My first fic post of the first Ranma I've actually
dared to write. Enjoy.

_______________________________________________________







Summary: 
Prepare to experience a world never before seen. A
world ruled by darkness, lies, and deciet. A world
whose technology has progressed far faster than our
own. A world dominated by the corporate superpowers. A
world where a Covert War is being waged, and only the
best of the best will survive......






Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma in any way shape or
form. It is the sole property of its respective owners
and creators.

Mini-Note: 
*** designates a change in POV or a change in setting.

//...// designates a transmission or other form of
radio communication

Also, be sure read to Author's Notes at the end of
each chapter for important information.
WARNING: There is a small amount of coarse language
for any underage readers out there. Its minute, and it
won't cause any long-term physcological damage.




File 00: Realm of Shadows.

The music pumped loud and hard into the ears and minds
of the multitude of people that packed the massive two
story club. People of all cultures, religions, and
sexual preferences came here to forget about the
boredom and monotony of day. They all came to
experience the rapid beating pulse of the night.

The place was a techno/rave club known as The Edge, a
massive two-story complex that was well known
throughout the area. This bastion in the night has
been well known as a fortress of alternity and
difference amongst the throng of a culture who was
known for its monotony. It's occupants were are as
diverse as the build itself, and its those same people
who were about to get a first-hand experience of a war
that was being fought right under there nose.







"Are you ready to make the exchange? My employers are
quite anxious to hear the results of this transaction"
the man in the black business suit inquired. He wore
gloves and sunglasses to compliment the look, though
why he wore the glasses at night and indoors was
anyone's guess.  "Though I do question your choice of
meeting places." Two large men, mirroring his fashion
sense, flanked him protectively.
. 
"Of course. We want this matter resolved just as much
as you do." A woman in black leather pants and a light
blue turtleneck was speaking to him from across the
table, at a relatively secluded corner of the club. 
"And as for my choice of meeting places I can only say
this, what better place to hide than in plain sight?"
She had dark brown hair that went down to the small of
her back, but it was kept together in a loose braid.
She looked to be in her early twenties but it was
difficult to tell her exact age.

She nodded to her associate standing directly behind
her. She was also female, and she also had dark-brown
hair but it was short and came to about the bottom of
her neck. She seemed to have as much a preoccupation
with black as the apparent business man. Black jeans,
boots, and even the leather jacket; but considering
where they were no one seemed to care or notice.

Her apparent assistance produced the silver suitcase
she had been holding, she released the latches and
placed on the table. Its contents were revealed to the
man whose look of surprise was quite obvious even
through his shades.

"Well, well. You've kept your end of the bargain
obviously. And we shall keep ours." He reached into
his coat pocket slowly and carefully. He produced a
very small compact disk.
"The original, just as you requested. You'll find
everything is perfectly intact."

The woman with whom he was dealing with took the disk
between her fingers and examined it carefully before
wordlessly handing the disk her assistant. The short
haired woman took out what could best be described as
a mini-disk player with a large screen. This CD was
inserted, there were the feint sounds of a computer
thinking, and then the glow of a green light.

"Its authentic."

"Now if you will excuse us, we will be on our way. It
has been a pleasure doing business with you." She
calmly stated as she rose from her chair.

"And I with you. However, I cannot allow you to depart
just yet." She had already turned her back to him when
she heard those words. They did not come as any
surprise to her; any fool could ascertain what was
going to happen next. In fact, she was expecting it.

"You see, my organization went to a lot of trouble to
claim possession of that disk. And to think that we
would just give it back so easily, well, I do not wish
to insult your intelligence." He gave a short laugh.

He snapped his fingers and a tidal wave of events
occured at once. The two men at his side immediately
pulled out Glock-19s, there were several screams
within the herd of people as three more men stormed
through the crowd without warning. On the second
floor, additional subordinates rose from three tables
overlooking the dance floor. People instantly began to
clear out, not wanting any part of what was about to
happen.

"I told them that such a number was not necessary to
accomplish such a menial task. But they insisted that
I be prepared for anything." He informed them as he
retrieved the suitcase.

The two women's demeanor did not change in the least.
The older one who was originally hosting the
negotiations was only staring back at the traitorous
rat with eyes that could freeze an inferno. The other
seemed to be taking stock of the situation, seemingly
taking count of how many of the opposition there was,
as well as the environment of the now abandoned club.

"You do realize, this will result in your immediate
death." The ease and calm with which she said that did
not go unnoticed by the man.

"HAHAHA! My death? I suppose the shock hasn't worn off
yet, but in case you had not noticed you are severely
outnumbered and unarmed. Unless your friend there has
something hidden under her jacket."

"She does not, weapons mean less to her as they do to
me."

"And that, my little wench, will be your downfall.
Kill them, now."

The men behind him, as well as the three who appeared
from the crowd moved to aim their pistols, such
precious few seconds were usually not accounted for in
a skirmish such as this, but then they had never faced
an enemy as they were about to face now.

***

The thug's finger was just beginning to exert pressure
on the trigger before he felt a hand take firm grasp
of his wrist. His arm was wrenched from its aim and he
found it pointing in a totally different direction, by
this time the trigger had already been pulled and the
weapon discharged. The bullet shot forward and
impacted a target, the partner standing to his right
to be exact.

"What the h..." He didn't have time to finish the
sentence as all the air was robbed from his lungs as a
knee slammed into his solar plexus. He pitched forward
violently, he heard his remaining partner curse and
then there was a odd snapping sound followed by a
blood-curdling scream of pain, which was abruptly cut
off. The sound of a body hitting the floor was quite
distinct; he could only stay there, hunched over and
frozen in fear, then everything began to dim was he
felt a sharp pain at the base of his skull. The last
thing he saw was the woman in black run over his
collapsed body.

***

Four more additional henchmen came down from the
second floor, two went over to deal with the woman,
the remaining two joined the others in protecting
their apparent leader.

The two others sent to 'take out' the woman were met
with the same lightning swift aggression as the first
three. Before they knew what was happening one of them
was already in a crumpled heap on the floor, his
shades broken in half and his eyes rolled back into
his head.

"She just took out four armed men like nothing." One
of the bodyguards uttered.

"Tell that bitch to back off now! And I may spare your
life at least!!" The leader ordered out of
desperation.

Up to this point the taller of the duo had been
content to stand by and let them watch how utterly
futile they actually were. But now it seemed, she
would actually have to get her hands dirty...

"ARE YOU LISTENING YOU FOOL!!! If you don't do as I
say now..."

He was stopped short by the action of her walking
toward the group. The cold state of her eyes hadn't
changed in the least since this entire event started.

"What are you doing?! SHOOT HER!! SHOOT HER!!!"

They all fired immediately at this single target. This
was the strange part, she didn't seem to have any kind
of body armor, and she wasn't making any move to avoid
them, she just kept coming like nothing was happening.

"What the hell is she?" One of them was beginning to
panic.

There was no indication that she was even struck by
the bullets, its like they passed right through her...

"Damnit!! The guns are useless! TAKE HER!!!"

All four charged like madmen, she was one while they
were many. Usually that philosophy held water in most
normal altercations, however these were most obviously
not normal people they were fighting.

"Oooo this is gonna be bad." The other woman muttered.
She had since finished off her portion of the
opposition, and the remaining victims were going to
wish they had fought her instead.



If there were ever an example of controlled,
precision, brutality this would be it. The sounds of a
hand or a foot impacting human flesh, the snapping
sound of bone being broken in multiple areas, the
gurgled screams of mercy, and the wet crunching noise
of a nose being rammed into someone's delicate brain.
These were all synonymous with anyone unfortunate to
attempt to raise a hand against her. In seconds, the
"fight" was over before anyone realized it started.

"That's all of them." The woman in black informed her
as the last man fell at her feet in an unordered mess.


Her eyes slowly scanned the area. Searching for any
other possibly hostile adversaries.

"He's gone." Her assistant answered the unspoken
question.

She made a mental note that she would have to make
her...displeasure...known to the sniveling coward at a
later date. That's when a strange beeping noise blared
in her ear. She reached up to a small device akin to a
hearing aid lodged behind her ear lobe.

"We have the disk father, but there is no guarantee
that they did not make duplicates. There was
opposition, but it was...dealt with."

//We now have the original back in our possession,
that's all matters...for now.//

"As per your orders the suitcase has been rigged to
explode in..." She glanced briefly at a clock on one
of the nearby walls. "30 seconds."

//Excellent, now return home, we are having
visitors.//

"And who would they be?"

//An old friend of mine, he is bringing his son.//

"Understood." Her hand lowered slowly. Her eyes came
down on one of her many unfortunate victims, as he lay
there a pool of blood was slowly form around the back
of his head. Her hands began to shake slightly and she
had to ball them to get them to stop. This was all
becoming far too easy for her, and it was scaring her
to death. She closed her eyes, took a breath and
regained her composure.

"We're leaving." She announced finally. Her partner
had finished rummaging through the bodies trying to
find something of any relevance.

As they departed the building a column of smoke could
be seen in the background. The sirens of law
enforcement and fire department vehicles could be
heard far into the black of the night.

***

The sea of Earth-bound stars glowed brightly within
the darkness of the seemingly eternal night. This was
the glowing metropolis known as Tokyo. Home to
millions of people, all moving, all connected, all at
the same time. Constantly in motion with an activity
that never ceased, never slowing down, only moving
forward and never looking back. Skyscrapers rose as
far as the eye could see, reaching ever higher in the
heavens as if to challenge God himself, each one its
own Tower of Babylon, each one holding within it the
greatest corporate superpowers the world would ever
bare witness to.

"Hehehe. Tokyo, it has been too long." 

>From high atop the grand needle known as Tokyo Tower,
two dwellers of the midnight hours stared down upon
the glory of the country of Japan. These two
individuals have lived within the shadows for most of
their lives, walking amongst the common man knowing
what most don't. Watching, as they remained oblivious
to the unspoken atrocities that occurred right in
front of them, but refused to be acknowledged.

"...Yes I know...that's right...all to the same
address." The second of the duo spoke into a cell
phone, the dim glow of the neon green illuminating his
face ever so slightly.

"We should be moving out, have the arrangements been
made?"

"...Alright...thank you...okay...thank you." With that
last word he closed the cellular device and replaced
it back into his pocket. "Everything's set, we can
expect them the day after tomorrow."

"Good good, this move has put us behind schedule and I
know certain clients won't tolerate long-term delays."

The aimed there gaze at one building in particular,
the home of a multi-national more powerful than any
other in existence. Its reach was unlimited, its power
undeniable, and its dealings well known throughout the
covert community.

"Heaven's Star Incoporated, the most powerful
conglomerate in the world. Who would've thought..."

"I guess your old man had better friends than he was
letting on."

"Yes he did apparently. The last thing he ever said to
me was find my way back here, and after ten long
years...here I am."

"I've heard a lot about Tokyo, a lot of the major
stuff goes down here. You think were ready to dive
into a hot spot this explosive?"

"We're the best of the best in case you forgot,
there's nothin is too hot for us."

Within this brilliant glow of city lights, buildings,
and people; there was a war erupting, a war that had
been sparked and had no intention of slowing down or
showing mercy. There have been countless casualties
and negotiations were out of the question, hostages
had been taken, war crimes had been committed by all
sides, and soldiers from all around the world were in
the midst of it all. This is the unseen war, a war
fought from the darkness underneath the eyes of the
common man.



Welcome to the Shadowlands. I hope you survive.




To Be Continued...



















Author's Notes:
1). This is an idea that I've had floating in my head
for quite a while now and its finally becoming a
reality unto itself. Even though this is quite a
divergence from the normal universe I'm going to try
to keep everyone as in-character as I possibly can and
I would appreciate if any readers who happen upon this
can help me with that.

2). On the subject of any reviews or comments anyone
feels compelled to send. I'm one of those people who
favor constructive criticism over anything. Simply
saying "this sucks" does not help. It is infinitely
more beneficial to say "this sucks, this is why, and
here's what you can do to fix it." 
The same goes for any praise. Tell me why you think
its good and what I can do to keep it that way. This
will definitely help me to keep my writing
entertaining, and the universes I use as close to the
original as possible.

3). Tendo - Laws of Heaven and Nature...


Home Page:
users.animanga.com/shadowlands
Email:
midnight_sunus@yahoo.com













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