you think Tiny can afford all those space burgers at Jill's?'

At the same instant, before Tiny could either return the tease or gloat at his easy victory, the communications panel chirped. Anderson's face covered the screen. A slight frown crept onto his lips as he took in the relative positions of his team. Nothing much missed the security chief, including the strange arrangement and the obvious strained atmosphere. Clearing his throat, he requested in his usual gravely tone, 'Mark, could I see you in my office please.'

'Sure, Chief,' he answered, about to ask why the rest of the team didn't need to come. A blank screen greeted the confused young man before he could utter another word.

'Duty calls,' Jason spoke dryly, amused by the situation. 'I guess the rest of us will just hang around here and wait for you to get back.'

'The sooner I meet with the Chief,' Mark threw over his shoulder, 'the sooner the rest of you will know what's going on. Spectra’s been quiet too long and I don’t like it!'

Princess waited until Mark's footsteps cleared the immediate vicinity before she made her calculated move. With her commander out of the way, none of the other team members dared to stop her, although Jason might try. In the end, being a loner himself, he'd cave and let her go. Getting up off the lounge seemed to be an effort. Princess's limbs responded slowly to her minds commands. Not uttering a word, she exited the ready room, a quiet sigh of relief crossing her lips when no one followed her.

Keyop started for the door only to find Jason's bulk in his way. Laying a gentle hand on the younger man's shoulder, he shook his head. Something in the defeated attitude Princess extruded, followed by the fact she waited to ensure Mark's attentions were elsewhere, stated she needed time alone. Besides, Jason knew where to find her.

'Let her go, Keyop,' he advised. 'Whatever Princess has on her mind, she doesn't want to share it, at least not yet. Maybe if we give her some time, she'll have her head in the right space before we blast off to meet Spectra's newest toy.'

'Worried,' Keyop returned, ‘not like her.’

‘You can say that again,' Tiny chimed in.

'What gave it away,’ Jason asked sarcastically. ‘The fact we can’t remember a time when Princess refused to speak for an hour?'
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