I would like to take this opportunity to give props to
Donald Lee Granberry and the extremely insightful C&C
he gave me regarding the prologue. Even though this
chapter was already finished and even posted
elsewhere, his suggestions prompted to go back and
tweak this chapter utilizing the suggestions he
provided. You have my thanks.


_______________________________________________________



Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma �. It is the sole
property of its respective owners and creators.

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

IMPORTANT:  Read Author's Notes at the end for
information regarding any questions or comments you
might possibly have about this chapter

//...//-Transmission or any other real-time
communication
((...))-Computer Speaking, Typing, or whatever you
prefer.






File 01: Midnight Memories


The time is 2:30 A.M. In a place known by many but
understood by few, a single solitary figure kneels
transfixed. Her carefully trained eyes keep close
watch on her target, her every sense is attuned to
pick up even the smallest minute detail.

//...ma.....Ra....ome in.....// The distorted voice
beamed into the ear of the pigtailed redhead causing
her to wince slightly. 

"I'm getting nothing but static my friend." She
whispered through the comm link that connected the two
friends and partners. She casually brushed several
strands of deep red locks from her eyes as she shifted
her position slightly in an effort to make her perch
more comfortable. A thin breeze wafted through the air
atop the Arclight Web Solutions building. The high
altitude afforded a perfect view of the 21st century
urban kingdom that was capital of the country of
Japan. The only illumination provided to her was that
of the glow of the moon and the stars in the heavens,
and the dim green haze that originated from her own
left eye.

//...Am I....clear...ow? // Still garbled but slightly
clearer, the woman on the other end of the comm link
attempted once again to achieve a comprehensible
signal.

"Not even close," She let a small sigh of frustration
escape her lips as the trial and error session entered
its fifth attempt. "Zoom-magnify 37x."

//Am I coming in clear now? // A voice as clear and as
crystal as anything she had ever heard graced her
ears.

"Crystal." The redhead affirmed.

//There's a lot of traffic in the air at this time of
night, // the voice on the other explained her recent
bout of channel surfing. //How's the top look? //

"Security is getting tighter. A lot of personnel
running around the helipad." Through the eyes of the
voyeur everything in her world was covered in a green
sheen. She watched closely at the scene that was
unfolding a mile away at the top of the corporate
nerve center of Heaven's Star Inc, the most powerful
conglomerate in the known world. The roof that also
served as a landing pad was abuzz with activity as
technicians were working vehemently to what seemed to
be the coming of an important figure

//From what I was able to get from the comm. tap the
big boss is at some kind of meeting with the S.D.F.
Most likely they�re prepping for his arrival. // Her
partner on the other end explained in detail.

"Got that. You better hustle, we're already behind
schedule," Her ears perked up at an all too familiar
distant sound. "Oh...and be careful Ryoga." She added
at a quieter tone before clearing the line.

//Aren't I always? // You could almost hear the smile
coming upon her face.

Ranma sank into a kneeling position; so far the
guardsmen stationed upon the roof that encompassed her
watch zone had not made any effort in the realm of
counter surveillance. Their mistake.

"Zoom-magnify 40x. Quad 32 x 17" Her left eye glowed
with an unearthly energy. The feint sounds of
integrated cybernetic technology working there future
magic whispered into her trained ears. A targeting
reticule appeared in front of her eyes only, as per
her command a single square from a grid zoomed in
rapidly. One of the guards seemed to be alerting his
colleagues about something, they were all suddenly
becoming very dutiful in comparison to their previous
state of lax. "Ooooo. Who do we have here...?" She
whispered to herself.

The twin doors of a rooftop elevator slid open and two
very attractive women stepped out. An air of authority
was created around them as every guard immediately
stood at attention.

"And who might you be I wonder..." Ranma murmured to
herself as her interest skyrocketed at this new
development.

Her attention shifted to the longhaired and mystifying
of the two. She watched the woman's majestic eyes,
they were a deep liquid black and they seemed to swirl
with a calm, composed, demeanor behind them. The
second female that entered the scene with her took
immediate charge of the enviroment, the movements of
her lips and the use of hand gestures indicated to
Ranma that she was giving all the orders to the guards
and technicians who were at attention.

"Those two must be pretty high in the food chain.
Everyone started bustin their butts more than usual
the minute they showed up." Her crass assessment of
the situation was nonetheless as accurate as anything
else that could be said.

Ranma took notice of the movement of the longhaired
woman's hand toward her ear. She watched closely as
she began to speak to someone through what had to be a
comm link.

"Who's she talking too?" Ranma wondered aloud, his
inquisitive nature was of experience in the field and
not that of a typical nosy teenager. "Spectrum: Radio.
Monitor all incoming high wavelength modulations." Her
commands came out sharp and clear so as to eliminate
any possible processing mistakes.

Her ears were instantly barraged by an endless bevy of
voices and static. Her eyes squinted again, this time
in concentration as she carefully noted every signal
being received.

"Stop. Log frequency. Monitor until I say otherwise."
She blurted quickly.

//....is being loaded into the mainframe as we speak
father. However we have yet to discern how security
was breached, but I have my suspicions.// Ranma was
instantly engrossed by the maturity and softness of
the woman's voice.

//Excellent. As for the matter of security it is
entirely possible that a rival has managed to
infiltrate a spy. If that is the case then there's no
telling what kind and/or amount of information has
already been leaked. // A second speaker caught her
ears; this one had a tone of seniority and experience.

//If there is a spy I will deal with him or her
myself. Nabiki has already suggested a background
check on all new employees in the past seven months.
// The woman shifted to a slightly edgier vocal as she
spoke of the possibility of a spy.

"I came in too late," Ranma muttered to herself. The
conversation being exchanged was not making all too
much sense to her since she didn't know how it
originated or what the subject was. "Record all
outgoing and incoming signals on current frequency.
Switch to private two-way band." She knew she could
just go over the entire exchange at another time; her
continued real-time monitoring was not necessary.
However it was necessary to alert her partner at the
latest state of affairs.

The familiar sounds of an internal computer working
drifted silently through the air. An acknowledging
chime in her brain signaled that a scrambled channel
was now open.

"Ryoga? How's it coming down there?" Ranma wondered
despite that not much time had passed.

//I'm moving in now. We better go dark until I finish
up, I don't want to risk us getting branched. // Ranma
could make out Ryoga's footsteps across the
connection; she had to be close to the entrance by
now.

"Right, just hurry it up because daddy is gonna be
here soon." Ranma's eyes returned to the helipad as
she had briefly let them drop when she was listening
to the communique between what he discovered to be
father and daughter.

//Daddy? // Ryoga asked about the cryptically employed
endearment.

"Don't ask. Ranma out."


***


A black haired girl in a yellow bandanna and shirt,
black jeans, a sleeveless jacket, and hefting a small
black backpack on her back casually walked up the
steps leading to the entrance of the reception level
of the massive skyscraper. As she approached her eyes
caught sight of two armed security guards who also
caught sight of her. They both placed their hands on
there holsters and proceeded toward her.

"Excuse me ma'am but this building is closed to
visitors for tonight." One of them put himself in her
path

"Oh hello. My name is Mariko Kamizawa and I'm from New
Sun Press. I'm scheduled to have an interview with Mr.
Tendo for our Saturday special on entrepreneurs." She
smiled sweetly and then produced an identification
card from the small backpack she was carrying.

"See if it checks out." The guard ordered his partner
as he inspected the card for authenticity.

"Yeah." The lower ranking second guard reached for his
radio to do as ordered.

In an instant the girl flew into action. Her foot shot
out and collided with the first guard's stomach who
was sent flying clear off his feet slamming hard into
the tempered glass wall of the first floor. The second
sentry was frozen in shock at the illogical strength
of this girl. He turned his head back to her from
watching his partner fly by, but at that time she was
already on him and sent her fist crashing into his
jaw. The sound of bone being shattered caused her to
cringe slightly.

"Ahhh damnit. I keep forgetting I have to watch my
strength even in this form." She crouched down and
searched the guard's unconscious form until she came
upon a keycard. "Security on this floor is way too
light...I don't like it...Maybe I shouldn't have
bothered with a fake I.D."

At this time of night the entrance doors were locked
and a security passkey could only open them. The
scanner showed green and gave a friendly chime as she
slid the liberated keycard through. The sound of the
door unlocking prompted her to enter the reception
area, which was totally devoid of activity. There were
elevators on either side and in the middle of the
large lobby and the receptionist's desk was located
directly in front the center column that housed the
center lift.

"I gotta make this quick." She whispered as she
riffled through her backpack as she ran. She pulled
out a cable with a fiber-op adapter on one end and a
needle on the other. "C'mon, where are you?" She
searched every nook and cranny of the cluttered desk
until she found what she was looking for, the network
jack that connected the computer to the company-wide
database. She plugged the adapter into the jack, and
very carefully slid the needle into her right wrist.

((Welcome to Heaven's Star Corporate Mainframe.)) The
words appeared in Ryoga's mind's eye as her finger
flexed slightly in response to the internal workings
of her synthetic arm.


***


A sleek black helicopter glided soundlessly through
the night sky. All personnel immediately cleared the
landing area as the stealth helicopter came to a hover
over the massive center of operations. Kasumi felt the
wind push against her as the blades came to a slow
stop and the pilot/copilot hatch slid open. Soun
Tendo, the creator and owner of Heaven's Star, stepped
out from the once air-borne vehicle.

"How was the meeting with the S.D.F?" She asked as
father and daughters began walking side-by-side.

"The bid is as good as ours but we can never be too
sure when our rivals are concerned." He straightened
his tie as he walked. He seemed to be in high spirits
this particular night, as he should be, if his company
were to win they would be in charge of a multi-billion
dollar contract to create the military's next
generation of mobile infantry.

"I'm sure the stockholders will be glad to hear that."
Kasumi's eyes shifted to her right, past her father,
to fall upon her younger sister.

"Speaking of glad, I believe you wanted this back?"
Nabiki presented a small silver disk in between thumb
and forefinger. "In mint condition no less." She
smiled at the addition of such a critical detail.

"Kasumi, Nabiki; you've both done very well. The
information stored on this disk will be invaluable if
we win the bid with the military." Soun signaled to a
glasses wearing employee who was standing by, he
immediately approached the Tendo patriarch who
retrieved a clipboard from the assistant's hands.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Nabiki asked rhetorically.

"Of course not. I believe the message that has been
sent our enemies is well established now." Soun signed
a document before handing them back to the assistant. 

"Anything they try, we'll put'em down." Nabiki brought
her fist to palm to emphasize the point. "No way will
they be making any moves against us anytime soon."

The eldest Tendo sister's thoughts, however, were not
with her father and sibling. Her mind was in the
process of wandering back to the battle they had just
fought. Back to the sight of the blood she was so
forced to spill, back to the face of the man, as he
lay dying or already dead. Too many times was she
faced with the unholy responsibility of ending the
existence of someone who would so easily do the same
to her and while she knew that there could be no other
option, she still never found the ease in her
conscience after commiting such a near barbarous act.

"Is something wrong Kasumi?" Her father asked in
regards to the look of melancholy that had suddenly
overtaken her delicate features.

"No father, it's nothing." She waved off the growing
concern for her welfare as unnecessary.

In her mind however she knew that no matter what, she
would have to keep fighting and if necessary keep
killing if it meant that everything she loved would
survive. Long ago she had made a solemn promise to her
mother that she would nurture and protect everything
and everyone she cherished and if it meant she would
have to forsake her own innocence, then it was a
sacrifice she would make. The Tendo matriarch's death
had not bowed well for her father's psyche as it had
pushed him on the verge of a suicidal depression. It
wasn�t until he came to the choice of totally
commiting himself to his company and its future was he
able to work past his beloved wife�s death and in the
process amass an untold amount of wealth and influence
that he had never dreamed possible. Heaven's Star was
the sole reason why Kasumi still had a father and not
two dead parents, because of that she vowed to ensure
that nothing stood in the way of its growth and power.
She knew she could question herself all she liked, but
in the end, she knew where her responsibilities would
always lie and what her sworn duty to her family was. 

//Ma'am we have a problem. // A sudden transmission to
her comm. interrupted her mental repartee.

"Report." She made the familiar movement of hand to
ear, which brought the attention of parent and sister.

//The first floor security lock has just been
disengaged. We tried to get confirmation from Johnson
and Shima but we�re getting no response from either of
them. // Building security central reported with a
tone of slight nervousness.

"Anything on the cameras?" Her hand moved to grip
Soun's shoulder with the intention of telling him that
his safety was now compromised.

"What's happened Kas?" Nabiki's expression sobered
from what it was, her sister's tone suggested that
something had just gone awry.

//No, we're getting nothing but snow down there.
Something is generating some major E.M. interference.
// Kasumi's eyes narrowed at this bizarre new
development. She didn't think anyone would be foolish
enough to attempt a direct assault of the building; it
was her own fault for not anticipating it really. One
of the many key rules of this line of work was to
expect the unexpected.

"Kas, talk to me, what is going on?" Nabiki tried a
second time after receiving silence.

"There is an intruder on the first floor. We need to
send a team down...to...investigate..." Her voice
trailed off as her senses were suddenly becoming alive
with the notion that someone or something was watching
them. She had not felt anything like this when she
first stepped foot on the helipad and she could only
guess that the appearance of a possible threat on her
father's life was prompting this sudden increase in
her spatial awareness. Her eyes moved to the east,
toward a nearby web design building and the source of
her growing concern.


***

No matter how she tried she could not liberate her
eyes from their transfixed gaze upon the woman that
had so captured his affections. From the recorded
conversation she gleaned her name to be Kasumi Tendo,
an approprite first name for someone who so consumed
her conscious senses. Ranma couldn't accurately
describe what it was about that particular Tendo that
she found so alluring. The way she moved, the way she
spoke, the way her locks moved in the wind, it was far
too many things at once to give a real description.

"Ryoga we have a serious problem. I just picked up a
transmission from building security; they know
something's up where you are. I suggest you get your
ass out of there now." Ranma forced himself back on
the task at hand; he needed to warn his partner.

//I know, I know. But my Driver is having a bit of a
time busting through their firewall. I just need two
more minutes to get the personnel files. // Ryoga
responded with a slight edge of frustration.

"You may not five seconds if I'm seeing right." His
enhanced visual abilities caught sight of the other
Tendo sister and several security officers loading
onto the elevator to investigate the problem. Kasumi,
eight remaining officers who took up point at the on
all corners and sides of the roof, and her father
remained behind.

//I'm in the database and I'm downloading now. I
should be out in about a minute and a half so you can
pull out. // Ryoga reported his current condition

"Right," Ranma gave a short answer as something most
interesting had reclaimed his attentions. "Well well
aren't you full of surprises Miss Kasumi Tendo." The
woman of his dreams was staring straight back at him.
Her eyes were now as clear Ranma then other point.
Despite the frozen stare she was presenting her, Ranma
could only awe at the beauty they radiated at night
despite there dark color.

"Capture image," Two simple words would forever brand
this perfect moment into her memory. "Kasumi I'll be
seeing you again. Even in my dreams."

***

((Heaven's Star Firewall Enterprise Edition. Version
7.9
WARNING! Administrative Rights Required)) The words in
her mind told of a barrier that would prevent access
to all but the most high ranking of company employees.

"Run Sorcerer." Ryoga whispered as millions of bits of
information were coursing through her arm before
scrolling through her brain. The biosynthetic limb
that was designed by Ryoga himself worked feverishly
to penetrate the long thought impenetrable security of
the Heaven's Star mainframe.

((You are now logged on as AdminUser)) A welcoming
chime greeted the newest administrative entity upon
the servers.

"Beautiful." Ryoga grinned. She went by many names on
the wired, there were many legends passed along
through the typings of a million wannabes and
authentics as to the skill with which she could
disrupt any kind of wall, blocker, or scrambler.

//You may not five seconds if I'm listening right. //
Ranma's voice blared into her ear at the same time.

"I'm in the database and I'm downloading now. I should
be out in about a minute and a half so you can pull
out." Ryoga instructed while secretly hoping she
didn't exaggerate that statement.

//Right. // Ranma answered shortly.

"Yeah, that's if I haven't been shot first. I don't
know how long it'll take them to find a way around the
E.M. scrambling I'm sending out." Ryoga mumbled to
herself as the comm.-link cut off.

((Directory is now "Personnel Records."))
((Local Host is "Hibiki")) A ping of success went off
in her head.

"Search for all employees with Level 3 clearance or
above." She ordered.

((Searching Query))

Ryoga had yet to determine exactly why Ranma suggested
this impromptu extraction op. They were supposed to be
meeting with a very important client, but instead her
partner had decided out of the blue that they would
make a quick stop at Heaven's Star Headquarters.

((Search Complete.))
((5 subjects found.)) Another chime of success sounded
off.

"Leech them all. I'll sort it out later." Ryoga could
make out the distinctive sounds of an elevator slowly
descending the floors. No doubt it was a multitude of
private security being sent to figure out who sent two
of their guards into comas.

((Downloading...63% Complete)) 

"Thank god for a ten gigahertz fiber op network." She
sighed in relief knowing he wouldn't be stuck here all
night long. Not that he would have that much time.

"Everybody fan out! Two man teams at all times! We'll
search this floor and work our way up!" A distinctly
feminine voice shouted orders to, by the sound of the
footsteps, eight other members of the building's
defense force.

"Perfect...," Ryoga snarled to himself. So far her
only hiding place was behind the receptionist desk.
Even though the lobby was quite large and darkened,
the desk was directly in the middle and most likely
would be the first place to be checked out. "Well so
much for being discrete. But then again this little
jaunt wasn't exactly planned in advance now was it?" 

"We're going to go find Johnson and Shima!" An officer
yelled.

"Be careful! The intruder is most likely still in
here!" The female leader of the search party yelled a
warning

((Download Completed)) Ryoga was beginning to love the
noise the system made when something actually went
right.

"Bout friggin time." She quickly pulled the needle out
of her wrist, as the footfall of the approaching
investigators grew louder.

"What do you think happened?" One of the approaching
guards intiated a conversation with another.

"How the hell should I know? I'm just surprised
there's still people stupid enough to try and
infiltrate this place, but what the heck could be so
valuable on the first floor?" A second older sounding
voice responded.

"What are you talking about?" The younger officer
questioned.

"Well, central couldn't find any indication that the
elevators were in use. The cameras in the stairwells
are still operational and they couldn't spot anyone
there either." The senior answered as the sound of him
scratching his beard could be heard.

"Well that is wei..." His partner never finished his
sentence. They had just begun to pass by the center
elevator. Before the guard could utter the syllable a
fist slammed into his cheek and he was sent flying a
ways into the darkness. The attacker's next action was
to grab the second officer by the face and send it
ramming into the desk, making quite a notable
indention.

"What the hell was that?" Voices emanated from further
down the lobby. Ryoga knew he was actions would garner
the attention of reinforcements, but he also knew that
if worse came to came worse he would simply change
forms and elude them.

"Ranma is going to owe me big time for this." Ryoga
muttered as she attempted a break for the exit, thats
when the sudden sound of rapidly approaching footsteps
caught her ears. She turned her head just in time for
a boot to ram into it; she was knocked flat on her
back but instantly rolled back to her feet with a look
of surprise plastered on her face. A woman with
shoulder-length hair and dressed similarly to herself
rose from her crouch after landing from the kick that
knocked Ryoga down.

"Well, it's been a while since I've actually been
hit...and felt it," Ryoga grinned as she rubbed her
jaw, though it was more of a reflex action than
through actual pain. "You must be pretty good."

"I could care less whether you think I'm good or not.
You are trespassing on private property and I highly
suggest you surrender before I am forced to send you
to the hospital." Ryoga could detect was no humor in
her voice as she made that statement. Through there
many years of experience Ryoga and Ranma had managed
to cultivate a natural talent of surmising an
opponent's strength without actually having to fight
them. Through minute details like posture, tone of
voice, and their overall current demeanor they could
determine right off who the victor would be before the
first punch was thrown. This woman however was proving
to be quite the challenge to read. There was no fear
on her face whatsoever, her eyes seemed to glow with
an intensity that couldn't be immediately deciphered,
and the way she was holding herself suggested that she
was slouch when it came to fighting. The fact that
Ryoga had not detected her presence until it was too
late, despite the fact she had to have been running,
spoke volumes as to her skill level.

Ryoga's eyes caught the remaining guardsmen rush to
her side and draw their Berettas. They made the same
proclamation as their commander to drop what she was
attempting and surrender willingly. Ryoga was going
over a number of possible scenarios in her mind until
the woman did something rather suprising.

"Go back to the roof and assist in escorting my father
out of here." The men only gave looks of confusion and
voices of protest at this newest order. "She's not
going to give up this easily. It looks like I'm going
to have to persuade her into the idea of submission
and it would be better if you weren't here to get in
the way." Nabiki's analytical gaze was already probing
her opponent for weaknesses. The men warily followed
her orders and slowly vacated the area.

"You're sure of yourself. Just what makes you so
positive that you can beat me?" Ryoga smiled, showing
a pair of prominent fangs that Nabiki took notice of.

"Why don't you try me and find out?" Nabiki's grave
expression didn't change as she threw her jacket off.

"Straight and to the point, I like that." Ryoga
followed suit with her backpack.

Without another word, Nabiki charged at full speed.
She unloaded a blitzkrieg of kicks without losing
momentum for an instant. The rapid-fire side and
roundhouse kicks pounded into Ryoga's guard like a
machinegun. Ryoga was taken aback by the intensity of
the attack; the only other person he knew that came
close to this velocity was Ranma. After noticing that
her initial attacks were not giving much in the way of
damage or ground, Nabiki had changed gears on her
assault and began using upper body attacks. This
proved to be a mistake as a missed right punch caused
her arm to be captured and wrenched behind her back in
a rather painful hammerlock. She was in the midst of
struggling when she felt a hand push down on the back
of her head.

"You have a brain plug?" Ryoga asked as she noticed
the four distinctive jacks in the back of her neck.
While she wasn't at all surprised, Ranma and herself
both had one and the addition was quite common in
their line of work, she never expected to see such a
high precision type.

"What...does it...matter to you?" Nabiki snarled as
she continued to struggle.

"Nothing, though I admit I've never seen a Model 3
before. I thought these we were military issue only."
Ryoga wondered as to how this woman got her hands on
one and how she was able to get it installed.

Before Ryoga could continue his thought patterns
however, and in an amazing feat of flexibility, a
standing split kick nailed her in the forehead. Nabiki
then quickly sent a back kick into her opponent's
stomach; she had expected the standard sound of breath
being blasted out of the lungs, as was usually the
result of a kick to the solar plexus. What she
received however was nothing more than a light grunt.

"Sorry, but the first time you caught me by surprise.
It takes a lot more than what you got to knock me
out." Ryoga's grinning face greeted her as she whirled
around to face her still standing adversary.

"Well...this is getting interesting." Nabiki shook the
feeling back into her freed arm as she dropped back
into a stance.

//Ryoga? What the hell's taking you so long? //
Ranma's voice suddenly brought on an appearance in
Ryoga's ear.

"I'm having a bit of a holdup. I'll be out in a
minute." Ryoga responded quietly though not out of the
hearing range of Nabiki.

"I don't know who your talking to but if I heard right
you just implied that your actually going to escape.
Didn't your mommy ever teach you the pitfalls of
lying?" She inched forward slightly

"Hehehe, you make a pretty cool sparring partner,"
Ryoga inched backward in response. "But unfortunately
I can't stay to play with you all night."

"You don't have a choice pal." Nabiki had yet to find
a suitable weakness to exploit in Ryoga's defense.
Nabiki was starting to form the idea that her opponent
might be wearing some kind of body armor, that was the
only explanation she could derive as to how she could
survive such a hard blow to such a vunerable area.

"I'm gonna show you a little trick. Now watch closely
cause I'm only gonna do this once." Ryoga took a
serious risk and dropped her guard completely. She did
however hold up her right hand in exchange. 

"What are talking about?" Nabiki ceased her advance on
the choice of observing from a safe distance.

Ryoga balled her hand and through force of will cause
a very small metallic spike shot up from in-between
two knuckles.

"Do you know what this is?" Ryoga nodded to the spike.

"It's a ripper. So you have a Driver for an arm, so
what?" Nabiki had yet to see the relevance in all this
and was beginning to think that holding off from her
approach was not the best idea.

"Nothing. You see that's just a distraction," Ryoga's
right hand emerged from behind her back. Nabiki hadn't
noticed the slight movement and now a small silver
cylinder was in his hand. "For this. Catch." She threw
the object at Nabiki. The flash grenade exploded in
mid-air and Nabiki immediately shielded her eyes,
cursing the entire way through. The phosphorous
explosion lit up the lobby and provided perfect cover
for Ryoga's escape, while she was loathe to run from
any fight, now was not the time nor place.

To Nabiki it felt like an eternity before she found it
safe to open her eyes slowly. There was still a blur
in her vision and a radiating pain behind her eyes but
she wasn't blind at least.

"Goddamnit. Such an obvious trick," Nabiki growled in
frustration. "Who the hell was she anyway?" She ran a
hand through her hair and behind her neck that then
came to rest on her CyberCom. "Still, she knew it was
a Model 3, not many people can pick up something like
that." She let out a breath and shrugged her shoulders
before bringing a hand to her ear. "Kas you there?"


***


Ryoga calmly walked through the crowd of night
dwellers that packed the city streets of Tokyo. She
had put a good amount of distance between herself and
Heaven's Star H.Q. At this moment she was currently
scanning over the data that was perilously leeched
from the corporation's mainframe.

"Ranma better have a good excuse for me going to all
this trouble. This was by far the sloppiest operation
we've ever pulled off." Ryoga shook her head. There
had to have been at least ten other possible
variations to this op that would have gone infinitely
smoother and without such a large margin of error.

"Don't get so worked up Ryoga. It's only preparation,
that's all." A familiar voice spoke to her from her
left. Ranma was quite skilled when it came to
sneaking, so the redhead's sudden appearance didn't
come as much surprise to Ryoga.

"Preparation for what? We were supposed to be at
Tendo's place by now. You know, the same person you
had us rob just now?" Ryoga checked her internal
clock. It was currently 3:10 A.M. "It doesn't make any
sense Ranma, whats so important that we had to get
this without his knowledge?"

"You�re right, it doesn't make sense does it?" Ranma
snickered. "Just trust me on this man, I know what I'm
doing. Besides I think we should probably be better
dressed for a meeting of this guys stature." She
indicated her current dress of blue jeans, white
shirt, and red jacket. All of which were slightly
baggy on her small frame.

"What have you got floating in that head of yours?"
Ryoga eyed her suspiciously.

"Don't get mad, trust me it'll be worth it." Ranma
grinned.

"It better be, I never want to go in on a mission that
unprepared again. I'm lucky that girl was itching for
a fight and didn't have her goons shoot me on the
spot." Ryoga popped her neck, she wasn't entirely too
fond of fighting out of the blue like that.

"Girl? What girl?" Ranma questioned. He had seen one
of the two Tendos exit the roof upon alert of an
intruder but still wanted to verify it was the same
person.

"Some chick with short hair, looked about our age."
Ryoga brought up her memory of the encounter. "She's a
pretty good fighter, not that bad looking either."

"Does the name Nabiki ring a bell? I overheard that
name spoken when I was shadowing the rooftop. Two
girls who I think are Soun Tendo's daughters came up,
the one you ran into might be the younger one."

"Possibly, I never did catch her name." Ryoga tapped
her nose in thought. "His daughters you say? I would
never think a big shot like him would have time for a
family. What's the other one like?"

"He probably had them before his company hit it big.
As for the other one...well lemme tell ya...not many
people like her in the world." Ranma sentence drifted
off.

"I won't ask..." Ryoga shrugged.


***


"So your so saying your best man lost the disk and
failed to terminate Tendo's enforcers?" A middle aged
man with tanned skin and slicked back black hair
tapped his fingers against the desk as he stared out
of the 121st window of his corporate nerve center. 

"I apologize Mr. Kuno. We never expected Tendo's
agents to be so powerful, our men stood no chance." A
man with a head of silver hair that reached down his
back bowed his head in shame.

"Do you even comprehend HOW IMPORTANT THAT DISK IS YOU
FOOL?!!" The president of Silver Sword Enterprises,
LTD slammed his fist onto his desk with incredible
force.

"I...have no excuse sir." The lead henchman could only
continue to hang his head, not daring to look his
master in the eye when he was in this state of rage.

"We can make as many copies as we want, but unless we
have possession of the original all our work will be
for nothing!" Hideo Kuno composed himself and recanted
for what he felt was one time too many the importance
of the disk that they had failed to retrieve.

"S...Sir, there has been a recent development that you
should be aware of."  The henchman raised his head in
hopes that his employer wouldn't order for it to be
cut off.

"What is it?" Kuno demanded impatiently.

The henchman pulled out a remote control. He flipped a
switch and a section of the floor slid open revealing
a triangle of glass lenses. A soft light emitted from
the triad and two 3-D revolving dossiers of a male
Ranma and Ryoga hoever in mid-air.

"These two have recently been spotted in Tokyo heading
in the direction of the Tendo residence. We suspect
that he may have taken on their services but we have
not detected any major transactions within his
in-country or overseas accounts." Agito Higami, Kuno's
right hand assistant, explained the newest development
that he himself had just recieve mere hours ago.

"Those two...I know them. We have had dealings with
them before." Kuno's eyes narrowed at the familiarity
of the two mercenaries. 

"You are correct sir. We have employed their services
in the past, with great success. However it would
appear that they would eventually be turned against
us." Agito clarified gravely.

"I see...if they were to be allowed to ally with Tendo
they would greatly hamper any future efforts we
attempt." Hideo crossed his arms in contemplation over
this new threat to his company.

"My thoughts exactly sir, they must be dealt with
quickly." Agito agreed.

"Leave me." He ordered suddenly and the henchman
complied without question. As of late many of his
moves against Heaven's Star have been met with
failure, many projects were suffering because of it
and if something was not done and soon the
stockholders would begin to lose faith.

"To think that such a pair of low class dogs could
possibly cause you worry father." A voice emanated
from a shadowed corner of the massive executive
office.

"Whether they cause me worry is irrelevant. The only
thing you should be concerned with is whether you are
capable of dealing with the threat where my men have
failed." Hideo turned his attention to source of the
comment.

"Do not compare me with the useless trash that you
keep under your employ." A man about 17 years of age
walked out from the shadows. He was dressed in more
casual business wear than his father was. He was clean
cut and the aristocratic air in his voice was
apparent.

"As you wish, I'll leave this task in your hands
Tatewaki. Do not fail me." Hideo turned his gaze back
to the city lights that glowed just outisde his
window.

"Though I am loathe to stain my sword with the blood
of the unworthy, fear not, these two peasants will
pose no problem." Tatewaki Kuno grinned sadistically
at the image of his future targets. "Two more lambs to
the slaughter..."



To Be Continued...










Author's Notes
1). I would first like to give thanks to my pre-reader
Exar. He's been a HUGE help in making this chapter
readable and therefore enjoyable.

2). One main purpose of this chapter is to give
readers a little taste of the universe I've spawned,
the technology that's available, as well as a little
cameo of the antagonists they'll be facing in the
first arc. HOPEFULLY this chapter accomplished all
this successfully.

3). I realize that there were a lot of nicknames used
throughout this chapter. Like 'ripper' 'brain plug'
and 'Driver', well expect a lot more. But fear not,
everything will be explained in depth as the story
progresses I just figured that explaining everything
at once (like what I did with the second rewrite of
this chapter) was simply too boring.

4). As always comments and criticism are more than
welcome. Especially detailed ones.








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