I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi or Steve Jackson Games.

Kaiya Azure: The "agreement" between the Chinese Amazons and the CCP is longstanding and mutually beneficial enough that each can trust the other to honor it out of mutual self-interest. The casual disposal of Genma could be taken as a warning to the village elders of the village's likely fate if it ceases to be useful, and an unspoken reminder of which of the two is actually in charge.

ringlhach: Yes, though that tone shift was bound to come eventually. The plot kinda demands it.

Mika the Raven: I agree that my writing style is a little on the sparse side, and may have become moreso over the past couple years as my available writing time has decreased somewhat. As for Genma, as Lukkai points out he wasn't so much a loose end as a loose cannon, a powerful one that was both unpredictable and likely uncontrollable. Better to simply remove him from the board—at least, from a certain point of view. Mind, these particular "intelligence" agents are perhaps a bit on the panicky side of things and not thinking too clearly...

Lukkai: Yeah, they're idiots to some degree, though it's a common human failing. As the saying goes, it's tough to convince someone they're wrong when their livelihood—and possibly their lives—depends on them being right.

Sergeant Anushka Baker (it had been a century and a half since her Jewish ancestors had immigrated from Russia, two generations since the grandmother she'd been named for had converted to Christianity and married a Gentile, but the family had kept the name) was elbow deep in a fighter's guts when her phone rang with one of the ring tones she did not want to hear. Still, a call from the high school office took priority over a persistent hitch in the fighter's thrust while flying that Lieutenant Jones had reported and Misawa Base's mechanics simply could not find! She hastily scrambled down the ladder, wiped her hands as clean as she could with a rag, and hurried to her bag set safely to one side to fish out her phone. It was now on its second call with the same ring tone—the school staff knew some patience was needed, but that didn't change the way phones automatically switched to voice mail. Pressing the 'accept' key, she raised the phone to her ear. "Sergeant Baker here."

"Sergeant Baker, this is Ms. Erica Tran, administrative assistant for Principal Patterson. Your daughter was absent from her first class, and we have no record of an excused absence. Is there a reason she isn't here today that didn't get passed on?"

"What? No!" Anushka almost shouted. "She left for school this morning with Tatsuno Toshiko ... ah, Toshiko Tatsuno. Is Toshiko in school?"

"It can get confusing, when naming conventions don't quite match, can't it?" Ms. Tran said with a chuckle that worryingly faded. "No, Ms. Tatsuno isn't in school, either, she was next on my list."

"You actually have a list?" Anushka reflexively quipped, even as her hand tightened on her phone. "Right, I can't say to leave the call to me, but whatever is keeping Mercy out of school has to be doing the same with Toshiko so when you call Win ask him to call me, will you?"

"Of course, Sergeant."

Call ended, Anushka hastily hit the speed-dial for her daughter's phone, and waited ... and waited—"You have reached the—" She ended the call, her worry morphing into bone-deep fear. The onmiyoji couldn't have let something slip past, could they? And if something had slipped past, how would it have known to target Mercedes? Her daughter hadn't been off the base since their trip to Tokyo and she hadn't used her talent then, only carried a few minor items as protection against bottom feeders, so any random predators looking for prey shouldn't have picked up her 'scent', certainly not strongly enough to not only track them back to the airbase but to hang around for weeks and sneak through the onmiyoji's protections.

Pulling her tablet out of the bag, she brought up the app that could track her daughter's phone just as her own phone rang—Win's number. She hastily accepted the call. "Win, the school told you about Mercy and Toshiko."

"Yes. Toshiko isn't answering her phone."

"Neither is Mercy, I'm checking the phone's location now ... fuck!"

"What?!"

"It's saying that she's next to the office building they walk past on the way to school. Can you trace Toshiko's phone?"

"Yes, though I didn't tell her about that particular capability. No need to rub her nose in the bad situation she's— Shit. It's saying she's a few miles outside the base. Okay, I'm calling this in, give me the coordinates for Mercy's phone and I'll give the MPs both at the same time."

"Right." Anushka read off the coordinates, corrected Win when he read them back to her, then headed to explain to her superior why she was leaving her shift.

/\

Win parked his car on the street beside the entrance to the office building's parking lot, ignoring the red strip on the gutter—it wasn't like he could use the parking lot, not with yellow tape already up and Military Police swarming over the site. He spotted Anushka standing off to one side watching the MPs, exactly where he had expected her to be. He strode over to join her. "Anushka."

"Win." Anushka continued watching the MPs for a long moment before turning her head to look at him ... stiffly, almost to the point of robotically. "They found the girls' school bags, thrown in the bushes ... Mercy's phone, too. A spot that might be blood on the sidewalk, they're testing it now. They're checking the recordings from the security cameras. Whatever happened, it was here, why isn't Toshiko's phone?"

"After I first got her the phone and told her to keep it with her at all times, she left it in her school bag a few times. So now whenever she wears jeans she keeps it in her pocket."

"And she was wearing jeans this morning." Anushka's head tracked back to the investigating MPs. "So why are you here instead of headed for wherever Toshiko's phone is?"

Win's hands fisted, but he managed to keep his voice steady. "Because it is several miles away and I've been denied permission to leave the base."

That finally captured Anushka's full attention. "Oh, Win, I'm sor—"

Win's phone rang. He hastily pulled it from its clip on his belt. "Lieutenant Blake speaking." He abruptly straightened to attention. "Sir!" ... "Yes, sir, I'll be right there." He hesitated for a moment, then added, "I'm with Sergeant Baker, I think she should come with me. She's been read in on Toshiko's history." ... "Yes, sir, all of it." ... "Yes, sir, there's a reason for that, the Company has been apprised." ... "We'll be right there, sir."

Returning the phone to its clip, he turned to stride toward his car. "Anushka, come on. They've looked at the security video, and General Layton wants to see us."

/\

Lieutenant Blake and Sergeant Baker saluted General Layton, then relaxed (marginally) when he returned their salutes. Win asked, "You have something for us, sir?"

"I do." The base commander waved them to seats by an open laptop with an app displaying a view of the edge of the parking lot they'd just left and its bordering sidewalk from some point a few tens of feet off the ground. "Whatever's going on there's no way it involves the normal cloak and dagger stuff, not with someone of Ranma's—that is, Toshiko's—capabilities involved, so I made sure that the security footage was reviewed by the few MPs that had already been read in on the Company. Good thing I did, because this is bizarre even by Company standards, at least their weirdness involves Things from Outer Space, this ... take a look."

He tapped on the laptop's 'enter' key, and a few seconds later the image proved to be video by his wife and her friend walking into view, Mercedes talking on her phone. Win felt himself tensing up as they reached the center of the screen, passed it—and suddenly, with no warning at all, Toshiko threw her backpack away as she grabbed Mercedes and slung her toward the sidewalk before diving in the opposite direction ... and a Giant Panda wearing a gi dropped into view. One massive paw caught the back of Toshiko's head and hammered her into the parking lot's surface. She went limp, and the Panda whirled and leaped toward a Mercedes struggling to her feet. One slap across her face, and she spun away and dropped limply. The Panda hooked its claws under the straps of Mercedes' school bag and tossed it out of the frame, did the same with Toshiko's, then carefully maneuvered Mercedes' body up onto a shoulder, scooped Toshiko up in its arms, and walked away.

General Layton tapped the 'enter' key again, and the image froze. "What is that?"

"Genma," Win and Anushka chorused. They glanced at each other, lips twitching briefly at the moment of simultaneity, and Anushka nodded to Win to carry on. "Genma is Toshiko's father, and he's been magically cursed to turn into a Giant Panda with a splash of cold water. A splash of hot water changes him back."

"Really? A magic curse?" General Layton asked, disbelief clear in his voice.

Win shrugged. "Davidson had trouble believing it, too, so the Company didn't know about it, but magic is as much a thing as ki, and just as hidden. I didn't say anything earlier because Toshiko didn't expect him to be part of the hunt—apparently, those afflicted with that particular curse attract cold water, hot water is harder to come by, and people will notice a Giant Panda." He frowned thoughtfully. "He's one of a handful of Martial Artists she knew that could beat her in a stand-up fight, and the only one still in Japan. I have to wonder how he got onto the base undetected, if she'd known he could skulk around without being noticed and ambush her like that ..."

The general's desk phone rang. He picked up the handset from its cradle, and his eyebrows rose. "Yes, put him through." ... "This is General Layton." ... "Hold on a minute, I have someone here who might know who the victim is." He placed his hand over the handset's microphone. "They found a body with Toshiko's phone sitting on his chest, shot through the head—balding, dressed in 'martial arts' clothing."

Win stiffened, then slumped with a sigh. "That would most likely be Genma."

General Layton nodded and uncovered the microphone. "The body is most likely Genma Saotome—Saotome Genma, using Japanese name conventions. We have reason to believe that he was involved in kidnapping Toshiko Tatsuno and Mercedes Baker." ... "Yes, let the police know about this, it's out of our jurisdiction." ... "Yes, let me know if you or the police find out anything else." He hung up the phone. "So much for tracking down Genma—"

Win's phone rang. Win stiffened at the ring tone and hastily pulled it from its clip, accepted the call, and touched the speaker icon. "Lieutenant Blake here, with General Layton and Sergeant Baker, I have you on speaker. Is this Davidson?"

"Yes, this is Jared Davidson. There's been an incident in Nerima, is Toshiko okay?"

/oOo\

A little earlier:

"All right, I'll fetch him." Nabiki ended the call and had to fight not to throw her cell phone across the room. She was glad that she hadn't been using the video call capability on her laptop, so she didn't have to keep from snarling, thanks to the fury boiling so hot within her that she really should have had steam erupting out of her ears like a bad anime. Fury that burned all the hotter for the more than a hint of relief she felt, and the shame that accompanied it.

But finally she pushed herself away from the desk in her room and rose to her feet, grabbed her bag and shoved her phone in to join her laptop, and strode from her room for the stairs, headed down to the family room where her father would be. It was still early in the day so he wouldn't be drunk yet.

She was right, on both counts ... he was in the family room, and he wasn't drunk. He'd been working on it, though, and he was definitely buzzed. That had been happening earlier and earlier ever since Genma had left on the hunt for the daughter he'd thrown away. At this rate, he'd be unconscious and snoring by early afternoon. But now the morning newspaper was scattered to one side for Kasumi to gather up and throw away, and he was working through a problem on the shogi board, wearing the same stained gi from yesterday. He claimed the shogi practice was so he'd be ready when Genma returned, but Nabiki thought it was just a way to avoid thinking about how he and Genma had fucked up everyone's lives—she suspected the only reason he was still in shape was he was training for the same reason. Just as well, because she could think of some nasty reasons for their masters to want to meet them now that they had what they wanted.

Pushing aside her growing fear, she did her best to put on her 'Ice Queen' act. "Dad, I just got a call from Schwei-san. They caught Ranma, so Genma will be headed back here soon. He wants to meet with the two of us and discuss finalizing the deal."

Soun looked up, a flash of what Nabiki thought was guilt crossing his face. (She hoped she'd managed to keep her own guilt off hers. Her voice had sounded all right ... she thought.) "Where? When?"

"Wherever you and Genma first met him. And right now."

Soun frowned. "That was a bar, it'll be closed this early."

Nabiki shrugged. "He said he'd be there, maybe it's just a place to meet and he'll have a car to go somewhere else."

He looked down at the shogi board, then sighed and rose to his feet. "Let's get this over with."

The pair stepped through the front gate out into the street, and Nabiki managed not to wince at the sight of Akane in her school uniform walking down the street toward them, Ukyo just turning the street corner behind her in her chef's uniform with her bandoleer of throwing spatulas running diagonally from shoulder to hip and the massive axe she called a 'battle spatula' in its sheath across her back. Since Ranma's visit Kasumi and Akane had been warming up to their middle sister again. That 'warming' was a matter of degree, from Arctic to just cold, but any improvement was welcome and Akane had stopped cooking (though practice had raised the results to awful instead of poisonous). Now Nabiki didn't know what would be worse, having them learn Ranma had been captured immediately, or watching their hopes fade as time passed and Ranma didn't return.

But more immediately … "Akane, what are you doing here instead of school?" Nabiki reflexively asked. She had to raise her voice, thanks to the sound of a helicopter cruising slowly overhead. There had been a jump in those helicopters, as some ambitious newspeople had realized it was easier to find and record the various public matches now happening around town from the air. The number of helicopters had fallen off lately, as those matches became more commonplace (if no less spectacular), but still nowhere near the previous level (none at all, really, except for the occasional one passing overhead on its way to somewhere else).

"None of your business," Akane replied curtly without slowing down.

Nabiki glanced past her sister toward Ukyo, still coming their way, and decided to drop it—what she didn't know she didn't have to decide whether to report to her masters, even if this was supposed to be the final meeting—

Slightly ahead of her, her father's head snapped back, bone, blood, and brains exploding out the back, the fringes splashing across her face.

Sniper! Nabiki instantly knew where the shot had come from, who was behind it, and who the next target would be. She hurled herself forward to slam into her younger sister ... just in time to hear the whiff of a bullet passing through where her head had been. Akane was caught completely by surprise and the impact knocked her off her feet, the impact with the sidewalk with Nabiki on top of her knocking the air out of her lungs.

Nabiki ignored her sister's gasps for breath, she was too busy rolling away—she was the target, not her sister, she needed to get away from Akane! A bullet ricocheted off the sidewalk between the two girls, and she realized that she'd rolled the wrong way when her back thudded into the wall surrounding the dojo. She tilted her head back and managed to get a look at the helicopter holding her executioner. It was ... turning away?

/\

Ukyo was not looking forward to her meeting with Akane. Her friend (and that was a surprise—but after Ranma was locked as a girl their rivalry became rather pointless, and they'd eventually realized that) would already know the news Ukyo was passing on wasn't good, Ukyo asking her to leave school so they could meet privately was enough to tell her that. The okonomiyaki chef had no desire to tell her that most of the Martial Artists in Nerima that were also business owners were dropping out of the patrols and displays they'd all been putting on for well over a month, now. Everyone appreciated the surprise bonanza of visitors drawn by those matches, and so those would continue—if not as many—but many of those Martial Artists that owned businesses had still taken a financial hit, especially those without employees. With the drop over the last few weeks in the number of gaijin that obviously were not tourists, and even in the number of foreign Easterners badly disguised as tourists, those business owners needed to get back to being business owners. And being on the verge of her own business failing, Ukyo couldn't gainsay them—she was going to have to cut back, though not stop, herself.

Then Ukyo turned the corner to the Tendo dojo's block and saw Akane ahead of her headed in the same direction ... and beyond her Nabiki and Soun stepping out of the dojo's front gate. Not good—the Ice Queen had been haunting the district recording various matches, and Ukyo and Akane had expected her to be doing that today when they'd chosen the dojo to meet. Ah, well, Ukyo thought to herself as Akane and Nabiki exchanged words the chef couldn't hear over the news helicopter almost overhead, at least they're headed out, so all they'll know is that we're meet—"

A shot rang out and red exploded from the back of Soun's head. Ukyo froze as Nabiki flung herself forward at the same moment as another shot, tackling Akane and landing on top of her sister when both went down, then rolling away. A third shot rang out and cement chips erupted from the sidewalk between the two Tendos, and suddenly Ukyo could move again as she realized that the expected assault was happening right now and it was not a kidnapping attempt. She would lose no sleep over Soun's death and didn't particularly care about Nabiki after what the middle Tendo had done, but there was no reason the assassins would stop with those two except her.

She ran backwards to get a better angle on the helicopter above them even as she snatched several throwing spatulas from the bandoleer that ran from shoulder to hip. The angle was horrible, but maybe ... the spatulas glanced off the helicopter's cockpit window right by the pilot's head and the helicopter wobbled in the air, the next shot knocking rock chips from the dojo's perimeter wall above the two Tendo sisters.

Ukyo hadn't stopped running backwards, and the angle was improved enough for the next two ki-infused throwing spatulas to imbed themselves in the glass (or whatever the cockpit window was made out of). Her next two throwing spatulas shattered it.

The helicopter wobbled even more, turned on its side, and fell out of the sky. The rotor blades dug into road, lawn, and wall of the house across the street and snapped off, pinwheeling away as the helicopter smashed down on road and lawn. Ukyo ran forward, drawing her battle spatula from its sheath on her back, and swung down to bisect the rifle in the hands of the man that climbed out of the wreck. Her next swing slammed into his head with the flat of the battle spatula's blade, knocking him across the lawn. She glanced into the smoking helicopter, but the only other person inside was the pilot and he wasn't moving. From the amount of blood splattered across the controls, he probably never would again, so she turned to stride over to the unconscious assassin lying on the lawn. Standing over him with her battle spatula haft in both hands, she glanced over at the Tendos. Akane had crawled over to her father and was cradling his corpse in her arms as she wailed. Nabiki was propped up against the estate wall with her arms wrapped around herself, staring at nothing.

"Nabiki. Nabiki!" The middle Tendo turned her head and focused on Ukyo, and she nodded at the man at her feet. "Call the police." Nabiki jerked a nod and pushed herself to her feet, bracing herself against the wall with one hand as the other scrabbled in her pocket for her phone, and Ukyo returned her attention to her prisoner. This man, at least, would be alive and waiting when the cops showed up, and maybe they could find out what was going on. Maybe even break up the slavery ring so Ranma could come home.