Jeffery Lewis Anderson wasn't really a heavy sleeper. Yes, he liked to get a full eight hours if he could. He functioned at his best if he managed to get those eight hours. But living in Manhattan, one can hear either a police siren, a fire engine siren, or an ambulance siren 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. So over the years, Jeff had learned to ignore certain sounds, or hear them only when he wanted to hear them.
There were also certain sounds he was sensitized to. His infant son's crying was one, the sound of a gun being cocked was another.
The ringer on his bedside telephone was a special case. There were ten different phone numbers that could be dialed and cause that phone to ring. Nine of them were unlisted, and eight of them, not even the phone company knew about. This kept the sales calls down to a minimum. Each of the numbers had a distinctive ring. Depending on the circumstances and which ring sounded, Jeff would either ignore it completely or spring awake instantly.
The reason that this is important is that at 5:30 one fine Sunday morning, the phone was ringing. It wasn't the 'The world is ending' ring and it wasn't the 'Publicly listed and therefore safe to ignore' ring.
It wasn't even the 'Your wife wants to speak with you RIGHT NOW' ring. After all, Anne was lying in bed next to him and muttered, "Will you get that before it wakes the baby."
Jeff had the receiver in hand before he realized it was the 'People you trust to watch your back' ring. A total of nine people and one cat had this phone number. All of them knew him by his real name and while five of the ten of them knew he had been a superhero, only four of them, including the cat, knew which superhero he had been.
This meant the call was probably one he wanted to take, but one that wasn't supremely urgent. So summoning what little energy he possessed, he said, "Hello?"
An anonymous female voice came over the line. "This is the Overseas Operator. There is collect call for Jeff Anderson from Saotome Ranma, Nerima Ward, Tokyo, Japan. Will you accept the charges?"
-----
Ghost in the Machine presents:
Choices Made, Roads Taken
A Private Universe/Ranma 1/2 crossover.
Ranma 1/2 and the characters associated with it are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and whomever she sold the rights to. Mishima Heavy Industries and the characters associated with it are the property of Yuzo Takada and whomever he sold the rights to. This is just for fun and no copyright infringement is intended. Other characters appearing in this work of fiction belong to me, Warren Phillips. Other characters mentioned, but not appearing in the work belong to Christopher Roxby. Wherever he's managed to disappear to.
-----
Choices Made, Roads Taken.
Chapter 1: The Call
"I'll accept the charges," Jeff answered, suddenly much more alert than he'd been just a few seconds earlier.
"Will you require a translator?"
"No, I'm reasonably fluent." There was a brief pause, the sound of relays clicking and then a new voice came on the line. Much to Jeff's surprise, it was a woman's voice.
"Anderson-san? This is Tendo Kasumi."
"Hello Tendo-san. What can I do for you?"
"Ranma gave me your card after school on Friday. He told me to dial this number collect using his name if he didn't return or call by dinner time today."
Not what Jeff had intended when he gave Ranma that particular number, but not totally unexpected. "Where was he going?"
"I think he was going to go see his mother." Kasumi sounded distinctly upset to Jeff's ears.
"What's so bad about that?" Jeff hadn't seen or spoken with his parents since they day they threw him out for having more money in the bank than they did. But then, Jeff hadn't known that Ranma even had a mother. He'd met Genma, but had never met or heard mentioned Ranma's mother.
"She doesn't know about the curse..."
Jeff could see how that might be a problem. He waited for Kasumi to continue.
"... and when Ranma was younger, she extracted a promise from his father that Ranma would return from his training journey a 'man among men' or that they would both commit seppuku."
Jeff's brain went momentarily off line. His memory picked out some details from one of the conversations they had had at Ukyo's restaurant. Ranma had been going on training journeys since he could he walk, maybe even earlier. His last training journey had lasted for ten years before he went to the Tendo Dojo. Not to his home, but to the Tendo Dojo.
"Ranma couldn't have been more than six years old then."
"Actually, I believe this was before his first training journey."
"What kind of woman accepts a suicide pledge involving an infant?" Jeff did the best he could with the vocabulary he had. After all, he didn't know the Japanese phrase for 'psychotic bitch'. "What kind of evil woman even asks for a suicide pledge from her own son?" he continued.
"Anderson-san, Nodoka-san is not an evil woman. She just holds her honor... very dearly. When she came to the dojo recently, his father forced Ranma to stay in his cursed form. It broke Ranma's heart. To see his mother for the first time in so long and not be able to tell her who he really was."
Jeff thought about telling Kasumi what he thought about the situation, but didn't want to start swearing at her. It would be wrong. She was just the messenger.
"So you think Ranma decided to confront his mother and reveal his curse?" Jeff asked.
"Yes. I am almost certain of it."
"You think she's going to make him do it?"
"I... I... I don't know. I hope not. I _pray_ not. But do I think she is capable of having Ranma kill himself? Yes. Yes, I do. Anderson-san, I am so very afraid."
Jeff didn't get really angry that often. He normally didn't get angry at the villains who tried their level best to kill him. It had been part of the job and nothing to get angry about. But Kasumi was the nicest person he'd ever met. Anyone who could instill that much fear into her deserved all the anger Jeff could generate.
"I'll be there as soon as I can. Find out where Nodoka lives. Buy the information from Nabiki if you have to. Give me your phone number and I'll call you as soon as I arrive in Japan."
Jeff took down the number and got off the phone. Anne rolled over on her side and said, "You were speaking Japanese again, who was it?"
"Kasumi Tendo. She picked out the kimono I brought back from Japan for you."
"What was she calling at this hour for?" Anne asked as she reached for the kimono in question.
"I don't think the time difference even crossed her mind. You remember me telling you about Ranma Saotome?"
"The martial arts guy that turns into a girl?"
"Yeah him. You also remember last year when we wanted to start 'Search and Rescue' but everyone else decided to turn Challengers Ink into MATRIX?"
"Yes." By this time Anne was fully awake, but seriously wondering what her husband was talking about. She hated being Jeff's rhetorical sounding board, but she had accepted the good with the bad when they had got engaged and saw no reason to stop just because they were married.
"'Search and Rescue' just got it's first case. I'm going to find Ranma Saotome and rescue him from his mother.
-----
Meanwhile, half a world away, a sixteen year old young man was waiting for his mother to kill him. He'd been so _close_ to revealing who he was to his mother the second time they had met. The first time, he hadn't even known it was her. He hadn't even recognized his own mother. What kind of son doesn't know his own mother?
Ranma had gathered his courage and went to confront Saotome Nodoka alone. She had been so glad to see her son. Her handsome, strong, manly son. It was the happiest five minutes of Ranma's life. Ranma had been about to explain his curse when his mother told him to wait while she put on some water for tea. Then the fates played their favorite trick. She turned on the faucet, but the water didn't flow.
"Ranma, my son, could you come here for a moment?" Nodoka asked from the kitchen.
Ranma went eagerly to obey. But then the rusted washer that was blocking the water flow gave way under the increasing pressure and blew the handle off the faucet just as Ranma entered the kitchen.
He got wet. His curse activated. Anyone who knew Ranma could have foreseen it happening. What they could not have foreseen was Nodoka's reaction to seeing Ranma replaced by 'Tendo Ranko'. To put it in as few words as possible, she freaked.
Explanations were futile. Circumstances be damned. The curse, the miserable stinking curse, caused a mother not to see her son, but instead a thing. A monster. Something unclean. Something that was most definitely not 'a man among men'. She changed Ranma back, put him in a formal robe suitable for his death and dragged him to the family shrine. Hoping that it would bring her to her senses, Ranma refused to take up the tanto and make the first three cuts, informing his mother that if she wanted him dead she would have to kill him herself.
Ranma found himself bent over the chopping block and heard the Saotome Clan sword drawn from its sheath. He braced himself for the blow. But it didn't come. And it didn't come. After five minutes, he dared to raise his head and saw something he wished he hadn't. His mother was staring at the sword in her hands. Slowly turning it to look at both sides of the blade, and with unholy fascination, gazing at its razor sharp edge. That she would use it eventually wasn't even a question in Ranma's mind. Why he wasn't already dead, he had no clue.
After five minutes of clock time and an eternity of personal time, Nodoka finally spoke. "No. Your father must die as well for his failure. You will stay here." Nodoka left without another word.
Ranma felt some relief. Some hope. Saotome Genma was real good at hiding when he wanted to be.
That was two days ago. She had twice brought him water to drink and rice to eat. She allowed him two trips to the bathroom per day. The rest of his time was spent waiting to die.
'Damn Pops and his damn stupidity. Damn me and this damn curse.' Ranma thought for the thousandth time in the last two days. Oddly enough, it was his father's cowardice that was keeping Ranma alive right now.
Ranma had made no attempt at escape, although he was certain that he could at any time. He was honor bound to stay, so stay he did. It had been just over two days since he left the Tendo Dojo, he was certain that Kasumi had called Jeff by now. He couldn't say why he'd made the arrangement. There were other people he could have left messages for. Other people who might have been able to help. But instead, he'd told Kasumi to wait two days and call a gaijin retired superhero that he'd known for less than two weeks and hadn't spoke with or even really thought about since.
But who else was there? Tofu-sensei had disappeared while Ranma was affected by the weakness moxibustion. No one knew where he was. Ryoga might have helped, but only by sheer chance could he be contacted. Even then, he'd never have been able to find Ranma in less than a week. Nabiki could have arranged something, but only for money or things that could be turned into money. But, if she accepted money from him to do something, she'd accept more not to do it from someone else. Although... she hadn't tried to blackmail Ranma during Nodoka's visit. Uncharacteristic of her and therefore not to be trusted. Kasumi was strictly a non-combatant. He should have never involved her in this in the first place.
Mousse? Too likely to see this as a golden opportunity to get Shampoo by removing the competition. Cologne? Willing to help, but only if Ranma accepted his 'marriage' to Shampoo. Which would have been a fate roughly equal to death. Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi would have all taken a request for help as a marriage proposal. Very bad, not good and flat scary in that order. Akane? Things had been slowly been getting better between them. Too slowly. If push came to shove, would she help him? She was always so helpful and kind to anyone who wasn't Ranma. But him?
'I shoulda told Akane. Even if she doesn't trust me, I shoulda told her. If I live through this, I havta apologize for not telling her.'
But he hadn't told Akane. He arranged for Kasumi to call someone half a world away and not even told her why she was doing it. He had hoped his mother would accept him. He feared that she wouldn't and would send him away. Disowning him maybe. But this?
'Maybe if she'd got to know me as Ranko.'
Well after dark on the third day of his... restraint, Nodoka came in unexpectedly. Unexpected as far as the routine of the last two days were concerned. Still carrying the Saotome Clan sword unsheathed, she spoke in a calm level tone to her only child.
"Your dishonorable father has been found. I expect him to be brought here soon. I want him to see with his own eyes how I will end your stain on my honor. Then I will end his stain for failing to raise you as he promised me and then my own stain for having to kill the both of you. And unlike _you_, I shall wield the tanto most effectively."
The words hurt Ranma more than he could say. If he'd not sworn on his own honor, to himself, not to die by his own hand, he would have saved his mother the trouble.
-----
The minutes after hanging up the phone were spent in frantic activity. Jeff wrote an e-mail with the subject line 'coming to collect' and sent it off into the ether. Then came the question: To go in costume, or not to go in costume. He had retired from being a superhero. Putting on a costume would make him a legitimate target again. No. For Bill sake, he'd go plain clothes. But not, like last time, unarmed and unarmored.
After return from Japan, Jeff had spent some spare time designing and building a bullet proof trench coat. The outer layer was actually 12 layers of a new aramid fiber, a 'next generation' Kevlarª. The inner layer was of Nomexª, a fireproof fabric of tested reliability. Between these layers were micro-scale chain mail of more Kevlar embedded in a rubberized plastic matrix for cushioning. There were also pockets and attachment points for his gear.
Overall, the protection level was the same as his old costume, maybe even a little better as far as impact resistance went. He'd made a set of boots of similar materials to protect his feet. Although he included laminated polymer plates in the boots. Just as useful as steel caps, but lighter and not subject to those who had magnetic powers.
After a hundred push ups, a quick shower and dressing in a dark outfit, Jeff outlined his thoughts. "Here's the game plan. I'm going to fly the Maule to that little airfield outside of Pittsburgh, you take a commercial flight and fly it back to Teterboro," Jeff told his wife as he prepared himself.
"What about our son?" Anne asked while she was scrambling a half dozen eggs in a large bowl.
"Bring him with you if... Wait, the flight back would be a problem. Better take Little Bill out to see Big Bill." Collapsible staff. Check. Stun stars. Check.
"Dad's at a business conference in London this week." Browned sausage was dumped into a hot skillet with sliced mushrooms. The eggs followed soon after.
"And Janet and Mel have court appearances all day today," Jeff continued. It wasn't enough to just catch the bad guys. Sometimes you have to appear in court. Since Melinda's identity was public knowledge, she usually got stuck with making the majority of the court appearances for MATRIX. But it also scratched two of his preferred babysitters. First aid kit. Check. Shuriken. Check.
"How about I call Walt and offer him $20 an hour to babysit?" Anne asked of her husband.
"If you can get him." Walt Corbell was part of New York City's fleet of bicycle couriers. He was one of Jeff's few friends outside the costumed set. Walt had been given the same phone number that Ranma had. He also had an enviable track record of getting involved with meta-humans and the chaos that surrounds them and coming out of it in one piece. Folding Binoculars. Check. Smoke Bombs. Check.
"If not, there is always daycare at my dad's company." Using a spatula, Anne scraped cooked egg from the bottom of the pan so the uncooked egg could get a turn.
"You know my opinion of daycare." It was a negative one, because his son was likely to develop meta-human abilities at a young age. Jeff couldn't remember a time that he didn't have some telekinetic ability when he was growing up. Sure, Bill was only seven months old, but there was no need to risk publicly manifesting powers. PDA. Check. Wallet. Check. Checkbook. Check.
"And you worry too much," Anne countered, opening the refrigerator and pulling out a jug of orange juice.
Birth Certificate. Check. Passport. Check. Jeff shook the coat to make sure everything was attached securely. Satisfied, he donned the trench coat and asked, "How do I look?"
Anne looked at her husband from top to bottom before turning back to the stove. "Like a gangster," she said disparagingly.
Jeff thought about doing a Brando impersonation, but decided to eat breakfast instead. 'Not going to do Ranma any good by going to Japan if I'm a mess when I get there,' he told himself.
Soon, Jeff was flying over the Hudson River heading for Teterboro Airport where he kept his and Anne's Maule M-7-235B Super Rocket. After a preflight inspection and minimal clearance delays, Jeff lined his airplane up on the 1-19 runway at Teterboro Airport a few minutes before dawn. He only needed a fraction of the 2100 meter runway to get airborne. At his best altitude gaining speed, he climbed into the brightening sky and turned west.
-----
Genma Saotome was angry and more than a bit scared as he sat in a bar nursing a bottle of sake. How could his son do this to him? Take all the effort and training that had been poured into him and throw it all away by confronting his mother. Didn't the boy realize that his neck was on the line too?
Genma was in human form, he was far less conspicuous that way. People might not remember a man walking around in a white gi, wearing a large pack, but they would definitely remember a panda wandering around.
He'd felt uneasy since Saturday morning. Genma knew Ranma had returned from school with Akane, but didn't recall seeing him after that. Akane had left before dinner Friday to spend the weekend with some friends. When Ranma didn't show for dinner, Genma's only thought had been 'more for me'.
Ranma's continued absence come breakfast time had been a tip off that something might be wrong. His futon hadn't been slept on. Genma decided to check on Ranma's various suitors to see if he could turn up a trace of the missing boy.
There was no sign of him at the Ucchan or the Cat Cafe. In fact, he was asked where Ranma was at both places. Checking the Kuno estate was a bit more difficult because of a brief run in with Mr. Green Turtle and his pond. But despite making a systemic search of the entire Kuno compound without being caught at it, there was no trace of Ranma to be found.
It was at this point Genma returned home to have dinner. He overheard Kasumi speaking on the phone and agreed that his missing son might very well have gone to visit his mother. He'd changed back to human form, ate a hearty Kasumi cooked meal and put on his traveling pack. Time for the Saotome Ultimate Technique. At least the first part of it anyway. He told Soun that he felt like a short, solo, training trip.
He hadn't got far before he stopped at a local watering hole for some liquid refreshment. Not too much, he would need his wits about him if he somehow encountered his wife. He was still on his first bottle when a young man sitting further down the bar turned and said, "Hey, aren't you Saotome Ranma's father?"
Genma's mind went on alert, but he wasn't quite foolish enough to say anything.
"You know," the man continued, "Saotome Ranma has got to be the best martial artist in Japan, maybe even the whole world. Says a lot about the man who trained him."
However, flattery will get you everywhere. "Well... that is... I did the best I could with that ungrateful son of mine."
"You really are Saotome Genma then. I'm damn glad to meet you." The man turned to the bartender and said, "A bottle of sake for the gentleman down there."
The bartender looked at the clean-cut young man, then at the scruffy older one. Shrugging, he grabbed a bottle and set it in front of the older man. The younger man then moved over a couple of places and sat down next to Genma.
Genma was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth. He finished the bottle he'd been working on, and cracked open the new one. Thanking his new acquaintance, the two began to talk about martial arts. To Genma's eye, it was obvious the young man was no martial artist. 'Must be just a fan.' One bottle turned into two bottles. Which turned into three and then four. There was something that he should have been doing, but he couldn't quite remember what it was. 'It couldn'ta been tha' important anyways' Genma thought while working on a fifth bottle. That's when the young man's friends arrived and upon learning that he was Saotome Genma, the sensei of the greatest martial artist in the world, they'd started to buy him drinks too.
Two hours later and many yen poorer, the first young man got up and went to a pay phone. He dialed a number that he'd written down the previous day. The phone was answered on the first ring.
"Moshi Moshi."
"Moshi Moshi. Saotome-san, we have found your husband."
"Do you expect any difficulties in bringing him to me?"
The young man looked over to where Saotome Genma was downing yet another bowl of sake. Despite the fact that the man held his liquor well, he couldn't possibly last much longer. "Not really Saotome-san." There was a loud thud in the background. Turning, the man noted that Genma had finally passed out. Although he somehow managed to avoid spilling his drink. "No. No difficulties at all."
END CHAPTER 1
-----
There were also certain sounds he was sensitized to. His infant son's crying was one, the sound of a gun being cocked was another.
The ringer on his bedside telephone was a special case. There were ten different phone numbers that could be dialed and cause that phone to ring. Nine of them were unlisted, and eight of them, not even the phone company knew about. This kept the sales calls down to a minimum. Each of the numbers had a distinctive ring. Depending on the circumstances and which ring sounded, Jeff would either ignore it completely or spring awake instantly.
The reason that this is important is that at 5:30 one fine Sunday morning, the phone was ringing. It wasn't the 'The world is ending' ring and it wasn't the 'Publicly listed and therefore safe to ignore' ring.
It wasn't even the 'Your wife wants to speak with you RIGHT NOW' ring. After all, Anne was lying in bed next to him and muttered, "Will you get that before it wakes the baby."
Jeff had the receiver in hand before he realized it was the 'People you trust to watch your back' ring. A total of nine people and one cat had this phone number. All of them knew him by his real name and while five of the ten of them knew he had been a superhero, only four of them, including the cat, knew which superhero he had been.
This meant the call was probably one he wanted to take, but one that wasn't supremely urgent. So summoning what little energy he possessed, he said, "Hello?"
An anonymous female voice came over the line. "This is the Overseas Operator. There is collect call for Jeff Anderson from Saotome Ranma, Nerima Ward, Tokyo, Japan. Will you accept the charges?"
-----
Ghost in the Machine presents:
Choices Made, Roads Taken
A Private Universe/Ranma 1/2 crossover.
Ranma 1/2 and the characters associated with it are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and whomever she sold the rights to. Mishima Heavy Industries and the characters associated with it are the property of Yuzo Takada and whomever he sold the rights to. This is just for fun and no copyright infringement is intended. Other characters appearing in this work of fiction belong to me, Warren Phillips. Other characters mentioned, but not appearing in the work belong to Christopher Roxby. Wherever he's managed to disappear to.
-----
Choices Made, Roads Taken.
Chapter 1: The Call
"I'll accept the charges," Jeff answered, suddenly much more alert than he'd been just a few seconds earlier.
"Will you require a translator?"
"No, I'm reasonably fluent." There was a brief pause, the sound of relays clicking and then a new voice came on the line. Much to Jeff's surprise, it was a woman's voice.
"Anderson-san? This is Tendo Kasumi."
"Hello Tendo-san. What can I do for you?"
"Ranma gave me your card after school on Friday. He told me to dial this number collect using his name if he didn't return or call by dinner time today."
Not what Jeff had intended when he gave Ranma that particular number, but not totally unexpected. "Where was he going?"
"I think he was going to go see his mother." Kasumi sounded distinctly upset to Jeff's ears.
"What's so bad about that?" Jeff hadn't seen or spoken with his parents since they day they threw him out for having more money in the bank than they did. But then, Jeff hadn't known that Ranma even had a mother. He'd met Genma, but had never met or heard mentioned Ranma's mother.
"She doesn't know about the curse..."
Jeff could see how that might be a problem. He waited for Kasumi to continue.
"... and when Ranma was younger, she extracted a promise from his father that Ranma would return from his training journey a 'man among men' or that they would both commit seppuku."
Jeff's brain went momentarily off line. His memory picked out some details from one of the conversations they had had at Ukyo's restaurant. Ranma had been going on training journeys since he could he walk, maybe even earlier. His last training journey had lasted for ten years before he went to the Tendo Dojo. Not to his home, but to the Tendo Dojo.
"Ranma couldn't have been more than six years old then."
"Actually, I believe this was before his first training journey."
"What kind of woman accepts a suicide pledge involving an infant?" Jeff did the best he could with the vocabulary he had. After all, he didn't know the Japanese phrase for 'psychotic bitch'. "What kind of evil woman even asks for a suicide pledge from her own son?" he continued.
"Anderson-san, Nodoka-san is not an evil woman. She just holds her honor... very dearly. When she came to the dojo recently, his father forced Ranma to stay in his cursed form. It broke Ranma's heart. To see his mother for the first time in so long and not be able to tell her who he really was."
Jeff thought about telling Kasumi what he thought about the situation, but didn't want to start swearing at her. It would be wrong. She was just the messenger.
"So you think Ranma decided to confront his mother and reveal his curse?" Jeff asked.
"Yes. I am almost certain of it."
"You think she's going to make him do it?"
"I... I... I don't know. I hope not. I _pray_ not. But do I think she is capable of having Ranma kill himself? Yes. Yes, I do. Anderson-san, I am so very afraid."
Jeff didn't get really angry that often. He normally didn't get angry at the villains who tried their level best to kill him. It had been part of the job and nothing to get angry about. But Kasumi was the nicest person he'd ever met. Anyone who could instill that much fear into her deserved all the anger Jeff could generate.
"I'll be there as soon as I can. Find out where Nodoka lives. Buy the information from Nabiki if you have to. Give me your phone number and I'll call you as soon as I arrive in Japan."
Jeff took down the number and got off the phone. Anne rolled over on her side and said, "You were speaking Japanese again, who was it?"
"Kasumi Tendo. She picked out the kimono I brought back from Japan for you."
"What was she calling at this hour for?" Anne asked as she reached for the kimono in question.
"I don't think the time difference even crossed her mind. You remember me telling you about Ranma Saotome?"
"The martial arts guy that turns into a girl?"
"Yeah him. You also remember last year when we wanted to start 'Search and Rescue' but everyone else decided to turn Challengers Ink into MATRIX?"
"Yes." By this time Anne was fully awake, but seriously wondering what her husband was talking about. She hated being Jeff's rhetorical sounding board, but she had accepted the good with the bad when they had got engaged and saw no reason to stop just because they were married.
"'Search and Rescue' just got it's first case. I'm going to find Ranma Saotome and rescue him from his mother.
-----
Meanwhile, half a world away, a sixteen year old young man was waiting for his mother to kill him. He'd been so _close_ to revealing who he was to his mother the second time they had met. The first time, he hadn't even known it was her. He hadn't even recognized his own mother. What kind of son doesn't know his own mother?
Ranma had gathered his courage and went to confront Saotome Nodoka alone. She had been so glad to see her son. Her handsome, strong, manly son. It was the happiest five minutes of Ranma's life. Ranma had been about to explain his curse when his mother told him to wait while she put on some water for tea. Then the fates played their favorite trick. She turned on the faucet, but the water didn't flow.
"Ranma, my son, could you come here for a moment?" Nodoka asked from the kitchen.
Ranma went eagerly to obey. But then the rusted washer that was blocking the water flow gave way under the increasing pressure and blew the handle off the faucet just as Ranma entered the kitchen.
He got wet. His curse activated. Anyone who knew Ranma could have foreseen it happening. What they could not have foreseen was Nodoka's reaction to seeing Ranma replaced by 'Tendo Ranko'. To put it in as few words as possible, she freaked.
Explanations were futile. Circumstances be damned. The curse, the miserable stinking curse, caused a mother not to see her son, but instead a thing. A monster. Something unclean. Something that was most definitely not 'a man among men'. She changed Ranma back, put him in a formal robe suitable for his death and dragged him to the family shrine. Hoping that it would bring her to her senses, Ranma refused to take up the tanto and make the first three cuts, informing his mother that if she wanted him dead she would have to kill him herself.
Ranma found himself bent over the chopping block and heard the Saotome Clan sword drawn from its sheath. He braced himself for the blow. But it didn't come. And it didn't come. After five minutes, he dared to raise his head and saw something he wished he hadn't. His mother was staring at the sword in her hands. Slowly turning it to look at both sides of the blade, and with unholy fascination, gazing at its razor sharp edge. That she would use it eventually wasn't even a question in Ranma's mind. Why he wasn't already dead, he had no clue.
After five minutes of clock time and an eternity of personal time, Nodoka finally spoke. "No. Your father must die as well for his failure. You will stay here." Nodoka left without another word.
Ranma felt some relief. Some hope. Saotome Genma was real good at hiding when he wanted to be.
That was two days ago. She had twice brought him water to drink and rice to eat. She allowed him two trips to the bathroom per day. The rest of his time was spent waiting to die.
'Damn Pops and his damn stupidity. Damn me and this damn curse.' Ranma thought for the thousandth time in the last two days. Oddly enough, it was his father's cowardice that was keeping Ranma alive right now.
Ranma had made no attempt at escape, although he was certain that he could at any time. He was honor bound to stay, so stay he did. It had been just over two days since he left the Tendo Dojo, he was certain that Kasumi had called Jeff by now. He couldn't say why he'd made the arrangement. There were other people he could have left messages for. Other people who might have been able to help. But instead, he'd told Kasumi to wait two days and call a gaijin retired superhero that he'd known for less than two weeks and hadn't spoke with or even really thought about since.
But who else was there? Tofu-sensei had disappeared while Ranma was affected by the weakness moxibustion. No one knew where he was. Ryoga might have helped, but only by sheer chance could he be contacted. Even then, he'd never have been able to find Ranma in less than a week. Nabiki could have arranged something, but only for money or things that could be turned into money. But, if she accepted money from him to do something, she'd accept more not to do it from someone else. Although... she hadn't tried to blackmail Ranma during Nodoka's visit. Uncharacteristic of her and therefore not to be trusted. Kasumi was strictly a non-combatant. He should have never involved her in this in the first place.
Mousse? Too likely to see this as a golden opportunity to get Shampoo by removing the competition. Cologne? Willing to help, but only if Ranma accepted his 'marriage' to Shampoo. Which would have been a fate roughly equal to death. Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi would have all taken a request for help as a marriage proposal. Very bad, not good and flat scary in that order. Akane? Things had been slowly been getting better between them. Too slowly. If push came to shove, would she help him? She was always so helpful and kind to anyone who wasn't Ranma. But him?
'I shoulda told Akane. Even if she doesn't trust me, I shoulda told her. If I live through this, I havta apologize for not telling her.'
But he hadn't told Akane. He arranged for Kasumi to call someone half a world away and not even told her why she was doing it. He had hoped his mother would accept him. He feared that she wouldn't and would send him away. Disowning him maybe. But this?
'Maybe if she'd got to know me as Ranko.'
Well after dark on the third day of his... restraint, Nodoka came in unexpectedly. Unexpected as far as the routine of the last two days were concerned. Still carrying the Saotome Clan sword unsheathed, she spoke in a calm level tone to her only child.
"Your dishonorable father has been found. I expect him to be brought here soon. I want him to see with his own eyes how I will end your stain on my honor. Then I will end his stain for failing to raise you as he promised me and then my own stain for having to kill the both of you. And unlike _you_, I shall wield the tanto most effectively."
The words hurt Ranma more than he could say. If he'd not sworn on his own honor, to himself, not to die by his own hand, he would have saved his mother the trouble.
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The minutes after hanging up the phone were spent in frantic activity. Jeff wrote an e-mail with the subject line 'coming to collect' and sent it off into the ether. Then came the question: To go in costume, or not to go in costume. He had retired from being a superhero. Putting on a costume would make him a legitimate target again. No. For Bill sake, he'd go plain clothes. But not, like last time, unarmed and unarmored.
After return from Japan, Jeff had spent some spare time designing and building a bullet proof trench coat. The outer layer was actually 12 layers of a new aramid fiber, a 'next generation' Kevlarª. The inner layer was of Nomexª, a fireproof fabric of tested reliability. Between these layers were micro-scale chain mail of more Kevlar embedded in a rubberized plastic matrix for cushioning. There were also pockets and attachment points for his gear.
Overall, the protection level was the same as his old costume, maybe even a little better as far as impact resistance went. He'd made a set of boots of similar materials to protect his feet. Although he included laminated polymer plates in the boots. Just as useful as steel caps, but lighter and not subject to those who had magnetic powers.
After a hundred push ups, a quick shower and dressing in a dark outfit, Jeff outlined his thoughts. "Here's the game plan. I'm going to fly the Maule to that little airfield outside of Pittsburgh, you take a commercial flight and fly it back to Teterboro," Jeff told his wife as he prepared himself.
"What about our son?" Anne asked while she was scrambling a half dozen eggs in a large bowl.
"Bring him with you if... Wait, the flight back would be a problem. Better take Little Bill out to see Big Bill." Collapsible staff. Check. Stun stars. Check.
"Dad's at a business conference in London this week." Browned sausage was dumped into a hot skillet with sliced mushrooms. The eggs followed soon after.
"And Janet and Mel have court appearances all day today," Jeff continued. It wasn't enough to just catch the bad guys. Sometimes you have to appear in court. Since Melinda's identity was public knowledge, she usually got stuck with making the majority of the court appearances for MATRIX. But it also scratched two of his preferred babysitters. First aid kit. Check. Shuriken. Check.
"How about I call Walt and offer him $20 an hour to babysit?" Anne asked of her husband.
"If you can get him." Walt Corbell was part of New York City's fleet of bicycle couriers. He was one of Jeff's few friends outside the costumed set. Walt had been given the same phone number that Ranma had. He also had an enviable track record of getting involved with meta-humans and the chaos that surrounds them and coming out of it in one piece. Folding Binoculars. Check. Smoke Bombs. Check.
"If not, there is always daycare at my dad's company." Using a spatula, Anne scraped cooked egg from the bottom of the pan so the uncooked egg could get a turn.
"You know my opinion of daycare." It was a negative one, because his son was likely to develop meta-human abilities at a young age. Jeff couldn't remember a time that he didn't have some telekinetic ability when he was growing up. Sure, Bill was only seven months old, but there was no need to risk publicly manifesting powers. PDA. Check. Wallet. Check. Checkbook. Check.
"And you worry too much," Anne countered, opening the refrigerator and pulling out a jug of orange juice.
Birth Certificate. Check. Passport. Check. Jeff shook the coat to make sure everything was attached securely. Satisfied, he donned the trench coat and asked, "How do I look?"
Anne looked at her husband from top to bottom before turning back to the stove. "Like a gangster," she said disparagingly.
Jeff thought about doing a Brando impersonation, but decided to eat breakfast instead. 'Not going to do Ranma any good by going to Japan if I'm a mess when I get there,' he told himself.
Soon, Jeff was flying over the Hudson River heading for Teterboro Airport where he kept his and Anne's Maule M-7-235B Super Rocket. After a preflight inspection and minimal clearance delays, Jeff lined his airplane up on the 1-19 runway at Teterboro Airport a few minutes before dawn. He only needed a fraction of the 2100 meter runway to get airborne. At his best altitude gaining speed, he climbed into the brightening sky and turned west.
-----
Genma Saotome was angry and more than a bit scared as he sat in a bar nursing a bottle of sake. How could his son do this to him? Take all the effort and training that had been poured into him and throw it all away by confronting his mother. Didn't the boy realize that his neck was on the line too?
Genma was in human form, he was far less conspicuous that way. People might not remember a man walking around in a white gi, wearing a large pack, but they would definitely remember a panda wandering around.
He'd felt uneasy since Saturday morning. Genma knew Ranma had returned from school with Akane, but didn't recall seeing him after that. Akane had left before dinner Friday to spend the weekend with some friends. When Ranma didn't show for dinner, Genma's only thought had been 'more for me'.
Ranma's continued absence come breakfast time had been a tip off that something might be wrong. His futon hadn't been slept on. Genma decided to check on Ranma's various suitors to see if he could turn up a trace of the missing boy.
There was no sign of him at the Ucchan or the Cat Cafe. In fact, he was asked where Ranma was at both places. Checking the Kuno estate was a bit more difficult because of a brief run in with Mr. Green Turtle and his pond. But despite making a systemic search of the entire Kuno compound without being caught at it, there was no trace of Ranma to be found.
It was at this point Genma returned home to have dinner. He overheard Kasumi speaking on the phone and agreed that his missing son might very well have gone to visit his mother. He'd changed back to human form, ate a hearty Kasumi cooked meal and put on his traveling pack. Time for the Saotome Ultimate Technique. At least the first part of it anyway. He told Soun that he felt like a short, solo, training trip.
He hadn't got far before he stopped at a local watering hole for some liquid refreshment. Not too much, he would need his wits about him if he somehow encountered his wife. He was still on his first bottle when a young man sitting further down the bar turned and said, "Hey, aren't you Saotome Ranma's father?"
Genma's mind went on alert, but he wasn't quite foolish enough to say anything.
"You know," the man continued, "Saotome Ranma has got to be the best martial artist in Japan, maybe even the whole world. Says a lot about the man who trained him."
However, flattery will get you everywhere. "Well... that is... I did the best I could with that ungrateful son of mine."
"You really are Saotome Genma then. I'm damn glad to meet you." The man turned to the bartender and said, "A bottle of sake for the gentleman down there."
The bartender looked at the clean-cut young man, then at the scruffy older one. Shrugging, he grabbed a bottle and set it in front of the older man. The younger man then moved over a couple of places and sat down next to Genma.
Genma was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth. He finished the bottle he'd been working on, and cracked open the new one. Thanking his new acquaintance, the two began to talk about martial arts. To Genma's eye, it was obvious the young man was no martial artist. 'Must be just a fan.' One bottle turned into two bottles. Which turned into three and then four. There was something that he should have been doing, but he couldn't quite remember what it was. 'It couldn'ta been tha' important anyways' Genma thought while working on a fifth bottle. That's when the young man's friends arrived and upon learning that he was Saotome Genma, the sensei of the greatest martial artist in the world, they'd started to buy him drinks too.
Two hours later and many yen poorer, the first young man got up and went to a pay phone. He dialed a number that he'd written down the previous day. The phone was answered on the first ring.
"Moshi Moshi."
"Moshi Moshi. Saotome-san, we have found your husband."
"Do you expect any difficulties in bringing him to me?"
The young man looked over to where Saotome Genma was downing yet another bowl of sake. Despite the fact that the man held his liquor well, he couldn't possibly last much longer. "Not really Saotome-san." There was a loud thud in the background. Turning, the man noted that Genma had finally passed out. Although he somehow managed to avoid spilling his drink. "No. No difficulties at all."
END CHAPTER 1
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