Opportunities

by firewolf
Beta-read by Lori McDonald

For Mature Readers Only

Okay, this piece of fan fiction comes with an explanation and...

The idea for this story came out of an e-mail exchange I had with Lori McDonald in early March 1998.  Barely four days after it was first broached, I had a plot which wouldn't let me go and which left me writing obsessively over twenty days.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Lori, for her encouragement, comments, and insightful beta-reading.  If it weren't for her, this piece would never have been completed

I'd also like to thank Ayako, for her web page with her post production notes which gave me the framing piece for Part 1.

Best Regards,
firewolf
April 1998
 

From a survivor who read the fic "Opportunities":
 

I just want to tell you, that if you are and/or were a victim of rape, you should not be afraid to get help! Even if you have a disability or if you do not have one, please get help! Tell someone! Like a parent, legal guardian, a schoolmate, a teacher, your supervisor at work, the local law enforcement authorities and get help, get help, get help! 

And, by the way, if they do not believe you, you keep trying until someone believes you, even if it means talking to The Chief of Police, Your State Bureau of Investigation or The FBI or Interpol, your congressperson and your President or King and Queen if it is needed! 

I hope and pray that you will take my words to heart, because it takes a lot of courage to break the silence about rape, just like our heroes, Gatchaman and Vincent! 

Sincerely yours, 

Betsy Goodrich 
The Actress and Songstress Who Plays Danger Woman! 
betsygoodrich@hotmail.com


From another survivor who read the fic "Opportunities":
 

When Jacque Koh wrote "Opportunities: Afterword", she must have known she'd be doing something of great worth...it's taken me years to get to this point. I decided to add this after talking with Jacque, Lori McDonald, and my future wife. 

     I was raped when I was only 8-years-old by a local teenager in 1975.  Like other male rape victims, I've carried the pain and bore the results in silence. The battle was especially vicious in the later school years.  Society between 1975 and 1985 didn't accept the idea that boys could be raped, that horror was reserved for girls and was committed by the dirty old man or the black business suit and sunglass wearing perpetrator...well so much for the myth literature of the period. 

      The most painful period was high school. Never going to the prom, fearing bullies, dodging the gym showers, and never getting a diploma for 12 years of near perfect attendance. 

        I could have ended up any other way than where I am now. I owe my survival to many things, God and my honorable service in the US Navy the top two. But perhaps and most strange, I count Anime as a factor too. In the Anime of the period, I found friends and lessons I could count on. To a 
hapless and hurt kid, Anime offered escape but not a cure. 

        So it comes to this point, after reading and listening to Jacque's words and advice, I decided there was nothing left to fear because I'd lived long enough to know that in the end, rape didn't get it's victory. I have survived am successful and continue to be successful because I've finally decided that I will have victory in this fight. Rape will not gain ground no more. 

         To my darling future wife Bibby, I count my many blessings. I love you so much, we have both been through hell's fury and come out tough as nails. I thank you for your boundless love my bibby. 

         To the Gatch mailing list, if it weren't for all of you I would have stayed shut. Perhaps you understand why friendship and belonging to a group means so much. 

         To the male survivors of rape and sexual abuse, the time has come to stop letting hell have it's victory and start taking back what's yours.  There is no shame any more. 

Daniel Rush 
daniel.rush@AVIANO.AF.MIL

Links provided by our Survivors
In an E-mail exchange with Lori McDonald, I wrote on March 10, 1998:
 
Hi Lori,

Remember this exchange?

At 04:32 PM 3/6/98 +0800, Lori McDonald wrote:
>>>>>He's pretty in the original too.  Rape is something to consider and
>>>>>it would be a challenge to write a story where Ken was violated that
>>>>>way, since there are goons who'd do it in a heartbeat.  But not in
>>>>>this particular series.
>>>>
>>>>That's a thought.  Though how different would this be to savage physical
>>>>torture?
>>>
>>>Rape is used as torture.  The idea is to break someone down.  And to
>>>overpower someone.  I can imagine some goons wanting that kind of
>>>power over the Eagle.
>>
>>Distasteful, but probably very sadly true.
>
>It is.  Unfortunately.
>
>>>>It would be a powerful piece to consider the aftermath of either acts on
>>>>the team, Dr. Nambu and Kentaro.  Especially if the Galactors decide to
>>>>make it propaganda, and record them.
>>>
>>>That's a thought.  They'd do that too.  And it would hurt the KNT
>>>too. 

Are you thinking of writing a piece expanding this thought? 

I have an idea, which won't let me go.  And while I am very squeamish about the subject of rape, I think I have a plot idea, and am thinking of writing a piece. I'd ask if you have any thoughts on this?

Best Regards,
Jacque

What prompted me to send this e-mail?  Well, the day before I sent it, I had found myself staring at a line in Taketomi Ayako's Production Diaries for Episode 26...
 

"(Berg Katse) says you've already performed every kind of torture and nothing has worked, so you may as well just kill him, and I am thinking ooh boy the fanfic people must have had a FIELD DAY with that line about having "tried every kind of torture".

This was how "Opportunities" started;  As an idea for a piece of fan fiction situated in the Gatchaman universe, exploring a "What if...?"  replacing an 'implied' torture in the original story of this Japanese anime, with the sexual abuse of the lead character, Ken Washio, Gatchaman.

Why did I write 'Opportunities'?

I don't know.  It started out as just a story.

I had not anticipated the great difficulty or emotional stress I would be subjecting myself to as I sat down to research the subject of male rape.  But once I started, I was driven to obsessively write and research the subject for 13 weekday nights, and 6 half weekend days.  Again, if it had not been for the encouragement of Lori McDonald, I might have abandoned the writing because of the discomfort it caused.

So I finished and posted "Opportunities," the story which examined the pain of Ken Washio and the resolutions he had to reach in his initial steps towards becoming a survivor of sexual abuse.

When I finished writing it, I had hoped that I managed to treat the subject with the proper respect.  Because in the back of my mind, I had considered that if in real life, a silent victim of rape should ever read this story, I wanted that person to seek help.
 

It was for them, that in the Epilogue I had Ken say:

Gatchaman may have given a fancy speech to Berg Katse and he may have sported a much more upbeat attitude in Part 4, but Ken still did not completely resolved his trauma.  It would not have been realistic if I allowed him to push it aside so easily.
Why did I later post an "Afterword"?

It was something which came up in an e-mail exchange between Lori and me, a few days after I posted the original five part story.  I came to realize how unfair I had been to the victims of rape and sexual abuse in the Gatch Universe of "Opportunities"  and this started me thinking of a 'Press Conference' for Gatchaman to address this.

How was I 'unfair?'  And why should I care about these fictional characters?

As the audience of the story, the readers would know that Ken was deeply hurt though he didn't want the Galactors to know it.  The general public in that Gatch universe were not privy to Ken's real feelings about the rape.  They only saw Gatchaman emerge unaffected by the rape.

If I had let Ken leave it as it lay, he would have accomplished what the Galactor broadcast could not, in demoralizing one small part of the population.  This was plainly wrong and even though this was just a story, I felt that I had to address it.

When I sat down to write the 'Afterword,' I took it one step further.  I started thinking of actual victims and survivors out there who might read my story.  So I created 'Vincent'.

'Vincent' was a victim striving to be a survivor, who would come to realize that even those who were perceived to be strong, were just like him.

'Vincent' was to see that it did not matter who this crime of violence was committed against, no one is immune to this pain; not even Gatchaman, the soldier who was perceived to be 'strength and indomitable will personified'.

Gatchaman was a reflection that even the strong can falter and sometimes feel the need to hide behind masks, rather than address their pain.  But Gatchaman also recognized that this hiding ultimately hands a victory to the assailant.

From real life, here is a quotation I came across:
 

"By not coming forward (about rape), you make yourself a victim forever." 
Kelly McGillis

The "Afterword" was something I felt I needed to write to address my failings in finishing "Opportunities" properly.

Where I left it with "Opportunities," that small message to real victims or survivors of rape and sexual abuse could have been easily overlooked.  In the 'Afterword' it was the main theme.  And that was in the speech I had Gatchaman prepare:
 

To those of you out there who have also been victims of rape or sexual abuse and who still hold it as a secret within you, I want you to know that you are not alone.  You don't have to suffer alone.  There are people out there who can help you.  It is not a shame to seek help.  Do not let it destroy you.  Do not give this victory to your assailants.  You are not alone, and you can find the strength to face this.

Long life and happiness to all of you.

Warmest Regards,
firewolf@pacific.net.sg


Lori started this, so it's only right that she has the last word :-)
 

Okay, Jacque asked me to put down my thoughts on this story, since I was involved in it as a beta-reader at least.  I had the idea of one of the team being raped on assignment before Jacque did, but didn't do anything with it since I wasn't entirely sure where to go with it, and now that I've seen Jacque's wonderful results with her attempt, I'm glad I didn't try.

Jacque said she was surprised at the response she received to the story.  Personally, I was expecting it.  It may be a fictional story with fictional characters, but this sort of crime does happen.  One in four women will be sexually assaulted during her life and for every one who comes forward, ten don't.  For men the numbers are one in six, and even less come forward to seek help.

One thing Jacque's story didn't touch on... Opportunities is about rape, and how it can affect anyone.  Rape is a terrible thing, but rape is only one form of sexual assault.  Ken and Vincent were raped, but there are a lot of people who are abused in other ways.  Unwelcome touching, verbal abuse, being forced to kiss someone when you don't want to, to touch them...  Even without physical penetration, that kind of abuse leaves scars that can take years to heal.  So if there's anyone reading this who thinks that they haven't been abused by someone who feels them up without permission, or forces them to do the same to them, or any of a thousand other acts that make you uncomfortable, don't think that there's something wrong with you.  It's sexual abuse and it needs to be healed from too.  Don't hide any kind of abuse done to you.  Report it, seek counseling, try not to give in and just let it happen, because otherwise the bastards win.

Lori McDonald
lori@spydernet.com

The departure from the official Gatchaman universe takes place during the first Gatchaman series, Episode 26 -- Godpheonix Come Back to Life.  This is the episode where Ryu is relieved of his status as a member of the Kagaku Ninjatai and Ken encounters him during a mission, only to be captured by the Galactors.

According to Taketomi Ayako's Production Diaries, Ken was tortured during his captivity.  What if ...
 
Part 1 - Broken Wings

Key:

          " ... "        Normal Speech
          < ... >        Thoughts
          { ... }        Brief Flash back
          [ ... ]        Written Text
 

Back to firewolf's Mature Fiction


If there's a book you really want to read,
     but it hasn't been written yet,
     then you must write it.
    Toni Morrison

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Tatsunoko Productions holds the copyright over all names, likeness and rights of the Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman, which has been licensed to Sandy Frank Syndication (Battle of the Planets), Turner Broadcasting (G-Force) and Saban Entertainment (Eagle Riders).
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