First off, a big thank-you to both Gary Kleppe and Arthur
Edwards, pre-readers and co-conspirators in this effort. None of this
would be possible without them. Thanks a million, guys!

Ranma 1/2 used without permission
Spider-Man used without permission

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	Hikaru Gosunkugi: The Amazing Spiderman Issue Fifteen
	Knowing a Former Enemy

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	"I truly wish it hadn't come to this," Wu Long said. He
watched the video feed of Spiderman
staring down the five Black Widows. Was that a tremble he saw? Good.
"It's your fault."
	"My fault?!"
	"All you had to do was die in that warehouse. Just let Doctor
Octopus kill you and Nabiki.
All of this could have been avoided..."
	"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
	"Pardon me?"
	"I don't care *what* I have to do," Spiderman's voice snarled
over the speakers, "but I
*will* save them! I *will* save these three! And then, I'm coming
after you!"
	"Assuming, of course, you survive long enough." Wu Long looked
into the mirrored
eyepieces of Spiderman's mask, wishing he could see what was behind
there. After the Widows
killed him, Long fully intended to take that mask as a trophy.
	It was time. At long last, it was time for Spiderman to die.
	"BLACK WIDOWS! ATTACK!"

	The spider sense hit him like a jackhammer when the robot
spiders began to move. Hikaru
retreated a few steps while the smaller ones spread out from the giant
in the center. He fought down
the fear as he shifted his gaze from one to the other.
	Man, oh, man, what am I gonna do? he thought.
	"Spiderman!" Akane's voice shouted, "you can do it!"
	"Get us outta here!"
	The smaller spiders spread out to surround him. Hikaru knew he
had to get the three
hostages out of harm's way, no matter what. But that would be
impossible with all these robots
gunning for him. He had to take out at least most of them first, but
how? Then an idea hit him.
	"Here goes nothing!" Hikaru shouted as he leapt over the
spiders. Four obsidian heads
swivelled up to follow, eight eyes glowing like coals. Upside down at
the apex, he thrust out his arms
and fired twin globs of webbing which struck true over the eyes of two
spiders.
	"YES!" The spider sense peaked in time for Gosunkugi to twist
around a small rocket which
missed him by centimeters. Not wasting time, he leapt sideways to
dodge a swipe from a leg half
again thick as he was.
	Two blinded, and two more to deal with, he thought while the
first two staggered about.
Their heads whipped about frantically, their movements like cannon
roars in the cavernous chamber.
But why wasn't the big one moving?

	Not bad, not bad, Ranma thought while watching the fight with
rapt attention. If nothing else,
Spiderman was quick and inventive.
	She began to struggle again. There was no *way* Ranma Saotome
would play damsel in
distress. Besides, Spiderman looked to need help. Webs wouldn't stop
those spiders.
	While she fought against the coils and watched Spiderman dodge
a beam of crimson energy
from the mandibles of a spider, a different reason for wanting to help
started to make itself known...

	I'm getting nowhere fast, Hikaru groused just as the blinded
spiders managed pry the
webbing off their eyes via small cables from their mouths. All four
lined up to face him, their
mandibles clacking like gunshots.
	These things are fast, he said silently, but not as fast as
me. Maybe...
	Gosunkugi jumped clear just as the spider sense blared and the
four beams of energy sizzled
the air he once occupied. Firing a webline at an angle above, he
managed to swing over behind the
strangely dormant Black Widow.
	Can't go up, not with them there. If I stay on the floor, I'm
paste. Gotta find a way to turn
their weapons on eachother.
	The thundering roar of their approach hammered his ears.
	"Hope I'm fast enough to pull this off," he muttered.

	Akane could only watch as the four smaller robots skittered to
where Spiderman had
landed. She couldn't see him from her position, opposite the big
robot.
	"Let's play a game!" she heard Spiderman shout. He bounded up
to the top of the
motionless robot's body. "Follow The Bouncing Spiderman!"
	The costumed fighter somersaulted down to the floor and...
	Just stood there.
	"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Akane screamed.
	Spiderman appeared to ignore her. He merely stood still with
his arms crossed while two
robots turned to face him, one to his right and one to his left.
	Akane's eyes widened. Her heart beat against her ribs. And
then she realized what he was
planning.

	Wu Long knew something was wrong. Why was Spiderman just
standing there? What was
he...
	Oh, shit.
	"Do not fire!" he roared just a half-second too late.

	Wait for it...
	Hikaru strained to keep himself from trembling. It was a
stupid gambit, but it was all he had.
If it didn't work then he would be Spider-patte.
	"C'mon, guys!" he mocked. "Sometime today would be nice!"
	The spider sense rose steadily as two of them faced him from
both sides. Hikaru did his best
to ignore the mounting fear just as the tingling in his head reached
its crescendo.
	NOW!
	Gosunkugi vaulted away just as he heard the hiss of released
gas from the rockets. The
exlplosion sounded hardly a second later with a wave of heat against
his back and a roar that
hammered the air. He twisted around with balletic grace and was
rewarded with the sight of two
merrily burning hunks of scrap.
	"YEAH!" he howled in triumph. "That's right! Who's yer daddy!"
	The other two came into view, and Hikaru allowed the surge of
victory to grant him strength.
He could pull this off yet...

	Ranma began to swing, mentally congratulating Spiderman. The
wall crawler wasn't in *her*
league, of course, but he was definitely holding his own. Now, all she
had to do was untie herself
somehow.
	She saw Spiderman leap around the remaining two. The flames
glinted off the polished
armor of the major robot, which still hadn't moved. What was up with
that? Was the damn thing
busted?

	Gosunkugi dodged another laser shot. The other spiders were
moving much faster now,
attacking with more ferocity. Hikaru leapt and spun around lasers and
cables, cursing that he
couldn't maneuver them into firing on one another.
	"I guess... you won't.... fall for that twice!"
	A spider lunged at him, and Hikaru ducked with hardly a
centimeter to spare. A flash of
spider sense gave him just enough warning to avoid a hail of bullets
which ricocheted off the floor
with loud tings and whines.
	"Hey! Watch it! You could put someone's eye out, you know!"
	"Clever sarcasm," the voice boomed from above.
	"Glad to know *somebody* appreciates the ol' Spidey-charm!"
	"How much longer can you hold out, Spiderman?" it asked. "How
long before an errant shot
kills my other guests?"
	What?! Hikaru chanced a look upward at Ranma, Akane, and
Nabiki before leaping clear
of another burst of gunfire.
	He's right! Gosunkugi thought with rising panic. If I keep
this up, they're gonna get shot! He
landed in a crouch behind the spiders, which were already coming
about. He had to get Akane and
the others out of harm's way, but how? And why wasn't the big Widow
getting in on it?

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	"I'm removing the access cover on the node, sir."
	"Excellent. Cause as much havoc as you can. We need a clear
run to the next node."
	"Yes, sir!"
	The Commander smiled. If he could get to that central node, he
could wrest the facility away
from Wu Long's control. From there, he just had to deliver the traitor
to Pao Leung and he could
kick back in Hawaii with some cold beer and hot women. No problem!

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	"How about it, Spiderman?" the voice mocked, "Are you truly
willing to risk their lives?"
	"Damn you!"
	The two small Widows remained in position, their eyes seeming
to taunt him.
	"LET US GO!" he heard Nabiki scream.
	"I was going to let you die first, Spiderman. However, I think
it's time for a quick change in
plans."
	"Huh?"
	"You will watch *them* die before I kill you!"
	The words froze Gosunkugi in place. The Widow on the left
turned and raised its head just
as a crimson glow began to form between its mandibles.
	No!
	The light grew brighter as the voice's laughter bounced off
the cold steel walls of the
chamber.
	NO!
	The glow grew to an angry red orb. Hikaru heard Akane scream
in terror as the robot built
a charge that would blast her, Nabiki, and Ranma into dust.
	"NOOOO!" Hikaru was past conscious thought. His hands shot out
and two streams of
thick webbing lanced from the spinarettes on his wrists. Icy fear
melted away before the tide of
white-hot rage as the scream tore at his lungs. The webs wrapped
around two of the Widow's legs,
and Hikaru gave a mighty heave.
	The legs skidded a little and then gave completely. Its rear
end scraped the floor in a shower
of sparks just as the beam scorched the air...
	The top of the chamber was exposed in a brilliant light as the
explosion blossomed like some
obscene flower.

	Nabiki saw the beam lancing toward them and shut her eyes
against the inevitable. Time
stretched into infinity as every moment of this mad adventure played
before her unwilling mind. If she
hadn't been so obsessed with Spiderman, if she hadn't published the
photos...
	Akane, she thought. Ranma, I'm so sorry!
	And then the explosion hit.

	Ranma braced herself against the wall of heat that rammed into
her back and sent her
plummetting down to the cold floor. She felt the coils loosen as she
fell, and a surge of strength
allowed her to burst free.
	YES! she thought just as she caught sight of Akane tumbling
down. Ranma reached out in
desperation and managed to catch hold of Akane's hand. Their eyes met
as Ranma drew her in and
the two fell closer to the floor.
	"Nabiki!" she heard Akane scream. Ranma looked into the haze
of smoke and fire, unable
to find a trace of... hey, wait! Ranma caught a glimpse of a shadow
leaping upward. Was it...

	Nabiki felt weightless. This was it. They were all going to
die and...
	Huh? She felt something catch hold of her and carry her upward
a little before coming back
down. The sensation of falling finally ended. Nabiki managed to open
her eyes and was greeted with
a pair of mirrored plates set inside a red-and-blue mask.
	"S-Spiderman?"
	"Yeah. You okay?"
	"Nabiki!" Akane's voice shouted.
	"Akane!"
	Fresh tears stung her eyes. Her sister's voice never sounded
so sweet. She felt Spiderman
set her down just before Akane embraced her in a fierce bear hug.
	Awright! Hikaru thought. Now, to get them clear.
	"Listen," he said. "You three have to get outta here!"
	"No way, Spiderman," Ranma snarled. "They kidnapped us,
tortured us, and damn near
killed us! I ain't gonna..."
	"NO! You have to get clear! I'll buy you some time!"
	"They're gonna pay for what they did," Akane said firmly.
	"Akane, Nabiki," Ranma said, "get out. I'll handle this."
	"Like hell you will."
	"Spiderman!"
	"Ranma, damnit, LISTEN!" The three fell quiet. The fact that
Hikaru may have made a
critical error hadn't crossed his mind. "These two haven't got a
chance! You don't know what's up
there! You're the only one who can get them out!"
	"Spiderman..."
	"No, Ranma! You have to get them somewhere safe! I'll handle
these robots!"

	You know them, Spiderman? Wu Long thought with mild surprise.
	He nearly spoke the command to activate the Major Variant when
the security alert caught
his eye.
	What the hell? he thought as several minor systems escaped his
control. He watched with
stunned amazement as the blast doors began to open and the defenses
stood down all across the
lower levels.
	Pao Leung, he thought, I was foolish not to expect this.
	"All Black Widows!" he shouted. "Target and eliminate all
humans before you!" Now, to
regain control of the doors. His fingers soared across the keyboard,
fighting against the damage
done until finally he was able to bring the auto cannons back online.=20
	Take this!

	Ranma charged through the open door. She fought to ignore the
thunder of those robots
closing in on Spiderman. She hated the thought, but she had to run
from this fight if only to get
Akane and Nabiki out of danger. In that light, it wasn't so bad.
	"How far down are we?" Akane asked.
	"How should I know?" Nabiki replied.
	Ranma kept running. Once she led these two out, she would...
	Oiled servos whirred behind them, almost silent. Ranma ducked
on instinct, tripping Akane
and Nabiki just before the rounds screamed overhead.
	"What the hell?!" Ranma rolled onto her back and readied a ki
blast. From out of the walls
and ceiling were several small machines which belched flaming death.
Ranma released the Moko
Takabisha with a fierce cry, and the guns crumbled into junk.
	"C'mon!" Ranma shouted. "We gotta get outta here!"

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	"Oh, shit..." Hikaru muttered as the eyes on the Black Widow
flared. The enormous machine
rumbled to life. Its legs straightened a litte, raising the main body
as the systems powered up to full.
	He heard the sound of an explosion past the blast door that
Ranma and the others had run
through. They had to be okay. Ranma would get them out. All he had to
worry about now was his
own hide.
	"Time to cut loose, boys," he growled as he eyed a long metal
beam to his left. It had to
have fallen from the ceiling from that blast. He vaulted over to the
hunk of metal and hoisted it by the
end, his enhanced muscles allowing him to carry it easily.
	"Batter up!" he yelled just as the spider sense flared. He
brought the end of the beam around
like a giant baseball bat. The smaller Widow which had been sailing
toward him caught a hard shot
to the head which spun it off to the side. It hit with a thunderous
bang seconds before Hikaru swung
again and sent another spider to the floor.
	"Oh, no you don't!" Gosunkugi yelled as the major Widow
approached. The beam split the
air and clanged against the large robot's head. He swung again, and
again, and again. Each blow sent
its head to one side and the other. Man, he had to have knocked
*something* loose in there!
	"Do the Tokyo Giants need me or what?!" Hikaru shouted just
before the Black Widow
caught the beam in its mandibles. His feet adhered to the floor as the
Widow yanked back on the
iron support beam.
	Damn thing almost broke my grip! Gosunkugi thought. His spider
sense warned of the two
smaller robots training weapons on him. He kept playing tug-of-war
with the Black Widow. Maybe
he could get the little ones to damage the big one.
	Twin hatches opened atop the Black Widow. Hikaru knew what was
coming even before
the twin rotary cannons rose. It jerked back again and Hikaru was
forced to take a few steps along
with it. He couldn't hold onto the damn support beam forever!
	"Up and away!" he yelled just before the twin lasers from the
smaller robots fired.
Gosunkugi shot a webline to the ceiling and pulled himself out of
harm's way. He suspended himself
upside-down, legs tucked in to his crotch while he watched the beams
slam into the head of the
Black Widow.
	"Ooh. That'll leave a mark. Hey, what the hell?!" The rotary
cannons on the Black Widow
roared to life. Gosunkugi could only watch in disbelief as the bullets
shredded the armor of the two
smaller robots. Within seconds they were still, burning brightly where
they lay.
	"The damn thing just wasted them!" Maybe he really *had*
knocked something loose in that
monster's head.=20

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	Ranma stopped in a cavernous room, rows of what appeared to be
generators humming
loudly lining the middle of the floor. She was already panting from
having loosed so many ki blasts.
Destroying the cannons that kept popping up was putting a strain on
her stamina, and they were still
nowhere near the surface.
	"Any ideas?" she asked as she kept scanning every surface for
more auto guns.
	"Wish we had a map," Akane said.
	"Hey," Nabiki said, pointing to her right, "that looks like an
elevator!"
	"Awright! Now we just gotta ride it up!"
	The three charged over to the door, hope blooming in their
hearts. Maybe luck was smiling
on them for once tonight! The light above it suddenly clicked on as
the doors slid open and a quartet
of armed men stepped out.
	"Hey!" one shouted.
	"What're they doin' here?" asked another.
	"Aw, forget this," Ramna growled. "Moko Takabisha!"
	The four soldeirs were scattered by the blast, a couple
moaning from the impact. Ranma
paid them no heed while she led Akane and Nabiki into the elevator.
Once inside, Nabiki studied
the panel for a moment before pressing the button for the surface
level.
	"Going up," she quipped, "lingere, swimwear, escape routes."
	Akane couldn't help but chuckle.

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	Hikaru swung to the left just ahead of a storm of lead from
the Black Widow. This was it.
He was up against the toughest opponent of his short career as
Spiderman. Webs and spider
powers wouldn't be enough to take this one down.
	Gotta be smart about this, he thought. I beat it once. I can
do it again! The guns roared, and
Hikaru began to fall.
	"WHAT THE..." The damn thing had shot out his webline! His
heart leapt into his throat as
the rotary cannons trained on him once again. Desperate, he launched a
stream at each one. The
silken threads hit home and began to cocoon the guns.
	He finally relented, flipping once and landing hard. The
impact shuddered up his entire
skeleton, nearly making him lose his balance. Gosunkugi looked up to
see the Black Widow
straining to use the guns he had just disabled.
	"Guess again, asshole!" he yelled as sparks flew from the
encased weapons. The Widow let
out a strange roar before the cannons were launched from its back.
They hit the ground a smoking
ruin just as the ports sealed themselves.
	Gotta disable its weapons, he thought just as a dozen rockets
launched from its back. They
streaked upward, angling down at him. Hikaru leapt back and was amazed
when their trajectories
changed to match.
	"Great! Homing rockets! How many tricks do you have?!" Hikaru
leapt toward the Black
Widow, hoping they would follow. He never made it. The beam rammed
into his chest, expelling the
air from his lungs and launching him backward. He felt the metal of
the wall crumple a little from the
impact just as the rockets detonated around him, the force of the
explosions battering him even
more.
	Oh yeah, he thought. That wall was just as hard as it looked.
He wheezed with each breath,
pain leaving trails of fire up and down his sides. That shot had
broken a few ribs, alright. He just
hoped he wasn't bleeding internally.
	Hikaru slumped to the floor, fighting to remain conscious as
the Black Widow's thunderous
steps hammered his ears. He had to get up! He couldn't let that thing
beat him!

	Wu Long cackled with glee. Finally, Spiderman was going to be
crushed! He looked at the
security display to see and elevator rising to the surface. The camera
image showed his three
hostages making an escape.
	"Don't think so," he giggled.

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	Ranma gasped as the elevator slammed to a stop. She looked
about frantically, unsure of
what was going on.
	"We're stuck!" Akane shouted.
	"Three more levels to go," Nabiki added, pointing to the row
of lights above the door. "I
have a feeling that whoever brought us here doesn't want us to leave."
	"Well," Ranma said, "I guess we gotta climb. Akane, gimme a
boost."
	Akane squatted down and laced her fingers together at her
knees. Ranma set a foot into the
crutch of her hands and Akane shoved upward. The emergency hatch
popped open easily. Ranma
swung herself to the top of the elevator and reached down. Akane
jumped up and grabbed the
slender hand. In less than a second she was hoisted upward. Nabiki
followed soon after.
	The roof of the elevator car was ice cold against their bare
feet. Twin cables stretched into
the darkness above from the pulleys.
	"Nabiki, how far was it again?" Akane asked.
	"I think three levels. We should be close to the surface."
	"Then let's climb," Ranma said. "Nabiki, hang onto me."
	"Ranma!"
	"Akane, Nabiki won't make it on her own. You will," Ranma
replied matter-of-factly.
	Akane's eyes widened. Had Ranma finally, in some small way,
acknowledged her ability?
	"Let's get a move on!" Ranma shouted, slinging Nabiki onto her
back. "Akane, you go first!"
	"Okay!"

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	Hikaru rose to his feet as the Black Widow emerged from the
smoke of the spent missiles.
Every breath brought pain on the richter scale. The scene kept trying
to slip out of focus. This thing
was just too powerful!
	"Can't... quit.... Won't quit." He had to destroy this
monstrosity here and now. There were
no two ways about it. Gosunkugi dodged another laser beam and webbed
the Black Widow's eyes.
Two cables emerged from its mouth to dislodge the webbing, just as he
had anticipated. Hikaru
encased them in a web and snatched them taut. If he could just break
them...
	"Whoa!" he yelled as the Black Widow tried to snatch him off
the floor. He prayed that his
grip would hold as his arms strained to snap the cables. His back
seemed to stretch as the enormous
robot pulled against him.
	"Do you really think it's going to be so easy, Spiderman?"
asked the voice.
	"I'm... gonna... stop this thing! Right here.... right...
NOW!"
	"How pointless."

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	Ranma pried the door open, grateful for the blast of fresh air
against her face. The night air
never smelled so good. It was cool against her exposed skin, the sweat
from the climb chilling in the
breeze. All around were squat buildings, their purpose a mystery.
	Who cared?
	"Let's go!" Ranma shouted as she led Akane and Nabiki to the
wall. Without wasting a
moment, she grabbed the two girls and vaulted clear of the razor wire
which topped the barrier.
	"We're out," Akane gasped. "But what about Spiderman?"
	Ranma stared at the wall, a uneasy feeling gnawing at her gut.
Spiderman was facing all
those robots alone, now. He didn't have a chance.
	"Spiderman can take care of himself," she heard Nabiki say.
Ranma wasn't so sure. Those
things were damn tough. She doubted the webslinger could last long
against those odds on his own.
	He had risked his ass to help them. The decision was made.
	"I'm goin' back."
	"RANMA!"
	"NO!"
	"Look, I gotta, okay!"
	"Ranma, don't!" Akane shouted.=20
	Ranma looked into her eyes, illuminated by the glow of the
security lights, and almost
faltered.
	"Listen, Akane," she began, "Spiderman risked it all to get us
out. Now he's alone against
those robots!"
	"Ranma..." Nabiki said.
	"I can't let him go it alone. He ain't gonna make it without
help. I'm goin in, and that's that!"
	'Then I'm going with you..."
	"NO! Damnit, Akane, you won't do no good down there!"
	"HEY! I'm a martial artist too, y'know!"
	"And you gotta protect Nabiki!"
	"But what about you?" Nabiki asked.
	"Don't worry," Ranma replied with the usual confidence. "I'll
be all right. I owe Spiderman,
an' I ain't about to skip out." Without another word, Ranma leapt back
over the wall.
	"Ranma! NO!" Akane screamed.
	Nabiki grabbed her younger sister before she could attempt to
follow.
	"Nabiki! Let me go!"
	"NO! Akane, if Ranma wants to go help Spiderman that's his
choice!"
	"But..."
	"Listen," Nabiki said. She was desperate for a reason to keep
Akane from endangering
herself any more. "Spiderman went in there to save us! Do you want
that to be for nothing?!"
	"But Ranma..."
	"Ranma can take care of himself! We have to get out of here!
Now!"
	"But..."
	"Don't worry! Ranma's faced worse odds before!"

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	Hikaru struggled to his feet again. The blow that Black Widow
had landed to his stomach
radiated waves of agonized nausea throughout his body. His back
screamed from being slammed
into a titanuim wall at forty miles per hour.
	"How does it feel, Spiderman?" that damnable voice cackled.
"How does it feel to have your
meddlesome career ended?"
	"Some... career," Hikaru managed. Even with all his injuries,
he was still quick with one-
liners as Spiderman. The sarcasm helped in some small way to marshall
his flagging reserves of
strength. If he was going to die, he wouldn't do it with a whimper. He
just wished it wasn't with
smart-assed remarks either. "No 401[k], no dental, and talk about
on-the-job hazards!"
	"Sarcastic to the end, eh?" The Black Widow loomed before him,
death incarnate ecased in
obsidian metal. The residual flames of the four other Widows cast
flickering lights on its body like a
thing from the lowest hells.
	At least Akane and the others are safe, Hikaru thougt with
some satisfaction. If nothing else,
he had managed that.
	"You cost me everything, Spiderman." The voice took on a much
uglier tone with that
statement. "You and that damned whore, Nabiki Tendo!"
	Gosunkugi let him rant. It didn't matter anymore. He was
outgunned, and at the end of his
rope. He found himself thinking back to when that spider had first bit
him on the hand. Who would
have thought that he would gain powers like this? Who could have
imagined that, in the end, he
would use them to save Akane Tendo?
	Hell, who would have thought he'd come running to Ranma
Saotome's rescue?
	"I may be marked for death, but I can take some solace that I
claimed your life first!"
	What the hell is he talking about? Hikaru thought.
	"I'll have your mask for a trophy, freak!"
	Miku's face appeared in his mind. Hikaru thought about the
things he felt around her, about
how she had made him realize that his alter-ego of Spiderman could do
some good. And then her
last words...
	(I thought you were different, Hikaru. I guess I was wrong!)
	... replayed themselves. As Spiderman he had saved her from
that lunatic, Shigeru Katsuo.
As Hikaru Gosunkugi, his last act was to hurt her because of
Spiderman.
	"Miku," he whispered, "I'm sorry."
	"So you saved Nabiki and those others. What does that matter?"
	Hikaru remained silent. He could feel his body starting to
mend. Maybe he could make one
final stand.
	"I'll reclaim them soon enough. In fact, I'll kill the entire
Tendo family! What do you think of
that?"
	Gosunkugi gnashed his teeth as the pain still wracked him. He
wasn't done yet. Hikaru
reached deep within, to a place he never knew existed, to find the
will to stand and the strength to
fight. So what if they all got out? This madman was right, so long as
the Black Widow remained
intact, they were still in danger. If he didn't take that metal
bastard out, then saving them here would
have been all for nothing.
	"What, no snappy comeback? No witty reparte?"
	"FUCK YOU!"

	Ranma heard the shout ahead and ran even faster. Spiderman was
still alive, and she felt
greatly relieved that she wasn't too late to help.
	The soldiers had increased in number on her way back, and
fighting her way through them
had been rough to say the least. Whatever was going on in this place,
some seriously hardcore
people were in on it.
	The open blast door appeared around the bend and Ranma charged
through. She stopped
just past the entryway, quickly studying the situation.
	Spiderman stood at the far end of the room, obviously injured.
One arm cradled his ribcage.
His shoulders were slumped, rising and falling from what Ranma could
tell was labored breathing
from more than just exhaustion. She couldn't determine the extent of
his injuries, but Ranma knew
they had to be bad. In front of Spiderman was that large robot spider
which hadn't moved before. It
was crouched low to the ground as if ready to pounce.
	She drew on her inner confidence and let it mingle with her
own anger and determination.
Spiderman would die if that thing moved on him again. Ranma was the
only one there to stop it.
	The sphere of ki grew drastically, tinged with red.
	Whoever was behind all this had tortured her, had tortured
Nabiki and Akane. That bastard
would pay dearly. But first, the robot had to go.
	"MOKO TAKABISHA, LEVEL TWO!"
	The brilliant shaft of spiritual energy burned Ranma's hands
as it screamed through the air. It
hit true against the robot's rear section with a deafening explosion.

	"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Wu Long glared hatefully at the warning from
the computer. The
Black Widow's rear stabilizer had been knocked out of alignment, the
back two legs damaged
almost beyond use. The auto-repair would not be able to fix that kind
of damage.
	"That... girl?!" He saw the image of the red-haired hostage,
glowing with a strange aura. She
was a martial artist of *that* caliber? Had his operation at the Tendo
Dojo really depended so much
on dumb luck?
	"Black Widow! Full power to all weapons! Kill those two NOW!"

	Hikaru could only gawk as the explosion ripped the air. The
Black Widow dropped a little,
smoke rising from the joints in its two back legs. Who the...
	"Spiderman!" shouted the last voice he had ever expected to
hear.
	"What the...? What're you doing here?"
	"What do you think?" Ranma asked as she drew up beside him.
"I'm saving your neck!"
	"I thought I said..." The spider sense hit. "MOVE!"
	He grabbed Ranma around her slender waist and leapt clear of a
laser blast which left a
sizeable dent in the wall. Hikaru landed hard, agony threatening to
drag him to the floor.
	"I ain't gonna let you fight this bastard alone," Ranma
snarled, removing Spiderman's arm.
	Of all the times for you to play hero, Gosunkugi thought
sourly.
	"Get out of here. I..."
	"You're gonna get killed in your condition!" Ranma snapped.
	Hikaru turned to face the Black Widow again, surprised to see
that it was moving slower
than before. That ki blast must have really done some damage.
	"Can you do that again?"
	"Watch this!"
	Hikaru watched while Ranma thrust out her hands and summoned
her battle aura. The glare
almost blinded him.
	"MOKO TAKABISHA, LEVEL TWO!"

	Ranma released the blast again, feeling significantly weaker
than before. This new blast was
a powerful technique, but it demanded a lot of energy.
	The raging beam of ki streaked out toward the robot's head,
only to be met by another
blast.
	"SHIT!" Ranma screamed as she dumped her remaining power into
the stream of ki. The
laser cannon from the robot fought against her own power, creating an
unstable field at the junction
of the energies. She felt the hoarse roar burst from her throat as she
fought against the onslaught of
the Black Widow.

	Gosunkugi stumbled backward, squinting against the war being
fought by Ranma's ki and the
Black Widows laser cannon. The conflicting energies pushed against
each other in a fierce battle.
	Ranma's scream tore at his ears as the girl poured even more
power into her assault. The
Black Widow, for its part, intensified its own beam. Smoke began to
pour out from between its
mandibles as its systems struggled to route more power into its
counterattack.
	"I... AIN'T... GONNA... LOSE!"
	Hikaru saw the blood-red beam from the Black Widow draw closer
to Ranma's trembling
body. Her face was twisted into a look of pure desperate rage as the
robot began to steadily
overpower Ranma's own blast.
	Ranma's losing, Gosunkugi thougt with rising horror. He saw
Ranma begin to shake as she
warred against the power of the Black Widow, giving her all to fight
it off.
	Saotome's not gonna win like this. I have to do something!
Hikaru felt his foot brush against
the iron beam he had earlier used to batter the Black Widow, and an
idea struck him. If he could
distract it, then maybe...
	He stooped over, ignoring the sharp pain that tore at him as
he lifted the beam. It seemed
heavier now, as if Hikaru's strength had fled him.
	Come on... he thought. I can't let it end like this! He
hoisted it like a javelin and allowed the
spider sense to tell him where to aim.
	He saw the beam of the Black Widow draw closer to the fading
ray of Ranma's ki blast.
She was weakening rapidly. A few seconds more and she would be
vaporized!

	Wu Long focused on the battle. That girl was actually holding
off the Black Widow! He
eyed its system display, noting that the main laser cannon was
redlining. To think that a single girl
could hold so much power!
	So intent on the battle, he nearly missed the warning that a
central computer node had been
accessed. By the time he noticed, it was too late. System after system
was locked out of Sec Ops
Master Control at an increasing pace, far faster than Long could ever
have anticipated.
	"I should have known you'd be prepared," he muttered. "I admit
defeat, Pao Leung," Wu
Long said as one major system after another left his command. "But at
least I will kill Spiderman.
And after that..." He began to input the proper codes.

	The girder left his grasp like a missile. Gosunkugi ignored
the agony as he watched it sail
toward what had to be that thing's one vulnerable spot; its eye. It
hit with a satisfying crunch as the
Black Widow's right eye was shattered. The laser cannon faltered, and
Ranma's attack hit with
horrendous force.
	The blast would have bowled Hikaru over if he hadn't stuck his
feet to the floor. The Black
Widow let out an inhuman screech which harmonized with grating sound
of its legs scraping the
floor. It came to rest several meters away, slumped and defeated.
Tendrils of electricty arced from
its eye and across its body. The glaring light from its one remaining
optic flickered pathetically a few
times before fading out completely.
	"It's... over..." Hikaru gasped.
	"Did it."
	Hikaru looked over at Ranma, kneeling on the floor and panting
for breath. Smoke wafted
lazily from her body.
	"Are you okay?!"
	"Yeah," Ranma gasped, "peachy."
	"Here."
	"I got it under control," Ranma replied, refusing Hikaru's
offered hand.
	"I cannot believe this," the voice said.
	"You better," Ranma growled. "An' you're next!"
	"I am already a dead man."
	"Got that right, pal!"
	"I risked everything on this..."
	"And failed," Spiderman added.
	"The Black Widows are destroyed."
	Hikaru felt the spider sense begin to tingle. For God's sake,
what was it *now*?!
	"And this place will soon follow."
	"What're ya talking about..."
	"WARNING! WARNING!" cried a toneless voice from seemingly
everywhere at once.
"THE SELF-DESTRUCT SYSTEM HAS BEEN ACTIVATED!"
	"Perfect!" Gosunkugi spat, disgusted. "*Just* friggin'
*perfect*!"
	"Why you....!"
	"C'mon, you heard the nice computer!" Spiderman shouted,
grabbing Ranma's shoulder.
"Let's book! NOW!"
	"DETONATION IN ONE MINUTE, FIFTY SECONDS!"

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	"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" The Commander roared.
	"Nothing, sir!" the techie replied. "I didn't even know about
a self-destruct!"
	"This mission's scrubbed," he snarled. "Pull out! Now!"
	The Commander turned to find that the rest of his team was
already gone.
	"HEY! WAIT FOR ME! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

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	Wu Long began to chuckle at the irony of it all. Pao Leung had
taken him in, had given him
the life that was now worth squat. Now he was in the complex which had
spawned weapons that
would have cemented the Triad's hold on the weapons market, about to
die by his own hand. He
had seized this entire place out of the lust for vengeance and power,
a thing he had long nutured yet
managed to keep hidden, and now was going to destroy it all.
	The Black Widow, he thought, destroyed by Spiderman and some
tomboy slut with a great
rack. Perhaps this was destiny.
	He had purposefully set the detonation time for the
Self-Destruct at its lowest possible
setting. Spiderman and that girl were at least a mile and a half
underground. There was no way they
could get out in time, especially since the sequence shut down all the
elevators. That had been a
feature in the security system Pao Leung had not seen fit to change.
It was no surprise that the
Japanese government would rather sacrifice hundreds of lives rather
than reveal a place like this.

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	"They've been in there too long," Akane said. The cold air bit
her skin through the pajamas
she still wore, but she didn't care. Nabiki, on the other hand, kept
shifting from one foot to the other
while shivering against the chill. Nightgowns weren't meant for
winter, and icy pavement on bare feet
was far from pleasant.
	"Don't worry sis," Nabiki replied, surprised that her teeth
weren't chattering yet. "They'll be
back any minute."

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	"ONE MINUTE, FIFTEEN SECONDS!"
	"DAMNIT!" Ranma roared. "The elevator's not workin'!"
	"Can't take the stairs," Spiderman said from her right. "Guess
we do this my way!"
	Ranma watched him grasp the elevator doors and pry them apart.
	"This oughtta lead us right to the surface," Spiderman said.
"Get on my back!"
	"SIXTY SECONDS!" came the voice of the countdown.
	Ranma complied and, less than a second later, Spiderman had
latched onto the sheer wall of
the elevator shaft and began to climb frantically. They passed another
doorway, her heart beating
faster with each moment.
	"FIFTY SECONDS..."
	"You okay?" Ranma asked, worried. Spiderman's breathing was
becoming heavier, a
wheeze becoming more and more pronounced.
	"Been... better."

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	Nabiki trembled, and not from the cold. Akane was right, it
was taking too long for Ranma
and Spiderman to get out. What if something had happened to them? What
if those robots had...
	No! Ranma was just too tough to let some oversized toy get the
better of him and
Spiderman was full of surprises.
	She watched from the shadows of the alley in which she and
Akane had taken shelter to
wait for their return. It was too quiet...
	"GET OUT!"
	"IT'S GONNA BLOW!"
	Men began to pour out of the main gate, running in panic as if
Godzilla were after them.
	"What's up with that?" Akane asked, even more worried than
before.
	"Nothing good, sis."

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	"Aw, screw this," Hikaru muttered. Climbing up the wall with
Ranma on his back would only
get them both killed. Even as a girl, Ranma was heavy. He braced
himself against the pain he knew
would come as he shot a web up at an angle. He didn't sever it from
the spinarette on his wrist.
	"What're you doin'?" Ranma asked.
	"Taking the express." Hikaru yanked on the line and drew it
back in. It worked like a charm,
pulling the two up like a zip-line. He hit the wall and repeated with
the opposite arm while razor-
sharp knives stabbed at his ribs and muscles without mercy. Ranma's
tight grip on him didn't help,
either.
	"Forty Seconds..." The countdown was quieter, now. Hikaru took
hope from that. Maybe
they were close to the surface.
	"Thirty Seconds..."
	"How damn far up does this thing go?!" Ranma shouted in his
ear.
	Move it, Spidey! Gosunkugi commanded himself.
	"Twenty seconds..."
	Gosunkugi's heart leapt for joy when he saw the top of the
elevator shaft. Just a little
farther...

	Ten seconds.

	Cologne watched Akane and Nabiki, the two girls completely
unaware of her presence.
Worry gnawed at her guts. What was keeping Ranma? He had been in there
far too long, now.

	Nine seconds.

	Ranma dropped from Spiderman's back and the two broke into a
sprint toward the exit of
the building they had wound up in. Time was getting tight.

	Eight seconds.

	Hikaru was amazed that he was still breathing, much less
running alongside Ranma. They
burst out into the night air and were greeted with the sight of men
running for their lives. It wouldn't
be much longer, now.

	Seven seconds.

	Akane's heart beat like a jackhammer in her chest. Something
was very wrong. Why were
all those people running away? And where was Ranma?
	"Come on," she prayed. "Come back to me, Ranma."

	Six seconds.

	Wu Long knelt on the floor, his face calm. Before long, he
would stand in judgment before
Lim Yao Won, King of Hell, as a failure. Whatever his punishment would
be for his life, he would
accept it. Fighting against it would be pointless.
	At least Spiderman would accomany him into hell this night.
=46rom that, Wu Long took a
small amount of consolation.

	Five seconds.... Four seconds... Three seconds... Two
seconds... One second...
	Detonation.

	Akane felt the earth begin to shake, a low tremor that ended
as suddenly as it began.
	"Nabiki? Did you feel that?"
	Another, more violent tremor hit.
	"Sis, we've gotta get out of here!"
	"But, Ranma..."
	"Damnit, Akane, let's go!" Nabiki grabbed her sister by the
arm and charged off away from
the place where they had been held prisoner. Something very bad was
about to happen very soon
and Nabiki didn't want to be anywere near it.
	Akane ran behind her sister, fear beating against the inside
of her skull. She heard a roar
from behind and stopped, wrenching her arm free and turning to see a
pillar of flame reach for the
heavens.
	"Oh, no..."
	The ground heaved violently and the world became filled with
light and a roar that split the
sky. The hot wind hit like a fierce blow just before the impact of the
explosion knocked her
senseless.
	Nabiki closed her eyes against the brilliance. Maybe they had
gotten far enough away...
	Her last thought was cut off by a wall of heat and displaced
air that slammed her to the
pavement.

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	Akane...
	She was in a warm, soft bed; nestled against the cold. She
could feel him next to her, the
heat of his body stirring feelings that she had never before
acknowledged.
	Akane!
	She reached over to him, to the man she loved...
	"Akane! Wake up!"
	Her eyes fluttered open. A dull pain replaced the dream she
had been pulled from as reality
set in.
	"Where am I?" The ceiling was different, stained with water in
some spots. The floor was
hard and had a strange smell to it. It wasn't the dojo.
	"Are you okay?" asked a scratchy voice.
	"What happened?" All around were her family, along with Ryoga,
and Cologne's troupe.
They all had tears in their eyes. Akane suddenly felt sick. Something
was wrong, and she didn't want
to think what.
	"You okay, sis?" Nabiki asked.
	"Where's Ranma?"
	Nabiki, still in her nightgown and sporting some bandages,
looked away. Icy dread coated
Akane's mind. It couldn't be true. No way.
	"You should get some rest," Nodoka Saotme said...
	"DAMNIT, WHERE'S RANMA?!"
	A tense silence fell over the room. Akane looked from one face
to another, finding only
tears. Shampoo sat with her hands over her eyes. Ukyo knelt next to
Ryoga, openly weeping.
Ranma was nowhere to be found.
	"Perhaps," Cologne said as she turned on the television, "you
should see this."
	The screen came to life, showing flames that roared with the
fury of hell. At least ten fire
engines rested in front of the place where she had once been a
captive, spraying water into the
inferno while men in thick firefighter gear ran about and shouted
orders. No sound came from the
speakers, the word MUTE glowing in the bottom left corner.
	Oh, no, she thought. It wasn't true. No way. Please!
	"You have been unconscious for over six hours, now," Cologne
said.
	Please, God, don't let this be real!
	"I went there," Cologne continued. "I waited for hours, and
saw no sign of Ranma or
Spiderman anywhere."
	"No..." The world began to collapse around Akane Tendo.
	"My son..." Genma whispered. His fists trembled, clenced tight
enoug to draw blood from
his palms.
	"Akane."
	She barely felt Nodoka's hands on her shoulders.
	"I am sorry, Akane Tendo," Cologne said, "but Ranma did not
survive."
	"NO!"

	Ryoga bowed his head, tears stinging his eyes. All those times
he had wished Ranma dead,
and now it had finally happened. Why did it hurt so much? Did he truly
hate Ranma Saotome as
much as he had always claimed?
	No matter what, he promised Ranma's spirit, I'll take care of
Akane.
	He sent a prayer to the soul of Spiderman, who had paid the
ultimate price for Akane's life.
No matter what, he would always remember that man as a hero.

	Ukyo couldn't believe it. Ranma was dead. It just wasn't
possible! It wasn't fair!
	Ranchan, you jackass, she thought. Why? Why did you go back
for Spiderman? He had
gotten you all out!

	Cologne bowed her head and prayed for the souls of Ranma
Saotome and Spiderman.
	You did your best, webslinger, and at least saved two lives.
Your death was not in vain.
	Ranma, she thought, honorable to the end. Cologne understood
why Ranma had gone back.
She had heard Nabiki's account of the events in the bowels of that
place, of the Black Widows and
the strange man who had pulled off the daring kidnapping.
	Ranma owed him. Spiderman had been left facing overwhelming
odds all for the sake to
Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki. There was no way Ranma Saotome would just
let that go.

	"HEY!"
	Akane started, staring open-mouthed at the door. Was it...
	"Lemme in, willya! I'm freezin' my ass out here!"
	Akane was at the door in a half-second and ripped it open to
find Ranma standing outside.
	"Ranma!"
	"Hey, Akane..."
	"YOU'RE ALIVE!" She embraced the sometimes-girl fiercely,
uncaring that Ranma was still
of the same gender as Akane.
	"Yeah... now... can I... breathe?!"

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	Hikaru looked on from the shadows, adhered to the wall. A
strange warmth blossomed
from his chest at the sight of Akane embracing Ranma.
	She pulled Saotome into the doorway and the light vanished.
	Gosunkugi swung out into the night. New, conflicting thougts
filled his mind and dulled the
pain of the battle.

	It was a miracle that they had survived at all. When he had
regained consciousness, all had
been black. He remembered the flames that had surrounded them once he
had moved the slab of
concrete that had fallen over the small niche he and Ranma had woken
up in.

	"It's over, now," he whispered as he made his way toward home.

	The pain had been intense while he had carried Ranma on his
back. After several minutes,
he had landed in the alley to rest.
	"You okay?" Ranma had asked. "You don't look so good."
	"I'll be okay," he had muttered in reply while fighitng to
keep the pain from dragging him
down to unconsciousness. Hikaru had leaned there for several minutes,
catching his breath and
grimacing at the tang of blood in his mouth.
	"Mind if I ask ya something?"
	"Yeah."
	"Why'dja do it? Why'dja come after us?"
	"I had to." It hadn't been the best answer, but it was all he
could give. "Those things were
after me, not you."
	"They were after Nabiki, too," Ranma had replied. "She told us
about the pictures, and
about you and that Doctor Octopus guy in that warehouse."
	Hikaru had wanted to ask what else Nabiki had said, but was
too tired to care.
	"Let me ask you something."
	"Sure."
	"Why did you come back to help me?"
	Hikaru had studied Ranma closely after asking. He had to know.
	"You really put it on the line for us in there," Ranma had
said. "An' they tortured us, too."
	"So, you did it to pay me back and get some revenge..."
	"No, that ain't all of it."
	"Huh?"
	"Thing is," Ranma began, "Akane an' Nabiki wouldna made it out
on their own, not without
you buyin' us some time."
	Hikaru removed the arm which had been draped across his ribs.
The pain was slowly
beginning to fade.
	"I guess I'm tryin' to say... well..." Ranma began to fidget,
unsure of what to say. "We...
couldn't have done it without you."
	The spider sense had come alive just then, pointing out
familiar presences beyond the door
which they faced.
	"I think your family's in there," he had said before leaping
up out of sight.

	Hikaru swung out into the night and came to realize something
he would never have believed
before. While Ranma was a womanizing jerk...
	He really wasn't all that bad.
	"Well, you learn something new every day."

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

	Ranma stared out into the rapidly growing dawn, unable to
sleep. He heard the sounds of
everyone snoring, sprawled wherever there was space. Akane was curled
up with the other girls,
and Ranma felt the strange urge to go to her...
	Man, what a weird day.
	His eyes traced the outlines of the buildings, wondering if
Spiderman was okay. He had
been badly hurt, both in the battle and the escape. If he hadn't
pulled a vanishing act, then Ranma
would have asked Cologne to tend to the guy's wounds. She would have
done it.
	Thanks, Spiderman, Ranma thought. Wherever you are.

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D



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