[FFML] [Ranma][Various] Avenging Act IV Chap 2

[DB Sommer]

Avenging
Act IV
The Hate Monger and the Peacemaker
Chapter 2



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[sommert at consolidated.net]

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Standard disclaimer: I don’t own any of the Marvel characters or other 
characters from the numerous animes which are within.

Here’s a great reference guide for many character and objects in the 
Marvel Universe.

[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/index.htm]

[Writer’s Note: This chapter mostly features background and secondary 
characters. But at least they have mostly appeared before. Also it 
refers to some events in previous chapters. And yes, we'll finally close 
in a bit on the mistress's identity. In fact, let's kill somebody. Then 
next chapter we'll focus on the Ranma regulars.]

xxxxxxx

She lounged in her chamber, only half the viewscreens on as information, 
both textual and visual, pored over them. Survey teams had taken some 
very interesting readings in the Antarctic that could lead to that power 
source they'd been looking for since the Serpent Society Affair. And Mr. 
Comrade was already earning his keep with some very intriguing designs 
on that 'Super Trooper Armor' to say nothing of the Devastator Unit. A 
pity the same thing couldn't be said for Kerwin Kronos' time travel 
experiments. Now that one was becoming a vast money pit. Maybe time 
travel just wasn't feasible with the current level of technology. Of 
course if they could be the first, well, once you controlled time, you 
could see to it you were the only one who had it. Maybe it would be best 
to go with it a while longer. The money was flowing in rivers thanks to 
her other schemes.

But for all the reports she received, something else troubled her. 
Finally she spoke to the room's only other occupant, a non-descript 
Indian. "I made an error, my little toy. I became overconfident in my 
plans and took a foolish, unnecessary risk in the whole Shinobi Shaw 
matter last night. Those Hydra imbeciles called too much attention to 
the party. There will be pictures he might see. We must move up our time 
table to today. See to it."

The man's reply was a simple, "Yes, Mistress," before walking on, his 
form starting to shift.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kaori Makimura entered the room her detective force had been assigned, 
the largest one thanks to the prestige of the case. The dozen officers 
assigned to it were working frantically, as always in the earliest 
stages of a case when there was evidence aplenty. It was only after the 
obvious material was taken care of that it started to become scarce. How 
unfortunate that traffic had been so bad, or she would have been in earlier.

"So what do we have?" she asked.

Ryo Saeba answered, all business for a change. "Explosion in the office 
of one Shinobi Shaw. We've confirmed two dead, himself and his secretary."

Kaori pondered that. "That's the one that bought his way out of a rape 
conviction last year, right?"

"Yes."

"Too bad about the secretary." She looked at the photos of the office. 
Or what had been an office. Now it mostly looked like a big hole in the 
side of a building. "That's one hell of an explosion. You sure he was in 
it?"

"We found part of a skull with some brain matter in it." Ryo's cell 
phone rang and he looked at the number. "In fact, this is the lab. 
Should be the results." He held the phone up to his ear, nodded, then 
hung up. "It's confirmed by his DNA. It was still on file from the rape 
case. That was Shinobi Shaw. So unless he could spare some of that head 
of his...."

Kaori looked at the picture again. "Any hint as to what explosive was 
used and how it was delivered?"

One of the other detectives shook his head. "Neither. In fact, CSI teams 
haven't found any explosive residue at all."

Kaori shook her head. "That makes no sense. Explosives always leave some 
sort of residue."

Kyo Saeba put down the phone he had been using. "Hey, Boss. Someone says 
they saw some blonde gaijin girl that couldn't have been more than 
thirteen head toward the office right before the explosion. Human bomber 
of some sort, maybe?"

Ryo jerked his head. "Wait a minute. Someone run that footage from the 
ATM camera that was directly across from the entrance of the building. 
Take it back ten minutes before the explosion."

One of the men did so. Everyone's eyes were riveted to the screen as 
playback occurred. In less than a minute a blonde foreign girl matching 
the description entered the building.

Ryo snapped his fingers. "Thought so. And now that you mentioned the 
lack of residue, I think I recognize her. And if I'm right, there's a 
perfectly good reason you couldn't find any." He went to a computer and 
punched in some information. "Bingo!" He made a finger gun at the screen 
and shot it. "It's Minnie-May Hopkins, aka Nitro, the Exploding Girl. 
She leaves no residue because she is the explosive."

"There's only one problem, genius." Kaori rapped her knuckles on the 
screen. "It says she's currently incarcerated."

Ryo wrapped his knuckles against Kaori's skull, much to her irritation. 
"Obviously she broke out. Look, I'll call the prison and prove it."

Five minutes later, a frustrated Ryo Saeba scowled at the phone. "That 
was the warden. She says Hopkins is in her specially designed cell. Even 
had her blow up to prove it was really her and not some imposter." He 
stared at the screen. "I don't understand."

Kaori looked at the video image again of the girl on the screen. "No, I 
think you're on to something."

The detectives continued poring over the case. One hour became two, 
which became three. It was easy to keep track of since every hour the 
commissioner called. Shinobi's wealthy father, Sebastian, kept 
pressuring the police to find out who murdered his son. Ah, to be rich 
and obnoxious.

It was during the third hour that Kyo found something else. "Boss. 
Brokers just transferred some records over. Apparently Shinobi sold off 
all his company stock an hour before he bit the big one. Personally went 
to the broker to make the sale. The only problem is everyone swears he 
was in his office at the time the sale went down."

He loaded up the video file of the security footage in the stock 
broker's office. It showed Shaw himself talking and signing several 
documents and handing them to the broker.

Kaori said, "They can run fingerprints on the documents he signed."

Kyo appeared unsettled. "Yeah, but for some odd reason, I think they'll 
match. We'll have electronics forensics run a search on where the stocks 
went to."

"Already got them," one of the detective shouted. "Shell companies. All 
the stocks were transferred immediately. It'll take a while to find out 
where they really ended up."

"Keep at it," Kaori said. Oh yes, something very bad was going on, but 
the first vestiges were forming in her mind. There had to be 
super-powered beings involved, she could smell them. More of them 
screwing up her life and making her job harder. Someone really need to 
take care of them. Ordinary criminal screwed the world up just fine. She 
didn't need extraordinary ones adding to it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Detective Hiro Matsui exited the office, telling the others he had to go 
outside for a smoke. Thanks to the wonders of modern society, this 
entailed going outside the building altogether.

Rather than going outside, he went into an empty office, closing the 
door behind him. He pulled out a phone and dialed a special number. 
After a moment, he said, "There's a problem. They're getting close...."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The woman snarled as she heard the report. She turned to her servant. "I 
was afraid of this. This is what happens when you rush things. Aside 
from the elimination of Kodachi Kunou, everything has been running so 
smoothly, too. Well, time for you to contact that Lamperouge fellow. 
We'll be needing his abilities."

Once again her faithful servant changed forms and left the room.

xxxxxxxxxx

Lelouch Lamperouge sat up idly in bed, relaxing. He looked over at his 
latest conquest. What was her name? She was the lead singer in that 
hideously named group. Oh yes, Iwasawa of the Girls Dead Monster. A 
fetching thing, and not bad in bed at all. He'd probably keep her around 
for a while, at least until some new famous figure came on the scene 
that caught his eye. Then he'd use his eye to catch her. Heh, what a 
play on words, and power.

He slowly rose out of bed of the penthouse suite that was at his 
disposal. He had an 'in' with the owner of the hotel chain. The in being 
his abilities. Nothing but the best for Lelouch, thanks to the powers of 
his mesmerism. He was decadent, indolent, and a complete hedonist. Gods, 
it was the life.

And then the door to his room was kicked inward, literally knocked off 
the hinges A gaijin of some sort, male, very big and beefy. Lelouch had 
no idea who he was or why he was after him, nor did it matter. He 
shouted, "You there!" Yes, the fool looked him eye to eye. Lelouch's eye 
glowed red. "Now stop," he ordered.

The man walked across the room, grabbing Lelouch by the neck. He 
continued looking him in the eyes. "As I anticipated, Mesmero, your 
abilities only affect living beings."

The hold on his neck tightened and Lelouch felt himself losing 
consciousness. Blast, if only he could speak, he could have Iwasawa hurl 
herself at that man. As it was, it looked like it might finally be the 
end. No! It wasn't fair. He led in idyllic life. How dare this bastard 
take that from him!

And then the figure changed, shifting in form. Lelouch stared in shock 
as it became an identical version of him.

The second Lelouch stared at him for a second. "I see how your abilities 
work. You can hypnotize someone only once in their lives, but that 
control is indefinite until you release it. You can control no more than 
twelve people at any one time. If you wish to go beyond that number you 
can either yield control by selecting someone already in your 
possession, or the person under domination the longest will be released."

He looked over at Iwasawa, who was watching everything in numb shock. 
Lelouch II's eye met the girl's eyes and glowed red. Hers glowed a 
moment in response. "Come here."

She obeyed.

"Template Power configuration works. Leave and forget you were ever here."

She did as she was bade.

Lelouch II again looked at the being in his grip. "My mistress has a 
proposition for you. She would like to make use of your abilities. You 
will be paid handsomely for your efforts. I would recommend you accept 
her offer, as you will not like the consequences of refusal. By the way, 
you should know that now that I am familiar with your abilities, your 
first act upon meeting my mistress will be to possess her mind and 
immediately release it, as that will render her immune to her power. To 
do otherwise will result in your death. Raise your eyes up an down if 
you wish to agree."

Lelouch did so. Blast, it looked like he was going to have to get a real 
job now. He loathed the idea. But it was better than death. Unless he 
was assigned a cubicle. Then he might as well have his neck broken.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Coming," Kaori snapped, wondering who in the hell was bothering her at 
this hour. Really, it was nearly ten o' clock. If it was those Saeba 
twins drunk and making caustic remarks about her, she would shoot them 
in the head, even if it would leave her understaffed.

She had a holstered gun hanging on a hook on the door. No sense in 
taking chances. It could always be some thug that was upset that she had 
arrested them and had them imprisoned for years. Don't want to end up in 
jail? Don't break the law. Simple rules.

She opened the door, keeping the chain lock in place. It was some 
handsome fellow with dark hair. "Yes?"

He pointed at his eye and said, "Contact."

Kaori looked right at the eye as it glowed red.

Lelouch spoke. "The Shinobi Shaw case is unsolvable. You'll hit brick 
wall after brick wall, never successfully figuring it out. Especially 
the stock trail. Do you understand?"

Kaori nodded her head easily. "Sure, unsolvable cases happen all the time."

"Good." He looked Kaori over. Bah, much too tomboyish and flat-chested 
for his taste. He'd find some other hot chick to mesmerize and bang. 
Thanks to his new 'employer' three of his slots were now filled. Still, 
as long as the Saebas and Makimura were under his influence, the Shaw 
case was a dead end, which was what his new employer wanted. At least 
she paid well. Oh, but if he ever figured out how to have her killed 
without siccing that doppelganger on him, she'd be sorry.

He left, wondering if he should try some superhero. He'd never had one 
of those before, and most of them were very hot and athletic. That was 
food for thought.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

[End chapter]

Yes, it's brief. Next chapter will have the Ranma regulars and something 
cool happen.