[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 13 -
The Rubicon's Dark Frontier
Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1/2, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these
stories. And I'll put them back when I've finished with them.
C&C , MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
Stories are available in HTML and Rich Text Format at:
http://home.att.net/~danjess.gibson
(These are the revised versions)
Stories are available in Plain ASCII at:
http://fanfic.tass-anime.com
(These are the original versions)
What has gone before:
About Book 11, Akane and Soun Tendo throw Ranma out of the house,
Nabiki, in the guise of a wish, follows him. They meet EVA pilots
Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Soryu Langley and Jeffery Davis.
SEELE arranged for General Tembris, the Meliorist's nemesis, to
arrive in the waking world. Dreams after the concert send Asuka and
Kaji, Gendo and Jeff to Nerima, sends Rei, and Nabiki and Maya into
different points of Asuka's past. Shinji battles whatever is doing
this. The ending of the dreams fills the targets with emotions of
failure and loss.
The pilots are defeated in their initial battle against the Angel
Tulzscha, Shinji is wounded. The second clash is a victory, leaving
Shinji, Jeff and Rei injured. The evening puts them in more odd dreams.
They are forced to cooperate to overcome the obsticles.
The pilots react to the aftermath of the dreams. Ranma discovcers
the abandoned Dream dojo, Rei discovers Shinji's dreamscape is
abandoned. Rei decided to confront the Red Dragons to get some answers.
Asuka begins designing new weapons for the EVAs.
What Misato is doing at night is revealed. Misato and Ritsuko go
through Ranma's and Jeff's possessions, Nabiki looks through Jeff's
photoalbum.
Asuka is tasked to look after Shinji, Rei looks in on them and gets
angry when Ranma interferes.
Ranma discovers that Asuka and Nabiki exchanged dreams.
Flame Vampires attack the NERV medcenter, Asuka and Shinji in their
EVAs destroy them, Nabiki launches in Unit 04 to support them. Then
Asuka in Unit 02 and Nabiki in Unit 04 rescue Ranma and a badly wounded
Rei. Misato castigates her for unauthorized actions. Nabiki invites
her and Shinji to stay at Ritsuko's place.
At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means
shall we fortify against it?-- Shall we expect some transatlantic
military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow?
If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and
finisher.
As a nation of freemen we must live through all time, or die by
suicide.
Abraham Lincoln, Lyceum Address, Jan, 27, 1838
----------------------------------------
Watershed
The baseballs slid down the pipes. "Come on! Faster, faster!" the
man yelled at the teams in Dreamland's Trade speech. The six teams
moved faster, dropping the remaining five baseballs each through the
pipes. Then the teams grabbed the tubes, the tripods, the heavy iron
plates beneath them, and jumped into the two trucks.
The shouting man clicked off the stopwatch, when the truck had
moved 10 feet.
He frowned, "Get back and do it again!"
The men grumbled, and carefully set up the tripods, pipes and iron
plates.
"Ninety seconds, General," the man explained to Tembris.
The General was looking over the warehouse they were in, then
regarded his Waking World counterpart.
"SEELE contacted me again," the little man whined, "They are
getting impatient."
"If they could do what they're proposing, they would have," the
General counseled, "Patience. What are the chances of getting the
107's, instead of the 81's?"
"They're hard to get. I'm having enough trouble getting the
trucks. The practice rounds are almost impossible. People will ask
questions."
"Then you will answer them," Tembris explained, "You're being well
paid, for what you do, they expect you to do it."
The little man bobbed in terror, and scurried away.
"General, no offense," the man with the stopwatch began, "Why do we
need him?"
"To charge in with swords drawn, would cost us too many troops.
Using the modern weapons allows us to hit and run," the General smiled,
"Besides, he makes an interesting scapegoat, while we escape."
The man nodded.
"More practice," Tembris ordered, "We need to strike and escape. I
don't assume our opposites are fools."
The man nodded and returned to practice.
----------------------------------------
Ranma wandered the streets, deep in thought. What Rei had told him
was bothering him. That his body was Ranma, and nothing else, and that
all of her wasn't in the pit. He'd laid awake last night, in the upper
bunk. 'Raccoon's bunk,' something kept reminding him, kept him from
sleeping, while Shinji slept soundly in the bunk below. He was trying
to figure out what she meant.
He understood the difference between Ki and Chi, but he was pretty
sure that wasn't what she meant. The two girls had gone out with Hiroko
and Hikari. Shinji and Toji had tagged along. He hadn't seen any
reason to go with them, and no one had disagreed.
As he walked along, alone, he was beginning to realize what she
meant. Shinji was out fighting in the EVA, that's where part of her
was, Maybe Asuka too.
"But not _Ranma_," he said, "Ranko wasn't there." She must have
meant reflections in other people, he thought, My two roommates, one
hates me, the other scares me, and I don't think about them very much.
Ranko does, he stopped and considered, Ranko has good friends among
the pilots, Ranma doesn't. That was his fault, 'If it wasn't
martial arts, it didn't matter,' that tended to include other people.
'Do you intent to practice martial arts in a cave?' the question had
been for Ranko, but it equally applied to Ranma.
I don't know, it never mattered, he admitted. Rei put herself in
danger for him, because it was her job, she looked after Shinji and
Raccoon, because they were important to her. Shinji charged to the
rescue, because he had feelings for another pilot, but he was at dinner
last night because Nabiki asked him, same for Asuka. Ranma doubted they
would put themselves out for _Ranma_, they would always help another
pilot. Their connection was what he was, not who he was.
Who I am is a baka, an idiot, a . . . he thought, remembering
the stream of anger and insults that he elicited from the others.
----------------------------------------
The sound of a ball against a glove caught his attention. In a
park across the street, he saw Mirei and an old man playing catch. She
was still wobbly on her feet. He wondered why that was. He walked
over, watched her practice her throw.
Nothing wrong with her arm, he thought.
"Hey Ranma!" she spotted him, "Whatcha doin' out here?" She saw
the glare from the old man, "I mean, Mr. Saotome, what are you doing
here in the park?"
The glare faded.
"Watching you throw, you're pretty good."
"I can't run yet, but I still want to get in shape for next school
year," she threw the ball, he caught it easily, tossed it back, "You
want to give old grandfather a break?" Mirei asked.
Ranma spotted the other baseball gear, "Why don't I do some
pitching, let you get in some batting practice."
"We don't have enough fielders," the old man said.
"Leave that to me," Ranma told them, as he selected a glove. It
felt good to be _doing_ something, instead of thinking about things.
----------------------------------------
"I don't see why you put up with it," Toji said, shifted the basket
he was carrying, as they walked through the woods.
"I don't mind cooking," Shinji admitted, "It's kind of fun."
"Are you sure you can afford all this?" Hikari asked nervously,
looking at all the food the pilots had bought.
"Yeah," Asuka assured her friend, they were back on NERV property,
looking for a nice place for a picnic, "I'm curious what those two
picked while we were shopping."
Toji and Shinji had bought lunch while the girls were clothes
shopping.
"Should we give them a fashion show while we're having lunch?"
Nabiki asked.
"If you think I'm changing behind a bush, with those two staring at
me . . . ," Asuka announced.
"I'd be more worried they'd gobble down all the lunch, while we
were changing," Hiroko added, "Or something icky crawling into my
clothes, while I'm putting them on."
The other girls shuddered at that.
"Nothing as icky as Sour Kraut," Toji whispered to Shinji, who
laughed.
"This looks good," Asuka looked at the bowl-like depression in the
top of a hillock, tall trees around the rim partially shaded it, she
walked to the center, "It even has an old fire pit." She glanced at the
deep cut in the hill, "And a swimming hole."
"Good, I can't wait to taste ole' Shinji's cookin'," Toji said.
"Toji," Hikari said.
"Okay, I'll help him," Toji told her.
Hikari turned to the other girls, "Why is it you can't get them
into a kitchen without a gun, but outside, they volunteer?"
"They're boys," Asuka said, "Their actions defy logic." The others
agreed.
Shinji hadn't intended to cook anything, but he was glad of Toji's
help preparing lunch.
----------------------------------------
"Asuka?" Misato called, as she left her room, "Shinji?" Their beds
hadn't been slept in. She remembered Ritsuko saying something about
Shinji going home. Pen Pen wasn't begging for food, so they must have
fed him. She wandered into the kitchen, checked the refrigerator for
leftovers. There aren't any? What happened? She picked up the
phone, determined to call Ritsuko. There was no answer at Ritsuko's
home or office. Now she was getting worried.
----------------------------------------
Maya walked along with her sempai, shopping for food seemed a very
prosaic and completely enjoyable activity. Both of them were concerned
about the pilots, and their reactions to the shocks of the last few
weeks, and the injuries suffered. "Does it seem unusual that Ranma
seems to bounce back from his injuries, and the others don't?"
"Apart from Rei healing her broken bones in a week?" Ritsuko
replied.
Maya guessed from her tone, that sempai was just causing trouble,
"But for her, it was gone overnight, instead of healing rapidly the
entire time," Maya replied, "Could it be a result of his exposure?" She
knew Ritsuko didn't need to be reminded of exposure to what.
"Or it could be his natural state," Ritsuko reminded her, "Rei said
he 'dropped out of the sky.'"
"You think whoever `dropped` him, adjusted him somehow?" Maya was
shocked.
"You know how poorly socialized he is. Someone neglected to teach
him how to react to the outside world."
Like Ayanami, Maya didn't say, Rei's not treated the same, and I
don't know why. What concerns them about Rei? Will all the pilots
raise the same concerns eventually? "Then it _is_ safe for Rei to be
interacting with the other pilots?" Maya asked, "As closely as she has
been?"
Ritsuko was lost in thought for several moments, as they walked
along. Maya let her think, many things Maya needed to talk about, and
do, hinged on her answer.
"I actually think it might be good for all of them," Ritsuko said.
Good, Maya thought, "Then you don't object to them including
Ayanami in these get togethers. I overheard Nabiki saying something
about these becoming regular occurrences, including all the pilots. I'd
be willing to help."
Ritsuko sighed, "I must admit, I'm not comfortable with having her
in my home."
Maya nodded, she knew sempai would agree, but she would have to
decide for herself.
"However, I won't object."
Maya nodded again, slowly let out the breath she had been holding.
"Maybe they can get Ranma's grades up," Ritsuko joked.
"And Asuka's and Shinji's," Maya added.
"Asuka?" Ritsuko seemed surprised, "She was an A+ honor student
throughout school."
"She got a D on her last physics test," Maya supplied, she'd taken
the message for Misato.
"Misato must be thrilled about that," Ritsuko paused, "I am not
looking forward to the conference with Ranma's teachers on Wednesday. I
can imagine how enjoyable working with Misato is going to be, after her
meetings."
Maya chuckled at that.
----------------------------------------
The crack of the bat, Ranma
sprinted after the ball, catching it easily. Mirei was a good hitter,
for a girl. He was having a good time, just running down and catching a
randomly `thrown` object, he could easily lose himself in simply acting.
The acting was automatic, Like a dog retrieving a ball, the thought
disturbed him, and spoiled his mood.
"You gettin' tired?" Mirei taunted, withered a bit under the old
man's glare, "Hey, Mr. Saotome, are you too tired?"
Ranma frowned, taunts were acceptable, if they were grammatically
correct and properly phrased. "A little," he answered, "I was just
wondering what I was doing."
"Playing baseball, I would think," Mirei told him irritatedly.
"No, I understand that," words didn't come easily to Ranma, and
even he wasn't sure what the real problem was. He decided to start with
what he understood, and work out from there. "There's a pilot you
haven't met. Her name's Ranko and . . . " How do I explain her without
mentioning the transformation? he wondered, then he noticed they
weren't instantly teasing him about her being his girlfriend, it gave
him confidence to go on, "Well, if I was a girl, that's who Ranko would
be. I mean we're a _lot_ alike. If I discovered I liked orange
sherbert, Ranko would know she liked it too." Ranma chuckled, "Since
Raccoon has never seen us both at the same time, we've told him we're
really one person, who changes genders."
Mirei and the old man laughed at that.
"Well, Raccoon's too smart to believe a word of it. Everybody else
thinks it's a good explanation, just to tease him."
He paused, "I fought him on the ride over to Japan, beat him pretty
easily," he noted their disapproving looks, "I'm not proud of it. He
said he could fight, and I wanted to spar. He hates my guts now, but
Ranko . . . "
"Is she pretty?" Mirei asked with a blush.
"Yeah. Every guy in class drools over her, except me - and
Raccoon." He was curious about that.
"He frightens her, does he?" the old man asked.
"Yeah, some."
"Pushes her around," Mirei glanced at the old man with a smirk,
"For her own good."
Ranma nodded, he had the feeling he was in a conversation he could
only hear part of.
"He cares about her, won't let anyone hurt her?" the old man
continued.
Ranma nodded, This is spooky, he thought.
"You can't talk to your parents about this?" the old man asked.
"I don't know my folks," Ranma told them.
"Does he ever hug or kiss her?" Mirei asked, as she tottered
towards him.
"Yeah, he does, usually when she's mad or sad, or scared. If
anyone else even touched her when she was mad, she'd clobber them."
"Like this?" she put her hands on his biceps, giving them a little
squeeze, then put her hands on his shoulders, "Or like this?"
"Always the last way," Ranma couldn't figure out which way this
conversation was going, it felt like some he'd had around Nabiki,
Raccoon or Asuka, they were practically scripted, except he didn't have
a script, "Or around the shoulders, sometimes he messes up her hair."
Mirei and the old man exchanged grins.
"You feel jealousy at their close relationship?" the old man asked,
"They exclude you."
"I wouldn't say I'm jealous, but yeah, they try to keep me out, I
guess, I don't know. She comes by later, and fills me in on what he
taught her."
"I had much the same reaction when my daughter - " the old man
said.
"My mother," Mirei interjected.
"Yes, when she found a boy she wanted to marry. The boy and I were
rivals, instantly."
"He was handsome, and dashing, and sooo dangerous, like you
Saotome-san," Mirei said, including him in her favorite fantasy, "But
not to her. It was so romantic."
Ranma was uncertain he liked the way the conversation was going,
but he was glad HE was cast as Ranko's boyfriend.
"You had a close relationship with this Ranko, practically brother
and sister, or betrothed, before she met him. Now she has feelings, you
assume romantic feelings, for this boy, and you don't like it," the old
man said, "But he's not acting like other boys. He's acting like her
father. The first man a girl really loves, is her father. He's
powerful and mysterious, he makes her do things for her own good, and at
the same time, he's the one she goes to, when she has to hide from the
world."
Ranma gulped, the explanation hit a little too close to the mark,
"But they aren't related, we are."
"She doesn't know her folks either?" Mirei asked.
"No, no more than I do," Ranma admitted, "We've been together as
long as either of us can remember."
"Let her go," the old man advised, "She would fall for someone
eventually. He seems a decent enough man . . . but you don't want to,"
the old man spoke Ranma's protest. "You're like her brother, you can't
control her life, and she'll hate you if you try. Take some advise from
an old man, who had to let his daughters go to men, who weren't nearly
good enough for them. Make sure he's kind to her, and listens to her."
"He told me he'd kill me, if I hurt her," Ranma admitted. He could
see Mirei thought it was romantic, she had that look.
"Make sure he can provide for her, and make sure he's really a man.
Too many today, care for nothing but themselves, or their amusements.
The real men, are the ones begging for work to feed their families, the
ones who put their lives and honor on the line for others, their
families, their companies. I've seen many who talked of honor, demanded
honor they weren't worthy of, those are the most despicable and
reprehensible of men. They used honor to harm or bind others."
Ranma gulped, it was practically a condemnation of him and his
ways, "What if what you can do, is all you have?"
"Then I feel very sorry for you, young man," the old man said, "If
you aren't doing what you're doing for others, you might as well not
exist."
Ranma's fists clenched and unclenched nervously. Rei had used
different words, but said the same thing, Raccoon and Nabiki had accused
him of something similar. But he only felt 'honor' when he was _doing_
something, and the only thing he was good at, was Marital Arts, so he
had to be the best.
"So if someone knows only one thing, and puts their entire life
into being good at that one thing . . . ?" his guts told him he was
being attacked, even though his mind knew he wasn't, these people were
trying to give him good advice, that he didn't want to hear.
"If it serves the community, he will be praised. Miyamoto Musashi
was almost considered a bandit," the old man explained, "Until he wrote
the Book of Five Rings."
I bet Nabiki and Raccoon have read it too, Ranma thought, I bet
I should have, and haven't. Yet.
"Many of his opponents, experts all, are only remembered because
_he_ fought _them_, at the time, it was assumed that they would be
remembered, and he would be forgotten."
"I can't write, not too well," Ranma admitted.
Mirei took his hand and smiled at him, "Then do something,
something like today," she caught the disapproving look from the old
man, her grandfather, and released his hand with a smile.
Ranma wondered if anyone had ever told her how cute she was when
she smiled. He could easily get lost in a smile like that.
"You're jealous of `Raccoon`, because he's helping Ranko, and you
can't," the old man started collecting the baseball equipment, Ranma
moved to help him, "Don't try to stop him from helping her, try helping
yourself. You'll compete on the same field, and you'll feel you're
really doing something."
But what can I do? Ranma missed what the man was saying, Beat
people up for charities? he remembered the discussion Ranko and Raccoon
had about pictures, and the money going to charity, and the talk he'd
had with Rit-chan, about people starving and sick in Tokyo, while NERV
had food and medicine aplenty. But its _too_ big a problem. I can't
solve it all, he lamented, It's like fighting those things, what I
know, what I can do, isn't enough!
----------------------------------------
Maya and Ritsuko managed to get all the bags of food inside.
"The scary thing is," Ritsuko explained, "This is only two days
worth. I'm glad the kids are turning over most of their food and
housing allowance, or they'd eat me out of house and home in a month."
"It just shows they're healthy, growing kids," Maya replied, she
was glad that some of the kids were getting decent treatment, from what
she could figure out, Shinji and Asuka took care of Misato, rather than
the other way around. She wondered why the Commander had agreed to the
arrangement. Maybe because he needed someone _to_ look after Captain
Katsuragi, she thought about the improvements in sempai. Despite the
craziness of teenagers, she was doing and feeling better than Maya could
ever remember seeing her. She wasn't so sad and lonely anymore, and she
was having to ask other people questions. The gossip about her hadn't
been so mean, no one called her the 'Ice-Bitch' or 'computer-spawn',
behind her back anymore. By having a weakness, she became more
acceptable. The married people who had kids could give advice, and the
unmarried ones saw her adversity as a warning of things to come for
them.
Maya still worried about her sempai, how worried she still looked,
when she considered the kids: hers, Misato's, even Rei. She had that
look now, "Should we go by the medical center, or ask Security where the
kids are?"
"No," Ritsuko shook her head as she considered what to prepare for
dinner, and what to put away. "If there was a change or a problem,
they'd contact us," she replied, "Besides, it's not the kids I'm worried
about. Well, they're part of it. The initial estimates guessed these
creatures would show up every five weeks to two months. That should
have given us enough time to rest, retool, analyze the fight, and
improve. Also the weakest were supposed to manifest first, then we'd
work up to the strongest." "I'd heard bit of that," Maya admitted,
"I didn't know there was a plan written down somewhere."
Ritsuko started at that, "Well, it's not as if we wrote down a
plan. But none of these assumptions are working out. We've all been
running, almost constantly, we get a day's rest here or there, but what
we really need is a week, or two. The ejection system still doesn't
work properly, there's rough spots in having _no_ training program.
Everett was supposed to handle that."
"Nabiki-chan has been teaching," Maya noted.
"She isn't official, she also isn't teaching them many of the other
things he was supposed to, like communications protocols, knife work,
and a long list of other things. His replacement, Lieutenant Baker,
isn't qualified to do much more than man a bridge console. We've been
depending on things going the way we expected, because we had more
knowledge, we could use the Magi to predict all the effect of all the
variables. It hasn't worked out that way. Our defeat of Tulzscha came
down to one of the pilots knowing about materials, and Ranma wasn't in
_any_ of the scenarios. The initial plans were for Rei, Shinji, Asuka,
Jason the American to pilot, with Nabiki, Sharon and Jeff as backups.
They would dorm together on the base, and Everett would handle the
military training. Except Everett and Jason are dead, poor Sharon's in
a mental institution, and Ranma's here. They were to go to school
half-days, to keep them in touch with other kids, but none of that
worked out, and we haven't been given a chance to stop and catch our
breath. It's as if our enemies know they can push us until we break,
and there's nothing we can do about it."
"But we aren't going to break," Maya insisted, horrified by the air
of defeat that had descended around her sempai, "I think that's why
Nabiki wanted the picnic she planned. A chance to unwind, to relax and
have fun."
----------------------------------------
Toji screamed all the way down, and even after he hit the water, so
he came up sputtering, "This water's freezing!"
Nabiki wasn't listening, she cracked her knuckles and advanced on
Asuka.
"He started it!" Asuka protested, as she tried to evade the other
pilot.
"Asuka," Hikari grabbed Asuka's hand, and headed for the drop off,
"Only one way out." Hikari and Asuka jumped off the 'cliff' into the
water below.
Asuka realized her skirt was billowing up, and Toji was below,
"Don't look . . . " the word 'pervert' was drowned, literally.
"Boss," Hiroko touched Nabiki's shoulder, "I don't think we'd," she
bowed, caught Nabiki's knees, and stood with Nabiki over her shoulder.
"Cool off!" she jumped with her burden into the icy water below.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Nabiki demanded when she surfaced, and
got a faceful of icy water as a reply. The splash fight became four
way, as Toji retreated to the shore, it didn't keep him from getting any
less wet, but he didn't want to be in the middle of the four fighting
girls. He looked up at Shinji, who was glancing at the girls, then at
the medcenter in the distance.
Toji wondered at the change in Ayanami, since the other pilots
arrived. He knew _he'd_ changed, the nightmares about his sister dying,
after she got hurt. That he could understand. But the other dreams, he
wondered, if the pilots had strange dreams. He'd seen pictures of the
things the pilots fought, he knew he wasn't supposed to look at them,
but if they were attacking the world, Japan, Tokyo. He wanted to know
what they were. The dreams they gave him weren't scary, really, they
were just weird.
He didn't remember them but, Shinji and Rei admitted their dreams
had been 'different' lately, and _both_ of them blushed when they said
it. He'd never seen anything embarrass Ayanami before, or her be
evasive. It was one of the reasons everybody thought she was creepy,
she just didn't get embarrassed or angry, no matter how cruel her
schoolmates were to her. If she'd been having those kind of dreams
about Shinji, she would have said that, and not been embarrassed about
it. He really couldn't ask any of the others. Kensuke dreamt of being
an EVA pilot, Who couldn't guess that, Toji mused as he wrung the
water out of his clothes. Only to get an icy drenching again, a moment
later. I bet this doesn't happen to any of the pilots!
He couldn't talk to the other pilots, they scared him too much.
Some of the other kids in class had some severe nightmares, but those
kind of kids always had nightmares. He couldn't imagine any of the
pilots having that kind of problem, he wished he could talk to somebody
who'd gone through it, somebody who would understand, and wouldn't laugh
at him.
The fight finally wound down, and all four girls climbed out of the
water. Toji tried not to stare at the way their clothes were clinging
to their bodies. He glanced at the class rep, she blushed as she
realized how she looked. Tendo took up a pose that made him _and_
Hiroko blush.
"What are you looking at?" Asuka demanded, accidentally taking a
pose almost as risque as Tendo's, "You pervert."
"Not you!" Toji stood, he saw her anger build, Oh, not smart, not
smart. That's how this all got started.
"What's wrong with me?" Asuka demanded, "Or do you like boys?"
"Since no one wants hot tea. I'm throwing it out," Shinji called
down to the shivering group.
Good save, Toji thought, as he followed the girls up the slope.
The class rep kept rearranging her wet clothes, and looking back at
him, then blushing and looking away.
"Pervert," Asuka grumbled.
Toji fumed.
"Yes," Nabiki agreed, "He should know the effect those pants would
have on us girls when wet."
Toji glanced down, and then desperately tried to put a little
distance between his slacks and his skin.
"I never knew you were so . . . mature," Hiroko said, and all four
girls giggled.
Toji blushed again, he'd never imagined girls would act like this,
but they outnumbered him four to one, maybe they felt safe picking on
him.
----------------------------------------
Rapids
Nabiki squelched wetly back into the apartment, Ritsuko was cooking
something. Ranma was sitting at the dining room table, his head down on
one arm, with his other hand, he was idly rolling a baseball on the
table. If she didn't know him better, she would have called his
expression contemplative. Maya was standing next to one of the curio
cabinets, watching everybody else.
"Misato was angry that no one told her Shinji and Asuka were over
here last night," Nabiki told them. Nabiki remembered the look on
Misato's face when she'd said, 'We were waiting for you to be sober,'
then she'd looked at the beer cans on the table and asked, 'When will
that be perchance?' Then she'd left. It probably made things harder on
Shinji and Asuka, but she couldn't figure out how such a person had
ascended to that level of responsibility. Actually she could, but
neither Fuyutsuki nor Ikari seemed the kind to promote their mistress,
and she didn't seem their type.
"She told us," Ritsuko said, "She also suggested you need a lesson
in discipline."
Uh oh, Nabiki thought, I stepped in it again.
"So, you're going to finish stirring this, and tell me
_everything_, about your sortie, and the rescue, and what led up to you
inviting Shinji and Asuka to spend the night," Ritsuko waited until
Nabiki was stirring at the stove, then added, "And you will not leave
anything out, I already talked to Ranma and Misato. I can also talk to
Asuka and Rei."
Nabiki let out a sigh, and started her tale. At least the heat
from the stove drove the chill from her, and started drying her clothes.
----------------------------------------
They were sitting quietly around the dining room table. Nabiki
noted that even Ranma was eating like a regular person. Nabiki wondered
who Ritsuko and Maya were angry with: Asuka for disobeying orders and
taking Shinji out, Misato for tearing Asuka apart for what she'd done,
her for antagonizing Misato, or some combination of two or all three.
"Misato was correct, Asuka should have waited for orders," Ritsuko
said calmly, "If she had, the medical center would have burned to the
ground, Davis would have been killed, probably you too, and Rei would
have died of her injuries. Asuka may have done the right thing, and
done it superbly, but for completely the wrong reasons." Ritsuko paused
to let Nabiki respond.
Nabiki held her tongue, she'd expected Ritsuko to be reasonable
about this, instead she was just parroting the company line.
"Taking an EVA without command authorization, is a capital crime,"
Ritsuko continued, "Asuka is lucky the reprimand was verbal, and
unofficial, and the records show the sortie had the Commander's
authorization. Misato was terrified, when she realized what Asuka had
done. If she'd done _anything_ official, as discipline, Asuka would be
liable for immediate trial, and if convicted, summary execution. There
is no other penalty for an unauthorized use of an EVA."
"That hardly seems fair," this information utterly shocked Nabiki,
she saw the shocked expression Ranma wore, "Do as we say or we'll kill
you."
"Nabiki-chan," Maya explained, "The only thing that can stop a
rogue EVA, is an Angel, or another EVA, the safeguards have to be in
place."
"And why weren't we told about them?" Nabiki asked, "Or is the law
a secret too? It seems any time we take initiative, there's some adult,
and I use the term advisedly, telling us we did wrong, and explaining
the changing of the rules. But never explaining the rules beforehand.
Misato never mentioned the law, or the penalties. She just attacked
Asuka for not showing _her_ proper respect, I don't think that law or
regulations had anything to do with the Captain's tantrum, it was about
bypassing _her_. She never once mentioned what Asuka should have done,
only that she was wrong."
Ritsuko considered, "That might be true, but the facts still
remain."
"The _fact_ is, that somebody is always waiting to mallet us over
the head, if we don't follow the rules, and _nobody_ seems to want to
tell us the rules, or they change them to suit themselves. So we're
always in the wrong, so some adult can feel special and important."
Nabiki was beginning to understand Ranma's fiance problem, Ukyo and
Shampoo played by consistent rules, Akane didn't. It explained why he
tried to stay friends with them, they were a source of stability, even
if they destabilized the rest of his world. If they didn't, something
else would have, like discovering he was burakumin, or his father had
affianced him again, or _their_ father had affianced one of his
daughters. Or he looked at somebody wrong, and they wanted revenge, or
some creditor showed up to settle accounts with Genma.
"Maybe I should talk to Rei about all of this. At least she'd tell
us," Nabiki said, "We can _trust_ her. Is she the only one?" she fixed
Maya with a scowl, she caught the warning glance from Ritsuko to her
assistant.
"I'm sorry," she said apologetically, "I keep forgetting, we're
just kids, not real people. I'm going to go check on Rei," she got up
and put on her shoes, before she left.
The day had been going so well, she really should have known
better. With Ranma around, life naturally just got more complicated.
----------------------------------------
Ranma looked at the two older women, spoke in a quiet voice, "I
think she's angry that you haven't tried to treat her as an adult. I
think I can understand why, because we aren't adults. But you adults
haven't been acting like grownups either." He sighed, wondered how much
he should push this, "Maybe we all have to grow up, start really being
worthy of who we say and think we are."
He put his shoes on, and left to find Nabiki.
----------------------------------------
"You okay, Nab-chan?" Ranma caught up with her. Nabiki was glad of
the company, she wondered if things would ever get better. "I'm
just realizing that we're just trained animals, who're supposed to jump
through hoops, never asking questions."
"Come on, Nab-chan, it ain't like that."
"Really?" Nabiki stared at him, "The other day, I found them going
through your stuff, and Raccoon's. They had lockpicks and prybars for
Kami sake! Why didn't they just ask? And what's with the business of
'Asuka did the right thing for the wrong reasons?' I'd bet money, that
prohibition on the EVAs, doesn't apply to the pilots going into combat
against our enemies. Misato was pissed off that Asuka did a better job
without her orders, than with them."
"Well she is a military genius. Everybody says so."
"And you have proof?" Nabiki started walking, "Did she order you to
shoot off that attack that destroyed the Tar Angel, did she come up with
the plans to defeat the Green Fire Angel? Her 'brilliant' idea to trap
the crab-spider didn't work out so well, and she had you and Shinji so
confused, you barely won. In fact, you didn't, until Ritsuko cut you
loose." She pointed at the medcenter, "Raccoon caught that Elephant
Angel on his own, then killed it on his own. He and Asuka killed the
flatfish, with _their_ plan, not hers. So where's the genius? I took
over the school mafia, because I assembled the pilots, put them where I
thought they'd do the most good, and let them do as they would, and it
worked. Does that make me a military genius?"
"She came up with the plan to get us away from the things that
killed Everett," Ranma said softly.
Nabiki could see he was just trying to keep the facts straight, he
wasn't correcting her.
The flinch he gave when she turned to face him frightened and
angered her, she stifled her frustration for a moment, said calmly,
"Okay, that's one. But if you had to take orders from someone on the
senior staff, or one of the pilots, for a combat sortie, would it be
Miss Captain Misato, or somebody else?"
She watched Ranma consider, he didn't like taking orders from
anyone, so it was a question of what he hated least.
Then he got a strange expression on his face, "Does it have to be
me, or can it be Ranko?"
Nabiki stared at him, Where did _that_ come from? she wondered.
"Your choice."
"Okay," Ranma said, "As _Ranko_, Raccoon."
"What's Ranko got to do with anything?"
"I don't wanna talk about it," Ranma started walking towards the
medcenter.
Nabiki had to jog to keep up with him, "Come on Ranma, you can't
say something like that, and just walk away."
Ranma sighed, "While you were out shopping, I ran into Mirei and
her grandfather."
Nabiki strangled the jealous retort, she was already acting too
much like Akane for her own piece of mind, "And," she said,
concentrating on her curiosity.
"They said Ranko's Raccoon's daughter."
"What?!"
"That's how he acts. Ranko's a daughter he's very proud of,
Ranma's a son who's a disappointment."
What he was saying shocked Nabiki, what it implied, and that Ranma
of all people had been able to do the analysis. She nearly ran into
him, when he turned to face her.
"Then I realized, you act the same way. It's like I'm your kid or
something. I don't like it, you aren't any older that I am."
"I . . . I'm sorry. I just want what's best for you," she
admitted.
"How about some space to make mistakes, how about just accepting
who I am? How about you quit trying to be my mother, or my girlfriend,
or whatever you think you are and - " he stopped, "_I_ don't know who I
am! Do you have any idea how much that hurts? You walked away from
your home and family, because you chose to. Asuka, and probably Rei
too, grew up to be EVA pilots, for all I know, Raccoon did too.
_NOT_ME_!_ I don't know what I walked away from. I don't know if I
left, or was dragged away, or if there was nothing left to leave. You
just said Misato isn't as smart as everybody thinks she is. Well
there's a lot of that around here. Rei said I don't exist, and you know
what?" he stopped shouting long enough for her to shake her head, he
started more quietly, "She isn't wrong. You keep trying to make me
'better', all you're doing, is trying to eliminate the few handholds
I've got on who I am, and I don't like it. So Rit-chan and Misa-chan
went through my stuff, I've got nothing to hide, only you do."
He paused, centered himself, "I'm not a toy for you to play with,"
he wasn't shouting, he was explaining in a reasonable tone.
It struck her that the decisive, indomitable Ranma Saotome that
she'd seen so little of lately, that she'd wanted for herself so badly
back in Nerima, first reappeared, telling her off.
"I didn't want you to do something to embarrass yourself," she
said.
"And you walking around in a permanent snit isn't embarrassing?
Nab-chan, you have to let people be themselves. You have to let me be
me . . . please don't cry. Aw jeez."
"You have to let me be me too," she smiled wiping at the tears.
She wasn't sure if she was sad, because someone _else_ she cared about
was dumping on her, happy, because Ranma had finally found the strength
to stand up for himself, or both. She realized she hadn't been the only
one marking time, waiting for something to happen. Back home, something
always happened to put the real issues on the back burner, so they were
rarely addressed. Here the action was sharper, over quicker, and there
was quiet time to think.
"Come on, stop," Ranma pleaded.
She shook her head and sat on the curb, "Only if you agree to marry
me."
She watched him go through some mental contortions as he
considered.
----------------------------------------
Rei looks up from her book and through the oxygen tent, as
Nabiki-kun and the Fourth enter.
"How do you feel?" the Fourth asks.
"Injured."
"Do you think you have enough books?" Nabiki-kun asks.
"No, I've read those," Rei watches her examine the stack of books
the staff have given her.
"All of these?" Nabiki-kun seems to doubt her.
"Yes."
"Today?" Nabiki-kun asks.
"No." She hadn't said she read them today, she'd said she'd read
them.
"Should we get you a copy of 'War and Peace'?" Nabiki-kun asks.
She is tired, she didn't think just talking would be this tiring,
"Which one?" She doesn't understand their confusion.
"The Bible?" the Fourth takes a book out of the stack on the side
table, "I didn't know you were Christian."
"I am not." Why did he assume that reading a religion's book made
you an adherent of that religion?
"Jewish?" the Fourth is being inane again, she stares at him,
wishing he'd go away.
She sets her book aside, and tiredly lays back. Merely speaking is
difficult.
"We'll see about getting you some more books," Nabiki-kun pushes
the Fourth towards the door.
"Thank you," she replies and consciousness fades to sleep.
----------------------------------------
Ranma's Travail
Ranma lay awake and stared at the empty bunk above his head. He
wasn't an introspective type, at least, he didn't think he was. That
was the problem, he didn't know. The fact he was even thinking about
thinking about things, irritated him. He wondered how much useless
effort was wasted on wondering 'How do I be me?'
He knew he was a guy, a martial artist . . . beyond that, was all
speculation. He still didn't know why he acted the way he did. Why was
he afraid of cats, why did he fight, verbally or physically, with
everyone? Why did he center his life around martial arts? It would be
`easier` to be Ranko most of the time, people cut `her` more slack than
they did Ranma. Raccoon especially treated them differently. Ranma was
the enemy _because_ of the way he treated Ranko. He made deals with
Ranko, pushed her around a little . . . Ranma didn't know why `she` felt
so weird around him. The dreams of seduction and the training were part
of it, that somewhere in Raccoon's head, were his answers, were another
part, how he talked about Ranma's curse was yet another part, the most
important part.
Was Ranma a guy, who changed into a girl, OR was Ranma a girl, who
changed into a guy, and was brainwashed into thinking she was a `he`,
and felt contempt for `his` real form? Being a girl was easy, most
people thought `she` was a tomboy, but a charming one. Some of the
thoughts of the things he'd absorbed, told him gender was unimportant,
for reproduction. He suspected that was the source of the dreams.
"But why a guy, not any of the girls?" he murmured. Nabiki was
interested, but he kept expecting her to belt him. He wanted to avoid
that. Asuka . . . he'd rather date Rei, at least she'd shut up. Misato
and Ritsuko were ancient. Shinji and Raccoon, he shuddered at that, he
couldn't stand that Shinji ran away from everything.
Ranko felt safe, no, not safe, Raccoon was trustworthy. He did
weird, terrifying stuff, because she needed to know and do those things,
and Ranma always wanted to know to find the limits of what he could do.
But he came back to the question of was he a he, or was he a she,
or did it even matter? The other girl pilots all made him
uncomfortable, Shinji made him sick, but _Ranko_ relaxed around her
roommate, who should have been the one she was _most_ frightened of.
Ranma couldn't imagine talking or thinking about girls, the way the
'Three Stooges' did. He also couldn't imagine mooning over a guy, or
acting stupid around him, like Hikari and Asuka did . . . and Misato.
He almost didn't care. He was vaguely interested in girls. But guys?
He did _NOT_ want to get pregnant, he couldn't imagine letting a guy do
that to him/her.
But how is that different from Asuka's reaction, to most of the
guys in class? he thought, wondered if 'she' was reacting that way
because `she` hadn't met `Mr. Right`, or because he really was a guy,
and couldn't imagine surrendering his manhood that way.
He rolled over disgustedly, all this was getting him nowhere. He
suspected he didn't think about things, because he was no good at it.
Everything he wanted to be good at, he was. The things he wasn't good
at, he didn't care about.
Then why are you so good at being a girl? the thought froze him.
It implied he'd practiced, put real effort into doing the job well.
He sat bolt upright, trying to come to grips with that idea. It
was horrifying, and reasonable, both at once. The girl form had
advantages and disadvantages, but that was hand-to-hand combat. Not how
to smile, how to laugh, how to touch a guy and just make him melt, not
how to manipulate people by being charming and cute. He could do it as
Ranma, to some girls, Ranko could do it to nearly everybody, but the
techniques were very different. They didn't translate, so they'd have
to have been practiced separately.
That shook him to his core. He knew how to do a lot of girly
stuff: cooking, laundry, massage, and there were times after a hard
workout when he wished Nabiki _or_ Raccoon could work on his sore
muscles, or if he saw one of the others in that kind of distress, he
_and_ she were drawn to do something. Ranko helping Nabiki or Asuka, or
Ranma helping Raccoon or Shinji, the motivation was the same. It got
messy when it was Ranko/Raccoon or Ranma/Nabiki. Nabiki reacted
differently to Ranma than Ranko, although she tried to hide it. Raccoon
wouldn't let _anyone_ touch him, except for medical purposes, except
Ranko. Whose actions he accepted without comment or complaint.
Ranma sighed, stared at the ceiling, trying to will a structure out
of his chaotic thoughts. He realized introspection just didn't work.
For everybody else, they thought about things, they got answers, even if
the answers were wrong, at least they could stop thinking about things
for a while. For him, the answers never came.
But he needed those answers, the things they fought added and took
away a little of what he was, and he had so little of it to start with,
one might sweep him away in a moment of weakness.
The others knew who they were, their 'roots' went a lot deeper than
his. What had nearly taken him over while they moved Asuka's stuff,
he'd have to be able to deal with it, if it happened again, when it
happened again. He also wanted to know better where he ended, and those
thing started.
He doubted Rei, Asuka or Raccoon had any doubts about themselves.
Shinji seemed to retreat from everything, even himself. Nabiki, she
twisted around so much, he doubted she could even _find_ who she was, if
she ever bothered to think about it. He doubted Ritsuko cared either,
she had science and her work, she wouldn't worry about who she was and
where she was going.
He disgustedly pulled the covers over his head, wishing he could
just blot out the world, and get some sleep.
----------------------------------------
Ranma watched Doctor Akagi exit the isolation lab through the
'diving suit tunnel'. The thing you wore that stayed inside the lab,
while you technically, remained outside. He'd been specifically asked
to come here, he didn't know why Asuka and Nabiki were here. Shinji was
looking in on Rei, elsewhere in the medical complex.
"Pulse and blood pressure are down since an hour ago, temperature
is up," Ritsuko spoke directly him, "He won't last long at the current
rate of decline."
Ranma nodded, he still hadn't figured out how any of this applied
to him.
"He needs a transfusion, a large one, I hope your remarkable
recovery ability is contained in some of your blood elements."
Ranma nodded, "What do I have to do?"
"Step this way," she led him into the isolab, he remembered this
place, one of his first memories. She put a tube in his arm, with the
other end in Raccoon's. They hooked up a unit of plasma to 'keep his
volume correct,' whatever that meant.
As Ranma watched, Raccoon's gray pallor faded. Ranma felt a little
dizzy as Dr. Akagi 'unhooked' him.
"Easy Ranma," Dr. Akagi helped him sit up, "Dizzy? Would you like
to lie down again?"
"No, I'm fine, Doc," he glanced over at Raccoon, "How's he?"
"I don't expect - "
"I feel," Raccoon interrupted Dr. Akagi, "Strange."
Ritsuko looked over in shock at her patient, Ranma joined her as he
saw the sheet covering Raccoon moving.
It ballooned out impressively at the chest, widened at the hips.
The hair color changed to the familiar red.
The now-buxom redhead, jumped off the table, and caught Ranma in a
bone-crushing hug, "Oh Saotome-sama, you saved my life! I'm yours!
Forget Nabiki and Asuka, I'm all the woman you'd ever need."
Ranma's protest was cut off as Raccoon-ette crushed her lips down
on his. While Ranma was getting his tonsils cleaned, Raccoon-ette put
one hand on his neck, forcing continuation of the kiss, her other hand
moved Ranma's hand to her naked butt.
That got Ranma to pull away, unfortunately only their tight embrace
had been holding up the sheet Raccoon-ette had been wearing, and she
wasn't wearing anything underneath. The pose she took, and the
smoldering look she gave Ranma, did nothing for his ability to
concentrate.
----------------------------------------
Ranma's eyes shot open. He stared at the two closets in the wall.
He was back in his room. At least that worked! he had managed to
pull himself out of that nightmare.
"Ohh!" he heard as something soft and warm, two somethings, pressed
into his shoulder blades, and a pair of hands encircled his waist.
Ranma recognized Raccoon-ette's voice.
"You should have told me you were shy," the fingertips danced
across his stomach, "And sooo manly," she purred, "Don't worry. I can
cook and clean and keep the house, run the business while you train,"
the hands started down, "All I want, is a few daughters along with the
sons I'll give you."
----------------------------------------
Ranma threw himself out of the bed, slamming into the wall between
the closets, whirled to face the bed. He could see clearly, despite the
darkness. Beyond the empty bed was a sea shore, immense cliffs on
either side of a channel. Ships passed through, in the darkness. The
figure standing at the cliff edge with his back to Ranma, caught his
attention.
"Troubles, Saotome?" Raccoon asked, "You need someone to guide you
through this? Some way to interpret and explain all this for you?"
Ranma didn't want to ask the other boy for anything, but, "Yeah,
it's all kinda weird, you know?"
"You have no idea. The truth is right in front of you," Raccoon
hadn't bothered to turn around, "You trip over it, dust yourself off,
and continue on. Poor, confused, self-blinded child."
Ranma seethed at that, at all the mind games and insults, "Then
tell me something useful!"
Raccoon turned towards him, he'd never seen Raccoon look that
weary, "Since you asked, I will tell you something. Would you like to
know how to end all your worries, just let all your troubles drift away
on the wind?"
"Yes," Ranma chuckled, "That's exactly what I need."
"'In strange eons, even Death may die.' So to conquer everything,
you only have to conquer Death," Raccoon explained.
"Oh, that's _real_ useful!" Ranma shouted as he stood, "There's
just one little problem: HOW DO I CONQUER DEATH?! Care to tell me that,
Mr. 'I'm-so-smart-I-can't-stand-it'?"
"You wound me, Saotome," Raccoon placed his hand on his heart,
"That you would think I'd withhold the key that way."
Ranma calmed down, stared at this latest tormentor.
"To conquer Death," Raccoon stepped to the cliff edge, "You only
have to die."
Ranma raced towards him, as Raccoon jumped off the edge. Ranma
only managed to throw himself flat, and watch the smiling face descend,
until the body smashed against the rocks hundreds of feet below.
----------------------------------------
Ranma threw himself out of the bed, slamming into the wall between
the closets, whirled to face the bed. There was no one in the bed,
there was no one else in the room, his room, nothing out of place.
Instead of the futon, that normally occupied the framework over his bed,
only the framework now.
This is reality, he realized, glanced around. Ritsuko had made
him put the futon away, that bothered him, surely if it was only a week
. . . .
"Ranma?" Nabiki opened the door.
More proof this nightmare is my real life, he didn't want to
think about the razzing she was going to give him about this latest
dream, when, not if, she found out. Better I simply tell her, rather
than make her work for it. He watched her grope forward in the
darkness, he suddenly remembered that while _he_ could see perfectly in
the pitch-black room, she couldn't. Just a little bit of my humanity
gone, he thought, I wonder what else it's cost me. He caught her
hand before she groped him, he wasn't ready for that just yet.
"I'm fine, just a weird dream," he saw Dr. Akagi enter.
"Are you sure you're all right? We heard that crash," Ritsuko told
him.
"I'm fine, don't turn on the light, I'd like to get back to bed.
Turn on that light, and it's morning," he replied.
"Okay," she admitted.
Ranma reluctantly told them the entire dream involving
Raccoon-ette, he didn't mention the cliff side revelation, that one
bothered him too much. He noted that despite the darkness, Dr. Akagi
stared right at him, he had to remind himself not to stare back, and let
on how good his eyesight was. And how good is _your_ night vision,
Doc? Nab-chan is blind as a bat. He was surprised Ritsuko reacted to
the use of blood as a curative, he also didn't like Nabiki's scowl at
the mention of `Raccoon-ette`'s actions.
Amazing what people will show when they don't think you're
watching, he'd expected her to grin at his dream.
"One dream you seduce him, as a girl, when he's a girl, he attacks
you. I'd say you've got some issues, Saotome," Nabiki told him.
Ranma scowled, Ritsuko's mouth was a grim line. Ranma forced
himself not to rise to the bait. Dreams, once you've confirmed it
isn't a sending, are just concerns and worries left over, Ranma
remembered from lessons. He decided to hit Nabiki back, and see her
reaction. "I'm just worried about my teammate."
He watched her flush with anger and embarrassment, clenching and
unclenching her fists. I never said _she_ wasn't, he wondered about
her reaction. "Well, I'm going to do a few practices, then get back to
bed." He slipped between them, and headed up to the roof. Neither
followed him.
----------------------------------------
Dozens of red eyes stared into deep yellow eyes.
'Release me,' whispered through the darkened chamber.
"What is the Riddle of Yd'he?" a voice rasped in reply.
Many of the red eyes blinked, then sardonic laughter filled the
chamber.
"You've been very helpful," the voice rasped again.
The laughter instantly stopped, and the red eyes bored into the
now-empty darkness.
----------------------------------------
He leapt into the dark skies, I should not be here, the Dragon
thought, looking at the night skies of Tokyo. He had a mission to
complete while he was here. He looked towards the NERV Headquarters,
and the medical center. There was his first stop, he wound the spells
around him, that would alter and disguise his form.
Landing atop the medcenter in human form, he entered. He would
check on the wounded, before he would investigate further.
----------------------------------------
Once Ranma was on the roof, he slid down the drainpipe to the
ground, and ran the three miles to the NERV medical wing. He didn't
want to get there all tired and panting, so he didn't run full out.
Fifteen minutes later, he walked into the medical building, he
slipped unseen past the night staff. First, he checked on Rei, who was
reading again, a bottle of clear liquid going though a tube into her
arm. Despite the oxygen tent, Ranma had nothing to worry about here, he
knocked and entered.
----------------------------------------
"After the concert," the Fourth said after he walked in, "I dreamed
I was Raccoon, Nabiki and Asuka switched, who did you dream you were?"
Rei considered, did she want to share that with the Fourth, how
would he hurt her with the information, how would he hurt the Second?
Not answering a question wasn't lying, she merely stared at the Fourth.
"I just want to know that, if Nabiki and Asuka exchanged, and I
dreamed I was Raccoon, then if you and Shinji exchanged, it would mean
that Raccoon knows some of my history."
Rei reconsidered, she knew what the loss of personal history was
like, but she wouldn't risk this was a clever trick, "I saw my history,
through another's eyes," she told him, "And the repercussions."
"But was that person Asuka?" the Fourth pressed.
Rei considered the risks, "She was a knight, perhaps 25-30 years
old."
The Fourth looked disappointed, she could understand his quest, but
that was different from wanting to expose the Second to the machinations
of the Fourth, she simply didn't trust him, she also wasn't sure she
wanted the Second to know of the insights she'd gained into her. She
had heard of the incident, and was displeased with the outcome. The
Meliorist was an exceptional asset to the Commander, if they had to take
Asuka Soryu Langley along with, the scales were still overwhelming
balanced in the Commander's favor.
----------------------------------------
He proceeded on, he couldn't stay long, or Dr. Akagi would come
looking.
Ranma saw an old doctor in a lab coat, checking on Raccoon.
"You shouldn't be here," the old doctor told him, then smiled, "But
I was a soldier too. Look, I'll be back in 15 minutes, if you aren't
here when I get back, you were never here, agreed?"
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, okay." Ranma didn't expect this to take more
than a few minutes. The old doctor left quickly, quietly closing the
door after him.
Raccoon was also in an oxygen tent. Ranma watched the boy's chest
barely rise or fall, his dream image had been frighteningly accurate,
the gray pallor and the faint breathing. Ranma sat on the edge of the
bed. On his run over, he'd realized the dream was about his concern, a
debt he'd acquired, and had to acknowledge. He had giri, honor demanded
repayment. Even if Raccoon thought the idea stupid, it was the source
and substance of Ranma's life and drive, he wouldn't ignore it, he
couldn't.
"I'm . . . sorry. I should have paid more attention to Ayanami, I
shouldn't have made you do my job. If you . . . " he paused, he didn't
like making promises he couldn't keep, he had an unreasoning hatred of
it that he didn't fully understand, "I understand that Asuka dreamed
Nabiki's past, and Nabiki dreamt hers. Since I dreamt yours . . . I
have to know. Know what my father and mother are like, any brothers or
sisters, any of my family. You don't know what it's like, not knowing,
not knowing any of it," he said, took a deep breath, "Anything you want,
I'll kiss you in front of the class, anything . . . within reason." He
wasn't really expecting an answer, but he'd made the promise in front of
the recipient, and he'd keep his word, that's what he needed, that's all
he needed.
He started to leave, "If you breathe from your center, instead of
your chest, you'll be healthier." He hadn't expected a reaction to that
either, and wasn't surprised when he didn't get one.
----------------------------------------
The Dragon returned to the roof, he had no intention of remaining
or returning, he needed to find a place where he would not be seen
during daylight.
He knew Ranma would be gone if he returned, when the Iron Horse
gave his word, he kept it.
The Dragon smirked at the most obvious possibility, after all, the
eating would be good around Ayanami's place. The Cthonians hadn't
learned to leave the girl alone, and since she wasn't there, they'd be
looking, and careless. The Dragon smacked his human lips, "Yes, very
good eating."
----------------------------------------
Plans for the Future
Another Literature class, and day in the Japanese school system
ended. Asuka smirked, if the teacher had wanted to give her a better
present, another whole class day to complete her special project was an
ideal one. Today had been about Nietzsche, she could quote Nietzsche in
her sleep, she had heard enough of it from Party members and her fellow
University students, although, they didn't understand him. Maybe he'd
faced the mthos, she thought, It sure read like he had.
Asuka looked down at her handiwork, and admitted the elegant
simplicity of it. Since the only weapon they had was the prog knife,
they needed something to give them some reach. She had to admit, her
knowledge of materials was lacking, so she went to the most obvious,
simple solution. The 16 "gun tube of the new Iowa class battleships.
They had to have made more that just the 36 for the four battleships.
Since it was a 16" 50 caliber, that gave her a tube a little over 20
meters long, designed to take tremendous stresses: throwing well over a
metric ton almost 40 kilometers. While it was only half the height of
an EVA, it was better than nothing, and the interior bore gave plenty of
space for the power cord and other control lines.
She considered the reaction Misato and the NERV command would have
to her proposal. She angrily realized, that they'd pat her on the head,
and put the design in a file cabinet somewhere. If they don't just
throw it out, she thought angrily. Then she considered the possibility
of bypassing NERV completely, after all, it was the U.S. Navy's gun tube
that would have to be used, it was the Americans who would have to build
it. Why should NERV have any say in the development, Asuka thought,
I can work with Navy engineers, all NERV will have to do is accept or
reject the finished product.
She remembered Doctor Schikelgrubber, and his admonishment not to
turn her back on engineering, "Well, `old man`," she said quietly, "I
guess I didn't."
Asuka carefully put the designs, all her calculations, and the
drawings, in a folder in her book bag as she prepared to leave the
classroom. She smiled as she considered what she'd tell Captain Ramsey,
when she went to see him.
----------------------------------------
"I'm sorry, Miss Langley," Captain Ramsey told her, "It won't work.
Not that it isn't an innovative design, and a good use of existing
equipment, we will keep the idea on file as a stop gap for
emergencies."
"Thank you," Asuka said without enthusiasm.
"Please, Miss Langley, wouldn't a tube three times that length be a
better choice, however, with your input, we know how to manufacture it."
"A longer tube wouldn't be able to handle the stresses," Asuka
said, "My calculations prove that. Tripling the length means you have
to have nine times the cross-sectional strength, at twenty meters you're
at your limit."
"That's true if you limit yourself to the materials you know
about." He smiled, "I assure you, Krupp wasn't the only company in the
world making new materials. Kaiser aluminum has a product that is
stronger than many steels, and a lot lighter. Getting the
cross-sectional strength probably wouldn't require much more than
halving the central bore. I can bump this up to the Admiral, and
General MacArthur, they'll take it to the Joint Chiefs and Truman. I'll
keep you informed as to the progress." "Thank you," Asuka smiled,
she hoped they'd hurry.
"Have you decided on a name for this new weapon? Progressive
spear?"
"It isn't really a spear, more like a glaive, and the progressive
knife, what does it progress? It just uses sonic frequencies."
"Sonic Glaive then?" Ramsey asked. Asuka nodded. "Well, if you
get any more good ideas, don't hesitate to bring them in." He paused,
"On another note, have you given any thought to joining the military
when you're old enough. A stint in the Navy or Army will certainly help
you get your citizenship quicker."
"Captain, I know you're doing your job, and that you believe that
everyone wants to be an American . . . but I'm German. I can remember a
time when that was something to be proud of, if I have my way, it will
be again. Frankly, I think my homeland needs me more than your's does,
it brought me to this point when it was strong, I can hardly turn my
back when it's been laid low. I hope you don't hold that against me."
"As long as you don't hold it against me if I ask occasionally.
Frankly, I believe you can help your country as much from American soil
as you could from Deutschland."
"Well, I can't join until I'm 16, and I won't join until this war
is over," Asuka told him, "So I don't have to decide anything, just yet.
Thank you."
"I want to win this war as much as you do, well, almost as much."
He smiled, Asuka returned it.
Asuka left the Navy HQ with a spring in her step, she hadn't felt
this good in a month.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko wasn't looking forward to this. Maya had, predictably,
thought her fear was hilarious. Lt. Thompson had given her a pep talk
that sounded more like what they would have told the troops storming
Normandy Beach.
She caught sight of Misato leaving the school principal's office,
Of course she's dressed to stop traffic, she thought as she examined
her own more sophisticated and understated outfit, more appropriate for
a woman of her station and responsibilities. From Misato's expression,
her outfit had no effect on the principal or the teachers. Ritsuko
actually felt sorry for Asuka and Shinji tonight.
She entered, the two men looked up, looking a little shell-shocked.
Evidently, Misato had a considerable effect. She just didn't get what
she wanted, Ritsuko thought.
"Ah, Mrs. Akagi."
"Doctor Akagi," she said politely, as she took her seat.
"Ah, yes, Doctor Akagi," the man said, the principal from the way
the other man deferred to him. "Frankly we are very concerned about
your wards, all three of them."
Uh, oh, she thought, she'd expected to have to defend Ranma, not
all three.
"Saotome Ranko has a very poor attendance record," the principal
told her.
"Her duties to NERV preclude regular attendance," she said firmly,
"As do all the pilots." Isn't that obvious? she wondered, as the two
men exchanged confused looks.
"Well, as regards to grades. Mr. Demitsu has adequate grades," the
principal told her.
"Davis," Ritsuko corrected, she'd recognized the other man, he was
the school's English teacher. Ritsuko felt a distinct 'down elevator'
feeling in her stomach. English was possibly Ranma's worst subject.
This meeting wasn't going as badly as she feared, it was going far
worse.
"Mr. Demitsu . . . his attendance lately has been poor, to say the
least."
"He's been at NERV," she told them.
"Well, we still expect him to turn in his homework."
He's in a coma, Ritsuko thought, Come to think of it, he could
still _do_ the homework, if he could write.
"He is unavailable," she told them.
"Ahem, you must understand, an education is very important.
Attitude is very important."
"Maybe that's why he was at Harvard when he was nine."
The two men exchanged more looks and whispers.
"Yes, our concern for Saotome Ranma's grades and attendance are
manifold."
That one, Ritsuko had an answer for. Not an answer for these men,
but an answer for the one depending on her.
----------------------------------------
Misato had changed into comfortable clothes, before she confronted
her two charges. Shinji's grades were barely acceptable, their major
concern was his attitude, he didn't speak up in class or volunteer to
answer, unless specifically called on.
Well, that will take more work to fix, she thought.
Asuka was her real concern, she was barely scraping by, that was a
serious disappointment, "How could you get a D on a physics test?"
Misato demanded, "It should have been easy for you."
"I can't read Kanji, all the tests are in Kanji, so I had to guess
what the questions were," Asuka said quietly.
"What about this one," Misato indicated one of the questions on the
test, "It's all numbers, and you still got it wrong!" Misato told her.
"The answer I got was correct, the teacher's answer is incorrect."
"How do you figure that? You didn't even use the formula they
taught in class."
Asuka sighed, "I did the triple integral, the formula is not a good
approximation. It doesn't apply to the vast majority of cases. My
answer's right, the teacher was wrong."
"He is your teacher, you were supposed answer the question he
asked, not the one you think you should answer."
Asuka stood up, "Very well, _Captain_. I'll await your punishment.
After all, it isn't as if I had a college degree in Physics. I guess a
Japanese Middle School teacher knows more about physics than I do." She
stormed into her room, slamming the door behind her.
Misato got up and tugged on the door, "Asuka! Unlock this door
immediately!"
"Japanese doors don't lock!" Asuka replied, "Why don't you just
consider it house arrest."
----------------------------------------
Shinji watched Misato and Asuka scream at each other through the
door. He wondered if he could slip away unnoticed, he didn't
necessarily want to go see Rei, but he wanted to avoid Misato and Asuka
in a battle. He still hadn't figured out why Asuka, Nabiki and Raccoon
were in Middle School. Nabiki and Raccoon had graduated from High
School, Asuka from college, even he was beyond where most of his
classmates were scholastically.
Frankly, except for being with his friends, school bored him.
Because of his status as a pilot, he couldn't join the band, the only
thing that really interested him, and he didn't want to join any
after-school clubs, because the only music-oriented clubs were jazz or
traditional music, neither interested him.
Unfortunately, Misato got frustrated with the one-sided argument
with Asuka, and returned to the table.
"What do you have to say for yourself?" Misato asked.
School is incredibly boring, Shinji thought, he only shook his
head, he knew better than to argue. If he hadn't known, Misato's
argument with Asuka would have taught him.
"I expect you to buckle down and spend more time studying," she
told him.
Between cooking, cleaning and doing all the sync and harmonics
tests, Shinji thought as he nodded, I guess I can do without sleep.
"Yes, Misato-san." If I get killed in battle tomorrow, my grades will
be so very important, he didn't say, he just kept nodding.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko had never expected to encounter a problem like this. She
had a doctorate in Polymath, she could do the most difficult matrices
and integrals in her head. This shouldn't be happening, she lamented.
"It doesn't make any since! You told me to divide the last one
first, why shouldn't I do that first on this problem?" Ranma asked.
"Because all the terms in that problem were divisible by three, so
it simplified the problem. This one, you need to collect the terms
first, before you divide."
"That doesn't make any sense," Ranma said in a bewildered tone.
Ritsuko couldn't even figure out what was confusing Ranma. Nabiki
had given up, she couldn't help either of them, so she stayed out of it.
"The point is to get all the variables on one side and the
constants on the other."
"That isn't what you said about this one, you made me put the 'x'
on one side, and the 'y' on the other, but both are variables," Ranma
told her.
He's not being insolent, Ritsuko thought, He really doesn't
understand. She sighed, something else was bothering her, something
missing. "Whose turn is it to cook dinner?" she asked.
"Raccoon's" Ranma said miserably.
Ritsuko stopped, as reality descended on them all. For two hours,
as frustrating as it had been, they had managed to shut out the war, the
real reason they were here together.
"Ah," she said intelligently, "Do you want to go out to eat?"
Ritsuko asked, neither of her charges seemed anxious. She put her hands
on Ranma's shoulders, "You aren't dumb because you can't understand
this. I can't understand what you do with Martial Arts. But I think
you need to learn and understand this, at least at this level, even if
you never go any further."
Ranma looked at her and smiled. She was amazed that she'd guessed
right about what was depressing him. She wasn't the best mother she
could be, mostly because like Ranma and math, she didn't even understand
what she was confused about
"Why don't I cook," Ranma said, "Give me a break from this, and I
thought English was hard."
Ritsuko let him go, she sat back tiredly, glanced at Nabiki. The
two exchanged a look of 'What are we going to do?' English had been a
problem, despite both of them being fluent, geography had been a
disaster, Literature was best forgotten. It wasn't that Ranma was
stupid, the questions he asked were proof the opposite was true. It's
just nothing 'clicked' and neither she nor Nabiki had been able to
discover a way of presenting the data in a way that Ranma would absorb
and understand. Ranma seemed eager, no, determined to get his grades
up. She'd expected that would be the major battle, but he'd agreed and
several hours later they had made practically no progress, despite
everyone working hard to the opposite end.
"Are you as frustrated as I am?" Ritsuko asked Nabiki, who nodded,
"What are we doing wrong?"
"If I knew," Nabiki put her head down on the table, "I'd be fixing
it."
What worried Ritsuko, was the school's attitude towards Nabiki.
During the conference her name had never come up. Already on the
defensive on three other fronts, Ritusko realized she'd just let that
slide. Now she was remembering Ranma's comment following Nabiki's
outburst,'Maybe we all have to grow up, start really being worthy of who
we say and think we are.'
Like it or not, she should have delved in to that, asked about
Nabiki's progress. Somehow that they said nothing should have worried
her more than the complaints about Ranko, Ranma and Jeff. She quietly
remembered Lt. Thompson had told her that parenting was no differnet
from combat at the squad level, a lot of confusion, mixed signals from
above, and problems came up in all shapes and sizes, and worst of all,
no matter how well or badly you think you did, you usually wouldn't know
if you won or lost until it was too late to fix anything. She glanced
over at Maya who was studying the notes Ranma had written down, trying
to make sense out of chaos. From her frown, Ritsuko didn't think she
was succeeding. On a lighter note, she could use the excuse of a
harmonics test tomorrow, to avoid doing too much of this. Now who's
acting like a child? she thought, Dodging `homework`.
----------------------------------------
`Treacheries` of a Dragon
The Dragon had taken the form and seeming of the boy, to complete
this mission. He disliked the manipulation the Children had suffered.
He would deal with the problem. Whether they wanted his action or not.
He carefully poured the molten metal into the design he'd carved into
the wooden underfloor of Captain Katsuragi's kitchen. The metal snaked
its way through the pattern, silvery traces in the dark wood. When the
`snake` bit its own tail, the metal froze solid. He placed the
rune-covered piece of veneer over the design, and rolled the linoleum
back, gluing it in place as he did.
He congratulated himself, the boy had almost managed to complete
the same operation in Akagi-sensei's apartment, in three weeks, Well,
with Tendo and the good Doctor always looking over his shoulder, he'd
been forced to do the job piecemeal. I'm just glad they were otherwise
occupied, so I could finish it. Here, in less than four hours, he'd
covered all the bedrooms, the bathroom, living/dining room and the
kitchen. He put the pot of metal back on the stove and shut off the
heat under it. He lifted the lid on the other pan that occupied the
stove. The smell of grilling peppers, onions and sausage filled the
air, covering the faint tang of burnt wood and fresh glue.
Pen Pen had been watching the entire operation, and the Dragon
strongly suspected the bird was far smarter than the standard breed,
How do I deal with you? The little creature had seemed shocked that
`Jeff` had walked into the apartment. A few sardines had bought the
bird's silence over pulling up the floor, misdirection would have to
suffice to keep it from revealing what he'd done.
The Dragon opened the oven; the tortillas were nearly ready. He
shut off the oven. He knew the boy resented not being included in the
extensive testing the `regular` pilots had to undergo. "Makes sense,"
the Dragon murmured, "An alternate should have to receive the same or
greater training, since by definition, he," he laughed, "Or she, would
have to step in when the situation was already far from optimal." As
had already happened, but the test would keep the others away long
enough for him to finish. He just hoped Tendo didn't wander in on him.
The egg mixture went into the pan next. "You can't have any," the
Dragon told the penguin, it was cruel, but the Dragon didn't care, he
had a job to do. The food, "Despite its uniformly excellent quality,"
was merely cover for his real purpose.
The mixture of eggs, peppers, onions, fish and meat sausage,
cheeses, tomatoes, and seasonings was scooped into the tortillas, then
he rolled and placed them in the oven. He laid a cantrip on the metal
tray, to finish cooking the food, and keep it warm, for when the pilots
and Captain Katsuragi arrived back. He turned around and saw the
penguin practically crying as he held the now empty bowl. "Well I
wanted a distraction. _Sit_!_"
The penguin backed up, and waited patiently, expectantly. The
Dragon added two unused fish sausages to the other ingredients, and
carefully set the cooking bowl down on top of the sigil he'd carved in
the underfloor, right in front of the oven. The Dragon stepped out of
the way, "Okay, enjoy." The penguin charged the bowl.
The Dragon wrote a brief note to Shinji, before letting himself,
and only himself, out. "That bird is going to be a nuisance. Well,
he's the boy's problem, not mine," he smiled a human smile, he sighed,
"The boy would insist I give the Little One's apartment the same
treatment. Him and his damn sense of fairness. How am I going to
that?" With the strange girl's senses about such things, she'd probably
detect his tampering, and might know exactly what he was doing. Can't
have that, he thought, Not yet anyway.
----------------------------------------
Shinji entered the apartment tiredly, the intoxicating smell, and
Pen Pen's frantic squawking, roused him immediately.
Asuka followed him, looking as worn as he was, she brightened,
"What's that?" She helped Shinji shoo Pen Pen away from the oven, and
pulled out the tray, they looked like giant egg rolls.
"I don't have to cook," Shinji said.
Misato entered, "That was fast. Shinji-kun, there's a note for you
on the table."
Asuka grabbed the paper from Misato. "'Shinji, sorry you weren't
here. Was the assignment page 437 para 8 to 16, which makes no sense,
or page 473 para 6 to 18, which also makes no sense? Don't tell
Langley, I think she's _GOT_A_THING_FOR_THE_TEACHER_!_' What kind of an
idiot does he take me for?!"
"Who?" Shinji asked, there was only one 'he' who could have done
this. He probably put that line in because she's always snooping,
Shinji thought, because saying it aloud wouldn't be worth the fight.
"Horseface! Who else?!" she shouted back at him.
"Well, you can punish him by not eating his cooking," Shinji
suggested.
Asuka grabbed one of the egg rolls and bit into it, "Hot, hot hot."
She rushed to get something to cool her mouth.
Shinji smiled, set the tray on the table, then thought, It was
still hot, and the oven wasn't on, how long ago did he leave? When did
he start calling her Langley?
----------------------------------------
The Dragon walked along the river, still in the boy's form, it was
disconcerting, but less risky than flying. He'd use other spells to
make his final approach.
He'd felt the presence for several minutes, so he'd walked into one
of the more deserted areas. He wanted no witnesses. "You've been
following me, why?" he didn't turn around.
Rei said nothing.
"Don't play games with me, Little One." Now he turned to confront
the blue-haired albino, "We both know you are playing to your own
agenda, by your own rules."
Rei stepped out of the shadows, "So are you."
"I have my reasons. And I don't answer to you, Little One. Who do
_you_ serve? Care to answer that? Or do you even know?" the Dragon
smiled at her fear.
"Better than you," she managed, "YOU shouldn't be here."
The Dragon laughed, "Is that a fact? Then why don't you tell me?
Oh, sworn to secrecy about it, I've heard that before. And I go where I
wish, when I wish. Not even your masters can resist me!"
"You are here. Why?"
"Because."
"He's centerfield," Rei replied.
"Very well, Little One," he stepped towards her, she fearfully
stepped back, "I should play a little game with you, for five of your
questions I will tell the complete and unexpurgated truth, and for five
of mine, you will do the same. Agreed?"
Rei turned and ran back into the shadows.
"I'll take that as a `no`, the offer still stands." The Dragon
laughed, but inwardly he was seething, he'd not expected her to be able
to track him. But she had, and brought her masters, her real masters,
with her. He considered simply destroying them, But the boy wouldn't
approve, oh no, let them live. To be of use in his plans later, the
Dragon shivered at that, there were times the boy petrified him.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki watched Rei depart, and what looked like Jeff continue along
his path. Incongruous, wearing his three-piece suit and fedora in the
warehouse district. She knew it was impossible, he was in a coma in the
medcenter, and Rei couldn't even talk for 10 minutes without needing a
nap. Whatever that was, couldn't possibly be what it appeared to be.
She wondered who she could possibly report this too, someone who
wouldn't consider her insane for seeing it. Maybe Captain Ramsey or
Admiral Simson, she thought, If they don't believe me, they'll
probably think I'm 'just' overwrought. She'd watched `Rei` tailing
`Jeff`, with a skill that nearly matched her own. She'd nearly panicked
when he'd called out, but Rei had moved up, and Nabiki had watched, and
tried to listen. From their body language, they were confronting each
other. From the changes in their stances, she also suspected that both
had hidden depths, and knew the other did too. There was something
eerie, almost inhuman, in the way they stood and spoke, as if humanity
were just a cheat, a disguise they wore, to keep from scaring the
locals. Despite the surface politeness, it had been a battle, one Rei
had retreated from in terror. Rei isn't afraid of anything! Nabiki
thought, And she can kill those weird things, so what was that thing?
It looked and acted just like Jeff, when he was angry, is it _that_ good
a shapechanger?
She suspected a battle between those two would be no mere fist
fight, and would be without quarter and to the death. She wouldn't have
wanted to confront either one alone. Even with Ranma backing her, she
wouldn't ever try taking both. Maybe not even in an EVA. Rei was now
making a beeline for her apartment, running at inhuman speed to get
there. `Jeff` was headed for the Naval base at a walking pace, that was
a more interesting chase, and it was where she needed to go anyway.
----------------------------------------
General Tomlinson blinked as he heard the story for the second
time. He wanted to think it was due to a poor translation, except
Tendo's English was arguable better than his.
"Miss Tendo, this isn't meant as an insult to either your
integrity, or your intelligence . . . I believe you are accurately
reporting what you saw. But Pilots Davis and Ayanami are still at the
medcenter. You do understand that filing a false security report is a
serious crime?"
"Yes, General," the girl rolled her eyes at him, in the way of most
teenagers, "But I still say I saw what I saw. The `Jeff` was headed
towards this base, and the `Rei` I saw acted exactly like the Ayanami
Rei I've know and dealt with for a month. If they were fakes, they were
very good ones."
"Well, I've increased the guard on the medcenter and the other
pilots. Do you have any suggestions?" he held up a hand, "I'm sorry if
that sounded patronizing, but you've encountered these odd creatures,
once here in Tokyo, once on the Coral Sea. I haven't."
"I don't even know what I was looking at. Like I said, I would
swear it was Pilots Davis and Ayanami."
"Well, I've arranged for an escort to get you home. If I were your
father, I might ask why you were following a boy around through the
warehouse district at 22:00 hours."
"He was supposed to be in a coma 10 miles away, I was curious," the
Tendo girl told him. He nodded and thanked her.
Tomlinson wondered how he was going to report this.
----------------------------------------
Asuka sat atop the apartment building, staring out over the city,
wishing today had been like yesterday, a harmonics test had put a damper
on the discussions about school work. Only today, Misato made up for
missing a day. This week started out so good! she thought, Misato had
been haranguing her about her grades, again. She had finally blown up.
----------------------------------------
"I don't CARE about the grades from some third-rate Middle School
staffed with arrogant know-nothings in this third-rate country! The
only reason the teachers object, is they don't want anyone but their
precious Japanese, who can't think for themselves. I am a University
graduate, I actually worked and studied. So I graduated with honors, in
three years. I didn't spend five years scraping by, getting drunk and
sleeping with my boyfriend!" Asuka shouted at Misato, "If they have a
problem, let them take it up with me. Maybe an adult could explain it
to them without falling out of her dress!"
----------------------------------------
Asuka shook her head, touched the red mark where Misato had slapped
her. She sighed, it was the wrong thing to say, but she was sick of
this country. Small-minded people walking through the same ruts their
parents did, and they would expect their children to. It was in their
religion, their culture, they pounded it into you in their schools.
'The tall tree is cut down first', 'the nail that stands up is hammered
down'.
Ice Princess's only redeeming virtue, was that she acted _very_
differently. That alone earned her some grudging respect, but Misato
seemed to have been `promoted` from being a mindless drone to one of
those who hammered the rest of them into being mindless drones.
She smirked, Spineless's answer was very Russian, no outward
resistance, inside he seethed as much as she did. She wondered if they
realized what a disaster they were creating, if their human `masters`
were hardly worse than the monsters they faced, the pilots might simply
decide to let the monsters win. If Spineless ever really lost hope . .
. she didn't want to think about it, she was already loosing hope.
"Maybe I should take Captain Ramsey up on his offer, providing I
can get base housing, Spineless can go live with Wondergirl, leave our
Great Captain to choke on her own vomit after she drinks herself into
another stupor," Asuka looked around, "I can't see what Kaji ever saw in
her, and I can't see what I was ever jealous of." She knew she was
lying, even after how Kaji acted in the dream, she still loved him,
still wanted him to want her. She hated how Misato kept belittling her,
treating her like a child to make sure Kaji was hers and not Asuka's.
That's all this latest tantrum of Misato's was anyway, another excuse to
tell Kaji how immature she was.
Asuka completely missed the patch of dark sky as it grew larger and
larger. Her first warning, was being seized and hurled off the building
into the air.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko felt like screaming, for three days they had been doing
this. It never got any better. She looked over at Maya, who seemed as
mystified as she was.
"Ranma," Ritsuko said, surrendering to the inevitable, "Why don't
you do your evening practices, then you can get a shower and go to bed."
"Yes, ma'am," Ranma left, knowing he'd been dismissed.
Once he'd left Ritsuko surveyed her `team`: Maya and Nabiki, and
the stack of textbooks and notes from her and Maya's college days.
"What are we doing wrong?"
"I don't know," Nabiki admitted, "It all made perfect sense to me.
You'd be a better math teacher than the dolt at our school."
"Don't remind me, Misato has been complaining about Asuka's
attitude for the last few days," Ritsuko said, "I haven't seen her this
bent out of shape in years."
"I feel sorry for Shinji," Maya said.
"Well, I can understand it, Asuka's probably more qualified to
teach the math class that the teacher, and the physics teacher." Nabiki
threw a handful of scratch paper into the air and leaned back in her
chair, "Poof! Any understanding is purely by accident."
Nabiki sat forward, "Why are we even in those classes?"
"Top Secret," Maya leaned close to Nabiki, "We're training you to
survive the insanity-inducing power of our enemies."
"It's working," Nabiki said, "I couldn't have come up with better
training." She sighed, "You do realize we're going to have to do
something about Asuka and Misato. I recommend Kaji give both of them a
good spanking. Preferably in his lap, preferably simultaneously."
"I somehow think they'd like that," Ritsuko leaned her head back,
studied the small patch in the ceiling where she'd stuck the sword. "I
think I liked it better when the Angels were attacking. A couple of
days of normal, everyday living, and we start tearing ourselves and each
other apart."
"You _know_ you shouldn't have said that," Nabiki chided, "We must
now appease the Demon Murphy."
"You and your Murphy's Law, who is this Murphy anyway?" Ritsuko
asked.
They sat in silence for a while, finally Nabiki stood up, "Well,
I'm going to get a shower before Ranma comes back, then I'm going to get
some sleep. Half-day tomorrow, thank goodness." Nabiki started towards
the bathroom.
"What are we doing wrong?" Ritsuko asked the universe in general,
neither the universe, nor Maya answered her.
----------------------------------------
Shinji watched Asuka reenter the apartment. He wished she'd have
stayed out, considering the reception waiting for her from Misato-san.
"Captain, I wish to apologize for my outburst. I should have
realized it isn't easy for you to look after two children, all alone."
Shinji saw Asuka's face was flushed, and she seemed to be in too
good a mood to be giving in so quickly. Shinji wondered what had
happened, Asuka looked terribly pleased with - something.
"I'm glad you learned your lesson," Misato said, more angry with
Asuka's meek compliance that the confrontation Shinji would have sworn
she was hoping for.
"Oh, yes. I'll see to it, that it doesn't happen again," Asuka
bowed as she headed for her room, "I don't wish to be a burden to you."
"Asuka, that isn't what I meant," Misato said in pursuit.
"Oh don't worry," Asuka soothed, "I understand completely. Excuse
me, Captain, but I am tired, and I'd like to get some sleep. Busy day
tomorrow," she said cheerily.
Misato looked a bit bewildered as Asuka carefully, and quietly,
closed the door.
Shinji was wondering what Asuka had been drinking, and he also
suspected that Misato wouldn't like whatever Asuka was plotting. Moreso
because Misato obviously didn't see it at all. Shinji wondered how mad
Misato would be, when she learned Asuka had outmaneuvered her, he also
wondered if he could hide out with Ritsuko for a few months.
----------------------------------------
Asuka grinned from ear-to-ear as she flopped down in her bed. She
hugged her pillow against her. All the cobwebs blown out of her head,
she was _thinking_ again, as she always used to. She'd go see Captain
Ramsey and Admiral Simson tomorrow after school, and arrange housing on
the base, she felt a little guilty about leaving Spineless and Pen Pen
here, but she had to protect herself first.
The Dragon had been right, and it was so good seeing him again. It
also explained where he'd disappeared to. Just talking to him had
helped so much, she'd never realized how important it was to be able to
bounce ideas off someone else. Someone with an active intelligence, not
the poor, pale imitations around here. She thought that wasn't fair,
Ice Princess and Spineless could think, in their little areas.
Boy will Captain Katsuragi be surprised when I move out, she
thought, All I have to do is check the actual regulations, not what
they tell me.
She laughed at the memory of utter helplessness and complete trust.
She realized what she'd really been missing, what she really wanted to
do, and how alive it made her feel. She smiled again, then thought of
poor Kensuke, Well if he wants to be an EVA pilot, he should expect the
unexpected.
"Too bad Wondergirl's laid up, or we could try it together," Asuka
whispered, "I'd _LOVE_ to see the look on her face."
----------------------------------------
Kensuke was shivering in the
bathroom, he didn't _care_ that he'd wet himself, some nightmares went
so far beyond the limits, no reaction could be ruled out.
He'd thought he was awake at first, walking home after a late night
of watching, taking pictures, looking and listening. That's what eyes
and ears did. Suddenly he was hundreds of feet above Tokyo, watching
the night light and the stars spin around him. He wasn't sure at what
point he lost his glasses. The laughter he heard, and the wild shrieks
of delight, could only have been Asuka's, but all he could make out was
a reddish blur. Even then, he couldn't imagine what would please `Sour
Kraut` enough to get her to make those sounds. Then his mad ascent had
stopped, and reality reasserted itself.
Then he knew, as his doom and the pavement of Tokyo approached at
the exact same speed. He knew that his death was what had excited her
so. But as soon as he realized that, something arrested the natural
order of things. He began heading up again, as if thrown by some
immense creature. Again and again, rise, descend, Asuka screaming with
delight, him just screaming, as the dream went on and on.
Finally it ended, not with the impact on the pavement, or
impalement on some fence or tower, but with Asuka standing over him in
his bedroom. She put his glasses back on, he saw her smiling, beaming
actually.
"Not bad, Aida-san," she said, "But that was even more fun than
being an EVA pilot."
The dream faded at that point, almost as if he'd fainted or
something. He'd woken screaming and retreated here, to wait and wonder,
he wasn't going back to sleep again tonight!
----------------------------------------
Plunge Pool
The pilots and some friends had assembled around the picnic spot,
the same bowl-shaped one they'd found last Sunday.
Nabiki was glad the others had embraced the Sunday get togethers so
enthusiastically, each for their own reasons. "But that's okay," Nabiki
said quietly, as she watched Ranma and Toji were setting up a small
grill, Asuka was supervising everything, and Rei and Shinji lay out the
blanket. Rei was moving slowly, but Ritsuko had thought a little time
outside wouldn't hurt.
She glanced over at the `adults`, Ritsuko, Maya and Misato. Kaji
hadn't been invited by either Misato or Asuka, Nabiki was confused by
that.
"I never knew this place was here," Maya commented on the park-like
area in the NERV compound.
"The guards use this as a lunch area," Rei supplied.
Figures she'd check out every detail of the place, Nabiki
thought, looked around, it was a nice area.
"So what are you two cooking," Misato asked, she was still angry
that Ritsuko had insisted on _NO_ beer.
"Just some fish," Toji laid the butterflied fish on the grill,
filling the small clearing with the smell of frying fish.
"Where'd you learn to cook?" Hikari was laying out the rice and
pickled vegetables.
"What are you doing, Ice Princess?" Asuka stared at her.
"Supervising, just like you," Nabiki shot back, smiled at Asuka's
frown. Asuka and Nancy headed off to collect the rest of the food and
the sporting equipment for later.
Hiroko and Maya started laughing at the two of them. Asuka simply
shrugged, and gave up the fight.
Nabiki wondered why Asuka had been in such a good mood today,
smiling at Misato periodically, She's planning something, something to
completely blindside our dear Captain, Nabiki realized.
Even with that fight upcoming, Nabiki was still thinking that
things were going too well, Belldandy's warning came back to her.
That's why we're _inside_ NERV property, she reminded herself, and the
Security and the military were patrolling the 500 meters between them
and the fence. We're safe, she told herself, returning to checking on
the bottles of soft drinks, making sure that Misato hadn't smuggled any
beer with her.
----------------------------------------
The first explosion shocked her, Even Akane's cooking doesn't do
that! Nabiki thought as she threw herself to the ground, covering her
head, as dozens more blasts showered everyone with dirt, and the smell
of explosives and burnt filled the little clearing.
As suddenly as it started, it was over. When it seemed clear there
would be no more explosions, she raised her head. All the pilots and
others had thrown themselves flat.
"What were you thinking?!" Hiroko shouted at Rei, lying on top of
her, where she'd tackled the pilot, "Don't jump into water! Water
conducts shock," Hiroko helped the girl to her feet. "My uncle got
killed by a bomb while he was hiding in a river."
Rei nodded, "Thank you."
"Is everyone all right?" Ritsuko hauled Misato and Maya to their
feet.
"Asuka!" Shinji yelled.
"I'm fine," Asuka shouted back, from down the hillock, then more
quietly, "Nancy's dead."
"How can you know that?" Ranma charged over to crest, "You have to
- "
"Stop! Don't!" Asuka frantically shouted, Ranma ignored her.
Ranma looked down, crumbled to his knees and started throwing up.
Because I'm wearing what's left of her, Nabiki thought. Just the
thought made her queasy, the noises Ranma was making nearly pushed her
to joining him on her knees. Nabiki didn't have any illusions about the
fate of someone hit by artillery. It was a perverse miracle that none
on the hill's crest were even scratched.
----------------------------------------
Kaji wasn't happy with the breach in security, he was even less
pleased to be peremptorily ordered to make a report. He entered General
Tomlinson's office, the U.S. Army general who was also supposed to be
providing security to the Children. Kaji's angry denouncement died, as
he looked at the pipe and five stars on the other guest in the office.
"I think we need to explain everything we know," Tomlinson nodded
at his visitor, obviously awed by their master.
----------------------------------------
Admiral Simson was having a similar meeting with Commander Ikari
and Fuyutsuki, in Ikari's office.
"Mortars, several of them. They either used a time on target
barrage, or they were bunched together," Simson told the others.
"Time on target?" Fuyutsuki asked.
"Calculate the flight time, so all the first volley arrived at the
same time, the rest of the blasts were more ragged. Twenty-four
impacts, we estimate four to eight mortars, with six to three shots
each, respectively. An 81mm has a range of 2 miles, the 4.2 inch 2.5
miles, they could have been anywhere in a _very_ large area."
"Not a rocket launcher?" Ikari asked.
"No, the forensic evidence indicates a mortar," Simson admitted,
"Besides, a rocket launcher isn't as portable or concealable as a pack
of mortars."
"Pilot Langley suffered some shrapnel injuries," Gendo told him,
"We also wish to express our condolences on the loss of your officer."
"I bet Dr. Akagi isn't happy picking pieces of her assistant out of
one of the pilots," Simson replied.
"What additional security can be provided?" Ikari asked.
"Short of loading them back aboard the Coral Sea and heading out to
sea, there is no way to combat this directly," Simson admitted, "We are
combing the area the rounds could have been fired from. Unfortunately,
mortars don't leave shell casings, and they aren't as loud as most
artillery. But we're hoping someone saw or heard something."
"Until then, what?" Fuyutsuki asked, "Keep them locked up in the
bowels of the headquarters?"
"My first instinct would be to say yes," Simson replied, "The only
thing that worries me, is anyone who could pull this off, has excellent
intelligence resources. I doubt any reasonable precautions would be
completely effective. I suspect that we'll be getting additionally
security resources very soon. My real concern is: Would SEELE have
anything to do with this? And if so, why?"
Gendo found himself sweating, SEELE's existence was supposed to be
secret. But this action was well within their capabilities, and had
their sense of subtlety.
----------------------------------------
"You missed your target!" the little man actually screamed at
General Tembris, "SEELE won't be pleased!"
The General's soldiers expected him to slap down this pipsqueak.
They were disappointed. "The point is to get their specimen, not wanton
slaughter. If they want it done tomorrow, they should do it themselves.
If we do it, we operate on our timetable."
"They want it done soon."
"Soon implies weeks, they'll get it done soon," Tembris explained
carefully, "Do you really think they want you doing it, in a way you'll
be able to collect your money?" Tembris was disgusted by the look of
shock and greed that played over the little man's features. He had
never understood where all this - creature's - vices came from. His
only real vice was anger, and it cost him often enough. "They'd
betray me?" the man asked.
"Ask for an advance, next time they pressure you," Tembris idly
surveyed the warehouse they'd returned to, "I think you'll find them
highly evasive. Besides, do you want this all traced back to you?"
The little man shook his head.
"Good, now return to work before you're missed," Tembris dismissed
his counterpart from his thoughts.
Once the man was gone in truth, Tembris congratulated his men, "The
shooting was perfect, I think the barrage did not harm the Meliorist's
counterpart physically. The psychological aspects on her and the others
will pay good dividends when we need to move."
The others accepted this.
"We still need to practice, it should work a time or two again," he
ignored the groans as he headed for the mage they'd brought with them.
"Are the spells of nondetection still holding?" Tembris asked.
"Yes, General, and the homonculous is on schedule," the mage
answered, "It's going to take a while to set it exactly as you wanted."
"Take the time," Tembris told him, "SEELE will hurriedly do
something stupid, and we will have to wait for things to calm down,
until we can act again."
"Things are going well?" the mage asked. The General nodded.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki cursed silently, her fate, their enemies, her own stupidity.
Ranma was in her arms, holding her as tightly as she was holding him.
She wasn't absolutely sure he was shivering as much as she was. Maya's
arms had encircled both of them, holding them together on the couch, as
both she and Nabiki broke down.
Ranma had said nothing. Nabiki wished he cry, scream, sob, do
something to show how badly this had all shaken him. Maybe holding and
being held, was as close as he got to showing any vulnerability. She
knew he was scared, as terrified as she was. This wasn't an Angel, this
wasn't an ancient evil from the depths of time, that they could fight in
their EVAs. This wasn't another martial artist who'd scream death
threats, and be satisfied by a defeat or surrender. This was a band of
ordinary humans, people more like her, than like him, dedicated to
killing them. Not suicidal maniacs, but careful professionals, who
clearly wanted to survive the experience and escape.
Here, deep in the bowels of NERV HQ they were safe, As safe as we
were up top, she thought resentfully. She bitterly reflected that
she'd also `won`, when she'd started to break down, Ranma had come to
her, almost on instinct, holding her as her tears started and refused to
stop. Someone had to die to get this to happen, she thought, the
irony didn't amuse her.
"You couldn't do nothin'," Ranma told her, "I . . . I couldn't do
nothin'."
"Ranma," she managed, "Nobody could have done anything. You can't
feel . . . "
"You neither," he replied.
Nabiki let herself cry some more, wondered how Maya felt, Nancy
Thompson had worked closely with her for two years. In a heartbeat, at
a childrens' picnic, they erased her. Maya didn't sob, silently
shaking, maybe rage, maybe sadness, probably both.
Nabiki silently vowed to use her resources, all of them, to _find_
these people, this time she wouldn't feel the least bit guilty, if the
Army killed them all.
She loosened her grip on Ranma slightly, she hadn't meant to start
crushing him, and he hadn't complained. "Sorry," she apologized, "I
don't like being helpless."
"Me neither," Ranma replied, held her a little tighter. She didn't
think, she didn't move for a while, letting things come to her.
----------------------------------------
Shinji glanced over to Rei, as the orderlies wheeled Asuka out of
the surgery. Dr. Akagi followed them, supervising the transfer. Shinji
preferred the medical center, there at least he could look out the
windows, but after the attack this afternoon, a few dozen feet of cement
between them and the outside world, seemed a good idea. The dozens of
small bandages and stitches speckled Asuka's face and arms, Shinji
suspected they covered the other parts he couldn't see.
Dr. Akagi waved them over, "She'll be a little drunk from the
anesthesia, so don't take too much of what she says seriously."
"Will she be all right?" Shinji asked.
"Physically, she'll be fine," she assured the pilots, "I don't
think any of us are `all right`. She'd probably appreciate talking to
someone." Ritsuko smiled, "Even if she doesn't make much sense."
Shinji nodded as Ritsuko turned and walked away, he was glad Rei
followed him into Asuka's room.
"Hey Spineless, and Wondergirl too," Asuka said.
She does sound a little like Misato, Shinji thought as he tried
not to look at all the bandages on her face and arms. "Does it hurt?"
"Naw, Spineless, feeling reeeal good," she smiled lopsidedly at
him, "You know, I've got a secret for you." She peered over at Rei,
"You too, Wondergirl."
Shinji wasn't sure he would have gotten this close to Asuka, if Rei
hadn't been there to back him up. Something in the back of his mind
suggested Asuka was very dangerous, in her present state. He could
understand that, the murder made him angry. Since Asuka was angry as
matter of course, she was probably ready to kill someone, or something,
whatever came to hand.
"I won't hurtcha?" she smiled, pulled him closer. "I was thinking
of stealing you away," she whispered loudly, "Let you enjoy being around
a real woman."
Shinji blushed and frowned, this was the same nonsense she'd been
talking before they took on those flame things. He tried to pull away
without being too obvious about it, but Asuka held firm.
"Then I thought of poor little Rei, lost, lonely, little
Wondergirl, like a dolly on the shelf, that nobody plays with," Asuka
told him, shifting her arms to his shoulders.
"I - " he started to protest. That was all the opening Asuka
needed.
She pulled his mouth to hers, kissing him passionately, Shinji
wasn't strong enough to escape her grip. He blushed furiously at the
coarse touch on his tongue. He managed to pull away.
"Asuka!?" Shinji shouted.
"Practice makes perfect, Wondergirl," Asuka laughed, "Just be firm
but gentle, and make sure he can't run away." A moment later the
laughter ended, and Asuka slumped in the bed, asleep.
Shinji nearly jumped when Rei put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm
sorry, I didn't - I mean I wasn't - "
She pulled him out of her way, stepped up to Asuka's bedside, "Is
she pretty?"
Shinji was worried about Rei making the small finger motions on
Asuka's cheek, circling the stitches and bandages, he was sure Rei was
humming something. "She's always been a little vain about her looks,"
Shinji stammered, "I don't think she really . . . I mean Akagi-sensei
said she was - drunk from the anesthetic."
"She will recover fully," Rei turned to look at Shinji, then headed
for the door.
Shinji relaxed slightly as they walked down the hall, away from
Asuka's room. He thought he was out of the woods, when Rei turned to
face him. He'd seen the intensity of that look only once before: in
Rei's apartment, facing those things. She'd looked at him that way,
then raised her hand to strike him. He'd seen how strong she was, the
blow might have killed him, if it had ever landed.
He backed up a step, his shoulders encountered a door jamb, he was
trapped now, as she advanced another step. She gripped both his
shoulders, steadying herself as she raised up on her tiptoes, staring
directly into his face, less than a handsbreadth between their faces,
between their lips. Her breath tickled his face.
His heart was beating wildly, he was sweating and unsure. Normally
he could at least guess at what she was feeling, right now he couldn't
be sure. Should I do something? Should I do nothing, and let her
act? he wondered, not certain what she was actually going to do, he had
what he wanted her to do, and what he feared she might do.
"No, it is not time yet," she dropped back down and released him.
He felt terribly relieved, and terribly cheated. He caught up with
her, as she walked down the corridor, impulsively he took her hand, she
didn't even look up, but her fingers closed around his. They walked in
silence for a while, Shinji realized he hadn't the faintest idea where
they were going, or if there was someplace they should be going.
----------------------------------------
Ranma felt Nab-chan's gentle snoring. When she started crying, he
had to do something, anything, to make her stop. The truth is, he
thought, I wanted to join her.
What he'd seen from the crest of that little hill, would haunt him
forever. Asuka was standing there, shaking, she'd been covered in
blood, he'd thought she'd been hit, despite her assurances. Then he saw
the shredded bag of bats and balls, etc. she was holding by one end, and
that the person on the other end, was completely gone.
His mind put two and two together, and his stomach totaled it.
He'd never saw or heard the shells coming in, just the explosions. He
could do nothing, not to protect the others, not to deal with the
aftermath. Asuka had some cuts and scraped where . . . Ranma's stomach
threatened to empty again, at the thoughts of where those fragments had
come from, and what they were.
When Nabiki had given way, he only remembered one thing, when he,
actually she, had panicked, trapped in that box with a cat. Ranma only
needed to see a move once, to duplicate it perfectly from then on, he
paralleled what had been done to Ranko, for her. Evidently, it was the
right thing to do. Maya had enclosed both of them, and cried for her
friend.
Ranma couldn't cry, guys don't ever cry, and he wanted revenge.
Whoever did this, didn't have the courage to face them directly, he
hated that kind of cowardice. To attack without warning, then sneak
away.
He wondered how he could find them, he wondered how he could fight
them. He wondered _if_ he could kill them. I'm also wondering how
I can quit feeling so helpless, Ranma admitted to himself, Because
that's what's really making me mad, being helpless again. He idly
wondered if there was a technique that let you deal with artillery, and
sadly realized, without an AT field, he wouldn't have a chance, and that
required the help of someone else.
----------------------------------------
Captain Ramsey entered Admiral Simson's office. It was already
very late, in what had been a very long day. Having to brief the Army
hadn't been any fun, briefing MacArthur and the Emperor himself, Or was
that the Emperor and MacArthur himself, Ramsey smiled, sighed, today
would probably end his career, or at least his chances for promotion.
"Do you want the good news, the bad news, or the worst news?" he
asked Admiral Simson, who looked as tired as he felt.
"All at once," the Admiral rubbed his eyes, "I'll separate it
myself."
"All the pilots will recover. Army Intel found a witness to the
attackers. He reports they were using 4.2 inch mortars, a battery of
six. They climbed back into army trucks, he even got the numbers off
the side. We are running down those trucks, and the mortars now. The
problem is, our specials went out, and found nothing. Not no evidence
of mythos activity, nothing. No traces of any kind, if they were there,
it was all erased."
"Terrific, what's the worst news?" Admiral Simson joked, "Sit down,
Captain, I'm too tired and angry to insist on protocols. Do our,
specials, have any way of breaking the camouflage?"
"No, sir, according to them, nothing was laid down, so there is
nothing to pick up. Whoever did this, didn't just cover their tracks
well, they never put any down; and they were just doing a job."
"Professionals, just what we needed." Simson turned, stared out
into the darkness.
Ramsey guessed he was wondering how secure they were here, mortars
were apolitical, they would work for whoever loaded them. Some
mercenaries might be the same way.
"Security?" Simson asked.
"They're all deep in NERV HQ. The South Dakota might be able to
blast through to them, but nothing less. With three Marine regiments
deployed in depth, nobody's going to get anywhere near them."
"So where did we fail, and how do we fix this, before it happens
again?" Simson turned back to his aide, asking the question of the hour.
----------------------------------------
Hunters hunted
Tembris waited with his lieutenant, near the hatch leading to the
roof of the warehouse. A dozen men were restraining his Waking World
counterpart, who was gibbering with fear.
Tembris's binoculars tracked the spot of darkness, as it moved
across the starry sky.
"Why hasn't NERV spotted him?" the other man asked.
"They don't know what they're looking for," Tembris told him, "From
what I've learned, their enemies have a huge signature, they track the
signature, not the beast itself."
"He seems to be searching for something," the man joked. Both men
felt the probing malevolence of the monster. They were both aware of
their own mage chanting desperate counterspells, to keep them unseen and
undetectable.
"They found him," Tembris pointed to a dozen F4U Corsairs
unleashing their rockets at the huge flying creature. They watched in
silence, as the dozens of rocket trails closed with the Dragon. Then
the planes' exhaust flames brightened and the formation scattered.
Both men realized the Dragon's illusions wouldn't deter anyone who
ignored them, but the pilots had never encountered one before. Whatever
they were seeing, must have seemed plausible and very dangerous.
The Dragon completed another sector, closing on them, but not
closing his search pattern. If he knew they were there, he wasn't about
to let on.
After an hour of knuckle-biting fear, the Dragon passed within 100
yards of their warehouse, and continued his relentless search pattern.
"Let's go below, he'll either attack, or he won't, and he'll give
us no warning."
They descended into the darkness, from outside nothing could be
felt inside the building, except the condemned military gear that was
all the warehouse was supposed to contain. Inside, no one made a light
or a sound to add to the mage's burden of hiding the place from outside
observers. They would continue to wait for sunrise, the demon seemed to
fear the light, and the firepower it might face in plain view. If no
attack came by daybreak, they had evaded detection.
----------------------------------------
The Dragon hadn't found anything. He wanted to resume his proper
form despite the daylight, and tear the city apart, building by
building, street by street, until he found them! But the human form and
the squalid apartment kept him from having to fight creatures who were
not his enemy, for the privilege of killing those who _were_._
He had wanted to be in this world, to travel to the Ultimate South.
He didn't know what dark forces had arranged his presence here. But
while he was here, he would do useful work. Vengeance would come later,
or second-hand.
'Duty is heavier than a mountain,' what a load of crap! he raged,
Duty is a small rock in your shoe, during an otherwise pleasant hike:
it spoils your fun, and it drives you _crazy_!_
The Cthonians were getting scarce, they had not ignored his
stealthy predations, but couldn't be explained. So they fled. Someone
was going to have to do something permanent about them. But he couldn't
travel through the planet's core, and slaughter all of them, but he
could keep up the guerrilla war, as could others.
.---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
| Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
| Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
| Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject |
`---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'