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-- File: Wraith 2.txt
Wraith
By Jeremy Evans
Dark
DISCLAIMER: Ranma 1/2 characters created by Rumiko Takahashi. This work
should not be interpreted as an attempt to infringe on any such trademarks
or copyrights, and may be distributed freely, in unmodified form.
A Normal Night and Day.
I hate rapist. They are the lowest of the low in my book. Even the kid who
normally abhors what I do doesn't feel much remorse when I put one of them
six feet under. So when I see a young woman dragged into an alley by three
men, I react without a thought. The women's dress has already been ripped
away, the other two are holding here down for the third whose dropping his
pants. With out a sound I jam a knife into the back of his neck then wrench
it upwards cleaving his head in two. The sound of a slumping body cause one
of the others to look up, he catches a bullet in the face. The other makes a
break for it. The kid would leap in front of him and fight him honorable
combat, I shoot him six times in the back once in the head. I put my weapons
away and check on the women. She's shell shocked, but she'll be fine. I use
a cell phone I took from a piece of trash that'll no longer need it to call
the cops. I lead her out of the alley then disappear. Hanging around out of
sight till the police arrive. Once she safe I leave. I have other jobs to do
before the night is done.
Sure enough, the small building and its occupants are there. Security's
been beefed up. A lot more guards with heavier firepower. One of them has an
auto shotgun. I'll have to remember to pick that up once he's dead. None of
them see me as I approached. Using the one good technique the fat man came
up with, Umisen. I know Ranma promised not to use this, nut I'm not Ranma. I
chuck a few grenades near where some of the men are patrolling. The guy in
front of me is holding a FN M249 Para, I've FN P90, and my wits. I've
already won. Seeing a man appear out of thin air is a tad unsettling, enough
so that I get a free shoot as he freezes. As he falls his buddies spot me,
but I'm already moving and firing. A couple goes down as I do so. Law of
averages says I will eventually get hit, but that's what Kevlar is for. The
grenades that I tossed earlier go off, sending the men crashing to the
ground. A few more burst and they are down for good. The door to the
building burst open as a few men with rifles charge out, perfect. Using the
unfired Para I quickly mow them down, then chuck a grenade into the
building. The explosion blows out the windows and I move in to finish the
Job.
A little later the cops are moving in on a building that is blazing away
into the night. I watch from a rooftop far away as they go about their
business. With this little Job finished there's only one more thing to do
before I am done for the night.
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"I don't care what you do or how you do it! I want this freak found and
eliminated and I mean NOW!!" The man slams the receiver down and drops into
a chair as he rubs his temples. "Friggin idiots! Can't stop one man, ONE
MAN!!" Shin "The Slicer" Touji. Called that because of his habit of turning
his enemies into bite sized pieces. One of the family's men in charge of
protecting their drug trade. He and the shit he makes has destroyed more
lives than I care to count. Right now he's sitting in his high-rise
apartment, secure in the fact that the men outside his door can halt any
intruders. But they can't do much if the intruder is already inside. I sit
in a corner masked by Umisen as he mutters on about me and his plans for
when he finally catches me.
His evening's entertainment slips out of the bed and encircles his neck
with her slender arms. She's the kind of girl only his money can buy. She
slowly entices him back to the bed where they begin to do things a that
would make the kids nose bleed. My cue. Dropping out of Umisen I approached
the two people intertwined on the bed. Both are far to enrapture to notice
me. I clear my throat, Shin looks up to shout at an underling for
interrupting him, but it dies in his throat as he finds himself staring into
the barrel of a gun. I plaster the other side of the sheets with his brain.
The woman screams as I fade away. His guard's burst into the room, I slip
past through the door as they try to figure out how I got in. My night's
work is done.
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"Did you hear Akane? 12 dead including 3 would be rapist and a mob boss.
I'm telling you the guys a hero!!" Ranma slowly eats his lunch as Akane and
her friends chat away. Akane shakes her head "I don't know Sakura, he's just
so violent!"
The other girl sighs, "I think it's about time someone took those creeps on!
Anyone who has the guts to take on the Yakuza is okay in my book!!" The
other girls nod in agreement. "Sugar, the way I see it, he's just another
murder." Ranma slowly looks at Ukyo; her face is set in a grim mask. "He
kills those people without remorse and often in a brutal manner." Ranma
swallows hard. Sakura looks defiant "As long as he kills scum, I'll support
him." "A lot of people feel that way." Akane looks up and greets her sister
as she sits down. "The grape vine has it that the victims rights
organization
is quietly putting money together to get him a lawyer if the police catch
him." Ukyo blinked in surprise "They support his actions!" Nabiki smiled
"They don't officially condone or condemn his actions." Akane nodded "He
gets the job done so they won't say anything against him but it wouldn't
look good to support him." "Correct little sister." A moment of silence
passes, and then Akane turns to Ranma "What do you think about him Ranma."
The pig-tailed martial artist sweats a bit, silently praying a rival would
attack so he wouldn't have to answer, but for once none showed up.
"Well...I...I just can't support someone who kills like that." Most of the
girls accept it and turn away Nabiki stares at him for a moment longer
before getting back to the conversation. Ranma silently nibbles away at his
food.
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In a small corner of Ranma's mind another person watches the exchange.
Everything was trivial up to the point where Nabiki gave him that look. The
other thought, if Nabiki was even slightly suspicious of or curious about
Ranma's reaction then he needed to be more careful. If he had to he'd leave
the dojo but that would only make things harder. Finally he decided to lay
low for a while. Give things a chance to cool, Nabiki would hopefully forget
about it.
Author notes: I apologize for the darkness of this fic. I promise to release
the more lighthearted stuff in the future. I really don't have any plans for
this, these two chapters just kind of sprung themselves on me. C&C welcome.