Ranma 1/2
Easy Target 2; Dirty Shot
Part 11
It was a hospital like any other. In fact, it was just one of the public hospitals of the town; arbeit one of the best ones, but not one to be 'exclusive' in their clientelle. Regardless, the number Ranma used garnered them complete secrecy, so that no questions would be asked later.
Ranma ignored the sheer... whiteness of the room, in favor of the slightly more favorable sight of his partner. Whatever it was inside Rugar, it was working its way through him quick. No matter how much they tried to remove or dilute it, he was still deteriorating.
Dan barely held concious, as tubes had been set into him with the purpose of swiftly removing tainted blood that was laden with an unidentifiable toxin, and replacing it with stocks of plasma. Ranma looked upon Rugar; the red headed man looked ragged, but not decrepid, and Ranma was glad of that, at least. His partner deserved his dignity, despite what he may have done in the past.
Ranma wasn't paying attention to the docter, as he droned on about Dan's chances, and apologised profusely. Getting tired of the background noise, Ranma raised a hand to stall the docter from further comments, and sat down in the chair next to Dan.
"Dan, what was this all about?"
The man laying in bed opened his eyes, and turned to Ranma, "Thought... we weren't interested in hearing each other's pasts?"
"This is beyond that," Ranma replied, simply. He was relieved when Dan slowly nodded in agreement.
"I guess... I guess somebody needs to hear it. If you hadn't figured it out, I'm a Limey." The bed ridden man sighed at Ranma's blank expression, and clarified, "I'm Irish, you know? Like the English, only better and with red hair?"
Ranma nodded in comprehension, "I always thought you were American, really. Probably one of their old green barracks or something."
"That's 'Green Beret'," Dan corrected, "and actually, my military training comes from the IRA, Irish Republican Army."
"Okay..." Ranma replied, barely following along.
"We were upholding our beliefs, that Ireland was being oppressed by the domineering English. Heh, back then, I didn't believe in that bullshit, and I don't now, either..."
"Then why did you join with this IRA?"
Rugar attempted to shrug, but was unable to, "What any shit-for-brains hotshot cock popp'n kid would... glory... glory and the thrill." Dan took a slow breath, to regain himself, "I thought I could be a hero to everyone, be the best. I didn't think I was going anywhere in my life, so like the young idiot I was, got caught up in it all."
Dan's tone managed to become somber, as he looked away from Ranma, "We had a mission in London. It wasn't uncommon for us to make examples of public places for 'our' cause; we were hellbent on being heard. The target we picked out was this store. We agreed on it because it was near a highly secure area, figured we make noise close enough, we'd shake them a bit. It was a bomb we picked up from a supplier, newest model he had in compact explosives, packs quite a punch, from what I saw. State of the art inferred trip laser, and easily stuck to any surface and did well not to be noticeable. We stayed around to watch the fruits of our labor. It was stupid of me not to realize at the time, but anyone could have happened to open that door, not that they weren't still fair game. I.. I rised our cover, rushing out and shouting for them to stop, but they didn't hear me. But once the explosion happened, everyone who hadn't panicked knew who to look for, the butch looking redhead. Things got a little hot for me in both England and Ireland, since they weren't too happy about me risking the mission like that, even if it was small potatos."
"So, you did kill his family," Ranma stated, not questioned. Dan's eyes sunk at the hint of anger and disgust in the ponytailed man's voice.
"Yeah, a woman and her kid walked into the store." Dan looked back towards Ranma, and firmed his voice, "There wasn't a God Damned day for years I didn't wake up with the ringing explosion in my ears. Didn't have to quell the thought that that little girl wouldn't even know what happened to her. I had to live with the fact that I was responsible for that girl and her mom's death. You think I'm sorry? I'm the sorriest damn bastard that had ever been born."
"So, you're feeling sorry for yourself, because you killed a woman and her child," Ranma's voice seemed to hold even more disgust in it than before, "I used to think better of you than that, you selfish bast..."
"Damn it, you're twisting my words around!" Dan shouted weakly, while doing his nominal best to glare at Ranma, "It ain't like I can do anything about it now, if I could do something about it, I..."
"Yeah, yeah, 'Shoulda... coulda... woulda... I believe the American phrase is'?" Ranma quoted coldly, before grabbing Dan's dagger guns and holster, and walking to the exit, "Remind me to tell you a bit about my past life, when I get done with this mission." With that, Ranma walked out of the room, leaving Dan to his own misery.
_________________________________
"So, this was indeed a conflict of intrests with Mr. Dan Rugar," Stromhaus replied, the fact he used Dan's full name with such formality proved to Ranma just how displeased he was with the whole situation, "I won't say I condone his past actions, but I simply cannot allow personal feelings of my employees to get in the way of their assignments. I'm afraid I'm taking you both off this."
"But..." Ranma started, before quickly remembering his place.
"You had something to say?" Richter asked sharply, turning back to Ranma with a critical eye.
"Um, well, no sir. I wasn't going to say anything." Ranma replied quietly.
Richter turned away with sniff of distain, "Tragic... you're dismissed."
Ranma blinked, and tried to decypher the cryptic response his employer responded with, "Um, okay..." Ranma suddenly found himself irritated, knowing that he was being looked down upon, "In fact, I got my own things to do." Ranma barely held himself from storming out, and managed to keep himself from slamming the door. He didn't catch the surprised look on Richter's face, as he watched Ranma depart, and his slight jolt, as the door closed louder than Ranma meant it to. A slight smile crossed his face; he knew the kid had something worthwhile in him. Richter sat back down at his desk, working over certain details that pertained to Rugar and Saotome.
_________________________________
Ranma had ran along the rooftops, and caught a ride home on the top of a bus. Once he was back to his apartment, did he allow himself to vent. he slammed his own door, knowing the specially designed hinges would absorb the shock with minimal damage, and slumped into his couch with a sigh. Once he was settled, he brought out Dan's specially designed back holster for his dagger guns. The man had made both the weapons and the holster himself; all three items showing a good craftsmanship. He removed the daggers, idly spinning them around by the trigger rings. They were a bit unbalanced to be throwing knives, but the short yet weighted backs allowed for a better spin, Ranma noted. allowing them to spin like a buzzsaw. Deciding to test them further, Ranma stood up, and copied the stance Rugar usually used with them.
He did a wide horizontal swipe from his right to his left with right weapon, spinning it as if it were a disk. Maybe not directly, but Ranma felt like Dan betrayed him, the guy was honorful and professional to a fault, yet he allowed such a tragic mistake to happen. And he did it for what? So he could show that he could swing his nuts like the rest of the guys. Ranma spun into a spin kick with his left foot, snapping the heel out, and then a back hand swing with the left dagger gun with it spinning. Richter didn't even trust him without Dan, despite Dan being so incompotent... no, that wasn't fair. It was a mistake Rugar made a long time ago, and apparently he's still paying for it. It was obvious this wasn't the first meeting between Northrop and Rugar, what with the way Northrop was talking tonight. That was what Ranma was upset about, other than the fact that innocents died for some self-ritious cause that Ranma himself didn't know anything about, but sounded stupid to him all the same.
Ranma followed up by stepping forward with his right, and commiting a vertical rising slash with the right dagger gun, and then a leaping toe kick with the left foot. Dan was running away from his problems, and he had been running for a long... long time. Ranma came down from his kick with a vertical descending stab with the left weapon in a reverse grip. He then leaned to the right sideways in a drunken style, while balancing only on his right foot; guarding his head with the right dagger gun, and parrying an imagined strike.
Hypocrite, Ranma thought to himself. what had he been doing, himself? That's different? Even he knew it was bull. They both chose to leave what they could not rectify by any means behind, and were well aware of the problems that they would cause. Ranma spun on his right heel back to his right, bringing the spinning left dagger around in a windmill strike, and followed up with the right dagger, which was also spinning. Ranma knew right then, that he was being judgemental, like a little kid who pointed accusations while only seeing one side of the fight. Fuck blame...
Ranma committed a Muay Thai push kick with his right foot, and faded it back into a mantis style retreat; both the dagger guns in a reverse grip gaurd...
Fuck Richter for treating him like some incompotent wet nosed kid...
Ranma slid forward with his left foot, attacking with an aggressive horizontal swipe with the left at chest level...
He was Ranma Saotome...
Ranma delivered a Shoot Fighting style quick knee with his right...
And he was not one to be taken lightly.
Ranma stomped his left forward, and thrust both daggers forward, the left one stabbing into the stomach, the right one at thigh level. He held his position like that in a kneel...
And he had a job to finish.
Easy Target 2; Dirty Shot
Part 11
It was a hospital like any other. In fact, it was just one of the public hospitals of the town; arbeit one of the best ones, but not one to be 'exclusive' in their clientelle. Regardless, the number Ranma used garnered them complete secrecy, so that no questions would be asked later.
Ranma ignored the sheer... whiteness of the room, in favor of the slightly more favorable sight of his partner. Whatever it was inside Rugar, it was working its way through him quick. No matter how much they tried to remove or dilute it, he was still deteriorating.
Dan barely held concious, as tubes had been set into him with the purpose of swiftly removing tainted blood that was laden with an unidentifiable toxin, and replacing it with stocks of plasma. Ranma looked upon Rugar; the red headed man looked ragged, but not decrepid, and Ranma was glad of that, at least. His partner deserved his dignity, despite what he may have done in the past.
Ranma wasn't paying attention to the docter, as he droned on about Dan's chances, and apologised profusely. Getting tired of the background noise, Ranma raised a hand to stall the docter from further comments, and sat down in the chair next to Dan.
"Dan, what was this all about?"
The man laying in bed opened his eyes, and turned to Ranma, "Thought... we weren't interested in hearing each other's pasts?"
"This is beyond that," Ranma replied, simply. He was relieved when Dan slowly nodded in agreement.
"I guess... I guess somebody needs to hear it. If you hadn't figured it out, I'm a Limey." The bed ridden man sighed at Ranma's blank expression, and clarified, "I'm Irish, you know? Like the English, only better and with red hair?"
Ranma nodded in comprehension, "I always thought you were American, really. Probably one of their old green barracks or something."
"That's 'Green Beret'," Dan corrected, "and actually, my military training comes from the IRA, Irish Republican Army."
"Okay..." Ranma replied, barely following along.
"We were upholding our beliefs, that Ireland was being oppressed by the domineering English. Heh, back then, I didn't believe in that bullshit, and I don't now, either..."
"Then why did you join with this IRA?"
Rugar attempted to shrug, but was unable to, "What any shit-for-brains hotshot cock popp'n kid would... glory... glory and the thrill." Dan took a slow breath, to regain himself, "I thought I could be a hero to everyone, be the best. I didn't think I was going anywhere in my life, so like the young idiot I was, got caught up in it all."
Dan's tone managed to become somber, as he looked away from Ranma, "We had a mission in London. It wasn't uncommon for us to make examples of public places for 'our' cause; we were hellbent on being heard. The target we picked out was this store. We agreed on it because it was near a highly secure area, figured we make noise close enough, we'd shake them a bit. It was a bomb we picked up from a supplier, newest model he had in compact explosives, packs quite a punch, from what I saw. State of the art inferred trip laser, and easily stuck to any surface and did well not to be noticeable. We stayed around to watch the fruits of our labor. It was stupid of me not to realize at the time, but anyone could have happened to open that door, not that they weren't still fair game. I.. I rised our cover, rushing out and shouting for them to stop, but they didn't hear me. But once the explosion happened, everyone who hadn't panicked knew who to look for, the butch looking redhead. Things got a little hot for me in both England and Ireland, since they weren't too happy about me risking the mission like that, even if it was small potatos."
"So, you did kill his family," Ranma stated, not questioned. Dan's eyes sunk at the hint of anger and disgust in the ponytailed man's voice.
"Yeah, a woman and her kid walked into the store." Dan looked back towards Ranma, and firmed his voice, "There wasn't a God Damned day for years I didn't wake up with the ringing explosion in my ears. Didn't have to quell the thought that that little girl wouldn't even know what happened to her. I had to live with the fact that I was responsible for that girl and her mom's death. You think I'm sorry? I'm the sorriest damn bastard that had ever been born."
"So, you're feeling sorry for yourself, because you killed a woman and her child," Ranma's voice seemed to hold even more disgust in it than before, "I used to think better of you than that, you selfish bast..."
"Damn it, you're twisting my words around!" Dan shouted weakly, while doing his nominal best to glare at Ranma, "It ain't like I can do anything about it now, if I could do something about it, I..."
"Yeah, yeah, 'Shoulda... coulda... woulda... I believe the American phrase is'?" Ranma quoted coldly, before grabbing Dan's dagger guns and holster, and walking to the exit, "Remind me to tell you a bit about my past life, when I get done with this mission." With that, Ranma walked out of the room, leaving Dan to his own misery.
_________________________________
"So, this was indeed a conflict of intrests with Mr. Dan Rugar," Stromhaus replied, the fact he used Dan's full name with such formality proved to Ranma just how displeased he was with the whole situation, "I won't say I condone his past actions, but I simply cannot allow personal feelings of my employees to get in the way of their assignments. I'm afraid I'm taking you both off this."
"But..." Ranma started, before quickly remembering his place.
"You had something to say?" Richter asked sharply, turning back to Ranma with a critical eye.
"Um, well, no sir. I wasn't going to say anything." Ranma replied quietly.
Richter turned away with sniff of distain, "Tragic... you're dismissed."
Ranma blinked, and tried to decypher the cryptic response his employer responded with, "Um, okay..." Ranma suddenly found himself irritated, knowing that he was being looked down upon, "In fact, I got my own things to do." Ranma barely held himself from storming out, and managed to keep himself from slamming the door. He didn't catch the surprised look on Richter's face, as he watched Ranma depart, and his slight jolt, as the door closed louder than Ranma meant it to. A slight smile crossed his face; he knew the kid had something worthwhile in him. Richter sat back down at his desk, working over certain details that pertained to Rugar and Saotome.
_________________________________
Ranma had ran along the rooftops, and caught a ride home on the top of a bus. Once he was back to his apartment, did he allow himself to vent. he slammed his own door, knowing the specially designed hinges would absorb the shock with minimal damage, and slumped into his couch with a sigh. Once he was settled, he brought out Dan's specially designed back holster for his dagger guns. The man had made both the weapons and the holster himself; all three items showing a good craftsmanship. He removed the daggers, idly spinning them around by the trigger rings. They were a bit unbalanced to be throwing knives, but the short yet weighted backs allowed for a better spin, Ranma noted. allowing them to spin like a buzzsaw. Deciding to test them further, Ranma stood up, and copied the stance Rugar usually used with them.
He did a wide horizontal swipe from his right to his left with right weapon, spinning it as if it were a disk. Maybe not directly, but Ranma felt like Dan betrayed him, the guy was honorful and professional to a fault, yet he allowed such a tragic mistake to happen. And he did it for what? So he could show that he could swing his nuts like the rest of the guys. Ranma spun into a spin kick with his left foot, snapping the heel out, and then a back hand swing with the left dagger gun with it spinning. Richter didn't even trust him without Dan, despite Dan being so incompotent... no, that wasn't fair. It was a mistake Rugar made a long time ago, and apparently he's still paying for it. It was obvious this wasn't the first meeting between Northrop and Rugar, what with the way Northrop was talking tonight. That was what Ranma was upset about, other than the fact that innocents died for some self-ritious cause that Ranma himself didn't know anything about, but sounded stupid to him all the same.
Ranma followed up by stepping forward with his right, and commiting a vertical rising slash with the right dagger gun, and then a leaping toe kick with the left foot. Dan was running away from his problems, and he had been running for a long... long time. Ranma came down from his kick with a vertical descending stab with the left weapon in a reverse grip. He then leaned to the right sideways in a drunken style, while balancing only on his right foot; guarding his head with the right dagger gun, and parrying an imagined strike.
Hypocrite, Ranma thought to himself. what had he been doing, himself? That's different? Even he knew it was bull. They both chose to leave what they could not rectify by any means behind, and were well aware of the problems that they would cause. Ranma spun on his right heel back to his right, bringing the spinning left dagger around in a windmill strike, and followed up with the right dagger, which was also spinning. Ranma knew right then, that he was being judgemental, like a little kid who pointed accusations while only seeing one side of the fight. Fuck blame...
Ranma committed a Muay Thai push kick with his right foot, and faded it back into a mantis style retreat; both the dagger guns in a reverse grip gaurd...
Fuck Richter for treating him like some incompotent wet nosed kid...
Ranma slid forward with his left foot, attacking with an aggressive horizontal swipe with the left at chest level...
He was Ranma Saotome...
Ranma delivered a Shoot Fighting style quick knee with his right...
And he was not one to be taken lightly.
Ranma stomped his left forward, and thrust both daggers forward, the left one stabbing into the stomach, the right one at thigh level. He held his position like that in a kneel...
And he had a job to finish.
