[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 42 - The
Price That Life Exacts
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.
C&C, MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
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per-Morituri
(these are the original versions)
What has gone before:
About Book 11 of the Tankoubon Manga, 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 Jeffrey
Davis.
With the return of NERV Tokyo from the Great White Space, everyone is
celebrating, except Asuka who realizes their enemies are taking a direct
interest in the pilots. Nabiki and Rei are returned to Tokyo separately,
Rei by express, Nabiki aboard the Spruce Goose with cargo for the EVAs.
Shinji, Asuka, Toji and Hikari meet with Yumiwashi.
Rei locates and confronts Jeff on the anniversary of Samuel's death.
She remembers her feelings on the death of Yui Ikari, and how she arranged
Naoko Akagi's death. Jeff wants to be left alone, Rei decides he needs to
talk about events, and doesn't take no for an answer. Including revealing
how he killed her years earlier in Boston.
At the welcome home party for Nabiki and Rei, the Azores mission is
revealed. Ranma will move in with Asuka and Sammi. Three shoggoths, once
fragments of Ritsuko, fight and are defeated by combining Ritsuko, Ranma
and Jeff, there are some side-effects as the trio's personalities
temporarily bleed into each other. Among them: Jeff, under the influence
of Ranma, confronts Belldandy sending her, then her sisters, into a tizzy,
Keiichi managed to defuse it. Ranko, under the influence of the others,
gives Jeff the passionate kiss from the bet he lost to Asuka at the
carnival. Then Asuka and Jeff tickle Nabiki remorselessly. Rei begins
calling Asuka mein Grossfeldmarschall {Gro�e}. All the pilots are giddy
from recent events.
To help Misato and Hiro's relationship, Asuka, Rei and Shinji throw
together a Sunday in the park picnic. Asuka invites Keiichi, Belldandy and
Megumi. Megumi volunteers her services and Belldandy's as caterers. They
work through the night to get everything ready.
The baseball captain Usagi and her allies are introduced, and what
they worship before their softball games.
The picnic is a success until Usagi and Yuki decide to test the
pilots. Ranma easily intercepts the batted ball, but transforms and must
leave. The picnic ends. Asuka and Ranma are sulky after the failed
picnic. Asuka also has a letter from Anna reminding her of home, to which
she can never return.
With the aid of a narrow board and two sawhorses, Asuka begins
teaching Ranma both sword fighting, and how to teach. Only he believes his
first class with the others was an unmitigated disaster.
Asuka contracts Keiichi and his sister to construct several bicycles
for the pilots. She shoots a bug and has her second clash with Skuld.
All four senators from Wyoming and Massachusetts begin investigating
the Boston incident and Misato's part in it. Admiral Simson scrambles to
begin his own investigation of what has been happening in NERV before and
after the war. Shinji and Rei console and watch over Misato.
Asuka and Ranma wash each others hair, Shinji washes Rei's. They
discuss children while doing this. Asuka doesn't want the responsibility,
Rei appreciates her advice.
Aboard the Bennington, Jeff meets with one of his patrons and receives
an update on Sharon. Nabiki is coming to realize the differences in the
way the military treats her and the other pilots.
Major ggreg and Adam Smith arrive, to cover their `spying` on NERV,
they will teach Nabiki and Jeff about explosives. Ritsuko investigates the
unusual way Jeff syncs with the EVA, she is terrified by the contact.
Later she realizes the spirits power the EVAs. Nabiki and Maya train to
operate firearms.
Jeff and the Scholarly Dragon teach Nabiki about control of her
dreams, the Scholarly Dragon prevents a dream attack by Usagi and company.
Admiral Simson asks about Jeff siccing the Senators on Misato, he did
so because the Navy stonewalled his investigation.
Nabiki adds hand-to-hand training with the rifle.
Nabiki discusses Hiroko's death with several of her instructors.
Ritsuko looks over Jeff and Nabiki as Nabiki comes under dream attack.
Joma and Ritsuko discuss the desires of made things for their
creators/users.
The pilots and guards reminisce about the events of the previous weeks
with Belldandy, Sora and Megumi while taking a cooking lesson. The day
ends with a bug attack on Keiichi's home being destroyed by the pilots and
their guards.
Usagi and company summon a strike force of Dark Young, dholes,
shantaks and Hunting Horrors. For a short time the EVAs and the pilots are
caught off stride. Once they regained the upper hand they never released
it. Ranma used baseball techniques, Shinji uses Ranma's accidental attack
on him to lure the enemy in close. Rei guides Asuka to restrain one dhole
until the Navy, Shinji and Ranma can arrive to finish it and the other one
off.
The Twins watches the summoning and draws its own plans against the
EVAs, pilots and NERV.
The pilots go over Misato's head to participate in rescue operations.
Well, the owners wrote her off; not a nickel would they spend. She gave
twenty years of service, boys, then met her sorry end.
But insurance paid the loss to them, they let her rest below. Then they
laughed at us and said we had to go.
But we talked of her all winter, some days around the clock, for she's
worth a quarter million, afloat and at the dock.
And with every jar that hit the bar, we swore we would remain and make the
Mary Ellen Carter rise again.
Rise again, rise again, that her name not be lost to the knowledge of men.
Those who loved her best and were with her till the end will make the Mary
Ellen Carter rise again.
All spring, now, we've been with her on a barge lent by a friend. Three
dives a day in hard hat suit and twice I've had the bends.
Thank God it's only sixty feet and the currents here are slow or I'd never
have the strength to go below.
But we've patched her rents, stopped her vents, dogged hatch and porthole
down. Put cables to her, 'fore and aft and girded her around.
Tomorrow, noon, we hit the air and then take up the strain. And make the
Mary Ellen Carter rise again.
The Mary Ellen Carter - Written by Stan Rogers.
Courage Is Saying 'No' One More Time
July 18, 1947
The shackles proved quite unpickable, and the chain was equally
unbreakable, Jeff settled back, waiting for the next stage of the attack.
Misato padded lithely across the carpeted floor, the faint moonlight
revealing what she wasn't wearing.
She knelt before him, a knife hung from a thong around her neck. She
leaned close, the blade slid smoothly through the shirt he was wearing,
parting the fabric, "I think you know what I'm here for," she breathed.
"Nabiki, this isn't going to work either." Jeff felt someone yank her
hand off his neck as he opened his eyes.
----------------------------------------
He rolled over in his bunk to look at a startled Nabiki, "Miss Tendo
you don't have the strength to force acceptance of impossibilities. If I
found myself chained up and Misato walked in with a knife, my first
instinct would be to wrap my legs around her throat and choke the life out
of her. I wouldn't _care_ what she was wearing or not wearing, or what
squishy things she was promising to do to me."
"I thought all the boys drooled over her," she said in a weak defense
of her latest attempt.
"I have a history with her that makes that unlikely. But that's
beside the point. You and `Horseface` aren't strong enough to make
improbable actions likely in dreams. Infiltration, remember? You'll have
to find out what weaknesses in my defenses mesh with your strengths, that
way, like in martial arts, my mind and instincts can be used against me to
strengthen what you're trying to accomplish. It'll take some research on
your part, but that's part of the training too." He smiled. "Besides,
purely hentai dreams won't work." He brushed her nose, and said sweetly,
"I like and respect you too much, that should give you an idea for a wedge
to work on. Now go back to sleep."
She dejectedly stood and glared down at him, too spent to argue.
A few minutes later Ritsuko entered, wearing a lot more than Misato
had been. She stared down at him.
"Didn't make it again?" she asked, "Who was it?"
"Misato, fairly standard bondage stuff. You're chained up and she's
the one begging," he said, grimaced at the image, "Even Langley and I
working together couldn't make that believable."
"You could let her win," Ritsuko suggested, "She really hates it when
they don't work. It's as if you turned down a handmade present she was
offering you."
"It's always someone or something I don't care about," Jeff explained,
"I'll admit, I like looking at Major K and Rit-chan, even better naked."
He paused to let her frown and glare in the direction of Nabiki's room.
"But looking is as far as I'll go. She's tried other, unrelated activities
like cooking or going to concerts and dances with Rei, Asuka, Shinji, Ranko
and Maya and sometimes together, and she's tried with people who look like
her, but all of them are totally out of character. They act like _she_
expects them to act. Like Ranma fighting and losing to Shinji or Asuka,
she doesn't have the strength to force reality out of the hands of a strong
Dreamer." He paused, "On the defense, Ranma can hold his own against most
opponents, but Nabiki needs to learn that she can't oppose someone force to
force."
"Cunning and trickery," Ritsuko said, "Why isn't she using that
technique?"
"That - is the real question," Jeff said.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki was angry. Jeff can be so frustrating! He's always so noble
and pure, she thought, Except I know that isn't his nature. I've seen him
looking at Ritsuko, he's as much a slave to his hormones as any other
teenager. Even her in own fourteen-year-old body caused her some problem.
It _should_ have worked, I've seen him looking intensely at Misato, and the
danger of the woman should have intrigued him, not repulsed him the way it
did.
"Research." She grimaced, not her favorite word, especially since
_she_ was the real local expert on the subject, the others knew less about
him than she did.
But there _were_ others who knew more, she smiled at the plans began
to form.
----------------------------------------
July 19, 1947
Nabiki faced the Daimorigon, not the Scholarly Dragon. What she faced
was weaker, but far less amused by the human race. It only hated humans,
and they feared it, it was easy to fear. She felt it absorbing her, tearing
her soul apart, tearing her memories from her feelings, all separating her
into bits, destroying the integrity of what she was. And it _HURT_!_ She
screamed as she ceased to be anything except the pain of dissociation.
----------------------------------------
"Nabiki! Nabiki!" the face swam into focus.
"Mommy mommy mommy!" Nabiki heard herself saying as she held onto her
contact with reality where she existed, where Tendo Nabiki was alive and
well. The body holding her rocked slowly side to side, made soothing
noises. Until Nabiki again felt safe, until fear retreated to allow
rational thought.
Nabiki was aware she'd called Ritsuko 'mommy', repeatedly, and that
she'd broken down and cried again.
"Sorry. It must be embarrassing." She was aware that Ritsuko hadn't
released her, or stopped rocking her. The rocking was lulling her to
sleep. She could feel her eyelids drooping, Ritsuko lowering her back into
bed and pulling the covers over her as she dropped back to sleep.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko slipped out of Nabiki's cabin, spotted Maya slipping out of
Jeff's.
"Bad dreams?" Ritsuko asked when Maya turned towards her, away from
the door.
"Yes, sempai," Maya said, "The death of Nabiki's mother." She seemed
confused, Ritsuko suspected where Jeff had gotten those memories.
"I think our testing the two pilots together for an extended time in
an entry plug may cause these problems. Without proper preparations,"
Ritsuko said, "Preparations we don't have time to make."
"What happened to Nabiki-chan?" Maya asked as they returned to their
cabin.
Ritsuko raised an eyebrow at 'Nabiki-chan', but let it pass. "One
thing, Analyst Ibuki, you should have a lab coat or a pair of slacks to
throw on quickly."
Maya noticed the very abbreviated nightgown she wore, `eeped`, and
raced back into the cabin. Ritsuko adjusted her lab coat and followed more
sedately, she doubted Nabiki or anyone else noticed she didn't have
anything on under it.
----------------------------------------
July 20, 1947
>From the Journal of Nabiki Tendo:
We passed through the Panama Canal today. 'Whoopie!' The crews had
turned out to watch the massive ship slip through the narrow opening.
Widen the stupid thing! I bet Asuka could have a design in three days. A
week if you didn't want to take it out of service during construction. It
was amazing watching the locks open and close to raise the ship, there's
nothing to compare it to.
I thought Raccoon was going to go nuts trying to look down the lengths
of the ship, both sides at once. He must have known it was hopeless, but
he kept at it. Disturbing. Ritsuko told him it was going to be fine but
he didn't believe her. I hope we don't run into whatever has him so
spooked.
The escort group changed at well, it seems we wore out the two
battleships and the two light carriers accompanying us. When we exit the
canal, the new escort group will pick us up: the Midway, the Franklin
Roosevelt (Coral Sea-type aircraft carriers, with aircraft on them), the
Hancock, an Essex-class, like ours, Missouri and Wisconsin. The Missouri
is one ship I want to stand on, if only to stand where the surrender was
signed. Kensuke would go nuts about that. There's also a force of
cruisers and destroyers to guard us during our trip through the lake.
Someone's knocking at the door, bye for now.
----------------------------------------
July 21, 1947
>From the Journal of Nabiki Tendo:
I got my wish. Rather than wait with the carrier, Raccoon, Ritsuko,
Maya and I were helicoptered to an airbase and flown to the Midway. Maya
hates flying, Raccoon was nervous about leaving the Bennington 'unguarded'.
Fifty cruisers and destroyers, 2 Army Tank divisions, a thousand Marines
standing guard and he calls _that_ 'unguarded'. No, I don't believe he's
paranoid. There has to be a stronger word than paranoid. Maybe I'm sure
he's got a persecution complex. I'd hate to meet anything that justified
his fears.
Also, I was informed that 'Midway is not a Coral Sea-type, Coral Sea
is a Midway-class' by an officious lieutenant. Raccoon suggested he go
back to Annapolis for a refund, they were supposed to make him an officer
_AND_ a gentleman. I wanted to stick my tongue out at him, except one of
the photographers would have snapped that picture. I've never seen so many
photographers in my life! All in military uniforms. There were
interviews. I even got to sit at the mess table on the Missouri, someone
had set it up for the occasion. I sat where MacArthur did, thank you very
much. I've been too intimidated to see the American Caesar, although I
could, Asuka did. I wonder if I asked, whether I could go to Pearl Harbor
and drop a wreath at the Arizona. Looking at Japan, with the remnant, and
knowing the Japan I grew up in. I think we owe a debt to those men, as
strange as it is to say, Japan, or rather the Japanese, won that war. Many
of the things holding us back from being the superpower we wanted to be
were beaten out of us.
TRANSCRIPTIONIST'S NOTES: The following were heavily crossed out
The feudalism still exists, but its corporate rather than military and
there is still meritocracy, despite trying to force family `dynasties`,
business is as grinding to failures as war and more constant.
TRANSCRIPTIONIST'S NOTES: Ends strike out, recommend further analysis
The loyalty to company might replace loyalty to lord, resulting in a
type of feudalism, but it would also be in the realm of business, where
constant pressure would force a meritocracy, the founder might be the head,
but his sons or daughters would have a board of directors and shareholders
to answer to, an incompetent could be removed.
Where was oh, - there were photographers and flash bulbs, and the
reporters and their questions. 'What do you think -?' 'How do you feel
-?' until my head was spinning, and Raccoon, handling it all like an old
hand, the rotten -. He reminded me in Japanese that I was a worldwide
celebrity. Telling me an Angel was attacking wouldn't have scared me so
much.
Then he asked me 'How do you enjoy it?' I could have _strangled_ him,
in front of all those cameras. I wanted to so _badly_!_
Maya at least had the excuse of poor English skills, she feigned
having none, or she was too scared to do anything except stammer
'sumimasen'.
By the end of the day, I couldn't stand the idea of another camera,
movies or still, another person asking questions about the details of my
life and opinions, or anyone commenting how 'pretty', 'charming' or
'fluent' I am.
Sleep and anonymity are welcome, Raccoon's nervous about someone
getting aboard while we were away. I think he's overreacting, considering
the photographers and reporter on Bennington when we arrived, any invader
would have already been interviewed and had a hundred pictures taken of
them. The crew was interviewed about us for Stars and Strips, the military
paper. I don't think I want to read what they said, I'd almost prefer if
they said awful things about us, it would be less embarrassing.
----------------------------------------
Those Who Place Decency Above Courage
Tunguska
General Borodin watched the Navy newsreel intently, along with the few
others in the small screening room. He proudly commented for the Ogromniy
pilots and the GRU man, all of whom spoke little to no English.
"That's Nabiki Tendo, the Fifth Child," Borodin told them.
"Isn't she tall for a Japanese?" Anna asked.
"Hoping for pilots shorter than you?" Sonya teased the younger girl.
"Is that wrong?" Anna teased back, "Good - Is he really just
14-years-old?"
"Jeffrey Davis," Borodin said, "It appears so, look at those boots, a
cavalryman's boots."
"Half Cossack, half capitalist," Uri joked, got some laughter. "You
did -"
"Wait," Borodin ordered, "They're going after an Angel, one deep in
the sea. The EVAs have been specifically prepared, these two pilots have
been special - specifically trained."
"They can go into the ocean?" Ivan, the oldest pilot by a few months,
asked, "Is there anything these EVAs can't do?"
"They have no rifles," the GRU man said, "If I may General?" He got a
nod. He shut off the projector, it hung on a picture of the pilots and the
two NERV scientists. "Uri, what were you asking?"
"Where are their medals, their decorations and awards?" Uri asked as
he stepped up to the screen. "Only Natalia is not a Hero of the Soviet
Union," he said as he touched his award, "She has two Orders of Lenin
instead." The Ogromniy pilots' dress uniforms were almost as resplendent
as any General or Marshall in the People's Republic, all earned by service
in combat. "We heard no mention of awards," Borodin admitted.
"Records say nothing other than a few personal commendations.
Especially for June the 15th."
Borodin and the GRU man exchanged glances, this little point could go
up to the Political Directorate, maybe recruitment or subversion rather
than just propaganda. They restarted the film.
"She's a proud one," Natalia commented on the blonde woman.
"Doctor Ritsuko Akagi," Borodin supplied, "The world's foremost expert
on the EVAs."
"Asuka Langley might contest that," the GRU man said.
"Jealous?" Sonya, a natural blonde asked the plainer Natalia.
"Of what? That she dyes her hair?"
"She seems more friendly with the pilots than just a commanding
officer . . . my apologies General," Anna said.
"No offense taken, the reporter just made a similar comment Anna. A
big sister, or a guardian?" Borodin asked.
Anna considered. "A mother. Watch her watch the reporters."
Borodin did, the others didn't need to hear the force structure of the
Naval Group. She did seem a lot more protective than a detached technocrat
should have been. It was something to ponder as the film ended with a
patriotic flair. Borodin couldn't fault the American's their sea power, he
also knew that against what they were fighting, it meant absolutely
nothing.
"Additional comments, questions?" Borodin asked.
"What was that other girl saying?" Natalia asked.
"I don't know, I think it was Japanese," Borodin replied.
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could get them to help us deal with
our invasion, then we could help them deal with theirs?" Anna said happily.
The others exchanged smiles, the youngest was always full of happy
thoughts, that would never work. They still enjoyed hearing them.
"Yes it would. Dismissed, get some rest," Borodin told them, "You've
earned it."
The pilots stood and saluted with precision, then trooped out.
The GRU man had stood and saluted as crisply as the pilots, but he
lagged behind. "Are you going to examine the new troops Moscow has sent
up?"
Borodin nodded. Outside the base, the sidings were full of flat cars,
passenger coaches for the officers and the lucky, boxcars for the rest.
All of them were unloading into makeshift buildings, or sheds, or tents
they'd brought with. For a month or two it would be enough, but the men
and machines would need better protection against the harsh Tunguskan
winters. Tanks, anti-aircraft trucks, soldiers.
"Two full Guards Armored divisions and three Motor Rifle divisions,"
the GRU man said, "Quite a force. Supposedly they are bringing you another
star."
Borodin nodded, next was the single large star of a Soviet Marshall,
quite an advance for a man who escaped the purges of the '30's by being in
a place so remote Moscow forgot about it for a decade.
"Now the entire Motherland, the entire world depends on how you deploy
these troops, this army," the GRU man told him.
"I am aware of that," Borodin replied tiredly. He was never sure
which direction the man was pushing. He was loyal to Mother Russia over
the Party, the Army, or seemingly anything else. "Tomorrow, I'll meet with
the company commanders. I have an idea about new deployments that should
have the effect we need."
"I'll tell your chief of staff, your new one, and I still haven't
discovered why your old one was recalled to Moscow."
"Probably to insure I don't turn against the Motherland," he chuckled,
"As Marshall Zhukov has." He didn't believe the rumors, but the minor
postings fir the great hero made sense. It also made sense if Stalin was
as paranoid as rumors also said.
"Accusations."
"That will prove true," Borodin said, "Zhukov could have challenged
Stalin."
That he never would doesn't change anything, Borodin told himself, It
just matters what Comrade Stalin believes. Borodin couldn't let on how
worried he was, the enemy had been quiet, but new problems had cropped up,
the brazings and mountings that held the armor in place were cracking. Of
course, they could be repaired. But what about fighting in winter? There
was also the need to guard the depots. The rail line was another
vulnerability. It was all too much. Anna's innocent statement kept coming
back to him, the EVAs, the Ogromniy units, together. The EVAs were a dozen
times more capable in hand-to-hand combat, with the Ogromniys as snipers
covering the flanks, nothing could beat the combination.
The question, he thought, How do I arrange for Moscow to propose this,
so I may loudly support it and do my utmost to advance World Socialism and
the Great People's Republic? he wondered as he walked to his office. He
watched the troops for a while before retiring to his office to think.
----------------------------------------
"Are you crazy?" Sonya asked Anna as they walked through the bare
concrete corridors, "These are Japanese and Germans. They would have to be
crazy to come here. Besides, we don't need them."
"They won't come _and_ we don't need them, I think you've been
listening to the political officers," Anna said, "_I've_ been listening to
the mechanics. The armor, they have to keep checking it. It isn't right.
They have to send the Units back to Moscow or `Tankograd` for repairs.
What then?" She wondered why they kept erasing the patriotic slogans she
chalked on the walks. They were so inspiring and they broke the monotony.
"The new pilot, Boris and they should have another unit," Uri said.
"Five is good, six is better, but ten . . . !" Anna said excitedly.
"I think you have a crush on Miss Tendo, she's so pretty," Sonya
teased.
"No. Mr. Davis, putting such a bourgeois capitalist on a farm really
is mean," Uri added, "And he's an American."
"It's not like that!" Anna insisted, "Dividing the fighting load
between two battle groups would make our job a lot easier."
"Yes." Natalia glanced at the others. "We believe you."
"Whom would they send?" Ivan asked, "Little Miss Nazi, The
Bourgeoisie? The would-be Bourgeoisie? The unreconstructed Japanese
Militarist? The coward? Or the silent One? I wouldn't trust any of them
to rescue a stale pirozhki. Their machines, these could be of use."
"Ivan doesn't want new friends unless they are issued by the state,"
Anna said, stuck her tongue out at the older boy.
----------------------------------------
July 22, 1947
Nabiki walked through the hanger towards Unit 04. She was glad she
had descended into relative anonymity again. The crew gave the occasional
wolf-whistle or call for an autograph, but it wasn't serious, so she took
it in stride.
"Sailors!" she shouted back, "All you care about is how big her guns
are and how fast she can steam!" She let the laughter wash over her,
content that she still had some control. In Nerima, she'd been a whale in
a puddle, then here she felt like a little fish in an ocean. Now she began
to realize, she was becoming a bigger fish virtually everyday. With that
certainty, she was becoming uneasy. She wanted wealth and power. She had
all that and more. To many, she was the face of postwar Japan, and it
terrified her. The outward mask of the certainty did not come easily, more
feigned than actual. She hadn't piloted in combat, so she was just support
personnel. Her entire reputation was like a piece of glass, the wrong
stress and it would shatter. Hurting who?
Why am _I_ worthy? she asked. She knew the denizens of Nerima would
be amused that the Ice Queen was anything except absolutely confident. She
was a little confused herself, but the world seemed so much bigger and she
was so much smaller. But the others didn't think so. The Admirals and the
Captains wanted a picture with her, the crews were respectful, the
reporters wanted her to give them good news. American Admirals, American
crews, American reporters. She wasn't a 'Jap', she was an EVA PILOT, and
that scared her.
She was beginning to wonder if Ranma's overreaction, Asuka's loud
overconfidence, Raccoon's 'I know it all and I'm in control' were all
because they were scared too, and just couldn't understand it or couldn't
admit it.
Up ahead, Raccoon was arguing with Ritsuko, always something to take
her mind off her own problems. The pilot stood on the spine of the EVA and
shouted down to the scientist who stood on the hanger deck with Maya.
"All I'm saying is it feels the same. If I could describe it any
better, I would."
"That's not possible, none of the other EVAs have a second entry plug
port," Ritsuko yelled back.
"You two should go somewhere and hash out this lovers' quarrel,"
Nabiki shouted as she approached, both Ritsuko and Raccoon cringed.
Good, she thought.
"What's the problem?" she shouted up at Raccoon.
"That this might be - _might_be_ - another spot for an entry plug and
I want that tested."
"It's impossible," Ritsuko added.
"How difficult would it be to just _do_ the test?" Nabiki shouted at
both of them.
Now I'm a referee to a pair of `adults`, she complained inwardly.
"Well, not very difficult," Ritsuko admitted, "But wasted - "
"As much time and energy as you two are wasting by arguing?" she told
the pair in Japanese, "Being right isn't worth the agony, you two sound
like Ranma and Asuka!" She knew that was a low blow, but they needed to
wake up.
"Very well, it will only take a few minutes," Ritsuko grudgingly
admitted.
"Say 'Thank You!'," Nabiki yelled at Raccoon in English.
"Thank you, Doctor Akagi," Raccoon said. There was nothing Nabiki
could put her finger on, not tone or phrasing, but it was clearly an
insult.
What is going on between you two? Nabiki thought as she walked to the
tech crew that would run the overhead crane.
----------------------------------------
Within a few minutes an entry plug was being maneuvered towards the
spot Raccoon had marked with chalk. Nabiki still didn't fully understand
how an entry plug and pilot could coexist with an EVA's own body. The
place a plug entered may well have been called magic for all the weird
explanations she'd heard. Nabiki stood with Maya as the overheard crane
and the crews swung the plug into position. Ritsuko and Raccoon were
glaring at each other like a couple of angry tomcats.
"Your love is so touching!" Nabiki shouted at them in Japanese, "If
you want to go somewhere private, we can do this ourselves. It makes you
wonder how he's going to explain his war bride to his parents."
Both targets were now appropriately mortified, and the crews were
concentrating on their work.
"Miss Tendo," Master Chief Cole asked quietly, "They wouldn't . . . I
mean - "
"Haven't you had a teacher so smart and funny and so so
_wonderful_!_?_"
The chief smirked.
"Well, Doctor Akagi will eventually grow out of it," Nabiki supplied.
The man wandered off, shaking his head. Maya started coughing. Nabiki
shrugged. "Nobody believes me."
She watched in amazement as the entry plug slid into the spot Raccoon
had indicated and disappeared into the EVA. Ritsuko was stunned, Raccoon
was magnanimous. He climbed down the EVA's leg to the deck.
"Now, that is why I was suggesting Maya and Captain Madison accompany
us, or some diver who has the ability to access the systems. We'll have
technical experts immediately available, Maya in the front 'cabin', the
diver assisting in the rear."
"Wait a minute?" Nabiki interjected, "We're both going down?"
"Someone has to stay with the EVA and someone has to be prepared to
leave it. We discussed this," Ritsuko explained, "The original plan was
that both of you would go down in Unit 04, and if you could get the Angel
quickly, you wouldn't have to leave the EVA. If it was in a constricted
area, then the diver on a tether would have to act as a pathfinder for the
EVA, also if the tether for the EVA became tangled, you'll need a diver to
free you up. The EVA is more than strong enough to snap the tether."
A lot of this was new to Nabiki, "When did all this happen?"
"We've been discussing it," Raccoon said, "That's why they stuck us
together in the plug."
"Very lovely," Maya whispered to Nabiki, then smiled at the
antagonists. Both frowned at her, she was glad the nightmares hadn't
continued.
"Careful, she's got a rifle," Nabiki pointed out and she was still
wearing the LeMat on her hip.
"I do agree, in light of this. We should discuss things with the
divers and test their compatibility ratios, that's what workers have
instead of sync rates," Ritsuko said, there was no argument.
----------------------------------------
Courage Tastes Of Blood
"Why do I have to do this?" Maya complained as Nabiki fitted the A10
nerve clip on her and helped her to the edge of the entry plug. Inside,
the black tarry L.C.L. glistened and stank.
"You're always telling us that it isn't bad as we imagine, now's your
chance to prove it," Nabiki said happily, helpfully.
Maya stuck out her tongue.
"That's the spirit," Nabiki said as she picked Maya up and levered her
into the plug.
"Wait! I don't want to!" Maya protested.
"We have ways of making you talk," Nabiki reminded her as Maya caught
herself on the edge of the plug. Maya tried to scramble out, but Nabiki
held her in place, and gave no warning of Raccoon approaching with a
bucket.
"Yeeeeauuuuk," Maya exclaimed as he poured it down on her face and in
her mouth, "You're awful!" The pair shoved Maya into the plug.
Nabiki slid into the plug after her to make sure she would go through
the transition all the pilots had such a problem with: breathing L.C.L. for
the first time. No normal person wanted to breathe something that smelled
so awful.
Nabiki took a deep breath of the stuff and held Maya under as Raccoon
pried Maya's fingers loose. Inside the plug, Nabiki quickly got used to
the awful taste and smell. "Come on, let's get it over with." Due to the
A10 nerve clip, Nabiki could see clearly.
Maya was still holding her breath, looking around in amazement. The
A10 clip seemed to be having the same effect for Maya's vision in the plug
as Nabiki's. Nabiki pointed to herself, showing she was breathing
normally. Maya shook her head vehemently.
Then the hatch closed and locked.
Raccoon and Ritsuko, Nabiki guessed. While Maya was staring at the
hatch, Nabiki swam up and poked her in the side. Maya was aghast, Nabiki
hoped Maya didn't know how ticklish _she_ was as Maya tried to evade in the
small space of the entry plug while holding her breath. Then Maya let out
a burst of silent laughter as Nabiki's questing fingers struck home. And
she inhaled the L.C.L.. Nabiki was at her side, urging her to breathe and
not throw up.
Maya managed to get her breathing and gag reflex under control. She
was learning there were truly awful things you could live through.
"Ritsuko, Raccoon, do you want to do a full sync test?" Nabiki asked
as she guided Maya to the command chair. Maya shook her head violently.
At least she was breathing.
"Speak, think out loud and we'll hear," Nabiki chided.
"I HATE THIS! I'M AFRAID! THIS TASTES TERRIBLE. I DON'T WANT TO DO
THIS! I WANT SEMPAI! I'M GOING TO KILL JEFF FOR SUGGESTING THIS! I WANT
OUT! HOW CAN THE KIDS STAND THIS, I CAN'T DO THIS, I'M SUCH A COWARD."
"Okay!" Nabiki told her forcefully, "You can do this. The first time
is always the worst. After that it gets tolerable."
"We'll do a basic sync test," Ritsuko told them, "When she calms
down."
"Oh," Nabiki said archly, "I supposed that's _my_ job. Well it's not
as easy as embarrassing her, why can't I do that instead?"
"Because I'm your mother and I said so."
Nabiki froze. She thought, hoped, Ritsuko was joking. She also knew
that it was more accurate than Ritsuko thought. Kasumi may have mothered
her and Akane, but she wasn't an effective disciplinarian. She wouldn't
push the way Ritsuko did, the way a real mother did. Real mothers weren't
nice all the time. Sometimes a little kid couldn't tell them from Oni,
until much later. The one thing Nabiki couldn't do was disappoint her
mother, because she always had, until she died and there was no `later` to
make it up to her.
"Yes, mom," Nabiki said as she settled Maya in the control seat and
got her to relax, regulate her breathing. Slowly she coached her through
the meditation that was an integral part of synchronizing with an EVA.
----------------------------------------
Jeff wandered into the infirmary, he was nursing the black eye he'd
gotten from Captain Madison on the man's first contact with L.C.L.. He
hadn't liked it a bit.
Jeff spotted Ritsuko slowly going over the test results of the
technical people and the SAR crew. Both Jeff and Nabiki had been adamant
that Maya and Capt. Madison be tested first. So far, no one else had come
close.
"Maybe Hiroko's comment that pilots can see pilots wasn't just
speculation," he said.
Ritsuko's head came up, he could see she'd been crying. "Huh?"
Why is she afraid? he wondered at the odd color of the conversation
block, as if he'd caught her at something. He leaned close, stared at her,
"Extensive lacrimation. Engorged capillaries, now facial flushing, my
diagnosis is something hurt and embarrassed you, and you're happy about
it." He hooked a chair with his foot and pulled it towards him so he could
sit next to her. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"You think you can read me so well," she accused.
"Well I did court you for years and we did raise a family."
"In a dream," she said coldly. But the conversation block showed fear
again.
He ran a fingertip across her jaw line, feeling her shiver under his
touch. "So it was accurate. What's troubling you? It can't be the end of
the world, you'd be fighting mad about that."
"Nabiki called me 'mom'." She buried her face in his shoulder and
started crying again.
He was afraid she was going to snap him in half, then she eased off
her grip around his shoulders. Jeff hugged her back, ran his hand down her
back while holding her shaking shoulders with the other arm. As he had
done a hundred times before, in his dream. It wasn't anything new to him.
She cared about things a lot more deeply than she could admit, especially
to herself. He let her cry, words were useless at this point. Again,
evidence from his dream. He sometimes wondered what who/whatever sent that
dream had intended. To torture him/them, to give her someone to turn to,
something else entirely?
He didn't know. The all-wise, all-knowing, knew nothing, neither did
any of his contacts, which embarrassed them no end.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"I'm not," he said, kissing her on the cheek, "You'd be a good mother.
Look at Shinji taking care of Misato. If he could discipline her to stop
catting around and getting drunk, then both would be a lot happier. Nabiki
wants to know someone cares."
" 'Kids sometimes want to know someone will yank them back from the
edge," Ritsuko quoted, "Admiral Simson." She sniffed, tried to regain her
'aloof scientist' composure, it didn't work too well. "What?"
"I'm just wondering about how Sammi will react to her new sister.
Frown," Jeff said, because she normally would, "Come on, frown. Frown!
You call that a frown?" Ritsuko grabbed both his shoulders, then broke
down laughing before she could shake him to pieces.
After a few minutes she sighed. "You are both ridiculous _and_
infuriating."
"Well, Langley would have called me a bastard as well."
"I know better," she said as she released him, "I've heard what you've
said about your parents."
"True enough," Jeff admitted, "So having 'Nab-chan' call you 'mommy'
isn't so scary is it?"
"Yes," Ritsuko admitted, bowed her head, "It's every bit as scary,
because this time, I said it first and she responded."
That _is_ a whole other kettle of fish, Jeff thought.
"It still isn't fatal, for either of you," he reassured her, "I could
joke about our first child, but that would get me thrown through a
bulkhead." He waited for her to nod. "I think you should let things
settle a bit. She wouldn't have responded so quickly if she didn't believe
it already."
So that's what the girls' dream of rubble meant. 'Earthquakes after a
waterfall of tears all signifying realization', I think I may strangle her
next time I see her, except she'd enjoy it too much, he thought,
remembering another of his patrons and their mysterious, random visits, I
need a new job.
"Thank you," Ritsuko said, "And don't tell me 'We've been through this
before'," she added, "I haven't.".
"I don't have to," Jeff said, "Now about this." He pointed to his
eye.
"I'll get an ice pack," Ritsuko said as she stood and walked to the
freezer.
He admired the way the lab coat couldn't hide her curves or her grace.
She's _NOT_ married to you! he angrily reminded himself. He waited until
she'd arrived at the freezer. "That's what I love about you, always
running hot or cold." He caught the thrown ice pack and ran from the room
before Ritsuko could catch him.
----------------------------------------
July 23, 1947
Ritsuko had the `finalists` in the pilots' ready room with the rest of
the dive team and the technical staff. It seemed a good place to deliver
such a briefing. Maya and Madison were up front with Nabiki and Jeff, the
four were the most likely team. "The newly discovered second entry plug
`port` means that we will be sending four people down on the dive: two
pilots and two technical experts. The rear plug will contain the pilot who
will be released to act as a scout and to deal with other problems. The
dive team member will accompany that pilot. The technical staff member
will accompany the pilot in the forward plug. That person will monitor the
EVA as we do during the sync tests. They will also monitor the people,
themselves included."
"Why not do it remotely?" Madison asked.
"Looking for a way out?" Ritsuko joked, "The tether will provide power
and communications, but it is going to be kilometers long, the tether may
be cut, or break. The EVA must be completely autonomous."
The people nodded.
"The L.C.L. isn't as bad as it seems," Jeff told them.
"That doesn't help too much," Madison commented.
"The L.C.L. cushions the pilots from the shock of the movement and the
impact of combat," Ritsuko explained.
"Why does it have to taste so bad?" one of the divers asked.
Ritsuko grimaced. "The L.C.L. is oxygenated like blood, which is what
the pilots breathe in operation."
"What's the effect of pressurizing L.C.L.?" Madison asked.
"As long as the pressurization is gradual, there should be no
problems. No oxygen or nitrogen problems."
"Who is going to be the `driver`?" Nabiki asked.
"Jeff has the higher sync rate in Unit 04 in the water, I'd recommend
he pilot, but it's up to you two."
"I'll flip you for it," Nabiki told Jeff.
"You've been doing that in training," Jeff replied, massaged his arm.
Nabiki smiled at him. The others laughed at the byplay.
"The planned dive will reach a depth of 2500-3000 meters," Ritsuko
said, paused while the amazed muttering and exclamations. "The last point
is the weapons load - "
"As heavy as possible," Jeff interrupted, "With two pilots, we can
cooperate in the use of weapons in combat. Thirty-seven pairs of legs give
more operators than one pilot can coordinate."
"Except Ranma," Nabiki teased.
"He can use them, but he can't utilize them," Jeff retorted.
"I'll let you two work that out," Ritsuko said, "I will have a number
of weapons installed. Deck crews, that's you. The power system will be
the tether, the S engine and external batteries, the batteries are wired to
only maintain emergency life support. For four people that's only 14
hours, not 16 for one on emergency life support. The EVA is slightly
lighter than sea water, it can float up on its own in less than 14 hours.
But you'll have to discard any weapons and eject the tether."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Maya said worriedly. Ritsuko
agreed.
"We don't know exactly what we will encounter on the sea floor, that's
another reason why we'll have to have the ability to send a team out to
maneuver outside the EVA."
"E.V.A.," Nabiki said, "Extra Vehicular Activity."
Ritsuko smiled. "Yes. Good." She knew others wanted to groan at the
awful pun. "The place the Angel will be, is unknown. So the EVA may have
to search the area."
"How was it initially detected?" Jeff asked, looking at her intently,
"And can we use the same technique aboard the EVA?"
"No, you can't use it. But we should be able to guide you in."
Ritsuko noted his withdrawn expression. He'd noticed that she hadn't
answered the first part of his question. She'd expect him to query later,
and she'd have to tell him she wasn't going to tell him. She could imagine
how the kids would react to some of NERV's methods.
"What are we going to do once we've got the thing?" Nabiki asked, "I
assume we aren't going to dissect it on site."
"No, we'll provide you with a containment system." Ritsuko took a
breath and prepared for the explosion. "And return it to the carrier." She
noticed that neither Nabiki nor Jeff were doing any of the shouting. They
glanced at each other, then turned to stare at her, waiting. She almost
wished that the others' argument would continue. "The containment will
continue aboard the carrier, the EVA will be standing by at all times, if
the containment fails." Again neither Jeff nor Nabiki reacted, they
waited, their eyes boring into hers. She knew they'd want a private
discussion, very soon. Definitely before the mission. "You all had to
suspect this when we talked about capturing an Angel, that we would indeed
be capturing an Angel. Equipment to do the job had been provided."
"What size creature is the system capable of handling?" Jeff asked
dryly.
"We could handle something as small as a rat, at full extension,
something the size of an EVA," Ritsuko explained, "The unit will be stored
in the plug to prevent the Angel from detecting it. It will be powered by
the EVA's system. Eject it if you can't safely return to the surface."
Jeff and Nabiki nodded.
"How about transferring the cage to the carrier?" Nabiki asked.
"It will be a simple case of tying into the carrier's power system,"
Ritsuko explained.
"What about the other ships?" one of the divers asked, "What do we do
if one of the other nations decides they need it more than we do?"
Ritsuko didn't grimace at the stupid question. Who in their right
mind would _want_ the thing? she didn't ask. "The United States Marines
and Navy will protect us. Any further questions?"
----------------------------------------
Their Mastiffs Of Unmatchable Courage
Nabiki stood on the flight deck and watched the other squadrons as she
marveled at all the interest. Getting out of the L.C.L. for a while had
been refreshing. Maya and Captain Madison were the finalists. After Jeff
had gotten clobbered, they'd changed test methods. 'It wasn't as
accurate,' Ritsuko had complained, but no one was within an order of
magnitude of Maya's and Madison's compatibility ratios, so a little
inaccuracy was acceptable.
She heard Jeff approach, she thought the shiner he had was very close
to the place where she'd slapped him, that had faded. Thank the Kamis, she
thought. She wasn't how she would have taken that if it hadn't. Madison
was taking a fair amount of ribbing about the incident as well.
"The large group is the British, based around the battleship HMS
Vanguard and the carrier HMS Victorious." Raccoon pointed out the
squadrons. "The smaller group is French, a couple of their tinclad
cruisers. Ranma or Rei could sink the lot of them. That's the Spanish
navy, since the Azores are Portuguese territory, like Japan used to be."
"Will they stop us?" Nabiki asked.
"With an Angel sitting off their coast?" Raccoon laughed, "Not a
chance. They're here as a representation of Spanish approval and to get us
out of here as soon as we've got it."
" 'Thank you very much, don't let the door hit you on the way out.'
Sorry about the arm," Nabiki apologized, she'd gotten a little rough in
their martial arts practices, "I had a Ranma moment."
"No autopsy, no foul. Ritsuko was able to staple it back on," Raccoon
commented breezily. That cavalier attitude was beginning to wear on her.
She'd initially thought it was him just being gentlemanly, not bringing
such things up. She was beginning to realize he really _didn't_ care about
his personal safety and well-being.
She'd been practicing with the simulated EVA weapons while he'd been
getting Maya and Madison familiar with the operations of the EVA.
Yesterday, he'd even had both on board as he maneuvered around the hanger
deck. Both adults seemed _very_ shaken by the encounter with the realities
of the EVA. She'd heard reports that Madison went out and got drunk, Maya
had curled up in Ritsuko's lap and cried herself to sleep, yet still
managed to keep a deathgrip on the scientist. Nabiki's one attempt to
tease Maya about it had earned her the knowledge that Jeff's boots were
steel-toed. When he kicked her in the ankle, he'd 'mistook her for
Horseface'.
Everyone was tense as they approached the goal.
"We had an offer from the Admiral commanding from Victorious to dinner
aboard her," Jeff told her. Nabiki paled in terror. "Ritsuko politely
refused. We should be in position early tomorrow and she wants us in bed
at 1800 and rested for an 0430 launch."
"Both of us?" she asked in a confused tone, "I thought she'd want you
all to herself." Nabiki forced herself not to smile at his distress.
"Once we get the thing, where do we go?" Nabiki asked.
"Speed run for Boston," Raccoon replied, "NERV Mass has containment
systems."
"I can't imagine what they'd do with such a monster. Do you have any
idea what it looks like?"
"I don't even know which one it is. Dagon or Hydra would be vaguely
humanoid, a Spawn of Cthulhu would look like a bat-winged, tentacle-bearded
flabby humanoid."
"Oh, lovely," Nabiki said.
"They are mostly in the Pacific."
"Oh joy."
"You know, if you really want to end it all," he told her as he peered
over the edge, "Jumping off the front of a carrier is a good way. The wake
drags you under and you probably won't surface for a half-mile behind."
"Wouldn't the propellers -?"
"Probably not," Raccoon said, "The buffeting would do some damage, but
not too much."
"That's something I really needed to know right now," Nabiki said
dryly.
"I'm always willing to help," Raccoon said as he turned away and
headed for the stairs to the hanger deck. Nabiki watched the gathering of
naval power, and caught herself edging towards the rim to look over. With
an angry snort she turned on her heel and marched after Raccoon.
----------------------------------------
July 24, 1947
Jeff hadn't gotten much sleep. Sarah had contacted him and given him
a rundown of the growing problems in the Severn Valley. He knew from his
reading both in this world and in the odd dream that the Severn Valley had
several minor Great Old Ones, not the `first` or `second` teams, but
definitely formidable. The EVAs, all of them, would be needed to clean up
that mess. She also talked about some of the other things she'd picked up.
England, being closer to Switzerland than American or Japan, SEELE was real
and a power in Switzerland, whether the Swiss citizens knew they were
anything other than a group of eccentric financiers was questionable. They
never did anything even remotely criminal _in_ Switzerland.
Sarah also joked when was Jeff going to break the rest of them out.
'One battle at a time,' he had told her, 'Besides, do you want to give
poor Shinji a heart attack?' Sarah had laughed at that and they parted.
None of his contacts could determine what the danger was that Capt.
Rosatelli had warned him about, although it was clear that a cult of
Shub-Niggurath, and a powerful one, was operating in Japan.
Wouldn't it be nice to have an army of loyal cultists at my beck and
call? he thought, But I don't. And the spy network I _do_ have doesn't get
tasking orders from me. "So goes the world," he complained.
He returned to getting suited up and thinking about prepping Maya and
Madison for the dive as he finished his own prep. Maya can wear a spare
'Leather Goddess' suit and Madison has already tried out a 'Nauseated
Skunk' suit and it fit, with a little adjustment. Getting them plugged in
and calmed down is going to be another chore.
"Hey Raccoon," Nabiki called into the locker room, "Are you decent?"
"I'm clothed," he replied, "If that answers your question."
She entered in her plugsuit. He goggled at her, tongue hanging out,
which embarrassed her immensely.
"Considering how you treat Ranko," he told her, "You deserved that.
What _is_ the Japanese attitude on bisexuality?"
Score another for Raccoon, he thought as she stared at him in horror.
"You came in here with a point?" he asked innocently, watched her
anger build up.
"I was going to offer you the choice." She raised her fist over her
head. "But I changed my mind."
"We're going to decide this by rock-paper-scissors?" he asked, turning
his back on her. "I guess you don't want those magic lessons after all."
"What!?" she shouted, "If I don't let you decide, you won't give me
lessons?!"
"No. If you can't analyze the situation and come to the correct
conclusion, you'll never understand the lessons. I won't waste my time."
She fumed a moment, glowering at him, plotting dire revenge. He
ignored her, or seemed to. "Okay, you've got nearly my sync rate in Unit
04, underwater. You can get more time out of the nominal 6-hour charge of
the S type engine."
"And the auxiliary batteries, in case we have to float up."
"I'm stronger, and more flexible."
"I'll bet you are," he said, he didn't need to watch her face to know
he'd scored a hit.
"Yeah, you're all crippled up with arthritis. Okay, _you_ pilot us up
and when we get close. I'll pilot us most of the way down, and do the
E.V.A."
"E.V.A. from an EVA, isn't that carrying repetitious redundancy a
little far?" He thought he'd better quit before she beat him unconscious
with a locker.
"Men!" Nabiki announced as she stormed out.
He finished his preparations, both physical and mental, and left the
locker room.
"Okay, load up," Captain Madison said, he headed towards the rear plug
with Nabiki, while Maya accompanied Jeff to the forward plug.
"Did we have to load all those weapons?" Maya asked, clearly uneasy.
"With two pilots, we can fight a lot more effectively using more of
the arms and legs, as well as the bite and the tail," Jeff replied, "You're
really asking if we're expecting trouble. The answer is yes, but I hope
I'm wrong."
"Oh," she said as Jeff helped her up the leg of the EVA as they walked
along the spine towards the plug.
"I hate this stuff," Maya said as she stared at the L.C.L., "It smells
worse than it tastes."
"I have no sympathy," Jeff said, "I'll go first." He cringed. "You
aren't going to hit me are you?"
She laughed. He slipped into the foul stuff and plugged in
automatically. Maya splashed down, he moved her to the command chair as
she got control of herself. He plugged her nerve clip into the system.
"You don't need the chair?" Maya asked nervously.
"Never have before," he replied as he floated at the front of the plug
and called up life support monitors for all four occupants. "Is everybody
ready?" Jeff asked, waited for confirmation before he released the tether
and carefully climbed to the flight deck to attach the much longer tether
that would power them on the dive.
"Okay Nabiki, the comm is yours take us out," Jeff said.
"Still taking charge?" Nabiki's image appeared and teased, "Here we
go." He braced himself as they dropped off the side of the carrier.
"Take us down slow," Madison counseled, "I know you can go fast,
don't."
"Yes, Captain," Nabiki replied, "Top side feeds?"
"All transmitting," Jeff replied, "Are you getting everything?"
"There's some distortion in the communication, but with that much
cable, it's to be expected. Inductive effect." Ritsuko's voice was fuzzy,
no image appeared. "Four life support, visual, and what looks like sonar.
How's Maya?"
"Marvelous, terrified, about normal for the first mission," Jeff said,
got a wicked grin from Maya.
"Nabiki, how is Captain Madison?" Ritsuko asked, her image flickered
into existence.
"Oh, feels nice."
The image of Ritsuko slapped her face. "I mean his physi - I mean - "
She stopped, took a deep breath. "Is he reacting adversely to the L.C.L.
and the EVA?" she asked, "He's also married."
"No reaction to anything," Nabiki replied, gravely disappointed.
Ritsuko's image shook her head. "All indicators are good here,
continue your descent. I didn't mean that!" Ritsuko snapped.
"What will we tell Ranma when we get back?" Jeff asked sardonically.
"He should have let me in his entry plug," Nabiki commented.
"I'm glad this is all in Japanese," Maya added. Jeff agreed, he also
suspected that the teasing was just to get at Ritsuko, who was more nervous
than any of the four EVA-nauts.
----------------------------------------
My Little Spark Of Courage Dies
The descent continued uneventfully. The occasional strange fish
happened into their view, but even sharks steered clear of the huge war
machine.
"You getting this?" Jeff asked Ritsuko as a strange glowing sheet
moved past the EVA's eyes.
"Yes, it's beautiful," Ritsuko said.
Bet you wish now you'd gone and looked, he thought, A shoggoth could
probably operate at this depth. `Chasing` these fish was also to keep
everybody awake, the dreams dreamt within an EVA were not to be believed.
The hours and the fathoms ticked by. Nabiki steadily swam the EVA
unvarying deeper, the cable trailing out behind them.
"I should have brought a deck of cards." The boredom pushed Nabiki to
speak. He could hear the strain in her voice, he didn't need the
conversation blocks or the medical readouts.
"Against you two sharks?" Madison exclaimed, "Not a chance."
"I haven't played any games on board," Jeff replied haughtily.
"Word gets around," Madison replied.
"The bottom's coming up, Raccoon," Nabiki said, "Take over."
"Got it," Jeff said as he closed his eyes and let his body drift away.
"Suit up," Madison said, "These plugsuits really need a heater."
"The warm fluid will help," Maya countered, "But it won't prevent
hypothermia totally."
"So that means I have to hurry," Nabiki said, "That's not a problem."
Jeff saw the ruins of huge buildings appearing. The angles of the
buildings were alien to the human mind. Basalt slabs and blocks piled atop
one another, none of the careful interlocking that appeared on some similar
human structures. Merely mass and gravity to hold the structure together.
"Some modesty would be nice," Nabiki complained.
"That's not what you said earlier," Maya teased.
"And how is your suit feeling?" Nabiki asked.
"Children!" Ritsuko called over the tether line, the volume causing
her voice to distort, "We have a job to do."
The buildings were bare of coral, weeds, any kind of the growths that
studded the nearby rocks and cliffs in profusion.
"Jeff, You're slightly off course, about 4000 meters south-southeast,"
Ritsuko said.
"Something's wrong here," Jeff said distantly, "This city was recently
inhabited, something has been using this place. Now there's nothing here."
"What are you talking about?" Madison asked.
"The place is clean, there aren't fish all over the place," Jeff said,
"So it was recently used. No debris of a panic. Maybe they're all at the
temple. I don't like it."
"At this depth, maybe there isn't much marine life," Ritsuko said.
Jeff didn't want to explain how he knew that was wrong. "Doctor, life
finds a way. Be fruitful and multiply is built into everything that lives.
This place was evacuated, and recently."
He could see she'd connected the dots, and was as worried as he was.
"Proceed with caution," she urged. The others' heart and breathing rates
were elevated.
Jeff checked the other instruments, they were all showing some erratic
readings, from the magnetic compass to temperature meters. The light from
the EVA's eyes illuminated several columns, all covered with carvings of
things that were not human, and some that made his eyes water just
examining them. "The temple is this way." He had an awful feeling about
the area, and it was worst in that direction.
"I'm ready to go," Nabiki told him, the fear block belying her
confident tone.
"This place, do you think it was Atlantis?" Madison asked.
"No, Cuba is the northern edge of Atlantis, this place is too old.
Maybe an Elder Thing city. Whoever built it to last and when they pulled
out, someone else moved in." He thought that would satisfy most of them,
he didn't want to reveal what he remembered, and had no idea where he
remembered it from, and the evidence he saw in some of the frescoes
supported it. Neither Humanity nor the Elder Things built this place, the
Flying Polyps had. The great cities of basalt towers, he'd never heard of
any Great Old One worshiped or respected by those creatures. They warred
with everyone and everything. He wondered if something deliberately sank
the city or if normal geological processes simply did their work. He
wondered if they still lingered, sealed away awaiting release.
"Keep an eye out for Burmashave signs."
"Don't stick your head out, of you safe little shack, it might go
home, as a monster's snack, Burmashave," Jeff suggested.
"Yeah, but we'd never be able to read them," Madison complained.
"What are you talking about? That's what's printed over there," Jeff
pointed and replied, "Properly translated of course."
"You're joking!" Maya said, aghast, peered at the line of pillars.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Jeff asked.
"Your lips are moving," Nabiki said, "It's a sea story."
The temple that loomed out of the dark sea wasn't the source of the
wrongness.
"Oh Kamis!" Nabiki gasped, more disgusted then fearful. The
architecture was very different, the carvings and frescoes were obscene,
alien things both eating and coupling with each other, or both. Jeff cut
Madison and Maya's external view. He didn't bother cutting Nabiki's, she
was going out there, maybe.
"I think we found the back way in," Jeff said, "Do we tunnel through
or send someone out?"
"I'm ready to go," Nabiki said, he could see she was lying. He was
more inclined to tear the building apart, rather than expose anyone to what
he was seeing. Maybe she's immune, he thought, Like against the Inspector.
And feeling, he thought, he could feel something out there. Not as
bad as Nyarlathotep, but noticeable enough to have guided him to this
entrance. Maya didn't seem to feel it, from the vital signs neither Nabiki
nor Madison felt it. He couldn't imagine they're feeling it and not
reacting. For him it had had begun as a tickle and was building to a
full-body itch from the worst rash he'd ever had.
"Jeff, are you all right?" Ritsuko asked, he noted his accelerated
heart rate and breathing.
"I can feel it, this place."
"Nabiki just exited the plug," Madison reported, "All systems appear
to be functioning normally. This is weird, the pressure out there is
unbelievable."
"Everything is in a liquid, us, the EVA, the pressure is equalized,
the pressure gradient is almost nothing," Ritsuko explained.
"Nabiki, give a shout if you need anything," Jeff told their intrepid
explorer. She wasn't sending back any visuals, although her life support
telemetry was coming in clear.
He wondered how she could stand it, it was all he could do not to reel
her back in and tear the place to pieces, then go back and demolish the
entire city. The entire place was _wretched_and_vile_._ Every sense,
thought and instinct told him so. He had the power to make it right, to
wipe it clean, and no one could stop him. Except himself.
"You've got barfbags?" Nabiki asked, "The decor leaves a lot to be
desired. Seriously, keep those fish away from me. I feel kind of
unprotected out here."
He moved the EVA closer, the fish scattered. They're smarter than I
am, he thought, as he searched the area for threats.
"Keep giving us updates," Maya told her.
Jeff glanced around, the targets he'd distantly sensed hadn't closed
in. The tiny figure trailing what appeared to be a hair-thin line
disappeared into a small cleft in the rock. His instinct was to charge in
ahead of her, a gentleman didn't send a lady into danger and combat first.
He released two glaives and two prog knives, one mismatched pain in the
foremost hands and the other into the rearmost. He smirked about the
changes Langley had insisted on, the original design couldn't handle this
depth.
In the background, he heard Maya and Nabiki conversing in low tones,
he concentrated on any threat to the girl and was prepared to charge in.
"If this is the tropics? Why's the water so cold?" Nabiki complained.
"All water is cold this deep," Madison said, "I'll explain more on the
way up."
"Oh good, a lecture. Raccoon hasn't given one, I thought I'd escape,"
Nabiki said.
"Maybe he's sick. No, he's normal," Maya said.
"Compare to what?" Nabiki asked.
"Americans. Your temperature is down a whole degree," Maya warned,
"You'd better hurry."
"If you were looking at what _I'm_ seeing," Nabiki replied, "Your
blood would freeze too. I almost wish I had a camera. There - these . . .
things are hideous, they're also glowing, light in here almost makes it
worse."
"Have you encountered anything else, anything alive?" Madison asked.
"Either these things _are_ alive, or lava lamps are a Cthulhoid plot,"
Nabiki replied, "No guards, no worshipers, no traps either. I'm worried."
"Can you bring one with?" Maya asked.
"Are you kidding?" Nabiki shouted in outrage, "I don't want to be near
them, let alone touch them." Nabiki's tone changed, "Raccoon . . . you
said you could feel - well the thing . . . you can sense it?" He didn't
need his Synthesia to sense her distress and loathing.
"Yes."
"Like . . . ants, crawling all over your body, _under_ your skin and
in your guts?"
"Yes," Jeff could see her growing panic.
"Well I've got it," Nabiki said.
"Get clear. I'll be there in a moment." Jeff prepared to tear the
stone temple apart. His eagerness to destroy disconcerted him.
"No, I mean I've got it," Nabiki said, "Madison, you go ride with
Maya, or Maya you go ride in back with Madison."
"Are you -?" Maya began.
"Just DO IT!" Nabiki thundered back, "Pilots are immune to close
contact with - these things. The EVA will protect you."
"Maya," Madison told her, "I'll come get you, Davis prep her for a
dive."
"Can you hold your breath?" Maya asked, "There's only one spare mask."
Jeff got the mask settled on Maya, then began checking the containment rig.
"Yes, whatever this L.C.L. is, it seems to bypass everything I ever
learned about deep diving. Besides, I want the record for the deepest free
dive," he tried to sound jaunty. Jeff could see the fear in his voice.
They're all afraid, and all I want to do is _attack_, he thought,
tried to concentrate on te job.
"Before you get too heroic, I can loop the back to give you a very
short path surrounded by an AT field tube. Ritsuko cut the top side comm
links, unplug them."
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to generate an AT-field and I don't want the power
surge to blow out communications. When the power drain drops, reconnect."
"We're on it," Ritsuko told them, then vanished.
"Hurry up," Nabiki insisted, horror warred with disgust in her voice.
Jeff helped Maya open the plug hatch. Madison was waiting, hovering
in the middle of the L.C.L. filled tube. "Don't touch the walls," he
warned.
"Why not?" Madison asked, he seemed shocked he could still be `heard`.
"We use AT fields to disintegrate the enemy. What would one do to a
human in a conductive medium, I'd rather not find out."
"Hurry up!" Nabiki added desperately, her voice rising and cracking
with the strain. Maya and Madison increased their pace.
"Is it waking up?" Jeff asked, ready to reploy the field and go to
combat mode. All he could see was Nabiki, not anything she was carrying or
dragging, he wondered if it was insubstantial or somehow invisible.
"No! I just want this over with!" she shouted at the edge of
hysteria.
Jeff finished readying the containment cage. Maya and Madison were
safely sealing in the rear plug before Nabiki approached the hatch,
slipping her cargo into the cage with tightly controlled gestures performed
as practiced ritual, like a tea ceremony. She glanced at him as she
finished, the expression . . . the disintegrating mask of self-control
warned him she was past her breaking point. She tore off her gloves and
threw them inside the containment rig.
The figure that practically threw herself at Jeff and wrapped her arms
and legs around him was shrieking uncontrollably. He suspected the
shuddering wasn't due to the cold. He sealed the hatch, checked the
containment rig and settled himself and Nabiki into the command chair
before he removed her face mask. He wrapped his arms around the shivering
girl, she immediately fell silent. He began the slow accent, he'd already
decided to expedite the rise to the surface. He monitored the containment
and didn't return the prog knives to their housings like he did with the
glaives. If it tried to escape, orders and no orders, he was going to
slice it to pieces.
"It's okay, Nab-chan," he told her as he stroked her hair, "You did
it, you're safe now." She burrowed into his arms but said nothing.
----------------------------------------
Deus Ex Machinations
"This is it?" Ritsuko stared down at 'it', the Angel the pilots had
captured. "It looks like a fried egg," Ritsuko commented. It looked like
a gray fried egg, an amorphous, slowly changing blob and a large off center
mass.
"Well, that's it," Nabiki rasped defensively, pulling the blanket more
tightly around her. Her voice hadn't fully recovered from her earlier
screaming fit.
Ritsuko softened her tone and expression, "I know that was what you
found, and that you took the risk to bring it back. I was expecting
something more impressive."
"That's all that there was," Nabiki said softly, drawing her knees to
her chest and shivering again, remembering touching the thing with her
gloved hands, feeling the awareness of a malevolent intelligence contained
in the tiny mass of corruption. She'd wanted to kill it with her bare
hands, but managed to follow orders. Worse was the screaming fear that
made a mockery of 'Tendo Nabiki, Ice Queen and Master of All She Surveys'.
All she'd surveyed was this awful _thing_ duty demanded she return to
Rit-chan. And the screaming _need_ for human contact, she would have done
_anything_ to feel Rit-chan's, Ranma's, or Raccoon's arms around her,
telling her she was safe, telling her she'd done a good job, that she'd
been a good girl. Such a show of weakness terrified her, that she'd gotten
all she needed and more without any request for compensation worried her
only slightly less. In the old days anyone would have made her pay dearly
just to keep the secret, leaving out payment for services rendered. She
knew none of those three would take advantage, her health and safety was
payment enough. But that was thought, the aching emptiness had driven out
all thought and emotion. Only the goal had remained.
She hadn't handled it well.
Whatever Ritsuko learned that helped them kill these things would be
welcome. "No golden trinkets, or jewelry. Just that," Nabiki replied.
"Where's Jeff?" Ritsuko asked.
"Getting his ribs taped," Nabiki barely said, "I didn't want to let
go, I didn't guess my own strength, as I should have." I didn't _want_ to
let go, even when we were back aboard the carrier, she thought, full of
shame at her weakness, terrified it could be used against her.
"I doubt you hurt him," Ritsuko reassured her, "Or he would have said
something."
"While comforting a terrified girl?" Nabiki asked archly, "You have
_got_ to be kidding!" She shuddered again at the memory, she'd already
braced herself for the nightmares to follow.
Ritsuko considered, "You're right."
She turned back to the `sample`
----------------------------------------
"There," the doctor finished taping his ribs as Jeff sat on the
infirmary's examining table. "I'd stay away from your girlfriend,
nothing's broken but she popped a rib and bruised four others. Does it
hurt?"
"Only when I breathe. Ha," Jeff replied as he slipped off the table
and gingerly pulled his shirt back on, "Thanks, Doc." Jeff glanced at the
Marine standing at attention at the entrance, trying _not_ to stare. Jeff
ignored it, it was just a reminder of why he should always keep his shirt
on. And they think I'm just modest, he thought, Ha! "How much trouble am
I in Corporal?"
The man snapped to attention. "No trouble, sir. The Admiral just
wants to speak with you."
Jeff didn't like that, any details about holding the Angel would
better be addressed by Rit-ch - Ritsuko, or Maya. Who is either getting
drunk with Madison, or hiding under her bed, Jeff thought, then he
considered Ritsuko with a new specimen, Yeah. I _am_ the only person he
can talk to, he thought. Just breathing hurt, walking pushed him to his
limits, but Nabiki had faced the Great Old One alone. He wasn't going to
let on how badly she had hurt him. He remembered his first contact with
Chaugnar Faugn, that had been through the buffers of the EVA, not handling
it with gloved hands. He also had to admit he'd been flattered, having a
pretty girl curled up in his lap and hugging him until his ribs creaked
because of her certainty that he could protect her life and sanity.
He was still tying his tie when he was issued onto the bridge and into
the Admiral's presence.
"Mister Davis," Admiral Adams acknowledged his presence, and dismissed
the Marine with a wave, he continued to stare out the bridge windows.
"We're on course for Boston. We'll drop your team and proceed to Norfolk
for repairs."
"Sorry about the dents," Jeff told him. He glanced out the bridge
windows. The American battlegroup was arrayed around them. Further out,
the British group was pacing them. The French and Spanish were beyond the
horizon.
"Can't be helped," Adams replied, "What about containing that thing,
what danger to the ship?"
"It's Cthylla, the daughter of Cthulhu, not one of the most
extensively described entities. But typically, mass has a great influence
on power. Something that small shouldn't be very powerful itself. Castor
and Pollux were destroyed by shoggoths who invaded. If you keep the
general vigilance and the speed up, we should be all right. It's her guard
I'm worried about."
"Miss Tendo said there weren't any," Adams replied.
"That's what I mean. If Cthulhu were ever truly destroyed, he'd be
reborn in Cthylla's womb. If that was my ultimate insurance policy, I
wouldn't leave it sitting unguarded. There are lots of things besides the
occasional human in the deep waters."
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko found herself shaking. Not even the Elder Things had been
able to capture a Great Old One. Killed Lesser Ones, but not capture one.
She'd approached this as carefully as she could. Photos, non-invasive
tests were all done. But she was going to have to extract a sample, either
by syringe, or cutting it loose. The creature was still unresponsive, as
if it were asleep, and it might remain so, until she made her extraction.
Then anything might happen.
"Ah, Maya, I'm glad to see you up and around," Ritsuko told her
arriving assistant, "I'm about to begin a closer examination."
"Shouldn't we wait until it's in Boston? Sempai?" Maya said as she
approached.
"Don't worry, the containment system will hold it," Ritsuko assured
her.
"The eye opened!" Maya gasped and jumped back.
Ritsuko was a good deal less willing to proceed. The `yolk` of the
fried egg had parted and a yellow eye gazed out, the pupil jerked around,
never fixing on anything. Ritsuko's own eyes took in every element of the
containment scheme. All were still functioning within normal parameters.
She set her scalpel aside and watched the eye looking around randomly,
dancing around as if everything were equally worthy of attention.
----------------------------------------
"What is that?" Admiral Adams asked as the walls of clouds sprang up
out of nowhere, around the formation. He glanced at the pilot writhing on
the floor. "Medical emergency!" he shouted, "Get the corpsmen to get him
to the Doc. Order the fleet to stand by for a storm." The Admiral watched
a pharmacists'-mate and a Marine carry the shuddering pilot away.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko watched them carry Jeff and Nabiki into the sick bay, laying
the two kids on the beds surrounded by curtains, then restraining them.
She and Maya quickly checked them over. She could find nothing wrong,
other than that they were unconscious and needed some curare to ease the
muscle spasms. the Navy doctor injected them.
Maya was beside herself, "Sempai, what if they collapsed when the
creature woke up?"
Ritsuko froze for a moment. She hadn't noted the coincidence, now it
chilled her. "I - " she wanted to deny it, but that wasn't a good idea.
"Don't know, I don't - I _hope_ not."
----------------------------------------
The doctor glanced around. The distance from the armored truck to the
door was less than a yard and a half. The armor of the armored truck, the
doctor thought about not leaving the protection of the modified Brink's
truck. The troops were deployed and they would guard him with their lives.
The blow knocked the heavy truck on its side, the doctor was thrown
against the side of the vehicle. The guards desperately struggled to lift
the door and close it. He heard the screams and shooting, but it went on
too long to assume the guards were winning. He didn't believe that they
had a chance, but it was their choice to die rather than run away.
Fools, he thought as the last guard climbed inside and managed to get
the door shut and shot the bolts. The doctor glanced at the man, looking
so confident, his pistol drawn.
"They'll be here in a moment," the guard told him.
If you believe they'll arrive in time . . . , he thought about the
man's foolishness. Twenty-five chemists, physicists, physicians,
biologists and surgeons had developed the process. Some died of old age,
some got a conscience and had `accidents`, the rest had started dying
recently, violently. No precaution or numbers of guards could overcome the
killer. There could only be two possibilities, one was under close
observation.
He heard the blows against the `floor` of the truck, the bottom armor
was the thinnest originally, so they'd added a layer of concrete and a
metal plate to catch the fragments.
One of the subjects is running around loose, he thought as he heard
the concrete shattering. The guard concentrated on that, intent on firing
as soon as the target broke through.
Water pouring in the air vents told them they had underestimated their
foe. The guard wrinkled his nose, reached down and collected some of the
water to taste. "Doc, that's sea water."
The doctor looked around desperately. Electricity came to mind, sea
water was conductive. He rushed to one of the tiny windows and looked out.
"We're in the Atlantic." It better be the Atlantic, if it's the Pacific or
even the Great Salt Lake the subjects are beyond _any_ restraint
possibilities, he thought. The doctor realized the armored truck was
underwater, he didn't know how deep.
"We were nowhere near -"
"I'm telling you we're underwater," the doctor shouted at the stupid
man. The water poured in until both men were bobbing in the water, then it
stopped pouring in.
"Don't drink the water!" The doctor suddenly realized, drinking sea
water caused all kinds of psychological and physiological problems. Their
enemy didn't want them dead, until they had gone mad.
Or killed each other, the doctor thought. He wondered if exhaustion,
madness or what would bring the end.
----------------------------------------
Shinji was swimming through the inky water. Flying was a better
description, the water was icy cold and it passed rapidly over his skin.
He knew that it was cold, but it didn't give him hypothermia, it should
have. The water and the darkness surrounded him, he shouldn't have been
able to see anything, but he was aware of the huge buildings approaching
him, basalt and twisted in strange angles and eye-watering shapes, some
appeared to almost disappear from this world from one angle, and having a
ponderous solidity from another.
Suddenly warm, white wings enclosed him. He turned to face Rei, she
hugged him tightly, the feathers tickled him. She smiled as they `flew`
through the water, past the alien buildings.
His target was in the distance. Amid the squat, sullen black and gray
buildings was what he had designed. It had never occurred to him that he
could build such a structure, building it underwater.
The faintly glowing crystal, the thin almost ethereal structures so
delicate and beautiful. He looked at Rei who was entranced with the beauty
of it.
He didn't know how anyone had built it, taken his design and - he
stopped. Someone _had_ seen this design, had taken it from him in fact, he
wondered if . . . if he was dreaming or hallucinating. He continued on to
the central towers, the tallest building in the gently glowing city. The
tower was like a needle, reaching up and up. He entered a window, now he
understood why the building had looked that way. Here everyone could swim
or fly, stairs were unnecessary. They swam up the open center, passing the
galleries that lined the inner surface of the tower.
The water grew lighter, slowly the diffuse sunlight overwhelmed the
faint glow of the crystalline walls. The surface of the water shown oddly,
the pair broke the surface and ascended through the air, as they ascended
the sun shown through the crystalline walls grew brighter, while the sky
darkened, becoming midnight blue, then almost purple, before becoming
black. Finally they reached the top of the tower. They stood on the
platform, leaned against the delicate seeming filigreed railing and stared
down at the huge crowd of people assembled across the world. They raised
their voices in shouts of triumph, then mastery over natural laws, their
hands raised to complete the great work, their hopes rose to be free of the
old gods, becoming like gods themselves, the entire race could ascend to
the next level. Abandon their cradle and walk among the gods and stars,
not as subjects or even equals, but so far beyond them that they no longer
mattered.
They cheered those among them who pushed the work forward. Asuka and
Raccoon stood with the builders, Ranma and Ranko with the philosophers.
Nabiki stood with many of those who supposed the efforts by supporting the
builders and philosophers. He looked up, and the stars were falling,
coming back to die in the oceans of their birthworld. Shinji led the
humans up and away from their home as the cities burned, as the oceans
steamed and boiled as the stars landed.
Some people had been left behind or had demanded to remain. Shinji's
heart went out to them, but he abandoned them to their fate as all the
others rose to glory and he led them there.
----------------------------------------
Love Comforteth, Like Sunshine After Rain
Ranma woke suddenly. He'd been in the firing range watching
Megorofeld-chan and Rei blasting away at some unmoving paper targets.
Harmless, unmoving targets. He hated guns. Then it felt like something
had hit him over the head. Now he, she actually, was sitting in the crater
in the side of a canal. She could feel the traces of ki energy lingering.
It was similar to his ki projection, although of a very different base.
She stood up and looked up at the blue almost cloudless sky, a few
clouds were in a ring surrounding the sky directly overhead. Ranma, she
realized she was thinking about herself as Ranma rather than Ranko.
Interesting, she thought as she walked out. The place reminded her of
something, it was maddening how familiar it all seemed.
'Airen!' She heard.
Oh Kamis! Raccoon's and Asuka's nightmares. She looked in the
direction of the voice. The girl with the pants and shirt, with those
curves it probably wasn't a boy, was charging towards her on a bicycle.
What was shocking was the figure had no face. Not smoothed over
featureless skin, but a void like a hole all the way through, no matter
what direction you looked at it. The hair and neck were there, but no
face.
Ranma jumped over the onrushing bicycle. The girl was so shocked, she
ran into a wall, demolishing it.
Ranma stared at the girl, Maybe riding a bike is harder than I
thought, she thought as she moved off, very quickly.
'Ran-chan!' Another faceless female called at a charge.
Again Ranma dodged the outstretched arms. This one passed by again,
not expecting the dodge.
Weird, Ranma thought as she faced the pair. "Who are you two?" she
asked, she had a horrifying certainty about the answer.
"Cute Fiancee/Wife!" the two insisted, glared at each other, sparks
literally flew from where their eyes should have been.
Interesting, Ranma thought, No question about why _I_ don't remember
them, just a fight between them over _their_ identity. She continued on.
"Ranma prepare to die!"
She turned to watch another faceless one, the edges of this one's head
were visible, the ears and the regions hidden behind the hair of the other
two, he also saw it in the two girls, now that he could see them in
profile.
The boy dashed past the girls. He's serious, he's going to hit me
with that umbrella, Ranma thought, 'I'm going to kill you.' Rei or Raccoon
would have shot him by now. He glanced at the arguing girls and mentally
shrugged. So much for my `wife` and `cute fiancee`, Ranma sidestepped the
entire attack, hitting the boy in the solar plexus as he passed. Ranma
watched the attacker fold up as he continued. Ranma had delivered a ki
attack along with the fist blow. It had homed in on the other boy's ki
center and `detonated` there, disabling him without hurting him much.
Ranma flogged his mind for the locations of the Tendo home from
Asuka's and Raccoon's descriptions. If Nab-chan was here, then she might
find an ally, or she might be Ritsuko-Nabiki or Asuka as Nab-chan.
_That_ would be interesting, she thought morosely.
----------------------------------------
Asuka raised her head, she thought someone had pounded it flat. All
around her was darkness. Her arms and legs hung down. Her body felt as if
it was lying on something. She tried to feel the edges of the platform,
but couldn't find it.
"Hello!" she shouted, and only because she knew she shouted did she
know that she'd made a noise. She didn't like the idea she couldn't see,
hear or even smell anything. She couldn't figure out how to stand up,
nothing to press against. She rolled off whatever had been supporting her.
She fell with a thud on the edge of something else, slid off and hit
something else on the way down. And something else, and another, and
another.
She was much bruised and battered when she finally struck the `floor`,
there she could stand up. She was surprised that the last thing she had
landed on had disappeared.
"Okay," she said, and again didn't hear herself in the darkness. No
source and no echo. The floor was completely smooth she discovered as she
scrambled around on her hands and knees, there were no seams, fittings or
irregularities. She stood again, her eyes could detect no difference in
the blackness around her.
No, she realized, That section is really dark red. Unless I'm
hallucinating.
She headed off in that direction. She knew this was a dream, she
hadn't the faintest idea what this dream was about. Dreams often made no
sense, but they were often internally consistent. She had to discover what
it was.
----------------------------------------
"Die sorcerer!"
"And who is that?" Ranma ran towards the sound of the shouting.
Ranma watched the blast of lightning that threw the tall, again
faceless, bokken-armed young man out of an alley. Ranma recognized the
attack from rescuing Rei from the Mi-Go.
Ranma charged around the corner and spotted a bewildered and bloodied
Raccoon, this one had a face. Ranko wanted to throw herself into the arms
of a familiar figure, but she stopped herself. He's hurt, Ranko told
herself. She pulled the first aid kit from Raccoon's coat pocket and
pressed the bandage against the cut on his head.
"You okay?" Ranko asked.
"No," Raccoon said. She was glad he had a face, that implied this was
the real one.
"We should get out of here!" Ranko suggested.
"I was on the Coral Sea . . . no, the Bennington," he murmured.
Ranko decided she wasn't going to get much help from Raccoon for a
little while.
"My pigtailed goddess!" the samurai-wannabe announced.
"Protect," Raccoon said and thrust his cane into her hands. She set
Raccoon down carefully and turned to face the amorous moron.
Ranma took the MacBane's Hanging Guard, narrowed her eyes at the
openly weeping boy.
"Oh, her beautiful eyes filled with such fire. Come to my arms my - "
The blow wasn't out of MacBane, Talhoffer or Hope, but it was one
Asuka had taught her. She was certain that just before contact, the stick
suddenly weighed tons. The man's eyes rolled back and his mouth opened
wide, but no sound came out. No mere sound could encompass all the
distress he felt.
Ranma carefully picked up Raccoon who was unsteady on his feet. Ranma
felt the boy's ki was scrambled completely, she wondered how he could still
breathe, let alone walk.
Ranko, you must have hit that jerk, Ranma thought, I'd _never_ do that
to another guy.
"Raccoon, can you teleport us?" Ranma asked, it was awkward trying to
hold the much larger boy up, and a fireman's carry was out of the question.
"Too addled, a few minutes." Raccoon actually had to stop walking to
speak. "We have to find Nabiki," he actually sounded more lucid, "She and
I were closer, maybe the main target. She's no dreamer."
"We have to get you to safety," Ranma said, "Your cane can fly."
Again they had to stop. "Unwrap the hand grip, rope," Raccoon
suggested.
"Oh, tie you up," Ranma told him, "I'm not that kind of girl." Ranma
shook her head when Raccoon didn't comprehend.
'Ranma die!' Ranma knew he couldn't outrun that idiot with Raccoon in
tow. She felt the ki build up, suddenly Ranma had an idea. "Raccoon,
trust me," Ranma told him, "This is probably going to hurt." She swung
Raccoon in front and let her ki flow into him as filaments, making paths,
like Asuka 'shaping' his body during training. The ball exploded from the
faceless boy's hands. Ranma watched it hit Raccoon, felt it drawn along
the paths into the vast voids where he `kept` his mana reserves.
Raccoon stood up straighter. "That's better than coffee." Suddenly
the charging boy's arms were windmilling and his feet lost traction. Ranma
lifted a manhole cover. Raccoon somehow deposited the man into the open
manhole, and Ranma resealed it.
'Ahhh - ahhh! Bweeee!' came from below.
"Let's get out of here," Ranko said as she laughed. The pair ran out
of the alley.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki stared up at the unforgiving sky, even with her eyes closed,
the sun drove icepicks into her brain. She couldn't even manage to turn
over to get out of the sun. Forget standing up, she thought, I can't even
turn my head.
She heard voices approaching, both familiar. She couldn't shout for
help, so she whispered as forcefully as she could, "Help! Help!"
Pathetic, she thought.
"Here she is," the voice said.
"Is that English?" Ranma leaned over her, in her female form. A
moment later Raccoon leaned into her field of view.
He looks fine, the _rat_!_ she thought.
"Miss Tendo, we're going to shoot you," Raccoon told her, "It worked
on me, but Ranko will use smaller charges and an interval between to check
- "
'SWEETO!' she heard and couldn't even flinch. Raccoon drew and fired
his .45, then walked out of her view and fired several more times. He
walked back in view replacing his .45 in his coat.
"To check the progress of revivification."
Her eyes focused on the small gold ball forming between Ranko's hands.
Then it hit her in the stomach.
She rolled up into a ball. "That hurts!" she shouted at them.
"Hey it worked," Ranko said proudly.
She was debating hitting them sequentially or simultaneously.
"What did you do to my sister you pervert?!" A too familiar voice,
"Ranma you idiot."
Nabiki grinned as she saw the faceless girl advancing with a mallet
and an aura of affronted righteousness. The LeMat came out smoothly and
the first shot blew the mallet right out of her hands. "I was having mad
passionate sex with both of them, with both of them. Imagine Ranma as a
girl, suddenly a little hot water. Oh my!" Nabiki wished the girl had a
face to have an expression on, it would have been priceless. "Since you'll
never produce grandchildren for father, someone has to." She turned her
back on the stunned girl and took the hands of the two equally stunned
pilots and led them away. "Oh, I'll have to pay later, I seem to have
forgotten my wallet."
"We'll take it off our tab for last Thursday," Raccoon said, Ranko was
completely lost or shocked. "I'll never think of lamb chops the same way
again."
"Poof!" Ranko added as helpfully as she could, without exploding
herself.
A moment later they were across town on another high roof.
"How'd . . . magic," Nabiki said.
"Passionate sex with lamb chops?" Ranko demanded.
"You obviously don't remember my sister." Then Nabiki covered her
mouth to hide her laughter.
"I figured it out," Raccoon said, "When you wound up in Berlin and
Ranma wound up in Boston, I had a horrible feeling my experience was an
accurate description. I think this indicates that NERV didn't really win.
Nearly indestructible and insane."
"Happosai died rather thoroughly," Nabiki said. She didn't like the
implication that her home was the result of a Great Old One victory and
amalgamation.
"Will he stay that way?"
"We'd better find Ranma," Ranko said, "He'll get into all kinds of
trouble without us."
Raccoon slapped his head. "Good grief! I'm still not thinking
clearly. Do you know where he is?"
"Approximately, I'll go find him. You and Nabiki make sure she's
okay." Ranko nodded at Nabiki.
Ranko moved out, before she could yell at them that Ranma and Ranko
were the same. Raccoon had pulled a feline looking hand puppet from his
coat pocket with a businesslike expression. He placed it on her head.
"Meow." Then on her shoulder. "Meow." Then on her stomach. "Merraawww!"
Then he took the puppet off his hand, ignoring Nabiki's frown as he
replaced it in his pocket.
"Cat scan shows clean," he told her. Mayhem was frustrated by Ranma's
arrival.
"Ranko said you were loading for me," he said.
"Where is she?" Raccoon demanded.
"Scouting ahead," Ranma said.
"With the loonies this town abounds in, you let her go off by
herself?!" Raccoon shouted back, confronting Ranma.
"Hey, that's her problem," Ranma said offhandedly, "She can take care
of herself better than you two can. If she gets in trouble, she'll handle
it."
"Why you callous, unthinking - " Raccoon advanced with murder in his
eye.
"_HOLD_IT_!_" Nabiki had had enough. "You two will _not_ kill each
other over Ranko!"
"Well he - !" they said.
"_ZIP_IT_!_" Nabiki shouted, "Ranma and Ranko are the same person."
"Raccoon . . . quit laughing for a second and give Nab-chan your
glasses," Ranma said, "She needs them more than you do."
"I concur," Raccoon said as handed the glasses to Ranma. Nabiki's
glare prevented him from putting them on her. Between laughs he told her,
"Ranko is shorter, red headed, and her pectorals are prominent in a very
different way. Wider hips and narrower shoulders."
"I can sing better," Ranma added.
"I've never heard either of you sing," Raccoon commented as he brought
himself under control and replaced his glasses, "Considering how lovely
Rei-san's singing voice is, and how similar she and Ranko sound, I think
she should be a lovely singer."
"I guess she never had proper training," Ranma commented, "Asuka says
everything is training."
"HOLD IT!" Nabiki shouted, "What are you two morons doing?" She was
exasperated, she wanted a bath and a chance to lie down. She still felt
awful, and these idiots were acting completely nuts.
"Just waiting for you to tell us where to go," Ranma said innocently.
"Don't tempt me," Nabiki growled, "We can't go home."
"Why not?" Ranma asked, "We toss everybody except . . . " Ranma
trailed off.
"Kasumi?" Raccoon asked.
"Yeah her," Ranma said.
Nabiki wasn't comfortable with that, Kasumi was as guilty as Akane and
Soun in the debacle. She didn't really want to set foot in that house
again, as satisfying as letting Raccoon and Ranma loose on them without
limits would be. She shuddered. No, I don't want to do that, even of this
_is_ just a dream, she thought.
"I think we'd better find lodging elsewhere," she suggested.
"How about a Love Hotel?" Ranma suggested, "No one would ever look for
us there."
It took several minutes for Nabiki to bring her coughing under
control. Ranma and Raccoon arguing about Ranko didn't help.
----------------------------------------
A Crown Is Merely A Hat That Lets The Rain In
"Have you found Asuka?" Ranma asked Raccoon, he was worried. If she
isn't _here_ where is she? he wondered
"Are you getting sweet on her?"
"No sweeter than you are on Raccoon!" Ranma shot back at Nabiki.
"Nothing, out for 100 miles," Raccoon said as he stood up.
Nabiki pulled the gag off Gosunkugi, she'd discovered it was hard to
gag someone who didn't have an apparent mouth.
Gos immediately began pelting the `wizard` with questions. "It's all
rubbish," Raccoon told the wannabe, "If you need it to cast spells, you
aren't doing magic."
Gos was shocked, he'd only let them raid his supplies in order to get
`higher wisdom`.
Actually because I threatened him and Raccoon intimidated him, Nabiki
thought. Gos had been shocked that Raccoon hadn't asked for any of the
more rare or `mystic` ingredients, so was Nabiki.
"So why are we all here, and she isn't?" Ranma asked.
"I don't know. She could also be in a heavily shielded location,
although exactly how someone would have that kind of shielding, I don't
know. Japan doesn't have the mineral reserves for that kind of shielding
to occur naturally."
"She might not have come here," Nabiki said, "Gos-chan, you can go."
The boy scrambled away. "I lived here. I don't know why Ranma is here he
. . . "
"Arrived in a crater, I _can_ guess what happened," Ranma said.
Nabiki knew her guarded expression told him that she was _still_
hiding a fair amount from him.
She could see he wanted to trust her. "Tell me when you can," he told
her.
The darkening sky clearly showed they would have to start thanking
about shelter. She heard Ranma's stomach growl. And food, she thought.
----------------------------------------
Ranma didn't even bother to hide his concern. He was a bit hungry,
but overall just fine. Raccoon and Nab-chan were both rocky. "What were
you two doing?"
"We'd recovered the Angel," Nab-chan said, "We'd gotten it aboard . .
. I can't remember much after that."
"Cthulhu's daughter," Raccoon said, "Legends have it that if he is
ever truly killed, he will be reborn in her."
"That tiny thing?" Nab-chan asked, then reeled. Raccoon and Ranma
moved, but not before she caught herself. "I'm fine, just tired."
"What about those . . . rest . . . aur . . . rants?" The glare from
the pair slowed Ranma's speech. "Okay, bad idea, don't kick me," he said,
"There have to be eateries beside those two."
"There are, but prices are, well, expensive," Nab-chan said.
"How expensive?" Ranma asked.
"In our time, gold is $40 per ounce, in this time, gold is about $400
and prices are relatively higher as well," Raccoon explained, "Don't worry,
I've got it covered."
"How?" Nab-chan asked.
"A gold double eagle is always valuable," Raccoon tiredly explained.
----------------------------------------
The meal was spartan, Nabiki at nervous about the meal and the money
for one week in the hostel, for all three of them, the hostel was also
willing to supply meals for work. She had little doubt that they would be
able to return `home`, but she was unwilling to do that. And neither boy
would argue, so _she_ wasn't going to be earning her meals, instead she was
making demands on their resources. The fact that nobody had a face
bothered her terribly, but it also bothered her she wasn't contributing.
Imagine, she thought, The Ice Queen of Furikan feeling bad about
freeloading off two swains. She had to admit her previous `freeloading`
contributed money to the household. She'd gotten used to earning her keep
directly. The room, really just a big closet, and cot weren't too private.
Most of the guests were backpackers traveling through Tokyo. She lay alone
in her closet, she'd hidden the LeMat, she was terrified it would be
discovered. She also wondered about Ranma and Raccoon, and the
Nerimaniacs, including her dear little sister.
Are those two safe? she wondered, How much trouble will they be in, if
they defend themselves? She also wondered about Asuka. She didn't know
what to do about the missing girl, or Rei or Shinji. Perhaps they weren't
drawn in, she considered, Only Ranma came with us because of his connection
to us.
She didn't know, the worries chased themselves until she fell into an
exhausted sleep.
----------------------------------------
Sammi spotted Rei nodding off in the infirmary room with Asuka. She
knew Rei wasn't crying, but she was tearing herself up inside. "Rei-chan,
are you all right?" she said as she stuck her head in the room.
"Yes, Kraznyzamok-san." Rei turned her head, remained seated with her
hands clasped in her lap.
"I don't think Asuka would approve of you making yourself sick sitting
up watching her." Rei gave her a curious look.
"With Asuka, Shinji and Ranma unconscious, you are the only one
available to defend the rest of us. To pilot the EVA if necessary."
Rei lowered her head. Sammi knew Rei saw the logic. "Mein
Grosfeldmarschall would want the world protected."
"But you're lonely and worried," Sammi told her, Rei was shocked by
this. "I feel the same, I'm supposed to be protecting them and they just
collapsed. Nobody knows why, and no one knows when they'll recover," Sammi
explained.
"I will accompany you," Rei said, standing up, kissed Asuka's forehead
and followed Sammi out of the infirmary, and to Sammi's car.
"You shouldn't feel guilty that you weren't affected as they were."
"I am not . . . one of them." Rei said.
Sammi knew how terrible that made Rei feel, the others had gone out of
their way to make Rei part of their circle. Even Asuka and her abrasive
ways also included Rei in her orbit. Now Rei was again alone, Sammi could
easily guess how it made her feel. Rei loved a certain set reality, she'd
adapt to anything as long as it was regular. A string of constant insults
from Asuka was actually soothing to Rei. Sammi had never told Asuka,
because the girl needed to vent, and Rei made a convenient target and the
regularity of that verbal abuse gave Rei a comforting feeling of
consistency.
Now she was suddenly alone again, she had to feel completely lost, and
every seeming sense of normality would accentuate how different the
situation was. Sammi could establish a new paradigm to allow the girl a
new puzzle to solve, rather than brood on what was lost.
The fact _you're_ terribly lonely has nothing to do with it, she
accused herself, she smirked. Erin had likewise invited herself to stay at
Sammi's, 'So they'll only have to call you.' She knew the kids would be
mortified that a bunch of adults were reacting this way about them. She
also knew that the collapse was being kept from the public. Being down to
one pilot invited an attack by anyone who could throw together a heavy
assault force. The remnants of the last attack might be enough to defeat
Rei in Unit 00. What about Rei in Unit 02 or 01? Sammi wondered, she
decided that scheduling the testing would be a good idea, telling Rei to
keep in mind that she was protecting Asuka and Shinji respectively would
enhance synchronization.
Sammi let Rei into the lower level. "You can take any room, I won't
tell."
Rei nodded and headed to one of the `guest` rooms. She heard the
shower go on, and she knew Rei would be a while. Rei was scrupulous about
keeping herself clean. Sammi took the time to brew some tea. She dug out
the last of the cake that Jeff had baked before he left. She realized
she'd gotten a little spoiled. If Jeff didn't cook, then Asuka insisted,
later, if Asuka didn't prevent it, Ranma did. She had their skill, she'd
be cooking for Rei and Erin, Hopefully not long.
She heard the shower cut off, Sammi gave Rei some time to dry herself
and get dressed.
Sammi carried the tea tray downstairs, then remembered Rei's habits
and returned to her own room and collected a clean robe. It was more a
serape with a belt, without seams that itched and abraded her skin. This
will cover Rei like a tent, Sammi lamented as she picked up the tea tray
with one arm, the robe draped over her other arm. As she entered, Rei sat
on the bed, on a towel, drying her hair with another towel. She was
blissfully unashamed of her nakedness.
"You might find this comfortable," Sammi said as she laid the robe
next to Rei and set the tea tray on the table. Rei stared at the robe,
reaching out and touching it warily, then running her hand over the key
seams. Sammi hid her smile as she poured tea for both of them.
Nope, no seams or other hidden scratchers, Sammi thought as she
offered Rei a mug of tea.
Rei sniffed, sipped.
That too is just how you like it, strong and sweet with just a little
milk, Sammi thought as she smiled at the girl as she climbed into the robe,
it did look like Rei had her head out of a small tent.
"Thank you," Rei said quietly.
"It isn't your fault that you weren't affected and they were," Sammi
told her. Rei had fallen like the other pilots, but a few moments later,
she'd been up and around as if nothing had happened. Sammi had only
suffered a moment of dizziness. The other guards had seemingly been
unscathed, but there were reports of outbreaks of violence, insanity,
breakdowns of authority. The governments were getting a handle on the
rioting and other disruptions. Little had occurred near NERV.
Rei finished her tea, stared at the cup.
"You are allowed to ask for more, but you have to ask," Sammi told
her.
"More please," Rei said as she handed the mug back after making sure
the handle was towards Sammi. Sammi refilled it and handed it back, the
handle of the mug towards Rei. Sammi could see the telltale signs that Rei
was sleepy. In many ways Rei was as stubborn as Ranma. She'd insist she
was fine long beyond the time she should have let go.
The other pilots aren't much better, Sammi reminded herself. She took
the mug from Rei and turned down the bed. "Rest," her tone was gentle, but
Rei recognized it was an order.
Rei obediently let Sammi tuck her in and she was out like a light.
That was one thing Sammi couldn't do. She closed the door quietly and
headed back upstairs. She'd have Erin collect Rei's stuff, one jeep load
would be sufficient. She hoped the others recovered quickly, Rei needed
them as much as the world did. Sammi also decided it would be necessary to
ask Ramsey to contact the Azores mission and discover what was happening
there.
----------------------------------------
A Wolf In The Fold, Rain On Ripe Corn
It had been a long, tiring day. Jeff trudged back from the showers.
He'd waited until there was no one else likely to use them, then he'd
cleaned them all and used one, doing a cursory clean up after. Today, he'd
gotten some _extremely_ unfriendly looks, interesting considering the
universal lack of faces among the natives. The postures were telling, he
was unwelcome here. But the girls were so fascinated by Ranma, his gaijin
friend was most welcome. The boys weren't so forgiving. He'd hoped he
didn't get jumped in the showers, anywhere except Nerima he would have been
confident of his ability to defend himself. He had many tricks to use, but
most crippled or killed.
The quietness of the dormitories worried him as he headed back. His
cane was a sufficient weapon, but if things were quiet, it could mean
anything. Typically it meant the sheep had been cowed into silence, or
they wanted to hear what happened. 'Kuno's Samurai' had ambushed him
repeatedly in the earlier dream, none of those worthies had gotten out of
those fights unmarked. Kendo was not an art for the street. They didn't
even appreciate the red shirts he kept sending them. Some people just
don't get cultural references, he thought as he walked into the ambush.
He had his defenses up before the hands grabbed him and slammed him
against the wall. The fist in the gut encountered the AT field he had
under his suit coat. He still acted as if the blow had its desired effect,
despite the man's broken knuckles.
Nine boys, the most hostile, were packed in the small room he shared
with Ranma, who was on the cot, sound asleep.
"Well you can watch, and if you're nice, we'll be nice to you," the
leader said as he unbuckled his belt.
Well, I was wondering where I was going to get some extra spending
money in a hurry, Jeff thought as he prepared.
----------------------------------------
Now she was transiting orange. Asuka had quit complaining as she
crossed the midpoint of red, so assigned because the darkness behind and
the orange ahead were equally noticeable.
The march was boring beyond belief. She _did_ wish she had some
shoes. She could imagine the blisters she'd get on this march. She
wondered if all the colors of the spectrum would be represented. She also
wondered what the purpose was. There was no day or night, so she slept
when she was tired and marched when she was not. If it was isolation, it
would take such a long time until it would have a real effect. Certainly
longer than the time it would take to get through the entire spectrum. She
stared at the color in the distance and kept walking.
----------------------------------------
Ranma was instantly awake. He didn't know how. He also didn't know
why he was so frightened, or why he wanted to slap that silly grin off
Raccoon's face.
"Ha, ha," the irritating voice attached to the grin said, "I knew that
would work."
"What did you do?" Ranma felt _awful_, he'd never drunk plum tea,
green tea with pickled plums, nor was he ever going to again. It tasted
awful at the time, now it was worse. But how many cups how fast told you
how tough you were, and he'd beaten all the others.
"You don't drink well," Raccoon told him, handed him a mug of _plain_
green tea.
Ranma drank it, he drank it all, he would have drunk a glass of L.C.L.
to get the funny taste out of his mouth.
"What did you say to me?" Ranma asked.
"It isn't what I said, but whose voice I used," Raccoon told him.
Ranma remembered the lessons in mimicry Raccoon had given Ranko, it seemed
like years ago.
"Oh, Asuka's . . . " Ranma fitted the pieces together. " 'Oh Ranma!
We're due only a few weeks apart, one girl and one boy,'" Ranma said what
Raccoon had, he shuddered at the idea of getting Asuka pregnant, and more
at Asuka getting _him_ pregnant. Ranma was surprised he hadn't surrendered
to the 'other' and wasn't hanging from the ceiling yowling his terrified
head off. "You're a rotten . . . "
"Yes?"
"I wish you felt like I do!" Ranma invoked a stronger curse.
"Congratulations, now you're 'Misa-chan'."
"What?!"
"You drank yourself into unconsciousness," Raccoon told him.
"It was only tea!" Ranma flashed to anger. "When I get my hands on -
"
"I convinced them to leave," Raccoon told him, "Once they understood,
they were . . . very cooperative, and very apologetic."
"You . . . you didn't . . . " he switched to a whisper, "Kill them?"
"I dropped them off somewhere and pointed them away from Tokyo. I'm
not going to murder someone in the middle of Tokyo just because they
slipped you a mickey finn, a drugged drink. Good lesson, so you won't turn
out like Major K."
Ranma relaxed. "So, what, you blackmailed them? What did you
blackmail them out of?" Ranma knew he wouldn't let them off cheap.
"Oh, the usual: jewelry, spare cash, and a few things we'll need for
the moment."
Ranma focused on that Raccoon wasn't wearing his suit and tie, even
his ever-present fedora was gone, he looked more closely and realized
Raccoon wasn't wearing his usual boots either. "You sold your clothes
too?" The jeans jacket and slacks looked - alien, out of place - on
Raccoon.
"They're antiques," Raccoon explained, "Authentic from the war period,
we're going to need money if we're going to get an apartment of our own."
"We can stay here," Ranma said, "The manager said so."
"The amount of work you and I put in yesterday would pay for a decent
house. If we were professional plumbers, carpenters, electricians - "
"Steam fitters," Ranma concluded.
"Anyway, there can't be much more to fix around here, unless you think
we should rebuild this place from top to bottom."
Ranma seemed to be considering, he was wondering when the floor was
going to quit moving and whether his ears were really unscrewing from his
head.
"Ranma?"
"I'm - " He pushed past Raccoon and managed to get to the lavatory
before he threw up.
Once he'd finished, he looked up and saw Raccoon standing there with a
mug of water in his hands. "You knew this was going to happen."
"Considering all you drank, I wasn't expecting you to wake up, ever,"
Raccoon told him sternly.
There was no evidence of a follow up rebuke, which made Ranma feel
even worse. "The last thing I remember . . . " Ranma sighed, "I don't
remember much. Why does Misa-chan do this?"
"Because it dulls the pain, supposedly."
"There has to be a reason for the alcohol they gave me. You don't
think it was just a contest like they said?"
"No, they definitely had another end in mind," Raccoon said.
"You aren't going to tell me, are you?" Ranma asked.
"You are exactly right," Raccoon replied, his tone was gentler, "Get
moving. I saved you some breakfast. We still have to check on those gas
fittings in the kitchen and swap out the used propane cylinders."
"Ranma Saotome, marital artist and plumber," Ranma griped.
"And carpenter and electrician and steam fitter - "
"All right!" Ranma shouted at him, Raccoon's cheerfulness was getting
on Ranma's nerves.
"Why isn't Nab-chan helping us - wait - I've still got the bruises,
never mind," he said. He remembered her attempts to `help`, he was fairly
certain she wasn't failing miserably just to get out of working.
"Besides, she's out apartment hunting. I can't pass for Japanese and
you can't pass for an adult, she can do both."
Ranma grumbled a little, but grumbling wasn't going to get him
breakfast.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki looked at the place, small was the first word that came to
mind. Expensive was the second. But it was far cheaper to stay in Nerima,
and this place was equipped with a kitchenette, a shower, and several easy
escape routes for Ranma. The last she hoped wouldn't be necessary. The
owner demanding six month's rent in advance had been outrageous, but she
had the cash and she'd been able to make sure none of it was a security
deposit. She was terribly glad he hadn't asked her if she was a martial
artist or even if she was living alone.
Maybe he thinks I'm a runaway and is trying to gouge me, then knock me
out and sell me to the North Koreans, she thought, then she considered the
welcoming party that would be waiting for anyone who tried that. Raccoon
had dealt with the group that slipped Ranma a 'mickey finn', she wondered
how many elephant doses he downed before they . . . she shuddered at that.
She knew such groups existed, that rape was not just something done to
women by men. But there was a huge difference between what was known
intellectually, and what was known through experience. Still I am glad
Raccoon had 'intercepted and dissuaded them', she thought. She'd been
shocked he'd left them alive, only that he'd 'escorted them out of the
vicinity.' It had taken additional threats given, promises extracted and
pleadings done by her to not reveal anything to Ranma, that where he
'dumped them off' was twenty feet above the ocean, halfway between Tokyo
and the Bonin Islands. Giving them a chance, however slight, to be
rescued. And a long, lingering death if they weren't. And a story no one
would believe if they were.
She'd already sold many of their possessions, pawned a few more and
with the cash Raccoon had given her, she could at least make a dent in the
unfurnished apartment. She had no idea what they were going to do when the
money ran out. Betting on illegal fights came to mind, and Ranma would
probably always win, and Raccoon could protect her and their winnings.
But there has to be a less sordid way, she thought, Cheesecake and
blackmail are one thing, this is straight gangster stuff.
She knew she and Raccoon could convince Ranma, she found it odd she
really didn't want to. She wondered if she were going soft, or if her long
dormant conscience had woken up and was going to be trouble.
----------------------------------------
Thirsty, Asuka thought as she trudged through yellow. The blisters on
her feet weren't helping, the entire ordeal was clearly one of endurance,
without clothing, shelter, tools or the means to make any of them. The
last time she'd marched this far had been in dreams. But there was no end
in sight. Now the time was passing without any noticeable benefit.
Maybe Horseface would see this as useful, she thought,But I don't.
----------------------------------------
The Winter Is Past, The Rain Over And Gone
"Come on you two," Ranko told Nab-chan and Raccoon, "We're all going
to be fully clothed and besides it's freezing. We only have a couple of
decent blankets."
And with your ki as messed up as it is, Ranko didn't say, A chill
would kill both of you. The temporary cure had failed. Ranma had
suggested the repair and a way to stay warm, but that would require a good
deal of physical intimacy over a long time. Ranma had suggested sleeping
with them, then ran so deep into his mind Ranko couldn't do anything.
Ranko also didn't want it to sound too clinical, to make it sound like an
excuse or a trick. I'll tell them after they agree, Ranko told herself.
Nab-chan was wearing her usual shirt and slacks flannel pajamas, Ranko
tried not to react to how Nab-chan was reacting to the cold. Raccoon in a
similar shirt and pants-style pajamas.
The fact that Nab-chan seemed to start shuddering and tearing up for
no apparent reason and immediately sought out a hug and reassurance from
Raccoon had _absolutely_ nothing to do with it. After all, it made
complete sense that Ran_ma_ would be jealous of Raccoon, but it was
_absolutely_ ridiculous that Ran_ko_ would be jealous of Nab-chan.
Terrific, Ranko thought, Miss 'Grab-Anything' is nervous that I might
do that to her. Raccoon didn't seem to be having the same reaction. The
truth was Ranma had watched Raccoon patching the electrics, repairing and
running steam lines, water lines, gas lines; all the while thoroughly
explaining it to Ranma or Ranko, whoever was less likely to change if bad
things happened. The concept of flowing water Ranma grasped easily, that
electrics acted much the same way was a surprise. The differences of gas
and steam to water was a real eye opener. Ranma had drawn out various ways
of plumbing, diverting and controlling water flow, had received warnings
about steam lines and electrical lines.
She couldn't heal their frazzled and tangled ki flaws, but if ki did
flow like water or electricity, then she could establish the proper
channels and levies and hydraulic jumps to get it flowing in ways that
wouldn't be so life-threatening. If she could manage that, she could leave
the rest to natural processes.
She was glad Raccoon took Nab-chan's hand and led her to the blankets
and sleeping bags they'd gotten from the others at the youth hostel. The
whole collection would insulate them from the cold floor, and the blankets
would go over the top. The pair knelt on the bedding, keeping a very small
distance from each other. That was fine with Ranko, she slid in between
them, facing Nab-chan, and pulled them down to lie alongside her. Both
were more nervous than if they were going into a fight. Ranko gently
stroked Nab-chan's hair, then her cheeks. This frightened, then relaxed
Nab-chan. It also gave Ranko the idea of how to untangle the knot that
would prevent Nab-chan from sleeping properly. It would have the side
effect of essentially sedating her for a few hours, but Ranko could protect
them.
"I won't hurt you, or take advantage of you," she told Nab-chan, it
galled her to have to tell Nab-chan something she of all people should
_know_, but Ranko remembered Asuka's warning about perceptions and reality.
She knew that neither Nab-chan nor Raccoon would try anything, it was the
only thing that was keeping her from jumping out of her skin and following
Ranma into the darkness. Ranko kissed the tip of Nab-chan's nose, very
carefully. "Unlike a certain someone I could mention."
That brought Nab-chan back to herself.
"I detected a ki imbalance in you and Raccoon, that's why you were in
such a bad way when you arrived. I thought I fixed it, I didn't, now after
two days watching the engineer fix that whole sick building, I think I can
fix it properly."
Nab-chan gulped, "You mean . . . will it hurt?"
"No, but it will make you real sleepy."
"Maybe we could ask . . . " She shook her head. "No, forget it,
terrible - dangerous idea."
"What?" Ranko asked.
"There are other ki masters," Raccoon supplied, "All of them would
turn us over to the Nerimaniacs immediately. They'd never be an end to it.
Better to stay anonymous. Tomorrow, I'll set up some wards and fixed
defense spells to keep them from finding us. Unless you want me to kill
them all instead."
"_NO_!_" Ranko insisted, there wasn't enough space to turn and face
him, "Absolutely not. They're an irritant, and human, not the things we
fight. I don't want people murdered, just to make my life easier, even if
they _are_ just shadows."
"As you wish," he said, leaned close, his breath tickling her neck,
"Don't worry, there are ways of dealing with them. Not permanent, but long
term. Ways that will make them _loooong_ for the sweet release of death."
Raccoon running an icy finger down her spine didn't help Ranko's composure
at all. "But I won't allow that either." He gave an evil laugh, until
that point Ranko was nervous, then she relaxed. If Raccoon was joking
about it, then he wasn't likely to commit mayhem.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki was also relieved. Even if these weren't really her family and
old victims, she wasn't happy about the slaughter that would result if
Raccoon decided they were a threat to Ranma's and her, health and safety.
Pilots fought for the safety of Raccoon, Asuka, Shinji and Rei's entire
world. She'd felt the wrongness, the foul, festering malignancy of their
enemy first hand. These people were self-centered and thoughtless, exactly
like their enemy, but without their global reach. The deaths of a few in
another world to protect to protect a third of the entire supply wouldn't
even give any of them pause. A few lives for billions. She couldn't
really fault their thinking, most people would make the same choice. Few,
besides Rei and Raccoon would make it so ruthlessly and carry it out in so
remorselessly thoroughly a manner. She'd watched the `invincible`
Happosai's fate. Her father and Genma were terrified of the old letch.
Raccoon had dispatched him in less than a minute. She didn't know how, she
didn't really _care_ but it wasn't something she wanted loosed on her
once-sisters and used-to-be father. She shuddered at that, then at Ranko
running her hands over her arms. She could feel a tingling, even though
the material of her pajamas, which did nothing for her composure, or the
fear of what would happen if the fiance(e) brigade, or worse, the two
fathers, came crashing in. Ranma in bed with Nabiki and another man.
They'd have her in front of a minister so fast, drugged and dragged, if
necessary. _Later_, they'd remember he was eta and she'd disowned them,
old habits died hard. She could imagine what they'd do to the gaijin, she
could also imagine the retaliation. Ranma's promise didn't touch Raccoon
defending his own life. The Wrecking Crew had never faced a real soldier.
They talked about death, war and vengeance. But for all they really
understood, they might as well have been talking about walking on the moon
in ballet tutu and tights.
No, not vengeance, dispatch, she thought again about handling that . .
. thing and how she wanted to either kill it, or run away screaming. She
pulled herself away from those memories before she burst into tears again,
and realized she'd grabbed Ranma in a Shampoo-style hug.
"Nab-chan, you 'kay?" came the querulous voice from between her
breasts. Nabiki could feel Ranma's breathing and how rigid with fear the
girl was. "You may touch me wherever you feel is medically necessary," she
assured Ranma.
"That's nice, but I can't breathe."
"Oh Ranma, I offer you raptures of the flesh undreamt of and you
trouble me with breathing."
"Who let Kuno in here?" Raccoon asked.
Nabiki flinched at the comparison and swiftly released Ranma. "Make
sure you take his temperature. I have a rectal thermometer around here
somewhere."
"What does 'rectal' mean?" Ranma asked.
"It means she wants you to put it under my tongue," Raccoon supplied.
Even Nabiki winced at that thought.
"It should be a simple process," Ranma told her as he touched her here
and there with an expression that wouldn't have been out of place on
Ritsuko or Asuka. She was still nervous about being this close to Ranma
while in Nerima, and that the idiots might be out in force, searching for
him. She felt they should have been barring the doors, setting guards on
rotation, laying out some kind of battle plan.
Instead, she was staring into Ranma's pretty face all creased with
concentration, doing what she could barely understand. She impulsively
touched the other girl's face, and didn't distract her or get the usual
reaction she tried for. So she lay back and tried to relax. Maybe
Raccoon's sorcery would give them an undisturbed night's rest and the
`enemy` would storm their position at dawn tomorrow. Or the idiots were
still in disarray and couldn't launch an attack yet. After all, Ranma
would be at his usual haunts, right? But Ranma no longer knew his usual
haunts, and he had only Asuka's and Raccoon's stories about the Nerimaniacs
to go by, and even Nabiki didn't think Ranma would want to tangle with the
crazies that pair had described.
She felt her eyes closing. She missed her mother. She missed
Rit-chan too. She wondered if Rit-chan was proud of her for what she did.
She knew her mother had never told her she was proud of little Nabiki. Only
Kasumi who wanted to be mommy, and Akane who wanted to be daddy, never
Nabiki, who wanted to be Nabiki.
----------------------------------------
The city was rebuilt, and all the earth around it. People did their
jobs and still found their joy. He worked very hard at _do_ing as little
as possible while he encouraged as much as possible, letting others
discover their strengths and talents. He grudgingly accepted that this was
probably his father's intention, however artlessly he carried it out.
Rei came towards him, Shinji was nervous about the expression on her
face and that she was naked. He knew this was all a dream, like the one
he'd had months ago. But what they did here still mattered, and the hunger
and determination in Rei-chan's expression worried him. She approached,
walking enticingly, he'd never seen anything so beautiful before. All the
talk about Ritsuko this, Misato that, or Asuka the other, none of them was
as beautiful as Rei-chan was right now.
He was certain he was in no danger, but he knew something odd was
happening. She carefully gathering him in her arms, her soft flesh and
warm body made him uncomfortable, he knew what he wanted to do. He also
knew Asuka and his father would kill him if he did.
"Trust me," Rei-chan told him between kisses on his neck and throat.
He nodded.
Her teeth piercing his neck shocked him. She'd promised not to hurt
him, or the other pilots, she'd _just_ told him to trust her. He couldn't
escape the grip she had him in, her body twined around his, and her little
licks as she lapped his blood tickled a lot. He felt the life and strength
draining out of him. He couldn't fight her, she had started out too strong
and she still was. Now she was supporting his weight instead of
restraining him. His legs sagged and his vision dimmed.
Strange that I can smell her so much better, he thought. He was aware
of the intoxicating fragrance, the scent of her hair, the sound of her
heart pounding. He felt her lowering him to the ground. Or, he thought,
I'm wrong, I'm dying. He remembered things from his life, half-remembered
now returning with such clarity. Remembering his father, a very different
man, remembering his mother, and someone else . . . those memories remained
elusive, as if they were running away from him. He remembered being so
young.
He felt something warm and firm press past his lips, not sure if he
was remembering suckling from his mother, or an experience in the present.
He felt Rei-chan's strong fingers tangling through his hair, holding his
head tightly against her.
The instincts and old memories took over, his mouth filled with the
chalky sweetness, unexpected but welcome. He continued to suckle, drawing
strength in. He risked a glance up at Rei, her head was thrown back and a
look of rapture suffused her face, her fingers had stilled their roaming,
holding him firmly to her breast.
He felt stronger, stronger than he'd ever been, but he continued until
she released him. She looked smaller, shorter as he stood up. She took
his hands, pulling him down as she knelt. He leaned close and kissed her,
the coppery taste of his blood and the sweetness of her milk mixed in their
mouths. She broke off the kiss, her cheeks colored with embarrassment, her
entire body was `blushing` as she reached around behind him.
"This will . . . hurt," she said, "Please trust me."
He nodded, the wound was gone. So far, as strange as this had been,
he could trust her. He enjoyed the excuse to touch her and drink in her
perfume.
It felt that she'd slashed open his back, then a weight that nearly
pulled him over backwards. He looked at the wings now growing out of his
back, like an immense bird's. Snow-white feathers edged in darkest blue.
Rei stood up, helping him to his feet, her own wings extended, her head
bowed with the effort. Her wings were snow-white and diaphanous. She
looked spent as he took her in his arms, his wings enclosed her in an
embrace, supporting her and drawing her against him. He could feel her
trembling from the exertions she'd made.
She seemed so small now, tiny and frail in his arms. He also knew
what he had to do. He looked up through the roof of the tallest tower in
their new paradise. The moon hovered above him, no longer a simple
satellite, a half-light in the night, but a void, a seething, roiling
canker to be excised and lanced. He spread his wings, he knew she could
not follow, she knew it too.
He raced through the upper airs. He could feel the maggot-ridden
corruption pulsating beneath the silvery surface.
----------------------------------------
It Is Neither Shaken By Winds, Nor Ever Wet With Rain
Damn, I think angrily, These ears can't flick. Where is that fly?
Don't move, don't move, just the slightest hint of claw. SLASH!
Flick. The fly is thrown across the room and hits the floor. There it
will spend some time quietly dying in agony.
Serves it right, I think as I snuggle with the other tabby. Even in
her deep sleep, she reacts approvingly to my overture. I will never
understand their reticence, the tabby and the tom.
No, that's not right, I admit, In a world where
things-that-should-not-be must be killed, waiting until they aren't a
threat before making kittens makes perfect sense. Being afraid of any step
that might lead to begetting kittens is craziness. And I'm stuck with
_four_ crazies. Snuggling with the warm bodies when the air is so cold
makes up for it. It should have been funny, how I was `released`, I think
back. The she-within found herself in a situation she couldn't deal with,
so she ran away. She'd put the tabby and the tom asleep after plucking at
their strings and rivers, or whatever. Did she expect the tom to make
kittens with her in her sleep? I wonder. The tabby stole all the skins and
was still shivering, pushing the she-within towards the tom. So when the
she-within found herself cold, she got close to the nearest warmest thing
available. But even asleep, the tom felt a desirable tabby rubbing herself
against him, and he reacted as any tom worth having would. He was
_asleep_, not dead! I shout at the two hiding within, Idiots, the both of
them. All he did was show his approval of the she, her attractiveness and
her actions! I can practically smell the disgusting fear emanating from
both of them within.
It's not as if the tom has hidden his affection for the she-within, I
too approve of her playfulness. I also know another thing, when the tom
absorbed the squishy thing that was threatening cat-lover squishy thing,
the tom made form and gender his personal preference. It is now possible
the tom could impregnate the she or the tabby, or be impregnated by the he.
Or both. The fact is they could produce three litters at once if they
chose.
The she-within woke when the cold got too much and felt what she was
pressing against, and panicked. I agree with the noisy, sorrel tabby, I'm
surrounded by idiots! I think at all around, Through four layers of skins,
in a sleep, he's going to force you to make kittens with him? You wrapped
your arms and legs around _him_!_ So the she-within retreated. I woke,
the first order of business was to wrap both the tom and the tabby in the
skins. They cling to each other, that partially solves the problem.
Now I lie here, my back against the tabby's, wondering why they are
both acting like they're cold. Maybe the he-within or the she-within needs
to play with their strings and rivers more, but I must do what I can. My
warmth can only warm one of them. The tom seems less affected, so I can
concentrate on keeping the tabby warm. I _do_ notice the tom reacts to the
tabby as he did to the she-within, at least he has good taste in shes. I
wholeheartedly agree with his assessment.
Then I hear it. Like a faint scratching coming from the thing that
separates the inside from the outside. The scratching continues. I ready
myself. The tabby and the tom worried about this possibility. Their plan
was I would flee. But I cannot abandon them. The opening occurs, no one
stands there, to my eyes. I don't have to watch the opening, I can smell
it. Scent, not like the tom or the tabby in the skins with me or anything
else I expect.
Not human! No, it is human, with many things mixed in, I think. It
moves across the floor. The sound of the floor shifting under the weight
of what it is, the smell preceding it. It moves like it is trying to
conceal itself. Humans play and hunt in the light, dark is for sleeping,
making kittens and worrying uselessly.
Or attacking the sleeping, I think, A little closer. My other form,
dredged from the he- and she-within's nightmares of cats, was completely
effective against those things that thought they could be both man and cat.
After they hurt _my_ tom . . . NOW! I change as I leap.
Maybe it is just stupid, so my claws don't go deep, five pain-filled
scratches. It screams, high-pitched, fearful. I roar to remind any others
_I_rule_here_!_ Even the walls repeat it back to me.
Feh! I think, It voided itself while running. I do _not_ want _that_
smell outside our refugee. I hope it only soiled the skins it wore, not
the floor or walls. A bat of my paw sends the dying fly outside and a lash
of my tail against the thing again separates the inside and outside.
I turn back to - _MY_ tom and tabby. The idea is too fun, like a
yipping dog that knows it's in a trap. The extra skins for keeping warm,
how about another? Thickly furred and warm of its own accord. Wrap it
around the tom and tabby. I can't restrain a purr at the thought, and how
horrified the he- and she-within will be to doing this. The idiots deserve
it, I think, All four of them. I make myself thinner, wider, more softly
furred. Wrapping carefully around them, not so tightly they can't breathe,
but tight enough, warm enough.
This is the best cuddling, I think as I settle to sleep.
----------------------------------------
Jeff woke quickly, somehow Ranko had changed to Ranma during the night
and that Ran_ma_ was hugging both Jeff and Nabiki very firmly to him, of
course their six legs had become a Gordian Knot. From his experiences in
Nerima, now would be the time some idiot would charge in. Which was why
he'd typically do something to the same idiot to make them the laughing
stock of the martial arts community as somebody who would _pick_ a time to
break up romantic endeavors instead of going around back and issuing a
proper challenge letter. Being considered an insufferably arrogant boob
was worse than actually _being_ one. Being an 'enemy of romance' was
usually a death sentence.
How do I get out of this -? his thought stopped as he glanced down and
looked at Ranma's opening eyes. There was a terror there, beyond anything
he'd ever seen on the boy's face before.
Jeff removed Ranma's arm hand from his back and sat up, placing
Ranma's hand down on Nabiki's shoulders. "I'll start breakfast," he said
as he stood and walked away. He could feel the terrified gaze boring into
him. He was _not_ going to tease Ranma about this. Because I am such a
pure and noble soul, he thought as he took a pose appropriate to such
inherent nobility, Naw, because teasing Nabiki about arranging it
specifically to embarrass Ranma will be so much more fun. We still have to
find a source of income, a good one. The way Ranma and Nabiki eat, we'll
have to have plenty of cash coming in. He glance around, shivered. And
get a better place, he thought, smiled, I think I know the place. He
remembered how `Ranma` had gotten substantial cash for the Tendo-dojo and a
few of his own projects. Of course seeing Gendo with a hammer and nails,
or driving a bulldozer made it all worth it, he added.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki was feeling good, excellent in fact. It only stands to reason,
she told herself, With all the damage from the martial arts battles, it
makes sense there'd be an agency to repair the damage, rescue the victims,
and generally restore them to status quo ante. Or people would have risen
up in revolt long ago. The agency existed, officially they were the
Emperor's Service for Community Harmony, she wondered what they had done
before Nerima became the epicenter of insanity in Modern Japan, although
they had branches in Tomobiki-cho and Juban, the main offices and depot
were here. Nabiki was a buyer. Her job was to take the registry of goods
cataloged by the `listers` and find the best prices for suitable
replacements, by picking the sale, or by negotiations.
I can do that, she thought proudly, I just wish I'd paid attention to
this earlier, my salary is ten times what I ever made as a loan shark,
bookie, even though I'm effectively 'part-time' until my probation is over.
She had her `homework` assembled before her, on the brand new dining
room table. That gave her a feeling she couldn't explain. Since she was
fluent in English _and_ German, they had given her catalogs from American,
Canadian, British, German and Swiss stores and manufacturers to peruse and
come up with the best bargains. She knew it was a test, but she'd pass it,
this was her area of expertise. The Search and Rescue portion . . .
Raccoon had eagerly joined that, she couldn't bring herself to. She
shuddered again, not because of the events of July, but because of June
15th. She wasn't ready yet, not even for double the pay. And she wasn't
even going to try with the construction teams.
I bet they're still talking about Ranma and Raccoon, she thought about
Raccoon with a nail gun and Ranma with his speed and accuracy, they'd laid
out the wood for the entire frame of a house, Raccoon and his gun set the
nails where they needed to go, Ranma nailed them together, they set the
frames upright. Ranma nailed _them_ together, all in 20 minutes, all to a
standard that matched the group's best carpenters. 'As good as a job as
master carpenters could do,' the master of the construction teams had said.
Ranma had been practically glowing with delight. Then as an added ego
boost: since the major reason for the teams was the martial arts battles,
much of the rescue work took place `under fire`, the team had its own
martial artists to defend the rescue workers with their own unique styles.
And did I think `Horseface` had thoroughly wiped out the entire deal,
she remembered.
----------------------------------------
"So, you wanna spar?" Ranma asked an old, gray-haired man who was the
head of the martial arts division. The man's facelessness didn't extend to
his huge handlebar moustache, gray and waxed to sharp points. Nabiki felt
the sudden rise in tension among their soon-to-be coworkers.
"Certainly," the old man said smoothly, gestured to an open area
surrounded by dump trucks, bulldozers and other heavy construction
equipment. _Everyone_ was piling out to watch, after all, this was _the_
Ranma Saotome, the instigator of half their work in Nerima and a proximate
cause for the rest. Nabiki did note they took cover behind the heavy
equipment, some watching the battle with periscopes. Ranma bounced eagerly
from foot to foot as the old man took a ready stance.
"Ready when you are," Ranma called to his rival.
"I have already begun," the old man replied with a smirking tone.
Ranma instantly took a defensive stance, and waited. So did the old
man. And waited. And waited. Ranma feinted left. And waited, and
waited, etc., etc.
Nabiki noted Raccoon collected a handful of pens from the cup near the
tool crib.
"Excuse me!" He waited until he had both combatants' attention, then
launched one pen at Ranma, who dodged; and the rest singly and in pairs, at
the old man and Ranma. The old man exploded into motion. Some projectiles
he blocked, some he caught to hurl back to intercept others. Thirty pens
thrown with Raccoon's accuracy, not one even touched Ranma, or the old man
if he wasn't knocking them down himself. Raccoon gave the man a polite
bow. Ranma was looking at the man strangely.
Oh no, here's where he blows it, goodbye better life, Saotome
foot-in-mouth disease is going to get us tossed out of here on our ears,
she lamented.
"Can you stop bullets with that technique?" Ranma asked, "If you
can't, I'm sure Raccoon here can whip up a buckler or target shield that
would let you keep an area bullet proof."
The old man stared at Ranma with his curious expression, the tips of
his moustache twitching. Nabiki held her breath. Suddenly the man burst
out laughing. Raccoon and especially Ranma, had the good sense to join in.
----------------------------------------
"I should have known," Nabiki said, "Why is it in a Great Old One's
nightmare, Ranma can catch a break, but back `home` he couldn't with both
hands and a catcher's mitt?" Ranma's question made it clear he wanted to
help, he wanted to learn. His dodging protected _him_ completely, but was
useless for the area defense work that the job required. The old man, and
the other martial artists wanted to learn Ranma's speed technique in
response to learning their defense techniques, Ranma was in Heaven.
One of the masters asked Ranma how he could be so calm with 'Jefuri'
shooting nails around him, Nabiki remembered and remembered Ranma's eager
smile, ''Jefuri' shoots skeet with a Government .45, he doesn't miss . . .
ever,' Ranma told them, then demonstrated his 'transformation.' Nabiki was
curious when it had stopped being his 'curse'. Instead of the lustful
advance that would have been typical, these people talked about the
advantages and disadvantages of each side.
Then Nabiki frowned and pounded the table. "And _AGAIN_!_ The
universe found some excuse that Raccoon didn't see it!" she shouted in
protest at the perversity of it all.
Maybe the two of them arranged it on purpose, that thought broke her
bad mood instantly, she chuckled. "Who am I kidding?" She sighed, they
had jobs, friends, a reason for being and staying together. `Ranko` had
collected Raccoon to celebrate, Nabiki had begged off. She had something
else she'd wanted to do. A bit of self-flagellation, self-torture, she
knew neither Ranma nor Raccoon would understand, nor would they have
approved. They might even have tried to stop her. So she hadn't told
them.
She'd arrived outside the Tendo homestead, and breathed in the
delicious aroma of Kasumi's cooking, tempura, miso soup, daikon, pickles:
all carried on the breeze, the most delicious perfume. All of it denied to
Nabiki forever. She had remained as long as she dared, then returned home
to a dinner of cup ramen, Raccoon's pickles and an apple, a rare treat from
her youth, now she could afford one every day if she wanted one. It was
getting late, and she was getting worried. She'd been on a couple of
`dates` with Ranma and Raccoon, fairly somber affairs, mainly educating
Ranma on the intricacies of good manners. And with Raccoon and Ranko,
where Nabiki was the wet-blanket spoiling their fun.
Considering the number of `dates` Ranma took _any_ of his fiancees on,
I guess I should be flattered they keep asking me, she thought. But the
trio _always_ returned late, So I guess they're no later than the three of
us would be, I'm just lonelier, she thought.
----------------------------------------
The knock on the door brought Nabiki up out of the catalogs and her
pages of notes.
Ranma and Raccoon wouldn't knock, she thought as she headed towards
the door.
The apparition waiting was only recognizable in one aspect. It
carried Raccoon's walking stick held out as if offering it. The
facelessness Nabiki was _almost_ used to. From top to bottom the girl was
a mess, she knew in Nerima clothes and hairstyle rarely defined the true
gender. The reddish hair stood out like a fright wig, bits were still
smoldering. The ribbons that had once held it were crumbled up crunchy
bits. The costume looked like a leotard but the lace and fake skirt
eliminated Kodachi more than the hair color had. Her feet had an old-style
lace up boots that were in fashion at the turn of the century. The girl
looked like she was standing in a pool of metal that had been frozen in
mid-boil. The whole body tic was disconcerting. The girl cleared her
throat and raised the stick. "Azusa-chan is - " The tics became more
frequent and violent. "Azusa _wants_," the emphasis was almost painful to
hear. " - to return Constance to this place." The tic which had partially
subsided now grew worse again. "To its owner. And an apology for borr -
for take - for stealing it."
Nabiki could almost see the tears streaming down the girl's face, but
after the P-chan incident, Nabiki had no sympathy, although she would have
left 'P-chan' to Azusa's tender mercies. But she could get a small measure
of revenge for the trouble Azusa-`chan` had caused. "Please put Constance
on the breakfast bar." Nabiki could almost see the girl's pleading eyes.
She wanted to be rid of the thing.
Azusa bowed her head. "Of course." She tried to lift her foot, then
stepped off the metal plate with her other foot, and followed with the foot
attached to the plate.
The molten and cooled remnants of her skates, Nabiki realized, I'll
ask Raccoon and Ranko how they liked skating. When they get back.
The girl carefully, reverently, placed the walking stick down.
"It's very beautiful, isn't it?" Nabiki asked.
The girl started to nod, then - "AIEEHHH!" Clunk-stomp, clunk-stomp,
clunk- stomp retreated into the distance. Nabiki gazed down at the dark
wood, brass ball and hand guard and the dark-blue cord that made up the
handgrip. Maybe it was the place and her growing experience in reading
emotions in the faceless, but she was _certain_ the cane was smirking.
"That was very cruel," she told it, "I didn't say she didn't deserve
it, I just said it was cruel." Nabiki shook her head about talking to a
walking stick. She closed the door and returned to her `homework`,
determined to impress her new employers with her thoroughness and cunning.
----------------------------------------
Asuka saw the horizon shifting violently. She tried to stabilize and
ended up stumbling. Intellectually she realized she was hallucinating, but
it seemed so real.
Dehydration had become a serious problem. She wasn't sweating and she
hadn't urinated, so she didn't know where the water in her body had gone.
But lying there, she could recognize the symptoms. Her stomach complained
loudly at the demands placed on it without eating anything for days, or
what seemed like days. It could have been weeks for all she knew.
Her attempt to rise triggered a series of cramps as her muscles joined
the protest.
It's not easy being green, she thought about her surroundings, green
as grass.
In a little farther the hue would change slightly. The transition
between colors had been very much sharper than the changes within the
colors.
Asuka considered just why she had kept moving instead of staying put.
Maybe I'm stupid and stubborn, she thought, I didn't even consider it.
She rested a long while, lying there on the ground which wasn't as
soft as grass. Asuka let the muscles uncramp, let the horizon settle down.
If the floor was grass, she thought, It would be better. Some bread
and cool water would be even better environment than that. She raised her
head to look around, and the horizon went back to shifting. Well, if I
can't walk, that doesn't mean I can't move, she thought as she got up on
her hands and knees and continued to move. At least my feet get a rest,
she thought as she crawled onward.
----------------------------------------
Still Falls The Rain - Dark As The World Of Man
It was raining, again. Ranma sat on the windowsill and stared out at
the rain. The rain made him sad, but it also meant that he would have a
quiet day. They'd been here almost four months, since it was just a dream,
he knew he wouldn't have to worry about how much time passed in the `real
world`. He had no real worries lately. They had a larger apartment, a
relatively reliable source of money and challenges. The battles between
and among the martial artists required extensive repairs. The entire
repair team was composed of three different groups. The normal `fast`
construction teams, he and Raccoon worked there, on a part time basis.
With Raccoon's accuracy and his - her - speed, they could do the framing
for a house in a few minutes, leaving the experts for the delicate work,
which typically happened.
The Search and rescue aspect was Raccoon's specialty, and he was
utterly fearless. He'd go into places even Ranma felt apprehensive about,
and got people to safely. Raccoon explained it away for Ranma by talking
about his AT field. Of course Nab-chan worked with the logistics end,
sending teams where they were most needed, making sure the supplies that
were needed arrived, and that people got their stuff back.
Nab-chan still couldn't bring herself to work in SAR. No one blamed
her. Ranma often wanted to join the battle, instead he remembered his
training and his duty. He often acted as `point defense` for construction
and rescue teams, keeping the martial arts attacks/weapons, and in some
cases combatants from reaching the construction and rescue crews. He was
proud of his successes. Yes, he had many challenges, respect of his
teachers/coworkers and the affection of both his roommates. He smirked at
that, the few times they'd tried to sleep in separate places, the 'other'
would physically drag them together. Nothing had occurred except nervous
sleeping and cuddling, but that wasn't the point. Even the weirdos hadn't
found him, or her, at home or work. No one interfered, no one forced them
to be anything except together.
Once or twice the Nerimaniacs had located Ranma/Ranko with Nab-chan or
Raccoon. 'Ranma prepare to - BWEEEH!', 'Airen - meorw', 'Ranma for your -
QUACK!' 'Ranma you pervert I - ' poof/blam (depending on who shot first).
'Delinquent - ' poof. 'Ungrateful - Growf.' 'Pigtailed - ' poof/blam
(ditto). 'Foul sorcerer - ' KRZAPT ' - sor - cer - er' clunk (always
Raccoon he _hates_ being called a sorcerer).
What bothered Ranma most was what the activities of these `honorable
martial artists` said about martial arts. A typhoon didn't cause the
damage their battles did. A week didn't go by when the rescue teams
weren't called out. Few people lasted as long as the three of them had.
The crushing helplessness of it made you cynical, or you would attack one
of the martial artists and become part of the problem. So the team members
were rotated out at the first signs of such stress, some to one of the
other stations, or a paid leave of absence.
Ranma understood this was all a punishment visited on them by an alien
force. The explanation didn't eliminate the creeping guilt and anger he
felt. Of course the destroyed property was replaced, but the heirlooms,
pictures, memories all were destroyed and couldn't _be_ replaced, but that
didn't seem to matter to the combatants. Although, the teams did their
best. He knew he could stop them, stop all of them. With Raccoon to back
him up, or just release Raccoon from Ranko's promise, it would stop them
forever. But that wasn't allowed, murder was still murder. They didn't
kill. Drop a house on someone, that someone crawled out. The people
around here could soak up that kind of punishment.
With one notable exception. Ranma remembered the look of horror on
the face of the combatants when they smeared Raccoon all over the pavement.
Of course _he_ took it in stride after he recovered. Although Raccoon had
stealthily delivered 50 kilos of red gelatin cubes with bits of offal in
them to each of his `murderers'` bedrooms. Even 10 km away, they had heard
the screams and laughed about it. All three of them.
But yesterday it wasn't one of the crazies, Ranma thought about the
leave he'd been placed on, Ranma closed his eyes, Guys don't cry, guys
don't cry! Yesterday it had been a kindergarten. Ranma neither knew nor
cared why 'the Phoenix Prince' decided to incinerate the building. Logic
never seemed to apply. The SAR team had rushed in, got everybody out, not
a single loss. Ranma and everyone else had let themselves get distracted
and a kid wandered back in. Raccoon noticed first and rushed back into the
smoke and flames to get the kid out. Ranma wasn't worried, Raccoon had a
skill finding people and his magic and AT field meant Raccoon would emerge
unscathed from the flames.
Maybe the kid's death rattle of 'Rosebud' was supposed to be funny.
It wasn't funny to Ranma, he'd wanted to kill the arrogant bastard who
suddenly realized a bunch of 'worms' had spoiled his fun, and brought the
SAR teams under fire, literally. Raccoon had tackled Ranma to keep him out
of the fight. But Ranma had been beyond reasoning, beyond any attempt to
explain or cajole. He wanted to kill the arrogant punk and was going to go
through whatever was in his way. Raccoon's blood and bone was the only
thing in the way.
Ranma hadn't killed him, he'd recover . . . Eventually, Ranma thought,
How long that eventually is . . . that worried Ranma. He'd never lost his
temper that way, never lashed out at a friend to get at an enemy. Raccoon
would undoubtedly forgive him. The rest of the team understood, it had
happened to every single one of them, they all made sure to tell him that.
So Ranma was on paid leave, an enforced vacation. If the rains kept up, he
wouldn't be needed. But instead of being happy that Raccoon survived,
Ranma only felt ashamed. Some of the worst martial artist offenders had
disappeared. It didn't take a genius to figure out who `disappeared` them,
why and how. But that was Raccoon's way, if he had to defend the people,
he'd defend the people. The ones who never threatened anyone outside their
circle were safe, those that only hurt other combatants were safe. Like
me, Ranma thought. The ones who reveled in collateral damage didn't last.
It shamed martial arts and martial artists. It shamed him, then _he_
brought shame to martial arts in one unguarded moment.
The 'other' had been bugging him about 'kittens', Ranma wondered if it
might be time to do something he'd always thought was unacceptable, even
alien to his nature. Agree with the 'other', and become a mother. Ranko
could propose to Raccoon, make the leave of absence unpaid and permanent,
maybe figure out a way to open a school to run when the children were at
school. Teach potential martial artists not just the skills but the
responsibilities and ethics of the martial arts. Live up to those
responsibilities and ethics himself.
Ranma squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep the tears from falling.
He couldn't ask the others. Raccoon would say he was making too much of
it, and Nab-chan seemed terrified of the idea of motherhood, for many of
the reasons Asuka worried them about. Nab-chan wanted a career, she liked
fighting as much as Ranma did, but she wanted to fight in the boardroom
rather than in the streets or arenas. Ranma also could see the joy the
others on the construction crew felt when they built something, when they
remade a home. The way he felt when . . . it was ironic that he could
access a whole other way of `building` something, something that mattered,
something that would last longer then the temporary construction in and
around Nerima where everything except feuds were transitory and life went
on out of sheer inertia. Just because the deeply flawed people who battled
eternally here didn't want to accept the final conclusion, and seemed
equally unwilling to accept the facts that deaths, growth, change and
advancement all entailed hard choices. That didn't mean he was like them.
He could do a lot worse than a family life.
He decided he'd never return here, if the reality was anything like
this, he had _nothing_ in common with these people. He'd seen and done too
much to simply ignore the cost of his actions, his inactions and his
failure to act properly.
The other thing that Ranma was extremely worried about was the repair
of Nab-chan's ki flaws. The second treatment had brought Raccoon back to
normal, he'd thought at the time that he'd managed to fix Nab-chan too.
Less than a week later, the problems returned. The 'other' `smelled` them
before Ranma detected them through casual contact. He suspected one reason
for the 'other' to insist on all of them sleeping together was that the
flaws were easiest to detect while she was deeply asleep. The treatments
were fortunately getting further and further between.
He and Raccoon also figured out the sudden grave chills Nab-chan got
while she slept, while she seemed to be covered with sweat. It took all
the warmth Ranma/Ranko and Raccoon could generate by body, magic and ki to
break the chill. More frightening was Raccoon's assertion that is wasn't
sweat covering Nab-chan during these episodes, it was sea water.
Ranko and Raccoon had discussed this strange place, that only Nab-chan
really liked being here. Ranma could be comfortable anywhere, ditto
Raccoon. Despite everything, Nab-chan _wanted_ to be here.
The two of them dreaded that the reason for the scenario and
Nab-chan's `illness` was that Nab-chan was the main target, the other
pilots were hit as a side-effect. The two anchors for Nab-chan, to prevent
her from getting kicked off this plane of existence, were him and Raccoon,
so they held her back and prevented her from being destroyed. Their
combined `inertia` landed the trio here, and since Nab-chan was the target,
she'd been the most damaged by the transition. Raccoon more so because of
his proximity, Ranma effectively came along for the ride. All in all it
made sense. It also bothered Ranma that either Nab-chan had reached out to
him, or he'd reached out to her to prevent her from being killed. He would
have done it in a fight, but to `volunteer` while she was on the other side
of the world . . . and all it meant about how he felt about her and how she
felt about him, or both. It really worried him.
They'd avoided serious entanglements with any of his previous
paramours, sometimes only by strenuous effort, usually by trickery. Ranma
still couldn't believe what worked on these people. The agency's reports
let him read about their activities, and he felt sorry for them.
Of course the suggestion I get them all together to discuss things, he
remembered the screaming match that had ignited, Then they didn't accept my
statement I wouldn't do it. They chained me to a bulldozer for three days,
under constant guard. While they fed him, gave him bathroom breaks, the
rest of the time was a recitation of what fiance(e) destroyed what
building, destroyed how much property over what insult: cooking, sewing,
cuteness, bust size, ability to bear children.
Sitting there in the bulldozer scoop, listening to Raccoon's long
medical explanation was bad enough, Ranma thought, Under extreme, regular
physical exertion, a woman would stop having her menstruation altogether,
or it would become erratic. No menstruation, probably no kids. Ranma was
shocked that evidently, some of his `fiancees` fell into that category. So
much of their body's reserves were called upon for battle, the body quit
`wasting` effort to produce the next generation, since the effort would
reduce the chance of this generation surviving.
Knowing how important `kittens` are to the 'other', Ranma thought, I
can imagine how _that_ argument could escalate out of all control. He'd
kept any ideas about solving these people's problems strictly as insights
into the nature of these people from then on, it was safer that way.
Unfortunately it also gave him a clear view into the dark aspects of
his own pride. It was not a good reflection of him nor on him. He could
see why Nab-chan and Raccoon had reacted so violently to the suggestion.
Why Asuka, Mein Grosfeldmarschall, and Raccoon held `honor` in such low
esteem.
People who really have it, don't talk about it, he thought, They cloak
it in as duty, 'doing the right thing', into responsibility, and other
words. He couldn't imagine Raccoon or Asuka fighting a duel that took out a
dozen city blocks, even if they fought it in their EVAs.
"But that's what puts a roof over my head, food on the table and
clothes on my back," he said, most of the rest of his pay went to various
charities to help the victims. Although everyone told him the battles
would have happened anyway, he, and she, was just an excuse. He still felt
responsible, the only part of him that really craved ease and comfort,
found it every night with its two favorite cuddle-toys.
He did understand if he should announce a wedding to anyone, he should
have the entire Self Defense Force, ashore, airborne and afloat set up a
gauntlet to run these people through. It was a dark thought for a dark
night like this one. The alternative was withdraw the request he - she'd -
made of Raccoon that first day. He could eliminate the problems quickly
enough.
That wouldn't be the - 'other' - among the pigeons, that would be
throwing the pigeons straight into a chipper/shredder. The idea was to
survive until the dream ended, not slaughter a bunch of people who hadn't
been as life-threatening to his two friends as he had.
Then he frowned about it, felt the tears make another sortie. Until
yesterday, when they might have been of use, then they were pathetic, he
thought, They only made the little brat angry. The battle still haunted
him. A god, or so he claimed to be, was exactly the kind of thing the EVA
pilots should be fighting: slavers, murderers, people destroying those
`lesser` than them out of sheer `fun` of it. Instead what he fought didn't
care about people, their lives, their cities, even when you were killing
them they only felt astonishment. He wished he could have faced the
phoenix in Unit 04, it would have made him feel cleaner.
"I could have taken that punk without Unit 04, or if I'd calmed down,
listened, then Raccoon and I would have taken him later," he said, "But I
didn't listen, wouldn't wait. Our _job_ was rescuing those people, not
fighting the menace. Bore him and make him go away. _Then_ hunt him down
and take him at a time and place of our choosing. But I didn't _do_ that."
He regretted it, but he often acted in haste and it gave him long
periods alone to regret his rashness.
----------------------------------------
Asuka fell. All her determination, all her desire couldn't make her
rise again. She'd made it as far as blue. Red and orange hadn't been bad,
in yellow her thirst began to bother her, there was nothing she had here
except herself. The hunger pangs had been bad, but she was used to cramps.
The effects of dehydration had grown increasingly difficult to ignore.
Even crawling, she'd started stumbling repeatedly as the floor and the
ceiling shifted suddenly. Her palms and knees were inflamed and raw where
they'd repeatedly touched the floor.
Now she lay on the blue floor, surrounded by the blue `sky`, and the
blue walls. She wasn't thinking `blue` thoughts, she wasn't resting to
make another effort. Not moving eased the pain to a dull ache, now lying
on the ground told her the jittering horizon was in her mind.
She closed her eyes to prevent the incipient motion sickness. I do
not need to throw up, I feel bad enough as it is, she thought.
"Okay," she croaked through cracked lips, "What am I supposed to do?
Pray?" This is just a dream, she thought, I'm just going to wake up. She
was worried that it wouldn't be the way out.
The tread of something heavy caught her attention. She couldn't even
raise her head to look, but the huge violet object walked around into her
field of view.
Unit 02, an odd violet in the blue light. She'd heard rumors that the
purple monster, Unit 01, moved on its own. Unit 02 was too 'well-mannered'
for that. It reached down towards her, picking her up so gently. She
couldn't reach out her hands to her `old friend`. It's manner reminded her
of her mutti.
"I have come to help you." She heard from the EVA's speakers.
"Wondergirl?!" she croaked desperately, "You aren't - "
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