Bug Hunt part 3.
Being all he can be!
Goku sat at the breakfast table and ate his meal in less than a minute.
He then reached into a rather large bag containing various fruits and
began to work at them quickly. He was done in less than five minutes and
simply leaned back on his chair happily.
Ranma sat across and watched in awe as Son Goku ate. Tenchi leaned over
after a few moments of his own staring and spoke. "He's worse than you
Ranma! I'd never thought I'd see it."
He received a punch to the face and fell back off his chair. "God what a
pig," said Ranma as she turned to finish her own breakfast.
"Who are you to talk?" muttered Tenchi as he recovered. Ranma kicked him
in the face without stopping her meal.
"So how long you in for?" asked Tenchi as he walked over to Goku during
a break in the training. They had been at it since six in the morning and
Goku felt better than he ever had. The training itself was unimpressive.
Mostly basic exercises and weight lifting to get him and the others
accustomed to their newfound power. It also gave them time to adjust to
their new personality traits. The fact that they had no idea about their
opponents whereabouts didn't help matters much.
"In for?" asked Goku in confusion.
"Sorry, it was a joke," said Tenchi with a smirk.
"Oh," said Goku looking more confused than ever.
"So who were you before Goku moved in?" asked Ranma as she walked up
behind them and tapped Goku on his forehead playfully.
"John Stockton, I was a programmer for a company called I-tech. I went
to school with Curtis since about the third grade," answered Goku after a
moment of thought. "I should probably tell them I got a new job."
"Really? Your not military?" asked Tenchi in surprise.
"Nope, Curtis sort of tricked me into it; it's ok though, I don't mind,"
replied the man as he sat on a bench. "What about you two?"
"Bob Miller, I was US Navy, a Seal; I had just signed up when they sent
me here fresh out of AIT*." said Tenchi with a proud grin.
"How about you?" asked Goku as he nodded towards Ranma. She frowned
slightly.
"Rebecca Willson, I was a secretary at the front desk. The other units
forced this on me when they escaped and tried to get me to follow them,"
she said this with a sort of wistful look and took out a small photo from
her wallet.
Vegita's voice rang in hear head as if he was standing next to her. She
could still see him standing over her after the pain stopped, smiling at
her with that confident smirk he had developed.; Her co-workers were
laying around the room dead and the flames licked at the walls as the
other units continued to clean up the remaining employees.
"Come with us, I have given you power beyond your imagination," he said
as he gazed at her with his strange new eyes; eyes devoid of the loving
kindness that was once there; Only the cold darkness of death could be
seen. She remembers only running after that moment she didn't know where
she was and didn't care; after she collapsed she awoke with Curtis. He
had looked at her with such pity and sadness in his eyes.
Goku looked at the photo in mild curiosity; on it was a pretty young
blonde woman, very feminine. Her hair flowed gently down her shoulders
and her blue eyes looked so soft and gentle. She was dressed in a
sundress and hat; smiling warmly and standing in a field near the base,
he could see it in the background vaguely.
"Who's that? An old co-worker?" he asked quietly.
"Who I used to be," she replied as she placed it back in her wallet.
"Now get away from me you perverts! Stop trying to hit on me, I ain't
available ya know!"
Tenchi grabbed Goku and gently pulled him away. "Don't worry about her,
she's tougher now and she'll attack us if we say anything more."
"I know, she's a lot like Ranma I suppose; always trying to hide how she
really feels with her mouth," said Goku as he glanced back at her.
"You know Ranma?" asked Tenchi suddenly.
"Sure he does, one of the reasons I picked him is the fact that he's so
familiar with the characters," said a voice from the doorway.
Ranma turned away from him and started her workout again. "What's with
her?" asked Goku.
"She blames Curtis for all of this," answered Tenchi a little angrily.
"And rightly so I might add," said Curtis as he walked over to Goku.
Tenchi glanced at him and returned to his own training.
"What about him?" asked Goku indicating Tenchi's reaction.
"Same problem, just not nearly as much as Ranma does. I take full
responsibility for all of this. If it wasn't for my little fanboy games I
would have had the most important discovery of the twentieth century
under my belt. I suppose I still do; but it will be remembered as an
instrument of death, not as a cure for paralysis as it should have been,"
he hung his head and watched the others.
"You may not like this, but the personality traits were much stronger on
the other unit's than yours. I was just playing around with the programs;
they were never meant for human use. I never though it was as strong as
it was. I just..." said Curtis as he began to breath heavily and sob.
"You mean..." said Goku in shock.
"The other units have almost total personality conversion. Ranma's
programming was only ninety percent complete, but Tenchi and the others
were total. The only reason Musaki stayed was because his personality is
totally loyal. He was a real creep before, a hardass. Just ask Ranma, she
can tell you all about it," sobbed Curtis pathetically. "He's about fifty
seven percent assimilated right now; her's is as far as it will go."
"I don't think I need to ask her about it; but Curtis, think about it
would you? This would have happened no matter what you did," said Goku as
he put a comforting arm around his friend.
"Huh?" said Curtis as he recovered slightly and looked at his old friend
in shock.
"If the programs are as strong as you say, what would have happened to
the monkeys?" asked Goku with a frown.
"Oh, god! I never..." gasped Curtis in shock.
"That was always your biggest problem Curt, You have a brilliant mind,
really; but you never think things through," said Goku with a sigh as he
shook his head.
Curtis just sat and watched the others train for a moment. "I guess your
right, that's why I liked you so much. You were always there for me when
I screwed up. We made a great team," said Curtis as he composed himself
and stood.
"Maybe we can again?" said Goku as he watched him walk towards the door.
"That's what I'm counting on," replied the man.
Goku sat and thought about the whole mess before he stood and walked
over to his companions. "I'll help you sort through this mess the best I
can old friend, but I'm afraid that I may not be enough this time. I have
a feeling we may only be able to pull damage control on this one."
Saffron stood in the darkened room and smiled at the two faces watching
him with hard and unfazed eyes. His wings stretched and folded behind his
back absently as a projector shot a photo of a building on the wall. Herb
sat with her arms crossed and an indifferent gaze on the wall as her
companion pointed at the blueprints projected; beside her Ryoga simply
stared onward with his vacant and angry stare. He polished the umbrella
handle in his lap carefully and tugged at his bandannas in anticipation.
"This is the building, it's a retrieval mission so casualties should be
low. Ryoga will run point man on this operation to try to take out as
much opposition as possible before we move in. The training center is on
the opposite side of the complex but our timetable is still low. All of
us have achieved flight level so we shouldn't take more than a few
minutes to get in and out. We don't want to be detected until the
acquisition is made." said the birdman as he glared at the two seemingly
inattentive soldiers before him.
"What's the target? That's all we need to know," said Ryoga calmly.
"Mr. Hibiki, I am well aware of your program parameters, the only reason
Herb is with us is in case you lose your way. If that happens I can't
promise a low body count. I don't really see why you are so concerned
about that seeing as our goal is total world domination," said Saffron
with a sort of smirk appearing on his face. "Your powers focus mainly on
your own defense; and so you are the lead man in this mission."
"Whatever, I want this kept as clean as possible all right? You don't
have to agree with me, but those are the conditions of my staying with
you. You can go nuts on your own missions," growled the Hibiki boy as he
put his self-constructed steel umbrella back together.
"I remind you that Vegita will be most upset with the loss of Ryoga, he
is instrumental to our later plans, or so the rumor goes," said Herb
calmly.
"As if we couldn't wrest the world from their pathetic hands without
him? Don't make me laugh, I don't relish the idea of doing it directly
either, but our calculations say it is possible," said Saffron to the
both of them.
"I'm not willing to take the risk just yet, if we can do it this way we
will," said Herb calmly. "With or without Hibiki's support."
Ryoga growled and stared at them in disbelief, they were talking as if
he wasn't even there. "My power levels are not below yours Herb, just
specialized in different places. Don't get so arrogant, you couldn't hurt
me if you wanted too. Your nothing more than a twisted Ranma unit to me."
"You compare me to that weakling little girl?" sputtered Herb in a rage.
Herb growled and stared down Ryoga with an energy sphere forming in her
hand. Ryoga simply smirked and extended his finger. "Any time she-male."
"PIG!!" retorted Herb; Ryoga twitched and glared at her.
"Enough!! Take out your frustrations on the mission if you must, but not
here." roared Saffron; both Ryoga and Herb returned to their seats
reluctantly and quickly. "Good, now on with the briefing, our target is
this man," he snapped as he pointed at the new projection.
"Dr. Curtis Mathews; we need him alive, I think you all know why."
TBC....
Next: Kidnapped?!! The action starts!!