[FFML] [Fanfic][X-COM][Teen Titans][Ranma 1/2] Reflections Lost on a Dark Road (chap 9)

[Justin Wagner]

A/N
Early midnight update for chapter 9! Seems I also forgot to send the
last few chaps to the FFML. Well, you can catch those with italics and
everything at FFN easily enough.
-
Pre-crossover Chapters: Pre-crossover chapters of Lathis' "Teen Titans
and the Lost Boy" and the sequel "Dark Titans" can be found on his FFN
author site. Cap'n Chryssalid's "The Road to Cydonia" can be found,
likewise, on his FFN site or his TRTC Ufopedia archive.

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/992366/Lathis
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/235984/Capn_Chryssalid

Crossover Chapters: Chapters of this specific fanfic are to be hosted on
Cap'n Chryssalid's archive and on FFN

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2754251/

- - -

- - -

Nigh on two months have passed since Ryouga freed Terra from her stone
prison, restoring the Titans to their full number after long last.  The
reunion has been anything but quiet, though, with deception and disaster
tearing the team apart just as quickly as it came back together.  With
Robin and the original Titans drawn to Tamaran for Starfire's 'wedding',
it fell to Ryouga, Terra - as well as some unexpected help from
unexpected friends - to avert disaster in the underwater city of
Atlantis.  Everyone is back together again, now, and taking a well
deserved breather from their adventures.  But as unseen forces
manipulate from the shadows, and disaster looms from both without and
within, their tenuous peace is doomed to be shattered... and sooner than
they expect.

It has been five months since the inclusion of the Nerima Crew into
UNETCO as the war between X-Com and the alien visitors enters its
seventh year. Despite the destruction of Earth's last alien refuge and
the annihilation of the conspiratorial Sirius Group, the organization
has been hit hard by Cydonian reprisals, and stretched thin by
increasing commitments in the Far East to counter abductions of martial
artists and the psionically gifted. Even as the buildup culminates for
the last great push against Mars itself, distractions and complications
continue to arise within the ever present specter of alien terror.

- - -


Reflections Lost on a Dark Road
Close Encounters
Chapter IX

- - -

Cap'n Chryssalid
Lathis - "Enjoy if you will, Tolerate if you won't."

- - -

Starfire yawned, drowsily leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.

To her right, large metal boxes shifted slightly pushing against their
mooring restraints. She had been shipped off without fanfare - the stony
presence of Herb, Kiima, and a few other armed guards hardly counted as
fanfare - and packed in with a few other cargo items for the first
flight off base. Not that she wasn't glad to be leaving the place, but
she also had little actual idea where they were transferring her to.
Only that her friends were waiting for her there. Supposedly. It was
still somewhat difficult to believe her captors.

The suppression band on her head itched a bit, too, but none of that was
as bad as simply having to sit around doing nothing, knowing she was so
close to being back with her friends. If only they would have simply
allowed her to fly there herself! Trying to work a nail under the lip of
the band, she still found it infuriatingly mated to her skin. It wasn't
that it was tight. It was almost like it had been glued or fused into
place.

She wondered if the cargo hold's other occupant had something similar.

Sealed up against one of the walls of the transport was her 'fellow
prisoner' - barely visible behind the opaque material of his (or its)
stasis tube. Starfire could only discern part of the alien's body and
the face. It was small in size, like a human child, but with a large
bulbous head and unblinking black eyes. Only the slow motion of the nose
slits, contracting and opening once every few seconds, indicated it was
anything other than a corpse. A series of warning labels adorned the
side of its tube, indicating biohazards, radiation hazard, and 'psionic
hazard' ...whatever that meant.

The rest of the cargo seemed to be packed in crates.

For the seventh time during the extended duration of the flight, she
found her thoughts drawn again to her friends. By the given
descriptions, only Ryouga and Raven were present. It appeared that the
portal had not transported Cyborg to the same location as them, or
herself.  She dearly wished that she knew what had become of her
cybernetic friend and how he was faring in this harsh and unfriendly
world.

It was impossible to know whether anyone else had been transported
through the portal as well.  When last she had seen them, both Robin and
the nefarious Jinx had been fighting desperately to resist the pull of
the vortex, hanging on only by a small chord ...  Had either of them
fallen through?  Had both of them? Though it was quite selfish, and she
despised herself for wishing this terrible fate upon anyone else, she
did not possess the words to describe how grateful she was that she was
not trapped on this world alone. Also, speaking in a practical manner,
the more of them which ended up in this place, the greater their chances
of getting home.

Of more disturbing note, though, was the captive alien in transport with
her. Starfire found herself strongly tempted to try to free her fellow
extraterrestrial, if only to hear its side of the conflict. She knew the
humans who had captured her had not told her everything, barely anything
at all for that matter. Though Herb had certainly shown her quite a few
unpleasant things, who could say if they were real? Were the aliens
truly the villains here?  These XCOM people insisted that the aliens
were the cruel, wicked ones, and yet aside from a few individuals acting
on their own prerogative, the humans appeared to act in a manner similar
to the aliens they so passionately hated.

Given all that, she somehow doubted the heavily armed guard sitting at
the front of the cargo area would appreciate her attempting to
communicate with the contained alien. The xenophobia and immoral
practices of this human group were so very much unlike those of the
humans she had met on the Earth of her native realm. There, even
complete strangers had been willing to help her - after a minor
misunderstanding and some harmless property destruction - and protect
her, no matter the cost.

Here, her very existence was a crime to be stamped out.

Again, she gave silent thanks that Raven and Ryouga had been present.
If the pair had not appeared to corroborate her memories, she found it
highly doubtful that the humans would have ceased their mental attacks
until there was nothing left of her at all. They had seemed convinced
that she was some sort of - of half-human half-alien construct. Who
knows what they would have done to her in the long term if not divested
of this misdiagnosis?

Starfire felt the aircraft decelerate and straightened up in
anticipation.

The next minute or so seemed to drone on, and she turned from looking
back towards the front of the aircraft - currently sealed off with her
guards - to the back, where she knew the rear hatch to be. Tapping her
fingers together anxiously, she waited, eagerly looking up when she
heard the front compartment open. A man in dark white and gray armor
appeared, his helmet on, checking some of the crates as he walked to the
rear of the ship. He stopped next to the tube with the alien in it,
checking something on the side, and then leaned in to check the metal
band they had fitted to her head like a coronet.

She resisted the urge to react when he brushed back some of her hair to
make sure it was in place. The little coronet somehow acted, like that
horrible paralysis table, to nullify her ability to fly or to generate
Star Bolts. The two had to be connected. A similar technology, and she
had been 'mentally scanned' before. Thinking about flying or bolting
produced a not-painful but still uncomfortable dissonance.

Interestingly, her strength did not seem to be affected... but this was
a discovery she kept to herself. Starfire put up with the restrictive
metal band primarily because it meant she wouldn't end up in a tube,
like the creepy eyed creature opposite her. So she waited and let the
man check to make sure it was in place. Quickly satisfied, paying her no
more heed than he had the other alien, the soldier went to the end of
the plane and waited.

A minute later, yellow lights blinked, and the ramp opened. Immediately
beyond it was a hangar, very similar to the one she had seen when she
left the last base. Two large trolleys were off to the side, along with
more uniformed humans. It took a moment, but three of the humans quickly
became familiar. One was still a stranger, but she was certain the other
three were Mousse, Kuno and Ryouga! Standing to rush over to them, she
hesitated, remembering some of what she had heard before.

'Lieutenants Saotome and Hibiki'

Was this the Ryouga she knew, or the native one? It... it had to be the
latter.

There was no spark of recognition - well, maybe a little one - when he
saw her, just about to come down the ramp. He and the other three young
men were also armed and standing as if expecting a fight. She paused,
suddenly a bit unsure, her eyes scanning the cavernous hanger urgently.
Where were her friends?

An older human male walked partway up the ramp to meet with the guard,
exchanging a few words. Starfire waited, pushing back her urge to rush
past them. Patience. She just need to be patient a little longer, as
insufferable as it was at the moment. Eventually, the guard nodded,
saluted, and stepped aside. The other man then ordered subordinates in
orange uniforms to start unloading materials around her.

"Koriand'r, is that right?" The older male  asked, taking a few steps
over to her. "You're free to disembark. Do not attempt to remove your
psi-suppressor."

She replied with a rapid, shallow nod, in a hurry to just get out and
find the comrades she had been promised. Nearing the bottom of the ramp,
the... alternate versions of her friends took up positions to her left
and right. It was somewhat surreal to see people she knew, but who
plainly did not know her. The native Ryouga seemed to be in charge, and
he walked around and held out his hand in greeting.

"Miss Koriand'r," he said, inclining his head slightly in a small bow.
"Pleased to meet you. I know you're eager to meet your friends; they're
waiting for you inside."

Starfire frowned darkly at the alternate Ryouga and pointedly did not
take the proffered hand.  It felt so wrong for him to use her true name
with such ease.  While she had come to appreciate the translation of her
name, used so frequently by her friends, that had nothing to do with her
disdain.  No, after countless hours of having that - that odious human
interrogator repeating her true name, over and over again with such
disrespect and disgust, it nearly sickened her to hear any of these...
soldiers utter her Tamaranian name.  If anything, it only made it harder
to forgive them, the fact that, in any way at all, they had actually
made her hate the sound of her own name.

Even Mint and Herb, the only small saving graces of her otherwise
unbearable captivity, had taken her wishes quickly to heart and used her
Earth name. Those two had been the only humans - using the term loosely
- whom had understood, or at least attempted to understand what they had
subjected her to.

But here, now, and with this person, it felt like yet another violation.
Not only did these people flaunt her most personal secrets without a
care in the world, but they did not even care enough to acknowledge what
they had done.  They obviously had no shame in the fact that they had
plundered her mind. It nearly broke her heart to be able to look at one
that had become like a brother to her, and to feel nothing but distrust
and fear. So, rather than answer, she nodded sharply, doing what little
she could to hide her acidic glare before quickening her pace, trying to
reach the exit more swiftly. She needed to see her friends, needed to
reaffirm that her Ryouga was still himself.

The four escorted her across the hangar to a large set of doors. A faint
light brushed over them, and then the passageway unlocked and slid open
along the lateral and longitudinal axis. Waiting just inside, standing
by the wall...

'Raven! Ryouga!'

Though both wore the fairly plain clothing of every other human she had
seen in these bases, it took her less than a second to confirm that
these were, indeed, her dear, dear friends. It was not what they wore
which tipped her off, it was the looks on their faces: her Ryouga was
staring, a smile rising up at the sight of her to chase away the worry
that so often pulled his brows down and colored his eyes with darkness,
and Raven, despite having little outward reaction, also sported a very
small smile and a look of relief. Subtle though it was.

Boundless joy filled Starfire's chest ... only to be crushed a moment
later as her feet failed to leave the floor. The buzzing in her ears -
in her head - increased annoyingly the moment she even attempted the
meager flight, and she reached up to hold her head to steady herself
until the discomfort passed.

A second later, Ryouga was at her side, helping her hold her balance.

"Star! Are you alright?"

Shaking her head, she nodded.  "Indeed, my precious friend.  It is just
this circlet, it disorients me."

The Tamaranian was actually somewhat gratified at the anger that
suddenly rose in her friend on her behalf.  It was one of the few ways
that Ryouga possessed to display his affection for others, and knowing
that he cared enough to display righteous fury in her defense was
another fond reminder of home. A moment later, still holding her
carefully, her fanged companion fired a heated glare at his counterpart.

"What the hell is this?" he barked. "Why haven't you taken this thing
off of her already? We told you that you can trust her!"

The other Ryouga didn't flinch from the angry double.

"Which I will do... momentarily." He turned to Starfire. To the others
in India, she probably appeared fairly harmless, less threatening than
an Ukyou or Shampoo. The uniformed Hibki clearly knew better.

"Miss," he continued. "I understand your people have a warrior's code of
honor. By removing your psi-suppressor, I am placing you under my
responsibility. I hope you will respect that, as well as the laws and
rules of this base. We both know the havoc you could potentially cause
if you chose to."

"You know nothing of my people," Starfire muttered silently under her
breath. Still, she nodded, wanting nothing more than to have the device
removed as soon as possible. To her side, Ryouga's glare only deepened
at the stolen knowledge his double flaunted so casually.  Did it amuse
them to demonstrate how thorough they had been in sifting through their
most personal memories like so much garbage?

A moment later, Starfire felt another comforting presence, as Raven
joined them, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Starfire.
Despite all appearances, these people are not our enemy."

The other Ryouga placed his hands to either side of Starfire's temple,
depressing a trigger in the material. Unknown to her, the psionic
programming within the band had prompted a mental unlock code, and a
second later it clicked in response, freeing her from its control.
Despite appearing calm as he removed the device, there was a slight
tension to this Ryouga's movements. More than almost anyone, he seemed
to know how potentially dangerous this unassuming girl could be. Those
reports, clearly, had been passed on in detail.

Removing the suppressor, he snapped it back into a straight band.

"There," he said, tucking the straight, ruler-like device into one of
his uniform pockets. "You should resume full control in a few seconds."

The Tamaranian felt the change the instant that the horrible device was
removed from her brow. It was with a palpable sigh of relief that she
turned back to her friends, no longer able to summon the boundless joy
she had first felt, the moment spoiled.

"My friends, I am so glad that you are both unharmed. You were not
injured, were you?"  She looked down for a moment, biting her knuckle as
she recalled recent events.  "My own apprehension was a most traumatic
event.  Please tell me that your own was not."

Glaring furiously at his double for a moment, Ryouga turned back to her,
wrapping an arm around her shoulder and putting on a confident grin.
Despite the obvious tension in his frame, the Tamaranian could feel his
the muscles in his arm twitching rapidly with repressed anger, his voice
still came out in a calm, joking manner.

"Nah," he replied with a grin. "These guys tried to take us in, but we
pounded them so badly that we ended up feeling sorry for them and
surrendered ourselves out of pity."

Immediately, heartened by the gratifying news and the cheerful note in
her friend's voice, Starfire's face lit up and she began to float.  It
filled her with joy to know that her friends had not been so roughly
treated as she had.

"Oh, that is most glorious to hear! You must tell me more of the kicking
of the butt which you delivered. In exchange I will tell you of my own
battle with the ones named Mint, Lime and Herb."

She looked on in amusement as her Ryouga nearly choked on his own
tongue.  "You - you fought those jokers, and Herb? Holy crap, Kori, how
are you still alive?"

Oh, so it was the same trio that he had mentioned in his inappropriate
story of the infamous 'Breast Fake Out Tactic.' She had thought the
coincidence had been unlikely, once she had had time to recall.  It was
quite easy, she reflected bitterly, to recall things when people were
tearing through one's memory like rabid Portkins.

Allowing herself to be led down the hallway by Ryouga, ignoring the fact
that they would undoubtedly not reach any destination any time soon, she
offered up a superior smile. "Oh, you found those three to be dangerous?
What could have given you that impression...?"

...

Raven shook her head, smiling fondly as the pair wandered aimlessly down
a random corridor. She knew that they would undoubtedly be swapping
stories - however biased - for some time. Despite her brave face,
though, Raven could feel Starfire's spirit twisted up inside her.
Whatever had befallen her, it had affected her more deeply than she was
letting on.  The Tamaranian's discomfort wasn't the only she could
sense, though. Once the pair were further down the hall, she turned to
stare at Lt. Hibiki, a bemused look on her face.

"Really, afraid of Starfire?" she asked. "You should be ashamed of
yourself, Lieutenant."

"My mother lives on this base," he replied, simply. "As do many others I
care about. I don't like taking chances with their safety."

Raven shook her head sadly at the unfounded paranoia. "Mr. Hibiki, I've
met your mother.  Frankly, she worries me more than Starfire does."

With that, she turned and began to slowly follow in the trail of her
friends, hoping they didn't wander into any kind of minefield or
something. "You know, it's paranoid statements like that one, that
simply confirm our own worries."

"Mousse, Kuno. Why don't you see to our new guest's arrangements?" The
Hibiki asked his companions,  then turned to the third member of India.
"Ryu. With me. Let's make sure our new friends don't get lost."

All three nodded, and parted ways.

Seeing Raven lagging behind her two friends, and a little annoyed by her
words, Ryouga took a few long steps to catch up. Doing so, he had to
remind himself she had a natural empathic ability. He would have to be
more careful about how he expressed himself around her.

"It isn't paranoia," he remarked, a response to her earlier observation,
though inwardly winced at how his thoughts just a second earlier and his
statement now didn't exactly mesh. "And my mother is a sweet, gentle
woman."

A few feet away, Ryu sniggered... only to retreat when his CO sent a
withering glare his way.

"And what are your worries?" he asked, ignoring Ryu's little gaffe.
"That we're still secretly the bad guys or something?"

Enjoying the upper hand she'd so rarely enjoyed since arriving on this
world, Raven looked up at him, giving him an amused glance.

"Mostly, we're just worried that you actually are as big a jerk as you
appear to be.  Personally, I'm holding out hope for you, but I think
you've already lost Ryouga." Shrugging, she turned to Ryu.  "Isn't it
sad to see someone that hates himself so much?  Don't you people have
any way to deal with problems that don't include mind scans and
containment cells?"

Ryu held up his hands, as if to say, 'No comment lady!'

The lieutenant just huffed. "I'm a jerk, huh? Well, it isn't like I'm
out to win popularity contests or anything, but if you think I'm bad...?
I've stuck my neck out for your group here, though for the life of me I
don't know why. As for our methods... they work. They save lives."

"For which we have to take your word and nothing else," Raven replied
quickly. She then leveled a serious look his way.  "And please don't try
to inflate your benevolence. You have 'stuck out your neck' for us
exactly once, when you decided not to have us killed at the airport.
Everything after that point has been our own behavior speaking for us."

"You say that like it isn't a major thing," he replied, annoyance
tingeing his voice.

To which she nodded. "Granted, I am quite grateful that you decided
against killing us.  However, you must also realize that your altruism
is somewhat tainted by the fact that you only came to that decision
after several minutes spent trying, with everything you had, to kill or
subdue us. You did not even attempt to peacefully detain us, or even
question us, you had Mousse open the confrontation with an overtly
lethal attack."

"Hardly lethal by his standards," Ryu objected and shrugged at the
suffering look Raven sent him.

"Mousse's little taser attack is no more lethal than the shock therapy
option built into that other-me's umbrella," Ryouga concluded the
comparison with a dismissive wave of his hand. "After you transformed...
well, you can guess the standard procedure when dealing with a threat of
your level."

"The bombs and razor wire he deployed before my ...transformation...
were decidedly less than pleasant," Raven replied with a sharp look.
Perhaps it was some of her own prior experience with the weapon master
mingling with her latest encounter with him, but the whole scenario left
her  quite annoyed with Mousse in general, and by extension, his
companions.  Still...

"However, yes, I understand your reactions at that point," she finally
conceded, "But before you exclaim to being our savior, just remember one
thing.  You say your methods save lives... but how many innocent lives
do they cost?  Were it not for Ryouga's umbrella, the both of us would
be dead now.  Only because of a circumstance of which you could not
possibly have had any knowledge did we survive when you opened fire with
your weapons."

The Hibiki appeared to be attempting to find a reply to her rhetorical
question, so she held up a hand to forestall him. As cathartic as it was
to get that off of her chest, she didn't want to completely sour any
chance of forming any kind of working relation with this organization.
He also seemed to realize her point and concede it.

With some small effort, she manufactured a telling smirk.  "Don't read
too much into it yet.  Let's just suffice it to say that you obviously
don't trust us fully, so how can you expect us to do any differently?"

"I..." he thought, carefully, before he answered. "There's a difference
between lack of trust and barely restrained hostility. You're right. I
don't trust all of you, not completely, and I don't blame you for not
trusting me either. It just... annoys me to see that other me, and this
girl too, looking at me like I'm some kind of monster."

"I can't - won't - speak for Starfire, but it is painfully apparent that
something is troubling her greatly, despite her attempts to conceal it."
Raven narrowed her eyes, staring at the native Hibiki seriously.
"Perhaps you might know if something happened to her during her
captivity?  Perhaps it is not you that she sees as a monster, but your
uniform?  Ryouga and I at least had the benefit of familiar faces when
we were interrogated.  I somehow doubt that she was afforded the same
courtesy or the same restraint on the part of her questioners."

At this observation, Ryouga and Ryu exchanged a sad look.

"I know she resisted the initial scans, and her report indicates she
became 'hostile and uncooperative.'" The lieutenant crossed his arms in
helpless exasperation. "You're right in that she had a harder time than
either of you did. I could tell that using her name made her angry as
well, though I can't imagine why. Was I pronouncing it wrong? I just
don't get it. You're all taking this far worse than Ranma and I did when
we were picked up."

"Were you also violently attacked with lethal force, held against your
will, had your memories sifted through against your will and treated as
pariahs and potential enemies when this organization recruited you as
well?"

"Way I heard it, they were both unconscious for most of it," Ryu
helpfully chimed in. "Slept like a bunch of big babies."

"Thank you, sergeant," Ryouga answered with a twitching eyebrow. "No. We
weren't attacked, but we were detained. We did have our memories
searched - something for which I'm grateful, having been on the
receiving end of alien mercy - and we had to earn our positions, our
respect, and the trust of other personnel. I guess it wasn't quite what
you had to go through, but both Ranma and myself knew we had to endure
whatever came to keep fighting. Besides, for all your powers, it's
obvious you guys won't make the same decisions we did. There's no point
trying to recruit you."

"Let me get this straight..."  Raven eyed him incredulously.  "You were
rescued by XCOM, were offered positions in the organization, which you
desired so that you could keep fighting.  And yet you guess it wasn't
quite what we had to go through at your hands...?"

She chuckled to herself.  "At least your Hibiki sense of logic is still
intact. Still, you are correct. We know nothing of your fight, and have
no place in it. Our only concern is getting home."

"Geez, it's like arguing semantics with Nabiki," he growled, in no way
armed for this kind of fight. "Maybe you'd have preferred if we waited
until after the aliens got their hands on you? I'm sure you'd have been
glad to be 'rescued' like we were. If you got rescued at all..." He
shook his head, dispelling that notion, a little angered at the memories
it still brought up. "No matter. I'm sure you three will be home soon
and you can forget you ever met your evil murderous jackbooted doubles."

"I have been thinking about growing a goatee," Ryu added, cheerfully.
"Or a soul patch."

Raven smirked at Ryu.  "Actually, from what I hear from Ranma, you might
actually be the good copy."

"Really?" he asked, sounding disappointed. "But... I thought girls love
bad boys? Why would I want to be the good double?"

Raven shrugged.  "From what I've heard, Bad Boys are only interesting
for a time.  Everyone knows that girls eventually settle down with the
nice guy.  Maybe being the good double will work out for you?" She
paused for a moment, tapping her chin. "Though, Ranma has been hinting
that our Ryu and Natsume have been spending quite a bit of time together
lately.  He suspects foul play."

"Natsume?" Ryu asked, not recognizing the name.

"The older one of the two fake Tendo sisters," Ryouga supplied. "Uses
frost and ice based techniques and a rugbeater. Juliet Squad brought
them in months ago."

"She cute?"

Rather than answer outright, Ryouga offered an embarrassed, "Well..."

"Ah! Damnit! She is cute isn't she?! Juliet Squad always gets to bring
in the girls!" Ryu groaned, giving an exasperated grunt. "What do we
get? A gibbering cannibal, a bunch of crazy shrine monsters, and then
some dimension hoppers. And out of that bunch, the two who are girls are
probably underage!" He turned to Raven. "Do you know where Saotome is
now? The south seas! He gets sent to a tropical paradise for a
'mission.' Lucky SoB."

"Actually," Raven supplied, her tone filled with amusement. "Natsume and
Kurumi are not 'fake sisters' in our reality.  Mr. Tendo recently
finalized the adoption." The cloaked girl gave a telling look to the
native Hibiki.  "It appears that people in our universe are just
naturally more compassionate.  I suppose it would explain a lot." A
pause. "Also, do you know when Ranma will return? I think I would like a
chance to speak with him. I find conversation with him to be...
whimsical."

'Naturally more compassionate?' the native Hibiki thought, instantly.
'Ha. Maybe she's right?'

"Ranma's picking up the off duty rotation for India," he replied. "Last
I checked, he's got his hands full."

"Full of boobs maybe."

"Ryu!" The lieutenant snapped. "Ranma has his hands full with work." He
frowned at having to defend the pigtailed one in any capacity, but took
a deep breath and put it out of his mind to address Raven's unspoken
concerns. "Anyway, if there's some problem you have, you should route it
through me. I volunteered to look out for you three after all."

She looked at him oddly. "Problem?  I simply said I would like to speak
with him.  I actually know him quite well on my world.  How else do you
think I know so much about Ryu and such?"

Ryouga's growing frustration was an unceasing source of amusement for
Raven, she couldn't help but follow up her statement, "Though, now that
I think of it, Ryouga would probably be more comfortable dealing with
Ranma as well.  Despite his endless ego, he has always been a helpful
and easy going person.  Not like certain people."

"I meant more that communication off base is restricted." He gave her a
weary stare. "Look, I get it. None of you like me. But I'm trying to be
'an accommodating and friendly face' here, I am. I really am."

"Compared to Tsuchihashi or Stirling or Gottwald, our Lieutenant can't
hold a candle to how hard-assed they are," Ryu said with a smile. "He's
only marginally hard-assed."

Ryouga gave his subordinate a 'shut up' look.

"So what do you guys want me to do?" he asked Raven, honestly, the
frustration bleeding into his tone of voice. "Let you go? Beg for
forgiveness? What?"

"Forgiveness is pointless," Raven replied. "I don't require anything
from you. However, it is not me that has the problem with you. You seem
to be a serviceable enough Hibiki to me; you're just not the one that I
know. I'm just curious as to why you care so much what we think."

"Why do you care, sir?" Ryu asked, for once back in a professional
mindset. All that time off-base had been a bit spoiling.

"Who says I do?" Ryouga followed the question with a snort of dismissal.

"You, just now," Raven replied with a smirk. "Your frustration over this
entire situation is so palpable I can barely walk through it.  You've
already made your opinion of my Ryouga known.  You've been dismissive
and derisive towards him, so why do you care whether or not he 'likes'
you?"

For a few seconds, Ryouga appeared to provide no answer.

"It isn't that I want him to like me. Or accept me. Or anything like
that," he explained, taking a long breath. "I mean, it would be nice,
and it's true, he kind of reminds me of myself, before... certain things
happened, but that's only a funny coincidence. He has a very different
path than my own, and I want to understand it. Are we really the same
person? Could he have become me or me him, if our situations were
reversed? What do the answers say about us as martial artists... or as
men?"

He sighed, a little glad to have just said it.

"You gain insight by looking inside yourself," he posited, referring to
her inner selves. "I suppose I kind of want something similar, to help
put certain things in my life in perspective. Being a soldier isn't just
about following orders. It's about accountability and responsibility for
your actions. The same could be said for simply being human. I've been
fighting to protect life... and to avenge someone... But knowing how
another me would see the situation...? That's what I'd like. Not
validation. Just perspective."

'Well, now we're getting somewhere,' Raven thought.

"Sounds like a lot of trouble," Ryu offered his side of things. "I mean,
I'm curious what other-me's techniques are like, but who cares about all
the other stuff?"

"Well, perhaps I can try to shed some small amount of illumination on
the subject," Raven answered, and at Ryu's raised eyebrow she corrected.
"Not yours. I meant Ryouga's. Let me try to put it into a perspective
you can relate to, though."

She considered the uniformed man for a long moment.  "Alright.  Your
fight with... my Ryouga.  You used a variation of the Bakusai Tenketsu
which you called the 'Killing Point', or something similar. Ryouga also
used a new variation, though I don't know if he's named it yet."

Holding up her hands, as if to balance them, she asked, "How would you
compare the two techniques?"

"In terms of battlefield effectiveness?" Ryouga inquired.

Raven nodded. "That would be an ideal start, yes."

"Hmm." The officer considered the question, though he had long since
determined the answer. It was a matter of how to say it. "I've trained
my breaking point for two things: to enhance my options in close combat
and to manipulate the battlefield. Your Ryouga most likely uses his to
defeat difficult defenses and to provide openings, rather than directly
cause damage. You could say, in a broad sense, that he uses his
technique for 'support' while I use mine for 'maneuver.'"

"In a fight, their application is very different. I can use my technique
from any point of my body, making the technique more viable during close
combat or for defense. Your Ryouga still needs to use his fingers and
hands, meaning he can only use it at mid range when not otherwise
directly engaged. I can use mine while firing my rifle..."

He said that with a particular importance. The Titans, naturally,
wouldn't use firearms, whereas his rifle was an essential part of his
battlefield kit.

"I think we've both reached about the same level of pure destructiveness
and finesse, however, the Ryouga from your world has a more efficient
technique for setting off - no - controlling breaking points around him.
My approach is less efficient, but can be used on a wider variety of
targets, like liquids and organic bodies. In application, you could say
his technique is 'soft' and mine is 'hard' ... or that his is a river,
while mine is a flash flood."

The Titan smirked at his thorough answer. "Someone has clearly been
thinking about this. However, let us focus more on the first part of
what you said, as that gets to the crux of the difference between you,
and it is more fundamental than simple battle tactics." Holding up her
right hand, she nodded to him. "As you said, your technique is more
effective in battle. You created it as a weapon against your enemies and
wield it with devastating efficiency. Everything about your technique is
aimed towards causing harm and taking life."

Raven sighed loudly, seeing he was about to protest. "Don't give me that
look; I know you likely have your reasons. You did mention something
about revenge, after all.  Just, let me continue."

Satisfied, she then held up her left hand.

"My Ryouga's technique, on the other hand, is not so refined for battle,
and there is a very basic reason for this." The dark Titan paused for
effect. "The reason that his technique is not as useful in a battle is
because it is not a combat technique.  It is a medical technique."

She relished the looks of surprise on the two men's faces.  They had
most assuredly not been expecting that answer. She quickly explained:
"Ryouga's variation of the Bakusai Tenketsu, and, in fact, every other
technique which he has derived from it, were all developed for the sole
purpose of saving the life of a dear friend of ours.  He spent months
devoted completely to the endeavor, turning his back on all other
training until he completed it."

Holding up both of her hands again, she matched Ryouga's gaze.  "Can you
see the difference now?  Why one perspective is so different from
another?  One training only in ending life, and another training solely
to preserve it?"

Ryouga didn't reply, but he clearly understood.

Dropping her hands to her side, Raven shook her head slowly. "Though he
might not admit it, I can say it easily: you are a better warrior than
my Ryouga ... perhaps you are too good at it.  Perhaps he doesn't hate
you, so much as fear you, or at least what you represent."

The older Ryouga stopped for a moment, trying to come up with some sort
of reply.

"A medical technique?" Ryu spoke instead, quickly covering for his
commanding officer. "How could that work, though? You mean like blowing
up cancer cells or something? But I thought his breaking point
couldn't..."

"Terra," Ryouga suddenly said. "It was Terra. That's... that's how
he...!"

The lieutenant looked down at his hands, finally figuring out some of
the more recent memories he'd overseen. He hadn't been directly exposed
to more than a third of them, and after the actual Mind Scan, the vast
majority were quickly forgotten. The human mind wasn't a perfect machine
for processing memories, not like a specialized alien brain. Not like a
calibrated mind probe. But he had tried to remember some of the
important things, believing they could be useful in helping smooth
things out later.

Terra.

The other Ryouga had spent who-knew exactly how long, forgoing his
normal training, to save Terra. A girl who had, strangely, been turned
to stone. Literally petrified. Maybe... maybe a Killing Point like his
own could theoretically have some medical purpose in the long run, but
Raven was right. He hadn't been thinking about that. He had been
designing, training, improving on the technique, all to make it into a
weapon.

That was martial arts. It was a system of honing the mind, body and
spirit, into a tool. Into a weapon. It was the art of combat, the art of
violence, the art of destruction. It was an Art of Life, too, and he
knew that. He knew it. It just... hadn't seemed as important. Not
compared to the need to fight, the need to survive, the need to
avenge...!

'I wonder... what would Akari think of me, now?'

No: he knew that, too. Lowering his arms, he saw Raven and Ryu had both
stopped to watch him.

"I see," he said. It was a nice, noncommittal, neutral response.

He watched Raven carefully. The girl had... impressive insight. There
was no doubt.

"And what do you think?" he asked, the little knot of rage in the back
of his mind twisting, but unable to truly break its bonds. "Is he right
to fear what I represent: the martial artist who has devoted himself to
becoming a living weapon? The ruthless killer that lies in the heart of
everyone who practices The Art? The man who will do anything, if pushed
far enough?"

Then, as the thought came, he presented it in stark simplicity,
"Wouldn't your Ryouga kill me to protect you?"

"I hope with everything that I am that he would not," she replied
without missing a beat.  She then shook her head, sadly. "I understand
your position. This is war, and you are a soldier. Monsters must be
slain and traitors must be dealt with for the greater good.  I don't
condemn what you do; it's just that we aren't soldiers. We're merely...
police, I suppose you could say.  It isn't our job to lay down final
judgment. It's our job to try to uphold justice."

It was a simple distinction between them, she supposed, but apt.

"You have a duty which you must perform and we have ideals which we need
to uphold," she concluded. "It is as simple as that. There is no better
or worse, no right or wrong. It is a matter of circumstance, that is
all."

"A martial artist, by definition, puts his life on the line for the
Art...!" Ryu argued, passionately, "And a man also has to be willing to
kill or be killed to protect his girl!"

Ryouga huffed, partly amused by the hot blood stirred up in the
Yamasenken master, partly mollified by Raven's answer. Both had merit.
Ryu had come a long way from the angry young man, opening up simply by
virtue of finding actual friends and peers and a way to give his
ambitions life again. And, despite everything, Ryouga knew he had
changed a lot, too. There was still the hate, still the rage, still the
burning desire for revenge... but in time, he had also found friends and
companions, and the need for revenge had mutated into a need to make
sure it never happened again. He wanted to protect Seiran, his country,
his friends, his family... no matter what it took.

As a martial artist, as a soldier, he was ready to give his life.

As a man, he was prepared to kill, to protect.

And as a human being, he knew killing, though sometimes necessary, was
abhorrent... and he was prepared to live with that.

"All this pointless drama," he grumbled, just loud enough to hear.
"Still, you make some interesting observations ...and you're honest.
Thank you for that."

Raven actually burst out into laughter at that.  "Oh, Azar! I've been
called dramatic by a Nerimian martial artist! Now I know that I've gone
too far."

The dark Titan then turned to Ryu.  "And, for your information, I don't
recall saying that I was anyone's girl.  Besides, in my situation, I
would be far more likely being stuck having to save you troublesome boys
from whatever foolish situations you ended up getting yourselves into.
Always rushing headlong where estrogen knows better than to tread."

"Ha!" Ryu scoffed, about to actually try and argue the point. "That's
where-"

"Okay, okay," Ryouga spoke up, motioning the other young man down with
his hand. Still, something about Raven had his attention. 'She seems a
bit livelier than before. And a laugh?'

"I'm glad you find it amusing," he said, rather than make the
observation. For now. "I think you'll find something else amusing in
about ten seconds."

"What?" Raven asked, thrown a bit by the sudden statement.

"What the Hell?! We're back where we started!!" An angry shout came from
just up ahead. Catching up with Starfire and Ryouga, the group found
themselves back at the hangar entrance, having gone on a particularly
long and meandering path all around this section of the upper base.

Before returning to exactly where they had started.

The Tamaranian had wrapped her hands snugly around the martial artist's
elbow as he failed to lead them anywhere even remotely resembling a
destination.  Immediately after realizing that they had come full
circle, Ryouga raised his free fist and shook it angrily.

Then, in unison, both Ryouga and Starfire shouted, "Ranma!  This is all
your fault!"  Though, the alien girl's rendition was said in a much more
sing song voice, filled with mirth.

Immediately, the martial artist turned to stare at her. "What? Am I
really that predictable?"

"I am most afraid that you are, dear friend," she replied with a smile.

Raven smirked as she regarded the native Ryouga, also watching the
scene.  She could feel his mixed emotions easily, and could imagine the
cause.  No matter what he had here, she could guarantee that there was
no one like Starfire in his life.

The heartwarming scene was ruined a moment later, though, as her Ryouga
spotted them, only to surge forward and point a finger at his
counterpart accusingly.

"You!"

"Ugh," the lieutenant replied in disgust.  "What did I do now?"

Ryouga took another step forward and poked a finger to the man's chest.
"Like you don't know!  What's up with this? Star ranks half the Chinese
army and you send Herb after her, and all Raven and me get is you guys?
How did she get the 'A' Team, and we get the 'C' Team?!"

"What makes you think I give those kinds of orders?" The lieutenant
asked, sardonically raising an eyebrow. "Your friend appeared in south
China, so they sent a team from the China base. And for your
information, India squad has seniority over Romeo. They were formed
based on our success."

"Obviously, the-X-COM personnel are just excellent judges of combat
prowess," Starfire supplied with a smile. "They rightfully realized that
I am a much more proficient warrior than yourself."

"Oh, shut it, Star," Ryouga muttered under his breath.

A moment later, the argument was forgotten, as Starfire released her
companion to fly forward and wrap Raven in a crushing embrace.

"Raven!  I apologize for allowing Ryouga's malfunctioning sense of
direction to separate us from yourself!  Please, I wish to be assured as
to the wellness of your being!"

The dark Titan, having long learned how to breathe while in one of
Starfire's hugs, wheezed slightly as she replied.  "You ... didn't miss
anything, Starfire.  Ryu here was just trying to tell me how 'men are
supposed to be willing to die for their women.'"

The Tamaranian turned to regard the soldier in question, quirking an
eyebrow.  "That is a noble sentiment... but of what good to a woman is a
man lacking life signs?"  Her lips quickly quirked into a wicked smirk.
"After all, men have few enough uses as it is, even while still alive."

"It - I mean..." Ryu sputtered, before declaring, a tad petulantly.
"That's just how it is! You live by our code and you die by it."

"Some of the most powerful people we knew are women," Ryouga spoke up in
his comrade's defense. He also took a careful step back away from his
younger counterpart, a bit miffed to have his personal space so rudely
invaded. "As Kuno would say, nobility is gender blind. Or something like
that."

The younger Ryouga smirked as his older copy stepped back, before
turning to Ryu. "Heh, he's right.  Male pride is a very delicate thing
when every girl on our team back home could just destroy any of the
guys... And Kasumi is on our team, damnit!  It gets humbling after a
while."

Shaking her head in amusement, Raven turned to the lieutenant.

"I don't suppose you've found a place for Starfire to stay yet, have
you?" she asked, surprised it hadn't been mentioned yet. "Nabiki's room
barely has room for the box of supplies you gave me."

"Actually, I was just planning on bringing that up," he explained,
giving Raven a quick nod. "After yesterday, it became clear that we
would have some difficulty pairing you with someone... inoffensive. I'm
glad you and Nabiki seem to have gotten along, and I assume my mother
and you," he said to the other-him. "Are fine as well. But I'm guessing
our new guest doesn't want to share a room with any of us guys."

Starfire shrugged. "I would gladly stay with Ryouga, if it would be
convenient."

The two Ryouga's glanced at each other.

"Me?" both asked in stereo.

Raven rolled her eyes.  "Who do you think?  Honestly, how can you both
be so dim after mastering such powerful, esoteric arts?"

Rather than reply in duplicate again, the two gave echoing 'hmf's.

"Hopefully," the older of the two said, after a moment. "This will take
care of the problem."

He motioned down the hall, opposite where Starfire and the other Ryouga
had headed before. Before the lieutenant could finish the sentence,
however, two men in uniform stepped out from around the corner, in the
form of Mousse and Kuno.

"You're back," Ryouga called, motioning them over. "The three of you are
just in time."

Mousse and Kuno each took a step aside, revealing their hidden 'third.'

A weathered wooden staff tapped the floor as Ku Lon walked past her two
young escorts. Despite wearing the traditional robes, she held her
walking stick in her left hand rather than her right - the sleeve of the
other arm hanging limply to her side. She nonetheless seemed in good
cheer, cackling softly as she examined the faces of the new arrivals.
Hazel eyes quickly zeroed in on one of them in particular.

"Granny," Ryouga spoke up, using the affectionate term easily. It was
better than Ranma's 'old hag' at least.  "Thank you for coming. I'm
sorry to impose like this."

The ancient Amazon just chuckled. "I don't mind at all. It isn't every
day I get to meet interesting new people."

"This is Raven," he said, indicating the young woman closest to him.
"The other me," he said simply, gesturing to the slightly younger
Hibiki. "And..."

"Starfire," interrupted the Tamaranian quickly.  "I prefer the name
Starfire while on this planet.  Greetings, Elder Ku Lon. Despite the
confusing dimensional physics occurring, it is still quite pleasing to
see you again."

Finally noticing the empty sleeve, Starfire gasped loudly.

"Elder! Your arm!" She almost reached for the empty sleeve, but pulled
back politely at the last second. "What - what travesty has befallen
you?"

"This?" Ku Lon gave her missing right arm a fleeting look. "You could
say I lost it to a moment of weakness. No matter. Come a little closer
child, I've heard whispers that you are like one of our own."

Giggling ecstatically, Starfire did so, floating forward and kneeling
before the ancient woman.  Only decorum prevented her from reaching out
to crush the woman in a hug as well. Ku Lon leaned forward a bit on her
staff, looking deep into the girl.

"Interesting. I can see traces of the soul of ice. Who taught you?" the
old crone asked, inspecting the young alien's fighting spirit, even
restrained as it was. She had yet to completely drop her guard in this
place.

Unable to control her mirth, Starfire covered her laughter with a hand
before pointing to Ku Lon.  "It was you, yourself, Elder. Though it was
our intention to instruct Ryouga in the technique, I too learned the
concepts."

Ryouga muttered darkly.  "Damn girl is already better at it than me, too
..."

"I endeavored to teach a Hibiki the soul of ice?" Ku Lon couldn't help
but laugh, but quickly kept it from going out of control and costing
her, her decorum. "That must have been quite an uphill struggle!"

"Hey!" The native Ryouga barked. "If that idiot Saotome can do it...!"

"For once I'll agree with you," the other-Ryouga seconded.

Ku Lon rested her staff against her shoulder, and gently touched
Starfire on the arm.

"It warms my heart to see our teachings taking root in another talented
youngster. Even if she is not from our land..." The ancient master gave
a welcoming smile. "I have been asked to share my quarters with you,
child. Would that be acceptable to you?"

"Oh, very much so, yes!  Staying with you would be glorious!" Starfire
cheered enthusiastically.  "There is so much that I would like to
discuss with you upon the differences between our two worlds."

Ku Lon nodded, acceptingly.

"Thanks again, Granny," Ryouga, the native one, spoke up. "We really owe
you one. I'm glad we got this sorted out. But... if there's nothing
else, then we'll be going. We still have a few more hours of training
left for today."

Ryu nodded at that, ready to get back to it. Mousse just shrugged, and
Kuno rested his back leisurely against the wall.

"Well, I have to say that I didn't see this coming," Raven stated wryly.
She then turned to her own Ryouga, who was still watching Starfire and
Ku Lon chatter back and forth.  "I was her student as well, you know?  I
even have my own rivalry with one of Happosai's students."

Ryouga nodded sagely.  "Having a good rivalry is key in any martial
artist's growth.  I doubt this Ku Lon would be interested in knowing
about the rivalry between our Ku Lon and Happosai, though... she's
obviously too absorbed in Starfire."

"I suppose you didn't know," the older Ryouga said, in passing, as India
Squad started to leave. "Our Happosai's dead. And the one that killed
him... is the one that took Granny's arm. Still, it's good they seem to
be getting along."

"... Oh," Raven muttered, her mirth suddenly dampened.  She had no love
of Happosai, but he had done well by Jinx, as insane as that sounded.

"I think we'll let the two of them settle in, then." She turned to her
Ryouga. "Walk me to my room?"

Smirking, he nodded.  "I'm sure I can get us there some time this year."

With that, they bid everyone else goodbye. They could check in on
Starfire in a little bit, once she'd had time to move whatever things
she might have into Cologne's room. Besides, they had things to discuss,
preferably away from the eyes and ears of their hosts.

- - -

A few minutes later, despite his help rather than because of it, Raven
managed to lead them back to Nabiki's room. Luckily, the brunette was
out as well, working alongside the Lieutenant's 'squadron', or some
such. That in mind, Raven led her companion into the small room.  Taking
a seat on the bed herself, she made sure to leave enough room for Ryouga
to sit beside her... and was ultimately disappointed when he immediately
spun around the second the door slid shut and slammed his fist into the
indestructible metal sheet hard enough to vibrate it madly in its frame.

"Damnit!  I can't believe they did that to Star! If it wasn't just plain
suicidal, I'd - I'd..."

Raven quirked an eyebrow at the display. "Are you done punishing the
door?"

Ryouga pulled back his fist, apparently considering driving it into the
door again... but finally relented, letting his limb drop to his side.
Slowly spinning around, he eyed her.  "Come on, Raven.  You know what
they did to her.  Why aren't you more mad about this?"

She stared at him flatly.  "I don't remember you getting this upset when
they sifted through my mind."

In an instant, as she'd planned, his anger deflated like a popped
balloon.  Predictably, the Hibiki attempted to make some kind of
recover, but she mercifully saved him the effort by raising a hand to
forestall him.

"Honestly... I don't know why I'm not as upset as you," she admitted. "I
suppose it's because, as bad as things have gone so far, I know that
they could have gone far, far worse. Yes, Starfire is upset, but she is
strong and I know she will recover."

He studied her for a long moment, his head tilting to the side as he
did... until finally, he shrugged his shoulders in defeat.  The martial
artist then pushed himself off of the doorframe and began looking for a
seat.  Raven did her best to subtly point out the empty space on the bed
to her side... but was disappointed for a second time when Ryouga sat
down in the chair before the computer instead.

"Well, it's at least good to see that Starfire is looking alright,"
Ryouga stated with a weak smile.

Raven nodded, though it was half hearted.  "Indeed.  I just hope that
their treatment of her won't make it impossible for Starfire to deal
with these people.  The other Ryouga has already noticed that Starfire
is not particularly fond of him."

The martial artist stared at the floor. "Yeah, I noticed it too.  She
was even more uncomfortable around these guys than I am... well, except
for Granny, anyway."

"I think that may be the understatement of the year," Raven agreed. "I
suppose it makes sense, though.  Your counterpart said that she was
quite resisting to the mental scans - which is very much what she would
do - so the experience was likely far more unpleasant than what we
experienced."

"See, now, I think that has to be the understatement of the year,"
Ryouga barked irately. Quickly as his temper spiked, though, his mood
grew more thoughtful. "Still... it sounds like Herb actually tried to
make amends, but I doubt she'll ever trust these people after what they
did.  You just can't attack a girl with heavy artillery and expect her
to just forgive and forget like nothing happened."

"Explosive ordinance is never a good idea for a first date," Raven
replied, a smirk twisting her lips.  "Usually you save that for the
third."

Ryouga's eyes widened and he stared at her in shock. "Raven, was that an
attempt at a joke?"

A little embarrassed at the gaffe, she pulled her legs up onto the bed
and she wrapped her arms around her knees. "Did it fail that badly?"

"No, no."  Ryouga waved his hands frantically.  "It was actually good.
You ... don't usually make jokes like that."

"Well, I've been in a bit of an odd mood lately, but... that's not
really important at the moment." She turned to regard him, most of her
face hidden behind her knees. "What about you?  I haven't seen you this
out of sorts for as long as memory serves.  Are you sure that you're
alright?"

He scoffed initially. "You know what my main problem is already. It's
hard to stare yourself in the face, when that face isn't in the mirror.
This crap with Starfire is just one more straw about to break the
camel's back."

Raven eyed him oddly for a moment, unsure if his metaphor actually made
sense or not.  Unable to come to a satisfactory answer, she simply
ignored it and commented on his former point.

"You have been going out of your way to be rude to... yourself," she
pointed out matter-of-factly.  "You know, I had an interesting
conversation with the Lieutenant.  Perhaps if you knew more about him,
you might come to understand him better?" she suggested, hoping he took
up her offer.

"No thanks."

"... What?"  Raven was stunned, did he hate his double so much that he
didn't even want to -

"I - I already know his reason for being the way he is. I... had an
interesting conversation of my own."

Raven studied him quietly.

"And were his reasons satisfactory for you?"

Looking at the floor once more, a dark look settled over Ryouga's face.

"...Yes," he said after a brief pause. "I think it's the one reason -
the only reason - that I could imagine myself becoming like him.  I
think I understand him now... why he is the way he is, and why he
doesn't like me in return."

"Well, if you understand him, then why do you hate him so much?" she
asked, genuinely confused.

He looked up at her, struggling to find the words he wanted to say.

"I don't hate him," he replied. "I just... I just pity him, I guess."

"Pity him?" Raven asked, confused. "But, then why were you so aggressive
with him just now?  For that matter, why would you pity him?"

The martial artist shook his head. "If he's anything like me, and I know
he is, I know that he would rather see anger in my eyes than pity.  At
least if I yell at him, he can defend himself. If I just feel sorry for
him, then what can he do?"

Raven could only stare at him.  It made sense, though she hadn't really
thought him to be insightful enough to consider the situation thusly.
It seemed that her Ryouga was learning more than just patience lately,
but a touch of wisdom as well.

"Why would you feel sorry for him, though?" she wondered. "He's come so
far in this world.  A talented warrior, a respected soldier ..."

"It's because he's ..." Ryouga paused, considering what he wanted to say
carefully.  "He's a failure."

The dark Titan eyed him incredulously.

"I don't mean career wise, or anything," he explained. "It's just that -
that he's failed to protect so many people, some of them impossibly
precious to him. His Akari... was killed by the aliens; he couldn't
protect her. His father was taken and converted into a slave... and he
was actually forced to defeat and capture him, himself."

Ryouga's face grew grimmer with each passing moment.  "Cologne, Tofu...
The entire Amazon village died, and all they could do was clean up the
pieces..."

Not sure how to respond, Raven could only pull her knees tighter to her
chest.

"All he has left is hatred and revenge," he concluded, resting an arm
heavily on Nabiki's desk. "And he's put himself into the service of the
military, not caring what they ask, just as long as they let him keep
fighting. You've seen how he is: how seriously he takes his rank.  He's
turned into the kind of person that would allow his friends to die if it
was part of the mission... or even order them all to their deaths if he
thought it was necessary..."

"But..." she searched for the words. "Why-"

"And the reason I think he doesn't like me," Ryouga continued, heedless
of her interruption. "Isn't because he's threatened by me, or that I
represent something that 'could have been' for him. I don't think he's
afraid of me, I think he's afraid for me, afraid that I could turn out
to be like him... I think he sees me as he was before this all began...
A young punk kid, too dumb and weak to protect the ones he loves."

"That - I don't know," Raven stuttered.  It seemed so plausible, could
Ryouga be right?  "Then what-"

"He doesn't get it, though!"  Ryouga interrupted, throwing his hands up
into the air.  "I'm what? A year younger than him? And I'm almost on his
level!  I'm just starting to explore what I can do with my new
techniques, while he's already gone pretty much as far as he'll ever be
able to go.  By the time I reach his age, I bet I'll have surpassed him
in all regards!  I'm not just some dumb kid!  All I need to do is prove
that to him, and then he won't have a choice but to respect me!"

"Why do you care if he respects you or not?"  Raven asked, carefully
trying to digest what he was saying.  It seemed to make sense so far...
but she had an eerie sense that they were coming up to the edge of the
cliff quickly.

"I don't!" He barked back irately. "But it doesn't mean I'll let him get
away with disrespecting me!"

Raven rolled her eyes.  "Alright then, providing you are right.  How
exactly do you plan on proving that you aren't just 'a dumb kid?'"

Ryoga smiled broadly, as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"By beating him into the ground, of course!!"

Sighing loudly, Raven flopped back onto the bed.  Just as anticipated.
Starfire was right; he was predictable.

"All I gotta do is figure out how to do it now," Ryouga muttered to
himself, lost in his own little world of heroic conquest.  "I just need
to figure out more about how he fights and what he can do, so I can
prepare for it. Then I'll be able to kick his butt for sure!"

Even as Ryouga began to cackle madly and wring his hands in
anticipation, Raven just closed her eyes. You can take the martial
artist out of Nerima, but apparently the reverse was far from true.

- - -

It was 3AM when the siren blared, in every room and corridor.

"Hostile Incursion detected in local airspace!" the announcement came a
moment later as lights switched to red and men and women rushed to
prepare. "Hostile Incursion detected in local airspace! All combat teams
assemble and report to duty stations! Repeat: All combat teams assemble
and report to duty stations! Code Three is in Effect!"

Lockdown followed immediately after. Restricted areas, like Alien
Containment, the Armory, the Hangars, and Command and Control sealed up
to allow for a smooth flow of men and material for those with the proper
clearance. In the residential block, Raven found herself instantly torn
away from another relatively dreamless sleep as a bright red light
bathed Nabiki's room in incandescent crimson. Shielding her eyes and
blinking to clear them up, she could see her roommate struggling to get
out of her blankets

"Repeat: Code Three is in Effect! All combat teams to duty stations!"

It wasn't exactly a pleasant wakeup call.  Familiar though; she was
already on her feet before she even remembered that this wasn't her
home.

"What's going on?" she asked, though a moment later her still slightly
sleep-clouded mind realized the answer was pretty obvious.

"Urgh. Late night interception," Nabiki groaned, finally out of bed and
dressing herself with practiced ease.  Suppressing a yawn the Tendo
reached for something in her desk. By this point, her shirt was only
half buttoned and her pants unbelted, but she first fished a bottle out
of the drawer and popped something into her mouth before finishing up.

"Why we always have to do this... at some ungodly hour... I don't know!
Gods I hate night ops!" The older girl just managed to buckle her belt
before she brushed past to slip on her shoes.

"You must still be new at this." Raven smirked, finishing clasping her
cloak, having simply slept in her leotard, as usual. "We do this on
almost a nightly basis back home. So... what does a 'late night
interception' involve?"

"It should probably involve you staying here," Nabiki said, rubbing her
eyes quickly. She was such a sound sleeper, too! Damned aliens. "Code
Three is a lockdown. You're still just noncoms."

Moving as professionally as she felt inclined to, the Tendo sister left
the room, closing it behind her, preparing to make her way up to ops -

Her eyes shot wide open, when, a second later, an unearthly black portal
opened right in her door. Recoiling with an instinctive yelp, Nabiki saw
Raven - her hood pulled down low, shadowing her face in an eerie manner
- float through the abyssal opening before it closed up behind her. Even
knowing the girl could do that, it was still creepy... especially when
it happened out of the blue late at night like this!

Nabiki could still see the dark girl's mouth, though, as well as the
smirk that adorned it.

"Feel free to lock me down," she challenged. "If you can."

"I can't believe...! Ok, fine!" the Tendo sister exclaimed. "You have
your ID?"

Raven held up the item in question before slipping it back into her
robe.

"I have to be out of my mind..." Nabiki just groaned. "Let's get going."

The halls were lit much like the rooms.

Nabiki also wasn't the only one up and out. An older Asian woman ran
ahead of them, buttoning up her shirt. The middle Tendo daughter kept a
brisk pace, guessing that the elevator was still a few floors away;
Raven followed close behind. The woman ahead of them, having reached the
main elevator, looked back with what had to be a disapproving stare.
Then she went back to waiting for the elevator.

"Command," Nabiki said, activating a link on her shirt. "This is
Operator Tendo. One of our SC-4s wants to be allowed access to the
Floor."

An older female voice answered, a second later, "No unauthorized access
to CIC during Combat Operations, Tendo. You know that."

Nabiki pursed her lips and tried to argue, "Director, I understand, but
their presence could also help alleviate some of their concerns as noted
in my reports."

Raven, overhearing that, couldn't help but wonder just what 'those
reports' had entailed. She was pretty certain that Nabiki hadn't bugged
her own room. There hadn't been peep-one about anything that had gone on
in there before, but one could never be too sure around the crafty Tendo
daughter. It made sense that the young woman would, to some degree, be
reporting on her guest and the other new arrivals, but to what extent
was unknown. Out of respect, Raven hadn't tried to look too deeply into
Nabiki's personal records or possessions.

As Nabiki and the other woman (one 'Director Woomer') on the end of the
line exchanged a few more carefully worded comments, Raven saw two
familiar faces round the corner of the residential bracket, coming up
from the floor below. Starfire had thrown on an Amazon robe, quite
hastily, and she appeared to be leading Ryouga by the hand to make sure
he didn't get too lost. He had at least put on a shirt before heading
out, but had yet to close it up.

"Friend Raven!" Starfire waved to her. "We were most worried by the
alarm and wished to find you!"

"I was about to head up and see what was happening," Raven explained,
just as the elevator arrived.

"What is this, a convention center?" the older woman glared at the young
Titans, and then at Nabiki. "Tendo, are you really going to bring these
white-stripes to Ops? What the Hell are you thinking?"

"I always have reasons for what I do," the middle Tendo replied
frostily. Clearly, there was little love lost between the two women.
"You should know that by now, Reiko-chan."

"I don't know what you're trying to pull, Tendo," the woman hissed back,
swiping her card to open the pending elevator. "But I'll be watching
you."

"By all means, continue to do so," Nabiki replied, holding up her card.
The reader pinged green without having to directly read it. "Maybe
you'll learn something about getting ahead."

Raven gave Starfire a quiet shrug, unable to explain the animosity
between the women. The two followed Nabiki into the elevator, with
Ryouga trailing behind. The reader by the door clicked three times,
recording their presence remotely and confirming it to the base's
internal sensor database.

Leaning forward, Ryouga whispered over Raven and Starfire's shoulders.
"Well, at least we can trust this Nabiki is pretty much the same as
ours.  I almost got nostalgia from her ice queen lines."

Despite endless practice with Beast Boy, Raven found it harder than
usual to stifle a giggle at the inane comment.  Starfire, on the other
hand, gave him a gentle nudge to the ribs to admonish him for his
rudeness-

Ryouga bounced off the hard metal wall with a loud 'bong'.

Nabiki finally adjusted her collar, having ended her conversation with
the Director. She faced the three titans. "Ok, I'll see about getting
you guys a look at what's going on since I know you aren't the sit-on-
the-sidelines types. Just please keep quiet and don't touch anything.
That's if we get permission from the Director in the first place.
Command has been willing to bend a lot of rules for you guys, but
this'll be a new one."

Raven nodded. "Thank you for your efforts."

Behind her, Starfire whispered into her ear. "Friend Raven ... what is
it that she is going to such pains to allow us to witness?"

"Yeah," muttered Ryouga.  "I spent so much time in Terra's cave that I
never had a chance to get used to that god damned alarm.  This had
better be good!"

"Oh, for the love of Azar, Ryouga, would you do up your shirt already?"
Raven growled under her breath before turning back to the Tamaranian.
"Apparently some type of interception is taking place. That is really
all the information I have, though."

Starfire frowned. "An interception? Are you referring to an incursion in
their air space by a foreign craft?"

"That's exactly it," Nabiki answered, having overheard. "This base
coordinates air defense for all of East Asia. We'll find out the details
once we get to Ops..."

Reaching the Command level, Nabiki and Reiko were immediately met by a
tight security checkpoint and what appeared to be another set of blast
doors. Automated turrets, currently on standby, lined the ceiling and
floor, along with a set of human MPs. The two women flashed their IDs,
with the older Japanese woman then going ahead first to quickly verify
herself with a facial and retinal scan projected from a terminal on the
wall. Nabiki, having no less than three unauthorized guests in tow,
stopped to try and get them all passed.

The administrative holdup cost them a few minutes, during which two
other Floor Coordinators went through security. Oddly, neither seemed to
have the negative attitude of the woman from before, either to Nabiki or
the unauthorized Titans. Both were Caucasian, and gave the three a
curious look, but nothing besides that. Eventually, someone in Command
relented and security waved the three extra people through.

Past the blast door, the Floor became visible.

It was a large, isolated chamber within Seiran, and the nerve center for
all its operations. It was also a bunker within a bunker, designed to
shelter Ops in the case of a direct alien invasion of the facility. The
main room was about three stories high, with a slightly sunken section
containing over a dozen work stations partly separated by glass
dividers. An upraised section could look over all the others below, and
stairs to the sides of the chamber led to conference rooms and other
supporting GenInt branches, including Commander Yasuda's office.

Above the workstations, flat screen and holographic projections outlined
the overview of the East Asia Airspace Theater. All civilian and
military air traffic across two continents and two oceans were monitored
from this facility, along with all known orbital contacts. Data from
hundreds of integrated radar stations across twelve countries flowed
into Seiran, feeding it an unparalleled picture of the airspace across
this hemisphere of the world.

Most of the traffic was rendered in a semi-transparent state. These were
the hundreds of civilian commercial flights crisscrossing the sky, and
many more were privately owned jets or small aircraft. Another outline
layered above that indicated and labeled registered and tracked military
traffic. It was a massive amount of information to process in real time,
from so many sources, and only made possible by the tremendous alien-
human hybrid technology supercomputers buried beneath Command.

Nabiki quickly headed down a set of stairs and over to her workstation.

She could hear Raven, Starfire and the dimensionally lost Ryouga close
behind her, but momentarily paid them little mind. Her workstation
itself was a bit of a mess: it was easy for her to find where things
were, not because there was rhyme or reason to the layout, but simply
because she remembered and kept the most frequently used stuff close by.
To anyone else, it must have appeared the biggest mess in the world.

Flicking on her station and then the teleconference networking key, she
quickly logged in and began reviewing the situation. An encrypted mix of
hyperwave and radio linked her up to India Squad and Command itself,
using her as a bridge. Screens immediately lit up, showing the status of
Smartlinked weapons and other equipment, along with physiological
information taken from personal armor. With practiced ease, Nabiki
clipped her headset on, a serious look clouding her features.

The four video screens suddenly activated.

"...are now online. I am activating India Squad," Ryouga's voice came in
clearly. "What's the situation?"

"Three UFOs," Nabiki replied, not wasting time on banter this time. "Two
large scouts and a Supply Ship. Mission Profile from Decryption reads
Alien Harvest."

"Harvest? Using a Supply Ship?" this time it was Mousse who spoke up.
"They're after something big."

"Commander Yasuda is giving a general briefing right now," Nabiki
replied. "Patching us in."

A new voice, this one belonging to the base Commander, came in softly
over the station.

"Intel believes the target is not ground based. Given the trajectory of
the UFOs, we believe we are looking at a mid-air abduction event on a
large scale. We have identified the most likely targets: one of three
intercontinental flights currently leaving Taiwanese airspace. At this
point, we can say with ninety percent certainty that we will be
approaching this as an interception event with more than two hundred
civilian lives at stake."

Yasuda only gave a moment for that to sink in.

"Lightning One and Firestorm Two are to intercept the UFO formation,
destroy the two escorts, and then capture the Supply Ship in midair
using the Silver-Eight Protocol. Combat Teams will secure the alien
ship, rescue any surviving captives, and then land the craft for
recovery. Firestorm Two will assume remote command of the civilian
aircraft and make an emergency landing, providing it is left intact. You
have your orders, gentlemen. Let's make this happen."

A moment of silence passed.

"A mid-air intercept?" Mousse spoke first, sounding a tad concerned.

"We've trained for this," Ryouga cut in, his tone unwavering. "India
will be assuming breaching duties. I want everyone suited up; double
load of stun bombs. There are going to be a lot of civvies on that ship,
so check your fire."

"This is Captain Banks. Once the aliens intercept that airliner, we will
have a maximum of fifteen minutes to intercept before they jettison the
aircraft and make for the upper atmosphere. I want this done in half
that, and the ship itself secured in no less than ten. India, you will
be breaching. Hotel and Alpha Squads will exploit and secure the central
ring. Beta and Golf Teams will secure primary navigation and the engine
rooms..."

As Banks described the operation, Nabiki brought up a floor plan of the
alien supply ship, along with the Captain's routes of engagement. It was
a large craft, but squat, only two sections in height. The lower level
was mostly engineering and storage, but with some fairly wide open
stretches that made it treacherous. The Elerium reactors were nestled
within the core of the ship on this level. The upper floor had command
and control, navigation, along with alien surgery, processing, and other
facilities. It would be rough cleaning that area out, since it was
choked with stasis tubes and equipment.

"What species are we dealing with?" Ryouga asked, as the briefing ended.
"Just Sectoid?"

"Just Sectoid," Captain Banks answered, elaborating. "But do not
discount the possibility of an Ethereal in overall command. As always,
be aware of your psionic defenses and alert for psi-attack..."

A few more questions followed, from other combat team members, then
Ryouga conducted a shorter briefing for India Squad, going over how they
would approach the breech and secure the position, what weapons,
techniques and go-codes to use, and another reminder to watch for
civilians in close quarters. Nabiki checked another screen, and then
took a second to look off to the side at one of the large overview
screens. She faced the workstation, and spoke up while India finished
one last check on their equipment.

"Abduction event confirmed," she said, taking a quick breath. "Flight
2187; a Boeing 777. The manifest lists two hundred and eighty four
passengers on board, including pilots and crew."

A pause.

"Roger that," India Squad's lieutenant eventually replied. "Begin
countdown."

Immediately, Starfire took a step forward, reading the various air
control maps carefully.

"Over two hundred passengers?  We must assist!" She then spun and
grabbed Ryouga's arm. "If I can but exit the atmosphere...!"

"E-exit the atmosphere!?"  Ryouga's strangled cry was ignored as she
began to drag him bodily towards the door.

"Where are you two going?" Nabiki quickly hissed, clasping her
microphone with her hand to muzzle it. "There's no way you'll be allowed
to leave the base, even if you can somehow reach that plane. I know you
can fly, but there's nothing you can do. This is our job. We'll handle
it."

"But!" the Tamaranian tried to protest, instincts demanding she at least
try something.

The Tendo sister, however, was already focused entirely on her work.
Gradually and with great difficulty, Starfire allowed herself to accept
that there would be no helping, not from so far away. Not with everyone
locked down like this. It was... something of a bitter pill.

The look she shared with Raven spoke volumes, and the other girl
couldn't help but sympathize.

But this wasn't their world.

- - -

A thousand miles away, over the Pacific Ocean, the alien Supply Ship was
literally mated to the in-flight twin-engine 777. Part of its hull had
puckered and extended to engulf the side of the aircraft, cutting
through aluminum and steel to form a rough new airlock. Mid-air
abductions were not new. Typically, the victim was a small aircraft
flying over an isolated area. This attack, far more brazen and broad in
scale, was nonetheless conducted in the exact same manner.

First, instruments and engines were jammed and taken over.

Second, pilots were paralyzed or controlled by psionic attacks.

Third, the UFO extended its gravitic field and enveloped the other
aircraft, allowing the two hulls to safely meet and merge. Sometimes,
with a small craft, individual persons were moved out of cockpits in
midair. For mass abductions, an in-flight mating was faster. Wide scale
psionic attacks were then unleashed on the passengers and crew, followed
by a direct attack using stun bombs. Within minutes, the entire cabin of
the massive aircraft would be still as a tomb, hundreds of passengers -
from the elderly to infants - unconscious. The aliens would then round
up all the subjects that fitted their tastes or purposes, leaving the
rest to die when the plane crashed or to asphyxiate due to loss of cabin
pressure.

This time, while the crew of the supply ship rapidly loaded up their
human 'harvest,' their two large scout escorts were forced to veer off
in an abrupt burst of speed. Accelerating from a sedate six hundred
miles per hour up to three thousand, they had already detected the
incoming XCOM craft and moved to counter-intercept. Standard engagement
range for XCOM Plasma Cannons was a conservative fifty kilometers. These
weapons, derived from the beams mounted on alien battleships, were
deadly accurate even at that range, and despite the rapid maneuvering of
a twenty meter wide UFO. The smaller beam cannons mounted on the large
scouts were only as effective at around thirty kilometers.

They relied on their insane maneuverability to close the distance and
buy time for the supply ship.

Due to its inertia-less gravity induction drive, a UFO could turn
literally on a dime, making a ninety degree turn at a velocity of mach
six. This performance wasn't just due to the engine, but also to the
psionic interface that enabled the pilot to operate the UFO as an
extension of its body. Early in the war, this advantage had made it all
but impossible to shoot down a UFO using anything other than nuclear
tipped air-to-air missiles. That was then.

A bright green beam intercepted one of the zig-zagging UFOs. A plume of
molten red and orange and a flash of blinding white exploded from the
point of impact, as the thermal and explosive force of a small nuclear
bomb turned part of the UFO into droplets of mercury slag. The crippled
craft continued to maneuver, emergency integrity systems compensating
for catastrophic damage. Its Elerium reactor was still intact, which
meant it could still fly and fight.

The XCOM craft had no choice but to close the range to approach the
supply ship, otherwise they would have kept at a distance and picked off
the large scouts. Another beam lit up the crippled UFO as it made an
abrupt right turn. The bottom half of the saucer glowed, for just a
millisecond. This time the beam punched clean through, hitting the
Elerium reactor itself. Anti-matter met matter in the most intimate of
atomic dances and the twenty meter wide craft vanished in a blinding
flash of nuclear light and fire. A pulse of X-rays from the detonation
would scramble electronics for miles, had there been anything within
that distance besides open ocean.

The remaining large scout zeroed in on one of the incoming human saucers
before firing.

XCOM craft were in much the same boat as their alien counterparts.
Despite having remarkable maneuverability, psionic targeting and the
nature of large scale plasma weaponry made dodging incoming fire
extremely difficult. A thin green beam ripped into the side of the
Lightning One, bypassing the screening Firestorm. Layers of alien alloy
vaporized, producing a sparkling trail of burning teardrops as it speed
forward. A white flash of light came from the actual explosion, expended
as heat and light and hard radiation.

The ship quickly banked left and shot up, a maneuver called 'making a
knife' as it exposed as little of the craft as possible (the side of the
saucer rather than the flat of it) while gaining altitude. Another beam
flashed, very close to hitting the narrow profile of the Lightning. The
Firestorm Interceptor finished the exchange with a decisive double burst
of plasma fire.  The remaining large scout, little more than a semi-
molten quarter-saucer, tumbled end over end towards the sea, frayed
ribbons of alien alloy shearing free as it fell at over three times the
speed of sound.

Back at Seiran, Nabiki took a deep breath and calmly recorded the
exchange.

"Both escorts are down," she announced. "Good luck, guys."

"Taking positions."

On her screens, the views of India Squad indicated they were lined up
near the rear hatch of the Lightning. Outside, the wounded bird of prey
closed in on the alien supply ship, which had by now abandoned its
airliner victim and made a bee-line for the upper atmosphere. The
escorting Firestorm took off to try and remotely hack into the 777 and
manipulate its controls while the Lightning went ever upwards.

50 kilometers above sea level...

60...

70...

"You're approaching the Karman Line," Nabiki warned, referring to the
100 kilometer mark where atmosphere formally became space. "Distance to
target 30 kilometers and closing."

In a race to space, the alien ship was just slightly slower than the
XCOM Lightning interceptor. Gradually, the human built "flying saucer"
closed the distance, matching the trajectory of the alien craft. A
bright green light roared, and a burning white flash engulfed part of
the Lightning, which had strayed within the engagement radius of the
other ship's light plasma cannon. A moment later and the two speeding
saucers met, their gravity bubbles merging.

"We have lock!" Nabiki passed on, though India squad must have felt the
ship lurch as its gravity engine compensated for the disturbance.
"Contact in five! Contact in three!"

2, 1...

And the Lightning's hull made contact with the supply ship, executing a
near perfect midair mating maneuver. The moment it did so, the hull
reformed into an airlock, and sealed with the alien ship. A flash of
plasma from emergency outfitted boarding charges instantly cut a hole
into the enemy ship's exterior. That was the cue.

"Go! Go! Go!" India Squad's views became a blur as they moved. A kick
powerful enough to cave in the engine of an eighteen wheeler finished
the job of providing entry into the alien ship. Inside was pitch black,
lit only by the green tint of nightvision.

"Tango!" Ryouga yelled over the comm. Bright green flashed, and
something in the distance turned into a spray of screaming white. "Go!"

"Tango!" Ryu yelled, this time, covering a different angle. His hand
moved, fast, and another target downrange died, cut in half. Flashes
came back in return.

"Taking fire!"

"Cover!"

A blast of something went off, along with more flashes of light.

"Shit! Shit!" Mousse hissed, and his camera tumbled. "Grenade!!"

"Mousse," Nabiki spoke up, noting the physiological return from his
screen. "Are you alright? Detecting psionic attack!"

"Incoming! Incoming!" Ryu yelled. "Kuno!!"

"To the fray!" The swordsman cheered. "Shin Kokuzan! Heaven Style!"

A sonic boom caused the audio to momentarily crackle, and then Kuno and
Ryu were in the mix of their stunned enemies. An arm blurred, separating
a bulbous head from its too-thin neck. A spray of gore marked the walls
as Kuno's sword pinned a deadly Heavy plasma rifle to the wall, while
air pressure from the strike ripped into the alien behind it. The weapon
discharged, hitting the ceiling and producing another blinding flash of
light.

Kuno grunted, but finished by slamming the alien into the wall with a
vicious crack.

Nabiki touched a key, and a quick injection of painkillers shot from the
armor around his arm and shoulder, dampening the burns. He and Ryu
quickly switched to rifles, firing down the cramped hall at an alien as
it rounded the corner. The plasma bursts turned it into bloody confetti,
and a second later, the plasma grenade it had carried with it exploded,
bathing the hallway in superheated fire.

"Point A secure!" Ryu announced, enduring the blaze thanks to his
personal armor.

"Point B secure!" Ryouga seconded, just a moment later. "Condition Blue!
Repeat, condition Blue! Hotel is Go!"

Other figures in powered armor raced past India Squad on both points to
exploit the opening made by the assault team. Fierce fire came from
further in the ship, but India Squad took at least a moment to catch
their breath.

"Altitude?" Ryouga abruptly asked.

"Over 100 kilometers," Nabiki cautioned. "You guys better get to Nav
control before the FTL warms up."

"India!" Banks voice cut in. "Second floor. Support Golf, they're pinned
down."

Golf was Akane's squad, though no one needed to remind those present of
that fact.

"We're on it! Ryu, point! Mousse, rear!"

"Sir!" "Right!"

The darkened views shifted as India resumed running, this time up to
some sort of purple hued lift. Immediately after rising up, first Ryu
and then Ryouga's views became nearly blinded by fire. The lieutenant
barked to keep moving, and the two scrambled low to the ground as Kuno
and Mousse followed up behind.

"Golf is getting hammered!" Ryouga snarled. "Mousse! With me! We'll draw
their fire. Ryu, Kuno, cover us!"

It was hard to see after that.

There was another explosion and then the sound of a scream. Ryouga went
prone and fired a series of ki blasts down range to saturate the area.
Ryu fired with his rifle, and Kuno and Mousse kept moving. Mousse's
camera-view found it first: the unmistakable form of a human body, but
missing from the top-up. The legs were splayed at odd angles and the
flesh charred all the way down to the knees. What was left above that
resembled charcoal more than flesh and bone.

"Thank god!" a familiar voice came in over the comm; it was Akane,
breathing heavily from adrenalin rush. "There's at least five of them up
by the processing station. Two heavies. Caught us in a crossfire!"

"Fall back!" Mousse yelled. "We're blanketing the area!"

"There's civilians!" Akane screamed back, ducking behind cover. "They're
processing people back there right now!"

Mousse hissed, head bobbing. "Lieutenant!"

"I heard!" Ryouga yelled back from his position. "Kuno! Two-Two then get
back under cover! Nabiki! Ping them for psi-attack! Mousse! With me in
three!"

"As you wish!" Kuno roared, boldly standing up. "Come at me, you curs!"

Akane and Ryu also took this opportunity to fire downrange, in
controlled single shots.

"Grenade! Get down!"

Another explosion blinded the view.

Then Mousse and Ryouga were heading into the fire. A warning light lit
up on Mousse's screen as a plasma blast nicked his arm. The insulation
of his personal armor and layers of hidden weapons provided some
protection, preventing anything fatal. Flashes of light arced through
the air, not plasma blasts, but ki-enhanced bandannas, blazing along
precise trajectories and engulfed in a murderous aura.

Blurry figures screamed, horrible warbling screeches, as the attacks cut
into them. Fire poured down, but muted and thrown off course by psionic
attacks. A fist found one of the black eyed aliens, and it splattered
like an overripe melon. Mousse's entire body became a whirlwind of
blades as he cut into the psionically stunned alien party. The two
martial artists were well practiced in the art of close combat killing,
and in deflecting the deadly alien weapons that tried to pin them in
place.

Within seconds, the room resembled a charnel house.

"Secure!" Ryouga barked. "Move up! Go!"

"Navigation room secure," Nabiki announced a few seconds later. "What
about Golf Squad?"

"Have them hold this spot," her lieutenant ordered, after a moment's
thought. "India will finish cleaning house."

"It's what you're good at," she quipped back.

"I suppose it is," Ryouga replied, a little slowly. "We've got a whole
mess of digestion and stasis vats around here. Lots of unconscious
civilians. Some casualties. Approaching the processing room."

India approached a door, opened it, and tossed a stun bomb in first.
Then they made a quick two man assault entry. Two Sectoids inside
screeched before being gunned down.

"Clear!" Ryu announced. "... shit...! Look at this place..."

"Checking for survivors." Ryouga's voice carefully hid his own disgust.

Every supply Ship had a surgical theater for processing 'in the field.'
This ship had two, built into an extended bay. Half empty digestion and
stasis vats lay open, waiting to be automatically shifted to the main
storage bay outside. Many were loaded with bodies or pieces of bodies.
Other, smaller, vats set into the wall contained an assortment of
harvested human brains, floating eerily in thick orange fluid.

"Estimates are... twenty casualties, give or take," the lieutenant
finally said. "No survivors in here."

"We got some outside," Mousse spoke up. "Maybe fifty in processing vats.
Some in twos and threes. The rest are on the floor, still knocked out."

"Captain Banks is signaling condition green." Nabiki said, seeing the
light turn a solid color on one of her screens. "We have the ship.
Repeat, we have the ship."

"You heard her!" Ryouga ordered, not giving his men a moment. "Police
the bodies! Ryu, get Akane and Golf and secure these civilians in a
clean room! Kuno, Mousse, handle the ones in the vats. Command should
have them hacked and unlocked any minute now."

Four barks of acknowledgement followed.

"Nabiki," he finally said, taking a deep breath. "Our losses?"

"Preliminary reports are two dead." She double checked the real time
casualty report to her right. "Two wounded."

"The plane?"

"Brought down by the Firestorm. Casualties inside are unknown. The cabin
was de-pressurized."

He grunted.

"Kuno and Mousse can suck it up till we land, then," he decided. "Keep
me informed as soon as anything happens."

He then went back to one of the vats, now turning an opaque blue. The
front of it opened, revealing an older woman and a young boy, perhaps in
his mid teens. Both slumped out of the tube, the aliens not having even
bothered to strip them of their clothes, and into the arms of Ryouga and
Kuno. They were quickly taken away to a clean spot on the floor.

- - -

Leaning back in her chair, Nabiki rubbed more of the tiredness form her
eyes, the time of night catching up to her despite the exertion and rush
of the last half hour or so. She stared hard at the India Squad readout.
Kuno's left arm and shoulder would need burn treatment, but he'd be back
up and out in no time. Mousse had taken a glancing hit that would have
put a normal man on the floor, but his unique hidden weapons defense
meant it was just another trip to the burn ward. Kasumi would take good
care of the two idiots.

Then, she remembered she wasn't alone, and quickly composed herself.

"Mid-air interception is like that," she commented, covering her
microphone with her hand. "I think this is the first one we've done
outside US airspace. Anyway, you guys satisfied your curiosity or what?"

Raven shook her head.  "Not even remotely.  It was quite... abrupt.
Your teams seemed to have the situation well in hand, though, the aliens
barely put up a fight at all."

"Well in hand?  Did you not hear them, Raven?  So many people died!"
Starfire stated in a pained voice.  "If we had been permitted to assist,
perhaps we could have prevented so much needless loss of life."

Sighing, Raven dropped a hand on Starfire's shoulder. "You know better
than any of us what is entailed in war, Starfire. They did all that they
could."

"But - but those vessels, they were little better than transport ships.
How did this event even come to transpire?  How could they have let the
alien vessels even reach the passenger vehicle to unleash such horrors?"
Starfire was hugging herself now, nearly in tears at the thought of all
of those people that she had failed to protect by remaining here.  "...I
could have helped..."

"I know you could have," Raven offered quietly, "But we couldn't have
known that it would be like this.  Even if you had gone, who knows what
could have happened in the midst of all that chaos?"

Sniffing loudly, Starfire nodded.  "At ... at the very least we were
able to witness such a battle in progress.  Next time, we will be
prepared for their tactics."

"Next time?" Raven asked, curiously. "I think you're getting ahead of
yourself, right Ryouga?"

She turned to their forgotten friend, looking for support ... only to
start when she noticed the boy was a gibbering wreck, still focused
totally on the blank monitors.  Grabbing his shoulder, she shook him
fiercely to get his attention.  "Ryouga, what is it?  What's wrong?"

The Lost Boy turned to stare at her, horror in his eyes.

"They ... they let Akane go out into - into that?"

"Akane volunteered to get into a squad," Nabiki spoke up, having
listened to the exchange going on behind her very closely.

As for Star's take on their interception situation, Alien ships used
stealth and speed, not size or firepower, to rapidly strike and escape.
Even with early warning satellites, control over the entire planet's
radar network, and a vast array of bases around the world, it was
difficult to organize an interception in time. Frankly, it was amazing
they had managed to catch the aliens with this latest stunt. Mid-air
abductions were among the most difficult to prevent since the aliens
could come and go so quickly. Not that any of that needed to be
explained here and now to a group that hardly had any business even
being in the operations pit. Talking about Akane was one thing.
Chattering about interception protocols was another.

"Actually, volunteered isn't the best word. Akane fought tooth and nail
to get into a team, even when Ranma tried to stonewall her," Nabiki
explained, turning slightly in her chair to see the younger Ryouga. "She
trained her butt off because she didn't want to get left behind."

The Lost Boy calmed a bit at that. He then nodded to himself.  "That -
that sounds like what she'd do in this kind of situation. As much as
Ranma tries to forget it, she is a martial artist."

Somber now, he matched Nabiki's gaze seriously.

"Is it always like that?" he asked. "Your Ryouga and his team handled
themselves fine ... but two people died out there..."

"Sometimes it's worse. Sometimes it's better." Nabiki glanced back at
her screen. "You never know... Years ago, before we reverse engineered
alien technology or understood psionics, I heard that casualties were
about fifty percent on lots of missions... It's better now, but... you
just have to not think too much about it, I guess."

"I will do nothing of the sort," Starfire muttered to herself.  "If at
all possible, I would like to have access to combat data of these
vicious creatures.  I wish to know more on their tactics."

Nabiki swiveled all the way around to face the three Titans.

"And if I give you that. What next?" she asked, and the tone in her
voice left little doubt that she hadn't already considered not only the
repercussions of that event, but what she had already done in bringing
them here. "You rush out to fight them next time the base alarm goes
off?"

Not intimidated in the slightest, Starfire stepped right up to Nabiki,
staring down at the much shorter girl.  It was so easy to forget, the
way the girl floated around all the time, but the flame haired alien was
surprisingly tall, easily inches taller than even Ryouga, which meant
she all but towered over Nabiki.  "You underestimate my prowess, Tendo
Nabiki. I have been involved in interstellar wars of far grander scopes
than this. With proper foreknowledge of their tactics and weaponry, I
would be a powerful ally against this threat."

"... Are you certain that's wise, Starfire?" Raven asked, reminding her,
"This isn't our fight, or our war.  We should be focusing on getting
home, not getting embroiled in something we don't fully understand."

Ryouga stepped in, frowning darkly. "I don't know, Raven. We should try
to get home... but if we can help while we're here..."

"I'm sure your Nabiki would be happy to send others to fight her battles
for her, even if it cost them their lives," Nabiki replied, turning to
partly face her workstation and to make sure nothing new came up. By
their looks she could guess she was right about her alternate self. Or
close to it.

"But Raven is right," she said. "This isn't your world, and you can't
treat it like it is. Would you really be willing to fight by our rules
of engagement? Because if you aren't someone who can trust us to watch
your back, how can we trust you to watch ours? I for one don't want you
out there endangering my squad."

"I'm not saying that to be mean," she quickly amended, seeing Starfire's
frown and growing ire. "I just don't want anything to happen to put my
team at risk. On the battlefield, everyone has to watch out for their
fellow soldiers and for the mission. That's a lesson my Ryouga had to
learn the hard way."

"That is a lesson we all learned long ago," Raven assured her. "We have
been part of a team longer than the combined experience of your entire
team, both of your teams.  It's fine that you don't trust us to fight by
your rules, but please don't patronize us.  We know how to function on a
battlefield and how to protect our allies."

Starfire nodded fiercely.  "We will prove ourselves, if need be."

Nabiki considered that. Or perhaps she had already considered it, even
before. She seemed to accept their statement almost immediately.

"And, hypothetically speaking, which one of you would be in charge of
your little group?" she asked, and immediately zeroed in on the lost
boy. "You, Ryouga-baby? You do seem very popular with the ladies," she
added with a flirty wink. "Not as cute as my Ryouga, but very close."

Ryouga smirked. "I'm sure I'll grow into it.  I hear having a sunny
disposition helps the complexion... As for being in charge, I can one
hundred percent guarantee that I will absolutely, positively not -"

"-turn down such an opportunity," Raven interjected quickly.  Smirking,
she turned to regard him.  "After all, you managed to get Terra, Jinx
and Kasumi out of Atlantis in one piece. That and I have no inclination
of taking the role myself."

"That is a splendid idea!" Starfire cheered. "I must admit that I am not
well suited for the role, either.  And without Robin or Cyborg present,
you are the next most senior, being older than Raven or myself."

"B-but Raven has been telling me what to do since we got here!"  He spun
on the hooded girl.  "Why can't you just keep doing that?"

"I'll always be glad to assist in an advisory role," offered the cloaked
woman, "However a more forceful personality on the battlefield would be
more beneficial in the dissemination of orders."

"... and that means?"

"There's battlefield command and then there's battlefield support,"
Nabiki interrupted with a smirk of her own. "I think my teammates have
all grown on each other, but I don't think any of my guys would follow
me into a fight, even if they listen to what I say." She shrugged. "I
don't totally get it myself, but then I'm not really a fighter-type
anyway. You three sure you want to try this?"

"Absolutely no-"

"Most assuredly!" Starfire blurted out, pushing Ryouga bodily out of the
way. "If there is anything we can do to protect any other innocents from
suffering such a horrendous fate, then we will do whatever is
necessary."

"Nabiki!" Ryouga's voice cut in. The native one. "What's all that
chatter in the background?"

"Nothing, lieutenant Ryou-chan..." she replied in a sing-song way.  "You
must be hearing things!"

"More like you must be up to something," he guessed. "I'm starting
identity checks on the passengers. Get facial recognition up. We're
going to need to check everyone on the manifest to make sure no
infiltrators slip through."

"I don't know why you assume I'm up to anything," Nabiki replied with a
playful moue, even as she brought up the program and information. "You'd
think you trusted me by now. ...Completely."

On the other side of the line, the officer coughed.

She then looked, quickly, back at the three Titans.

"We'll see how high your spirits are tomorrow," she warned the trio,
once again covering her microphone. "I think the higher ups may be
receptive to the idea, but you'll need recommendation from two officers
to participate, not just one. I'm afraid one of them will have to be my
grouchy partner here."

Ryouga grumbled darkly at that thought.  It was obvious that he disliked
the idea of being made responsible for his two friends.  The martial
artist looked first to Raven, then to Starfire, though, and his features
soon set into a determined expression she hadn't expected from the more
flighty, dimensionally displaced Hibiki.

"Oh, we'll get it alright ... Even if I have to beat it out of him."

- - -

Despite the bold declaration he had made less than a half an hour
earlier, Ryouga found himself staring at his companions, confusion
etched on his face.  Even as he paced back and forth, circling the small
table in the dimly lit interior of the commissary which they had found
shortly after the Interception had ended, Starfire and Raven sat calmly
across from each other.  Each girl had a drink before them, and were
taking small sips, no doubt waiting for him to finally say his peace.

"What - I mean, what the hell, Star?" he finally accommodated.  "You're
the last person that I would have expected to want to help these
people!"

In a most unhurried manner, the Tamaranian took another drink before
placing the glass on the table.  She then turned her wide, green eyes
his way, her expression screaming seriousness.  "I am not doing this to
help this organization.  I am doing this to help the innocent populace
of this planet."

Raven arched an eyebrow.  "The same 'innocent populace' that attacked
you with tanks and helicopters before siccing Ranma's greatest enemy on
you?"

At any other time, Ryouga would have strongly protested Herb's placement
as Ranma's 'greatest enemy', but at the moment, he was too damned
curious as to why Starfire wanted to help these people.  "Yeah, Star.
You got it the worst of any of us. You don't owe anyone in this
dimension anything."

"At what point in time did we begin doing that which we do because we
felt we 'owed it to people'?"  The Tamaranian asked pointedly, a hint of
reproach in her voice. Staring at him intently, the flame haired girl
dropped a hand to the table top.  "It does not matter what was done to
me. And counter to the beliefs of the people here, it does not matter
that this is not the dimension of our origin."

Pushing herself up to her feet, the Tamaranian's gaze only grew more
serious.  "The only thing that matters is that there are people in need
of our aid.  If there is any other reason for us to act in the heroic
manner to which we have grown accustomed, then I do not desire to know
what it is."

Well... now he felt especially small and petty.  Ryouga looked down,
unable to meet her gaze after that, and began to study his shoes
intently.

"And are you certain that the humans are the ones which need to be
protected here?" Raven asked in an off-hand tone, not looking up from
her drink. "We still only know one side of the story so far."

"We know all of the story which we need to," Starfire replied hotly.  "I
care not what universe we are in or what social and cultural norms are
widely accepted.  Any species which is willing to target helpless men,
women and children as we have just witnessed... they are not deserving
of our protection. What I saw just now... was no different than... to
think that the memories I had been forced to endure were genuine? These
- these creatures are nothing but souless monsters, spiritual successors
to the Psions!"

"Um, the who?" Ryouga asked, confused once more. "And what did you mean,
mem...?"

"It matters not," the alien girl quickly retracted.  "Suffice it to say
that I have seen their ilk before and know the atrocities they are
capable of."

Raven nodded to herself, hearing Starfire's words.  The violet haired
Titan then looked up, finally locking gazes with her red headed
counterpart.  "Alright then.  More importantly.  Do you think you can
actually work with the people here, then?  It's obvious they won't let
us help in our standard way, so it seems inevitable that, if we go down
this road, that we will have to work with someone from this
organization."

At that, Starfire finally balked. Fidgeting slightly, the green eyed
Titan took her seat once more.  "I... had sworn to myself that I could
never ally with such odious people...  However, my discomfort is a small
price to pay if it will allow us to lend aid to those in need."

"Is that a yes, or a no?" Ryouga asked for clarification. "I'm not
exactly fond of the idea of working with these jokers, either, so I'll
understand if you don't want to."

Starfire hemmed and hawed for several moments, before finally offering a
slow nod in reply.  "The meaning of my response is the positive.  For
the greater good, I will overcome my distaste of this organization and
its methods if that is what it takes."

Ryouga let out a weary sigh at that.  He had really been hoping that she
would reconsider this course of action.  On the bright side, he did have
cause for hope still.  "That's all well and good," he offered in a
consoling voice. "Too bad we'll never actually get their jerk of a
Ryouga to give us a recommendation.  There's no way he'd ever even
consider it."

Hmm, okay, so maybe that had been a bit more smug than consoling, but-

"Actually, I think you might be surprised by his response." Raven's
unexpected statement drew the attention of both Ryouga and Starfire -
suddenly looking quite concerned at the prospect of being unable to get
a recommendation.  Rather than wait for them to inquire, the dark Titan
explained herself straight away.  "Did you not pay attention to Nabiki?
I believe she showed us that interception for a reason.  She wasn't just
hoping for Starfire's response, I would almost say that she was counting
on it."

Ryouga turned his confused gaze her way. "Huh? But why?"

Raven shrugged.  "I can't begin to guess her motives, just her intent.
I don't know why she's doing this, but I have a strong suspicion that
the Lieutenant will be most accommodating to our ill conceived request."

Normally, this would have been the point at which Starfire gave a
cheerful squeal of victory, but considering the day they had all just
had, no one begrudged her for offering up only a tired smile instead.

"Well, that's just... great..." Ryouga finally replied.  "Which, I guess
brings me to my next point."

"Why the heck am I getting stuck with all the responsibility again?"

- - -

Aside from a select few officers, the men and women of the UNETCO
element were not supposed to mix with the military personnel of the USS
Boxer. As with everything in the organization, the issue was primarily
one of security. An expandable rear module had, for that reason, been
set up within the spacious well-deck of the Wasp class amphibious
assault ship. It has separate living quarters and Spartan amenities for
twelve man covert "special warfare command" detachment the American
warship played host to.

Bare feet paused on a grate as Shampoo finished toweling off. Violet
hair required a twice over to get it mostly dry, her free hand reaching
for her pile of clothes and a fine metal comb. Letting the white towel
drape over her shoulders, the Chinese Amazon took an indulgent minute or
so to go through her hair before bundling it up and pinning it in place.
The style of it that she let fall forward she combed separately and tied
together with a bit of gold string.

It occur to Shampoo, as she primped, that she and Mousse were probably
among the last few living Amazons to bother with long hair as a status
symbol. Almost all the Exiled Amazons had maintained more conventional
and functional styles. It was probably one of the traditions that
wouldn't survive more than another generation at the rate things were
going. Not that she intended to stop, herself, just because of that - no
matter how much easier and simpler it would make things.

Satisfied, she dried off her feet and ankles and tossed the towel in a
nearby bin.

A pair of panties and a white undershirt were all the clothing she
needed to assuage the modesty of certain picky persons. As a point of
fact, she preferred to sleep in the nude, but given their current living
arrangement she'd decided against it. The only thing that would
aggravate her Airen more was to try and jump into his cot. There was no
room for personal quarters, even for the officers, so instead they all
slept in the same room they mustered in. A footlocker and equipment
locker flanked each pair of bunks, stacking them and their kit into a
neat, efficient, minimalist space.

Leaving her uniform on the footlocker, she was on the verge of hopping
into her bunk for some well earned shuteye - when, with a sardonic quirk
of an eyebrow, she noted who she'd been stuck with. The man sized battle
spatula was a dead giveaway. Shampoo resisted the urge to sigh. Would it
have been so bad for him to at least sleep close by? Even if it were
only the bunk above or below. Instead, as usual, she got saddled with
the okonomiyaki chef as her immediate company.

It was probably more of his 'I don't want to show favoritism' nonsense.

Sitting down on the lower bunk, Shampoo shook her head; what favoritism
was there even to show anymore? Her Airen and the pancake chef had
already sorted out their mistaken miss-engagement. Which really only
left two: herself and, of course, that nuisance named Tendo Akane. A
nuisance who wasn't even around half of the time. A nuisance not even on
the same combat team. A nuisance who was still, as far as Shampoo knew,
a bona fide kitchen destroyer, clumsy tomboy - as Ranma himself put it -
and, frankly, a woman Shampoo's Airen couldn't go two conversations with
without causing a fight.

If not for the fact that they were fighting an enemy, and in an
organization that frowned on open fraternization between officers and
direct subordinates, Shampoo was sure they'd already have at least
consummated the remaining real engagement. That was what she told
herself anyway. It was the rational analysis she had reiterated whenever
the topic entered her mind. It was also something she didn't find
herself thinking about as much as she had before. Maybe it was the
familiarity of working with her Airen every day for months on end? Was
it pushing things to the point where being around him was so routine she
barely thought about it? Between having to behave herself and training
and working, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd even thought
about - not pestering - but asking her betrothed on a date.

Of course, they did plenty of things off duty... as a team... or with
Konatsu around. Or Ukyou. And they even hung out by themselves once in a
blue moon, but... it was disturbingly platonic. Even SHE was starting to
think of it as platonic. Which was not a good thing; her Airen seemed to
have the romantic drive and sexual initiative of a sloth. Not to mention
his obvious disinterest in any of his engagements, Shampoo's included.
If she wasn't in the mood to try and push things forward, and the fact
was that not only wasn't she interested, she knew he'd just pull the
'superior officer' card and remind her that he 'wasn't going to marry
anyone' until after the war - but if she didn't do something, sometime,
who would?

Even Great grandmother Ku Lon didn't seem to care about it anymore, what
with more pressing matters.

'Since when did I become so apathetic about it, anyway?' she wondered,
and glanced over at Ukyou's battle spatula. 'It's like I don't even
think about it anymore unless one of us brings something up. After that
pancake chef gave up...'

The train of thought was depressing.

Reaching down to her footlocker, Shampoo was on the verge of retrieving
a book, both to practice her Japanese and to get another chapter in
before she went to sleep, when she paused. Taking a look to her left,
she saw one of the UNETCO soldiers in his bunk, sound asleep. To her
right, another at the end of the room was busy writing a letter. Ranma,
Konatsu and Ukyou were no where in sight... especially the latter who
the Amazon knew to still be in the shower. Most everyone else was in
another room towards the front of the well-deck.

A new thought entered her head, then, and being naturally rather
impulsive, she seized it. Checking again to make sure a certain someone
wasn't going to barge in, Shampoo slid over and slowly wrapped her
fingers around the hilt of the five-plus foot long spatula. Picking it
up easily, and mindful of the room she had to her sides, the Chinese
Amazon smirked as she went through a few slow, easy motions. Goddesses
knew she'd seen Ukyou use the thing often enough.

'Feint to the right, bring the body up to shield your left...'

Yes: she'd seen it enough to mimic the motions, though she knew she
lacked a real feel for the weapon. Her teammate used it for both offense
and defense, to shield herself and obscure her movements. She could even
hunker behind it by pinning it down to the ground, turtling up at just
the right angle so no part of her was exposed to enemy fire. While
outwardly somewhat similar to her old giant spatula, though, this one
was very different. The defensive techniques would be useless in a
battle if the weapon hadn't been remade with alien alloy.

'Sweep low, cut out the legs, move at the hips and waist, bring the
weighted end down on the skull...'

Some of the moves were superficially like the ones she knew how to use
with the Guan Dao (reclining moon blade)... but the balance was too
different. The blade was too large and heavy. You had to keep making
circular movements to conserve momentum, and this often rooted you in
place. That suited Ukyou's fighting style fairly well: she'd tank what
you shrew at her and try and catch you in a single large attack. Of
course, if you dodged or blocked that attack, then she was in trouble,
especially without any of her backup tricks, like bombs and traps on the
floor.

There were offensive options, too, that came with the weapon's
improvements. Spinning the hilt around, Shampoo eyed the flat and
seemingly featureless edge. The sides could be made sharp or dull,
thanks to the same strange memory metal that worked similar magic with
Kuno-stick-boy's new sword. The flat could be heated and used to 'cook-
up' the pancake chef's stupid little bombs. It also had an explosive
feature, too: just blocking it head-on wasn't wise. It would discharge
some sort of chemicals or aerosol and ignite it right in your face.

Then there was the other thing Ukyou could do with it -

Tucking it under her arm and running her free hand down the flat
surface, Shampoo whispered, very quietly: "Kenran Hinode."

Not... that she was jealous, exactly.

She'd never really had the body or aura for a ki attack and she knew it.
She'd known it for years. So it wasn't jealousy! It was just - very mild
vexation. Shampoo frowned a bit: vexation was it exactly. She'd never
expected Ukyou to ever actually develop a ki attack of any significance.
It was something most Amazons trained their whole lives for, like a
litmus test to enter the elite. But Ukyou's wasn't Elite. She was just -
just an annoying Japanese girl!

Definitely not a rival.

Definitely not.

Of course, had she been Ranma, then she would've suffered the
predictable embarrassment of Ukyou walking in at just the worst moment.
Her Airen did not have the best luck when it came to that sort of thing.
Fortune favored her a bit better, at least as far as dignity was
concerned. She had just put the spatula away and was about to sit down
when Juliet squad's fellow female entered. Like Shampoo, she had a
fairly thin white top on, but opted for boxer shorts when not among
close company. It was suitably boyish looking, in Shampoo's opinion.

"Hey there, sugar," the chef said in easy greeting, one hand still tying
her chestnut hair together behind her neck. Her hair was, appropriately,
shorter than Shampoo's, but only ever received a fraction of the care.
Nonetheless, it maintained a healthy glow, maintenance after being
stuffed in a sweaty helmet or no.

'Nope. Not jealous. Stupid pancake chef.'

"Hey," Shampoo replied, fishing out her book from the footlocker that
then slid under her bunk.

'Next practice I'll beat her up a bit more than usual. There's more to
being a martial artist than throwing your battle aura around.'

Flipping open the book to the marked page, and on the verge of lying
down -

"Hm hm hm-m, hm-hm-hm-hm-hm, hm-hm-hm, hm-hm..."

A single delicate eyebrow twitched at the swaying posterior within solid
kicking distance.

"What stupid song stuck in your head this time?" she growled, genuinely
tempted to give the chef a good pasting.

"I have no idea," Ukyou admitted, and then ducked down so Shampoo could
see her face. Predictably, she had her giant spatula in one hand and a
cleaning cloth in the other. "Just something someone was playing the
other day. It was in English but I don't know the name."

"Well, keep you hm-hm-hm to self," Shampoo grumbled, but despite the
irritant she couldn't help but feel some of her bad mood leech away. The
pancake chef was a nuisance, just like Akane, but she was a familiar
nuisance. And they had saved each other's lives a few times, too. If
familiarity failed to breed contempt it tended to foster camaraderie,
even between an Amazon and a former obstacle.

She let a half minute or so pass, to make sure Ukyou quieted up.

She girl kept cleaning her battle spatula. As if it really needed it.

"So, where Ranma and girly boy?" Shampoo asked, mentally wincing a bit
at her English. Why she still had lingering foreign language issues,
even after having the damn language implanted into her brain, she didn't
know. It was like fate was trying to stick her with the damn thing. It
was almost as bad as a lisp.

"I think they went above decks," Ukyou answered off hand. "Probably to
hang out and do guy stuff, like pissing off the side of the ship.
Jackasses."

Shampoo considered that rather unlikely, but the image was amusing.

"Airen no lose in pissing contest," she joked and the two girls shared a
light laugh. Of course, if there WERE an actual pissing contest
underway, and Ranma knew about it, he'd undoubtedly try and win it.
Especially if some idiot called it 'martial arts.'

"Ranma-honey's predictable like that," Ukyou agreed. "Ryu-honey's not
that different, though. It just takes a bit more to get him riled up."

Yes: the Yamasenken-boy. Maybe it was the fact that Ukyou had brought
them both up, or that she'd made a direct comparison, but it made
Shampoo wonder, and not for the first time: what was Ukyou doing with
India Squad's NCO? Obviously, they were 'kind of' together in a casual
sort of way. Shampoo knew that. What she couldn't grasp was why Ukyou
had finally called things off with Ranma in the first place. She'd
suspected for a time that Ukyou had done it so she could switch fiances,
but in the weeks since Ukyou and Ryu were still far from being a
particularly close couple.

Shampoo suspected, now, that maybe it was some fallout between the
chef's father Kazuo and Genma that had ended the engagement. Yet why had
Ukyou gone along with it then? She'd never given the impression of being
forced out of the tangled web of fiances. She'd just left, seemingly of
her own accord. Shampoo just couldn't get a hook on why. She'd been
hesitant to ask, too: what with gift horses and looking in their mouth
and all that. After this long, Shampoo was pretty sure the break-up
wasn't all part of some Machiavellian master plan to make Ranma jealous
or anything.

...pretty sure. Not absolutely sure.

"Maybe I'll go find him and see what he's up to," Shampoo threw out
there. Not that she really intended to go wandering around the whip
looking for her L-T. Her Airen that was. She was more curious what the
pancake chef would think of it.

"Good luck finding him," the other girl replied with a shrug, clearly
more interested in her battle-spat.

"Is romantic night out," Shampoo added, pressing a bit harder.

And all that got was a non-committal grunt of "eh."

The okonomiyaki lover clearly wasn't going to play along. She barely
even seemed to be listening. Shampoo flopped back on her bunk and
propped the book up against her leg for easier bed-reading. She got part
way into the new chapter when her middle finger flexed, sending the book
down to splay out across her midriff.

"Spatula girl," she asked.

"Need something, noodles for brains?"

Well, she was listening at least.

Shampoo just out and said it, "Why you break engagement with Airen?"

Ukyou didn't respond at first, and after a few seconds, Shampoo wondered
if she'd crossed a line by asking. They were both.... both had been
fiances of Ranma's. Ukyou wasn't anymore. Who knew why? Only the two of
them, really. But the two girls were in a certain kind of group because
of it. Maybe that meant something when it came to private matters, maybe
it didn't. It was kind of sad, but this pancake cooking girl was the
closest thing Shampoo had to a 'girlfriend.' Not that Amazons really had
that sort of thing, but Shampoo really didn't want to call Ukyou-
okonomiyaki-Kuonji a Battle Sister.

"It..." the Japanese girl hesitated, having just started. A second or
two later and she pushed forward anyway: "It just wasn't working out."

"What you mean by that?" Shampoo asked. "It just not working out? When
has engagement to Airen ever work out smoothly? Why stop now?"

Instead of an answer, Ukyou - her back to Shampoo's bunk - threw back a
question.

"Why do you care anyway?" she asked, a trace of anger in her tone of
voice. "I'm not pulling off some scheme if that what you're thinking."

"Like you admit it if you have big plan," Shampoo countered, and rolled
partly off her bed so her feet touched the floor. Glancing to her right,
she saw Ukyou with the cleaning cloth in hand. Her battle spatula was
still close by, but the other girl was holding it loosely. Too loosely
to clean.

"You should be happy to have me out of the picture," Ukyou said, and
craned her neck to look down at her seated teammate. "Just you and Akane
now."

"I... I'm glad you saw sense and gave up," the Amazon carefully replied,
though the response itself caused Ukyou to frown and share an audible
'hmmf!' "Just," she admitted. "I just don't understand why you gave up."

The other girl looked, for just a moment, like she wanted to say
something unkind. Her lips parted, but then shut as she rethought her
response. Shampoo honestly wondered then what it was that her teammate
had first intended to say. Maybe she and Ranma had had an argument or
something? Maybe there was some loophole in Japanese engagements that he
had found?

"The engagement was just ruining our relationship anyway, so why not get
rid of it?" Ukyou asked with a roll of her shoulders. "Ran-chan can make
his own decisions. One of them was to pay off that fat panda's debt."

Shampoo narrowed her eyes a bit at the other woman.

"You no want him anymore?"

Ukyou looked down at the Amazon again. "You mean, do I like him
anymore?"

"Like. Want." Shampoo shrugged shamelessly. "Not big difference if you
ask me."

"...Of course I still like Ran-chan," Ukyou's answer was suitably
selective. "But I like a few guys."

Frowning a bit at the evasion, the Amazon asked again: "If you could
still marry Airen, would you?"

And at that, the okonomiyaki chef paused.

"I... don't know," she finally answered. Turning around, she faced
Shampoo and leaned against the side of the top bunk. "What does it
matter anyway, sugar? You want to start up the Fiance Battle Royale
again? You know Ranma-honey will just get pissed off and have you
running laps around the mountain."

"No is time for that," Shampoo agreed and leaned back a bit. "Sh- I'll
wait until after war over. Amazon marriage laws suspended during
mercenary or war work anyway. Was just... curious, suppose."

Crossing her arms, Ukyou appeared to consider that for some time.

The Amazon saw her frowning, too.

"Shampoo," Ukyou began and bit her lower lip for a second. "Ranma-honey
is... he's..." She paused again, this time for a suspiciously long
couple of seconds. "Anyway, Ranma-honey's the one who'll decide who he
wants to be with. He's known us all for years, right? Plus, haven't you
noticed it?"

The brown haired chef closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I guess not," she quickly answered herself. "But Ranma-honey's a grown
man now. He's more responsible than I've ever seen him be before.
Whatever he decides, we'll just have to live with it. He isn't going to
change his mind just because of a few tears. Or a few threats."

"Maybe," Ukyou added, before Shampoo could respond. "Maybe you should
talk to him about this, sugar? And I mean 'talk to him' not 'try and
sleep with him' or 'try and trick him into marrying you.'"

"What there to talk about?" The Chinese girl dismissed the notion with a
wave of her hand. Falling back on her bunk, she pulled her legs up and
propped one up to support her book again. There really was nothing to
'talk to' her Airen about.

No matter how inconvenient it might have been -

"Village Law is Law. Absolutely."

- - -

Solitude.

It was kind of hard to be alone on a ship with a thousand other people.
It was rather harder to find a spot to be alone when you needed to avoid
a pair of martial artists who could nose in at the worst possible time.
Ranma Saotome found that little bit of solitude about sixty meters above
sea level, wedged between radar equipment above and below on a small
platform nearly inaccessible even to maintenance crew. From his position
on the rear of two radar towers he could see all down to the after half
of the carrier.

He'd jumped up to his current, isolated perch for one reason.

"Akane," he addressed the small tablet computer in his right hand.
"Delete." Starting again, he smiled. "Hey, Akane!"

	...

"Delete."

Massaging his temples, he lowered the tablet for a few seconds, sighed,
and put it on record again.

A smile. "Akane. Hey. How's it going?"

Still recording, he faltered a bit at what to say next.

"Ugh. Delete."

Adjusting his footing a bit, he angled the screen to it would catch some
of the background and the ocean, and not just the metal hull of the ship
behind his head. With that now to his left, he checked over his shoulder
at the view. It was pretty dark, but you could see the sun setting.
Akane would probably like that. He guessed.

A smile. "Akane. Hey! How's it going?"

It was a pretty good start. Shaking himself a bit to relax, he
continued.

"So, um... uh..." He glanced down, quick, about to delete the recording
again. But, instead, he tried to continue, "Well, I shouldn't say where
I am, but, um... I hope you're good. And safe."

He felt his smile slip a bit; hurting from the reminder of the danger
she'd insisted on being involved in.

"I'm almost done with my rotation off base, so I'll be back home soon."
He did honestly smile as he said that. It would be nice to be back with
his family, Akane and the other Tendos included. "I, uh, I thought about
you while I was away. I should probably apologize for the things I said
when I left. I've had some time to think about it... maybe I was a
little out of order when I said... well, you know what I said."

His expression darkened a bit as he thought more about it.

"But even if I didn't... you know, phrase it that great, I still think I
had a point. I know ya wanna pull your weight and fight, but ya need to
be more careful out there." He held up a hand to forestall the angry
objection he knew she'd have when she heard that part. "I shouldn't have
been second guessing and pulling tape on another squad just to check in
on you. I know. I just... I just wanted to know how you were doing. I
thought I could help. And - and things just came out all wrong."

"So," he said, dithering a bit. "So, you know? I'm. I'm... kinda sorry."

Ranma couldn't help but roll his eyes a bit.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could just saying it have been possibly more painful?
Haha." Staring at the screen, he took a deep breath. This was, if
anything, the hardest part to say.

"I..."

Tilting his head left and right for a second or two, he resisted having
to actually say it -

"I miss you," he said it very softly. "I've been hearin' some weird
things about what's goin' on over there. Watch yer back, okay? And tell
my mom I said 'hi.'"

He grinned confidently, but it was a shallow self-conscious smirk.

"Its kinda funny actually. I've been gone longer than this on trainin'
trips. Somethin' about this is different. It's just... different. Dunno
why. Maybe its the stuff we gotta do out here?" he wondered, and slowly
shook his head. "Anyway. Like I said, I'll be back soon. Before ya know
it even."

The Saotome heir's grin grew into an honest to goodness smirk.

"And then you." He pointed at the screen. "Can apologize to me. I'm
lookin' forward to it."

- - -

Konatsu preferred not to display the tools of his trade where others
could easily see them.

Thus, unlike Miss Ukyou, he kept much of his kit in the shadows where it
belonged, and where it wouldn't reflect poorly on others opinions of
him. He didn't so much mind his close friends seeing the tricks of his
trade, so to speak. He trained with them. They knew everything he was
capable of. On the other hand, the stares of other people were something
the 'legendary male kunoichi' would rather avoid.

While Saotome-taichou had headed off to find a secluded spot, probably
to write or record something to send back to Seiran, Konatsu had
wandered off on his own to find a shady spot. He had most of his stuff
with him in a duffel bag, and seeing no one else around on the rear
upper deck, the ninja retrieved his blade. It was a non-reflective,
tarnished color of dark grey, and unlike the weapons of Miss Ukyou or
Kuno-san, it didn't have any high-tech tricks to it. It was, first and
foremost, just a blade. The trick to it was in its user.

It was also in the... application.

Habu.

That was the name of his sword, or rather, his sword technique. There
was a special groove, like the empty fang of its pit viper namesake, to
serve as a reservoir. At least with humans, he could use it to kill
cleanly and without suffering. One of his many failings, as his step
sisters so often enjoyed pointing out, was that he really wasn't that
good at being a shinobi. He didn't like to - didn't want to - hurt
anyone. It was an unfortunate twist of fate that he was particularly
good at doing something he didn't really enjoy. There were no reliable
poisons when dealing with the alien enemy, but even there, if he could,
he killed softy and painlessly. It was the least he could do.

In his bag, he had most of what he would need for the job in Roanapur.

They were personal things: the poisons, of course, were one. The blades.
The contact neurotoxin. Special paper for his Fujin Seikyu Senpu
(Heartless Bill Whirlwind) and, if need be, his Konatsu Andon (Konatsu
Paper Lantern). Shuriken, though they were really only used as a
distraction or to blind someone at long range by taking out their eyes.
He had simple ones, the basic throwing star, and explosive versions to
maim the target and fill the air with broken steel.

Then there was the strap he wore on the inside of his palm with the flip
out claws. That was for climbing on surfaces too rough to contact-climb
or force handholds on, but it was also quite useful for quickly opening
a throat. Useful, but not pretty. If possible, it was much kinder to
just break the neck. There were various assortments and reams of wire.
It wasn't hard to imagine the many uses they had in skilled hands.

Much of his other equipment: his rifle, his sidearm, his grenades...
that he didn't have on him. There was no need to sneak around with it.
That was all considered quite mundane. He would care for it in the open
and not have to worry about anyone being offended. He was a soldier
after all. He was also a kunoichi. Killing an enemy in the field was
some time necessary; assassinating someone was also, sadly, sometimes
necessary. Life was ended by the thunder of a gunshot or the silent
slide of a knife across bare flesh.

Clearing his thoughts and staring out over the dark sea, Konatsu
started.

While he checked and prepared his unorthodox and decidedly non-standard
issue kit, he thought about the potential targets that lay ahead. The
human ones, that is. The ones he would feel some pangs of regret if he
had to remove. It was unfortunate, but he reminded himself that there
was not an innocent man or woman among them.

The Russians. All but one were male. They were allegedly skilled at
range. Snipers would be present among them. Veterans of the Soviet War
in Afghanistan. Most of those would be middle aged or older; past their
peak. Peripheral vision would be sub-par. Intel gave the impression that
they were top dogs in this city. Arrogant. But experienced. Confident.
Overconfident. Scramble radios. Prevent communication. Kill lights if
possible. Engage in unfamiliar terrain. Asymmetrical engagement. Close
distance.

Cut them to pieces.

They won't panic. Will try to organize. Fall back. Intercept at rear
areas. Lay traps. Explosives. When off balance use gas. When they react,
close and finish off. Shoot stragglers. For the scarred woman, attack
from behind - knife severs spinal cord then enters brain under or
through occipital curve. If possible. Painless. More likely she'll be
taken out at range. Still possible encounter. Should be ready.

The other possible human targets were the four pirates. Intel had
identified the Asian - Japanese - crew member as minimal threat. Blow to
rib case collapses sternum. Not life threatening. Can interrogate later.
Jewish-American. Technical specialist. Similar takedown. African
American. Vietnam veteran. Likely armed with handgun. Possible shotgun.
Engage from behind if possible. Otherwise blind. Close. Slit throat.
Chinese-American. Female. Skilled gunman. Dual nine millimeter. Only
serious danger. Engage from blind spot. Disarm. Minimal danger hand to
hand. Disorient. Mission Kill.

Footsteps. Muffled. Attempt at stealth. Still Heavy.

Konatsu felt his mind slip out of its comfortable trance. Dark eyes
drifted back to where a CH-46 Sea Knight assault transport helicopter
sat in the shadows. Scooting over, Konatsu sheathed his Habu and faced
the craft, bowing politely.

"Acting Major," he said with a faint, false smile. "How nice to see you
again, sir."

"Pretty sharp, kid."

The officer slipped out of the shadows quite skillfully. It was a
mundane ability, to Konatsu's eyes, but honed very well. He had
suspected there was a little something strange about their new temp CO.
Most men did not, in their heart, want to be part of the shadows. They
did not want to be invisible. This was why so many failed.

"Not only did you hear me, you saw me, too," the acting Major continued,
walking over. He had his hands in his pockets, giving the impression of
casual and collected cool. Konatsu noted, for the second time, the man's
scar running from his cheek to his hairline. He was lucky he hadn't lost
his left eye in whatever caused it.

Not sure how to reply to that, Konatsu apologized, "Sorry, sir."

"Nothing to be sorry about," Acting Major Wilson assured the young man
with a friendly wave of his hand. "I was the one sneaking up on you,
after all. Your file has some interesting descriptions of your
abilities." He stopped a few steps short of the edge of the carrier's
deck. "Tell me. What dog are you? What was your master?"

Konatsu's eyes strayed back to the sea.

"Eight Ways Kunoichi," he answered, simply. "My master was a Tengu."

The acting Major nodded to himself.

"And you, sir?" the Squaddie inquired after a polite second or two.

"Mantis. Corpse."

"When was that?"

"Years ago. Back in the States."

Konatsu bowed his head again. "I see. Forgive me for bringing it up."

"And I said it was a long time ago. Before you were born." Acting Major
Wilson shared the ocean view for a time, his hands cupped leisurely
behind his back. Slowly relaxing, Konatsu still self-consciously zipped
up his duffel bag and kept most of his kit out of sight. Even if it was
the sort of thing this man would likely be at least somewhat familiar
with.

Still, one thing he had said seemed strange: 'back in the States?' The
United States? Before he was born? That would be the eighties or
seventies. Why would this man have learned 'Mantis' from a 'Corpse' in
the States? Most family ninjutsu styles remained close to home. Mantis
was an old Aokigahara style, not that anyone practiced anymore in that
cursed place.

Then again, the impression Konatsu had of this man's aura -

Well. It just wasn't polite to say.

But he felt like this was a man who had taken a great many lives over
the years. This Slade Wilson. It was a shame only Saotome-taichou had
access to detailed officer records. The ninja found himself morbidly
curious what sort of clandestine operations the grizzled man next to him
had been involved in. Yet, whatever had happened before, the States had
parted with him and granted him secondment to UNETCO. In the end, their
paths had led them to the same place, with the same goals.

"Sir," Konatsu ventured to ask after a long silence.

The man glanced over at the Squaddie, giving checked permission to
speak.

"Do you really need us for this mission?" he asked, hoping he wasn't out
of line in doing so.

Acting Major Slade Wilson smiled thinly and went back to staring at the
sea.

"I don't," he admitted after a few seconds. "But my way would upset a
lot of people. Namely those poor men who expect monthly kickbacks from
the people I'd kill."

The older man chuckled darkly, the menace in his voice palpable.

"The Royal Navy used to hang pirates, but now... well!" He shrugged in
mock-helplessness. "They're a vital part of our diverse socio-economic
system. The kickbacks they pay filter up through an elaborate and
delightful system of bribes... to the men who appoint the government
paper pushers who represent their country on the Funding Committee."

"Ah." Konatsu muttered. "I see."

Wilson nodded sadly. "So they said: try it delicately first. Try it
quietly. Don't eliminate anyone we do business under the table with."

"So if we don't handle it... delicately...?" the male kuniochi asked.

"Then I'll come in," the Acting Major answered with a friendly smile.
"And I'll wipe out everyone involved. Everyone who ever saw that god
forsaken package. Everyone who worked with the things being sent to pick
it up."

After that, the Major left, slipping back into the darkness.

Konatsu quietly finished his preparations.

- - -

Tatewaki Kuno, preeminent soldier and esteemed Bastion of Righteousness,
shouldered the combined weight of his travel pack and the debilitating
gravity harness he and so many others often used in training to prepare
for the upcoming Cydonia mission. Normally, the tiny Elerium reactor was
used to decrease gravity to Martian levels, but India squad often
inverted it when training with weights. The result was a heady forty
kilometer run around the mountain every morning with his teammates, made
all the more invigorating by its scaled up difficulty.

The brisk mountain air ran through the swordsman's perfect hair, and he
took a moment to drink it in and savor the rustic repose. It was
invigorating, and reminded him more than anything of his early years,
back when he first found his love of kendo. Back before things became
too easy, too stale, too staid. After his beloved mentor and senpai
left, the rest of the kendo club had failed to provide genuine
companionship or challenge, but this... this was a good life; a
warrior's life.

Mountain peaks stretched out below them, capped by ragged plains of
white and green.

Seiran was isolated but beautiful, tucked away amid the mountains and
buried by acres of national parkland and unmolested forest. Here, Kuno
could imagine a great samurai or warrior monk had once climbed to these
peaceful heights to hone his skills and ponder his reason for being. It
was a warrior's retreat and redoubt all in one.

The slight sting of his arm, and the patchwork of bandages and dermal
grafts, ached distantly in the cold air, but it was a nice kind of pain.
It was a reminder that he pushed his body to the limits and proved his
martial prowess every day. It was a potent reminder that he was alive.
Despite the enemy, despite the odds, despite even his own initial
foolishness, he was alive.

There would be no rest, even after last night's little adventure.

The Lieutenant had allowed them to sleep in only a couple extra hours,
before they resumed their routine of training. This time, though, they
would have some guests. The three new arrivals were, supposedly, of the
mind that they should play some role in future battles. By Kuno's
independent reckoning, they were a spirited bunch, and the violet haired
maiden had some interesting abilities, but that alone did not a fighting
squad make. As a result, today, they would put the three to the test and
see how they handled themselves in simulated battlefield conditions.

Ryu, India Squad's sergeant (blessed as he was with a fully functional
sense of direction), led the procession from the front, keeping a nice
steady pace as they waded their way over rough snow-covered terrain to
one of the training grounds. Mousse followed behind, then Kuno himself.
Their Lieutenant followed along the side. Amusingly, their coordinator
had deigned to come along, though not for the 40 kilometer run, and
Nabiki struggled to match the pace of her more physically seasoned
comrades.

The 'Titans' - as he had heard them refer to themselves - ran roughly in
parallel. At their lead was the fiery redhead with the ocherous
complexion, who had been told to run for this exercise and not to fly.
She seemed to have no difficulty matching pace, and neither did the
slightly younger version of the Lieutenant that followed close behind
her. The two carried their group's kit. Last in their group was the
violet haired girl whose name momentarily eluded the noble swordsman,
who took the 'no flying' stipulation the worst. She slogged through the
snow with more effort, perhaps grateful for the fatigues and pants that
covered her legs and feet. All three had been given some basic clothing
appropriate for the upcoming exercises.

"Tis a fair morning, is it not?" Kuno asked, nudging the Chinese weapons
master ahead of him. "When can we expect our brother squad to rejoin us?
The day's activities remind me of our earlier outings together!"

"Last I heard, Saotome and the girls were still running rampant down
south," Mousse replied, shrugging his shoulders and his pack. The
weapons master kept all his actual items on his person, so his travel
pack was entirely for weight training. "We'll have to wait to find out
more. Funny thing is, weren't they supposed to be sent to an Op in
Hawaii? That guy gets all the plush assignments."

"Ah, Hawaii, the land of my cursed father," Kuno rumbled, but smiled, "I
do believe I shall have to visit it myself some time. We own a small
ranch there, you know?"

"Oh! A ranch? Sounds good!" Ryu chimed in. "I'm in."

"As am I," Mousse decided.

"You wouldn't forget your dear friend Nabiki, would you, Kuno-chan?"

"Very well!" Kuno magnanimously replied. "You may come, provided you
bring the pigtailed girl and Akane Tendo with you!"

"Feh," the dimensionally displaced Ryouga muttered. "Hawaii is over
rated.  Sure, it's all fun in the sun ... until you get caught in a
volcanic eruption, and then everyone is all 'ahh, save me, my luggage is
burning me to death!'."

"We've had... certain experiences in Hawaii..." the native Ryouga
admitted.

"Oh? Now that sounds juicy!" Nabiki elbowed him as she ran. "And it
reminds me, too... exactly how much do you two have in common?
Ryugenzawa? That amusing koi rod incident? Saffron?"

"SHUT UP ABOUT THE KOI ROD!" bellowed the younger Hibiki at the top of
his surprisingly loud lungs.

Surprisingly, the Tamaranian turned to glare at her Ryouga.  "Indeed,
there is no need to dwell upon that embarrassment."

"Ummm," Raven interjected between ragged breaths, "What's this about a
koi rod?"

Instantly, the younger Ryouga's jaws clicked shut and he spun to stare
at her, wide eyed.   "N-n-nothing!  Nothing really.  Just a - a fishing
accident."

He then spun back to Nabiki, clinging to her lingering question like a
life line.  "Aheh - um - and who's this Saffron guy?  I don't think I
heard of him.  Another one of Ranma's one shot rivals?"

"If only," Mousse grunted, still a bit miffed by the whole 'enslaving
Shampoo' shurikomi egg thing.

"Saffron," Nabiki replied, but quickly filed away 'koi rod' as another
fun poking point to use later. "Was this Chinese Prince or King or
whatever who kidnapped Akane almost a year ago."

"And Shampoo," Mousse corrected, "My darling Shampoo was turned into one
of their evil minions!"

"She acted kind of like her usual self, if you ask me," the Lieutenant
observed.

Mousse sputtered in indignant rage. "How can you say that?!"

"Well, she kept trying to seduce Ranma and kill everyone else..." he cut
that short before it caused a fight.  "They had these eggs that could
brainwash you into serving whoever hit you with one. Shampoo got tagged
by this lady, Kiima, who served as Saffron's caretaker. Then later,
Shampoo got Genma... and it was a mess."

"Kiima?"  Starfire asked, intrigued. "Is she not the one that wears
Akane's body?  She was present at the battle of my capture ... though
she did not participate much."

"Yes, I believe she bears some strange Chinese curse that turns her into
a virtual copy of the tempestuous Akane Tendo," Kuno sagely replied.
"Though I did not grace this particular adventure with my good company,
I did hear much of it at the wedding."

"Wedding?"  Ryouga asked, confused.  "Who the heck got married?  Mr.
Tendo and Miss Hinako?"

"Good Lord, no!" Nabiki gasped and did a full body shudder at the
thought. "The day I call that woman 'mother' ... UGH!"

"It was like this," The uniformed Hibiki tried to explain. "Saffron
ended up doing this crazy 'one winged angel' transformation at Jusendo,
drying up Jyusenkyou in the process. Mousse and I were there, after he
saved Shampoo, trying to help out. Akane nearly died during the fight...
so I can understand how panicked Ranma was. Saffron kept regenerating,
so he ended up coming up with a Dragon Wave variant that froze him and
blasted him apart. Even after all that, it looked..."

He frowned. "It looked like Akane wasn't going to make it. Ranma kind of
said he loved her, she woke up, they had a fight... you can imagine
that, I'm sure. When we got back to Japan they almost got married."

"A likely story!" Kuno scoffed. "The product of an elaborate deception,
no doubt! Interrupting that miscarriage of a marriage was the Work of
Heaven! Who would want to marry that vile trickster?"

"I dunno," Ryu joked from the front. "Why don't you tell us, Kuno? Who
would want to marry the pigtailed girl?"

"What nonsense do you speak, man?" Kuno adopted a noble pose, hair
gently blowing in the wind. "More of this pigtailed girl and Ranma are
the same, foolishness? Ha! HAHAHAHA!!!"

The younger Ryouga looked back and forth between his counterpart, and
the laughing samurai.

"Hmmmm, part of me wants to agree and say that just sounds too much like
madness to actually happen ...  But then again, Kuno is ranting against
it, so that means it must be true."

"Ah, the Hibiki logic at work again," Raven inferred with a nasty smirk,
"Given two directions, let the Hibiki choose, and you'll know the other
way is the right way."

"You know," the older Ryouga interrupted, in their mutual defense. "Our
sense of direction isn't that bad. Grandpa's was worse."

Raven met him with a flat glance.  "Our Ryouga took a detour back to our
tower from a cave only a few kilometers away that took him through
Greece."

Said Ryouga muttered obscenities under his breath as he kicked at the
snow. "Stupid Amazons ..."

"Reminds me of when I ended up in Moscow a while back..." The native
Ryouga chuckled at the memory. "Still, getting that lost on foot is
pretty impressive. Let me guess, you ended up getting involved in some
big fight over there?"

"If by fight, you mean I got chased halfway across the island by an
angry horde of mystical female warriors, then yes, it could be
interpreted that way."

Raven smiled, touching the center of her chest for some reason.  "He
even got me a nice souvenir ... it's only too bad that I could never
wear it."

"Hey, yeah! That's right! You never did wear that necklace I got you.
Why not?"  Ryouga asked, perplexed.

Starfire gasped.  "Raven!  You did not tell me that Ryouga purchased
jewelry for you! Is that not a momentous occasion in any burgeoning
relationship!?"

"Well, he didn't exactly buy it for me," Raven explained with a wry
grin.  She then turned to the lost boy in question.  "And I'm sorry, but
as beautiful as it was ... I don't think hanging a razor sharp arrowhead
between my breasts is a ... safe arrangement.  Even if it was solid
gold."

"Oh! That is so cute!" A second later, Nabiki leaned over to whisper
something into the older Hibiki's ear.

He quickly whispered back, and she nodded.

"Don't let that cunning woman swindle you out of more money,
Lieutenant," Kuno warned. "You must resist her evil temptations!"

Nabiki gave the kendoist a predatory look. "Did you just say something,
Kuno-baby? It sounded a bit like 'I don't want any more videos of Akane
or the pigtailed girl.'"

Kuno quickly crossed his arms in mock defiance. "I have been grossly
misinterpreted."

"Did you get a price estimate on the arrowhead?" she asked Raven with
yen signs in her eyes. "Hibiki here has enough antique junk to build a
museum wing! You should always get a gift like that appraised a-s-a-p!"

The dark Titan tapped her chin as she considered it.  "Well, it was
created at the forge of Hephaestus himself ... if those Amazons are to
be believed, anyway... so I would say utterly priceless. Divine origin
doesn't usually factor into most appraisals that I've seen, but then
again, someone has to put prices on all those magic artifacts super-
villains get their hands on..."

Starfire clutched her own chest for a moment, before turning to swat
Ryouga upside the head.  "Ryouga! Why would you attempt to endanger
Raven's grebnaks?  Could you not think of a better form of jewelry to
produce?"

"At least he didn't get her something haunted," Mousse noted with a
chuckle.

"Yes, unlike a certain someone," Nabiki agreed. "If you put it on and
start losing long tracks of time, you'll know who to kick in the nuts."

"Ok, I think you've all had enough fun at our expense," the older Hibiki
firmly spoke up, hoping to cut things off before they became too
revealing or embarrassing. "Besides, a magical arrowhead is a great
gift! Just put it in a case or something."

"Thank you!" Ryouga growled loudly ... then realized just who it was he
was thanking.  "Uh - I mean - yeah, so what are we doing out here again?
You said something about some kind of combat training?"

"Yep," the other-him replied, seemingly in good cheer. "Back when we
first started, Juliet and our team used to come out here pretty often.
We'd split up and run courses and drills. We had to unlearn a lot of our
natural tendencies to adapt to the battlefield. I know from Raven that
you guys normally operated under a young man named Robin. He probably
ran you through some similar exercises, so the big difference will be
your opposition."

"So, instead of fighting insane criminals, mutant monsters and evil
aliens, we'll be fighting...?" Raven asked with a smirk.

"Us," Ryu replied, "Pretending to be evil aliens. Wait 'till you see
Kuno's Chryssalid impression."

Kuno snickered, raising his hands and making a 'grabbing' motion. The
goofy, slightly perverted grin on his face didn't help either.

"Kuno," the younger Ryouga uttered ominously.  "If you so much as grope
the air around Raven and Starfire, I will personally disarm you.  And I
don't mean your sword."

"You should've seen the fireworks last time he 'caught' Ukyou," the
older Ryouga laughed easily. The memory of the okonomiyaki chef pounding
the swordsman into the ground while her face blushed beet red was
definitely not to be forgotten.

"Consider the indestructible perversion to be added incentive," he
added, "We almost there, Sergeant?"

"Yes, sir," Ryu replied. "Kuno, give us stepping time."

"Gladly!" The swordsman smiled, and started a marching tune.

"Forward Squaddie, don't look back
Charge right down the Ranger's track
With that rifle in my hand
I'm gonna be a shootin' man
A shootin' man
The best I can
A UNETCO Man!"

Mousse picked up the next part, as India's marched in step to the
cadence.

"Forward Squaddie, don't look back
Charge right down the Ranger's track
With that knife in my hand
I'm gonna be a cuttin' man
A cuttin' man
A shootin' man
The best I can
A UNETCO Man!"

The three Titans matched the new pace, not lagging far behind as the
tune passed to Ryu.

"Forward Squaddie, don't look back
Charge right down the Ranger's track
With that grenade in my hand
I'm gonna be a killin' man
A killin' man
A cuttin' man
A shootin' man
The best I can
A UNETCO Man!"

Wrapping one arm around Nabiki to carry her while they ran, Ryouga
continued the tune.

"Forward Squaddie, don't look back
Charge right down the Ranger's track
With that bottle in my hand
I'm gonna be a drinkin' man
A drinkin' man
A killin' man
A cuttin' man
A shootin' man
The best I can
A UNETCO Man!"

Together, the four finished the Jodie.

"Forward Squaddie, don't look back
Charge right down the Ranger's track
With that book in my hand
I'm gonna be a studyin' man
A studyin' man
A drinkin' man
A killin' man
A cuttin' man
A shootin' man
The best I can
A UNETCO Man!"

The younger Ryouga buried his face in his hand as he ran.  "God, someone
please kill me now."

Raven's flat expression equally mirrored his sentiment.  And after
seeing Nabiki get swept up, she muttered something that sounded a bit
like 'Nothing is worth this torment.', before she simply started to
float behind them.

On the other hand, the Tamaranian had a far different reaction.

"Glorious singing, new friends!  Allow me to enchant you with a warrior
ballad from my own world. Its invigorating lyrics will surely energize
us all for the coming battle!"

Taking a deep breath, Starfire prepared to sing -

Only to have a pair of hands slapped over her mouth.

"Ummmm, you might want to ... um, save your breath, Star," Ryouga
mumbled.

Raven, however, was far more blunt.  "No. No more singing. Ever. By
Anyone."

"What?" Kuno called over his shoulder. "Not to your liking, hm?"

India squad laughed at the discomfort of their new training mates.

"Verily, how about one more ballad?" Kuno enthused.

"Yes!" Starfire cheered, pushing the hands away just enough to speak,
ignoring the lost boy's rapidly shaking head behind her.

"The prettiest girl!" Kuno sang, grinning.

"The prettiest girl!" the rest of India repeated with obvious
familiarity.

"I ever saw!" "I ever saw!"

"Was sipping bourbon!" "Was sipping bourbon!"

"Through a straw!" "Through a straw!"

"The prettiest girl," "The prettiest girl!"

"I ever saw," "I ever saw!"

"Was sipping bourbon," The four men stomped their feet as one.
"...through a straw!"

"I walked right up I sat right down I ordered up Another round."
"I placed my hand Upon her knee She said, hey now You're teasing me."
"I placed my hand Upon her thigh She said, hey now That's way too high."

"I picked her up I laid her down Her long red hair Lay all around."
"The wedding was A formal one Her daddy had A white shotgun."
"And now I've got A mother-in-law And 14 kids Who call me Pa!"

Halfway through the song, Raven grimaced and floated ahead, dragging
Ryouga with her.  "I swear to Azar, there will be suffering this day."

Ryouga glowered, as he kept pace with her, leaving everyone else behind
to sing.  "I was going to go after Hibiki first... but now?  Kuno is
going down."

At least Starfire was left, and amused no less.

"Perhaps when we take our break later, you may share with me the
fighting songs of your country, ochre maiden!" Kuno remarked, "Is not
the exchange of culture and understanding one of the tenants of our
international organization, Lieutenant?"

"It is at that," Ryouga acknowledged.

"I would greatly enjoy sharing the songs of my culture," Starfire
cheered ecstatically.  She soured a moment later, looking down.  "For
some reason, my friends do not appreciate my singing.  On my planet, my
voice is considered to be quite lovely indeed."

"A beauty such as yourself must have a truly beguiling voice," Kuno
complimented smoothly. His teeth even sparkled when he smiled.

Now absolutely giddy, Starfire waved her hands about energetically, only
picking up the pace as they traveled.  "Ooooh, now I can not maintain
the patience necessary to wait until the break.  Hurry, we must make
haste so that we may begin, and thus end our activities in a more timely
manner!"

Mousse adjusted his glasses, a cover for when he was up to something.

"Putting the moves on another girl, Kuno?" the blind martial artist
asked. "What would the pigtailed girl think?"

"I thought sweet Akane was the one he pined for?" Ryu questioned,
holding back a chuckle. He struggled to sound serious. "Which one is
it?"

"Curse you all!! Why must you make me choose between my loves?!"

Up ahead, the concrete structures of the training area emerged from the
tree line.

- - -

The training site itself was nothing particularly attractive or fancy.
No pop-out turrets or robots. There were several reinforced concrete
structures and barricades around the area, along with a firing range and
an enclosed area. India squad approached it with practiced ease, came up
to the latter spot and pulled up a concealed pylon. Struts extended,
covering much of the area with a guile of forest colored camouflage. The
four UNETCO soldiers then unpacked, and Nabiki quickly got to work
setting up a portable control station.

"Alright," the native Ryouga finally announced, calling everyone nearby.
"Before anything else, I'd like to ask if anyone has any experience with
either firearms or high explosives."

"No."

"None."

"I do not."

"Miss... Starfire," he continued, remembering hearing that the alien
girl apparently preferred the name to the one he had been given. "I've
been told that you had battlefield experience back on your world. I know
your alien races are very different from our own, but can I ask what you
fought as? Pilot? Infantry? Scout...?"

Starfire tapped her chin in remembrance. "As first in line for the
throne of Tamaran at the time, I was not permitted to join any branch of
the military. That did not stop me from joining several battles,
regardless of my parents' wishes.  Since that was before the experiments
which gave me my powers, I wielded the Energy Lance which is the
preferred weapon of my people."

"I see." It surprised him that she was basically a warrior princess, but
didn't dwell on that fact. Technically, Shampoo was the same... if you
stretched definition a bit. "Could you describe the use of this weapon?"

"I ... will try. The theory behind its function is likely outside the
realm of your current science to comprehend.  In layman's terms, it is a
long hafted, bladed weapon, somewhat resembling an axe. The power core
within the weapon can create an oscillating energy field which allows
the blade to cut through most materials with ease.  It is also capable
of firing long distance energy bursts which disrupt matter on the
molecular level."

Scratching her head as she thought back to her youth, she nodded to
herself. What else was there?

"I preferred the former use, but was not unfamiliar with the latter,"
she concluded. "Primarily, it is used in melee, as are most Tamaranian
weapons."

"Well... unfortunately, I don't think either of those will help with our
standard weapons systems," the older Hibiki decided after some thought.
"Let's start with a demonstration."

He nodded at this and then pointed to Nabiki and then to Ryu.

"Ryu," he said, grinning at the eager look on the other man's face.
"Give them a quick show at the active range. Blue targets only. Three
rounds each."

"Yes, sir," the India Squad Sergeant agreed, lifting a smooth, slightly
dust-matte-colored rifle. Quickly checking a red dot reflex scope on the
rail at top, he walked over to an open area with a warning sign.

"Weapon active," Nabiki spoke up from her computer.

"Weapons hot. Engaging downrange," Ryu warned, checking the status of
the laser rifle. Down the range, three targets popped up at three
different ranges, each one marked by a small sign: 50m, 100m, 200m. The
standing target was colored blue. Near it was an orange target, taking a
crouching position. Last was a red target, lying prone on the ground.

"Blue targets only," he repeated, took a knee, and fired.

The 50 meter distant blue target quickly developed a burning line from
the center of its torso to the right shoulder. A moment later, another
burning red line cut across the chest to the left shoulder, cutting the
head and shoulders off entirely. Before the neatly cut material hit the
ground, another line sliced off the blue target's leg.

Ryu adjusted his aim, and engaged the 100 meter target. He fired just as
quickly, burning a line across the center of mass, then cutting off an
arm, then nicking the side, around the midriff. He switched instantly to
the 200 meter target, this time taking careful aim. A second passed, and
he fired, but it was far enough away it was a bit difficult to see where
the beam hit. Then the target fell forward in three pieces.

"Nine shots, seven mission kills," Nabiki announced. "No misses."

Ryu nodded, standing back up and flicking the safety on the rifle.

"Weapon is cold," he announced, more than used to the safety of dealing
with firearms.

"In the field," Ryouga spoke up, giving Ryu an approving look. "We will
be using four basic weapons systems. The first is the laser rifle, as
Ryu just demonstrated. The second is the alien derived plasma
technology. You will want to be aware of both, but for the purposes of
our exercises today, they will be treated the same. I hear we've got a
new system in recently from the US Branch, but the Q was tight lipped
with I asked him about it. I assume all three of you will not need any
additional weapons systems besides those you brought with you? At least
to start with?"

Ryouga hefted his umbrella and snorted, giving his response.  Starfire
lifted her hands, green, roiling plasma enveloping them. And Raven ...
she simply smiled.

"No, I don't think we'll be needing any of your toys, boys."

"Feh, Gizmo's laser weapons are way cooler," Ryouga mumbled to himself.

"When shall we begin?" Starfire asked, excited. "And what will the
objectives of our confrontational training be?"

"I'm going to start this off pretty simple," the lieutenant explained.
"Search and Destroy. We'll use Course One. Now, this is a UFO
simulation, which means no destructible terrain. In fact, I don't want
you trying to break any of the walls or structures. Beneath that outer
layer of fake-concrete is alien alloy, and I doubt any of us can
penetrate it... except for Miss Raven's phasing trick."

"These weapons," he said, holding up a mockup of a plasma carbine. "Are
copies of the ones we use in the field. Obviously, they're not real.
This will be a bit like laser tag. I you get shot, sensors in your
clothes will determine where you have been hit, and that information
will be sent to Nabiki. You'll feel a small shock when you get hit, and
a pretty damn big one if you are mission killed."

"You've seen our laser weapons which we use for low intensity combat,
next up is the alien plasmas," he continued, holding up the rifle. "The
aliens use medium and heavy plasma rifles as their main weapons, so
we'll start with just those before we start using grenades and stun bomb
analogues. A plasma rifle accelerates a fist sized bolt of superheated
plasma containing a tiny amount of anti-matter. This gas-projectile
moves between eleven and thirty kilometers per second, or more than
thirty to sixty times the speed of sound. On impact, the anti-matter
annihilates, producing a blast of heat and hard radiation in addition to
a shockwave as the air expands."

"We will be considering any shot to the body, the head, the shoulders,
the groin, or the upper legs to be a mission kill," he further
explained.

Seeing everyone got that, he went on to explain why:

"In a real fight, you do not want to get hit by one of these weapons.
They will remove your arm or your legs before the sensation of pain
reaches your brain. A direct hit to the torso will spray half of you in
one direction and flash fry the rest. DO NOT fucking get hit. If you are
taking fire, find cover. If the plasma is eating through your cover,
fall back. For the purposes of this exercise, we can not melt through
obstacles, but later on, we will begin using grenades that will kill you
from behind cover."

"Ultimately," he concluded, "The safest way to survive is to kill your
opponent before he kills you or your buddy. I know you've all been in
serious fights before, but I want to reiterate this anyway, because your
lives depend on it. Do not take unnecessary risks. Do not be afraid to
call for help if you are in trouble. During some of the later exercises,
one of us will reinforce you if you need it."

"If you feel a shock across your chest, you are dead. If you are
wounded, you must immediately stop and have an ally take you out of the
field of fire. Otherwise you are counted as dead at the end of the
exercise. For our part, you can hit us with anything strong enough to
knock out a normal human. For now, we'll count that as a mission kill as
well. Any questions?"

"So," Ryouga inquired, "Basically you guys are gonna try to shoot us,
and we try to knock you out without breaking any walls?"

"Exactly. These walls are important camouflage. Please do not tear
enough of the concrete away to expose the metal inside." He then
elaborated, "Also, none of us will be using our martial arts abilities,
except to simulate alien abilities later on."

"Very well." Raven took a quick look around. "So what?  Do we count to
ten while you four hide, then?"

"You'll get the green light from Nabiki when things are ready. For this
run, India Squad will take the place of three Snakemen." While Ryouga
spoke, Nabiki brought up a picture of a Snakeman holding a medium plasma
rifle on her laptop behind him. "These are medium soldiers used by the
enemy. They are especially common on terror sites and attacks on
civilians. They do not have psionic powers, but they are competent and
quite accurate with their plasma rifles and with guided artillery. Most
do not carry more than a single plasma grenade."

"Your job will be to search the area and destroy all three targets," he
finished. "There will be no civilian targets present. Simple search and
destroy."

He nodded to Ryu, who motioned for Kuno and Mousse to follow him. The
three walked around one of the concrete walls of Course One, quickly
disappearing from view. Nabiki typed into her computer, patching into
the course features, and a door slid down from the ceiling. A minute
later, Nabiki gave the thumbs up.

"Course is green," she said, leaning back. "Controls are in place."

Ryouga faced the three Titans, having not moved from his spot. "You're
good to go. Discuss your approach and go ahead when you're ready. The
doors are touch sensitive. Just press a palm to it and then release your
hand."

As one, the three Titans nodded, then quickly huddled together, away
from the Lieutenant.  Ducking their heads, they quickly began to whisper
amongst themselves.

"So, what do you guys say?"  Ryouga asked.

"Our enemies are quite proficient, and possess the 'field of home'
advantage," Starfire reasoned. "They will likely use their familiarity
with the training ground to gain tactical superiority."

"And they know they have the advantage," Raven whispered back.  "They're
confident, possibly over-confident.  I think they're planning on
embarrassing us to put us in our place."

Ryouga turned to look at his counterpart over his shoulder, before
returning to the huddle.  "Yeah, these guys think we're nothing but a
bunch of dumb kids.  They're pretty much depending on the fact that
we're going to do something rash and stupid."

Starfire nodded sagely.  "That is our usual 'Modus operandi'."

"Heh, exactly," Ryouga replied with a smirk. "It would be cruel of us to
disappoint them.  ...I think I have a plan."

Pulling them down into a closer huddle, he quickly whispered his
strategy.  Both young ladies were soon nodding in agreement, adding in
quick comments and suggestions of their own.

A moment later, they disbanded their small meeting and approached the
door. Ryouga then lifted his hand to open the door.  "All right,
Lieutenant, I think we're ready to go."

"Go ahead," he replied. "Ryu's running things in there, not me."

A quick touch of the palm to the metal surface, and then a release, and
it retracted back into the ceiling. The inside quickly became apparent
as light streamed in: a flat surface ahead of them and curving walls to
the left and right, concealed by the curvature and the wall opposite the
door.

Ryouga scanned the room quickly.  No one was inside ... which was pretty
nice of them.  Would have stunk to get shot down opening the first door.
But a door to the left and a door to the right...? Not exactly the best
options here.

"They likely have both doors covered," Starfire offered.

"And the moment they hear us breach one door, they will undoubtedly try
to pincer us between them by coming through the other door."

"Well, that is a predicament," Ryouga whispered, studying both doors. "I
think it's time to apply some Shampoo style multiple choice logic."

A moment later, the trio leapt aggressively through the black portal
that Raven had opened in the wall between the two distant doors.  Ryouga
was in the lead, his umbrella opened and ready to catch fire, while the
two girls brought their powers to bear.  Fully expecting the trio to be
before them, carefully guarding both doors, they were greatly
disappointed.

Rather, they found themselves in a smallish, square room.  There was an
odd contraption sitting at the center of the room, or at least a mock up
of one.  It didn't seem to be doing anything anyway.  The only other
exit available was a single door on the far side of the room.

"Well ... that was anticlimactic," Ryouga whispered quietly.

"Our location puts us directly between both doors.  Depending upon the
layout of the next room, there may be a corridor, which would place us
between our enemies, or a room, which could put us in front of them."

Starfire's layout of the scenario seemed good, but -

"But, we don't know how far this building expands.  There could be a
dozen more rooms beyond this one," Raven added thoughtfully.

"Well, only one way to find out," Ryouga stated.  The smile on his lips
was anything but pleasant.  "I'll get the door.  Raven, just in case,
why don't you prepare a surprise for our friends?"

Raven looked at him oddly for a moment, before a look of realization
settled on her face, quickly followed by a smile.  "I think I can manage
something."

Ryouga then nodded at Starfire.  "Once we're outta the way, lay down
suppression fire if you see anybody."

"Agreed."

Plan decided on - loosely - the trio got into position: Ryouga and
Starfire on either side of the door, and Raven towards the middle of the
room.  Then, Ryouga gave the signal to begin.  Reaching out quickly, he
pressed his palm to the panel, just as he had to get into the facility
to begin with.  With barely a sound, the doors slid open, revealing a
pair of surprised soldiers who had been quite intently watching the two
sides like hawks.

Before they even had a chance to bring their weapons to bear, the large
metallic mockup sitting at the center of the room, now encased in black
energy, soared out of the room and smashed into the console looking
setup directly between them.  The wooden console was partly crushed, and
the mockup shattered to pieces, showering Ryu and Mousse with debris and
sending them diving to the floor.

A second later, Starfire stepped forward into the doorway.  Her eyes
glowed fiercely for an instant, before she unleashed a sweeping lance of
emerald energy which rolled over one, then the other, even as they
scrambled to roll to their feet.  The Tamaranian then stepped back to
the left behind the door frame and Ryouga quickly shut the door once
more.

"Damn! I only saw two of them!  There's still one more running around
somewhere."

"How should we proceed?" Starfire asked, breathing heavily from
excitement.

"The last one, Kuno I think, could be anywhere," Raven added, frowning.

Ryouga nodded, scratching his head, he pondered the situation.  Frowning
for a moment, he finally looked up.  "Okay, I didn't see any other doors
across from us, so we don't know if the building goes on too much
further.  Here's what we should do-"

"Is it reckless and self sacrificing?" Raven asked with a wry grin.

Ryouga just rolled his eyes.  "That's pretty much all I know." He then
pulled out his communicator.  "Alright, you two head back the way you
came, and each of you take a door.  You know to keep an eye out for any
traps.  I want you each to go to one of those doors, and then send me a
signal when you're in position.  I'll take care of the rest."

"This ... does not sound like a complete plan, friend Ryouga," Starfire
whispered, sounding worried.  "What is it that you will 'take care of'?"

"Just you wait and see.  Now, go already.  You told me to tell you what
to do, so do it already," he ordered, doing his best to maintain a
straight face.

Both girls shared an uneasy glance, before finally obeying his order.  A
moment later, they had both vanished through another dark portal in the
wall.  Ryouga tensed for a second ... but when the sound of battle
failed to make itself known, he finally allowed himself to relax.  He
wasn't exactly the most patient type, so what took less than a minute
felt like an hour to him.  Then, finally, his communicator beeped.  A
quick check showed that both of his team mates were in position, Raven
to the right, Starfire to the left.

"Well, alright," he muttered under his breath.  "Time to see if I'm an
idiot or not."

Holding his communicator tight, he unlimbered his umbrella and held it
to his side, ready.  Taking a deep breath, he took several steps away
from the door, then reached forward and depressed the panel, opening the
door again.  A second later, he exploded out of the room with all the
speed he could muster, launching himself across the room and towards the
control panel in a flash.  Although he nearly tripped over Mousse, he
thought he was home free -

An electric buzz shocked his leg.

"Crap!" he cursed.  It stung like a bitch, but didn't slow him down as
he landed in a roll and spun around a second later, bringing his
umbrella up before him.  He then lifted his communicator.  "Raven!  Your
side!"

He peeked over his umbrella just long enough to see Kuno standing in the
corner, expertly trying to aim his weapon to hit Ryouga where he wasn't
protected by his umbrella shield.  As such, the swordsman was in a sorry
position indeed, when the door directly behind him slid open, a solid
wall of darkness shimmering in the portal.  With reflexes honed from
grueling training, Kuno managed to spin quickly enough to bring his
weapon to bear and fire, even with only the second of warning.

He might as well have been shooting the alien alloy walls, though, and a
second later, the ebony wall surged forward through the opening,
slamming the gun toting samurai into the wall directly across from the
door with enough force to ring the metal like a gong with his skull.

The lights immediately came on in full, bathing the darkened walls and
illuminating the room.

"Mission complete," Nabiki's voice came in over a hidden speaker. "Head
on out, you grunts."

Taking a deep breath, Ryouga calmed himself, and watched as Kuno got
back on his feet. The swordsman seemed unhurt and gave Raven a
respectful nod as he moved past her to head back outside. Ryu came by
next, giving the lost Titan a hearty slap on the shoulder, and then
Mousse, who was silent. It wasn't quite the showdown with India Squad
that the lost Titan had expected and, truth be told, gotten kind of
psyched up for. It was too damn amicable.

Heading out, he saw Raven and Starfire, looking quite pleased. As the
three exited, they came back into the sun and the chilly mountain air.

"Not a bad first run," the uniformed Hibiki said, both to them and to
India. "The first time we went up against another team, Bravo squad cut
us down right away."

"How did they get behind us like that?" Ryu had to ask with a bit of an
unhappy huff.

"Raven's phasing ability is allowed, since she can use it through
alloy," Ryouga reminded him. "You got careless, Ryu."

Raven patted him on the shoulder.  "Well, you did say that you were
eager to die for a woman.  Are Starfire and I not good enough?"

Before Ryu could, like a certain other senken master, promptly put his
foot in his mouth, he was cut off by the cheers of the dimensionally
displaced Ryouga and his Tamaranian teammate.  The fanged boy turned to
Starfire and crowed victoriously.  "Yes! Flawless victory!"

"Indeed!" Starfire cheered.  "This necessitates the deployment of 'The
Booyah'!"

Kuno and Ryu's eyes popped open a bit a second later, when the pair, in
their excitement, leapt up and bumped chests like a pair of football
players before beginning shameless victory dances.

For her part, Raven just covered her eyes with a hand.  "I do not know
them."

The native Ryouga watched the display, a bit aghast.

"Though it pains me to admit it, they're craftier than I thought," he
admitted. "Aggressive and crafty. A good combination. Run it again. Ryu,
remember they have certain unique advantages."

"Yes, sir," Ryu replied quickly.

"Same layout," Nabiki spoke up from hr controls. "When you go in, can
you put what's left of the reactor back in place?"

"I'll take care of it," Mousse assured her as the three headed back
inside.

"In the future, if you see an object like that, don't try and rip it
up," Ryouga explained while India went back for another round. "It
explodes. Even though this one is just a wood model."

Round two went a bit differently from the first. Knowing the layout
inside, the Titans opened the door and immediately ran into an ambush.
Raven  provided cover, but then Mousse came in from the side and took
out Ryouga's and Starfire's legs before the three could get much
distance from the other. On her own, Raven then dropped Mousse, and then
Kuno, but in the end, all three were dropped before they got more than a
few feet into the structure.

The next time, they used Raven to enter the structure at an unprotected
point.

India Squad, which had dispersed to cover the front door with Kuno on
one side and Mousse on the other, was caught flat footed. Kuno was
knocked out right off the bat, and Mousse got caught falling back. Ryu
barely managed to get a shot off at Ryouga before falling, but that
damned umbrella of his just kept getting in the way.

After that, expecting India to fall back, the Titans made another
impromptu entrance. Instead, Ryu and Kuno were lined up near the front
door, covering the right and left approaches. A blast of harmless, but
still nearly blinding, particle fire managed to slip around Ryouga's
umbrella, just grazing his shoulder, while another caught Starfire in
the thigh. With both team mates injured, Raven opted to retrieve her two
downed comrades instead of trying to take on all of India on her own
again.

"Starfire and Ryouga were only wounded," the older Hibiki had commented
then. "You made the right choice, Raven. Two wounded is better than
three dead any day of the week."

After that, he joined Ryu and the rest of India, making it a 3 on 4
exercise, and much more difficult. For the first time, the Titans tried
to breach at two points, but again lost a member in exchange for taking
out two of India Squad. They then got ambushed after storming into the
empty navigation and engine areas, as Kuno and Ryu came in from behind,
ending the battle with Kuno as the last man standing.

By that point, the squads had gotten into a rapid routine of run,
execute, reset, plan, run, execute. It didn't take long for the Titans
to better adapt to the situation and odds. Rather than purely relying on
cover, Starfire would send out a particularly bright starbolt, hitting
the floor with a flash. Sometimes this was cover for the real entrance,
sometimes just to draw fire. Raven and Ryouga would then move in hard
and fast to secure the room, minimizing the changes of heavy return fire
or ambushes from behind.  Though lacking in the same offensive firepower
as their X-COM opponents, Ryouga's umbrella and Raven's shields quickly
proved to be incredibly powerful defenses, especially in such close
quarters.

Then, with only a passing warning, Nabiki changed the course.

First, she altered the course to be a single large room, with assorted
obstacles that went up to around chest height. This proved particularly
deadly at first, as most of India Squad was quickly able to concentrate
their fire on just one or two entrances. Rather than keep splitting
themselves up, the Titans instead focused on making very quick breaches
before finding cover inside the large room.

Nabiki switched things up again.

The second floor of the Course unlocked, adding a new dimension to
attacking and defending. The two groups ran over and over and over to
varied degrees of success. The Titans, in their current arrangement, did
best where they could either exploit Raven's ability to bypass choke
points and obvious ambushes or where they could close very rapidly with
India. If they got pinned down, they quickly learned not to stick around
and fight, but rather to withdraw and come in from another angle.  The
strength of their defense made it brutally annoying to prevent their
flights and their unorthodox methods of movement made chasing them down
a tricky prospect at best.

Finally, Nabiki called lunch, in her own way.

"I'm hungry so you guys are taking a break!" being that way.

"Lieutenant, would you refresh my memory: who is in charge of this
exercise again?" Kuno asked, walking over with his rifle slung back over
his shoulder. They'd just finished a particularly up close and personal
fight with the Titans.

"You wouldn't know it, but I am," the uniformed Hibiki grumbled.

"Maybe you should remind her that," Mousse recommended as adjusted his
glasses. "Before your level of familiarity becomes... troublesome."

"Maybe I should," the Lieutenant agreed. "This isn't a bad time to take
a break, though. Let's catch up with her. Ryu?"

Ryu motioned over India Squad and their recent opponents. "Come on you
guys."

Ryouga shrugged.  "Sounds like you guys are taking things way too
seriously."

"Indeed," agreed Starfire. "Nabiki, though malevolent by nature, is
still a dear friend of yours. Why would you reprimand her for acting as
such?"

"Hey, wait just a second! I wouldn't say she's malevolent by nature.
She's actually... nice in a way, when she wants to be," the older Ryouga
immediately came to her defense, but added, "She's just very
independent... I rely on her a lot more than most Lieutenants do their
coordinator. It's complicated."

The super heroic Ryouga grinned.  "Riiight.  Sounds suspicious to me. I
know the Nabiki in my world pretty well.  If she's being nice, it's not
because she wants to be, it's because she wants something.  Only
question is... what do you have that she'd want?"

"What indeed?" Raven added.  She then fired an extremely telling look in
the older Ryouga's direction.  "Perhaps it's not truly as complicated as
you make it out to be?"

"I'm pretty sure it is," he replied, a bit evasively.

For some reason, Mousse had to repress a chuckle.

As they headed out, it turned out Nabiki had picked a nice spot a couple
dozen feet from the firing range, but close to where they had all stowed
their gear. She already had her pack down and was busy unfolding a large
green tarp to cover the lightly snow covered ground. She waved to the
groups as they came into view and ran over, a broad smile on her face.

"Well, guys! Guess who won the mid-day pool?" she asked, stopping next
to their packs.

"I got this in the bag!" Ryu exclaimed, pumping his fist.

"So sorry, Ryu-chan," Nabiki patted him playfully on the shoulder as he
went to retrieve his lunch. "But Mousse currently has the highest kill
to death ratio for India squad."

"Knew it," the Chinese weapons master grinned triumphantly.

The middle Tendo daughter didn't miss the look Ryouga gave her, either.

"And, no, I didn't stop the exercise to rig the results. Geez!" She
thumped the uniformed Hibiki in the chest. "I appreciate you trying to
keep me on my toes, but it isn't necessary all the time, Ryou-chan!
Fifteen percent off the top for the four of you means I always win
anyway. Come on, let's eat already!"

With just that, she led the four boys back over to her makeshift camp
site.

Moving to the gear, the younger Ryouga picked up his backpack and
rejoined them. "That's not very adventurous of you, Nabiki.  Only taking
bets on your four guys, instead of on all seven of us? No offense, but
that first battle kind of set the tone for the day." He gave a short,
confident laugh. "And here you people were, expecting us to get taken
out like a bunch of kids."

Raven shook her head, even as she accepted one of the packed lunches
that Ryouga extracted from his pack.  "Don't rub it in, Ryouga.  They
simply thought that being teammates for a few months would make up for
the years of training that Starfire and I have had together."

"However, do not feel badly, new friends," Starfire offered hastily.
"You are indeed most proficient.  Why, when your Ryouga joined your
side, the battles became most even indeed!"

"Hey now, I wouldn't say we thought you were a bunch of kids," the other
Ryouga replied, sitting down next to Nabiki with his own lunch, packed
in a clear plastic extra-sized bento box. "I mean, most of us here have
been training to be martial artists for most of our lives. What do you
think Ranma and I thought when we first started out? There's confidence
and then there's overconfidence."

"Ryouga-baby," Nabiki switched to the English slang, knowing he found it
was marginally less 'annoyingly-cute'. "They're doing well. Let's leave
it at that. If they do get into the field, they know how to take care of
themselves."

"It was a most interesting morning," Raven stated.  "Aside from the
'victory dances', it was quite professional and intense.  It's a shame
Robin wasn't here.  He would have loved this."

"Robin's another one of your friends from back home? He an alien, like
Starfire here?" Ryu asked, unpacking a cold cut wrap and water bottle.
The Titans sat largely opposite India Squad, with Starfire at the end
close to Kuno.

Starfire giggled in amusement at the implication.  "Oh, most assuredly
not.  Robin is a human being.  A most wonderful human being indeed,
possessed of great skill and intelligence!"

Titan-Ryouga nodded. "You can say that again.  He might not be able to
fight in the same league as those of us from Nerima, but he's the last
Titan I'd want to go up against." He smirked at his counterpart. "Trust
me, if he was here, and not just me, you would have seen what the Titans
can really do as a team. The whole damn morning would have been one long
clean sweep."

In fact, the native Ryouga knew quite well about Robin, via Raven's
memories. At least some of the general stuff. Sadly, even Raven's
memories of certain events were far from perfect. The girl wasn't
exactly eidetic.

"What's his style?" he asked, instead, it being a question he was
genuinely curious about. "I know he uses some bojutsu, but not much
else."

Ryouga shrugged.  "Ninjitsu, Kung Fu, some Amazon Wu Shu.  I've even
been teaching him some of my style as well, though it doesn't really
suit him. He knows a few weapon styles as well. Really good with thrown
weapons. He's got a lot of training, all things considered."

The older Hibiki shrugged, but considered Ryouga's description.  "Has he
manifested an internal or external aura yet? Ukyou recently trained up a
ki attack, and Akane's been making progress on her aura, too."

"Not quite yet, surprisingly," Ryouga replied, relaxing thanks to the
familiar point of conversation. "His Chestnut fist is getting good,
though.  He's got a good handle on the basics of the Iron Cloth
technique.  Damn brat is already trying to apply it differently than
us."

"How so? Dad already mastered the full body free-hand style and Mom
developed the mass-altering style. I haven't really seen you use yours,
but it's probably like my injection-seal type. Did you start him with
Rhythmic Gymnastics then?"

The younger Ryouga shook his head in the negative. "No, no.  I'm not
sure how useful it would be yet.  We both know the style's major
weakness, and a lot of our enemies tend to be the massive, charge in
head-on types.  I might consider it later, though, depending on how he
comes along.  If he wasn't so worried about training Kasumi up to an
acceptable level, he'd probably be further along."

That immediately caught Nabiki's interest; she paused in the steady
dissection of her chicken Caesar salad. She'd been picking one crouton
out at a time to eat separately.

"Your Kasumi's training again?" she asked, honestly surprised by the
statement.

Starfire nodded enthusiastically. "Indeed, she is quite talented."

Ryouga coughed into his hand. "Ahem, yeah ... she's just full of
surprises ..."

"Wait... she doesn't have Daddy's Mugen or any of the other Forbidden
Scrolls, does she?" Nabiki asked, a trace of worry entering her voice.
"I can't imagine they'd ever suit her temperament, unless your Kasumi is
much more... temperamental than ours."

For some reason, Raven adopted a dour face.  "I wouldn't call it
'temperamental' ...exactly. She certainly is something, though."

"Oh, desist in your silliness, Raven.  Kasumi is a perfect depiction of
feminine grace and ideals," Starfire cooed.  "She is as gentle as a
Kalrithian Slorfang."

"I don't think she has any of your dad's techniques- " Ryouga coughed
into his hand, though the cough sounded suspiciously like 'like she'd
want them.' "-but she's doing quite well. She's also learned to dress
for success."

"Wait a sec!" Ryu spoke up, since he was in an adopted branch of
anything goes, based around his new Reformed Yamasenken. He pointed at
Nabiki. "I thought you guys specialized in defensive techniques? Genma
never mentioned the other school having forbidden techniques."

"Have you ever heard of grandfather Happosai's 'grow giant battle aura'
technique?" Nabiki asked, looking across at the Kumon heir. "It's like
that. The Tendo style is based on using fighting spirit. Supposedly,
Kasumi manifested her first aura at six. She's a prodigy."

"Kasumi? Really?" Ryu sounded doubtful. "She doesn't have enough killing
intent to stop a fly much less a person!"

"The day after she manifested it we got a visit from three shrine
keepers and a Buddhist monk," Nabiki continued. "I love Kasumi, but I
really hope she never seriously trains like that again."

"Actually, you just got me all excited," the uniformed Ryouga said with
a chuckle.

Nabiki gave him a stare that all but screamed 'shut it!'

With the Tendo sister's death glare, a lull settled over the crew and
everyone finally settled in to begin eating their assorted lunches.
Several short minutes passed in the near silence, until it was finally
broken by the Tamaranian present. The red haired alien, who had been
studying her violet haired teammate intently for a time now, could hold
in her curiosity no longer.

"Friend Raven," she began in a slightly worried tone. "...I am inclined
to ask. Are you ill?"

Raven started at that.  She looked up, a look of confusion on her face
as she stared at Starfire.  "Um ... no.  Why do you ask?"

"Well... I was simply concerned.  During our morning battles, you were
not applying your powers with your usual alacrity. I was wondering if
there was some problem. Under normal conditions, I am confident you
could have won the day even without the aid of Ryouga and myself."

The dark Titan shifted uncomfortably at the concerned inquiry.  "... No,
no, there's nothing wrong.  I - I just didn't want to spoil the
training, is all.  There was no reason to go all out when Ryu, Mousse
and Kuno were holding back so much as well."

"Actually," Mousse spoke up just then, glasses glinting. "I noticed a
difference as well. I've made a point of studying what I was able to
capture from you before. There's something different today... however, I
understand if you'd prefer not to discuss it in public like this."

"It is ... hard to explain," Raven admitted.  "I'm not exactly one
hundred percent certain I understand it myself."

"What?  Something's wrong?" Ryouga barked, borderline panic lacing his
voice.  "What was it?  Was it Mousse's draining technique?  If that's
it, I'll wring him out like a towel!"

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Raven replied quickly, trying to
forestall his unfounded wrath.

"I'd actually considered that it was my technique," Mousse spoke up,
unperturbed by any potential wrath he could be on the receiving end of.
"But I believe there's something wrong with the way her powers take
form. While not a martial artist in our sense, Raven's abilities do not
appear to be instinctive. She has to think, consciously or
unconsciously, for them to work properly. That thought or state of mind
is then turned into willpower, and then into psychic impulse... in the
same way we use internal chi to produce a battle aura of a specific
type."

"Oh?" the older Ryouga realized, but kept his voice barely above a
speculative mutter.

"... Actually, that's quite wrong," Raven replied with a smirk.  "Under
normal circumstances, I do not concentrate to use my powers; I
concentrate solely on restraining my powers, rather than actively
'forming' my power, I do more the opposite, simply unleashing it in a
desired fashion.  Since my power is so closely tied to my subconscious,
and my emotions, I am forced to dedicate a large amount of my focus to
simply keep them in check.  There have been several occasions where my
powers have manifested in ... spectacular ways without me even knowing
about it."

Starfire shuddered uncontrollably.  "I do not wish to recall the 'Wicked
Scary' events of that best forgotten night."

"But something's different now, isn't it?" Mousse asked, turning also to
his CO. Both he and Kuno knew the native Ryouga had taken part in a mind
dive back when she had first been taken in and examined. "Lieutenant?"

"That's up to Miss Raven to reveal," he replied. "If she wants to."

The dark Titan stared at the lieutenant for a moment.  She seriously
considered whether to answer or not ...  She then looked to Starfire,
and then Ryouga.  Squeezing her fists down on her knees, she slowly
shook her head.

"I ... would rather not discuss it at the moment," she decided. "I would
prefer to learn more about what might possibly be ... off."

"That's fine. I don't know if there's anything we can do to help," the
older Ryogua offered. "But Seiran has several very accomplished psychics
if you need it."

"I doubt that would help," Raven replied, forlornly.  "...However, I am
interested in knowing how it is that the four of you actually trained
your own psychic abilities up to the point you have.  I know for a fact
that you and Ranma have about as much psionic talent as Beast Boy.  You
must have gone through intense training to gain any ability at all."

"Beast Boy?" Mousse asked, simply.

"It wasn't a compliment, though this Beast Boy is one of her close
friends," Ryouga clarified, but then addressed the more pressing
question. "First, we trained. Many aliens have psionic attacks, so our
commanding officers and mentors all taught us how to defend our minds.
After a certain point, we were given devices called psi-amps which
enhance our ability to project our thoughts. Currently, most of us are
considered Class-B or C psychics on offense and defense. Needless to
say, we train at the psi-gym every day."

"Psi gym?"  The interest in the girl's voice was obvious.

Behind her, her Ryouga did his best to stifle a yawn, while Starfire
stealthily took the opportunity to steal some of the distracted martial
artist's lunch.

"A facility where we practice against one another and simulated
opponents, or to improve our mental defenses... I can show you it later.
There are also trained doctors there to oversee any psionic problems
that develop, usually due to trauma," the lieutenant replied, but didn't
miss how his otherworld counterpart seemed bored. "All three of you will
get a taste of some of that later... The next set of exercises will
include how to recognize and defend against psionic attacks during a
fight. You won't find the idea so boring when it's used on you."

The younger Ryouga seemed about to growl a response, but -

"Anyway," Nabiki coughed, trying to move onto a less potentially
troublesome topic. "Ryouga," she addressed the younger of the two. "I
know you all live in the States... does that mean you plan to switch
citizenship? Are you going to school there?"

Ryouga looked at her like she was crazy.  "School? Citizenship? Why the
heck would I have to worry about those kinds of things?  I never have
before."

"Actually," Raven interrupted, "We do have home schooling curriculums
which Robin insists upon, however, do to his unique situation, Ryouga
hasn't had time to deal with any of that yet.  As a group of super
heroes, it is out of the question for us to attend any form of public
institution, as it would just needlessly draw danger down on the other
students."

"Also," Starfire added, "Robin has ... 'contacts', which he uses to
smooth over any 'citizenship' or immigration issues.  As neither Raven,
nor myself are even native to this planet, it is a topic which had to be
dealt with long ago."

"That's pretty neat," Nabiki replied, primarily impressed by the ability
of this Robin fellow to wield such useful 'contacts' in the government.
She could just smell the bribes and gentleman's 'agreements' that
must've taken place behind the scenes.

Ryu spoke up, too: "We're in kind of the same boat, actually. The whole
'wandering martial artist' thing. Saotome and the Tendos were just
finishing school when they got picked up. Nabiki and Kuno were in
college already... where did you guys go again?"

"Kyoto," Kuno replied first. "Kendo scholarship."

"Meiji," Nabiki said, a few seconds later, but didn't elaborate.

"Yeah," Ryu continued. "Hibiki and I had to play catch up."

"Part of officer training is to have a rounded education," the older
Ryouga explained. "Ranma and I are both expected to work towards a
bachelor's degree in addition to our normal duties."

"Sounds boring." The younger Ryouga took a moment to look at his lunch,
a suspicious tint flashing in his eyes as he studied the strangely
lacking contents. He then shot an accusatory glance at the Tamaranian,
who began to whistle innocently.

"Actually, it sounds like a good idea," Raven stated, frowning at the
pair as they kidded around.  "In fact, Kasumi isn't just learning
martial arts; again, she's also learning medicine from Cyborg.  He
already has doctorate equivalent in several fields related to his ...
unique situation."

"Ranma and I also have the benefit of psionic learning... so no classes
or lectures."

"Cheating is another word for it," Nabiki quickly added.

After a short explanation of how information could be psionically passed
on, "Matrix style" (in Ryu's words), Kuno broached the subject certain
members of the assembled groups had been dreading: traditional
Tamaranian song and cadence.

It was during this quick interlude that a certain pair politely excused
themselves.

"Okay, Nabiki... what's all this about?"

"I don't know what you mean, Ryouga-baby. What's all what about?"

The two had stolen a bit of privacy away from the group and exchanged
words quietly, using part of the Course One faux-concrete to shield
themselves from view. Ryouga, as usual, bore a serious and concerned
expression that drew his brows together into a shallow scowl. Nabiki
remained relatively carefree, despite his serious tone. It was a
dynamic, a dichotomy; that the two had shared even before they really
worked together as officer and coordinator.

"You know what," he replied, crossing his arms and leaning back against
the wall. He lowered his voice a bit more as he continued, "I know you,
Nabiki. There's something up and I want to know what."

"Oh?" she teased, leaning in closer to point him in the chest. "You know
me, do you?"

"I do," he confidently replied, knowing she wanted him to explain
himself, "Keeping an eye on Raven was one thing and something I do
appreciate... but going this far for these three? I heard you talked
your way into getting them to Ops last night, then you organized all
this, and now you're being suspiciously defensive of them?"

"You know I love it when you pay attention," she replied with a smirk,
and spun around to put her back up against the wall next to him. "You're
right, of course. I am up to something."

He gave an exasperated sigh. "I figured as much. I just don't see why."

"First," Nabiki stipulated, leaning a bit towards him. "Are you really
that against fighting alongside those three?"

Ryouga thought before answering.

"Not really," he admitted. "They're all quite good. I knew that from
before. But what if one of them gets killed? Those two girls
especially... they're so damn eager to help. This is ironic coming from
me, but it's reckless."

"You know better than I do what they've encountered on their world,"
Nabiki argued, playing devil's advocate (her favorite kind of advocate,
actually).

"I do. And I know better than any of them that there's a big damn
difference between what they do and what we do. A big damn difference,
not the least of which is the fact that we kill our enemies." His frown
deepened. "So, no, in an ideal situation I wouldn't want them on the
battlefield. Not... not yet. Hell, Kuno almost got killed our first time
out because of his overconfidence. You think I'd forget something like
that and put more people in danger before they're ready?"

Nabiki smiled at him, feeling a bit affectionate despite the undertones
of the conversation. So she elbowed him and pushed off the wall to face
him directly.

"I think that's something you and that other-you have in common. You
don't want anything to happen to innocent people. You don't want others
to take a risk when you can take it instead. It's stupidly noble and one
of your more annoying traits, in my opinion." She gave him a long,
serious look. "What happened to the surly, fight-happy Ryou-chan who
assembled this squad in the first place? Was that a mistake, too?"

"Of course not!" he barked, a little too loudly, before lowering his
voice again. "Of course not. But this is our world. Our families. Our
responsibility. If one of those three gets killed tomorrow, what will it
be for? And it seems like every time I try to warn them that this is
dangerous, that they don't have to fight, I run right into a wall."

"You're missing the obvious," Nabiki said with a soft sigh, turning to
pace away from him a few feet. "Which is typical of you. From what I've
seen, those three are just like you and Ranma. If they see a fight, and
a side they like, they'll go to the wall for that fight. It doesn't
matter how unprepared they are. That's part of how they identify
themselves, and how they show their fighter's pride."

His eyes widened a bit at that, and his frown fought to keep from
relenting.

"I'm sure they haven't seen some of the things you have. That we have.
They don't seem to worry as much about losing people..." Nabiki said
that last part very quietly, knowing it was a particularly soft spot.
Ryouga's expression darkened a shade and his eyes closed, a sign she
knew to mean that she'd hit the problem square on the nose and into the
wall.

"So what?" he finally said, a few seconds later. "You obviously want me
to pass on a recommendation to the Commander that they be allowed to
come as 'observers.'"

She posed a question instead. "You said their skills aren't lacking,
right?"

"They all move and fight well," he admitted with a quick glance back, in
the rough direction of where the Titans sat, eating lunch. "But you know
full well that there are no guarantees. They could be the best fighters
in the world and they could still die on any given mission to some cheap
shot out of the blue."

Nabiki nodded, seemingly pleased by his answer.

"Now, why are you pressing me on this so much?" he asked, watching as
her expression turned playfully devious.

"I'm honestly surprised you haven't figured it out yourself, since
you're not the dummy you often appear to be," she teased and walked up
to him. "When you see smoke, what do you think?"

"Smoke?" he asked, confused. "What...?"

"The answer is fire. When you see smoke, you think 'fire.'" She replied,
rolling her brown eyes at his bemused look. "And if you're in Nerima,
and you see an explosion, what do you think?"

...

"Martial artist," he guessed. "Or Ranma, actually."

"Exactly!" she exclaimed, holding up her hands to gesture form one to
the other. "Explosion; martial artist; Ranma. And you'd probably be
right. Just like how seeing smoke implies that there's a fire. You
didn't notice it, but we've already seen the explosion, and sitting out
there, the martial artist."

He shook his head. "Wait, what? Is this Ranma's fault?"

"No, you idiot!" Nabiki gently knocked his forehead, not wanting to hurt
her hand hitting the immovable object with too much force. "Think about
it! A bunch of dimension hopping teens, one of them your alternate
double, appear and all end up gravitating towards us. It's basically a
guarantee that this will end up in some big fight, and I'm ninety
percent sure you'll need them nearby when that happens so that you
can... you know... overcome a foe neither of you can beat alone or
something. I've been living around you martial arts types long enough to
put two and two together."

Ryouga opened his mouth to argue - but quickly closed it. She had a
point. That sort of stuff did tend to happen. It also put her actions in
a new light. This sort of situation usually revolved around Ranma, with
himself and often Mousse acting as the immediate backup.

"Maybe," he admitted. "I can see what you mean."

"Of course you can," Nabiki briskly replied, knowing he would be
convinced the more he thought about it. "That's why I'm here, after all.
To watch your back. You wanted to know why I'm helping out those three?
It's because I want them there to help you out when the time comes."

He raised an inquisitive - and a little skeptical - eyebrow.

"Well," she admitted with a shrug. "That and, if I'm right, it'll look
good on my performance report..."

"And it's amusing!" She quickly added. "And it gives me a chance to one-
up that bitch Reiko! And I might be able to make a little money out of
them..." She paused in listing off the possibilities, quickly adopting a
sweetly saccharine tone. "But mostly I did it for you, Ryou-chan! After
all, you still owe me!"

He smirked at her excuses, more than used to them by now.

"And what, exactly, do I owe you?" he asked, snagging her counting hand.
"I seem to recall being ahead the other night."

"Really? I seem to recall being on top," she leaned close and whispered,
grinning at his attempted boldness. Color rose up on his cheeks, and his
bravado quickly started to give way to stuttering embarrassment at the
sexual innuendo. Thoroughly enjoying his discomfort, even as out-of-
sight and out-of-earshot as they were, the middle Tendo daughter pecked
him quickly on the cheek.

"I'll always have your back," she said, seriously, as she took a step
back. "I don't lose the things I like without a fight."

"You're not mad I had... that I thought...?" he struggled to say it, but
it was clear what he meant.

"Not really," she admitted with a smile. "It just means you're thinking
about me."

"About you being devious maybe."

"I don't see a difference."

- - -

By the time the two got back, Kuno and Starfire were busily trading
marching (and drinking) songs, while Ryu sat nearby, leaning against his
pack and staring up at the cloudy sky.  Across from them, Raven and the
alternate Ryouga were huddled together, clutching their hands to their
ears and apparently praying for divine assistance.

Still.

They'd get their recommendation.

Time would tell whether they ended up regretting it or not.



Abstract -- Konatsu Rank: Squaddie

Three unrelated step-siblings; stepmother known only as "Kotet"
(Japanese Intel has no official information or documentation on
Konatsu's family). Biological parents deceased. Konatsu (we have no
family name registered per his request) was raised in the 'Eight Ways
Sexy Kunoichi' style of ninjutsu. He was also given legacy training in
another style referred to as 'unlawful' ninjutsu. The specifics of all
this seem rather strange, but with these kids, who's to say?
Effectively, he's got two different fighting 'styles' sort of like
Saotome and Kumon's 'Thousand Fist' styles. squaddie has cut all
communication and ties with apparently abusive step-family. Worked for a
time under Kuonji prior to Nerima Event.

Konatsu's skill set is pretty unique. The squaddie is superhumanly
stealthy, just like Saotome can be, but he does it by default. You lose
sight of him and he just vanishes into the background. Never seen
anything like it. He can disguise himself in a crowd, in urban terrain,
in the field, in a jungle, basically anywhere and with virtually no
prep. Best ambush oriented trooper I've ever seen. A real flare for
setting up traps even before he got his hands on prox-grenades and
claymores.

In a straight up fight, the squaddie is capable. Good aim. Not great,
but good. Better with light plasma than laser or projectile. Cool under
fire. Has several area saturation techniques, distractions mostly, used
as cover or suppression to maneuver and expose an unguarded flank.
Situation specific moves strong at all ranges, but especially in close.
Can use 'multiple body' technique for scouting; incendiaries at
midrange; CQC skills up close. Extremely strong and fast. Defense rather
poor; has to keep up attack or fall back. Good addition to a
strike/rapid response and scout squad. Psionic class-C but almost
entirely defensive or situation specific (some of his abilities can be
considered class-B or A, see: Multi-body variants). Excels in
information extraction and covert ops.

The official stuff is all included. (attachment) Service Record
(attached).

CT:Juliet (Oct 2006) as Squaddie. Promotion (Nov 2006) to Sqd 1st class
then acting Sergeant. Promotion (Dec 2006) Sergeant. Prominent roles in
Ghost Wire, Winter Triangle. Participated in AB17 Alpine Echo Seven (Dec
2006). Fiftieth Kill recorded (Jan 2007). Luna (2007). Psionic profile
(attached). Operator: R. Harris primary; N. Tendo secondary. Squaddie
has a collection of personalized equipment. (special equipment
attachment)

Loyalty considered VERY GOOD. Extremely committed to organization and
empowered by work. Morale wavers, but is typically GOOD. Some lingering
personal complications between Squaddie and Kuonji. Have never affected
performance in the field. Not aggressive or temperamental, but very
methodical and ruthless when ordered. Executes missions with precision
and efficiency and never deviates from objectives. While a stabilizing
element in CT:Juliet, Konatsu could easily be attached to any other
lightly equipped combat team. More training and confidence building
would be necessary before advancement to commissioned rank; technical
skills and psionic imprinting only go so far. Task 1 of CLEANSLATE isn't
his ideal sort of fight; recommend holding back CT:Juliet until after
beachhead is established. CT:India is the bludgeon out of the two. We'll
want CT:Juliet ready for surgical strikes in T2 and T3.

[signature redacted]






##

BROTHER EYE PROTOCOLS TOP CLEARANCE REQUIRED

SUBJECT: 9780 CODENAME: *Unknown* REAL NAME: Kasumi Tendo

SPECIES: Human HEIGHT: 5'9" WEIGHT: 125lbs HAIR COLOR: Brunette EYE
COLOR: Brown

KNOWN ABILITIES:  Reports suggest the subject is a Level 5-6 martial
artist.  Received training in family style as a child, close combat
training from H.I.V.E. instructors and is currently being taught by
Subject: 203:Codename: Robin. The subject has also received an unknown
amount of training in other criminally related skills: more research is
required. Currently, there is no evidence that the subject possesses any
level of skill, combat or otherwise, to suggest that she is a threat.
Recommendation: Removal of subject from Brother Eye Protocols pending a
more thorough examination.

EXPLOITABLE WEAKNESSES:  Subject is considered to be a non-combatant.
Recommend calling the police if the subject infringes upon any laws.

KNOWN HISTORY:  The subject was born and raised in the Nerima Ward of
Tokyo, Japan.  Full public and schooling records indicate an
unremarkable childhood, with little to suggest any unusual
circumstances.  The subject's mother passed away while the subject was
still quite young and evidence gathered from other subjects, as well as
members of the neighbourhood, corroborate that the subject took on
homemaker duties in response to this.  Due to this event, the subject
never finished high school, giving up academics in favour of caring for
her family.

Very little of note is mentioned until just over two years ago, when a
spike in metahuman activity arose in the Nerima Ward.  Almost all of
these events centered around Subject: 9795:Codename: Ranma Saotome, and
records indicate that the subject rarely, if ever, became involved in
any of these situations.  This trend of non-involvement ended several
months ago, when the subject, as well as her sister Subject:
9782:Codename: Nabiki Tendo were abducted from their home by members of
the H.I.V.E. Academy. This abduction occurred as part of a sweeping
operation which resulted in the capture of numerous other martial
artists, including: Subject: 9781:Codename: Happosai, Subject:
9783:Codename: Weapon Master, Subject: 9784:Codename: Blue Thunder.

The subject spent over two months within the H.I.V.E. Academy and was
purportedly subjected to mind control but has shown no sign of any
effects in relation.  Eventually the subject and others were freed from
their captivity by Team Designation: Teen Titans, as well as other
martial artists from the Nerima area.

Since that time the subject has, for reportedly educational reasons,
stayed on with the Titans.  There are no records of her getting involved
in any combat situations during her stay.

CURRENT THREAT LEVEL: N/A

PERSONAL NOTE:  Of all of the people currently at the Tower, this Kasumi
confuses me the most.  To a man... and woman... the Titan's are a tragic
group. They are orphans, the subject of unfortunate accidents, displaced
from their homes by great distances, or kept separate from whatever
remaining family they might have by circumstances wholly beyond their
ability to control - or any combination of the above - yet here we have
a young woman that stands as a stark, or should I say radiant,
exception.  She comes from a loving family, is well liked by her friends
and neighbours, and is not at all the type of person to get involved in
the world of super heroics.

...So why is Kasumi Tendo staying at Titan's Tower?  Not that I begrudge
Dick and the others of having someone with such an obviously nurturing
nature to look after them, but it seems reckless to have a civilian
present in such a high profile target as their home.  There have to be
better ways to learn medicine than learning it in a warzone, or a
potential one, anyway.  I don't want to tell Dick how to run his team,
but perhaps it might not be a bad idea for a Wayne Industries
Scholarship to just happen to be sent her way.  Say, for Gotham
University, far removed from California and the Titans? Perhaps even an
internship at Wayne Medical, for good measure?

##