Finished: 2002-12-14
Standard disclaimer: I do not own anything in this fan fiction except
for the idea behind it and even that is mostly blatantly stolen from a
multitude of sources. And if you don't like that, then SUE ME! Uhm, why
are you all staring at me like that? No, it was a joke! Really! No,
don't take my computer, no, not my videogames, no, not my cat!!!
NOOOOOOOO!!!! *Sounds of a man being stripped of everything he own can
be heard. * (Does anyone know that sound effect BTW?)
Timelines: Everything in the canon Ranma ½ has happened in this fan
fiction with the exception of the Saffron incident. Only the Ranma ½
reference in this fan fiction will use a modified timeline. Any other
references will really just use the characters without any complex plots
and/or situations.
Age rating: If you can understand all the crap I'm spouting then you are
definitely old enough to read this fan fiction.
"Japanese"
*Thoughts*
Kenneth Lönnberg aka Macross_VF1 proudly presents:
Balance of Chaos
Chapter 4: Neither Bad nor Good
Part 1
*** - - - - ***
Setsuna turned of the VCR and faced the other Senshi. "Well, now you
know." She stated tiredly.
With the exception of Ami, the other Senshi had a disbelieving
expression. "How sad..." Usagi said, getting a round of nods from the
other girls.
Setsuna turned to Ami. "Have you found out anything worthwhile?"
Ami looked up from her computer and shook her head. "Nothing that can
help us verify his claims, with the exception of the existence of Ranma
Saotome or rather lack of. Mrs Saotome's medical records state that she
had a child about 17 years ago but it was dead at birth. Other than that
there's absolutely nothing on him!"
The other Senshi blink-blinked at Ami's outburst. "Don't worry about it
Ami." Minako tried to calm the blue-haired Senshi of Mercury. "I'm sure
you'll find something soon."
Ami rubbed her temples. "You don't get it. When doing a big identity
deletion like this, there are always traces, leftovers and blatant
misses that might be found with the Mercury Computer. However in this
case, I haven't been able to find a single instance of deleted and/or
changed files. The worst part is that it seemingly happened in under a
second. Not even the Mercury Computer is that powerful!"
"Doesn't that mean he's just very good?" Usagi asked somewhat confused.
"I hope so. Otherwise, the next time I meet him, I will hound him until
he shows me his computer." Ami stated rather forcefully. The other
Senshi sweatdropped. This was not an Ami they were used to. Ami
continued oblivious to all this. "On another note, I finally finished my
analysis on that piece of armour he so casually discarded when we first
met."
Setsuna raised an eyebrow. How could that possibly help them? As if
sensing the unspoken question Ami continued. "Of course this doesn't
really tell us anything, except confirming the fact that we are dealing
with some extremely high-tech equipment. The armour plate consists of
several layers of metal alloys and composite materials intermeshed with
each other on a molecular level. However one of the layers are most
intriguing..."
"Don't keep us waiting." Rei said. "Out with it."
"I'm still trying to figure this one out, so bear with me." Ami took a
glance at the assembled Senshi. "To be blunt, this material doesn't
exist."
"Doesn't exist?" Usagi blurted out. "That's not possible, right?"
"You're telling me? Frankly I didn't even think I was going to be able
to identify it, but just as I was about to give up, the Mercury Computer
managed to find something. It was a theory from a Mercurian research
report dating even slightly before the Silver Millennium. The scientists
theorized about a substance called adamantium, which is lightweight yet
dense and nearly indestructible. The hardest material in the universe
basically."
"You're trying to tell us that there is something that's harder and more
durable than the 'woman's best friend'?" Michiru asked in disbelief.
"Yes, in fact, if the theory is correct, diamonds are not even a close
second. And I'm ready to believe it since it's the only thing that comes
close." Ami stated.
"And he just threw away something that's better than diamonds..." Minako
said in awe. The other silently agreed.
"So, getting anything with that mind-thingamajig?" Usagi suddenly asked
Setsuna after a moment of silence.
Setsuna blinked in surprise, she hadn't even remembered about that
herself. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she was impressed that
the ditzy blond even remembered about the mind meld. "No, just after he
left the dojo, he sent a mental message stating that the technique was
malfunctioning and promptly cut off the link between us."
"Just like that? No problems at all?" Usagi asked, concern evident in
her voice.
"Just like that, but you don't have to worry, I didn't feel any pain
from it." Setsuna reassured her leader and the blonde girl let out a
breath of relief. "Still, now that I think back on it, there was
something wrong though..."
Setsuna had everyone's undivided attention now. "Can you remember?"
Usagi asked.
"Well, I could feel a lot of feelings... depression, anger, disgust...
and something more..." The green haired Senshi of time got a look of
deep concentration as she tried to recall the mental message Ranma had
sent her the night before. "There was hatred..." She began. "An immense
hatred." Setsuna shivered involuntarily.
"Hatred? At what?"
"I-I cannot say." Setsuna stuttered. "E-Everything I guess, but I can't
be sure of that. I could feel pain intertwined with pleasure and a vast
darkness... Kami... it was horrible." She whispered and hugged herself
as if she was cold.
Hotaru moved over and embraced her surrogate parent. "Don't worry
Setsuna-mama. We are all here." She said soothingly. Setsuna however
seemed oblivious to the rest of the world.
"Pain and pleasure, pleasure and pain... " The Senshi of time babbled on
with blank look, while shaking uncontrollably.
The others could only stare in horror at her. However, when she started
giggling like a maniac Haruka got up and slapped the green-haired woman
full in the face. It took a few moments for Setsuna to gather her wits.
"What happened?" She asked, distressed by everyone staring at her.
"You spaced out and started babbling and giggling. Almost looked like
you were in the process of being possessed. I had to slap you to bring
you out of it." Haruka explained.
Setsuna rubbed her tender cheek. "Yeah, I can feel that. Thanks."
Hotaru once again embraced the older woman in a hug. "Are you alright
now Setsuna-mama?" She asked in concern.
Setsuna forced a smile for the younger girl. "Yes, no need to worry."
Her expression turned dark. "I don't know what just caused this but I
can guess... Ranma."
"Are you sure about that?" Usagi said, not ready to believe that Ranma
might have tried to possess one of her teammates.
Setsuna turned her dark gaze to Usagi causing the blonde to cower a bit
in her seat. "I'm ready to believe just about anything when it comes to
him."
Ami coughed, getting everyone's attention. "There are too many unknown
factors here. Let's just be cautious around him." She warned.
"Oh I'll be cautious alright." Setsuna said. "I'll find out his true
motives, mark my words." She stated forcefully and promptly vanished.
"I believe the shit is about to hit the windmill." Minako said, breaking
the awkward silence that followed. Everyone just stared at her. "What?"
Minako said totally oblivious to what she just said. Of course no one
could have guessed just how correct she was.
***
Nabiki stood before the UN ETSPP building silently wondering how to
approach it. It was now three weeks since that fateful day at the dojo
and not a word had been heard from Ranma, just as he had said.
The atmosphere at the dojo and Nerima in general was tense to say the
least. Ranma's former fiancées and suitors had taken his words and
actions harshly and all were quite depressed. Even Akane was down,
although she did alternate between that state and cold fury. Being
around her was just not safe for anyone and all but Kuno seemed to have
gotten the message that a 10-meter safety zone was required around Akane
whenever she was in her angry mood.
Her father and Mr. Saotome was of course planning for a way to get Ranma
back, but so far they had come up with nothing useful. This was in
itself understandable since they were drinking heavily every night and
couldn't remember squat the next morning. Happosai on the other hand was
unusually pensive and spent several hours each day pondering. Nabiki
couldn't say what he was brooding about but she was sure it mostly
involved Ranma (She didn't believe the old pervert could stray
completely from the path of perversion.)
Happosai wasn't the only one that tried to emulate the famous old Greek
statue of the pondering man. Kasumi seemed to be equally pensive. Sure,
most people would not have noticed any difference, but then again, most
people wasn't Nabiki. The pristine smile Kasumi often wore seemed to
become more and more forced and Nabiki was sure it was only a matter of
time before Kasumi actually became truly angry with someone. (Most
likely her father and Mr. Saotome.)
There were a couple of people that she had not met recently but she knew
quite well from her cronies and contacts what happened to them anyway.
Ryoga was still in a coma in the hospital. Ranma had done a serious
number on him but the doctors assured everyone that the lost boy would
eventually come around and recover. The amazons weren't doing anything
special, with the exception of Shampoo being very depressed. Ukyo had
not been seen since Ranma left the dojo and her restaurant had not
opened ever since.
Nabiki couldn't say much of Nodoka either but from what Kasumi told her,
who visited the older woman frequently, she had lapsed into a severe
depression. Apparently, she took Ranma's words very hard and had become
more or less apathetic to the surrounding world. She didn't do much more
than sleep and cry and would probably have faded away to nothing more
than a mere shell if Kasumi had not been over and helped her.
As for her self, well to say that she was tired of the tense atmosphere
back in Nerima was like saying Kuno is slightly eccentric. Although she
wouldn't admit it to anyone, she was dying to know what truly happened
to Ranma during his travels. She did not believe he had lied earlier but
there was still so much that needed to be filled in. Like what happened
to his wife for instance.
As she stood there racking her brain for a plausible excuse for getting
into the building she heard a sound behind her.
***
Ranma yawned just as he stepped out from the portal. *Damn the asses
upstairs* He thought sourly. *The ETSPP works just fine. So what if
there is some collateral damage due to our operations? * However, the
person in front of him cut his musings short.
"Please tell me I'm still sleeping." He prayed while pinching the ridge
of his nose. He opened his eyes only to find a nervous looking Nabiki
still standing in front of him. "So, what brings you here Ms. Tendo?" He
said in a menacing tone.
Nabiki wanted to smack herself for being intimidated by Ranma. She was
the Ice Queen of Furinkan for Kami's sake! "Uhm, well... you see..." She
stuttered while trying to come up with an excuse.
"If you came to admire the view then I suggest you go somewhere else.
Now good day to you Ms. Tendo. " He said and walked past her.
Nabiki whirled on her spot. "No! I came clear up the mess I got involved
with concerning stolen information. You never did finish that one."
There, she finally managed to find a good explanation.
Ranma stopped in his tracks and let his shoulders slump in defeat. This
was not his day apparently. "Well, don't just stand there." He said
without looking back. "Follow me." He commanded. Nabiki did not need to
be told twice.
***
After a short elevator ride, Nabiki got her first view of the ETSPP
bureau inside (Well, other than the inside of a prison cell that is.)
and she had to admit, she was impressed. First was the reception area
where literally hundreds of different types of creatures lounged. She
could swear she saw a were-wolf, a vampire and an Oni or two along with
several other species she could not identify. Still, Ranma seemed to
ignore all that and with Nabiki behind him he swiftly navigated through
the crowd and ended up in the Ops room. One wall was taken up by a
multitude of monitors and several rows of computers were located before
it. To Nabiki this room looked like it was directly taken from a NASA or
military command centre except that the equipment looked much more high-
tech.
While Nabiki studied the room with a keen eye, Ranma walked over to a
computer and logged on. He typed furiously and within seconds he would
have the report finished and the case close. It hurt to push away people
he cared for. *No. * he reprimanded himself. *Who Ranma Saotome cared
for. * Still he had centuries of experience of doing so, and he was sure
he would be able to dismiss the entire matter in a couple of days, just
like he always did. A couple of keystrokes more and he would be free of
Nabiki.
Suddenly, an alarm klaxon went off and his screen immediately changed to
a yellowish hue. Sighing, he stood up and took a look at the main
screen. "Great... another 'dragon'." He said with another sigh.
Nabiki couldn't help overhearing his comment and took another look at
the screen. Sure there was... something... shown on the main screen, but
she was sure it was no dragon. Of course, she wasn't exactly an expert
on mythological creatures, but the big, white bone-like thing she saw
didn't even seem alive, much less looking like a legendary dragon.
"Hey Ranma." She hesitantly began. "Correct me if I'm wrong but that..."
She pointed at the screen. "Does not look anything like a dragon to me."
Ranma shot her a quick glance before returning his attention to the
screen. "Actually, you're right." He said as his eyes scanned the
information that was piling up on the smaller screens beside the main
one. "It's really just a nickname we have for that type of creature. Of
course, there are real dragons as well but they prefer to be called by
something else than just plain 'dragon'."
"Kintaro!" He suddenly yelled in a voice similar to that of a military
drill instructor.
A black mop of hair shot up from one of the computers and turned around.
"Yes sir?" Came a questioning voice.
Ranma jerked a thumb in Nabiki's direction. "Keep an eye on this girl
here while I go out for a ride."
The guy named Kintaro suddenly got wide in adoration (Of course, those
familiar with Happosai and/or Ataru Moroboshi would have called the
guy's expression leering.) as he took a quick look at Nabiki. He
recovered quickly though and turned back to Ranma with a salute.
"Consider it done, sir. By the way, are you taking 'the Valkyrie'?"
Ranma smiled evilly as he answered. "Yeah, gotta teach that punk that
Japan's airspace is not a playground for anyone else but me." With that
he turned on his heel and took a doorway leading out of the ops room.
***
Apparently 'the Valkyrie' was considered a great show in the ops room
since as soon as Ranma left the room Kintaro yelled over the hubbub
"He's taking the Valkyrie!" The reaction was instantaneous and almost
every screen in the ops room changed to show an airplane taking to the
air. At first Nabiki couldn't understand just exactly what was so
special about one airplane, but after ten minutes, when the plane
intercepted the 'dragon', it soon became clear what the commotion was
all about.
In a swift movement the entire plane changed form to that of a 13-meter
tall robot and engaged the 'dragon' with a barrage of missiles and guns
blazing. Nabiki's eyes almost bugged out of their sockets. It was like
watching an anime only this was real life! The entire skirmish didn't
last long and a mighty cheer went up in the ops room just as the
'dragon' began its retreat.
Of course, just because the skirmish was over didn't mean Nabiki would
be bored during the 10 or so minutes it would take Ranma to return. That
Kintaro guy didn't seem to care much about her so she busied herself
with listening in on the conversations in the ops room.
"We've got a 2319 here!"
"Huh, what are you talking about?"
"Are you blind or something? Look at the screen, there's an alien
attacking a human!"
"Oh that. That's just Lum and her boyfriend, Ataru. Don't worry, he has
survived worse."
"And just how do you know that?"
"I'm from Tomobiki, remember? Things like that are commonplace there."
"Oh... never mind then."
~KABOOOM~
"BRENTEN!"
"I'm here chief. I helped you sort out all those complaints, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember... But then who?"
"Is there really any need to ask that chief?"
"No, that's true... LEONA!"
"Study, study, study!"
"Hey does anyone know where to file Monstrous-Rampagers-In-Learning
licenses?"
"Yeah, section C 3. Look under Godzilla. Can't miss it. What's the
occasion by the way?"
"It's Godzilla's kids actually. They've reached that age and has to
start training."
"Ah, I understand. I'm dreading that with my own kids."
"Heh, yeah I know what you mean."
"Study, study, study!"
"Another video girl?"
"Yeah, they are becoming more and more popular it seems."
"Too popular if you ask me."
"Actually, you might be right about that. I'll start an investigation.
Let's hope it's not a new group of video pirates."
Nabiki shook her head to clear it from overloading. More than half of
the conversations she could barely make out the gist of. It was somewhat
relieving to see Ranma entering the room again. After a couple of
greetings, congratulations and high-fives with the staff he finally came
up to her.
He took an evaluating glance at her before he spoke up. "So, let's clear
this mess up then."
Before he could turn back to his computer, the Kintaro guy stood up with
a folder ready. "Already fixed, sir."
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. The guy who seemed like a minor pervert and
yelled "Study!" all the time had finished the case just like that? She
looked at Ranma briefly and from his reaction, or rather lack of; she
deemed that this was a common occurrence. Clearly there were some
talented people working in this building. To top it off, she was still
curious about Ranma's past and consequently she found the decision to be
an easy one to make.
Ranma skimmed through the folder before turning to Nabiki. To his
surprise she stood there with her arms folded and a small smile on her
face. "So... where do I sign up?" She asked as if talking to a military
recruitment officer.
Ranma only raised a questioning eyebrow in response. "Don't give me that
look." Nabiki answered with a slight scowl. "You were the one who wanted
me to grow up and get a life away from the dojo, remember?"
"You do not need to remind _me_." Ranma retorted. "I know perfectly well
what you are talking about. However, I don't know if you got what it
takes." He said in a condescending tone.
Nabiki's Ice Queen mask was firm in place so she didn't respond to his
barb, yet inwardly she seethed in anger. *Why that... Calm down, he's
just testing you. * She calmed herself before she responded. "Well, we
will never find out if I don't get a chance to prove myself, now will
we? Of course, if you think you can afford losing what I have to offer,
then I know where the door is." She said with her usual unreadable
expression. Mentally, she was smirking though. Their conversation was
gathering some attention amongst the staff in the ops room, and she knew
from the little information she managed to glean from the stolen files,
that more or less anyone, who was a citizen of earth, was supposed to
given a chance by the ETSPP. Can't have a planet wide organisation
safeguarding against foreign influences if you don't trust the planet's
own inhabitants. Basically, Ranma couldn't turn her down without
evaluating her first.
Ranma sighed and his shoulders slumped. "Well, go back the way you came
then. At the entrance there's a desk called reception. Just tell them, I
sent you. "
Nabiki smiled at her victory and headed out of the ops room in search of
the desk Ranma mentioned.
Back in the ops room, Ranma couldn't help smiling a bit. Maybe this day
wouldn't be so bad after all...
***
8 days later, Nabiki entered the bureau as an operative of the ETSPP
bureau. She couldn't be happier. Well, actually she could but
considering the circumstances, she was more than satisfied with the
proceedings. First off was the pay. Definitely more than enough to
support her. Heck, she could probably use her pay to keep the dojo from
going under and still have quite a bit of money left for herself.
However, she wasn't so sure she wanted to do that. Her father was going
to have to accept some responsibility. She wouldn't admit it anyone but
she was more than a bit tired of having to take care of the dojo's
finances.
Anyway, second came her job assignment. The evaluators quickly
recognized her skills in a lot of fields, even areas she herself didn't
even know of. For instance, she never dreamed that she would be a good
marksman. The evaluators deemed her good enough for the designation
agent. Agents were really the field operatives of the bureau and hence
had a very wide range of responsibilities. Their jobs were therefore the
most dangerous in the bureau. Nabiki quite obviously lacked in the
combat skills and special abilities apartment, but the evaluators
reassured her that she was to be paired up with a skilled partner. What
she was not told was that the bureau was testing out a new brain-brawn
type of partnering. This, they hoped, would reduce the amount of
collateral damage done by some agents, like Ranma for instance or the
infamous Kei and Yuri.
In any case, she was grateful for being assigned as an agent. As
interesting as the ops room seemed, she was certain she would be quite
bored if she was to sit at a computer all day long. Sure, her dream had
long been to become an executive of a big company, yet spending almost a
year with Ranma meant that she became easily bored. Something strange,
bizarre or just plain ridiculous had to happen to keep her entertained
and the ETSPP seemed like the perfect place for that.
Since the evaluation was finished 2 days ago she had taken the next two
days to get an apartment, effectively moving out of the Tendo dojo. Soun
quite obviously bawled his eyes out since 'his little girls were growing
up' but he had helped with the quick move. Nabiki couldn't help but to
feel like everything went too fast. Just eight days ago she was still
living in the dojo, now she had to take care of a job and an apartment.
As she walked into the ops room for the first time as an agent, she was
greeted by a scowling Ranma and a red-faced ops-commander.
"You know me, Chief. I work alone." Ranma stated with crossed arms.
'Chief' "quickly retorted. Nabiki was sure she could hear a lion roaring
as he spoke. "I don't care what you think, Wildman! This is a direct
order and you'd do well to obey it."
Ranma only snorted. "Hmph! If the asses upstairs are so concerned about
damage on buildings then let's see them do any better."
"That's beside the point! Orders are orders and you know what that
means. I swear, only Leona is worse than you."
"Well, she did have a good teacher. And don't forget Kei and Yuri."
Ranma stated with a smirk.
"Don't remind me about them! If I have a heart attack and die, I will
come back and haunt you." Chief turned his head and fixed Nabiki with
his eyes. "Ah, here she is."
Ranma turned as well. His eyes widened for a brief moment before he let
out a groan. "Damnit Murphy, why do you always have to torment me?" He
asked no one in particular.
"It's nice to see you too Saotome. And who's Murphy by the way?" Nabiki
asked with a scowl.
Ranma narrowed his eyes at her. "It's Wildman, remember? As for Murphy,
let's just say that shitty things happen around me."
Nabiki winced slightly. It was hard to adjust to his new name. "Sorry."
She said sincerely. "Now what's all this about? It's not like I could
help overhearing."
"That, my girl, is quite simple." Chief cut in. "This bonehead over
here..." he said while smacking Ranma on the back of his head. "...has
been assigned a partner. Namely you." Chief pointedly ignored Ranma's
red-eyed glare. "Of course, he doesn't want a partner, since he, along
with Brenten, are the bureau's biggest boneheads." The aforementioned
Brenten was currently screaming his head off while mauling a computer.
Something about 'silicon shitbags'. Neither Ranma nor Chief batted an
eye about it, but Nabiki couldn't help sweatdropping at the scene.
*Well... maybe I was wrong about 'talented people'...* She absently
thought before deciding to torment Ranma a little further. "Why Ranma!
Such high praise your boss is giving you." Nabiki snickered. She quickly
shut up when Ranma focused his gaze on her, but the smirk never left her
lips.
"It looks like you two will work wonderfully together." Chief said in an
overly happy tone. "You have your orders, now follow them!" He declared
before leaving.
Ranma let out a sigh as Chief left and he turned his full attention to
Nabiki. "So..." He began. "It looks like I can't get out of this. Just
don't think I will be around to save your cute little butt all the
time."
"Thanks for the compliment." Nabiki answered sarcastically. "I know when
to keep my head down and since I'm partnered with you I'll probably have
to do it even in my sleep. I'm not Ms. 'I'm-a-martial-artist-too' you
know."
"True enough." Ranma conceded. "Still, I'd feel better if I knew you had
some means of protecting yourself. What gear did they give you?"
"Gear? Well, a rulebook, a mini computer, some protective clothes and a
shield generator of some kind, don't remember it's full name though.
They were also talking about a gun, a twenty-two they called it,
whatever that means."
That got a strange reaction from Ranma. He just started laughing.
Scratch that, he was literally rolling on the floor laughing his ass
off. Nabiki patiently waited for him to finish with a deep scowl and
crossed arms. As he stood up Nabiki continued. "Mind explaining what's
so funny? I know I'm not exactly a gun expert, heck I hadn't even seen
one in real life before they took me to the shooting range, but there's
no reason to belittle me for lack of knowledge."
"It's not that." Ranma said as he dried his tears. "Heh, it's not that
at all. A twenty-two means calibre .22, which basically is the smallest,
most pathetic bullet you can find. Giving you something like that is an
insult really. Especially since most people around here use at least
5.56 mm NATO."
Nabiki didn't know what 5.56 NATO was but she got the gist of it. "Well,
what do you expect? It's not like I've been through any training. That's
a thing that's been bothering me actually, why did they push me through
evaluation so quickly? I expected at least two, three weeks before
something happened and a couple of months in training as well. Instead
they just hand me some stuff and throw me into service. I mean, I'm not
even through school."
"We're shorthanded." Ranma replied absently. "Say, how good were you at
the shooting range?" He continued with a glint in his eyes.
His strange look unnerved Nabiki for some reason. "Well, they said I'm
definitely above average, especially considering that I've never touched
a gun before."
Ranma's face lit up in a huge grin. "Great! Now just follow me..." He
happily declared and grabbed her arm.
Nabiki didn't even have time to protest as he dragged them both through
a portal. She recognized the nauseous feeling from her first
teleportation yet it was considerably less this time. It quickly abated
as they came out of another portal. "What did you do that for?" Nabiki
almost yelled at him.
Ranma's grin never left his face. "Just doing some shopping."
"Shopping?" Nabiki asked in confusion as she took in her surroundings.
It was... white. An endless sea of white. But that was not the most
disturbing thing. No, in front of her stood hundreds upon hundreds of
racks, filled with rifles, pistols, machineguns... you name it. She
could only gape at the enormity of it. Trying to clear her head she
turned her head sideways to get it out of her sight.
Big mistake. To her left, dozens of even bigger guns, cannons really,
were arranged in neat rows. Behind them came regular artillery pieces
and howitzers. After a short while she began noticing that there was a
distinct separation between archaic, modern and futuristic armament as
well. She wouldn't have been surprised if this place came complete with
an orangutan called the librarian.
Turning to the right she found a relatively weapon's free area and she
closed her eyes to allow her abused brain to sort through her scattered
thoughts. *Calm down. * She thought. *Just because I'm surrounded by
more weapons than every country on this planet possess put together,
doesn't mean I have to freak out. * She took a deep breath before she
opened her eyes.
"Now this is a sight I could grow to love. Oh I forgot... I already do."
Ranma chuckled to himself.
"If I didn't know you better I would call you obsessed." She deadpanned.
"Of course that would be comparing you to Kuno and that wouldn't be
fair. I mean you clearly have him outclassed in that area." She took
another deep breath before she continued. "JUST WHAT THE HELL DO YOU
NEED ALL THESE WEAPONS FOR?!" She screamed at him.
Ranma didn't even flinch at her outburst. "You know, I can hear you just
fine. As for your question, I have had to supply entire armies with
equipment from time to time."
"Equipment? There's more?"
"Yes, a vehicle, mech, air and spaceship area, as well as a number of
workshops and maintenance rooms."
"So, you do not have this incredible yet perversely big collection of
weapons just for fun?" She asked with a scowl.
"Well, what did you expect? My life has been more or less a constant
struggle. I can't even begin to calculate all the lives I've taken or
the battles I've fought. I've never had a choice in the matter." He
stated with some irritation and a hint of sadness.
"Anyway." He continued. "I didn't bring you here to show off my
'perverse pleasures' as you would call it. We came here to give you
something better than the peashooter they were going to issue to you."
"You're the expert." Nabiki replied absently, not really wanting to be
in this sea of white and weapons.
"Right-y-oh." Ranma said in a distinct English accent before he started
looking through a thick book, a list of all the weapons, Nabiki guessed.
After a couple of minutes muttering to himself, Ranma slammed the book
shut and picked up something that looked like a small remote control. A
press of a button and the racks of guns started moving with great speed
from left to right. Nabiki saw bright, yellow letters on each stand
flashing by and she once again marvelled at the sheer enormity of this
place.
The racks soon slowed down and stopped at the letter 'H'. Ranma wasted
no time and was soon in the process of rummaging through the guns. In
just a half a minute he apparently had found what he searched for. With
a rifle in one hand, a clip in the other and a grin on his lips he went
up to a bench and motioned for Nabiki to come closer.
"This..." He began. "Is a Heckler and Koch MP36F. It is basically a
combination of the HK G36C and a standard MP5, made almost exclusively
for the French armed forces. It fires 9x19 mm Parabellum rounds. I have
to admit that it doesn't pack much of a punch, especially not when
compared to a fully automatic rifle. However I don't think that's much
of a consideration, since I don't think you'll be using it much.
Besides, the main considerations are weight and size and that's where
this gun excels. Small and very light, the perfect companion in a close
range firefight. It comes with selector for one shot, burst and fully
automatic fire." He made a gesture for Nabiki to pick it up.
With some trepidation she moved forward and took the gun in her hands.
"You're right, it _is_ light." She said in surprise.
"Yes, new alloys and plastic materials allow this gun to weigh only 1.7
kilograms and that's including the clip. The lack of power is a problem
but I'll give you something that will take care of that little problem."
He said with a slight grin.
Nabiki couldn't help chuckling a little. "You know, I understand what
you meant by shopping now. You look like a car salesman about to sell
his most expensive car."
"Why Nabiki! Thanks for the compliment!" Ranma's grin stretched from ear
to ear.
"Oh I wasn't even trying to." She replied good-naturedly before turning
serious again. She eyed the piece in her hands with distaste. "Is this
really necessary?" She asked. "I'm not exactly a fighter by any means.
If I 'fight', I do it with words and brainpower. A gun feels... well
wrong."
Her distaste didn't go unnoticed by Ranma. "I understand what you mean.
Most people stay clear of guns their entire lives. Heck, it took some
200 years before I even shot a gun."
"And prey tell why not?" Nabiki asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Possibly a stray memory from my past, who knows?" Ranma said with a
shrug. "I do know however that the situation was dire enough."
The other eyebrow came up. "Dire enough?"
"The Tyranids attacked. If you stay around long enough I might tell you
about them" Ranma stated with another shrug. Yet under the shrug there
was something that wasn't right. Even Nabiki had trouble picking it up.
What was it? A shiver? Deciding to not push Ranma for details she turned
her attention back to the gun in her hands.
"So how do I use this thing?" She asked.
"Simple. Point at enemy, pull trigger, reload when out of bullets,
repeat." Ranma said with a smirk.
Nabiki felt like groaning. "Well, duh Einstein! Did you figure that out
by yourself?" She retorted.
"Yes, but that's beside the point. In any case, I will teach you
everything you need to know about the gun and how to take care of it.
Some target practice will have to become part of your regular schedule
as well."
Nabiki nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Ok I guess I just have to
deal with it even though I don't like it. Another question though, if
we're supposed to be agents, wouldn't it be kinda conspicuous to walk
around with a 50 cm long sub machinegun under the arm?"
"Kinda." Ranma answered sarcastically. "I do have a solution to that
particular problem though. "
"Don't tell me, it's Ranma's wonder cloaking machine." Nabiki asked,
equally sarcastic.
"Now that's one solution, but the ones I have tend to be a bit big...
like a backpack in size." Ranma answered seriously. "No, what I'm
thinking about is using a subspace pocket."
Nabiki looked a little confused. "Subspace pocket? You mind explaining
that in terms that a normal person might understand?"
"I'm sure you're aware of at least some theories of multiple dimensions
and such, right?"
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "I'm no rocket scientist exactly but yes, I
have heard of such theories. One theory is the Einstein-Rosen Bridge if
I'm not entirely mistaken."
"Very good. Yes Einstein had some interesting theories and I can
personally attest to their validity. However, there is more to those
theories than just simple multiple dimensions." At Nabiki's questioning
look he continued. "For instance, this place that we are in now is a
subspace pocket. Now a subspace pocket is really nothing more than
another plane of existence."
"Another plane of existence... like a parallel dimension?" Nabiki
questioned.
"No, the theory of planes of existence, or just simply planes, could be
compared with a differing frequency of a dimension. To understand how
this is possible I would have to go into very complicated theories in
physics, most of which even I do not understand. Suffice to say, a
subspace pocket is not another dimension, although not truly part of the
dimension is resides in."
"Hold on now." Nabiki stopped him. "I'm not really following you."
Ranma sighed. "Can't say I blame you. This is complicated physics." He
got a pondering look for a moment before he continued. "Let's do an
analogy... Suppose that a dimension is like a book." He waited for
Nabiki to nod in understanding. "Now a book has several pages, each
representing a plane. Each paper is separate from the other yet the back
of the book's cover connects them all. "
"I'm still not sure if I'm getting all this, but go on."
Ranma suddenly smacked his forehead. "Why didn't I think of it earlier!"
He exclaimed. "Just where do you think Moose keeps all his stuff?"
Nabiki's eyes widened in understanding. "So you mean Moose keeps all his
weapons in a subspace pocket?"
"Yes! And that's not all. Just where do you think Akane hides her
damnable mallet?"
Nabiki's eyes widened even further. "You know, I've never thought of
that before." Nabiki replied chuckling. "Although I must say it's nice
to have at least a partial explanation to the craziness back home. I'm
curious though... just where did Akane learn a hidden-weapons
technique."
"Beats me. Some people can apparently do it unconsciously, like me for
instance."
"Huh? That's not right. You had no such abilities before you
disappeared."
"I didn't?" Ranma asked slightly puzzled. "Hmm, let me check my memory."
He said before getting a blank look. Ten seconds later his eyes once
again came to life. "Well I don't know what to say. I've been able to
use subspace pockets ever since the crossing. Of course it took some
1300 years before a doctor discovered their presence and another 300
before a scientist taught me what they really were."
"Just what did you do?" Nabiki asked. "I remember that look from before.
You look like you're dead a couple of seconds."
"Oh that. Well, that's a thing I gained from the crossing. My brain has
five implants that make it work like a computer. Among other things it
lets me access my subconscious, meaning that I can backtrack everything
my brain has ever 'recorded'. I can also connect to virtually every
computer system in existence." He finished with a smug look.
"I guess that might come in handy sometimes... another question though.
Just what's this crossing you're referring to?"
Ranma scratched the back of his head. "I suppose I have to give you the
full story soon... anyway, the crossing is my name for my disappearance.
The short story is this, I reappeared in another dimension and the
people there was not too happy to see me. As I tried to escape I
stumbled upon an artefact, which attached itself to me and changed me.
However, that's just what I've been told. I can't remember anything from
the point where I woke up in that dimension."
"Any more changes I should know about? I mean besides you being a 2000
years old time travelling, butt-kicking, super-computer-for-a-brain,
weapon fanatic, bad-ass." Nabiki asked with a frown.
"Thanks for the compliments. Besides, you forgot pervert." Ranma pointed
out, grinning like a madman.
"I should have known... Just when I thought your ego couldn't get any
bigger I just had to open my mouth and give it a boost." She mock
scowled.
"Oh but you haven't even seen half of it yet." Ranma replied still
grinning. His expression turned serious before he continued. "Anyway, as
I said I'm going to give you a device that let's you access a subspace
pocket."
"And just how will I access it?"
"Simple. The device is made up of two parts. The first is attached to
the gun, acting like a homing beacon. The other part can be compared to
a remote control. Whenever you push the button on the control, the gun
will materialize in your hands. I'm giving you a subspace clip as well,
which means you will never have to worry about reloading. "
"Subspace clip?"
"It directly feeds to a special subspace pocket of mine. I keep all my
ammunition there."
"Let me guess, you have a couple of billion bullets in that pocket?"
"Something like that." Ranma replied with an almost feral grin. His eyes
suddenly got the same glint as before he dragged her off to this place
and she could swear they got slit like a cat's eyes. "Say how about you
and I take a stroll down to the shooting range?"
Nabiki couldn't help feeling like a mouse trapped by a cat... a very big
cat. "Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like whatever you are
planning to do?"
"No reason at all." He said in a very serious tone. Of course it was
spoiled by his next sentence. "Just want to see you frag some targets."
With that he grabbed a _very_ big gun from the racks and ran off to
another portal.
Just as before Nabiki had no chance to protest when he dragged her with
him. *Oh well. * She thought. *I suppose it could have been worse. * Of
course, she just had to choose that moment to remember Ranma's
definition of training and that she was supposed to participate. She
could only pray that Ranma had changed in that particular area.
*** - - - - ***
What's this? Nabiki as Ranma's partner? Just what might my reasons be
for doing that? You'll never know... MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Hrmm... anyway, Nabiki is now working for the UN ETSPP bureau and she
got an entire new set of responsibilities. Will she be able to keep her
mercenary instincts at bay or will she sell the information to the
higgest bidder? And will she ever use that gun? Find out in the coming
chapters...
I have to admit that it took quite a while for me to actually update
this story. The reason for it is quite simple; the entire chapter 4 is
over 50 pages long and for me that's huge. Next up I'll work on my
other stories, especially Mirror Life since I've gotten so good
feedback on it. Expect part 2 of Balance of Chaos chapter 4 next week.
If you wish to contact me then do so at:
kenneth@gon.nu or kenneth.lonnberg@bodenonline.com
My works will be available at:
My own page, The MegaRoad - http://www.angelfire.com/anime4/macvf1fanfic
My fanfiction.net account -
http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=301246
And when they get around to update/accept my fics, these sites will also
feature my fics:
Lady Cosmo's Fanfic Library - http://ladycosmos.anifics.com/
Ranchan & co. Crossing bridges - http://tannim.anifics.com/
Standard disclaimer: I do not own anything in this fan fiction except
for the idea behind it and even that is mostly blatantly stolen from a
multitude of sources. And if you don't like that, then SUE ME! Uhm, why
are you all staring at me like that? No, it was a joke! Really! No,
don't take my computer, no, not my videogames, no, not my cat!!!
NOOOOOOOO!!!! *Sounds of a man being stripped of everything he own can
be heard. * (Does anyone know that sound effect BTW?)
Timelines: Everything in the canon Ranma ½ has happened in this fan
fiction with the exception of the Saffron incident. Only the Ranma ½
reference in this fan fiction will use a modified timeline. Any other
references will really just use the characters without any complex plots
and/or situations.
Age rating: If you can understand all the crap I'm spouting then you are
definitely old enough to read this fan fiction.
"Japanese"
*Thoughts*
Kenneth Lönnberg aka Macross_VF1 proudly presents:
Balance of Chaos
Chapter 4: Neither Bad nor Good
Part 1
*** - - - - ***
Setsuna turned of the VCR and faced the other Senshi. "Well, now you
know." She stated tiredly.
With the exception of Ami, the other Senshi had a disbelieving
expression. "How sad..." Usagi said, getting a round of nods from the
other girls.
Setsuna turned to Ami. "Have you found out anything worthwhile?"
Ami looked up from her computer and shook her head. "Nothing that can
help us verify his claims, with the exception of the existence of Ranma
Saotome or rather lack of. Mrs Saotome's medical records state that she
had a child about 17 years ago but it was dead at birth. Other than that
there's absolutely nothing on him!"
The other Senshi blink-blinked at Ami's outburst. "Don't worry about it
Ami." Minako tried to calm the blue-haired Senshi of Mercury. "I'm sure
you'll find something soon."
Ami rubbed her temples. "You don't get it. When doing a big identity
deletion like this, there are always traces, leftovers and blatant
misses that might be found with the Mercury Computer. However in this
case, I haven't been able to find a single instance of deleted and/or
changed files. The worst part is that it seemingly happened in under a
second. Not even the Mercury Computer is that powerful!"
"Doesn't that mean he's just very good?" Usagi asked somewhat confused.
"I hope so. Otherwise, the next time I meet him, I will hound him until
he shows me his computer." Ami stated rather forcefully. The other
Senshi sweatdropped. This was not an Ami they were used to. Ami
continued oblivious to all this. "On another note, I finally finished my
analysis on that piece of armour he so casually discarded when we first
met."
Setsuna raised an eyebrow. How could that possibly help them? As if
sensing the unspoken question Ami continued. "Of course this doesn't
really tell us anything, except confirming the fact that we are dealing
with some extremely high-tech equipment. The armour plate consists of
several layers of metal alloys and composite materials intermeshed with
each other on a molecular level. However one of the layers are most
intriguing..."
"Don't keep us waiting." Rei said. "Out with it."
"I'm still trying to figure this one out, so bear with me." Ami took a
glance at the assembled Senshi. "To be blunt, this material doesn't
exist."
"Doesn't exist?" Usagi blurted out. "That's not possible, right?"
"You're telling me? Frankly I didn't even think I was going to be able
to identify it, but just as I was about to give up, the Mercury Computer
managed to find something. It was a theory from a Mercurian research
report dating even slightly before the Silver Millennium. The scientists
theorized about a substance called adamantium, which is lightweight yet
dense and nearly indestructible. The hardest material in the universe
basically."
"You're trying to tell us that there is something that's harder and more
durable than the 'woman's best friend'?" Michiru asked in disbelief.
"Yes, in fact, if the theory is correct, diamonds are not even a close
second. And I'm ready to believe it since it's the only thing that comes
close." Ami stated.
"And he just threw away something that's better than diamonds..." Minako
said in awe. The other silently agreed.
"So, getting anything with that mind-thingamajig?" Usagi suddenly asked
Setsuna after a moment of silence.
Setsuna blinked in surprise, she hadn't even remembered about that
herself. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she was impressed that
the ditzy blond even remembered about the mind meld. "No, just after he
left the dojo, he sent a mental message stating that the technique was
malfunctioning and promptly cut off the link between us."
"Just like that? No problems at all?" Usagi asked, concern evident in
her voice.
"Just like that, but you don't have to worry, I didn't feel any pain
from it." Setsuna reassured her leader and the blonde girl let out a
breath of relief. "Still, now that I think back on it, there was
something wrong though..."
Setsuna had everyone's undivided attention now. "Can you remember?"
Usagi asked.
"Well, I could feel a lot of feelings... depression, anger, disgust...
and something more..." The green haired Senshi of time got a look of
deep concentration as she tried to recall the mental message Ranma had
sent her the night before. "There was hatred..." She began. "An immense
hatred." Setsuna shivered involuntarily.
"Hatred? At what?"
"I-I cannot say." Setsuna stuttered. "E-Everything I guess, but I can't
be sure of that. I could feel pain intertwined with pleasure and a vast
darkness... Kami... it was horrible." She whispered and hugged herself
as if she was cold.
Hotaru moved over and embraced her surrogate parent. "Don't worry
Setsuna-mama. We are all here." She said soothingly. Setsuna however
seemed oblivious to the rest of the world.
"Pain and pleasure, pleasure and pain... " The Senshi of time babbled on
with blank look, while shaking uncontrollably.
The others could only stare in horror at her. However, when she started
giggling like a maniac Haruka got up and slapped the green-haired woman
full in the face. It took a few moments for Setsuna to gather her wits.
"What happened?" She asked, distressed by everyone staring at her.
"You spaced out and started babbling and giggling. Almost looked like
you were in the process of being possessed. I had to slap you to bring
you out of it." Haruka explained.
Setsuna rubbed her tender cheek. "Yeah, I can feel that. Thanks."
Hotaru once again embraced the older woman in a hug. "Are you alright
now Setsuna-mama?" She asked in concern.
Setsuna forced a smile for the younger girl. "Yes, no need to worry."
Her expression turned dark. "I don't know what just caused this but I
can guess... Ranma."
"Are you sure about that?" Usagi said, not ready to believe that Ranma
might have tried to possess one of her teammates.
Setsuna turned her dark gaze to Usagi causing the blonde to cower a bit
in her seat. "I'm ready to believe just about anything when it comes to
him."
Ami coughed, getting everyone's attention. "There are too many unknown
factors here. Let's just be cautious around him." She warned.
"Oh I'll be cautious alright." Setsuna said. "I'll find out his true
motives, mark my words." She stated forcefully and promptly vanished.
"I believe the shit is about to hit the windmill." Minako said, breaking
the awkward silence that followed. Everyone just stared at her. "What?"
Minako said totally oblivious to what she just said. Of course no one
could have guessed just how correct she was.
***
Nabiki stood before the UN ETSPP building silently wondering how to
approach it. It was now three weeks since that fateful day at the dojo
and not a word had been heard from Ranma, just as he had said.
The atmosphere at the dojo and Nerima in general was tense to say the
least. Ranma's former fiancées and suitors had taken his words and
actions harshly and all were quite depressed. Even Akane was down,
although she did alternate between that state and cold fury. Being
around her was just not safe for anyone and all but Kuno seemed to have
gotten the message that a 10-meter safety zone was required around Akane
whenever she was in her angry mood.
Her father and Mr. Saotome was of course planning for a way to get Ranma
back, but so far they had come up with nothing useful. This was in
itself understandable since they were drinking heavily every night and
couldn't remember squat the next morning. Happosai on the other hand was
unusually pensive and spent several hours each day pondering. Nabiki
couldn't say what he was brooding about but she was sure it mostly
involved Ranma (She didn't believe the old pervert could stray
completely from the path of perversion.)
Happosai wasn't the only one that tried to emulate the famous old Greek
statue of the pondering man. Kasumi seemed to be equally pensive. Sure,
most people would not have noticed any difference, but then again, most
people wasn't Nabiki. The pristine smile Kasumi often wore seemed to
become more and more forced and Nabiki was sure it was only a matter of
time before Kasumi actually became truly angry with someone. (Most
likely her father and Mr. Saotome.)
There were a couple of people that she had not met recently but she knew
quite well from her cronies and contacts what happened to them anyway.
Ryoga was still in a coma in the hospital. Ranma had done a serious
number on him but the doctors assured everyone that the lost boy would
eventually come around and recover. The amazons weren't doing anything
special, with the exception of Shampoo being very depressed. Ukyo had
not been seen since Ranma left the dojo and her restaurant had not
opened ever since.
Nabiki couldn't say much of Nodoka either but from what Kasumi told her,
who visited the older woman frequently, she had lapsed into a severe
depression. Apparently, she took Ranma's words very hard and had become
more or less apathetic to the surrounding world. She didn't do much more
than sleep and cry and would probably have faded away to nothing more
than a mere shell if Kasumi had not been over and helped her.
As for her self, well to say that she was tired of the tense atmosphere
back in Nerima was like saying Kuno is slightly eccentric. Although she
wouldn't admit it to anyone, she was dying to know what truly happened
to Ranma during his travels. She did not believe he had lied earlier but
there was still so much that needed to be filled in. Like what happened
to his wife for instance.
As she stood there racking her brain for a plausible excuse for getting
into the building she heard a sound behind her.
***
Ranma yawned just as he stepped out from the portal. *Damn the asses
upstairs* He thought sourly. *The ETSPP works just fine. So what if
there is some collateral damage due to our operations? * However, the
person in front of him cut his musings short.
"Please tell me I'm still sleeping." He prayed while pinching the ridge
of his nose. He opened his eyes only to find a nervous looking Nabiki
still standing in front of him. "So, what brings you here Ms. Tendo?" He
said in a menacing tone.
Nabiki wanted to smack herself for being intimidated by Ranma. She was
the Ice Queen of Furinkan for Kami's sake! "Uhm, well... you see..." She
stuttered while trying to come up with an excuse.
"If you came to admire the view then I suggest you go somewhere else.
Now good day to you Ms. Tendo. " He said and walked past her.
Nabiki whirled on her spot. "No! I came clear up the mess I got involved
with concerning stolen information. You never did finish that one."
There, she finally managed to find a good explanation.
Ranma stopped in his tracks and let his shoulders slump in defeat. This
was not his day apparently. "Well, don't just stand there." He said
without looking back. "Follow me." He commanded. Nabiki did not need to
be told twice.
***
After a short elevator ride, Nabiki got her first view of the ETSPP
bureau inside (Well, other than the inside of a prison cell that is.)
and she had to admit, she was impressed. First was the reception area
where literally hundreds of different types of creatures lounged. She
could swear she saw a were-wolf, a vampire and an Oni or two along with
several other species she could not identify. Still, Ranma seemed to
ignore all that and with Nabiki behind him he swiftly navigated through
the crowd and ended up in the Ops room. One wall was taken up by a
multitude of monitors and several rows of computers were located before
it. To Nabiki this room looked like it was directly taken from a NASA or
military command centre except that the equipment looked much more high-
tech.
While Nabiki studied the room with a keen eye, Ranma walked over to a
computer and logged on. He typed furiously and within seconds he would
have the report finished and the case close. It hurt to push away people
he cared for. *No. * he reprimanded himself. *Who Ranma Saotome cared
for. * Still he had centuries of experience of doing so, and he was sure
he would be able to dismiss the entire matter in a couple of days, just
like he always did. A couple of keystrokes more and he would be free of
Nabiki.
Suddenly, an alarm klaxon went off and his screen immediately changed to
a yellowish hue. Sighing, he stood up and took a look at the main
screen. "Great... another 'dragon'." He said with another sigh.
Nabiki couldn't help overhearing his comment and took another look at
the screen. Sure there was... something... shown on the main screen, but
she was sure it was no dragon. Of course, she wasn't exactly an expert
on mythological creatures, but the big, white bone-like thing she saw
didn't even seem alive, much less looking like a legendary dragon.
"Hey Ranma." She hesitantly began. "Correct me if I'm wrong but that..."
She pointed at the screen. "Does not look anything like a dragon to me."
Ranma shot her a quick glance before returning his attention to the
screen. "Actually, you're right." He said as his eyes scanned the
information that was piling up on the smaller screens beside the main
one. "It's really just a nickname we have for that type of creature. Of
course, there are real dragons as well but they prefer to be called by
something else than just plain 'dragon'."
"Kintaro!" He suddenly yelled in a voice similar to that of a military
drill instructor.
A black mop of hair shot up from one of the computers and turned around.
"Yes sir?" Came a questioning voice.
Ranma jerked a thumb in Nabiki's direction. "Keep an eye on this girl
here while I go out for a ride."
The guy named Kintaro suddenly got wide in adoration (Of course, those
familiar with Happosai and/or Ataru Moroboshi would have called the
guy's expression leering.) as he took a quick look at Nabiki. He
recovered quickly though and turned back to Ranma with a salute.
"Consider it done, sir. By the way, are you taking 'the Valkyrie'?"
Ranma smiled evilly as he answered. "Yeah, gotta teach that punk that
Japan's airspace is not a playground for anyone else but me." With that
he turned on his heel and took a doorway leading out of the ops room.
***
Apparently 'the Valkyrie' was considered a great show in the ops room
since as soon as Ranma left the room Kintaro yelled over the hubbub
"He's taking the Valkyrie!" The reaction was instantaneous and almost
every screen in the ops room changed to show an airplane taking to the
air. At first Nabiki couldn't understand just exactly what was so
special about one airplane, but after ten minutes, when the plane
intercepted the 'dragon', it soon became clear what the commotion was
all about.
In a swift movement the entire plane changed form to that of a 13-meter
tall robot and engaged the 'dragon' with a barrage of missiles and guns
blazing. Nabiki's eyes almost bugged out of their sockets. It was like
watching an anime only this was real life! The entire skirmish didn't
last long and a mighty cheer went up in the ops room just as the
'dragon' began its retreat.
Of course, just because the skirmish was over didn't mean Nabiki would
be bored during the 10 or so minutes it would take Ranma to return. That
Kintaro guy didn't seem to care much about her so she busied herself
with listening in on the conversations in the ops room.
"We've got a 2319 here!"
"Huh, what are you talking about?"
"Are you blind or something? Look at the screen, there's an alien
attacking a human!"
"Oh that. That's just Lum and her boyfriend, Ataru. Don't worry, he has
survived worse."
"And just how do you know that?"
"I'm from Tomobiki, remember? Things like that are commonplace there."
"Oh... never mind then."
~KABOOOM~
"BRENTEN!"
"I'm here chief. I helped you sort out all those complaints, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember... But then who?"
"Is there really any need to ask that chief?"
"No, that's true... LEONA!"
"Study, study, study!"
"Hey does anyone know where to file Monstrous-Rampagers-In-Learning
licenses?"
"Yeah, section C 3. Look under Godzilla. Can't miss it. What's the
occasion by the way?"
"It's Godzilla's kids actually. They've reached that age and has to
start training."
"Ah, I understand. I'm dreading that with my own kids."
"Heh, yeah I know what you mean."
"Study, study, study!"
"Another video girl?"
"Yeah, they are becoming more and more popular it seems."
"Too popular if you ask me."
"Actually, you might be right about that. I'll start an investigation.
Let's hope it's not a new group of video pirates."
Nabiki shook her head to clear it from overloading. More than half of
the conversations she could barely make out the gist of. It was somewhat
relieving to see Ranma entering the room again. After a couple of
greetings, congratulations and high-fives with the staff he finally came
up to her.
He took an evaluating glance at her before he spoke up. "So, let's clear
this mess up then."
Before he could turn back to his computer, the Kintaro guy stood up with
a folder ready. "Already fixed, sir."
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. The guy who seemed like a minor pervert and
yelled "Study!" all the time had finished the case just like that? She
looked at Ranma briefly and from his reaction, or rather lack of; she
deemed that this was a common occurrence. Clearly there were some
talented people working in this building. To top it off, she was still
curious about Ranma's past and consequently she found the decision to be
an easy one to make.
Ranma skimmed through the folder before turning to Nabiki. To his
surprise she stood there with her arms folded and a small smile on her
face. "So... where do I sign up?" She asked as if talking to a military
recruitment officer.
Ranma only raised a questioning eyebrow in response. "Don't give me that
look." Nabiki answered with a slight scowl. "You were the one who wanted
me to grow up and get a life away from the dojo, remember?"
"You do not need to remind _me_." Ranma retorted. "I know perfectly well
what you are talking about. However, I don't know if you got what it
takes." He said in a condescending tone.
Nabiki's Ice Queen mask was firm in place so she didn't respond to his
barb, yet inwardly she seethed in anger. *Why that... Calm down, he's
just testing you. * She calmed herself before she responded. "Well, we
will never find out if I don't get a chance to prove myself, now will
we? Of course, if you think you can afford losing what I have to offer,
then I know where the door is." She said with her usual unreadable
expression. Mentally, she was smirking though. Their conversation was
gathering some attention amongst the staff in the ops room, and she knew
from the little information she managed to glean from the stolen files,
that more or less anyone, who was a citizen of earth, was supposed to
given a chance by the ETSPP. Can't have a planet wide organisation
safeguarding against foreign influences if you don't trust the planet's
own inhabitants. Basically, Ranma couldn't turn her down without
evaluating her first.
Ranma sighed and his shoulders slumped. "Well, go back the way you came
then. At the entrance there's a desk called reception. Just tell them, I
sent you. "
Nabiki smiled at her victory and headed out of the ops room in search of
the desk Ranma mentioned.
Back in the ops room, Ranma couldn't help smiling a bit. Maybe this day
wouldn't be so bad after all...
***
8 days later, Nabiki entered the bureau as an operative of the ETSPP
bureau. She couldn't be happier. Well, actually she could but
considering the circumstances, she was more than satisfied with the
proceedings. First off was the pay. Definitely more than enough to
support her. Heck, she could probably use her pay to keep the dojo from
going under and still have quite a bit of money left for herself.
However, she wasn't so sure she wanted to do that. Her father was going
to have to accept some responsibility. She wouldn't admit it anyone but
she was more than a bit tired of having to take care of the dojo's
finances.
Anyway, second came her job assignment. The evaluators quickly
recognized her skills in a lot of fields, even areas she herself didn't
even know of. For instance, she never dreamed that she would be a good
marksman. The evaluators deemed her good enough for the designation
agent. Agents were really the field operatives of the bureau and hence
had a very wide range of responsibilities. Their jobs were therefore the
most dangerous in the bureau. Nabiki quite obviously lacked in the
combat skills and special abilities apartment, but the evaluators
reassured her that she was to be paired up with a skilled partner. What
she was not told was that the bureau was testing out a new brain-brawn
type of partnering. This, they hoped, would reduce the amount of
collateral damage done by some agents, like Ranma for instance or the
infamous Kei and Yuri.
In any case, she was grateful for being assigned as an agent. As
interesting as the ops room seemed, she was certain she would be quite
bored if she was to sit at a computer all day long. Sure, her dream had
long been to become an executive of a big company, yet spending almost a
year with Ranma meant that she became easily bored. Something strange,
bizarre or just plain ridiculous had to happen to keep her entertained
and the ETSPP seemed like the perfect place for that.
Since the evaluation was finished 2 days ago she had taken the next two
days to get an apartment, effectively moving out of the Tendo dojo. Soun
quite obviously bawled his eyes out since 'his little girls were growing
up' but he had helped with the quick move. Nabiki couldn't help but to
feel like everything went too fast. Just eight days ago she was still
living in the dojo, now she had to take care of a job and an apartment.
As she walked into the ops room for the first time as an agent, she was
greeted by a scowling Ranma and a red-faced ops-commander.
"You know me, Chief. I work alone." Ranma stated with crossed arms.
'Chief' "quickly retorted. Nabiki was sure she could hear a lion roaring
as he spoke. "I don't care what you think, Wildman! This is a direct
order and you'd do well to obey it."
Ranma only snorted. "Hmph! If the asses upstairs are so concerned about
damage on buildings then let's see them do any better."
"That's beside the point! Orders are orders and you know what that
means. I swear, only Leona is worse than you."
"Well, she did have a good teacher. And don't forget Kei and Yuri."
Ranma stated with a smirk.
"Don't remind me about them! If I have a heart attack and die, I will
come back and haunt you." Chief turned his head and fixed Nabiki with
his eyes. "Ah, here she is."
Ranma turned as well. His eyes widened for a brief moment before he let
out a groan. "Damnit Murphy, why do you always have to torment me?" He
asked no one in particular.
"It's nice to see you too Saotome. And who's Murphy by the way?" Nabiki
asked with a scowl.
Ranma narrowed his eyes at her. "It's Wildman, remember? As for Murphy,
let's just say that shitty things happen around me."
Nabiki winced slightly. It was hard to adjust to his new name. "Sorry."
She said sincerely. "Now what's all this about? It's not like I could
help overhearing."
"That, my girl, is quite simple." Chief cut in. "This bonehead over
here..." he said while smacking Ranma on the back of his head. "...has
been assigned a partner. Namely you." Chief pointedly ignored Ranma's
red-eyed glare. "Of course, he doesn't want a partner, since he, along
with Brenten, are the bureau's biggest boneheads." The aforementioned
Brenten was currently screaming his head off while mauling a computer.
Something about 'silicon shitbags'. Neither Ranma nor Chief batted an
eye about it, but Nabiki couldn't help sweatdropping at the scene.
*Well... maybe I was wrong about 'talented people'...* She absently
thought before deciding to torment Ranma a little further. "Why Ranma!
Such high praise your boss is giving you." Nabiki snickered. She quickly
shut up when Ranma focused his gaze on her, but the smirk never left her
lips.
"It looks like you two will work wonderfully together." Chief said in an
overly happy tone. "You have your orders, now follow them!" He declared
before leaving.
Ranma let out a sigh as Chief left and he turned his full attention to
Nabiki. "So..." He began. "It looks like I can't get out of this. Just
don't think I will be around to save your cute little butt all the
time."
"Thanks for the compliment." Nabiki answered sarcastically. "I know when
to keep my head down and since I'm partnered with you I'll probably have
to do it even in my sleep. I'm not Ms. 'I'm-a-martial-artist-too' you
know."
"True enough." Ranma conceded. "Still, I'd feel better if I knew you had
some means of protecting yourself. What gear did they give you?"
"Gear? Well, a rulebook, a mini computer, some protective clothes and a
shield generator of some kind, don't remember it's full name though.
They were also talking about a gun, a twenty-two they called it,
whatever that means."
That got a strange reaction from Ranma. He just started laughing.
Scratch that, he was literally rolling on the floor laughing his ass
off. Nabiki patiently waited for him to finish with a deep scowl and
crossed arms. As he stood up Nabiki continued. "Mind explaining what's
so funny? I know I'm not exactly a gun expert, heck I hadn't even seen
one in real life before they took me to the shooting range, but there's
no reason to belittle me for lack of knowledge."
"It's not that." Ranma said as he dried his tears. "Heh, it's not that
at all. A twenty-two means calibre .22, which basically is the smallest,
most pathetic bullet you can find. Giving you something like that is an
insult really. Especially since most people around here use at least
5.56 mm NATO."
Nabiki didn't know what 5.56 NATO was but she got the gist of it. "Well,
what do you expect? It's not like I've been through any training. That's
a thing that's been bothering me actually, why did they push me through
evaluation so quickly? I expected at least two, three weeks before
something happened and a couple of months in training as well. Instead
they just hand me some stuff and throw me into service. I mean, I'm not
even through school."
"We're shorthanded." Ranma replied absently. "Say, how good were you at
the shooting range?" He continued with a glint in his eyes.
His strange look unnerved Nabiki for some reason. "Well, they said I'm
definitely above average, especially considering that I've never touched
a gun before."
Ranma's face lit up in a huge grin. "Great! Now just follow me..." He
happily declared and grabbed her arm.
Nabiki didn't even have time to protest as he dragged them both through
a portal. She recognized the nauseous feeling from her first
teleportation yet it was considerably less this time. It quickly abated
as they came out of another portal. "What did you do that for?" Nabiki
almost yelled at him.
Ranma's grin never left his face. "Just doing some shopping."
"Shopping?" Nabiki asked in confusion as she took in her surroundings.
It was... white. An endless sea of white. But that was not the most
disturbing thing. No, in front of her stood hundreds upon hundreds of
racks, filled with rifles, pistols, machineguns... you name it. She
could only gape at the enormity of it. Trying to clear her head she
turned her head sideways to get it out of her sight.
Big mistake. To her left, dozens of even bigger guns, cannons really,
were arranged in neat rows. Behind them came regular artillery pieces
and howitzers. After a short while she began noticing that there was a
distinct separation between archaic, modern and futuristic armament as
well. She wouldn't have been surprised if this place came complete with
an orangutan called the librarian.
Turning to the right she found a relatively weapon's free area and she
closed her eyes to allow her abused brain to sort through her scattered
thoughts. *Calm down. * She thought. *Just because I'm surrounded by
more weapons than every country on this planet possess put together,
doesn't mean I have to freak out. * She took a deep breath before she
opened her eyes.
"Now this is a sight I could grow to love. Oh I forgot... I already do."
Ranma chuckled to himself.
"If I didn't know you better I would call you obsessed." She deadpanned.
"Of course that would be comparing you to Kuno and that wouldn't be
fair. I mean you clearly have him outclassed in that area." She took
another deep breath before she continued. "JUST WHAT THE HELL DO YOU
NEED ALL THESE WEAPONS FOR?!" She screamed at him.
Ranma didn't even flinch at her outburst. "You know, I can hear you just
fine. As for your question, I have had to supply entire armies with
equipment from time to time."
"Equipment? There's more?"
"Yes, a vehicle, mech, air and spaceship area, as well as a number of
workshops and maintenance rooms."
"So, you do not have this incredible yet perversely big collection of
weapons just for fun?" She asked with a scowl.
"Well, what did you expect? My life has been more or less a constant
struggle. I can't even begin to calculate all the lives I've taken or
the battles I've fought. I've never had a choice in the matter." He
stated with some irritation and a hint of sadness.
"Anyway." He continued. "I didn't bring you here to show off my
'perverse pleasures' as you would call it. We came here to give you
something better than the peashooter they were going to issue to you."
"You're the expert." Nabiki replied absently, not really wanting to be
in this sea of white and weapons.
"Right-y-oh." Ranma said in a distinct English accent before he started
looking through a thick book, a list of all the weapons, Nabiki guessed.
After a couple of minutes muttering to himself, Ranma slammed the book
shut and picked up something that looked like a small remote control. A
press of a button and the racks of guns started moving with great speed
from left to right. Nabiki saw bright, yellow letters on each stand
flashing by and she once again marvelled at the sheer enormity of this
place.
The racks soon slowed down and stopped at the letter 'H'. Ranma wasted
no time and was soon in the process of rummaging through the guns. In
just a half a minute he apparently had found what he searched for. With
a rifle in one hand, a clip in the other and a grin on his lips he went
up to a bench and motioned for Nabiki to come closer.
"This..." He began. "Is a Heckler and Koch MP36F. It is basically a
combination of the HK G36C and a standard MP5, made almost exclusively
for the French armed forces. It fires 9x19 mm Parabellum rounds. I have
to admit that it doesn't pack much of a punch, especially not when
compared to a fully automatic rifle. However I don't think that's much
of a consideration, since I don't think you'll be using it much.
Besides, the main considerations are weight and size and that's where
this gun excels. Small and very light, the perfect companion in a close
range firefight. It comes with selector for one shot, burst and fully
automatic fire." He made a gesture for Nabiki to pick it up.
With some trepidation she moved forward and took the gun in her hands.
"You're right, it _is_ light." She said in surprise.
"Yes, new alloys and plastic materials allow this gun to weigh only 1.7
kilograms and that's including the clip. The lack of power is a problem
but I'll give you something that will take care of that little problem."
He said with a slight grin.
Nabiki couldn't help chuckling a little. "You know, I understand what
you meant by shopping now. You look like a car salesman about to sell
his most expensive car."
"Why Nabiki! Thanks for the compliment!" Ranma's grin stretched from ear
to ear.
"Oh I wasn't even trying to." She replied good-naturedly before turning
serious again. She eyed the piece in her hands with distaste. "Is this
really necessary?" She asked. "I'm not exactly a fighter by any means.
If I 'fight', I do it with words and brainpower. A gun feels... well
wrong."
Her distaste didn't go unnoticed by Ranma. "I understand what you mean.
Most people stay clear of guns their entire lives. Heck, it took some
200 years before I even shot a gun."
"And prey tell why not?" Nabiki asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Possibly a stray memory from my past, who knows?" Ranma said with a
shrug. "I do know however that the situation was dire enough."
The other eyebrow came up. "Dire enough?"
"The Tyranids attacked. If you stay around long enough I might tell you
about them" Ranma stated with another shrug. Yet under the shrug there
was something that wasn't right. Even Nabiki had trouble picking it up.
What was it? A shiver? Deciding to not push Ranma for details she turned
her attention back to the gun in her hands.
"So how do I use this thing?" She asked.
"Simple. Point at enemy, pull trigger, reload when out of bullets,
repeat." Ranma said with a smirk.
Nabiki felt like groaning. "Well, duh Einstein! Did you figure that out
by yourself?" She retorted.
"Yes, but that's beside the point. In any case, I will teach you
everything you need to know about the gun and how to take care of it.
Some target practice will have to become part of your regular schedule
as well."
Nabiki nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Ok I guess I just have to
deal with it even though I don't like it. Another question though, if
we're supposed to be agents, wouldn't it be kinda conspicuous to walk
around with a 50 cm long sub machinegun under the arm?"
"Kinda." Ranma answered sarcastically. "I do have a solution to that
particular problem though. "
"Don't tell me, it's Ranma's wonder cloaking machine." Nabiki asked,
equally sarcastic.
"Now that's one solution, but the ones I have tend to be a bit big...
like a backpack in size." Ranma answered seriously. "No, what I'm
thinking about is using a subspace pocket."
Nabiki looked a little confused. "Subspace pocket? You mind explaining
that in terms that a normal person might understand?"
"I'm sure you're aware of at least some theories of multiple dimensions
and such, right?"
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "I'm no rocket scientist exactly but yes, I
have heard of such theories. One theory is the Einstein-Rosen Bridge if
I'm not entirely mistaken."
"Very good. Yes Einstein had some interesting theories and I can
personally attest to their validity. However, there is more to those
theories than just simple multiple dimensions." At Nabiki's questioning
look he continued. "For instance, this place that we are in now is a
subspace pocket. Now a subspace pocket is really nothing more than
another plane of existence."
"Another plane of existence... like a parallel dimension?" Nabiki
questioned.
"No, the theory of planes of existence, or just simply planes, could be
compared with a differing frequency of a dimension. To understand how
this is possible I would have to go into very complicated theories in
physics, most of which even I do not understand. Suffice to say, a
subspace pocket is not another dimension, although not truly part of the
dimension is resides in."
"Hold on now." Nabiki stopped him. "I'm not really following you."
Ranma sighed. "Can't say I blame you. This is complicated physics." He
got a pondering look for a moment before he continued. "Let's do an
analogy... Suppose that a dimension is like a book." He waited for
Nabiki to nod in understanding. "Now a book has several pages, each
representing a plane. Each paper is separate from the other yet the back
of the book's cover connects them all. "
"I'm still not sure if I'm getting all this, but go on."
Ranma suddenly smacked his forehead. "Why didn't I think of it earlier!"
He exclaimed. "Just where do you think Moose keeps all his stuff?"
Nabiki's eyes widened in understanding. "So you mean Moose keeps all his
weapons in a subspace pocket?"
"Yes! And that's not all. Just where do you think Akane hides her
damnable mallet?"
Nabiki's eyes widened even further. "You know, I've never thought of
that before." Nabiki replied chuckling. "Although I must say it's nice
to have at least a partial explanation to the craziness back home. I'm
curious though... just where did Akane learn a hidden-weapons
technique."
"Beats me. Some people can apparently do it unconsciously, like me for
instance."
"Huh? That's not right. You had no such abilities before you
disappeared."
"I didn't?" Ranma asked slightly puzzled. "Hmm, let me check my memory."
He said before getting a blank look. Ten seconds later his eyes once
again came to life. "Well I don't know what to say. I've been able to
use subspace pockets ever since the crossing. Of course it took some
1300 years before a doctor discovered their presence and another 300
before a scientist taught me what they really were."
"Just what did you do?" Nabiki asked. "I remember that look from before.
You look like you're dead a couple of seconds."
"Oh that. Well, that's a thing I gained from the crossing. My brain has
five implants that make it work like a computer. Among other things it
lets me access my subconscious, meaning that I can backtrack everything
my brain has ever 'recorded'. I can also connect to virtually every
computer system in existence." He finished with a smug look.
"I guess that might come in handy sometimes... another question though.
Just what's this crossing you're referring to?"
Ranma scratched the back of his head. "I suppose I have to give you the
full story soon... anyway, the crossing is my name for my disappearance.
The short story is this, I reappeared in another dimension and the
people there was not too happy to see me. As I tried to escape I
stumbled upon an artefact, which attached itself to me and changed me.
However, that's just what I've been told. I can't remember anything from
the point where I woke up in that dimension."
"Any more changes I should know about? I mean besides you being a 2000
years old time travelling, butt-kicking, super-computer-for-a-brain,
weapon fanatic, bad-ass." Nabiki asked with a frown.
"Thanks for the compliments. Besides, you forgot pervert." Ranma pointed
out, grinning like a madman.
"I should have known... Just when I thought your ego couldn't get any
bigger I just had to open my mouth and give it a boost." She mock
scowled.
"Oh but you haven't even seen half of it yet." Ranma replied still
grinning. His expression turned serious before he continued. "Anyway, as
I said I'm going to give you a device that let's you access a subspace
pocket."
"And just how will I access it?"
"Simple. The device is made up of two parts. The first is attached to
the gun, acting like a homing beacon. The other part can be compared to
a remote control. Whenever you push the button on the control, the gun
will materialize in your hands. I'm giving you a subspace clip as well,
which means you will never have to worry about reloading. "
"Subspace clip?"
"It directly feeds to a special subspace pocket of mine. I keep all my
ammunition there."
"Let me guess, you have a couple of billion bullets in that pocket?"
"Something like that." Ranma replied with an almost feral grin. His eyes
suddenly got the same glint as before he dragged her off to this place
and she could swear they got slit like a cat's eyes. "Say how about you
and I take a stroll down to the shooting range?"
Nabiki couldn't help feeling like a mouse trapped by a cat... a very big
cat. "Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like whatever you are
planning to do?"
"No reason at all." He said in a very serious tone. Of course it was
spoiled by his next sentence. "Just want to see you frag some targets."
With that he grabbed a _very_ big gun from the racks and ran off to
another portal.
Just as before Nabiki had no chance to protest when he dragged her with
him. *Oh well. * She thought. *I suppose it could have been worse. * Of
course, she just had to choose that moment to remember Ranma's
definition of training and that she was supposed to participate. She
could only pray that Ranma had changed in that particular area.
*** - - - - ***
What's this? Nabiki as Ranma's partner? Just what might my reasons be
for doing that? You'll never know... MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Hrmm... anyway, Nabiki is now working for the UN ETSPP bureau and she
got an entire new set of responsibilities. Will she be able to keep her
mercenary instincts at bay or will she sell the information to the
higgest bidder? And will she ever use that gun? Find out in the coming
chapters...
I have to admit that it took quite a while for me to actually update
this story. The reason for it is quite simple; the entire chapter 4 is
over 50 pages long and for me that's huge. Next up I'll work on my
other stories, especially Mirror Life since I've gotten so good
feedback on it. Expect part 2 of Balance of Chaos chapter 4 next week.
If you wish to contact me then do so at:
kenneth@gon.nu or kenneth.lonnberg@bodenonline.com
My works will be available at:
My own page, The MegaRoad - http://www.angelfire.com/anime4/macvf1fanfic
My fanfiction.net account -
http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=301246
And when they get around to update/accept my fics, these sites will also
feature my fics:
Lady Cosmo's Fanfic Library - http://ladycosmos.anifics.com/
Ranchan & co. Crossing bridges - http://tannim.anifics.com/