Please take into consideration that this used to be one huge fic and it was
broken into parts. If you wish to find this story in its entirety, you can find
on my webpage http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~jeffwong/index.html
Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong
Bubblegum Crisis/Ranma 1/2: Just won't die 1 part 4
Sylia was about to close up her store when she heard someone laughing
outside her store. Wondering who it was, she walked up to the window and
peered out of it, shocked to see Ranma and that Ryoga Hibiki person she
had heard about.
What are they doing here, Sylia thought. She couldn't help but smile
when she caught sight of Ranma. He looked like a little kid, laughing to
his heart's content. And Ryoga also, he looked like kid, not a care in
the world. She wondered how someone like them could manage to find
something so funny after having been through so much, like that part
where they almost killed each other.
And speaking of that, why are they laughing together? Shouldn't they
be fighting each other?
Sylia shuddered for a moment. She seriously hoped not. If they started
fighting each other now, her store would be destroyed, and so would all
the surrounding ones, even Raven's Garage, which would leave the
entrance to the Knight Sabers' headquarters exposed for everyone to see,
even Genom.
Ranma caught sight of the young girl in the window.
Hey, that looks like Sylia, Ranma thought.
He got up to his feet and proceeded toward the store. Since he was tired and
needed a place to stay, perhaps she might be able to tell them a good place to
stay.
"Hey, where're you goin'?" Ryoga asked, noticing Ranma heading toward
the lingerie store, "Hey, why're going in there? Oh no, don't tell me
you're still the pervert you were back then. I figured you would have
learned to break that habit"
"Shut up!" Ranma said, turning around to face Ryoga, "I'm not a pervert. That
person looked familiar. I wanna see if its the same person. I wanna see if
she'll let us spend the night at her place, so we can get some rest. It'll sure
beat sleeping on the streets."
Ryoga shrugged his shoulders and followed closely behind Ranma. He didn't
really care where he slept. He was used to sleeping under the stars, "Who's this
person you're talkin' about?"
Ranma ignored him and opened the front door and entered. Inside, he caught
sight of Sylia, "Ha, I was right! I thought I recognized you, Sylia."
Sylia's heart was beating rapidly. What was going on here? Wasn't Ryoga and
Ranma enemies? Why aren't they fighting each other? She took a cautious step
backwards, not really knowing what to do. Although she had done a major
background check on Ranma and he came out okay, Sylia had no idea about that
person behind him. Nene had said he was virtually unknown.
"W-what are you doing here?" she said, calming herself a bit. It worked.
Although her voice was now steady, her heart wasn't. Ranma would never notice
"And who's that behind you?" She had to act like she knew nothing about that
guy, so he wouldn't become suspicious. There might be a chance he doesn't know
who she really is, provided Ranma kept his promise and didn't disclose her
secret identity.
Ryoga gave a rather meek smile and bowed respectfully, "Um, I'm Ryoga Hibiki.
It's nice to meet you."
"I'm Sylia Stingray."
Ranma seemed a bit too casual for Sylia's comfort. Didn't he almost die
fighting that man behind him?
"He and I go back a while." Ranma said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. He
then proceeded to look around the store, "Say, this a nice store you have here."
"How would you know? Not unless you been in one of these store, you pervert!"
Ryoga muttered, giving Ranma a suspicious look.
Ranma shook his head. Ryoga's attempts at humor was pathetic. He ignored the
comment and continued to talk to Sylia, "Hey, can I ask you for a favor?"
Sylia regarding Ryoga for a moment before turning her attention to Ranma. She
noticed that Ryoga seemed very nervous being around women's clothing. She could
see the shade of red flooding to his cheeks. He tired to conceal it by turning
his back toward her.
"Um, well, it depends what kinda favor you want." Sylia said, "Keep in mind I
still don't know who you are." She added that last sentence to hide the fact
that she had done an extensive background check on Ranma.
"Oh, nevermind." Ranma said. He turned around to leave the store. He was about
to ask Sylia if he could spend the night at her place, and hopefully take a nice
long shower, but since she barely knew him, there was no way she would accept.
"C'mon, Ryoga, let's go."
Sylia, for some reason, didn't let them just leave, "Um, what was the favor
you wanted to ask?" Besides, she was pretty serious. Ranma was definitely a
person who could take care of himself, and she had noticed he was swallowing his
pride to ask her for a favor. She should at least find out. Who knew, maybe she
could help him out. Afterall, he had saved Priss' and Linna's life by defeating
those two 'Doberman' boomers after they managed to damage Linna and Priss'
motoslaves, "Perhaps I could help you out a bit."
Ranma and Ryoga were already out the door, causing Sylia to follow after them
into the street to repeat what she said.
"Hey, you ask her." Ranma said, nudging toward Ryoga.
"Me? I don't know her." came the reply, "Besides, I have no problem with
sleeping in the streets again."
At that moment, Sylia realized what Ranma was about to ask her.
Ranma sighed "Fine."
He turned toward Sylia "Um, is there a way we could stay at your place for the
night? I mean, if you're not comfortable with me and Ryoga bein' in your place,
we understand. Afterall, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be all that fond of me
after what I did to ya when we first met."
Ranma was shocked when Sylia answered.
"I have no problem with that. Sure."
"Yes, they're both in my penthouse." Sylia said to Priss and the others,
speaking into the tiny portable computer that was resting on the sink in her
bathroom. She was in the bathroom, soaking in the bathtub, wondering what Ranma
and Ryoga were up to.
"Why'd you let them come home with you?" Nene said "That's not like
you Sylia."
"I wanted to find out more about that Ryoga Hibiki character." Sylia said,
"And the best way to find out about him is to talk to him personally."
"But you're puttin' yourself in danger." Nene said, "Even though you say they
look like they're friends, I remember seein' them fight. You're gonna get hurt
if they do."
"Let's hope they don't."
"Wattsa matter, Ryoga?" Ranma said, "I thought you said you wouldn't mind
sleeping in the streets." He had his back pressed again a door. He was in
Sylia's penthouse. Ryoga, on the other hand, was outside, in the hallway. Ranma
had shoved him outside and closed the door behind him.
Sylia emerged from the bathroom, finished with her bath. She noticed someone
was missing, "Um, where's Ryoga?"
Ranma opened the door to reveal a fuming Ryoga. He jerked a thumb
toward him and smiled, "Oh, you mean him?" He chuckled a bit.
"Why you!!!" Ryoga said, his aura glowing, "You'll pay for that!!!"
Sylia's heart skipped a beat. Ryoga looked like he was about to kill Ranma.
She hadn't anticipated this to happen. She could had sworn they wouldn't fight.
And she had a good judge of character. How could she be wrong? This mistake was
going to cost her dearly. If Ryoga used one of those ki-blasts similar to
Ranma's, her entire penthouse would be destroyed.
Ranma held a hand out, causing Ryoga to stop his charge, "Hey, didn't you
forget? No more fighting. And besides, I don't think you're stupid enough to
throw one of your Shi Shi Hakodans. You'll hurt Sylia. And Mackie also."
Ryoga was silent for a moment. He looked over toward Sylia and realized that
if he did use his technique, Sylia would be killed in the blast. And he knew he
wasn't some killer. He would never be able to live with blood on his hands.
Sylia watched, astonished. Ryoga looked like he was about to kill Ranma one
second, and now he didn't at all look angry. It was as if his mood had changed
from angry to yielding.
Ryoga entered the penthouse and sat down in one of the lush couches
"Hrmph."
Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever."
He then looked at Sylia, "Well, I guess I'll go take that shower now. Where do
you keep your towels?"
"Um, there's a few on the shelf in the bathroom. You can use those."
she replied.
"Thanks." was all she heard before the she saw the bathroom door close
behind Ranma.
Sylia looked over toward Ryoga, who was still pouting over what had
happened. Now was the chance to find out some things about him, like who
he was, or why he was here.
"Um, Ryoga, can I ask you a few questions?" she started.
At that moment, the bathroom door opened and Ranma emerged
"Uh, how do you turn on the water?"
Sylia continued to twist and turn in her bed, sleep eluding her. The
thought that Ranma and Ryoga slept outside her bedroom door seemed to
make her uneasy. She had never met people, heck, not even boomers, that
were remotely as powerful at them. And the thought of sleeping under the
same roof with two people as powerful as Ranma and Ryoga kept making her
twist and turn in bed. She couldn't shake that feeling on how everything
might be if they used their powers and fighting abilities for selfish
reasons. But that wasn't what had really kept her up. It was what Ranma
had mentioned they planned on doing last night.
And what was worse, why did they have to be so handsome?
She had no real love life, and for some reason, she couldn't help be
feel a bit nervous around their presence, especially Ranma. Of course,
she never showed it. But then again, maybe that nervous feeling came
from the fact that she had never met someone like Ranma before.
A loud crash emerged from the livingroom, as Sylia's heart skipped a
beat. She quickly got to her feet and rushed toward the livingroom. When
she entered the room and turned on the light, she was shocked to see
what she saw.
Ranma was sitting in the middle of the livingroom, clutching his foot.
"Man, I'd rather get hit by one of Ryoga's ki-blasts than stub my
toe." he said, wincing in pain. He wanted to get a drink of water when
he had accidentally bumped into the coffee table.
Sylia smirked before she started to giggle a bit. Ranma was probably
capable of brushing off deathblows that would easily kill a man, and
here he was, unable to brush off something as simple as a stubbed toe.
It made Sylia look at Ranma in a different light, that he was, albeit
very strong, still human. She had also noticed this when he needed to
ask how to turn on the water for the bathtub. It showed that he wasn't
used to MegaTokyo, that he had lived a very different life before coming
back to Japan.
"You do know that's not funny." Ranma said, "They really hurt."
"So what's the scoop?" Linna asked as she took a sip of her coffee.
She and the others were in the living room of Sylia's penthouse. It was
now sometime in the afternoon. Ranma and Ryoga had left several hours
ago. They were all sitting around the coffee table.
"Man, you don't look so good, sis." Mackie said, noticing the slight rings under
his sister's eyes, "Maybe you should go back to bed for some more sleep."
"There's no time for it now." Sylia said, shrugging off Mackie's comment. She
leaned took a sip of her own coffee before beginning, "I found out quite a bit
about this Ryoga Hibiki last night. Unfortunately, all of this was said by him,
so we're not too sure if he's telling the truth, or just lying. It turns out
that Ryoga also hates Genom."
"Y-you mean he's like one of us?" Nene said, "Just like Ranma? Then
why were they both fighting like what I saw by the hospital a few night
ago?"
"Well." Sylia replied, "it turns out that that Ryoga and Ranma aren't
all that great of friends. Actually they're enemies. It seems that
they've put their differences aside for a similar goal, to fight against
Genom. It also turns out that they intend to attack, yes, attack Genom
Tower sometime today. They said they needed money. We must find them
before it's too late."
"Money?" Priss asked, "Why the hell do they need money? Heck, if they need it
so bad, why not just rob a bank? Surely they'll easily get away since the AD
Police are pretty useless."
"Hey." Nene said.
"There's a reason for that." Sylia continued, "They said they needed
the money to pay for all the damages the did to that hospital, and not
only that, they're hoping to find out some dirty secret to the
organization that would expose them for what they really are. And
lastly, they wanted to pay Genom back for destroying their lives."
"What do you mean by 'destroying their lives'? You mean Ryoga's family
died in the 'Nerima Massacre' just like Ranma's?" Linna asked.
"Well, kind of." Sylia got up off the couch and proceeded toward the window,
"It turns out that Nene's assumption was correct. He and Ranma did care about
that Akane Tendo girl, and after she died, Ryoga was very resentful toward Ranma
for her death. That explains the hatred for him. As for his family, he has none.
He hasn't seen his parents ever since he left the house at age 14. He's a loner.
Anyway, it seems this Akane was the only family he had or cared about."
"And of course, since she was killed by those boomers, that should explain his
hatred toward Genom." Linna finished off for Sylia. She smiled, feeling a bit
good that she realized that.
Sylia was about to continue explaining what else Ryoga had told her,
when there was a knock on her door.
"Who could that be?" Mackie said, getting up off the couch and
proceeding toward the door. He opened it to reveal both Ranma and Ryoga.
They both looked like they had been badly hurt. There were cuts and
bruises everywhere. Even though they were bleeding from several places,
like their lips and arms and shoulders, they looked unbothered, like
nothing had happened.
"Sorry to bother you again." Ranma began, but soon noticing that Sylia
wasn't alone, "Oh, you have company."
"What are you doing back here?" Sylia asked.
Ranma gave a weak smile, "Well, we just came from Genom Tower and we need a
place to put all this money. This stuff weighs over a ton, at least. And it
doesn't help that we're carryin' two crates each."
He jerked a thumb over toward several large crates behind them. They weren't
really crates, rather, more like a massive block of yen wrapped in an air-tight
clear seal.
All the girls and Mackie stepped outside to see what they had brought
before they realized exactly how much money they had stolen from Genom.
They all said in unison "Oh my god!"
Linna's eyes were almost popping out of her socket, "Oh my god! There
must be billions here!" She'd never seen this much money in her life.
She would be able to buy all the dresses she ever wanted, and boy, she
wanted a lot of dresses.
"Man, that place is huge!" Ranma said. He looked like a little kid bragging to
his friends on how great a day he had, "It took us over an hour just to make it
to the floor, where we finally found the money vault, which was nowhere near the
top floor. Jeez, and you shoulda seen all 'em boomers they had running around.
There must had been hundreds of 'em!"
The girls and Mackie listened carefully and intently. None of them had
actually been inside of Genom Tower to know what kind of place it was, or how it
was fortified.
"Man, they had all sorta weird things." Ranma said He had seen some
really fascinating things while in Genom Building. He and Ryoga had came
across a room labeled 'Largo Resurrection' and had come across this weird
'OMS' thingie that they forgot what it stood for.
"Like what did you see?" Sylia asked curiously. She and the rest of
the other girls had never really seen the inside Genom Tower. The most
the had seen were Quincy's supposed office, which Largo had trashed, and
the roof while they were in their hardsuits. Not even in their private
identities had been beyond the front reception desk.
Ranma stepped back out into the hallway and took hold of one of the
crates and hoisted it to the air, Ryoga, who had been silent all this
time, doing the same. They both tried to enter the penthouse, but
immediately realized the door was too small.
"Man, that sucks." Ranma commented, placing the crate back down. He hopped
onto the crate, "Man, considering all the trouble we went through to carry these
things all the way over here, it's quite ironic that something like a door would
stop us. Well, back to your question, it's kinda hard to say. We were too busy
trying to avoid all those big red boomers."
"Big red boomers?" Sylia said, thinking for a moment. All of a sudden, her
visage went somber, "You mean those prototype C-99 combat boomers?" She
seriously hoped they weren't the boomers she thought they were. Those boomers
were dangerous. Even though they weren't as heavily armed as the C-55s combat
boomers, they were capable of being uplinked with attack satellites orbiting
over Japan.
Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno. But we managed to blow most of
'em up though."
Ryoga sat down on his own crate as he said sarcastically, "Boy, aren't we a
bit modest today?"
That seemed to shut Ranma up for a moment. Ranma wasn't really the type to
really brag, but he guessed he got carried away. His veins were still coursing
with adrenaline. He hadn't had that much fun in many many years.
"Well, all I could say is that we didn't really see much." Ranma said, "We
only made it to about a quarter of the way up the tower before we found a safe
where they kept the money. After we busted it open, we didn't bother to stay
around." He looked at the crate, changing the subject, "Man, how are we gonna
get passed this little obstacle?"
At that moment, Sylia's penthouse shook horribly, causing everyone but Ryoga
and Ranma to fall off their feet. Ranma and Ryoga had too much sense of balance
to be knocked off their feet by something like that.
Ranma walked up to the window and looked out, just as a little black
box smashed through it, landing in the middle of the livingroom.
Priss realized what the little black box was before anyone else did
"Oh shit!!! That's a bomb!!! Get the hell outta here!!!"
Ranma quickly ran to where he picked it up with his bare hands, and then threw
the bomb back out the window, exploding in mid-air right in front of the
penthouse window. Unfortunately, the bomb had been more powerful than he
expected that a wall of flamed entered into the livingroom through the broken
window.
Luckily, Ryoga had managed to react in time to shove the girls out the front
door. Ranma and Ryoga were consumed in the blast, but aside from some singed
clothes, were left unscathed. They quickly rushed out into the hallway where the
four girls were getting to their feet.
"I'm sorry, Sylia. I didn't think they were following me." Ranma said,
terribly sorry. He wanted to kick himself for putting the four girls in danger
"They're after their money. I thought I lost them, and it seems I lead them
right to your penthouse."
The penthouse shook violently again, Ranma and Ryoga managing to keep all four
girls on their feet.
"Oh shit, here they come!!!" Priss swore, pointing toward the three blue C-55
boomers that had just rounded the corner of the hallway and were standing just a
short ways down the hallway.
They noticed them, their thrusters blazed to life as they came
rocketing toward Ranma and the group.
Ranma and Ryoga, as if on instinct, rushed forward to meet all three boomers
in combat. Both of them shoulder rammed the front two boomer to stop their
forward momentum as the boomers where sent flying backwards back down the
hallway.
"We gotta get outta here." Ranma said. He realized that if they fought those
boomers in the hallway, the four girls would surely get hurt in the melee. He
wasn't going to risk their safety over something as stupid as money. He and
Ryoga could go back to Genom to steal it again.
"Let's get out through the window." Ryoga said, gesturing toward the
window that bomb had came through, "That's the only way out."
"Well, how 'bout it?" Ranma said.
Everyone nodded. All four girls knew that they wouldn't stand a chance
against a boomer. Even though Ranma and Ryoga were capable of fighting
against them bare-handed, they weren't.
"Where to?" Ryoga said, looking out the window. He noticed over a
dozen boomers in the street. This was definitely going to be a hard
getaway.
"The Raven's Garage is just east of here." Sylia said. Even though Ryoga had
no idea of their secret identities, now was not that time to be thinking of
something like that. Boomers were after them, and they needed to protect
themselves.
"Lettme just grab some of that money before we leave." Linna said,
running toward the crates. All she wanted was at least one stack of
bills. She didn't want to leave this place empty handed.
"Sheesh." Ranma muttered, shaking his head. He looked back down the
hallway and noticed all three boomers had gotten back up, "Shit, here
they come again!!! Horizontal Blast Revised, Hiryu Shoten Ha!!!"
A huge column of wind was sent flying toward the boomers, slamming them into
the wall as such force that the wall collapsed under the impact. Unfortunately,
the girls where caught up in the blast and were about to be sent bodily through
the new opening in the wall, but Ranma and Ryoga grabbed a hold of them just in
time. Ranma grabbed Sylia and Nene while Ryoga grabbed Priss and Nene.
"Let's get the hell outta here!!!" Ranma said as he carried both
girls, one arm over each of their waists as they held on to him tightly.
"Wait." Ryoga said.
Ranma didn't hear it in time as he leapt up onto the windowsill and
noticed dozens of boomers in the street. They, too, noticed him. And
almost immediately, lasers started flying toward him. Ranma gave a smirk
as he extended one arm forward, "Mouko Takabisha!!!"
Sylia and Nene got a up close and personal look as a ki-blast shot
forward from Ranma's extended hand, exploding in the middle of the crowd
of boomers. They had been so close they could feel the intense heat as
the blast rocketed from his hand.
The entire building shook from the impact of the attack as a small
mushroom-like explosion enveloped the crowd.
"Hm, that was easier than I thought." Ranma said, noticing that the
boomers in the street had all been destroyed. All those that survived
had been severely damaged.
"We gotta get outta here!" Ryoga shouted, "There're more on the way!" He was
holding Linna and Priss securely in his arms. Almost a dozen boomers were now on
their way down the tiny hallway. He would had used his Shi Shi Hakodan, but at
such a confined space, the girls would get hurt.
"Let's go!!!" Ranma said. He leapt from the window down to the street below,
Ryoga following closely behind. Upon landing in the middle of the street, a
barrage of lasers started raining down on them. Boomers had been hidden in
building adjacent to Sylia's, boomers that Ranma hadn't seen.
Nene was about to break out in a panic and start scream, but all of a sudden,
she saw the ground fall down from below them. Ranma had leapt up into the air
again. All Nene could do was yell at the top of her lungs as she held on tightly
to Ranma around his neck, nearly cutting off his air supply.
Luckily, Sylia had noticed and managed to loosen Nene's grip with one
hand while the other hand held onto Ranma tightly also. Like Nene, she
was terrified. Her heart was racing as she saw the ground and buildings
passing them at intense speeds.
She took a quick glance backwards and noticed Ryoga closely behind in huge
leaps, Priss and Linna also holding onto him tightly. When she turned her
attention forward, she caught sight of a building rushing right toward them.
"Lookout!!!" Sylia shouted, her heart in her throat. They were going to crash
into that building.
"Relax." she heard Ranma's calm voice, "I got it under control."
He was right. Ranma was using that building to triangle jump higher
into the air. He had twisted in mid-air so his feet would hit the
building first, and as soon as they did, he kicked back out, repelling
himself upward in another direction. After propelling off, he did the
same thing again with another building, then that same building he first
propelled off of, and onto a roof of one of the towering buildings.
Sylia felt herself falling as she clutched at Ranma tightly. But soon,
she realized Ranma had landed on a roof top and was releasing his hold
of her. He also released Nene, who had fallen to the ground, her
buckling knees giving out under her weight.
Ryoga landed on the rooftop seconds later, releasing Priss and Linna. They too
looked like they were horribly shaken from that intense flight from Sylia's
penthouse.
"Now what?" Priss asked, "Where are we going to go? Those boomer back
there will be here any minute."
"We'll fight them." Ranma said. He turned toward the girls as he stepped
besides Ryoga.
Ryoga said to the girls, "You should be safe up here. Ranma and I'll leap down
to the streets and finish them off down there."
"What?" Priss said, "You can't do that! There're apartment buildings around
here. If you start fighting them, and those boomers start firing, many innocent
people are gonna die."
"No." Ranma said, "we're not going to do that."
Sylia looked at Ranma curious. What was he planning? Surely he wasn't the type
to run away from boomers he could easily defeat "Then what?"
"Ryoga, you stay here and protect them in case any of those boomers arrive
here." Ranma said, "I'm goin' back to Genom. I'm going to let them capture me."
"What?" Sylia said. She found her throat getting dry. She had only seen Ranma
every here and there over the course of the weeks since he showed up, but she
seemed to have some feeling toward him. Deep down inside, even though she's
capable of taking care of herself, she felt safe around Ranma. She liked having
Ranma in her life. And she was sure the other girls felt the same also, "Don't
do that! They're going to kill you!"
Ranma turned around and gave them a weak smile.
"Does it really matter?" Ranma said, "This isn't your fight. This is between me
and Ryoga and Genom. I'm sorry about what happened to your place. I truly am. I
didn't think we were followed. If it helps you any, we managed to stash some of
the money away before we went on to your place. It's in the same abandoned
building we were in after we first met. I'm going back into Genom. I know
there's some dirty secret in there we could expose that'll bring Genom to its
knees. And the only way to find it is if I go in. Let's just hope I'll survive
their blast."
"Shit, here they come!" Priss said, pointing toward four incoming
boomers. And this time, they weren't combat boomers. They were those
prototype boomers Ranma had taken care of after his accidental battle
with the Knight Sabers.
Ranma gave a sad smile before turning around "Goodbye."
He then leapt up into the air and proceeded toward the four incoming
boomers.
"Ranma!" Sylia was about to try and stop him but Ryoga grabbed her
arm, preventing her from following them, "Let me go!"
Priss and Nene and Linna all watched Sylia in disbelief. They had
never really seen Sylia look so stricken with grief in their life. She
was actually shedding tears.
"We have to get outta here." Ryoga said, "Ranma'll be all right. He
can take care of himself."
He quickly gestured for the girls to make their way into the building via the
rooftop entrance. The girls gave on last look before entering the building.
Ryoga gave a quick glance backwards as he saw Ranma being consumed in a massive
explosion. He knew Ranma had let himself get hit. That was the only way they
would take him alive...provided he survived that blast.
"He can take care of himself...I hope."
Madigan was looking down at the unconscious form of Ranma from the safety of
her office She had just found out that he was just like that Ryoga Hibiki person
she heard about, that he was human. When the boomers had told him that the
superboomer seemed to cease functioning, she had ordered them to bring it in, so
she could examine how something so magnificent was created. But when they
brought him in, she realized he was human simply by the steady rise and fall of
his chest.
When she placed her hand on his neck and found a pulse, that confirmed her
suspicions. He was indeed human, and a rather handsome looking on at that.
Ranma now lay in a bed in the middle of the tiny room. Madigan had had that
room built especially for him from a short while ago. She had assumed that
sooner or later, she would be able to capture that superboomer. The room was
heavily reinforced with solid steel, the door to the room further reinforced.
There was no way he would be able to get out. He didn't have enough room to use
his projectiles, and if he did, he would be so close to the blast that he would
surely get hurt.
There was a camera about twenty feet high on the ceiling, allowing Madigan a
perfect view of Ranma.
There was a knock at her door, which gave her a quick start. She immediately
composed herself and allowed Carper to enter. She knew it was him. She had told
him to give her a report on the human's condition and his assessment of him
within the half hour.
"You're not goin' to believe this." Carper said nervously as he sat down in
one of the chairs. He brought in several sheets of paper full of data on Ranma's
condition and their evaluation of him.
"He's human." Madigan said, "I'm pretty sure nothing will surprise me any more
that that." She continued to gaze at the screen, at Ranma's motionless form
"What've you got?"
"That's true." he said as he began to shuffle through his reports, "Well,
here's what I got so far. I did a check on his fingerprints and it turns out
that his name is Ranma Saotome. It seems my assumption that the Knight Sabers
created him was totally off. Anyway, he used to live in the city of Nerima."
"That should explain his hatred toward Genom." Madigan said, "His family or
loved ones probably died in the 'Nerima Massacre', right?"
"Yes."
"What else did you learn?" she asked.
"Okay." Carper started, taking a deep breath, "Here's what I got.
You're not really gonna like this. Remember I had him as a 23-A model
boomer on the boomer association scale? Well, you could forget about
that. Right now, he's somewhere in the high 20's, like a 28-C or a 29-B.
Somewhere around there. I don't want to be the cloud on your parade, but
I doubt there's anyway to stop him. Conventional means is futile because
he could dodge the bullets, and he could fight in hand-to-hand better
than a dozen of our prototype boomers at once. He, by himself, is strong
enough level this entire city if he really wanted to. He doesn't because
of the people that could die, which is perfectly reasonable since he is,
afterall, human, and thus, has some form of conscience. Your assumption
is correct. It turns out that it was him who pretty much destroyed half the
entire slums. If it weren't for the fact that he CAN get hurt, I'd consider him
almost a deity. He's either a demi-god....or, from my point of view, a semi-
devil. I mean, we're dealing with power levels that are off the scale. If he
wanted to, he could do whatever he wants, and pretty much no one can do a
thing."
"Damn." she said. She was wishing it was something else that had caused it,
"What have you got on the audio recording of them."
"It's useless." Carper replied, "Their conversation was on when they were
going to attack Genom Tower. But since they already attacked, it's useless. If
we could have listened to it earlier, we wouldn't had lost so many boomers when
he and Ryoga attacked since we were caught by surprise. Luckily, we managed to
get back most of the money, but there was still a very large sum missing, and we
have no idea where it is."
"And how goes the project?" Madigan said. All her options were exhausted
except for this one project, a project so secretive that not even Quincy knew
about it.
"You're in for some good news." Carper said.
"Good, I could sure use some at around now."
Carper smiled as he continued, "I can't believe how much the project had
progressed so much. I guess since the arrival of Ranma, and now Ryoga, we were
forced to become more advanced. Our technology had improved almost fifty percent
over the past month since Ranma arrived. I guess it's from us always trying to
stop him. Anyway, the 'Akane Project 001' is running smoothly. Even though it's
extremely experimental, I'm very convinced it would work. The DNA we extracted
from the bones of Akane's skeletal system had remained intact over all these
years. Right now, we're in the process of decoding all that DNA into downloaded
data to have put into the sexaroid."
Madigan nodded. She was pretty surprised also. She was expecting to be
still on the experimental stages of DNA extraction.
"Can I ask you a question, Madigan-sama?" Carper said softly.
She nodded.
"Why this Akane Tendo person?" he asked, "Why not extract the DNA from someone
like Ghengis Kahn or Aldof Hitler?"
"We DO plan on doing that as soon as this project is no longer considered
_experimental_" she said matter-of-factly, "But as of right now, we need to try
and recreate this Akane Tendo person, to have her stop Ranma. It's just perfect
timing. Even though we had originally came up with this experimental process in
order to manipulate Ryoga into helping us, having found out that Ranma is, in
some way, connected to her makes it all the better."
"But she's going to be a sexaroid." Carper commented, "Aren't you worried
about her trying to break away from Genom, kinda like those five sexaroid that
stole that D.D Battlemover a short while ago. If I recall correctly one of those
sexaroids was named Sylvie."
"Yes, she will be a sexaroid." she replied, "This is where it's the gamble. I
believe if we make her human enough, it would have enough of an effect on Ranma.
If we made her a combat boomer, albeit more powerful, I'm pretty sure she would
get destroyed as soon as she converted to her battle mode. This is just a gamble
we're going to have to take."
"Let's hope this gamble works it's the only one we've got."
Ranma's eyes opened slowly. He sat upright and winced in pain as bolts
of pain surged through his body. But he was glad it didn't hurt as much
as when Ryoga had hit him with that ki-blast. He surveyed his
surroundings and realized that he must be somewhere in Genom Tower,
which gave him a smile. He rubbed his chest where that projectile had
struck him.
I hope that damn missile didn't leave a mark, Ranma thought.
He rubbed his shoulder and neck to get the kinks out before he hopped off the
bed. He walked out to the door and regarded it. He gave a quick chuckle as he
realized he was being watched. He noticed the tiny camera mounted to the
ceiling.
"I know you're watching me." Ranma said.
"So you're finally awake." Madigan's voice echoed into the room. It was coming
from an unknown source. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere.
"Are you goin' to let me out?" Ranma said, leaning back against the
door, folding his arms across his chest. Although there was no chance, he
figured he'd at least give asking to be let out a try. It would make it a whole
lot easier than to bust out of there.
"We can't do that." Madigan said.
"Oh well." Ranma said. He turned back around and faced the door, "I asked."
He struck the door with an open palm as the impact echoed through the room.
When he pulled his hand way, there was an indentation against the door the size
of his palm. The sound reverberated throughout the tiny room. He gave it several
more strikes before door started to shudder under the intense impact of his hand
hitting against it.
He continued to hit it over and over again, a bit impressed that the door
managed to withstand several of his blows.
"You're not going to break that down." Madigan's voice entered the
room.
Ranma smirked, "Ya wanna make a bet?"
He cocked his arm back, palm open, and brought it forward, striking the door.
The door exploded outward, knocked of his hinges. He looked down at the hinges
the door had hung on, these huge three inches solid steel pipes. He smirked as
he casually stepped out of his confinement and into the corridors stretching in
front of him.
Madigan and Carper were staring at the screen in disbelief. They had
just witness a human breaking through a solid steel door that was built
to withstand enormous impact. It had been tested to withstand projectiles
as strong as hellfires from attack choppers.
"What the fuck?!!!" Madigan swore, "This is absolutely impossible!!!"
Carper quickly ran over to Madigan's deskphone and picked up the receiver. He
punched in a few numbers and waited for a short moment before speaking, "This is
Carper. Get every boomer we have available to section four. We have a prisoner
on the loose. He is _extremely_ dangerous. Do whatever you can to kill him!!!"
He hung up the phone and looked at Madigan. She looked like she had seen a
ghost.
"Madigan-sama, are you okay?"
"No!!!" she said, "I'm not!!! Goddamnit, why didn't we kill him while we had
the chance?!! Why did we have to be so goddamn curious that we kept him alive so
we would know more about him!!?"
At that moment, the door flew open.
Madigan and Carper stood where they were in disbelief as they saw they person
that they had tried their hardest to kill enter the room. It had only been about
ten minutes since they saw Ranma's escape, but since Madigan's office was
located only two stories above the confinement area, it was most likely that he
would pay her a visit.
The two of them took in a deep breath. This was going to be the end of them.
They were going to die.
Waitaminute, Madigan realized. Ranma has no idea who they are. He also has a
conscious. At least, she prayed. For the first time in her life, she was truly
afraid.
"Get down!" Carper said, pulling a gun from his mandatory shoulder holster. He
figured if he was going to die, he might as well die fighting. He jumped in
front of Madigan, his gun aimed perfectly toward Ranma's head. One shot would
end it all. Just one shot. But will he be able to make it?
Ranma regarded Carper rather casually, as if not worried that his head could
be blown cleanly off his shoulders if that man pulled the trigger
"I don't suppose you'll tell me Genom's deepest darkest secret would you? I
remember coming across it with Ryoga, but I don't really know where." Ranma said
rather innocently.
"Don't move." Carper said deathly serious. He was fighting for not only his
life, but for Madigan's, "or I'll blow your head off."
"Your safety's on." Ranma said.
Carper went to check, but realized it was all a simple ruse. And he had fallen
for it. Before he could bring his gun back up, Ranma had taken two quick bounds
forward and had swatted it out of his hand. He skillfully ducked out of Carper's
attempted punch and got into a rather loose battle stance.
"Look, I don't want to fight, but if I must..." Ranma said, not bothering to
finish his sentence. He wanted Carper to figure it out.
Carper looked like he was ready to pass out from shear fright, but he managed
to keep himself from receding into the depths of unconsciousness. Madigan needed
him to protect her, "You may be a lot stronger than me, but I'll still fight you
if I have to."
Ranma took a quick glance over his shoulder and then turned back toward Carper
and Madigan. Without saying a word, he lunged toward Madigan and grabbed hold of
her. Before Caper realized what Ranma just did, he found himself being picked up
by Ranma also.
A missile came rocketing into the room via the open office door. Carper and
Madigan gasped as they realized that being within such close proximity to the
blast would kill them. But before the missile exploded in Madigan's office,
Ranma leapt out the window.
Madigan screamed in absolute horror as she realized she was now falling down
twenty stories toward the ground. She was going to die.
"Relax." she heard Ranma's soft voice say, "You'll be all right."
Ranma twisted in mid-air and skillfully landed. He then placed Carper and
Madigan on the ground, "You do know Genom is bad, right? Whoever you are, you
shouldn't really work for them. Didn't you see those boomers, they would had
killed you back there, and it wouldn't had mattered at all to Genom."
He turned around to head back into Genom. He looked up at the towering
building, "Man, getting back up to whatever floor I was on's gonna take
forever."
"W-what are yo- where are you going?" Madigan said. Although her heart was
racing, she had just realized Ranma had saved her and Carper's life. But it
didn't really matter much though because Ranma being in there was why those
boomers fired missiles into her office, not because they didn't care. Besides,
those boomers most likely didn't see them....right?
Ranma turned around, "Not that it really matters to you, but I remember seeing
somethin' called 'OMS' earlier today. I'm gonna go find out what it is. Perhaps
I don't hafta blow this whole buildin' up.
"Oh no!" Madigan said. Ranma knew about Genom's dirtiest darkest secret, their
'Overmind Control System' Only a select few knew about that project, and they
were rarely ever allowed to leave the premises.
Ranma raised both hands toward the sky "Mouko Takabisha!!! Mouko Takabisha!!!"
He fired two massive ki-blasts up into the sky, disappearing as it passed
through the clouds, "Ryoga oughta be able to see that. Not unless he got himself
really lost, he shouldn't miss that."
Madigan and Carper both stared in disbelief, unable to comprehend how
Ranma was able to bring forth such enormous energy. Even from where they
stood, which were several yards away, they could feel the heat of the
ki-blasts.
At that moment, several boomers hovered down from the window they had
jumped out of. They all surrounded Ranma, their targets all locked on
him.
"Man, don't I wish those ki-blasts hit them on the way up." Ranma said as he
noticed them descending. He shrugged his shoulders, "Oh well, can't win 'em all
the time."
"Get him!" Madigan told the boomers. That man had to be stopped before
he got his hands on the 'OMS' project. _If_ he got a hold of it, Genom
would be no more. The government would have a ball if they found out
they were trying to invent a system that would be able to override any
boomer's AI and put in new commands. It would mean Genom could literally
control any and every boomer created.
Ranma shook his head, "So you're one of 'em bad guys, huh?"
Just as the boomers began firing a barrage of lasers and bullets, Ranma turned
tail and ran back into the building through the front entrance. The front
entrance was ripped apart by the firepower, glass panels shattering
Madigan looked at all the damage being created.
"Shit!!! Stop!!!"
"Hey, look!" Ryoga said, pointing, "That looks like Ranma's ki-blasts."
The four girls looked up into the sky and caught a glimpse of the spheres of
energy, just as it disappeared beyond the clouds. They were all standing outside
the Silky Doll when Ryoga had spotted the blast. The girls were just about to
enter the store to change into their hardsuits.
"What does that mean?" Priss asked, "Is it some signal or something?"
"Well, there's Ranma's signal." he said with a smile, even though it
was a total lie, "I hafta go. I'll see you around."
"Not without us." Priss said, "We're gonna get Genom back for trashin' Sylia's
penthouse."
"Even though it was actually our fault that we lead them there?" Ryoga said.
He still felt guilty, despite the fact that Sylia said she could easily spring
back onto her feet since she had a substantial amount of money hidden, "Look,
we're really sorry for what happened, and we'll make it up to you. We stashed
quite a bit of money in a building Ranma says you know about, so that should
easily cover the damages. I just hope there wasn't anything in there of
sentimental value."
Sylia gave Ryoga a calm look, "As long as no one was hurt, it's okay.
I'll manage."
"Well, I'm gonna get goin' now." he said, turning around to leave, only
to be stopped when Priss placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh no you don't." Priss said sternly, "We're in this together. Also, what do
you mean by there's the signal. What does those blasts mean?"
Ryoga wasn't really good with words, but he tried his best to explain
It, "Well, while on our way out of Genom with the money earlier, he
mentioned if we ever find something to stop Genom, we would give each
other a signal. It seems he found something. That's all. Can I please
leave now?"
"No." Priss said, "You wait right here while we go get into our suits."
"Suits?" Ryoga asked "What suits?"
Sylia gave a short smile. Back then, she would had strangled Priss for
foreclosing their identities, but now, it seemed all right. Ryoga could be
trusted, just like Ranma "Don't worry about it. We'll be ready in a minute. Just
follow us."
Ryoga looked up at the Silky Doll sign, remember how nervous he had
felt when he first entered the store, "Um, I'll wait out here."
"Fine, but don't leave."
"Akane?" Ranma said, looking down at the sexaroid supposedly sleeping
soundly on a table, wires and tubes attached all over her. His heart
skipped a beat as he realized it was her. At least it looked exactly
like her on the day she died, even down to the light green dress she had
been wearing.
Ranma felt tears forming around his eyes. He had missed her so
terribly. Even though he knew, without a doubt, that this wasn't the
real Akane, that the real Akane had died over thirty years ago, he still
wanted to believe this was her, "Akane, wake up. It's me, Ranma."
He pressed a hand on her cheek, noticing how cold the flesh felt
against his touch. It felt like ice. He turned to look at the screen,
and saw a whole bunch of numbers and computer jargon he couldn't
understand. But there were some things he could discern.
He read the screen, "Akane Project 001."
He looked back toward Akane and then back at the screen, "What the hell is
this? What he hell are they doing?"
He did his best to understand what everything on the screen meant. The
core temperature read somewhere around 5 degrees Celsius and was slowly
rising. Her internal systems indicated that they were functional and
there were intermittent waves running across a small screen indicating
her wave patterns.
As Ranma stood there, he realized exactly what Genom was up to. They
were trying to bring her to life, but as a boomer. He didn't know what
to do, destroy the entire building in one massive ki-blast for them
disturbing Akane's rest to bring her back to the cold realities of life,
or to love them from bringing back someone he wished had never left this
world. But soon, rage started to take control of him as he clenched his
hands into tight fists, his knuckles turning white, realizing they had
to have done something to this Akane. Why else would they bring her to
life? There were two choices, to either let her live, but find a way to
remove whatever junk they programmed into her, or to destroy her right
then and there, so she would never be brought to life, so she would
remain in her eternal sleep.
He heard a noise from the corner of the room. Ranma turned to face
where the noise had come from and caught the smallest sign of movement.
Not really caring who or what it was, Ranma proceeded toward the source
of the noise.
A young female dressed in a white lab coat stood up from behind the
tiny desk she had been hiding behind as she heard Ranma's footsteps get
closer. It was useless to hide.
"Please, don't hurt me" she had never been so scared in her life. She wished
she had left like all the other scientists after hearing a low rumbling noise
echo through the building, but she had been too engorged with this 'Akane
Project' to leave.
Ranma regarded the young scientist, "I'm not goin' to hurt you. What
are you doin' here? Shouldn't you have evacuated the building like
everyone else?"
The scientist regarded Ranma for a second, "Aren't you that superboomer
I heard about?"
"My name's Ranma." he said. He chuckled, "So that's what Genom calls
me? A superboomer? So what's you're name?"
The young girl nodded, her fear practically vanishing for some reason.
"I'm Lisa." she replied. She eyed him carefully. How in the world can such an
potent weapon like this superboomer be created in such a small chassis? It was
as if this superboomer radiated power, and she could feel it, "Man, it's amazing
how technologically advanced you are. Who ever created this machine standing in
front of me must be some supergenius."
"Well, I'm not a machine. I'm human." he said. He walked over toward
the computer screen
"Y-you're human?"
"Yes." he replied. He paused a moment to let all that soak in before
asking, "You're a scientist, right?
"Lettme guess, the white lab coat gave it away." she said. When she saw Ranma
turn back around to face her, she wanted to kick herself. She should had just
said yes. She was in the mercy of this man and here she was making cracks, "I'm
sorry."
"Can you tell me what this thing is?" he said, jerking a thumb over his
shoulder, "What's this 'Akane Project 001'?" He needed to know the truth.
"I can't tell you." she said, "It's against regulations. I could get in
deep trouble for this."
Ranma had to play the role. As much as he hated to, he needed to know why
Akane was being created. He had to. And if that meant pretending to be something
he was not, then so be it. He walked up to the scared young girl and gazed into
her eyes, "I don't think you should be worrying about that right now. You're in
more trouble then you can imagine."
All the blood seemed to drain from her face. She could feel her knees
beginning to feel weak, "W-what a-are you going to do to me?"
Ranma inwardly prayed she would not faint, "I'll kill you."
He found those words a lot harder to say than he had thought. It pained him so
much to be scaring this young girl. He had to bite his lips shut to keep from
apologizing. He had to turn around, unable to continue looking at her with a
straight face, "Please, tell me what this is about. Why are you bringing this
Akane to life? How are you going about doing this?"
The young girl took a deep breath. There was nothing she could do, "I really
don't know anything about the 'why' part, but I do know about the 'how' part. We
were given the project to extracted the DNA from the bones this person who died
many years ago named Akane Tendo and extract the information from it into
downloadable information so we could download all of it into this sexaroid
replica of her. That way, she would be almost exactly like the real Akane except
for the programs we were asked to also add into her subconscious."
"What programs?"
"Well, judging by the name you just gave me." she said, "She was programmed to
kill you and a Ryoga Hibiki."
Ranma looked down at Akane. The program would make her a murderer. He would
never allow that to happen, "How much of her personality have you downloaded all
of it into her?"
She looked at the screen for a moment, "It's a little more that eighty percent
done. It'll take about half and hour before the rest is downloaded."
Ranma smiled "Well, there's gonna be a change in plans. All you're gonna do is
download the personality, and that's it. Nothing else. No program."
At that moment, the door to the room opened and in entered two 'Doberman'
boomers.
They didn't even have a chance to catch sight of their target they registered
a blow of immense magnitude striking up against their chest, right before
ceasing their function.
Ranma turned to face Lisa, "I'm gonna go. I don't want Akane or you getting
hurt because of all these boomers running around. One stray bullet and that's
it. Remember, just download her personality. I'll be back in twenty minutes."
"What did you say?" she asked, wondering if she heard correctly.
"That I don't want Akane or you gettin' hurt." he repeated.
"You don't want me to get hurt?" she asked. No one had really cared about her.
And because of that, she only focused on her work. But for that brief moment,
she wanted to believe someone actually cared for her.
Ranma looked at her for a moment before nodding, then he left the room
"Man, and I'm supposed to be a bad guy."
C&C welcomed ^_^