[FFML] [Ranma][fanfic] Ten

Hiya all,

Here's the first draft of the latest chapter of Ten. It's a bit longer than usual, but I've managed to finish it slightly ahead of schedule which is always a good thing. I'm not -entirely- happy with it, but I'm pretty pleased about it. I would have liked to have cover more, but I couldn't really jump into anything new without doubling the size of the chapter and I think it's large enough as it is.

With regards to the more technical aspects of the chapter, I'm kinda making things up as I go along. Hopefully I didn't get too many things wrong. I've never been aboard a submarine nor piloted a helicopter, so please forgive me if something is horribly amiss. Keep in mind this is a semi-sci-fi story. :)

Anyway. C&C is appreciated as always; whether or not you have any thoughts to share, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

= = = =
T E N

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic

By R. E.
(ranma_e@hotmail.com)

Illustrations by Irka
(irka@ciudad.com.ar)
= = = =

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"Alone at Last"
= = = = = = = =

Mule, the pilot of the largest of Alpha Team's transport helicopters,
glanced down at the fuel gauge before him. It glowed with a faint green
light, and showed that while the fuel situation was not yet critical, it
was dangerously close to being so. The helicopter, seemingly wary of its
own precarious situation, juddered for a moment before settling down.

Come on, baby, he thought, don't give up on me now. We're not home yet.

"Any sign of the Spring yet?" Fox's voice asked, loud in his ear.

"Not yet. We can't stay up here much longer. If we turn back now, we
-might- be able to make it back to land. Or close to it. I'll probably
have to autorotate the landing, but that's better than dropping into the
ocean."

"You know as well as I do we can't just ditch a black chopper on Hokkaido.
This is all we've got. Keep looking."

"Sir," Mule acknowledged, his voice tight. The chopper had taken damage
during the storm. Radio, GPS, the redundant communication systems - they
were all down. He was effectively flying blind, a solitary presence above
an endless expanse of black water.

It was the stuff of nightmares. One by one the gauges and instruments had
winked out of sight, plunging him into total darkness in a matter of
moments. The flight controls themselves felt strange, different, as though
it was another hand guiding them and not his own. He squeezed the cyclic
control more tightly, reassuring himself that it was not going to
disappear.

He was being stupid, he knew. He had trained for such an eventuality, but
to have it actually -happen- was another thing entirely. Low on fuel,
powerplants struggling, no instrumentation - it all spelled disaster in
bright, glowing neon letters. All he had to go on was his compass and an
extrapolated guess on the location of the Leviathan Spring he had
calculated from its last reported location, heading and speed - information
that was hopelessly out of date.

His burden was made heavier by the cargo they were carrying. Two other
Alphas - grunts from the Red fireteam - had come aboard, bringing with them
a wounded girl. He'd advised Fox against picking them up. Their chopper
had already taken damage, and just as he had predicted, the problems had
only worsened since then. It was reckless and irresponsible to undertake
a medical evacuation in such a situation, but they had done so anyway.

All well and good for Fox, playing the gallant hero, but it was upon Mule's
shoulders that the responsibility of bringing them safely to the Spring
lay. It was an encumbrance that he could have done without. The fact that
the extra weight they were carrying may well mean they would run out of
fuel before finding the Spring was an irony that was not lost upon him.

"How is our guest doing?" he asked, seeking a distraction from the more
depressing machinations of his imagination.

"She's making an amazing recovery," replied Harper, Blue's medic. "I've
never seen anything like this. If this keeps up, I'd say she doesn't have
anything to worry about."

Perfect. Just perfect. He'd stuck his neck out, and those of his
passengers, and for what? It sounded like the girl was in no danger
anyway. Other than the danger of crashing violently into the water below,
a danger that grew more dire every passing moment.

"Glad to hear some good news," Mule replied, with no small measure of
sarcasm. So much for a distraction.

The lambent moonlight, endlessly dancing over the ocean swell, was all he
had to see by. He gave silent thanks that at least the thick, billowing
clouds had vanished with the storm, leaving a clear night. If those
suffocating clouds had lingered on, he would have been in no end of
trouble. Their departure allowed him a vague hint as to his altitude, a
vital aid to his task.

A tiny sparkle of light caught his peripheral vision - a green speck that
floated upon the water's surface in the distance, near the horizon. His
heart leapt at the sight, but his mind kept his enthusiasm firmly in check.
The light was not necessary the landing strip.

"I can see a light. Could be the landing pad."

"You sure?" Fox asked

He had seen such things before. Algae churned up by seagoing vessels
sometimes fluoresced at night, producing a green glow. That could indicate
the location of the Leviathan Spring - but it could just as easily be the
trail of another vessel.

"No," he said. "Might be landing lights, might be something else. Don't
get your hopes up too high now."

* * *

A thin, pulsing strip of green landing lights illuminated the landing pad.
The vessel itself was a ghostly outline and nothing more, a small portion
of its hull barely visible protruding from the black waters. It was an
eerie sight, an enormous metallic beast lurking beneath the surface. Eerie
or not, Mule was delighted to see it.

"It's looking good, Chief," Mule called over the radio, unable to contain
his relief. That was a close one. Too close. "We hit the jackpot."

"Roger that," Fox replied. "Our guest isn't entirely out of the woods just
yet, so get us down there fast."

"You got it," Mule replied, lowering the collective slightly as the
helicopter came into line over the landing pad. Looking down at the
landing pad below, he again cursed the communication malfunction. He
wanted a medical team out on the pad with a stretcher, but he had no way to
ask for one.

Something else caught his eye - the landing pad was different. This was
not the pad he had taken off from. Indeed, he did not recognise this pad
at all. Must be the stern pad, he thought. I wonder why they lit this one
up for us.

Such thoughts were relegated to the back of his mind as he concentrated on
keeping the chopper steady as it descended. One of the chopper's skids
touched down heavily on the pad, the sudden change in attitude sending the
chopper into a slight drift. Mule compensated and held the craft steady
before finally lowering it completely to the ground. Not the best of
landings, but reasonable under the circumstances.

"Any landing you can walk away from ...." he muttered to himself.

* * *

The landing pad began its descent before the helicopter's doors could even
open, filling the hangar below with the sibilant sound of hydraulic pistons
contracting. The outer doors began the slow process of closing above them,
the light of the moon waning as the gap between them grew narrower.

Fox hopped out first, signaling the others to follow him out onto the pad.
Harper was the last of his team, followed by the two members of Red who had
accompanied them, the two teammates carrying the wounded girl between them.
Harper shouted instructions regarding the proper procedure for carrying a
wounded patient without a stretcher, but the two soldiers seemed to ignore
them, to the medic's growing annoyance.

Fox stepped away from the chopper, closely followed by Brute, the team's
demolitions specialist. The hangar's interior lights were off, leaving the
small group with only the glow of the landing lights to see by as the
hangar bay doors closed above them, enveloping them in darkness. Fox
exchanged a puzzled glance with Brute and activated his radio.

"Phoenix, this is Alpha, Blue fireteam," he spoke into his helmet
microphone as he slung his submachine gun over his shoulder. "Is anyone
receiving me?"

He waited for a reply, but a static hiss was the only response. A
prickling sensation ran down his spine. Something was not right about this.
The look on Brute's face suggested Fox was not alone in his feeling. Brute
was an enormous, hulking man - to see such uncertainty in his face was in
and of itself a source of intense discomfort.

"Repeat, this is Alpha, Blue fireteam, requesting acknowledgement. Please
respond. Come in, Phoenix."

"I don't like this, Chief," said Brute.

"You're not the only one," Fox replied. The ground juddered, a loud clunk
surrounding them as the platform settled into its resting bay on the floor
of the hangar. "Listen up, guys. Switch to NV, let's fan out and see if
we can't get the lights turned on. Maybe then we can figure out what's
going on around here."

"That won't be necessary."

"What?" Fox asked, turning to the source of the voice. Hammer looked back
at him, smiling, but it was Anvil who spoke.

"Your assistance is greatly appreciated," Hammer said, hoisting the wounded
girl up over his shoulders, "but your services are no longer required."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Brute growled. "We just hauled your
sorry asses out of that forest. You should be thanking us!"

"Our primary transport was far too slow given the nature of Ryujin's
injuries," Anvil replied. "Even with her regenerative abilities, we needed
to get her to a secure facility quickly. Your helicopter's arrival was
most timely. For that, you have our thanks."

"Unfortunately, knowing what you now know, you have become a liability,"
added Hammer, his smile coloured green by the glow of the lights. The two
walked forward together, disappearing into the darkness that surrounded the
chopper. "We have been forced to take steps to limit that liability."

"Phoenix thanks you for your service. That service is now at an end."

"NV! Now!" Fox cried, activating his own goggles. The bright glare of the
landing lights stung his eyes, but beyond it he could see a writhing,
shifting black mass. The two soldiers from Red fireteam pushed their way
through the wall of black and disappeared.

>From within the shifting mass, faces emerged. Dozens upon dozens of
identical faces. Ranma's face, repeated over and over again.

"What the HELL are those things?" Harper gasped.

"Oh ... shit," Fox managed to splutter, vaguely aware of his hand reaching
for his gun, even though he knew it would do no good. "They're everywhere!
Open fire!"

No order was given to the Hidari clones. The army of Ranmas simply moved
as one, a perfectly orchestrated whole, a wall of flesh and sharpened steel
that slammed into the soldiers with unrelenting force. It was over before
a single bullet could be fired.

* * *

Ukyo?

Ukyo, wake up.

Please, don't do this to me. I know you can hear me.

Just open your eyes. I need you to open your eyes.

Ukyo groaned, a strong sensation of nausea rushing in to fill the void that
had captivated her. She retched, coughing violently, and the sensation of
nausea was joined by the taste of blood on her tongue. A dull ache
permeated her torso, and yet she welcomed the feelings of pain, because
they were better than the nothingness that had held her captive for so
long.

-Ukyo? Can you hear me?-

-I can hear you,- she replied, thankful that her mental voice was
functioning. She had the distinct feeling that her real voice would not
have fared so well. -I'm glad to hear your voice, Ryoga.-

-Ukyo! Gods, I'm glad you're okay. I've been trying to get into contact
with you for hours!-

-Calm down, I'm okay,- she replied, and tried to open her eyes. A
brilliant flash of light scorched her vision, a brightness so profound that
it sent her mind reeling. She quickly clamped her eyes closed again.
Opening them would have to wait. -At least, I think I'm okay. My head
feels like it's been split in two. What happened?-

-Are you sure you're okay? You've been out for nearly three hours,- Ryoga
replied, his voice laden with concern.

-I'm fine,- Ukyo insisted, despite the throbbing ache that coursed through
her whole body. -Really, I'm fine. Just calm down. I need you to relax
and tell me what happened.-

There was a moment's silence as Ryoga collected himself as best he could.

-Something happened to Seraph Wing - a crash of some kind. We've got no
idea what caused it. Yoiko nearly went crazy trying to track down the
problem.-

-That's not what I meant,- Ukyo replied. -What happened with the mission?
What happened with Ranma? I heard gunfire.-

-After you collapsed, all hell broke loose. Ranma ripped seven shades of
hell out of the helicopters, then disappeared into the forest. I don't
know what happened to the chopper on the ground, and to be honest - after
seeing what she did to the chopper that made it back - I don't want to
know.-

-Damn it,- Ukyo fumed. She tried to move, but found she could not. -I
just -knew- it wouldn't be so easy to take her down. Are the others okay?-

-Yeah. Scar wanted to drop in and extract you, but the chopper was so
damaged that it had to pull back. They're all in the medical ward being
checked out, but they're already formulating a rescue operation. The brass
is nervous because Ranma is still in the vicinity, but Scar wants to come
and get you out of there.-

-That's good,- Ukyo replied hopefully. It was good to know that she had
not been abandoned. -Why aren't I dead? Where's Ranma?-

-We think she's nearby, but we can't pin down her position exactly. It's
very important that we get you out of there before she decides to come
back. Can you move? Put some distance between the two of you?-

-Not likely,- Ukyo replied, struggling. Again, she was unable to move. -I
think I'm tied to something.-

-Tied to something?-

-Yeah. Give me a minute.-

Ukyo forced her eyes open once more. Again, the burning light seared her
mind, its bright luminance making her eyes water. She held her eyes open,
struggling not to squint or close them, and slowly the intensity of the
light faded. Scorching white light gave way to a more muted yellow glow
that she recognised as sunlight.

She glanced around, wincing at the stabbing pain that coursed up and down
her neck with every motion of her head. She was in a clearing, caked in
mud, surrounded by shards of broken glass. She was sitting, and apparently
tied to a tree. The ground around her was torn up, presumably from heavy
gunfire.

-It's a tree,- she said, looking up at the sturdy trunk that rose overhead.
-I don't know what I'm tied with, but it feels like metal. There's glass
everywhere. This place looks like a war zone.-

A shape in her peripheral vision caught her eye. She twisted a little and
squeezed her way around the tree to get a proper view of it. She gasped -
the hulking, wrangled shape was the twisted shell of the transport
helicopter. Little remained beyond a mangled wreck of jagged metal and
smashed glass.

She could see the enormous tears in what remained of the door, and smell
the fuel dripping from the ruptured tank. Inside, or rather among, the
wreck lay the mangled remains of the pilot, his body skewered by a bloodied
metal pole. The chopper was tipped on its side, its one remaining rotor
blade rocking slightly back and forth.

-Oh, Gods,- she gasped. -I see what you meant about the helicopters. That
poor bastard never had a chance.-

-You've got to find a way out of those restraints,- Ryoga said, an urgent
tone to his voice. -Ranma could come back any minute. If you can get away
unnoticed, our situation will start to look a lot better.-

-I'll see what I can do,- she replied, jiggling her arms against her
restraints. They rattled, a dull metallic sound. Chains, perhaps? She
cursed the lack of her spatial sense - it felt as though she had a thick
towel wrapped around her head, obscuring her senses. A bizarre combination
of blindness, numbness, and deafness. -Any chance of getting Seraph Wing
back online?-

-Believe me, I'm doing everything I can. The Core is online, and is
transmitting the basics. Life signs, that sort of thing. It's just a
matter of bringing the AI back online and reinitialising the Frame.-

-Sounds like a piece of cake. You do that, I'll see if I can stand up.-

-I'll let you know the moment I'm finished. Don't worry, Ukyo. I'll get
you out of this somehow.-

-Thanks,- she replied, realising after she spoke how irritated she had
sounded. She ceased her struggles for a moment, composed herself, and
tried to convey some of the gratitude she genuinely felt for his company.
-I mean that, Ryoga. Thank you.-

-I understand,- came the reply. -Just hang in there.-

* * *

The world was green and grey, held in stark relief by a flickering,
fluorescent glow. A constant thrumming drone underpinned the light's
staccato rhythm, rumbling through the ons and offs, through the bright and
the dark. The air smelled strongly - a harsh, chemical odour that
assaulted the nose with its sterile cleanliness.

Akane blinked several times, dry eyes complaining painfully. The white
light streaked across her vision, its brightness fanning a slow-burning
fire behind her eyes. Squinting, she turned her head away and tried not to
look into the light.

A soft feather pillow pressed against her cheek as she turned, its gentle
texture seeming out of place in the cold, metallic room. Glancing
downwards, she saw thick sheets and a blanket covering her body, felt the
softness of the mattress below her. She felt strange - a small, niggling
doubt lingered in the back of her mind, prodding her consciousness
occasionally with the feeling that something was different.

Her mind felt groggy, as though she had woken from a sleep much too soon.
Her muscles complained with each movement, seemingly reluctant to exert
themselves, content to remain still. A vague nausea swam in her stomach,
just noticeable enough to be distinctly unpleasant. She tried to sit up.
A sharp, stabbing pain burst through her hip, eliciting a gasp of surprise.
Clutching her leg, she fell back to the bed, and the pain subsided to a
dull throb.

"Please, don't move. You're still injured."

"Who said that?" she asked, looking around the room as well as she could
without moving. The light in the room was concentrated on her bed, leaving
the far corners of the room darkened. "Who's there?"

"Don't be alarmed," said the voice. "You're in no danger. We're here to
help."

"Show yourself!" Akane demanded, staring into the darkness from where the
voice had come.

"As you wish."

Two figures stepped forward into the light, both dressed in military
fatigues. Akane looked back and forth between the two, eyes widening as
she realised they were almost identical. Both were tall, rugged, with
piercing blue eyes and a crop of short black hair. One bore a long scar
across his forehead and the other did not. That was the only real
difference she could determine.

Both bore an undeniable resemblance to Ranma.

She swallowed, a cold ball of fear sinking slowly into her stomach, and
pulled herself away from the pair despite her hip's protests. "Who are
you?"

Whenever one moved, the other moved identically. It was an unnatural,
uncanny synchronisation. She had seen that kind of synchronisation before,
and the memory only made her more nervous. She wondered for a moment where
her sword had gone.

"I am Hammer, and this is Anvil," spoke the one with the scar. He smiled.
"We are part of Delta Seven-Five, the special-services covert infiltration
team created by the Phoenix organisation. We were sent to oversee the
assault team that engaged Ryukyu. I am glad to see you are recovering."

Suppressing a shudder at the sound of his voice, she tried not to look
directly into either of their eyes. Within those eyes lurked the same
emptiness, the same void that she had seen in the laboratory at Osaka.
Even without looking at them, she could feel the nothingness touching the
edge of her consciousness.

She wanted to run from them, to find her sword and defend herself, but she
could not get up. Several moments passed, an awkward stillness hanging in
the air as she tried to distance herself from them.

"You're Hidari, aren't you?" she asked after a time. "Why didn't you kill
me?"

"Our mission was not to kill you," replied Hammer. "And yes, we are Hidari
of a sort. Proto-Hidari, early prototypes created from the same genetic
base."

"What was your mission?" Akane asked, curiosity suddenly overtaking her
fear. If they had wanted to harm her, they would have done so already.
The realisation made her feel better, although not by much. She had
stopped trembling, at least, which was itself a great relief.

"To extract you from the Hokkaido and bring you here."

"Why? Where is 'here'?"

"You are aboard the Leviathan Spring, a Phoenix-owned submarine submerged
off the coast of Japan," Anvil added. "You were brought here from Hokkaido
by helicopter approximately ninety minutes ago, in order to keep you away
from Ryukyu."

"Wh ... what?" Akane stammered, overwhelmed. Dizzying numbness descended
over her head. "Submarine?"

"Please accept our apologies. We understand this is a strange situation,
but it was felt that a submarine offered the best protection from Ryukyu.
We have gone to great lengths to keep your location a secret from those who
do not need to know it. You should be safe here."

Akane shuttled her eyes back and forth between the two, utterly confused.
These were the hunters that were after her, and yet they were treating her
wounds. Why weren't they attacking her? Wasn't that what she had been
running from?

"Why did you kidnap me?" she asked, unable to think of a more pertinent
question.

"Kidnap?" Hammer asked. He glanced over to Anvil, who looked surprised.
He smiled, and let out a chuckle. "We didn't kidnap you. We were sent in
to -rescue- you."

Akane stared at him, stunned. "Rescue me? What are you talking about?"

"You were lucky we found you when we did. We estimate, given Ryukyu's
current state, that within two weeks you would have been dead. Perhaps
less."

"I don't understand," Akane said, looking back and forth between the two
doppelgangers. "What are you saying?"

Anvil's eyebrows rose in surprise as he looked to Hammer. "She doesn't
know?"

"Ranma is naturally drawn to you because you are her polar opposite,"
Hammer explained. "She probably doesn't even understand why she does it,
but in each generation she seeks out and kills Ryujin's host."

"It's a pattern we have observed many times," Anvil continued. "It seems
that close proximity to Ryujin's host awakens Ryukyu's natural instincts
within her. From what we can gather, once those instincts become dominant,
she has no idea of what she is doing until long after Ryujin's host is
dead."

"Her degeneration is unusually slow this time. That is the only thing that
allowed us enough time to find you and get you out of there.
Traditionally, Ryujin's host is dead within a very short period after
coming into contact with Ranma."

"You're lying," Akane countered, folding her arms. She put on a brave
face, trying to ignore the sudden chill that ran through her veins. "I
don't believe you. Ranma was protecting me. I want to go back to her!"

"Whether you believe it or not is irrelevant," Hammer replied. "Ranma was
-not- protecting you. You may believe she was, perhaps even -she- believes
she was, but she was not. The simple fact is, sooner or later Ranma is
going to snap. Once she does, she will seek you out and she -will- kill
you. It is simply Ryukyu's nature to seek out and destroy its opposite."

"And that is where we come in," Anvil said. "As you are, you don't stand
a chance against her. We are going to help you."

* * *

Yoiko tapped at her keyboard, activating a multitude of surveillance probe
modules she had stealthily installed throughout the network during her time
aboard the Leviathan Spring. Nothing overt, just a bit of passive
observation. Data streams, voice traffic, she could silently route it all
to her PC and nobody would be any the wiser. This was far more her style
of hacking than the inventory record intrusion job that had been foisted on
her by her brother.

She had done all she could to assist in the repair and reinitialisation of
Seraph Wing - the software side of things was functioning perfectly. The
problem was hardware-based, and that was Ryoga's side of things. With her
usefulness in that arena exhausted, she had turned to intelligence
gathering.

Ryoga's direct link with Seraph Wing had alerted them to the system's
failure during the mission, and the subsequent mission abort. They were
the support team for the Seraph Wing system, and yet they had not been told
about the failure. That annoyed her immensely. She did not know why they
were being kept in the dark about the failure, but she did not plan on
staying there if she could help it.

Something had gone wrong during the mission. Seraph Wing should not have
failed, and its failure certainly should not have knocked Ukyo out. There
was something fishy going on - she could feel it. There was a reason why
the military was being so quiet about the mission's outcome, and she
intended to find it.

The military's weakness was its unwavering reliance on technology. Digital
communication channels were commonplace, satellite feeds and wireless
networks were the norm aboard the Leviathan Spring. They were all
encrypted, of course, but she had the ability and the tenacity to get
around such problems. If she could find out exactly what had gone on
during the mission, she might be able to give Ryoga some useful information
that he could pass directly to Ukyo via their link. That was how she
justified her use of the probes to herself, anyway. She was reasonably
confident that a military tribunal would not see it that way.

Picking up her favourite coffee mug, she took a sip of the strong black
liquid inside and glanced around the laboratory. Work was proceeding as
normal. None of the others even knew the mission had gone ahead. Shaking
her head, she turned her attention back to the task at hand. A multitude
of audio and data streams were being recorded directly to her hard drive,
and with the headphones she was wearing she could switch between the audio
streams at will, listening in with ease on the various conversations being
communicated back and forth across the sub. Almost everyone in the lab who
used a computer wore headphones on some occasions to listen to music while
they worked, so she was confident her task would not draw undue attention.
That was just the way she liked it.

* * *

-This is getting me nowhere,- Ukyo growled as she struggled helplessly
against her bonds. She could feel the warmth of her blood oozing over her
hands, the result of endless friction against the rough bark of the tree,
but she no longer cared.

She had been struggling for what felt like hours, although she had no idea
how long it had really been. She was used to - thanks to Seraph Wing's
chronometer - knowing the exact time, but with the AI offline she could do
little but guess. She growled in frustration as she rattled her chains,
feeling utterly helpless.

-I think I've fixed the problem,- Ryoga said, his voice breaking the
tension.

-You have?-

-Yeah. Hold on, I'm going to try reinitialising the system. This might
not work.-

Ceasing her struggles, she leaned back against the tree trunk and waited.
A low hum filled her ears, a twinge of anticipation squeezed her stomach,
and she held her breath.

Suddenly, a violent jolt of electricity surged through her body, forcing a
scream from her mouth as her body writhed, muscles contorting as a
high-voltage current burned through her body and into the ground below.
As quickly as it had come it was gone again, leaving her slumped against
the tree.

-Oh, Gods, I'm sorry!-

Ukyo groaned and raised her head, which fell backwards and bumped against
the tree trunk. She coughed, a painful burning sensation filling her
lungs, and let out a slow, shaky breath. Through her stinging, watering
eyes she saw what appeared to be tiny wisps of steam wafting from her
mouth.

-Are you okay?- Ryoga asked frantically. -I screwed up, the Frame
overloaded. Gods, I'm sorry!-

-Don't worry about it,- she managed to say. -I'm fine. Just ... please,
don't do that again. It really, really hurts.-

-I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm so sorry---

-Ryoga,- she interrupted, putting as much firmness into her mental voice as
she could manage. -I forgive you. Stop apologising. I need you to
concentrate.-

-Okay ... okay,- Ryoga replied, obviously flustered.

-What was the problem?- she prodded.

-The Frame overloaded, there must be some internal damage in the fibres, or
perhaps in the control subsystems, or maybe -- there's a thousand different
components that could have caused it.-

-What can you do to fix it?-

-There's nothing I can do about it, not without access to the physical
structure of the Frame. There's only so much I can do from here.-

-Okay, so what -can- you do?-

-I guess ... I guess I could reinitialise the Core and the AI without
bringing the Frame online. That way, the AI could repair the Frame
itself.-

-Sounds good to me. I knew you could come up with something.-

-It'll take me a while to decouple the Frame from the Core remotely. Hang
in there.-

-Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere.-

* * *

Hammer stood with his back to Akane, looking up at the ceiling, apparently
deep in concentration. After a long pause, he spoke.

"The Hidari were originally designed as an anti-Ryukyu weapon. It was
believed that the most effective weapon to combat Ranma would be Ranma
herself. A DNA sample obtained in the fifties presented that opportunity,
and the Hidari were the result of that research."

"However, the project has been met with nothing but failure," Anvil
continued. "Despite continual improvements to each generation, the clones
have never been able to match Ranma in conventional combat. They are
almost perfect copies of Ranma, but not quite perfect enough."

"It is ironic that the clones are bred for a single purpose, and that
purpose is one they can never achieve," Hammer observed with a slow nod of
his head. He gave a wry smile. "Their failure has been so absolute that
they have begun to revere Ranma as an undefeatable enemy."

"They have created their own mythology surrounding her. Some call her
'Waterskin' because of the liquid properties of the cloak she wears. Others
call her 'Shafan', the demon who tried to burn the skies. They have a
dozen different names for her. It's all nonsense, of course. They treat
her almost as a religious figure, the leader of that which they stand
against."

Hammer sat at the edge of Akane's bed, his weight tilting the mattress
slightly, causing Akane to slide slightly toward him. He smiled at her,
but kept his distance.

"Despite their failings, they still serve a purpose as loyal, dependable
troops. We have used them many times against Ranma, and to try and make
contact with you. One almost succeeded, but was killed."

Akane nodded slowly, memories of a lone Hidari fighting Ranma in a cave
long ago returning to her mind. That was the first Hidari she had ever
seen - the first of many. Ranma had fought and killed many since then, but
the first indelibly marked her memory.

That clone had called Ranma "Waterskin", just as Anvil had said. And just
as Anvil had said, that Hidari had tried to take her away from Ranma.
There had been no threat, no attack. Just five words: "I want to help
you."

But ....

"A Hidari tried to kill me in Osaka," she said, fixing Hammer with a
challenging gaze. "It certainly weren't trying to help me."

"The incident at facility 719 was regrettable," Hammer replied, unfazed.
"Those Hidari had been germinated only hours before. They did not have
developed personalities. They would have attacked anything that came near
them."

Akane slumped back against her pillow and let out a long, slow sigh. The
words of the pair did coincide with her own experience, but she refused to
believe what they said so easily. That said, the fact that they had not
killed her the moment they found her - as Ranma had said they would -
swayed the argument in their favour.

Even so, she was not about to abandon everything Ranma had told her, showed
her, over the past few months. These Hidari gave off an unnatural, sickly
aura that hung over them, a stench of artificiality. They were
abominations, and she could feel the presence of Ryujin inside her, urging
her away from them. Such an innate distrust was hard to ignore.

She closed her eyes and silently wished that Ranma was with her. No matter
what the two proto-Hidari were saying, she desired Ranma's presence above
all else. Her need clawed at her mind, an urge that could not be ignored.

Was this the compulsion Hammer had spoken of? Was it nothing more than
her genetic makeup that compelled her to seek out Ryukyu?

No.

She did not desire Ryukyu's company. It was not the dragon that compelled
her thoughts, there was no uncontrollable instinct. The plaintive cries
inside her mind, the longing and desire, they were her own. She did not
want Ryukyu. She wanted - needed - to be with Ranma. Ranma.

"We have been watching you for quite some time now, Akane. You are the
most advanced Ryujin we have yet encountered. Your compatibility with the
Ryujin phenotype is almost one hundred percent. This is why we believe you
have the best chance of stopping Ryukyu."

"Compatibility?" Akane asked, drawn from her reverie. The word brought to
mind the laboratory results Ranma had found in Osaka. "What do you mean,
compatibility?"

"The human body is not naturally designed to play host to an entity such as
Ryujin. Each generation of your family has grown more and more compatible
with the Ryujin phenotype. Essentially, it is accelerated evolution. Even
so, it has taken nearly nine hundred years for your family's genetic
structure to adapt to provide a suitable host. You must understand,
though, that in terms of evolution, this is little more than the blink of
an eye."

"Evolution ..." Akane mumbled, wide-eyed. "Gods, that's what it meant."

"That said," interrupted Anvil, "your own advancement is not yet
complete. Your body is not yet fully evolved. We can't take the risk of
waiting for your development to finish. For this reason, we wish to
accelerate your development, and support it with a defensive system that
will be implanted within your body."

"A defensive system? What kind of system?" Akane asked, clutching the
blanket tightly to herself. She did not like the sound of the word
'implant'. "You're not implanting anything into me!"

"Please, allow us the opportunity to explain. Our technical expert will be
here shortly to provide the details. Put simply, it will allow you to
stand up to Ranma on even terms when she comes for you."

"'When'? I thought you said I was safe here."

"Ranma will come for you, it is inevitable. We can only delay her, we
cannot stop her. That task falls to you."

Akane lowered her head to the pillow and looked up at the light overhead.
She felt Hammer's weight leave the bed, but did not move. She knew they
were lying to her, trying to trick her for a reason and purpose she did not
understand. A feeling of smallness overcame her, a realisation that she
was but a small part of a very large world.

"Get some rest. We'll call for the technical specialist. He will be here
shortly to answer your questions."

She heard the words, but did not respond. The voice was Hammer's, or
perhaps Anvil's. It was impossible to tell their voices apart. The very
existence of those two hollowed-out shells, filled to overflowing with life
energy stolen from the water, repelled her. The very idea of believing
what they had said to her was almost laughable.

And yet, she found herself wondering. Some of what they had said sounded
plausible. Part of her mind wondered if the two Hidari were telling the
truth, and what it meant if they were. She shook her head, disbelieving.
She had spent so long with Ranma, day in and day out, every waking moment.
Ranma had become her life, the redheaded girl had become closer to her than
anyone else. She simply could not imagine Ranma turning on her. The look
on Ranma's face when their eyes met ... they were true friends. More than
friends. Companions, partners.

And yet, she had seen Ranma's brutal barbarism directed against many Hidari
in those months of friendship. Always Hidari. It was true that Ranma
harboured a distinct disdain for humans, but it was always Hidari that were
the object of her anger. But then, she could understand Ranma's dislike
for the artificial constructs. She felt it herself, in the very core of
her being.

She sighed and clutched one hand with the other, imagining it to be
Ranma's. Her thoughts were running in circles, without a start nor an end.
Despite what the Hidari had said, she still wanted Ranma to come and find
her. Even if all they had said was true, she still wanted to be with
Ranma. Death in Ranma's arms was preferable to this uncertainty and
loneliness.

* * *

Yoiko leaned back in her chair and spun a ball-point pen back and forth
between the fingers of one hand, letting out a sigh as she looked back and
forth over the mounting pile of data she had amassed. There was nothing
really of use; a deployment analysis report, briefing details for the
rescue operation, but nothing that offered any insights into what had
happened on the ground.

There was very little traffic regarding Seraph Wing's operation, which was
information in and of itself. As part of the support team she had read the
operations reports in great depth from the moment of the system's initial
activation - they had always been extremely verbose and detailed. The
details about this deployment, however, were minimal to say the least.

Tapping her pen's tip against her mouth, she stared off into the distance
as she pondered just what the lack of information meant. Obviously, a lack
of analysis meant the mission was being kept quiet for one reason or
another. But why? What purpose would concealing Seraph Wing's failure
serve?

Sitting back in her chair, she looked up at the ceiling and tried to think
the situation through thoroughly. It had been a long shift, however, and
she found herself struggling to think clearly. A stinging pain flared up
behind her right eye and she squinted it closed, frowning.

Great, a headache. Just what I need.

She scolded herself for not wearing her reading glasses. It ended in a
headache, every single time. No matter how many times it happened, she
never learned. Pulling open her desk drawer, she pulled out a bottle of
aspirin pills and her glasses. Swallowing two pills with a swig of cold
coffee, she put on her glasses and resumed reading the list of items her
probes had retrieved.

The list was relatively short. There really was a dearth of anything
useful. She had retrieved every piece of data recorded by the Red fireteam
and yet she had found absolutely nothing of value--

She sat up with a start, her headache forgotten. She had been so
preoccupied with Red fireteam that she had not even noticed the lack of
reports for Blue fireteam. While Red's documentation was sparse, Blue's
was totally absent. There wasn't even a log entry for their return.

What the hell is going on here?

Perhaps, she reasoned, Blue's radio communications might offer some hint of
what happened during the mission. It was a long shot, but it was the best
she could think of.

It was a moment's work to bring up her copy of the archived radio
communication from the mission. Compared to the deep probes required to
retrieve what little post-mission data there was, it was child's play. A
few deft keystrokes later and she was listening to an audio recording of
the radio chatter from the Blue fireteam's helicopter.

* * *

-Greetings, My Lady.-

-Aha! Got it!-

-Hello, Seraph Wing,- Ukyo said, a note of relief in her mental voice. She
smiled to herself. -Thank you, Ryoga. I knew you could do it.-

-I was not properly shut down, My Lady. Commencing internal diagnostic.-

-Do it quickly, Seraph Wing. I need to get out of here.-

-I shall do my best, My Lady.-

Ukyo leaned back against the tree and let the supreme clarity of her
spatial sense wash over her. It was seven forty-two in the morning, the
ambient temperature was 11 degrees Celsius, she was securely fastened to a
tree that was three-point-four-one metres high, and she had three fractured
ribs.

The news was entirely bad, but she couldn't have been happier to hear it.

-It's working, Ryoga,- she said, elated. -I can sense things again.-

-Be careful,- Ryoga replied. -The system isn't exactly stable at the
moment. The Frame is dead and unless Seraph Wing can fix it, it's going
to stay that way for the time being. That means pretty much no biokinetic
plating, very restricted feedback supplements for your muscles, and the
range of your spatial sense is severely limited.-

-It's better than nothing,- she replied, cautiously optimistic. -Thank
you.-

-Don't forget, you need to get out of there as soon as you can. Get to
somewhere we can pick you up with one of the choppers. Once you're back
aboard the Spring, we can repair the Wing properly.-

-Agreed,- she replied with a nod. She wanted to find Ranma, but she was
not stupid enough to think she could put up any kind of fight in her
current condition. Without the protection of her biokinetic plating, she
became acutely aware of the fact that she was without Seriatim. In the
rush to deploy, she had been unable to grab it from her quarters.

-The diagnostic is complete, My Lady. Several components of the Core are
damaged but none critically so. System operation is within nominal
parameters. The Frame is the most damaged component - I have prioritised
repair operations accordingly.-

-You can fix it?-

-Yes, My Lady. I estimate time to repair the Frame module at approximately
three hours, thirty-two minutes, sixteen seconds. Mark.-

-Ask it why it shut down, Ukyo.-

-Okay,- she replied. -Why did you shut down, Seraph Wing?-

-I received an encrypted medium-range burst transmission containing an
emergency shutdown command. Authentication procedures verified its
validity, and I was thus compelled to shut down the Core's main
operations. I apologise, but I had no choice.-

-From where?-

-Unknown, My Lady. I can not pinpoint its origin.-

-A burst transmission?- Ryoga asked, surprised. -That doesn't make any
sense. We're the only ones who know the access schema.-

-What does that mean?-

-It means either someone hacked into the system, or the transmission was
sent from the Leviathan Spring.-

-From the sub? Who would do that?- Ukyo asked, alarm rising.

-It doesn't make any sense. A medium-range transmission wouldn't reach you
from the Spring ... damn it, you don't have time to worry about this now.
Concentrate on getting out of there. The military doesn't know about our
link, so you'll have to get into contact with them yourself somehow. I'm
going to see if I can dig up anything here.-

* * *

"Colonel Hunter, we have a task for you."

"What is it?"

"We have another Seraph Wing candidate. Bring your technical specialist
down to the lab. We will require his assistance."

"Another candidate? How? Ukyo was the only suitable--"

"No questions, Colonel. Escort your technical specialist to the lab
immediately. I have transferred the information you'll require for his
briefing."

"All right, but I need something in return."

"What do you require?"

"I need to send out a search team. Mule's chopper disappearing isn't
something I can just pretend not to notice. Pretty soon, people are going
to notice they haven't come back. If I don't send out a search and rescue,
the troops will get suspicious."

"Very well. Conduct your search. I would advise you to keep your troops
under control, Colonel. We've seen what happens when you don't."

"Yes ... yes. I understand."

* * *

Ryoga's frown deepened as he read the Seraph Wing system log for the fifth
time. It simply did not make any sense. The system was operating
perfectly right up until the moment of shutdown. There was no reason for
the system to simply go offline as it had.

What worried him most was the manner of shutdown - it was the emergency
system termination, intended to be used in the case of critical system
failure. No safety measures were taken - the system simply powered down,
without terminating any biofeedback loops or nervous system connections.
It was a matter of luck that the Frame was not operating at full capacity
at the time of shutdown, or Ukyo's entire nervous system could have been
incinerated.

The emergency system termination command was encoded with the highest level
of security available. It was never intended to be triggered remotely.
The system was designed to activate the procedure at the brink of meltdown,
when all other options had been exhausted. The very idea of it being
triggered remotely, and so easily, chilled him to the core. How had such a
security breach taken place?

There was no record of the burst transmission Seraph Wing claimed took
place. Admittedly, that was because he hadn't explicitly enabled a logging
process for such transmissions, as he had not been expecting any. He had
since activated a detailed log process specifically for burst
transmissions.

He picked up a ball-point pen and began twirling it between his fingers,
unsure of how to proceed. Without physical access to Seraph Wing, he could
not obtain any useful information from the hardware. The system logs were
detailed, but not detailed enough. He sighed, feeling suddenly helpless.
Ukyo was relying on him, and he was failing to deliver.

There were few possibilities he could think of. Either the system failed,
or it was tampered with. Both seemed unlikely - the system was both
well-designed and secure. Despite that, however, one of the two
possibilities had come to pass. Which one, however, he did not know for
sure.

He rubbed his temples, trying to put out of his mind the everpresent worry
that Ukyo was on her own with Ranma nearby, and failing completely. He
knew it would do no good to worry, but he could not stop himself. There
had to be something he could do.

Reaching past his workstation, he picked up his phone receiver and dialled
Yoiko's extension.

"Hibiki," came her voice as the phone was answered.

"Yoiko, it's me. I need your help with something."

"Good timing, I was just about to call you."

"Why?" he asked, curiosity piqued. Perhaps she had been more successful in
her efforts than he. "Find anything useful?"

"You might say that, yeah," Yoiko replied, sounding perturbed. "I've been
tracking the satellite communications. It turns out that Ukyo wasn't the
only one left behind after the mission."

"What do you mean?"

"A couple of choppers are missing. One was lost when Ranma attacked it,
but the other was Mule's, and - get this - he wasn't anywhere near the
fighting. According to the radio logs, the closest he got was to pick up
a few passengers."

"Who?" Ryoga asked, genuinely interested.

"Two members of Scar's team. According to Scar's log, Hammer and Anvil
didn't return with them, so it must have been them. The interesting bit is
their other passenger - a female gunshot victim left behind by Ranma."

Ryoga ducked his head behind his monitor as a pair of research assistants
walked past his desk. His was a relatively isolated area of the
laboratory. Few came near his station, and those who did usually did not
stay for long. Even so, he was not totally alone. When he was sure the
uninvited visitors were gone, he raised his head once more.

"A female?" he asked, his voice lowered.

"Yeah. I really had to dig deep to get the communication logs out. I
don't really have any physical details, but I do have one very interesting
tidbit of info. According to Harper's medical log, the girl was
regenerating herself. Apparently, her wound pretty much healed itself."

"Regenerating herself?" Ryoga stammered, taken aback. "That means she's
either ... Gods, no wonder they are keeping it quiet!"

"I know. Ryoga, there's more going on here than we know. They've always
said there were only two beings that could regenerate themselves - Ranma
and Ukyo. If they were lying about that, what else are they lying about?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions. They might not have known either," Ryoga
replied, trying his best to stay calm and rational. "Where did the chopper
land?"

"It didn't. The chopper's last transmission indicates they were heading
out over the ocean. After that, nothing. There's no log entry for their
landing, and there's no way they'd have enough fuel to stay in the air this
long."

"So they either landed somewhere else, or they crashed."

"There's a lot of radio traffic flying around now talking about a search
and rescue operation for the chopper, so I'm guessing they crashed."

Ryoga chewed his pen thoughtfully, trying to come to grips with what he had
heard. If what Yoiko had found was true, it meant there was either more
than one dragon, or more than one of Ukyo's kind. What he didn't quite
understand was why the military would go to such great lengths to keep that
information secret.

"What do you think?" Yoiko asked.

"I'm not sure what to make of it," Ryoga replied honestly. "Keep digging,
see what you can find. There's too much going on for this to all be a
coincidence."

"It doesn't make any sense, and it still doesn't tell us what caused Seraph
Wing to fail," Yoiko pointed out.

"Actually, that's why I was calling. Apparently, it was a burst
transmission containing the emergency shutdown sequence."

"What? That's impossible!"

"That's what I thought, too," Ryoga replied. "I managed to get the AI back
online, and that's what it's reporting. From what I can gather from the
hardware's diagnostics, it would seem that's what happened. I want you to
look into it, see what happened. Someone had to send that transmission,
and I want to know who it was."

"Okay, you got it," Yoiko replied. "I'll get to the bottom of it. If it
happened, I'll let you know who sent it."

"Thanks, sis. I owe you another one."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll add it to the collection. Listen, I'd better--"

Ryoga's attention was caught by movement in his peripheral vision. When he
looked, he saw Colonel Hunter, flanked by a pair of lieutenants, heading
directly for him. The look on Hunter's face and the brisk pace of his
stride suggested he was not in any mood for light conversation.

"I gotta go," Ryoga said, interrupting Yoiko. "The Colonel's coming. Keep
searching, Ukyo is counting on us. I'll call back as soon as I can."

He placed the receiver back in its cradle and switched his computer to a
relatively benign-looking application moments before the Colonel arrived at
his desk. Pretending to be surprised, he looked up at Hunter.

"You are to come with me," Hunter said, not bothering with the formalities.

"Now?" Ryoga asked, somewhat taken aback. Perhaps, he realised, the
Colonel was on to him, and this was his escort to the brig. He swallowed,
and hoped he was not sweating as much as he thought he was.

"Right now."

* * *

The Colonel's speedy pace had not slowed at all, and Ryoga found himself
struggling to keep up. His cane clattered noisily with each hurried step,
shaking back and forth each time he put his weight upon it as he sped along
as best he could. The lieutenants did an admirable job of maintaining
their position behind him, matching his somewhat erratic pace perfectly.

He had been marched along for several minutes, down corridors he did not
recognise. The rumble of the engine room and the power generation
facilities grew louder with each step, indicating they were moving aft, but
beyond that he knew nothing.

They came to an enormous door, two guards standing at rigid attention to
either side. The Colonel saluted them as they approached, and the two
guards returned the gesture.

The Colonel stopped as they reached the door and Ryoga stopped behind him,
his aching knee grateful for the rest. He reached down and rubbed it
gingerly, tender flesh complaining at the contact. His knee had been
bothering him lately, and the unexpected walk had not done it any good.
Glancing up from his knee, he watched the two guards remove small cards
from their shirt pockets and simultaneously slide them through two card
readers on either side of the door. A speaker above the door chirped a
series of beeps, and with a hiss the door slid open.

"Come with me, Ryoga."

He nodded and stepped after the Colonel, noticing only after the door began
to close behind him that the lieutenants were not following. He had never
even seen this door before, let alone where it led.

His footfalls were loud, metallic, the floor below feeling very much like
metal grating. The room was dark, leaving him with little idea of just
what he was standing upon. When the floor juddered violently and began to
slowly descend he nearly fell, only to be stopped by the Colonel's hand
upon his shoulder.

"Careful, you don't want to fall."

"No, Sir," he replied automatically, silently grateful for the help. The
way his footsteps echoed, it seemed that the shaft they were descending
through was long indeed. He had always know the Leviathan Spring was
large, but it was only in that moment that he began to appreciate its sheer
-enormity-.

"Several hours ago a strike mission was launched against Ranma Saotome by
members of Alpha Team. Officially, the mission was a failure. However,
the story being told is not entirely accurate."

"Sir?" Ryoga asked, feigning ignorance. He knew a lot more about the
operation than he was supposed to. Even knowing of its existence was more
than he was supposed to know.

"While the mission was a failure in that Ranma herself was not killed, the
team was able to salvage the operation and take custody of another
individual."

"Another individual, Sir?" he asked, no longer needing to pretend to be
surprised.

"Yes. This individual has displayed remarkable regenerative capabilities
very similar to those exhibited by Ukyo Kuonji. That is why you have been
called upon."

The elevator juddered to a halt, and another set of doors opened before
them, revealing a well-lit corridor beyond. Unlike the uniformly grey
corridors he was used to, these corridors were predominantly black.

"You want me to install another Seraph Wing?" Ryoga asked, taken aback as
realisation dawned. "But the hardware was tailored specifically to Ukyo!"

"The new subject shows every indication of being compatible with the
system. Modifications will have to be made to the hardware design, but you
are capable of making those changes."

"I ... I suppose, I mean, I'd never really considered ...."

"The decision has already been made."

Hunter led Ryoga from the elevator shaft and down the corridor, resuming
punishing pace he had established. Ryoga looked along the corridor as they
proceeded, glancing to and fro at every intersection they passed. They
took several turns, their path becoming increasingly convoluted and
mazelike. The corridors themselves were bare, with no real distinguishing
features. He tried to pay attention to where he was being led, but knew he
could easily get lost in such a place.

There were two important differences that did leap to his attention,
however: no security cameras, and no military personnel. The corridors
were mostly empty, but the few people he did see were not dressed in
military uniform.

"What is this place?"

"This is the Delta laboratory. Its existence is classified at the highest
level. Officially, this entire area is designated as 'storage section 9'.
That is all most people will ever know. This is the laboratory that
developed the Seraph Wing AI construct, among other things."

Ryoga reeled at that revelation. He had always imagined the Seraph Wing
AI being developed in some far-off laboratory, not aboard the very vessel
it was being used upon.

"Obviously," Hunter continued, "You are not to divulge anything you see,
hear or learn in this laboratory. The penalties for doing so are severe,
to say the least. You have only been permitted to enter this area because
of your specialist knowledge, and because I personally vouched for your
reliability and integrity. I would recommend for your own safety you do
not abuse my trust."

"Understood, Sir," Ryoga acknowledged, trying his hardest not to imagine
those penalties. He fell silent as they continued along the corridor, his
imagination defying his wishes.

"Here we are," Hunter said, gesturing toward a plain black door. "This is
the containment facility. The subject is alone and unarmed, so you have
nothing to worry about on that front. Make your initial assessment, and
return to me when you are finished."

"You're not ... coming with me?" Ryoga asked, alarm bells ringing loudly
in his mind.

"No. It's important that you gain her trust, if this procedure is to be
successful. Barging in with a military escort on your first meeting is
hardly likely to help in that regard. Don't worry, though, she has just
been sedated and is quite docile."

"I don't know if I should--"

"Relax. There's nothing to be afraid of. She's just a person, she's not
going to hurt you. She's more afraid of this than you are. You'll be
fine. Just go in there, conduct your analysis, and try to reassure her.
Don't ask too many questions, though. We don't want her to feel like she's
being interrogated."

Ryoga stared at the Colonel for several moments, unsure of what to do.
Some tiny part of him hoped the Colonel would smile, that it would all be
a big joke, and that he wasn't being sent in to deal with whatever lay
in that room by himself. There was no change in Hunter's expression.
Ryoga let out a defeated sigh.

"If you're sure, Sir," he replied, his firm voice belying his nervousness.
He took a step toward the door, and it slid open to welcome him. He was
entirely convinced, despite his own curiosity, that there were many people
vastly more qualified to handle this situation than him. A question came
to mind. Pausing, he looked over his shoulder at the Colonel. It seemed
almost ludicrous to ask, but it was as good a place to start as any.

"What's her name?"

"Tendo. Akane Tendo."

* * *

-Analysis of the tree is complete, My Lady. The trunk shows no signs of
rot or other structural weakness.-

-That's just great,- Ukyo said with a frustrated sigh. -So how am I
supposed to get out of this?-

-The most likely method of escape is to break the chain holding you. Once
the Frame module is online, you will be easily able to do so.-

Ukyo scowled. It had been only two hours, three minutes and thirteen
seconds since the repairs had started. Waiting another hour for the Frame
to come online was far too long. -I need something faster than that. See
if you can find a weak link in the chain, or something. Anything.-

-As you wish, My Lady. Commencing analysis.-

She glanced around once more, uncomfortably aware of her own helplessness.
Even if there had been a pair of bolt cutters right in front of her, with
her hands so securely held there was no way to use them. It was all she
could do to shuffle back and forth slightly against the tree. So tight
were the bonds that even breathing was difficult.

-Analysis complete. There are no structural flaws in the chain sufficient
to weaken its integrity.-

"Damn it!" she yelled, infuriated. She struggled wildly against her
chains, yanking as hard as she could against them. Her arms and wrists
scraped and scratched against the rough tree bark, cutting another dozen
scratches across her skin. With a cry of frustration she gave up and
slumped once more against the tree.

-This is getting me nowhere!- she said, panting. -Where the hell is that
search and rescue team?-

-I do not detect any air traffic in the vicinity,- Seraph Wing replied.
-Although my range is severely limited.-

-That was a rhetorical question,- she replied. She wanted to rub her
forehead to ease the painful headache that was building in her head, but
the bonds that held her denied her even that relief. -I swear, when I get
out of this I'm going to beat the living hell out of Ranma Saotome, Frame
or not.-

-I would advise against that course of action, My Lady. Without the Frame
you will not survive.-

-Damn it, I was-- oh, just forget it!-

-As you wish, My Lady.-

A loud cracking sound rumbled over the mountainside, sending a flock of
birds retreating from the trees into the sky. A long, slow creaking sound
followed, and finally a thunderous crash. Ukyo watched the birds scatter
skywards.

-What the hell was that?-

-Unknown, My Lady. It would seem that something has felled a tree.-

Another crash followed, and another, and another. Birds filled the sky,
retreating from the disturbance. Ukyo watched the multitudes fly overhead
at great speed. The sky cleared a few moments later, leaving a noticeable
silence.

-It's stopped.-

-I'm detecting movement in the treetops, My Lady. I believe it may be---

"Ranma!" Ukyo yelled, jolting to attention as the cloaked figure landed
silently before her with catlike grace. Ranma slowly rose to her feet, the
puddle of black liquid at her feet drawing into her cloak as she stood.
They were both still for a moment, simply staring at each other.

The moment passed, and Ranma moved - in the blink of an eye, she was upon
Ukyo. Ranma's hand closed around her throat, frozen fingers robbing her
body of feeling as they tightened their grip. Ukyo flailed hopelessly
against the tree, unable to do anything more than gurgle as Ranma's grip
cut off the blood supply to her head.

She felt herself being lifted, her back scraping against the tree as Ranma
raised her easily with one hand. Faint creaking and snapping sounds
registered in her ears as the thick chains holding her gave way. She tried
to move her newly-freed arms and legs, but her body was rapidly succumbing
to unconsciousness and her limbs refused to obey.

Ranma's face drew near and bitterly cold breath washed over Ukyo's face,
robbing it of what little feeling remained. The abysmal chill penetrated
her entire body, leaving her no doubt of its cause: Ranma was quite
literally squeezing the life from her, leaving behind only cold, empty
nothingness.

She looked into Ranma's eyes as they watched her dying, the white-hot fire
of apocalyptic fury burning bright behind the frozen blue orbs and their
minatory stare. The world began to spin, the sun's light fading as she
felt the grip of unconsciousness closing upon her mind.

Just as the world faded to black she felt the grip on her throat relent and
a torrent of air flooded into her lungs - a physiological slap in the face
that brought her from her torpor. She coughed, choked, forced her watering
eyes open. Ranma still stood before her, still staring at her, still
holding her body aloft.

Ranma spoke, three words escaping her mouth in a feral, guttural growl.

"Where is she?"

= = = =
T E N
= = = =

Regards,
R. E.

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Ten
http://ten.waxwolf.com
Perfection has a price.

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