Arc and Ki

by Miklagaard

A certain mysterious and beautiful Japanese redhead comes knocking at Tony Stark's Malibu mansion with insights into an equally mysterious power. Pepper has concerns, but Tony was sure this would be amazing anyway because: Redhead! Which ever way it played out... it was going to be one hell of a ride.

7. Tooling Up

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction and no ownership of any intellectual property is claimed or implied. Quotes from original sources are included, but rather than disrupt the flow of the story, I will acknowledge them in general here. All instances of irony are likely intentional.

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(Chapter theme song: Jesus Built My Hotrod – Ministry)

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"Is Ranma alright?! Where is she?!" 'Natalie' asked urgently. The assistant had shucked her pumps to jog across the sand where her putative boss had told her to go.

"She's um..." the Mark IV Iron Man armor's visor lifted to show Tony Stark's bemused face as he landed beside her. "She's... fine? Crap... but I might not be..." he noted as he looked down where his metallic feet had already sunk past the ankles into the soft sand, and showed no signs of stopping quite yet. "Yeah... that's another thing I forgot to work out. Shit. Back off a second," he instructed.

"If she's fine where is she?" Natasha demanded instead complying. "Why didn't you bring her back?!"

"She's fine!" Stark assured her with some annoyance. "She's on her way here! Just... back up unless you want that fine set of legs sandblasted!" He waved her away, then windmilled his arms a bit to keep his balance despite his trapped feet. "Back off!"

"OK... OK..." the agent backed away with ill grace. "But you need to tell me what happened to her!"

"Would it kill you to take my word for it that there's nothing wrong? Hang on..." he aimed his palm repulsors downward and lit them up. The thrust was enough to pull him loose of the sand, and once his boots were clear, those jets activated as well, kicking up short-lived whirlwinds of sand. He hovered over to one of the rocks dotting the beach and landed on it instead. Tony stamped one foot a bit to make sure his footing was secure. "Whew. That's better. I really need to work on the mechanics of ground travel with this thing."

"Where. Is. Ranma?!" the agent demanded with a growl as she strode over. "Why didn't you fly her back?"

"Whoa! She's perfectly healthy! Really!" Tony held up his hands in surrender. He'd learned to not underestimate the damage an incensed redhead could do. "She'd bringing the test frame back in!"

"What? I thought..." Natasha narrowed her eyes as she scanned the horizon. "I can't see her!"

"You won't be able to for a little bit," the inventor told her with some amusement. That amusement earned a hard glare that made him raise his hands again. "I swear! She's fine!" He smirked at her. "Coming over all maternal, are we?"

"Hardly," the SHIELD operative said with a vehemence that showed a glimmer of her true self. "This was a terrible idea. She's not a professional."

The corners of Tony's mouth quirked up even higher. "She's doing what I'm paying her to do. Paying her more than we started with, even. I swear that girl's gotten more raises in a week than anyone in history since... uh... actually the same thing kind of happened with Pepper when she became my assistant now that I think of it. Anyway..." he shook off his abstraction, "...she's getting paid, so by definition she's a professional."

"A trained professional," Natasha clarified with annoyance. "As you knew very well is what I meant..."

"Hold that thought," Tony interrupted her beginning tirade with considerable practice. "She's here."

"What? Where?"

"Right there," he pointed an armored finger.

"What? Oh... oh come on!" Natasha gusted out in exasperation, making the billionaire snicker.

Among the waves could be seen a bobbing curve of golden metal that was making a bee-line for shore at a decent rate. Soon the entirety of the experimental device emerged, as did the tiny Japanese teen carrying it. As soon as her face was above water, Ranma blew out the breath she had been holding for most of ten minutes and sucked in a welcome lungful of fresh air. That was the only sign of distress she showed as she jogged through the surf as readily as a civilian would on an open track, ignoring the drag of the ocean and the weight of her burden.

"Are you OK?!" Natasha shouted.

Ranma gave her a befuddled look in response to her tone. "Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?" The martial artist blithely ignored her current status as she waded out of the Pacific Ocean. Her soaked bodysuit had some frayed holes in it... fortunately not in any strategic areas... and her hair was bedraggled and tangled up a bit in the cobbled-together electronic visor she was wearing to test new features.

"You crashed!" Natalie pointed out, her hands on her hips and an incredulous expression on her face.

"Did not!" Ranma insisted with a pout, making Tony snerk with a suppressed laugh.

After an incredulous pause, the older redhead waved out to the expanse of water. "What do you call what just happened, then?"

"That...?" the Japanese expatriate looked back toward the Pacific as she considered her answer. "I just... accidentally landed in the water... a bit." Shaking her head insistently at the older woman's dubious look, she elaborated: "Crashes mean explosions. This thing only got a little dented and shorted out." She hefted her burden slightly for emphasis while her bare feet finally cleared the frothy wash of the last wave. Despite the near half-ton she carried, her feet barely left an imprint in the wet sand.

"Can't argue with that," Tony piped up. "No explosion? No crash. She's fine... and I got a lot of good data from that run!"

"Mr. Stark!" 'Natalie' whirled to face him with all the irked demeanor of a normal person dropped into a decidedly abnormal lifestyle. "Forgive me for speaking up, but you are being too cavalier about Ranma's safety. Like I said, she is not a professional test pilot."

"She will be," Tony stated flatly. "Seriously. She's the best natural pilot I've ever seen, and I've been working with the best of the best since '92. Rhodey is one of those pilots, and Ranma's been picking stuff up in hours or minutes that he needed weeks or months to learn."

"Still... she was under the water for so long..."

The armored hero held up hand to stop her. "We put governors on the test-frame to make sure it couldn't come close to the speeds or range that we know for a fact Ranma can handle. We even gave it a 50% margin of error just to be extra safe. And those governors will not come off until we know she's good for more. Also, she absolutely could have ditched it at any time and swum home. It's not like she got even a fraction as far away as the Sea of Japan is wide. She just decided in her own pretty little head that she would bring it back. You do know I could have built something to recover it, right?" He directed the last question to Ranma.

"Eh..." she shrugged. "Why bother when I can just do it myself?"

"Right. So instead, she just casually carried the silly thing while walking along the ocean bottom." Tony lifted his hands a little helplessly. "It's hard to wrap your head around... especially when she does six impossible things before breakfast... but Ranma is operating on a whole different level than the rest of us."

"You could do the same stuff if you put in a few years... or decades... of training," Ranma claimed. She put a hand on Natasha's shoulder. "I'm sorry if I scared you, but seriously... this was way less dangerous than a lot of meals I've had."

Ordinarily, the assessment of a teenager about survivability of their actions was not particularly worth much. However, the easy way the martial artist had lifted the vehicle with one hand to put it on her other shoulder just to free up the closer hand to offer comfort added some effective punctuation to the statement. Effective enough even for Natasha's civilian persona, and she allowed her posture to relax. "That's not saying much. You told me about Akane's cooking," she pointed out dryly.

"Oh right. Then I've had more dangerous walks to school... no, that's a bad example too." Ranma bit her lip. "I've had classes... no... well... anything at Furinkan is out, too. Walks in the park? Hell no. Sleeping? Um..." She puffed out her cheeks adorably as she gave up. "Look... I can't think of anything from Nerima right now that had a low enough danger level to compare to this whole thing, alright? That should say something right?"

"It says a lot of things," Natasha admitted wearily. "So you were fine... but there was no way we could have known that," she shot a narrow-eyed glance at Stark.

"No... no..." Ranma corrected. She made was looked like a clear rectangle of plastic with a black frame appear in her hand. "I texted Tony."

There were a few things she had to say about that, but the first one Natasha went with was: "And you didn't bother to text me too?" Ranma's mouth opened to reply, then stayed open as she realized she didn't have a good answer.

"Uh-oh~" Tony intoned playfully as he began to elaborately tiptoe away. The metallic footwear did not make that particularly stealthy, but that aside, he wasn't getting too far. One reason was he ran out of rock to tiptoe on.

The other reason was that Ranma threw him under the bus. "I thought Tony would tell you!" Her shoulders slumped in relief as the other woman turned her accusing look toward their employer.

That worthy straightened up, shrugged, and said: "And I told you she was fine. Move on already."

Natasha let out a slow breath and let her display of annoyance fade. Pulling out her own Stark-made phone, she asked: "These things can work underwater?"

"Yep," the technologist confirmed. "Charges through inductance, so no exposed circuitry. It can go 300 meters down and keep working. Too expensive for mass-marketing yet, but we're working on it."

"And what about your suit?" Natasha asked archly. "Couldn't you have gone down and helped Ranma?"

"Uh... no..." Tony revealed with a little embarrassment. "I didn't think of that before today either. Definitely going to make the Mark VI good for all environments... and vacuum," he added thoughtfully. "I'll do the same for whatever we end up building for you too, Ranma," he gave her a reassuring nod.

"Uh, yeah," Ranma nodded back. "That would help if I ever cra... er..." She hesitated and shot Natasha a glance. She knew good and well she'd crashed, but she really didn't want to admit it in front of the attractive older woman.

"...Test aqua-braking techniques again?" Tony threw her a lifeline, though his grin and tone made that line a rather slender straw.

"...Yeah. That," Ranma agreed ruefully. "Hey! Those govern-thingies? Were they the reason that happened?" Speaking of straws, she'd clutch at that one.

Tony was positively beaming with amusement now. "Nope! You had full maneuverability. It would only cut out if you exceeded the speed limit. You just managed to get the thing to do some stuff I wasn't expecting and JARVIS didn't calculate was possible. The idea was for it to remain mostly upright, after all."

"Eh... can't think of being head up all the time in the air," the master of the aerial school of Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu said authoritatively.

"Hmm..." Tony hummed thoughtfully.

"Maybe JARVIS should fly it remotely next time?" Natasha suggested.

"No," Tony denied instantly, even before Ranma could object on her own behalf. "The point of this is to make something Ranma can make the most of. JARVIS could do tests with that thing, but he doesn't do too well with innovating. And he really has problems modeling Ranma's abilities... and probably will for quite some time," he admitted with a strange sense of satisfaction and anticipation. "Besides, she came closer to recovering than JARVIS would have managed based on his after-action analysis, so she was better off doing her own driving... sort of. Anyway," Tony directed his attention toward Ranma and jerked his head back toward the mansion. "Hoof that sucker back to the fab-bay and ditch it and the visor prototype. I have some work to do on 'em."

"Right, Boss," Ranma agreed cheerfully and rapidly trotted toward the entrance to the tunnel that led up to the mansion. The patch of shoreline they had met at was a small cove surrounded by a quarter-circle of cliffs that made for a very private beach on his property.

Natasha followed along behind, and noted that Stark did the same by instead of flying up to the top of the cliff directly, even though he had to carefully hover over the sand until he got to more solid ground. Despite the devil-may-care front he persisted in keeping up, the agent didn't think the only reason he did so was the allure of the camp cloth clinging to the Ki-adept's finely-shaped backside.

Though the eccentric billionaire certainly kept his focus on that backside, too. Even after Ranma dried her suit out with a puff of steam and made it less revealing.

Lechery and pronouncements of confidence aside, she could still tell he had been a little concerned. There was a reason he told her what happened and how to get down to the beach instead of leaving her to continue to toil away at paperwork, even though she wasn't capable of helping in any way. Either he wanted a responsible person watching over his protege, or he thought 'Natalie' would be upset if he hadn't kept her informed. Whichever it was, it was more consideration than he would have shown a year and a half previously, according to his profile and the assessments of prior SHIELD agents.

In analyzing the changes in her target's attitude, she found it ironic that she was both more and less worried than she should have been. Less, compared to her civilian cover identity, since as an agent she was far more inured to hazardous events. More, compared to the ideal attitude of an investigator... and a lot more than she would have expected of herself personally she noticed as she recovered her shoes.

While it was hardly in her nature to feel maternal like Stark had suggested, she had learned to feel protective of people since joining SHIELD. However, that was more about not wanting innocents to die than about wanting them to live. The former was about stopping the bleeding, while the latter would involve caring about people as individuals.

She couldn't do that. She could fake it like the pro she was, but she couldn't really feel it. Not with civilians.

Her true friends? She cared. She cared deeply. In a couple of cases, she cared more than anything she could think of. Below that plateau were other SHIELD agents she could get along with. Some were people she could respect. Others were people whose preferences and trivia she would bother remember and ask about to make conversation. Several were the sorts she could even scratch an itch with in an non-committal sort of way if she needed it. But they mostly weren't friends, just acquaintances. That was fine... it was a lot more than she had as the Black Widow of the Red Room... but the point was she didn't have much care for the overwhelming majority of the human race.

A lot of the reason for that was her ingrained trust issues, but even if she were more open, the fact remained that beyond those limited categories, she just couldn't relate to people. Until suddenly she could. Maybe it said something that the person she could relate to was the strangest she had ever met: an aqua-transsexual ultra-master-class martial artist. Yet aside from the transformation, the Ki, and the bizarre history, there was one thing that made Ranma Saotome one of the oddest creatures of all: she was someone outside the agency that Natasha could see herself being friends with.

Thinking about it, it wasn't all that strange. Like recognized like, after all. In stories, a typical chestnut was the dark, twisted reflection of who or whatever. In Natasha's eyes, Ranma was the opposite of this trope. The two had much in common... beyond the superficial colors of their hair... which was only occasionally a match anyway. Both of them were fighters, of course. Both were strangers in a strange land to some extent, no matter how well they learned to act like they fit into society. Both used training to gain power instead of using technology, money, or political influence. Both were relentless in finding a way to win despite whatever odds they faced.

Most importantly, they had both been raised from childhood to be tools for their trainers. They had both been isolated from the rest of the world and conditioned to obey. Though where Natasha had found herself drowning in blood and darkness until Clint threw her a lifeline, Ranma had set herself herself to protecting the weak. Many people would be resentful of the contrast, but Natasha was too pragmatic and seasoned by her grim life to indulge in such foolishness. In a way, she could see a strange, vicarious validation of her existence in the Japanese native. A flip-image that showed what she could have been with a single change in her life's circumstances... assuming she had survived the alternate 'master' that Ranma learned from.

Of course, in this formulation, Natasha was the 'dark, twisted reflection,' but she had owned the nature of her existence a long time ago and had dedicated herself to making amends. Even if it might be too late and there were too few years remaining to her to clear the red in her ledger, the fact that Ranma presented an image of what Natasha could could have been under more ideal circumstances was encouraging. Satisfying. For this reason, she was notably less hostile to Genma Saotome, Ranma's father, than the rest of the martial artist's new associates. Whatever else his sins, he did not make his child a bloody-handed murderer.

Nodoka Saotome, on the other hand, was right up there on Natasha's shit-list.

Another reason to be genuinely friendly with Ranma (within the confines of her assignment) was that she could. Unlike many previous missions, the possibility that she would end up killing the person she was getting close to wasn't even remote. Oh, it was quite conceivable that the Security Council could order a hit, if more and more improbable as time went on, but there was pretty much zero chance that Natasha would be able to manage it. Ranma had told her stories of surviving gunfire, explosions, dishes heavily seasoned with drain cleaner, and cuts from weapons laced with curare, as well as stories of the grand-master of her school surviving being buried alive for decades... someone whose strength she apparently exceeded nowadays. Unless an assassin managed to both find Mount Doom and somehow punt Ranma into it, they were probably out of luck.

If she ever did receive such orders and fail to get saner heads to countermand them, she'd simply announce her intentions and the reason behind them before launching a proforma attack. Ranma would undoubtedly render her gently unconscious and then deliver her back to SHIELD... along with a contemptuous reply in the form of expensive property damage.

The situation was rather liberating, actually. No possibility of more red being spilled into her ledger.

The only consequence of such a scenario would be ruining the rapport she was developing with the extreme-class martial artist. And even that wasn't guaranteed. After all, Ranma was hardly unfamiliar with either cunning or deception. Or obnoxious obligations for that matter. Her ramblings had revealed several instances of her being pretty forgiving of those who used underhanded tactics on her. So Natasha judged that even if she was ordered to do something stupid, or if Ranma ever learned the truth about her mission regarding Stark, it would not be an issue between them. Not for long, anyway, not as long as Natasha had a chance to work her wiles. Probably. Hopefully.

Her musings had carried her up to the top of the stairs, and she followed Stark in through the side-entrance to the basement. Inside, she saw Ranma was already mounting the device onto the assembly frame of the billionaire's personal fabrication plant. Some robotic arms began removing bent panels of gold-titanium alloy with a whir of motors and plasma welders, while others used air-jets to sweep off the residual water and drain it away. Stark stepped over to another set of waldos that set to smoothly removing his power-armor.

Once he was clear of the disassembly routine, Stark rubbed his chin as he studied the test frame. "What d'ya think, Ranma? This version of the speeder-bike gonna pass muster?" His latest creation had indeed been inspired by science-fiction. Can't get to the other side of the world in under three-and-a-half hours on your own two feet? Or with the boot jets you're not going to have? Make a supersonic hover-bike to ride instead. And if the vehicle is going to hover... well... there's no reason not to make it go a bit higher, is there? Or at least that was the billionaire's logic when considering how to let his employee take over his self-imposed mission of planetary policeman.

The bodyguard shrugged as she finished extracting her hair from the visor prototype and handed it off to the mechanical grasper her employer pointed to. "It's fun. Though it didn't pull up as fast as I wanted to get the bigger rockets beneath me." The grimaced at the memory as she combed out her hair with her fingers, somehow making it neat and clean with a few swipes of her fingers.

"Repulsors," Tony absently corrected as he he finished working on his pad, then flicked the resulting image toward one of the large design displays. The big screen showed a rotating wire-frame of the vehicle, which looked like an elongated motorcycle with a hammerhead nose and four thrusters on rotating mounts paired at the front and rear of the craft. As Ranma had said, the rear repulsors were much larger than the ones in front.

"Yes... I think I was too bogged down by the idea of the forest chase scene. In motorcycle terms, what you need isn't a cruiser, it's a motocross bike." Tony nodded to himself for a few moments while re-examining the three-dimensional rendering. It was a beautiful design that incorporated much of what he'd learned when developing the Iron Man armor, and he was quite proud of it. Still... "I was getting that feeling, and this last run proved it. Right... scrap it JARVIS!" As he gave the order, he made a grabbing motion at the hologram, the programming of the 3-D display making it seem to crumple into a ball, then tossed it at a virtual goal that conveniently appeared, a ding sounding as it passed through the center. The mechanical arms redoubled their activity as they began stripping down the test frame entirely.

"Aww..." Ranma pouted cutely.

"Don't panic," the inventor smirked. "JARVIS? Bring up the last draft of Plan C!" A more compact, teardrop shaped wire-frame now glowed in the display. "OK... this concept has six repulsors instead of four, but none of them are the larger ones dedicated to thrust, so it will be a bit slower than the B-Frame. Much more maneuverable, though. Let's give 'er some more 1080-degree options. Give it a ten-percent shorter length, and... hmm... seven-and-a-half percent taller profile." The projection obediently shifted as instructed. Tony used his fingertips to make some more adjustments. "You can see the engines are all the same size, right, Ranma? Let's offset them from the geometric axis for better spin options. Front and back high, middle low. Calculate the moment arms so they're balanced for side-to-side thrust."

"Side-to-side... you're making it so it can fly sideways?" Ranma interrupted for clarification.

"Sideways... backwards... straight up... upside down... pinwheeling... anything and everything!" Stark answered with mounting enthusiasm. "No, no, no..." he went on to mutter. "Extend the fairing up and over, and... make it extend a variable-geometry canopy like the Mark V to complete the lifting-body form for supersonic flight... yeah! Screw mark-one eyeball! Instruments are the best way to fly! Not like I can really see out the eye-blocks of the armor anyway."

"Or I could fly with Dairokkan," Ranma added as she realized the new form would prevent her from looking straight forward. Her expression was somewhat doubtful until she realized it would be good training for her esoteric abilities.

"'Or you could fly with Dairokkan,'" the industrialist agreed. "OK... so that goes there... and that should be like... yeah." Clapping his hands together, he announced: "Done! Render it and compile another simulator environment!" Flicking his hand at his bodyguard, he ordered: "You know what to do. Test it out as soon as JARVIS get the sim going!"

"Cool. Video game time," Ranma chirped agreeably.

"Eeeexactly," Tony drawled. "Maybe I should add some Star Wars theme music? Although..." he cocked his head and re-examined the current design. "It doesn't really look like a speeder bike anymore, does it?" he murmured. "Or anything else from Star Wars. It's more like the X-24A crossed with a... Tron lightcycle? Wait, that... that's... yeah. Yeah!" The wealthy eccentric threw up his hands with happy realization. "I just got a great idea! And it will fix a problem with my own armor, too! Hold off on the compile, JARVIS! Oh wow... Vanko would seriously regret showing me his tech if I get this to work! If he hadn't managed to off himself already, I mean. Though we're gonna need a new name for it. How about... 'The Crotch Rocket'?"

"With respect... no, sir," Natasha denied.

"Heh, maybe not. Besides, that term's used on a lot of lesser vehicles. For that matter, 'speeder-bike' was kind of generic when you think about it." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe a riff on the kanji for your name? Iron Horse? Iron Wild?" He paused and smirked. "Iron Rice-Planting Girl?"

"Ugh... no!" Ranma shook her head in disgusted disbelief, wracking her brain for an alternative with a lot more frantic speed than most people would believe possible. "You said it will fly sideways?"

"Yep."

"If it can fly sideways, how about 'SkyBuster'?" Ranma offered.

"Huh?"

"Look up Gunsmith Cats manga... one of the characters is a big dude who makes guns look weak. He's got a car that can roll sideways and it's called the 'Road Buster'." the Japanese native explained. "Or he was called that... not sure."

"Oh yeah... I read that one a long time ago!" Tony snapped his fingers. "Guy's named Bandit-something or something-Bandit. Hey... that was back in like the early Nineties or something... how do you know about it?"

Ranma rolled her eyes. "Not like I had an allowance for manga growing up. I read whatever I could get my hands on for free and people would put their old manga out on the curb for the recycling guys."

"Gotcha. 'SkyBuster'... still 'SB,' it just doesn't stand for 'SpeederBike' anymore. I like it! We'll go with that! So... it looks like I'm about to design and build the greatest revolution in transport since the wheel... or since the now defunct B-Frame, anyway. That'll take me like... an hour or three. JARVIS! Stop the sim compile! I'm about to change stuff up a lot." Stark nodded absently to himself as he fired up the CAD utility again. He made a vague shooing motion at the two women. "I guess you two can toddle off to entertain yourselves for a while. Don't do anything I wouldn't do! Wait!" He held up a palm as the rethought his statement. "Make that: don't do anything I'm not physically capable of duplicating. Or if you do... take video."

"Yes, Mr. Stark," Natasha agreed patiently. "I do have some paperwork to review. Ranma can keep me company."

"I should maybe get caught up on schoolwork, too," Ranma admitted with a grimace.

"Better you than me," Stark dismissed them cheerfully. "There's a reason I graduated early instead of spending more time with co-eds like I could have."

"It won't be so bad with some company," Natasha consoled her. "Did you want to change clothes first?" she suggested.

Ranma looked down at herself. "Eh. Might as well." She hauled a spare body suit out of her sleeve and shook it out in one hand while starting to twitch the other.

"No, wait...!" Natasha suddenly realized what was about to happen.

"Huh?" Ranma asked cluelessly, even as she flicked her old outfit into her free hand, then made the new appear on her body. In doing so, she was nude for a notable fraction of a second. Something Stark made no effort to hide his great appreciation of, even if he only got a back view.

"Haah," 'Natalie' sighed. Natasha didn't really care, in actual fact. The Red Room had trained her to fight and kill naked, and to be indifferent to other people's nudity. However, her cover identity should have some objections. Linking the younger woman's elbow with her own, she said: "Actually? New plan. Time for a little girl talk."

"Ehh..." Ranma looked alarmed, but did not use her vastly superior strength to escape. "Hey, Boss," she sent a beseeching look over her shoulder. "Don't you need me to help? Do the lab assistant thing?"

"No, no," he waved genially. "I'm sure I can muddle through on my own. Enjoy your girl talk!"

"O...kay?" Ranma replied hesitantly.

"Now, Ranma," Natasha kindly remonstrated. "You can keep me company, like a civilized person." Unspoken was the fact she would continue to further refine her profile of the hyper-proficient martial artist. And continue to stack the deck in her favor if the wheels came off the official plan.

The two young women trooped upstairs to what tended to be called the Waterfall Room due to the water feature near the staircase. The corner of Natasha's mouth lifted in a crooked grin as she saw the exaggerated way the teen dragged her feet on the final approach to the table she had been using as an ersatz office. "C'mon... is 'girl talk' really something to fear so much?" she asked the master-class fighter.

Ranma plopped down on the sofa with a dissatisfied expression. Eyeing the older redhead warily, she said: "Yes... yes it is." As if donning armor, she pulled out her Stark HUD and logged in with her retina pattern. The computer automatically called up her virtual workspace, which had her lessons front and center.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "You're such a boy sometimes."

"Yep," was Ranma's monosyllabic response as she made a production of paying more attention to her work.

"In that case, don't think of it as 'girl talk.' Think of it as another lesson in dealing with the mundane world."

"OK?" Ranma's tone was dubious, but her body language showed she actually was more receptive after Natasha put it that way. "So what's this lesson?"

"It's called: 'Don't get naked, 101.'" The agent told her with a serious tone.

"Huh?" Ranma asked in complete puzzlement.

"Just now!" Natasha waved back in the direction they came from. "You took off your clothes in front of Mr. Stark!"

"Oh yeah..." the younger woman recalled. Then she shrugged carelessly. "Eh... it wasn't for long. And I wasn't even facing him. He knows he can't touch if he wants to feel anything with his hands again."

"That doesn't matter. Ranma," 'Natalie' sighed in her role as a conventional, totally-not-a-spy regular person. "You can't just strip down in front of people."

"Does it really matter?" Ranma asked absently while filling in answers with hand motions. "I mean, I haven't been malleted for that for months now."

"Malleted? What? No... never mind." Natasha pretended to be a little flustered. "You know how you're not supposed to be nude in public, right?" There was a long moment with no answer. "Right!?"

"Well... you know," Ranma shrugged. "Things happen sometimes. I've been topless in public plenty of times. Like this, I mean." She waved toward her feminine form. "Been totally naked a couple times too. It's not that big a deal."

"It kind of is," 'Natalie assured her. "You're talking about random strangers seeing everything you've got."

"Feh," Ranma scoffed dismissively. "Everything? Just seeing me naked won't tell anyone much about my Art. I'm too good at hiding it. You've seen my 'No Stance' stance. So it's not even close to everything."

"I..." Natasha was amused by the reminder of how foreign Ranma's values could be to standard western society. In fact, it was exactly the sort of thinking a top agent like her shared. No harm to combat effectiveness? No foul. However, she acted annoyed for the sake of her cover. "They can see all your body, Ranma. That's what I meant. You really don't care about that?"

"It's just skin." True to her words, Ranma looked completely indifferent. "It's their problem if they make a big deal about it. If it bothers them, they can just not look."

Were she inclined to tell the truth, Natasha would loudly and emphatically agree with the teenager's statement. If she ever had the social conditioning of a nudity taboo, it had been trained out of her long before she could remember. Her body was a tool to be wielded at need, not some sacrosanct totem requiring civil rituals of concealment. That said, the Red Room had made sure it's 'products' knew how to function invisibly within society, so she used that experience to craft an explanation.

"OK, objectively, you're right," 'Natalie' conceded. "We weren't born with clothes, after all. However, too many people think bare skin does matter, so it matters anyway in spite of objective facts. I'm no prude, myself, but you have to represent Stark Industries, so you do have to take prudes into account."

"I guess..." Ranma said. She didn't sound reluctant, but she also didn't sound particularly committed.

"You have to think about the social signaling," Natasha continued to explain. "Think of it this way. Feints are useful in martial arts, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"How useful are they if you don't know what you are feinting and they react some way you don't expect?"

"Huh? Oh..." Ranma actually stopped with the computer course and looked thoughtful at that. "Yeah, that would screw you up. So you mean..."

"If you are sending signals you don't mean to send, you can get unexpected results. If you take off too many clothes... assuming you aren't in some place where that's expected... the signal would be 'I don't care about the social taboos you hold dear' at best, or 'I want sex from random men' at worst."

"Eww," Ranma scrunched up her nose at the last example. "OK, when you put it that way... I'll do my best to stayed clothed in public. Though it's not like I always get a choice, though, you know."

"I think you'll find civilization is a lot less chaotic than Nerima," 'Natalie' said with some humor. "What about when you're around Mr. Stark? Can you please avoid giving him a show?"

"I still don't care, but I can try to remember," Ranma vaguely promised.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think maybe your disinterest in men was an act," Natasha teased.

"Whaaaaat?!" Ranma lifted the HUD to her forehead and gave the other woman a long-suffering look.

"Or maybe Mr. Stark is an exception? You're ready to get naked for just that one special man in your life?"

"Yaaauuughhh," Ranma gagged, her face actually turning a bit green despite the tan, and dropped her eyewear back down to the bridge of her nose. "Come on, Natalie!"

"Or maybe not," Natasha said with a vulpine grin. "There's nothing wrong with liking both women and men, you know."

"I didn't say there was," Ranma shook her head. "I never said there was anything wrong with girls who like guys, I just don't get why they do! Wait..." she tilted her head in thought. "Did that make sense?" She nodded decisively. "Yeah, that made sense."

Natasha was chuckling openly at her. "As long as it makes sense in your head, I guess? Though I have to admit it would take someone solidly fixated on women to come up with a phrase like that on the spot. No carefully concealed yearnings, I suppose."

"Thank you," Ranma said sarcastically. Trying to get back to the shelter of her schoolwork... and boy was that something she'd never thought she'd catch herself thinking a year previously... she commented offhandedly: "It's not like I'm that good an actor that I could fool you all this time."

"The hell you aren't," Natasha countered instantly.

Ranma sighed heavily. "What are you saying now?"

"If there's one thing that last couple of days with the PR people would prove, it's that you could have a talent for stage and screen along with everything else you've got going for you." One thing she had noticed was how Ranma was able to draw people in with her expressions and body-language. Over and above her gorgeous face and body, that is. It was a physical charisma that occasionally broke down when she was speaking, but Natasha could see the Ki-adept being very effective playing a role either as a spy or an entertainer. Especially taking into account her gift for mimicry and superhuman control over her own body.

Interestingly, Ranma's didn't demonstrate quite the same potential in male form. Or perhaps it would be better to say his performance was more limited. Like he had been playing a role so long, he wasn't sure what to do outside of it. Natasha was seeing cracks in that facade as he expanded his horizons.

A life-long mask, and little life outside it. Another thing Ranma had in common with Natasha.

"Forget it. No. Just... no," Ranma protested emphatically. "After the Martial Arts Romeo and Juliet incident, there's nothing that would make me try acting again."

"Oh?" Natasha inquired amusedly. "I assume you played Romeo?"

The Neriman escapee heaved a deep sigh and admitted: "One of them. The night of the play we had like... seven or something?" The other woman started giggling at the story. "I had to get some cold water and switch to Juliet for a while to take out all the other Romeos. Then I switched back again only for the play to switch, too... to Sleeping Beauty. That got me my mouth duck-taped shut." Giggles turned into outright laughter as 'Natalie' barely stayed in her seat. "Shaaahh..." Ranma sighed again. "Yeah, laugh it up."

Swallowing further hilarity, Natasha asked: "I assume the audience was entertained, though?"

"Well... yeah," Ranma admitted. "Won the stupid contest, anyway."

"Then add it to your list of career options anyway," Natasha shrugged. "It doesn't have to be high on the list. And you might want to study how actors deal with celebrity... especially actresses. That comes back to the not letting people see you naked. There's a thriving business dealing in candid photos of female celebrities topless or naked."

"Didn't we shut that down with the modeling contract?"

"That particular dodge shut down that Nabiki girl, but it only worked for two reasons. One: she was too short-sighted and greedy to set things up to be legal. Two: you were an unknown, private citizen at the time. That won't hold up if you become as famous as we expect. Believe it or not, but a sexy redhead with superpowers and a scorching, seductive look that melts a wide variety of underwear is going to gather a lot of attention."

"'Seductive look'? Me?" Ranma asked incredulously. "Where?" She looked around herself, even lifting an arm to look under it. "Where to you see a seductive look?"

"Trust me, you've got it," Natasha told her with a smirk.

"Oh really? Does it look something like this?" Ranma asked before taking up a pose.

"No! Who the hell would call that seductive?"

Ranma reeled in her lolling tongue and bulging eyes to make a bland face, though her hands were still held up in a groping motion at chest height. "Happosai," she stated plainly, getting a chuckle in reply. Dropping her hands in her lap, she said: "I don't know where you come up with some of the stuff you do. I'm a bodyguard. I don't even need a seductive look, much less have one."

"Well... I could point out that you could use one to get close to a potential enemy and surprise them," Natasha smirked, having done that numerous times herself. "I could also point out you're a lot more than just a bodyguard already. But seriously... have you already forgotten what I taught you during that first shopping trip?"

"That? Oh that was just Flirt-Fu."

"'Flirt-Fu?'" Natasha quoted. "Is that what you've been calling it? That's adorable!"

"'Adorable?' Really? That's kinda... never mind," Ranma did not look flattered. "Anyway... that's just a technique. Not the same thing."

"Dealing with people is a technique," Natasha pointed out dryly. "Or rather, it's a whole bunch of techniques. Do you even hear yourself talking! How is Flirt-Fu not a seductive look?"

"It just... isn't," Ranma waved a hand helplessly. "It's something you taught me, not something I just did on my own."

"Well... you do have a natural seductive look, too," Natasha assured her. "However, there is no rule saying a practiced look doesn't count."

"Ugh," Ranma grimaced. "Seriously... why you keep talking up seduction-this and seduction-that? If you're bored, why not talk about... any goddamn thing else?"

The real reason, of course, was the topic was one of the few that could consistently put the martial artist off-balance, and Natasha learned much about how Ranma's mind worked as a result. Of course, she could not admit that, so... "Your love-life did crash and burn back in Japan," 'Natalie' pointed out. "This is, believe it or not, something I can help you get a handle on."

Ranma shrugged, but still looked dubious. "You already taught me Flirt-Fu."

"Oh, Ranma," Natasha murmured. "There a so many, many things about romance and sex you don't know about yet."

Ranma winced a little at the mention of sex. She was willing to admit she was intensely curious about it, but she was also wary of adding drama to her life. She sighed wearily. "I did say I wanted to try dating away from Nerima, and I'd like a girlfriend. And I was actually thinking about asking you about this stuff again. But... I dunno, it just seems tiresome and pointless with everything else that's going on. I'd rather just treat Flirt-Fu as a useful technique in case I need it sometime instead of trying to go beyond that. It already helped out with Christine."

"Christine?"

"Uh... Everhart? The reporter lady at Monaco?"

"Oh...?" Looking even more amused and anticipatory, the older woman walked around the table to take a seat next to the nervous-looking girl. Putting an arm around her shoulders, she said: "This just got interesting. What happened?"

"Nothing, really!" Ranma hastened to declare. The steady look and smile from her questioner made her cave rather quickly, however. "I just... you know how you warned me that women would assume stuff about me and Tony?"

"Well... both men and women would come to similar conclusions, but the women would approach you about them in ways you couldn't respond with your usual methods," Natasha corrected.

"Er... yeah, that." Ranma didn't think she quite grasped everything Natasha was getting at, but agreed anyway. "So she cornered me and started asking questions and warning me about him. Took me a bit to get that last part, but once I did, I did like you said and made it clear I don't like guys that way."

Smile widening, the infiltrator asked: "How clear did you make it?"

"Eh-heh... really, really clear?"

Natasha waited patiently for a few moments while Ranma twiddled her thumbs. "And...? What did you do to her?"

Reflexively, the teen warrior took the question as an accusation. "Hey! I didn't touch her or anything! I only... turnedupthesexyinmyaura and aimed it at her... a little."

"I'm sorry," the older woman grinned and leaned in, putting her ear closer to Ranma's mouth. "What was that?"

Ranma blew out an exasperated breath, rolling her eyes. "My aura. I used it a bit. Sorta, y'know... instead of confidence or aggression... I focused my aura on..." she trailed off in embarrassment.

"...On the sexy," 'Natalie' finished for her, looking delighted. Ranma turned red, but nodded. "Show me!" the older woman demanded.

"What?!"

"Come on! I wanna see this!" She pushed the shorter girl up off the couch. "Work it, Baby!" she growled playfully." When Ranma just stood there looking at her incredulously, she waved her hands at her impatiently. "C'mon! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!"

Ranma ran her hands over her hair and down her braid in annoyance. "Fine. You asked for it." She turned her back and took a deep breath, closing her eyes and dismissing her minor agitation through practiced mastery of her Ki. The atmosphere swiftly became electric as the martial artist slowly and delicately shifted her weight between her feet, her hips canting from one side to the other. The subtle play of muscle through her skin-tight body suit cast a spell on her audience of one, making the trained agent forget to breathe.

Ranma shot a heavy-lidded look over her shoulder at Natasha that froze her even through the tint of the HUD. She then gracefully turned on one toe and stepped toward the other woman with the other foot. Grinning, the older redhead unconsciously swayed in concert with the approaching Ki-adept's next steps. The eighteen-year-old then stopped and casually looked away while clasping her hands behind her head. She then gave her hips a final, small swing to cant one hip high and halted in a classic pinup pose.

Natasha was impressed. Even without her more-than-natural abilities, the combat master's movements would make many professional runway models green with envy. With that added aura boost, which the Russian-born woman was definitely feeling, there probably wasn't anyone in the world Ranma couldn't get a rise out of. Still, her own brutal training and mission history made her quite resistant, and she was in no danger of losing control of herself. That didn't stop her from playing along for a bit.

Eyes glazed, 'Natalie' absently rose to her feet and drifted forward. Ranma's eyes widened in some alarm at the approach, but she still held her pose, refusing to back down. "Ranma..." Natasha murmured softly as she bent down, her exhale tickling the petite young woman's lips.

"Kuso! Uh... Y-yes?"

"...Who the hell doesn't have a seductive look?" the SHIELD spy asked in a normal tone of voice. She straightened up and pointed at the Japanese native. "Good job! People have enough trouble looking away from you as it is. With that sort of thing, you might as well just lead them all around on leashes."

Ranma's unconsciously alluring wide-eyed and intent expression evaporated as she slumped where she stood, smacking one hand over her eyes. "Seriously?!" she demanded after a moment as she leveled a glare at her companion.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Natasha claimed with a deliberately unconvincing innocent look.

"Argh!" Ranma flopped down bodily on the sofa on her back staring blankly up at the ceiling. "Why am I such a sucker for beautiful women!?"

Sitting down on a chair instead of invading the aggravated teen's personal space again, Natasha chuckled. "Probably because you need more practice with seduction tactics," she pointed out humorously. The reclining bodyguard favored her with a flat, unfriendly look. "Though it's OK if you don't bother to learn. Speaking as one of those women, it's kind of awesome that I can so easily mess with someone who can shatter boulders with their pinkie finger."

Ranma's brow furrowed in confusion. "When did I tell you about the Bakusai Tenketsu?"

Translating the Japanese term instantly, Natasha's playful expression dropped into a frown as she extrapolated what that could mean. "You can actually shatter... no... explode a boulder with your pinkie!? I was just kidding about that!"

Now it was her turn to smirk as Ranma responded: "Sure. Ryoga used it in front of me often enough that I figured it out. Still had to put myself through the training for the toughness to get any use out of it, though. Did that to kill time while waiting for Akane and Koyuki to have their dates. I normally use this finger," she held up her index finger, "but I guess any finger would do. Or toes. Or elbows. Or whatever. Just some place you can inject the Ki from by touching. Only works on rocks, dead and dried wood, and such, though."

"That's fortunate," the putative assistant nodded in half-feigned relief. Reflexively, Natasha guided the conversation away from the significant reveal so her mark wouldn't think about what she just gave away. It probably wasn't really necessary with Ranma, but it was a professional habit that had been developed for years. "With these new plans Stark and Potts have for you, it'd probably be a bad idea to keep going with them if you were going to accidentally detonate people because of the stress."

Ranma rolled her eyes. "I'm not all that stressed, you know."

"Really. Even with the new scheme to hide your male aspect?"

"I'm not going to be hidden, just... re-named or something with my guy side," Ranma countered. "So people won't know I'm the same person."

"OK, but it's still a secret identity. The fame and acclaim you get as a woman won't carry over. And won't pretending to be two different people be inconvenient?" Natasha asked, knowing more than a bit about pretending to be other people.

Ranma took some time before answering. "I kinda wish we'd kept the name 'Saotome Ranma' for my guy side, but it doesn't really matter that much. You remember how I said it was the people who know I'm both that get funny on me? That could be a real problem right now if it was widespread, y'know?"

"Ah..." 'Natalie' visibly reconsidered. "It is true we're trying to reduce controversy, not add to it."

"Yeah, exactly." Ranma nodded encouragingly. "Maybe someday I'll tell everybody. And before that, I can still tell a few people that I deal with directly, but right now it's way less of a pain to just keep the Jusenkyo thing to ourselves. Besides," she shrugged, "I was able to wander around Monte Carlo as a guy and nobody swarmed me like they did when I was a girl. I kind of like the idea to be able to do my own thing and have people leave me alone as a guy."

"That is a point," 'Natalie' conceded. "It is hard to get my head around the kinds of options you have compared to normal. Though," Natasha tilted her head and gave Ranma a sober look, "if you could just stay one gender, wouldn't you want to?"

Ranma waved her hand dismissively. "Every time I tried to cure my curse, it went wrong... badly sometimes. As far as I know, the last cask of Nanniichuan... Drowned Boy Spring... water was lost when Happosai drank it. Besides, it was pointed out that it might not have worked, or it might have made things way worse. The Instant Nanniichuan worked... for like two seconds... but Pansuto Taro's curses mixed." She shuddered at the picture that formed in her mind. "No telling what would have happened. I've given up on that, so I'll just live my life."

"That didn't quite answer my question." Natasha pointed out gently. "If you could stop changing, would you?"

"I actually probably could," Ranma mentioned. "I've been locked as a girl a couple of times, and I know where to get the Locking Ladle, but I don't want that."

"So if you could stay male...?"

The Ki-adept eyed her warily for a few moments, and Natasha projected acceptance and understanding to highest degree possible with her mastery of body language. Finally, Ranma said: "After the fight with Safuran, I said I didn't care about the curse anymore. Coming down from a fight like that... too worn out to keep up the bullshit... my head was clear in a way it hadn't been in a long time. Like I was free in way that I hadn't been for some while. Then we went back to Nerima, and we went back to the same daily stupidity, and I went back to wanting a cure. It was... I was... my thinking was a mess all over again. Later on, I figured things out with Akane, and I was able to get my head out of the Nerima nonsense. When I did that, I felt free again. Free enough to leave all that behind and come here."

"I for one am glad you did," Natasha told her.

"I had a lot of time to think about things when I was on the ocean," Ranma added reminiscently. "Nothing around me but water for so long? Nothing to do but row, figure out other ways to train, and occasionally hunt for food. I read through my textbooks during breaks so many times I almost memorized them. So... a lot of thinking time. The curse. What happened in Nerima. What I was going to do. That sort of thing."

"Oh? It turned into a wisdom quest?"

"Hah!" Ranma barked out a laugh as she slumped further in her seat. "Wisdom? Oh... hell no. No, no, no, no... I wish. No. All I did was come up with questions. Stuff to wonder about, you know?" At Natasha's nod, Ranma went on: "Closest thing to wisdom was kicking myself for all the idiot stuff I did whenever somebody waved a 'cure' in front of me? I mean like painfully stupid stuff." Ranma's face screwed up in embarrassment and irritation.

"I think I understand. Most people have similar stories from their teenage years," Natasha told her comfortingly. She, of course, never had that luxury in the Red Room; but she knew enough about psychology to know she was in a statistically insignificant minority.

Ranma gave her a small, genuine smile. "Right, so... I guess the wisdom was to be less of an idiot. Only thing is, I'm still figuring out how to do that. So in other words, I got nothing. All I did was straighten up the clutter a bit."

"They say the admitting ignorance is the first step to wisdom," Natasha pointed out.

"Pheh..." Ranma scoffed. "If not knowing stuff is all it takes, I'm plenty wise."

Natasha's core question still hadn't been answered, but she felt she had pushed as far as she could for now. She went with a subject change instead. "Did you get a chance to call Akane back?"

Sitting up, Ranma nodded more cheerfully. "I did. I even called the house number this time since there was no point in keeping it secret anymore. Kasumi answered and we talked a bit too."

"That's the eldest sister, right? Any resentment from her?"

"Yeah, she's the oldest. Nothing said about the legal stuff with her. She was...nice? But nice like she'd be to any random shopkeeper in the market. Like she wasn't really paying attention. Not really sure where her head is at." Ranma shook off her perplexity. "Akane had some mostly good news. Oyaji still hasn't shown himself since Eri gave him the paperwork, but it looks like he snuck in and took his stuff later. Safe bet is he's hiding out in the mountains right about now."

"You mentioned that already. Anything on Nodoka?" the older woman inquired with a notable increase in intensity.

"Okaa-San?"

"Nodoka," she was corrected firmly.

"Oooookay," the martial artist frowned in confusion, but shrugged and continued. "She didn't much like the restraining order, and it doesn't look like she's gonna bother talking to the judge. All she did was rant a bit and leave to go stay with some family of hers up in Fukushima." She flicked her hand dismissively. "Whatever... though there was something new on the Kunos."

"What's that?" Natasha prodded.

"Kodachi, and Kuno are trying to figure out how to get to Monaco to look for me. The idiots," Ranma sighed.

"They... what?" the infiltrator's voice went high in sheer disbelief, massaging her temples at the abject stupidity of the Nerima crew. "Do they not get you were just visiting?"

"Guess not," the petite redhead shook her head. "They just saw me on the TV, saw Monaco in the words at the bottom of the screen, and that was it. Sasuke is doing his usual crap job of arranging things for them to travel, so they might never manage to leave the country. I've suspected for a while he does that on purpose to try to keep 'em out of trouble."

"Who was Sasuke again?"

"Their ninja," Ranma said casually.

"Rrrright..." Natasha said slowly. "Wow. So you know some real ninja after all."

"Yep. And Sasuke, too," the martial-artist joked.

Natasha wanted to ask how she would stack up against the other supposedly sub-standard ninja, but decided not to get Ranma in the habit of talking about her skills in terms of real-world applications. The last thing she needed was for Ranma's assessment of her true capacity to finally penetrate Potts' and Stark's heads. "Well, if that is deliberate, I hope he succeeds."

"Yeah. Doubt the Kunos will get their crap together enough to make it, but I had Pepper pass on a warning to the government folks in Monaco anyway. Also, JARVIS is on alert to look for them. Ah..." she sighed. "I'll feel bad if they do get over there after all. Those poor... Monacojin? Monaceans?"

"Residents of Monaco?" Natasha suggested while making her own plans to distribute some more effective warnings via her true employers.

"Right. Them. After that Whiplash guy, they really don't need the bakas crashing through the place."

"I wouldn't worry too much about them," 'Natalie' advised. "I heard all the hotels and restaurants with views of the location of the fight have jacked up their prices by five to ten percent to take advantage the increased tourist traffic. Some of them have collected the more recognizable debris from the attack for display to increase the draw even more. Insurance covered most of the damages, and Mr. Stark covered the rest, so now they're just raking in pure profit."

"Yeah," Ranma nodded agreement. "I heard something like that, too. A bunch of places there offered me free visits and such if I'd sign photos of me for them." She made a throw-away gesture. "Doubt I'll ever get back there, but it didn't cost me anything but a little time."

"Don't count it out to quickly," she was admonished. "The French Riviera is one of the world's premier vacation spots for the rich and shameless. You know what the food was like." Natasha's reminder made her young companion purse her lips thoughtfully and nod. "There's all sorts of activities, and the beaches..." She whistled lowly. "What do you think all the young pretty women there wear?"

Something in the older woman's tone made Ranma sit up and give her a quizzical look. "I dunno... bikinis?"

"You're half right..." Natasha claimed leadingly. The less worldly-wise girl furrowed her brows for a moment, then her eyes suddenly went wide and she blushed. "Yep... that's right~! Just saying... if you were to take me along as a guest, I'd be wearing just..." she used her fingertips to suggestively trace a thin "V" shape at waist height. "The thong and nothing else on the beach."

Ranma merely sat and looked back at her unblinkingly. Natasha was gratified by both the fact the Ki-adept's gaze never dropped below her face and by the fact that her head yet slowly tilted to the side as her eyes took on a steadily dreamier cast. The taller redhead's knowing smirk seemed to snap her out of it and she groused: "Didn't you just get on my case about being naked?"

Natasha smiled without a hint of shame for possible hypocrisy. "Woman's prerogative. I can always change my mind. I am not limited to blinkered male ideas of consistency," she declaimed with a superior tone."

"Oh yeah? Does that work for me?"

"No."

"Oi..." Ranma leveled a deadpan expression at the older redhead, then smirked to show she knew it was a joke.

"Anyway," Natasha went on only slightly more seriously, "the beaches of the French, Spanish, and Italian Mediterranean have plenty of women who go topless. You won't shock anyone there, though you might have to dodge paparazzi. You just need to avoid taking off clothes someplace where it isn't expected. Look around. If you don't see any other women showing anything, then don't show anything. So if we did go to a beach where there were other women sunning their boobs, then I wouldn't be worried about it if you did, too. Or if I did." Seeing the younger woman look contemplative again, she asked: "Still dismissing it as a future vacation spot?"

Ranma rolled her eyes but held up a palm to concede the point. "Fine. Guess it wouldn't hurt to go back."

"Trust me, you're going to need that vacation after a few months of working for Mr. Stark," Natasha joked.

"Yeeaaah..." the teen drawled. "I need one now after yesterday," she groused.

"I can see your point," the spy said sympathetically. "Though things got more fun afterward, right?" There had been a lot of PR and marketing training that Ranma had to struggle to hold still for. A distinctly Japanese sense of obligation and a lot of sweet-talking from the older woman were all that got her through it. Natasha made sure the day ended on a pleasant note by escorting Ranma to a few restaurants. Picking at appetizers while the martial artist happily consumed several full-sized meals, they had talked about martial arts and plans for redecorating Ranma's new house.

Ranma had gone home pleasantly stuffed with food, and thoroughly pumped for information. Though, as usual, she didn't notice the last part. Ideally, she would never know how she had accidentally confirmed Stark's medical condition.

There had been more marketing review that morning, but it was balanced with testing Stark's new invention. A simulator had been built for Ranma's use, which she had appreciated quite a bit. Despite the fun, it was practice for operating an armed craft, seeing that the repulsors could fire force-bolts like the Iron Man armor, so Ranma took it as seriously as learning a new set of katas. The prototype Ranma had crashed had made its first flight just an hour before.

"Excuse me," JARVIS suddenly spoke up before the conversation could continue. "Sorry to interrupt, but aside from additional internal components that will not affect the exteriors, Mr. Stark has completed the base designs of the SkyBuster, the EncounterSuit, and the eNReal-Visor. He has tasked me with finishing the detailing. Would you like to specify your preferences, Ranma?"

"Yes we would," Natasha answered for them both. Ranma glanced at her, but wasn't exactly going to argue. "Let's start with the suit," the ersatz aide instructed, pointing to one of the larger screens and the martial artist stood up to get a better view.

Both women raised their eyebrows when a highly detailed 3-D rendering of Ranma's female form in the nude appeared in a rotating display, though the components of the suit appeared around her body in layers within less than a couple of seconds, ending with a light-gray surface. They exchanged bland glances, but didn't bother to comment on that part.

What Natasha did comment on was: "You know, I was expecting it to be even tighter than that. As in: clearly-show-the-shape-of-your-tits tight. This is like your body-stockings, but a bit thicker. The feet are interesting." She nodded at where the suit had a split between the big toe an the rest built in.

"Yeah, those are the tabi I asked for. As for the chest? I guess Tony would have gone for that if he could, so he probably couldn't because of how it's put together," Ranma shrugged.

"As a matter of fact," JARVIS interjected, "Mr. Stark did wish to design a closer fit, but Ms. Potts successfully interceded against it. Her argument was that Ranma would not be taken seriously if she's too appealing to prurient interests."

The two redheads looked at each other again. "Well, that's true, I guess," Ranma conceded. "Though the faces people underestimating me make are pretty funny when my sexy little body kicks them into a wall."

"Since I'm not really a fighter, I'll have to take your word for it," 'Natalie' replied with a considerable lack of truth. The reality was that a good ten to fifteen percent of her combat effectiveness was due to her pulling the exact same trick.

It said something about how low Ranma rated that combat effectiveness that she let the 'not a fighter' comment pass with no more than a nod even though she knew good and well what 'Natalie' was capable of. She really hoped the assignment didn't last long enough for that to fall apart.

"So what colors are you thinking? Black perhaps? Maybe with a bit of red?" Natasha did not show a hint of her thoughts, but she would find it highly amusing if the smaller redhead duplicated her own motif. The computer intelligence obediently shifted the gray to mainly black with crimson upper arms and thighs, reminiscent of Iron Man's pattern.

"Nah," Ranma immediately shook her head. "That looks like too much of an imitation of Tony. I'm a martial artist, not an armored samurai."

"Perhaps all black except for... hmm... a few faint tiger stripes in red?" Ranma flinched at the suggested decoration, so she failed to interrupt as 'Natalie' went on. "And... how about adding a crimson sash around the hips? Ah... very nice," she nodded at the effect.

"Baaaan!" Ranma extended the syllable into a buzzer-like noise, crossing her forearms in an "X" shape. "No cat stuff! Black is out, too. Though the sash is good. I like that part."

"No black? How about a metallic canary yellow?" Natasha joked. JARVIS still made the verbalized change, making her say: "Ick... no."

"Oi... I don't think even I could make that look good," Ranma said dubiously while frowning at the eye-gouging rendering.

"Whoops," the spy giggled. "Switch it back! Anyway, what's wrong with black? You do use stealth a lot, right? Walk on walls? Cling to ceilings?"

"Eh... black is the worst for being sneaky," Ranma explained. "Shows up good in daylight, and it's real obvious in moonlight. It's why real ninjas wore dark blue." She smirked at the taller woman to remind her of the apparent poser who'd taught her Ninjutsu.

As a matter of fact, Natasha already knew that. Her own uniform for serious work was a dark, midnight blue after all. She only wore true black when she wanted to impress or intimidate more than she wanted stealth. However, her cover identity would not know such a thing, so she commented naively: "Really? I'll take your word for it. So you'd like it to be, what? Navy blue?" JARVIS silently complied with the new suggestion.

Ranma cocked her head in consideration. "Don't make it solid blue. Make it like..." she traced a series of cross-hatches in the air with her fingertips. "Like woven. Kind of like blue jeans. Do you know what a real shozoku looks like? Make it like that."

The suit's projection took on a mottled tone of dark blue. The pattern looked almost scaly on the smooth surface of the outfit. Natasha, speaking in her role as an ex-model then said: "Change the sash to a dark burgundy. Let's switch to a second tone of slightly lighter blue for the middle of the torso and make the pattern there more hexagonal. Is this a touch screen I can trace out what I want on?" At the AI's affirmation that it was, Natasha moved up to the monitor and sketched a rounded section starting just above the breastbone and belling out to two-thirds of the way to the flanks, then narrowing again toward the apex of the legs. "Can you rotate the model back and spread the thighs? Thanks." She continued tracing out the lighter section until it nearly reached the knees of the inside of the thighs. Stepping back, she regarded the smoothed out and symmetrical rendering the computer had conveniently extrapolated from her fingertip motions and nodded her head. "Stand it back up and rotate, please. And can we see some action movements?" The computer-generated likeness of the martial-artist began a series of basic kicks and punches. "That looks good, I like that."

"No pockets?" Ranma wondered.

"They would ruin the lines of the outfit," Natasha shook her head.

"I need something to work with for Stuff-Space, and those sleeves are a bit tight. I don't think they stretch as well as this bodysuit, right?"

"That is correct," JARVIS answered. "The EncounterSuit should be able to match your observed flexibility. However, it is made to be durable and will have embedded electronics, so it will not stretch much more than that." The display showed an animation of the sleeves stretching, giving a little more than a centimeter of clearance. Ranma grimaced doubtfully at that. She could work with it, but it would be tight.

"How about a belt instead of a sash?" Natasha suggested upon seeing her expression. "One with a series of pouches like a bandoleer? Black for the belt itself and a cetacean blue for the pockets?" The computer-generated model shifted to match her suggestions. "Flatter pockets, and a bit lower on the hips," she continued. "Cant the belt at an angle... a bit more... there! Very sexy!"

"That's better," Ranma conceded hesitantly. "Though the sash would have been more... martial-arts-like. Never mind," she shook her head. "That's less important."

"Wait... let's not be too quick to ditch something you like." 'Natalie' quirked her jaw to the side in contemplation. "How about this? Extend the sleeve in a triangle over the back of the hand so it loops over the middle two fingers. Yeah, like that," she confirmed for the NLUI. "Make it so there's some separation if Ranma bends her hand back. Would that work for your Hidden Weapons technique?"

Ranma's nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah... that would work fine."

"OK, go back to the sash. Although..." she shot the Ki-adept a pointed look. "As a woman, there is nothing wrong with mix-and-matching accessories. JARVIS? I assume there would be no problem making both the belt and the sash?"

"Certainly not, Ms. Rushman," the computer confirmed. The display faded out the sash and faded in the belt, then reversed the procedure. Natasha nodded thoughtfully as the model cycled through the two options continuously.

Ranma also looked approving, then frowned. "Guess we need logos or something," she recalled from her recent marketing training.

"Not too much, this isn't Nascar," the undercover agent clarified. "A 'Stark Industries' logo in black down each sleeve and each leg should do. Anything else you want to add to the suit or change?"

"Don't think so. Wait... let me see the bottoms of feet closer." The view zoomed in appropriately, and Ranma saw the same flat nubs that some of her custom body suits had for traction. "Nope, that's good as it is."

"Awesome. I think we have it. What do you think, Ranma?"

The teen shrugged. "I like it. The... hexagonals...?"

"Hexagons," she was corrected by both the human present and her visor.

"Right... the hexagons. They make it seem more high-tech for some reason, but the color, the tabi, and the sash make it look kind of traditional too."

"Shall I add the eNReal-Visor to the image?" JARVIS prompted.

"Yeah, go ahead," the newly appointed hero agreed, and a light-gray band encircled the model's head, leaving scallops to leave the ears uncovered and framing an area above and beside the eyes. Then a darker gray, translucent visor appeared to cover the eyes while leaving the nose and mouth clear. Another window appeared and showed an animation of a mask folding out from the frame to cover the mouth.

"What's the mask for?" Ranma wondered.

"It is a filter and rebreather for underwater or toxic air conditions," JARVIS explained.

"Oh, cool. And it still has everything my HUD does?"

"All previously functions are still in the design," she was assured.

Tony had said the visor would be a highly upgraded version of the Stark HUD 2020 that would be introduced to the public during the Stark Expo and that Ranma was already using. However, as impressive as the base technology was, it was more gimmicky than intended for serious field work. Other than some of the neural detection technology, the glasses were mostly restricted to the functions of a smart-phone. However, this visor did so much more than the civilian model, it needed a new name. Aside from the mask, the new device was supposed to be able to project text and pictures directly into her eyes via special lasers at an even higher speed than the civilian model, much like the Iron Man helmet did for Stark. That alone was enough of an upgrade as far as Ranma was concerned, but Tony told her that was just the tip of the iceberg, and she'd appreciate it even more once she was trained in all the features.

"Let's go with the same blue and hex-pattern as the torso panel for the frame, and black for the breather mask," Natasha instantly proposed. "Can the clear part be made a lighter gray? With a bit of blue to bring out her eyes? Hmm... I guess that will do."

"How easily can I remove it if it gets in the way?" was Ranma's primary concern when she noticed the visor seemed to grip the model's head.

"Pressure switches on the underside of the eNReal-Visor allow immediate release," the NLUI promptly explained along with showing an exploded view of the applicable sections of the device.

"Cool, then it's all good as far as I can tell."

Natasha countered with: "Can the clear part of the visor part be reshaped?"

"To some degree, though it must occupy this area," JARVIS answered, showing a blinking dotted line tracing the perimeter of the visor just inside the edge.

"Good. Can you extend the top corners like this?" She used her fingers again to draw a curve with tips extending a few centimeters above the original top at each side. "Then down like this." She traced down and then back up to make flanges that covered the cheeks a bit. When the computer finished reshaping according to her description, the top looked like it had ears or horns, while the bottom suggested fangs, giving it a fierce, predatory appearance.

"That does look cooler," Ranma readily conceded. "Not really functional though."

"Perhaps not, but this all started with concerns about appearances," 'Natalie' pointed out. "Indulge me, please. I do have something in mind."

"What's that?"

The older redhead merely wagged a finger and smiled without answering. There was no great purpose in what she did to the design, but manipulation wasn't just her job, it was her hobby. It amused her to try shaping the world-wide response to her charge. There was no doubt the press was going to tag Ranma with some sort of moniker on top of her real name. They had with 'Iron Man,' and they even did it with Vanko, labeling him with the nom de guerre 'Whiplash.' It was almost a tradition since the days of Captain America. She found inspiration in the vaguely scaly appearance of Ranma's proposed combat outfit and the lighter-colored belly section she had added. The mask now emphasized that theme, however subtly. Given that nearly everyone in the industrialized world had at least heard of a certain martial arts movie, she'd bet the younger woman would be saddled with a particular name by the world at large very quickly.

"OK, let's get the colors for the SkyBuster done," was all Natasha said in response to Ranma's inquiring face.

"Yes, Ms. Rushman," JARVIS agreed, bringing up the latest design of the proposed vehicle with the unpainted coloration of the gold-titanium allow. "The SkyBuster's exterior form cannot be modified," the computer noted. "Only the coloration can be changed. However, there is some leeway in changing the interior arrangement."

Natasha raised an eyebrow at Ranma after the last comment. The martial artist shrugged back and said: "Until I try it out, I can't say anything about changing anything about how it's put together, but that gold is way too bright. Wanna go blue again with the paint?"

"It'd have to be one of the winter colors to go with your suit... or else gray, black, or white since they are neutral." Seeing the clueless look on the Ki-adept's face, she chuckled a little and added: "I mean blue, green, indigo, or violet. Or a very dark red like the sash."

"Okaaaay... blue it is, then."

"Right, let's go with cetacean blue again for the top and fade to sky blue on the undercarriage." The rendering of the vehicle changed as requested and slowly rotated around several axes. "Let's use the shozoku pattern again for everything, only broader than the suit. Print the Stark Industries logo on the sides in white. Lets make the interior charcoal gray, then. How does that look to you?"

"It's fine," Ranma nodded, not caring that much as long as it didn't look horrible. "How soon will it be ready to fly?"

"Reusing some parts from the prototype, it should be ready in two hours and 17 minutes," the AI informed them. "The suit and visor will be ready in 44 minutes. Mr. Stark has requested you begin practice in the simulator immediately."

############

"Wahooooo!" Ranma screamed exultantly a few hours later.

"Exceeding Mach 3.2," JARVIS announced though the sound system of the new visor she was wearing.

"You've just broken my sprint speed record in the Iron Man armor," Tony chimed in through the radio. His tone was a strange mix of prideful and offended.

"Sorry-not-sorry!" Ranma yelled back, her voice caught by microphones in the neck of her suit, causing the inventor to laugh out loud.

"You OK with the drag and the turbulence?" he then asked in a more serious tone. "You're flying pretty low down there to be going that speed!" He himself was flying the Iron Man armor a couple of thousand feet above his employee, in case something unexpected went wrong.

"It's fine!" the martial artist stated confidently despite the fact the fact that eyes that could track bullets in flight couldn't easily focus on the instruments due to the high-intensity vibrations. She relied on her Ki-senses to verify she was still twenty-five meters above the ocean. "It's kinda... whatchamacallit? Invigorating?" It was the first time that she could remember being on a vehicle moving fast enough that it would hurt if she somehow fell off. Tony's planes didn't count, they flew so high she would have no problem slowing to terminal velocity long before hitting the ground. The SkyBuster was flying low enough that she'd hit the ground faster than the speed of sound if she jumped out.

It wouldn't hurt much,but she would definitely be rubbing a sore spot or three for a while.

"Slow up a bit. The frame is holding strong, but I'm a little worried that some connectors might shake loose. Get some altitude so we can see how fast it can really go," Stark ordered.

"OK, boss!" She throttled back, then expertly swiveled the thrusters to send her up in a curve so sharp it was nearly a right angle.

"JESUS CHRIST! Are you OK?!" Tony yelped.

"What? I'm fine," Ranma answered in confusion. "Why?"

"You just pulled over 30 G's with that last maneuver! That is way past what a normal pilot can handle! The EncounterSuit is good at protecting you, but it ain't that good!" He'd had a shocked moment to deeply regret taking off the governors after Ranma had proved she could safely fly the new craft at lower speeds. He also regretted the order in which he built things. At that particular time, he really wanted to be able to keep up with Ranma as she blasted up past the current altitude he was hovering at in his suit.

"Nah..." Ranma replied dismissively as she continued her spiraling climb. "I felt it, sure, but it wasn't bad. That thing the old ghoul pulled on me the last time was worse. Hell, getting launched by Happosai with that pipe-trick of his was worse."

"Wow... OK..." the genius inventor calmed down. "Right, she claimed a hundred G's, didn't she? Still getting shocked by what you can do. Christ... I'd better make the governor kick in automatically when to have a passenger so you don't turn 'em into paste with that kind of thing. Anyway, get your mask on. I want to try this at Angels 22... that's a little over 6,700 meters to you... and the air's a mite bit thin up there."

"Roger Wilco!" the airborne martial artist replied sassily. Using a combination of eye-movements and finger taps, she made the eNReal-Visor deploy the breathing mask. She might be capable of operating on minimal oxygen, but there was no point in not getting all she could when she had the luxury to do so. Once she reached the specified altitude, she pitched back in her inverted flight to aim the SkyBuster's repulsors at the sky and reversed her previous high-speed maneuver. As soon as the turn was completed, she rolled back upright and continued on in level flight.

"Cripes, you'd be a nightmare as a fighter pilot," Tony complimented wryly. "OK, still looking good. Make sure you stay in the flight path I'm sending you now to stay well clear of regular traffic. Other than that, you're clear to open her up!"

"Gotcha!" The instant she was given the word, Ranma slammed the throttle to the maximum. Twin Arc reactors gave off high-pitched tones and she felt the considerable power the devices feed into the six roaring repulsors. "OH YEAAAAAAHHHH!" she hollered as the aircraft rocketed forward. The danger level had decreased with the increased distance from the ground, but she could still feel how the rush of air roared outside of the craft as she blasted along and found it just as exhilarating.

"Mach 3.5... Mach 4..." JARVIS reported the measured speed as she accelerated. "Mach 5... 5.5... 6... Mach 6.5! Mach 7!"

Seeing the airspeed indicator cease to rise as the SkyBuster hammered through the air, Stark asked: "So much for the X-15! Looks like you're topped out. How's it going?"

"It's great!" the newly minted test pilot shouted back. "How fast am I going?"

"You, Ms. Saotome," Tony drawled, "have broken the official record for manned, powered atmospheric flight with a sustained speed of Mach 7.2. That's a little over eight thousand, one hundred, and fifty kilometers per hour at that altitude. If the reactor cores could keep up that kind of output long enough, you could get to New York from LA in a little over 30 minutes... or the same time to Hawaii, since that's the direction you're headed. This'd be a historic event... if I weren't planning to beat it with my own little gift to myself on my birthday."

"Neat... can't wait until I can top it while I'm on foot," the Ki-adept declared blandly, making her boss splutter, then laugh. Unprompted, she started slowing down since she had no intention of going to Hawaii again if she could avoid it.

"I'd tell you that was impossible, but I don't feel like looking like a chump if you ever really manage it. I'll just point out we can likely go even faster outside the atmosphere... but that'll be for a future project," the industrialist promised. "For now, circle on back and meet me over the mansion. I'll lead you to the next phase of testing."

"Hmm? What next phase?" Ranma asked, surprised.

"You'll see. You're gonna love it!"

"On the way," she reported as she banked to head back east. Gunning the motors, she was soon hyper-sonic again. In minutes she dropped below the speed of sound again and descended sharply as she approached the coastline. Following her aura-sense more than the waypoint indicator of her visor's HUD, she slowed until she came to a hover next to her armored and flying employer. Collapsing the canopy, she ignored the radio and instead folded up the breath mask to call out: "Where we going?"

"Just follow me," Iron Man made a beckoning gesture, then turned and flew inland. Ranma left the roof of the SkyBuster open as she took off after him, their speed not enough to bother closing it up again. Low and relatively slow, they made their over the city of Los Angeles until reaching a large oval automobile racetrack with another set of race tracks shaped in twists and turns in the middle. Near a two story building on the grounds, Ranma felt the presence of 'Natalie' and was glad to see Tony heading in that direction. They both landed in the parking lot where the older redhead stood and waved, a laptop bag in one hand. Ranma set down in a marked parking space and deployed the two landing legs that would hold the vehicle upright when she dismounted, while Tony casually landed on the pavement a few feet away from the assistant and a man wearing a business shirt and tie, but no jacket. The billionaire took off his helmet and casually chucked it over his shoulder. Ranma unerringly caught it and stuffed it up the sleeve of her advanced bodysuit. She did the same with the gauntlet that went flying toward her a second later.

The stranger boggled a bit at those last actions but shook himself and offered a hand. "Mr. Stark, nice to have you with us again."

"Nice to be had, Keith," Tony answered casually has he shook hands briefly. "I'm sure Ms. Rushman introduced herself, but this is my new bodyguard, Ranma Saotome."

"I saw you on TV," the man said, offering to shake hands with her, and smiling in welcome as she did. "Ms. Saotome, it is our honor to have you here. I'm Keith Monro, the Vice President of Operations."

"Nice to meet you," Ranma replied with recently drilled politeness.

"No problems getting track time on short notice, right?" Though the billionaire phrased it as a question, it was clear from his tone he was not expecting a refusal.

"Not a problem," he was assured nonetheless. "There are a couple of crews out today testing mods, but they were happy to yield time once they knew what you planned and that you had offered to comp their track fees and labor. They should be able to finish their work today even with the delays." Reminded that she had no clue what the plans were, Ranma shot a quizzical glance at 'Natalie,' who smiled blandly back.

"What are we doing here, anyway," Ranma gave up and asked. "You can't be looking for a rematch because of Monaco... I didn't finish catching up before whip-guy got to you."

Stark paused and blinked at her. "Oh right... we clocked you running at Formula One speed, didn't we? No," he smirked. "You'll be on the track, but you won't be on foot."

"You didn't make another vehicle for me, did you? The SkyBuster's way more than enough," the puzzled martial artist pointed out.

"Nope, the next vehicle I build is for me," the wealthy reprobate corrected. "The SkyBuster is what you'll be driving on the track."

"The SkyBuster," Ranma repeated with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yep."

"The thing that doesn't have wheels?" she looked back to confirm that yes, the aircraft indeed had no wheels.

"Yep."

Ranma bent over to peer at the underside, which seemed to have solid plates on the underside of the two round bulges at the front and rear. The other three unconsciously tilted their heads to take in the view offered by the tight suit. The track representative managed to tear his gaze away first, followed soon by the agent, though the billionaire playboy never stopped looking until she straightened up again. "Did you hide little rollers under there somehow?"

"Nope!"

The Ki-adept gave the vehicle one more confused glance. "You said I wouldn't be on foot, so it can't be to test how fast I can carry the thing." She lifted her hands in surrender. "I don't get it. We could have stayed out over the ocean if you wanted to see how I did flying low."

"In my utter brilliance, I added one particularly revolutionary bit of tech that we need to test out," Stark semi-explained. "Just take it over to..." he looked to Monro for a cue.

"...Pit Three," the man answered. "Will you need tools?"

"Nah, we have those if we need them," Tony waved off the concern. "Right. I know the way, so, Ranma, I'll guide you over if you'll first retrieve... thanks" he accepted first the gauntlet, then his helmet and put them on. He then lifted off to hover a few feet up in the air. "Now just... OK, that wasn't quite what I planned, but whatever." Ranma merely blinked up innocently at him from where she had hefted the SkyBuster onto her shoulder. Chuckling, he rose up over the buildings and flew over to the maintenance bays inside the curve of the racetrack. Ranma nimbly bounced over rooftops and fences to follow. The crews mentioned by Monro were seen below, pointing and taking pictures with their phones from beside the race-cars they were working on while he waved back. If there were two categories of places in the world where Stark was always welcome, they were tech and vehicle shops.

"Set 'er down here," the armored celebrity pointed at the asphalt, noting that the bystanders were to a man and woman focused on them, but too polite or intimidated to approach. When Ranma gently lowered her burden to the ground, he spoke loud enough for the onlookers to overhear: "Two things inspired what I have decided to call the SlyDr drive system. One was Vanko's Arc-enhanced electro-impeller technology. The other was that standing-start powerslide thing you do with your Ki. Just under the lower third sections of the shells of these two wheel-looking lobes are chains of impeller coils. They create something that's kind of like an electrostatic effect... but not really. The bottom line is it lets the whole thing hover a fraction of an inch off any solid or mostly solid surface and drive along it. It also projects a field out into whatever it's running over to spread the load like snowshoes. No wheels, no rollers, no caterpillar tracks... nothing but solid metal and ceramics," he declared with some pride. "Though I say it hovers, it won't drift like a air-skirt based hovercraft. It won't go over water either. However, if I got this right, the SkyBuster will corner like it's on rails on sand as easily as asphalt!"

He took off his helmet again, along with both gloves, and set them on a bench. "Could you get out my stuff? Thanks." Ranma quickly disgorged several toolboxes and a portable computer from her sleeves and pouches, and she handed the computer to Tony when he made a beckoning gesture. "I didn't have enough time or data to set up another simulation for this, I only did a little testing in the workshop, so we'll have to experiment a bit. If we can't get it working today, then we'll disable it and work on it later. But... it's gonna work," he declared confidently. "This thing will only go about 100 miles per hour in ground effect mode... that's 161 KPH... so it won't be dangerous for you."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "If it goes so slow, why bother in the first place? My feet work fine."

Tony's face screwed up in annoyance. "Yeah, but what if you actually got injured? Or you needed to chase somebody into a tunnel while keeping the SkyBuster with you? Or... you needed to use it to evacuate a rescuee while you fend off the bad guys?" Ranma bobbled her head to acknowledge he might have a point, but still looked at him steadily to show she was waiting for more. "And... I want this tech for my own use and the SkyBuster is a convenient testbed," he admitted in a rush. Before he could be questioned on that, he added: "You can handle working out the kinks better than I can seeing as how you're so durable and all." He shook his head in memory of the contusions he suffered when getting the Mark II working.

At that, Ranma gave a thumbs-up. "Got it. What do you need me to do?"

"To start? Just sit on it. JARVIS and I will do the driving at first," the inventor explained as he set up his portable on top another bench and connected it to the onboard computer of the SkyBuster. He then straddled the bench with surprising agility given the armor he wore and focused on the display. "We've got zero history on this technology, so we haven't been able to sim it yet. There's going to be some teething time, here."

Mouth quirking in small annoyance at the boring job, his bodyguard/test-pilot nonetheless mounted the machine. "OK, raise the center stand." Ranma kept the SkyBuster upright with her feet as the metal braces retracted back into the frame. "Engage the coils and... uhhh... whoops?"

"Is it supposed to do this?" Ranma asked with some amusement. The SkyBuster had tilted to one side then the other, twitching as it randomly changed directions like a broken children's ride. The martial artist only used her legs to stop it when it seemed about to topple over.

"Er... no... hang on a sec. Cut the coils, JARVIS!"

As the experimental drive was shut down again, a briskly walking 'Natalie' had crossed over the track on the elevated walkway and was approaching the pit assigned to the Stark team. Several appreciative glances followed her from the other crews. "Performance problems, Mr. Stark?" she asked with winsome innocence. She waved back at the other redhead with a more sincere smile.

The billionaire gave her a long unimpressed stare before he smirked and corrected her: "Well, maybe Ranma is having some. I'll have have to help her out."

"Sir, the software control is not properly keeping the ground effect balanced," JARVIS reported via the laptop speakers.

"Ya don't say?" Stark responded sarcastically. "Gimme a sec." He quickly typed on the keyboard and tapped the screen as he made adjustments. He paused, and looked thoughtful for a moment. "It's got a reaction sphere... might as well use it..." he muttered as he went back to work. "OK, let's try that again. Reaction sphere on." This time, Ranma felt a faint quiver as a heavy metal ball in the core of the craft spun up on magnetic bearings. Experimentally, she tilted the vehicle a little and felt some resistance, but not enough to stop her from leaning if she wanted to.

"Hold it still for a bit," Tony instructed. "OK, coils on..." the SkyBuster didn't twitch, but it definitely wanted to tilt to the right. "Uh... almost..." more frantic typing ensued. "That should... got it!" Immediately, the experimental vehicle returned to vertical on its own. "Huh. Not sure if it will be easier or harder to do what I plan with the SlyDr for my own stuff. Anyway, lift your feet a bit."

"Sure," Ranma agreed as she lifted her feet and put them in the foot-pegs recessed into the side of the craft. The SkyBuster held steady.

"Great. Let's try taking it out slow," Stark announced as the hybrid vehicle started moving forward. It was jerky at first but soon smoothed out as the AI analysis improved the programming in real-time. Soon it was moving along at a jogging pace. Despite the rough start, the vehicle was almost completely silent. Quieter than even an electric car.

"Hey! How does it turn?" Ranma called back over her shoulder.

"It should be like a motorcycle! You'll lean to turn! Probably!" Stark yelled back Then activated the microphone on his computer to say: "We almost have enough data to try a turn. When it does, I want you to move with the SB, but don't try anything on your own."

"OK, but how how will I make it lean when I'm driving? Use the attitude control?"

"Nah... like I said, it will be like a motorcycle. You'll use your body, but we're not ready for that yet. Once JARVIS has it worked out, it should respond to you tilting yourself and it'll shift the coils. Like... this!" Once the vehicle was up to about 20 MPH, it canted to the side and started turning in a broad circle. Once again, the motion was shaky, but the martial artist patiently waited as it fitfully came about. By the time she was turned around, the ride was much smoother. She was mildly impressed that despite the jolting, it clung to the ground like a spider.

"Doing great! Just keep riding along with it like that for a bit," Tony instructed. The SkyBuster starting making figure-eight patterns on the pit road, getting faster with every loop. A keyboard command launched a spherical drone from the cargo space behind the saddle to follow and take video. With that done, Stark used the remote control to send the vehicle on a lap of the track, verifying the fastest speed the ground effect could manage. "Yep, looks like a hundred-per is the best we'll get with this version. JARVIS, take over driving and give Ranma the spiel about how the controls operate," he ordered. He then ignored the conversation between the NLUI and his employee as he brought up other schematics and started making adjustments based on recent findings. "Natalie? Do you think you could bum some coffee or something caffeinated off the other crews?"

"I passed some vending machines near the stairs. I'll go get something for you, Mr. Stark," the agent promised before walking away again. She was back in a couple of minutes with a cold bottle of some mocha concoction which the inventor accepted eagerly. "Mr. Stark, the other parties have requested a chance for some autographs and maybe some discussion at some point," she reported.

"Uh..." he looked back toward the observers, seeing that they were trying not to look back too blatantly, but were obviously eager nonetheless. "It'll be later for most of them, but it'd probably be a good idea to talk to the crew bosses now."

"Certainly, sir," the alleged aide agreed. She caught the eye of two people and waved them over. Apparently she had anticipated the wealthy scion's request with remarkable perceptiveness. Stark, of course, thought nothing of her unusually rapid and thorough grasp of his foibles, and kept working right up until the two new people arrived.

"Hey there," Tony greeted them absently before tapping a last command. Standing up, he carefully stepped over the bench and offered his hand. "Sorry about messing with your plans for the day." He studied the corporate emblems they had on their clothes. "You're with the Roxxon and... Corley Motors teams, right?"

"Yes, sir," the short, swarthy man replied first, shaking the offered hand and eagerly studying the Iron Man armor. "Sal Trujillo, I head Team Two for Roxxon. Don't worry about it, the bosses have OK'ed the extended schedule and were happy to have extra track time for free."

The taller, brown-haired woman shrugged. "We'd mostly finished for today, anyway, but I reckon most everybody will stick around to see whatever the hell it is you're doing. What is that, anyway? Un-inventing the wheel?"

Stark barked a laugh, and regarded the woman with more interest. She was a bit stronger-featured and work-hardened than he normally went for, but she was hardly unattractive. Especially with her take-no-shit attitude. "I guess that's exactly what we're doing today. And you are?"

"Maureen," she answered shortly, her gaze directed to where Ranma was coming into the front stretch again. "Is that as fast as it'll go?" she asked with a challenging tone.

"You mean the road drive I built for the first time this morning?" Tony retorted archly. "Yeah, that's as fast as it will go on land, but that thing's actually an aircraft. It's just taxiing around on the landing gear right now, so a hundred miles per hour is pretty good, I'd say." Leaning down, he keyed the portable's microphone and said: "That's enough time on the training wheels, JARVIS. Give Ranma control." Reflexively, he locked the workstation and half turned back to his guests while also watching to see how his employee did. "Hmm... doesn't look like she'll have a problem," he muttered with a nod when she continued along the track without a bobble. "We might be out of your hair sooner than I expected, if she keeps this up. We'll want to switch to the dirt track after this."

Maureen rolled her eyes. "I'm not gonna get much work out of any of my folks as long as you're here, no matter what track you use. Not often you see something roll without wheels."

"Ah, perhaps you have a point about their attention levels," Sal conceded genially. "Do you mind if we ask how it moves? It can't be a hovercraft without a skirt or fans. There's not enough metal in that track for mag-lev."

"Anti-gravity?" Maureen speculated. "I remember your dad showed something like that off way back in the Forties."

"Different concept entirely," the billionaire denied. "That HoverCar used superconducting toroids to neutralize gravity in a small area. It turned out to be a dead end from a standpoint of actual travel and my father gave up on it after a couple of decades trying, according to his notes. This is... well, forgive me if I don't go into to many details, but it's kinda like a reverse strong-nuclear and electro-weak interaction set. Closer you get to the road, the stronger the repulsion, the farther away you are, the more the attraction, so it balances at a hover."

Both expert mechanics frowned as they considered what they were told. "That doesn't match anything I learned in college physics, but the evidence is in front of us I guess," Maureen commented after a while. She had a point. What Tony didn't go into was his actual hypothesis. It was pure speculation at the moment, but his thinking was that the coils used the theorized Yukawa force that supposedly kept non-baryonic dark matter from collapsing. However, he really had no idea what was actually happening... yet.

"The thing that struck me was it sounds like it's a solid-state drivetrain," Trujillo pointed out.

"Right you are," Stark agreed. "That means no moving parts, so nothing to wear down from friction."

"OK, but how good's the braking if it isn't touching the ground?" Maureen asked.

"Exactly the same as the acceleration... which is plenty quick... but I might need to set it to deploy flaps or something to slow down faster," Tony conceded with an armored shrug. Maureen frowned disapprovingly, but also shrugged as she recognized it was an experimental technology.

The inventor looked off to the right as his recent hire came back into view once more. "OK, I'll let her have one more lap, then bring her in. Then we'll... WHAT THE HELL!" His guests both cursed as well as they watched the SkyBuster fire off its rear thrusters. The ground effect held it to the roadbed for a moment until it was overwhelmed and it flipped up into the air. The gathered motorheads gaped in astonishment as the superhuman pilot cut off the jets and managed to bring the vehicle under control to land upright, only to bounce into the sky again as she stubbornly tried to use the repulsors again.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit..." Stark muttered as he frantically worked the biometric lock on his computer to make it active. Out the corner of his eye, he watched the teen-aged Ki-adept pogo along the tarmac. Once the portable computer's OS was up, he keyed the microphone. "The fuck are you doing, Ranma?!"

"Oh, hey, boss!" she chirped back cheerfully. "Just trying to go faster, is all. I think I've almost figured it out."

"You have not almost figured it out!" he yelled back. "That thing is not designed to be a rocket sled! Shut down the repulsors and bring it back... oh..." He trailed off as his attention was diverted by the strange, stuttering whooshing he heard. "You, uh... you figured it out, huh?" Right before his eyes, the X-craft had was staying steadily on the road while accelerating to almost twice its previous top speed. The drone he had deployed before desperately tried to keep up, but was gradually falling behind. "Huh... how the hell are you doing that?"

"Umu~" she replied with a tense, distracted tone, "I'm doing like pachipachi with the switches. Kinda like how to slide on the ground with my feet, but different."

"..." Tony's jaw canted to the side as he tried to decide how to respond to that. "Right. Thank you for that clear and complete explanation. JARVIS? How the hell is she doing that?"

The computer had a distinctly fascinated tone as it reported: "Ms. Saotome is constantly turning on and off the individual SlyDr coils in rapid cascading sequences while also making multiple micro-adjustments per second to the orientation and power of the repulsors. Angled thrust is countering the lifting-body effect of the craft as well as providing forward acceleration."

"You helped her program that?"

"This was not programmed," the NLUI corrected. "She is making all the adjustments manually. Sir, her ability to process the necessary calculations for calibrating adaptations based on real-time sensor data exceeds my own without pre-made algorithms."

"Wow. Feel and instinct of the martial artist for the win," Stark stated with a smile. "OK, start building up those algorithms based on what she's doing so you can update the drive firmware."

"Already in progress," JARVIS announced firmly. If he didn't know better, Tony would think his creation was feeling competitive and embarrassed at coming second in the computation game.

"Awesome. Also release the remaining drones to hover at the corners of the track so we can keep an eye on her and have videos for later." Letting out a sigh, he muttered: "'Pachipachi with the switches,' indeed." Chuckling, he lifted his hands in a relenting gesture. "I'm a better designer than I thought, it seems. Please disregard my earlier statement about the maximum land-based speed."

"Yeah, jeeze," Sal murmured as he craned his head, seeming to be trying for another glance even though the vehicle was out of sight on the other side of the track. "She gonna be OK?"

"It might be best to bring her back in until you can do some more work on the machine," 'Natalie' suggested.

"It's Ranma... she'll be fine. You've seen what she did in Monaco right? I've seen her catch bullets and she's told me of times she went swimming with North Korean sea-mines... only to be merely annoyed by the explosions," both crew chiefs whipped their heads around to stare incredulously at him while his assistant nodded grudgingly, having heard some of the same stories. "Yeah... Unlike me, who's pretty squishy under the armor, the SkyBuster will fall apart long before she does."

"Where did you find her? Krypton?" Sal Trujillo joked.

"Heh, no. Japan. Apparently some urban myths about martial artists over there aren't quite as mythical as previously thought."

"Wow, no kidding?" the other man asked.

"No kidding. I was lucky to find her, honestly," Stark confirmed with a self-congratulatory tone. "From what I found out, martial artists of her caliber usually stay far away from modern society."

"Maybe we should go headhunting over there," Maureen commented. "A test driver who isn't bothered by crashes would be a big load off my mind." Her counterpart nodded emphatically at that.

"Hey, boss!" Ranma interrupted, her voice emanating from the laptop's speakers. "Got another trick to try!"

"You're warning me this time?" he asked austerely.

"You're listening this time," she pointed out without hesitation. "Keep your helmet on or get a HUD already!"

"Oh, uh... right. Uh... proceed!"

"Anyway... check this out...!" She came around the turn going a bit slower than she had been, but still using the rocket boost. Soon the watchers could see the SkyBuster was starting to rotate to the side while maintaining forward speed. Ranma herself was standing on the foot-pegs so she could look out over the fairing, her fingers still working the controls from memory rather than sight. The vehicle continued to turn until it was driving sideways, almost exactly like its namesake, at nearly two-hundred miles an hour as the repulsors on the side continued to blast.

The martial artist wasn't done yet. After a couple of moments, the experimental craft continued its revolution, the jets changing angles until it was going backwards, then the other flank was facing the direction of travel. With a slight hesitation, the SkyBuster started to spin, keeping up the forward progress no matter which way its nose was pointed. The watching mechanics cheered at the display, which apparently Ranma heard as she flashed a gleaming grin at the audience.

She slowed and ceased the spin as the SkyBuster's nose was angled toward the wall of the course. Approaching at reduced speed, she got closer and closer to the wall, then hopped the vehicle toward the vertical surface with the repulsors. Banking in midair, the 'wheels' came into contact with the cement blocks and clung for a few moments before falling away. The Ki-adept adroitly twisted the vehicle to land right-side-up, then edged up for another try.

"Oh, hell yeah!" Tony yelled his encouragement. "I should have thought of that!"

"Is she trying to drive on the wall?" Maureen asked, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.

"Yep!"

"Interesting..." 'Natalie' murmured as her attention noticeably sharpened. One thing the SHIELD agent noticed was the craft had been largely silent up until the boosters were fired. A device that could cling to a wall without marks, without needing the wall to respond to magnetic attraction, and without long obvious ropes was something she could think of several uses for.

Ranma took a couple more attempts, but on the fourth try, she managed to stay on the wall by balancing gravity with the repulsors on the lower side. Now stabilized, she accelerated again and shot around the corner for another lap of the course, the reactionless repulsors leaving no char marks or any other signs of passage other than small whirlwinds. Stark checked his computer to make sure the drones were keeping her in sight. The footage was definitely going to go to the Stark Industries marketing department.

While he watched, his employee accelerated around the track. On the far straightaway, she built up speed until the drones were tracking her at 175 MPH, still on the wall, but it soon proved to not be enough for her. Using a kick maneuver to flip the SkyBuster upright as it neared the roadbed again, she smoothly resumed normal drive and continued to boost for greater speed. Disdaining brakes, her right-side forward and middle repulsors angled out and fired as the turn was reached, letting the experimental vehicle keep on accelerating even as it made the curve.

Straightening out again, both side's middle and rear thrusters aimed rearward while the nose jets tilted their apertures up a little to keep the beast on the pavement. All the engines roared at a significant fraction of full power, something that had been only intended for flight, and the SkyBuster shot along the track like a cannonball. Ranma's exultant cheer could be heard even over the blasting motors.

After watching her pass and dive into the turn at the far end, Tony checked the telemetry and whistled lowly.

"What the hell? Did you get a reading of her speed?" Trujillo pleaded.

"Yep," the self-satisfied inventor nodded with a wide grin. "Peaked out at nearly four-hundred miles per hour. Might need to take it out to Bonneville Flats to see what it can really do." He blinked and tilted his head at a sudden thought. "And I really need to see what it'll take to make it street-legal. I have a sudden urge to trade up my regular ride."

Maureen raised an eyebrow at that. "Planning to get into the automotive business, too?"

"Hmm..." Tony stroked his goatee contemplatively. "Maybe after I get bored keeping it exclusive to myself," he decided. "Maybe I'll license the SlyDr to someone else... depends on how inspired I'm feeling at the time, I guess."

"Oh yeah?" the woman mechanic gave him a level stare. "'Scuse me a moment. I need to take care of something over there." Abruptly, she strode off. As she went, she unsubtly fished a cell-phone out of the pocket of her cargo pants and began poking at it.

"Yeah..." her competitor drawled. Putting a hand to cup his ear melodramatically, Sal said: "I think I hear my pit crew calling me. It was nice talking with you Mr. Stark, please take as much time as you need on the track." The billionaire chuckled as he shook the offered hand. He smirked as the other man hurried off, undoubtedly to get in contact with his own company. Stark Industries was very likely to be getting some very urgent calls from certain CEO's in the near future. Now that he'd cast himself loose from the defense contractor's role, it was astounding how many opportunities for profit were gushing up.

Ranma came blazing around the corner again, and he was about to order her to bring it in, when he saw the front and mid-ship thrusters were aimed forward, abruptly slowing the SkyBuster. Then they flipped back and fired to push the vehicle into a sharp turn. Soon she was describing a narrow figure-eight that shrank more and more as she improved her driving technique. Tony noticed she was pivoting on the front 'wheel' while letting the back swing around in order to make the tight hairpin turns.

"Very nice," the billionaire complimented, leaning into the microphone of his laptop. "But you're draining the Arc reactors something fierce with all the pachipachi... we're not making that a technical term in the long run, by the way... and I might have given us a reason to move on ASAP anyway." Yes, he wanted to talk to people about marketing the SlyDr drive, but he wanted it done according to his preferred schedule. "So get your sexy self on over here so I can check them and maybe work up some higher efficiency algorithms."

In retrospect, he was really glad he'd incorporated twin reactors considering the heavy use they'd been put to. Apparently the maybe-dark-energy field of the SlyDr drive was a power-hog even compared to hypersonic flight. In theory, the Arc reactor could run indefinitely as long as the core held out. However, there was a limit to how well it could recharge itself when under load. A third Arc reactor that would allow a rotating load/recharge cycle wouldn't be a terrible idea. Losing all power in mid-air tended to be embarrassing.

For that matter, putting a spare in the Iron Man armor would be... something he should have done ages ago. While he could use the reactor in his chest as a spare, (as he essentially had during the fight with Obadiah,) he had no way to switch while in mid-flight. It also occurred to him that Ranma would have been able to shut Vanko down instantly had she known it was safe to yank out the glowing, obvious Arc in the front of his suit. He really didn't need that sort of tactic turned on him should they find a martial artist of Ranma's caliber that wasn't friendly.

"Hang on, I've still got plenty of juice left, and there's one more thing I want to try first," Ranma broke into his musings. She then spun around to face the wall and drove straight at it. Somehow popping a wheelie, she went vertical just as the craft reached one of the metal posts that held up the wire fence that was meant to protect the audience as well as to keep them off the track. Repulsors flaring, she drove up the frame like an oversized, high-tech spider, following it as it curved out over the track until she was nearly inverted. Leaping off the tip like the shot from a catapult, the SkyBuster flew, still upside-down, until it was nearly over their assigned pit, at which point it corkscrewed with a roar of thrusters to come to a hover directly above, right-side-up again. Ranma then brought it floating down as gently as a leaf falling from a tree, spinning slowly until she was facing her boss at the exact instant she set down. The legs of the stand dropped down again to hold the SkyBuster upright as it shut down.

Stark smirked at the virtuoso performance, while the watching mechanics clapped and cheered. Ranma stood up on the saddle to smile at her admirers and wave with both hands, then hopped down with a smug smirk of her own. "'One-hundred miles per hour' my perfect ass," she boasted, making her employer bark out a laugh.

"Very nice," he repeated. "When you're right, you're right... it's very nice indeed. And your driving was good, too."

"So what next, Boss?"

"This afternoon? Sign a few autographs, test that sucker out on the dirt track, then head home to make a few final changes to it," he replied, handing his closed computer to a waiting 'Natalie' and donning his gauntlets. "This evening? We go over the final plans and intell. Tomorrow?" He put on his helmet and let it activate the connections to the rest of the Iron Man armor. The eyeslits flared with energy and his reverberating voice continued: "Tomorrow, you make your peacekeeping debut!"

############

"It seems like a viable plan," Natasha suggested to her real boss over the encrypted line after she'd found a private spot. "It should deescalate the public opinion issue long enough for them to work things out on a longer term."

"Not happening. It doesn't matter if Stark or his new henchwoman go out to thump terrorist heads, or not," Nick Fury declared. "The Council has plans when it comes to him, and we are stepping up that timetable. Here's what we're going to do..."