Choices Made, Roads Taken.
Chapter 2: Road Trip to Avalon and Points West
What has gone before: Jeff Anderson, formerly the superhero known as Tach, receives a frantic phone call from Kasumi Tendo. She believes Ranma has gone to reveal his curse to his mother despite knowing about the 'man among men' suicide pledge he signed when he was young. Kasumi was correct in her assumption, but Nodoka's reaction was far worse than anything Ranma had anticipated. The only reason Ranma isn't dead yet is Nodoka wants to make sure Genma dies too.
While Jeff makes arrangements to get to Tokyo, Genma has been located by Nodoka's agents. It's now a race against time to see if Jeff can reach Ranma before he and his father are slain by an enraged Nodoka.
-----
Two hours after leaving Teterboro, Jeff landed on a small airstrip a few miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Pulling his plane into a rental hanger, he did his post flight inspection and paid the landing and rental fees. The cab he'd called ahead for was waiting and told the driver to take him to Avalon.
When it comes to powers beyond those of science, like seeks like. Meta-humans tend to congregate near New York City, Los Angeles and London. Ki using martial artists gather in and around Tokyo and Hong Kong. Magic has a few power centers as well. Stonehenge is one, the Nazca Plain in Peru another.
There are other places where magic can be found. Jusenkyo comes to mind. Avalon, Pennsylvania, is home to a small but reliable source of magic. The one true mage that Jeff had ever knowingly met lived in Avalon. Along with several dozen he didn't have a clue about.
After paying the cab driver, Jeff walked up to the porch of a nondescript house. The mailbox was metallic blue, and the name on it was C. O'Balt. 'Real subtle,' thought Jeff.
Jeff rang the doorbell and after a moment, the door opened of it's own accord. A man's voice called, "I'm downstairs."
Jeff knew what to expect. He'd been here before. Walking through a living room that existed strictly for show, Jeff reached the hall and walked to the first door on the left. As expected, once he opened the door, blue light spilled out into the hallway. Sighing, Jeff started down the stairs knowing the door would close behind him.
The stairs extended far deeper than any basement would have required. It seemed to take a different amount of time to reach the bottom each time he'd made the trip. When he'd installed the computer set up in Cobalt's sanctuary, he'd made a lot of trips.
Finally reaching the bottom, Jeff saw pretty much what he expected to see. With few exceptions, every thing he saw was a shade of blue. No visible ceiling, just a blue haze that lit the chamber. A large silver pentagram on the floor, two desks, one an ancient rolltop and the other a modern computer station. Several bookcases with tomes and scrolls of various sizes. An old Xerox machine looking somewhat out of place in a corner. Finally, a man of medium height and build wearing blue from head to toe, topped by a metallic blue mask.
"Hello Tach."
"Hello Cobalt," Jeff replied. Neither man went to shake hands. The first and only time they'd done it, Cobalt had to recast two spells afterwards. Magic had been known to do some strange things around Jeff.
"How can I repay that favor I owe you?" Cobalt asked, getting straight to the point.
"I need to get to Tokyo as fast as possible."
"Have you considered calling a travel agent?" Cobalt asked in a conversational tone.
"Time is of the essence."
A bit of an edge creeped in to Cobalt's voice. "You don't ask for much do you? That's half way around the world. Do you have any idea how much magic it takes to teleport that far?"
"It doesn't have to be a teleport. I just need to get there really fast."
"The way magic works around you? Not bloody likely. With you, it's got to be all or nothing. You're the only person to ever destroy a gold Emalian kastbrek ward by punching it."
Jeff wasn't sure if that was good or bad, mostly because he couldn't remember doing it. So he got back to the matter at hand. "Can you do it or not?"
"I'll give you a definite maybe. Give me a few minutes to do some research," the mage replied.
After spending ten minutes going back and forth between his computer and his bookshelves, Cobalt turned to Jeff and asked, "You give blood recently?"
"No. The Red Cross permanently deferred me the first time I tried. Something about enzyme levels."
"I'm going to need a pint."
The oddness of the request didn't surprise Jeff at all. The thought that powerful magic might call for a blood sacrifice wasn't that strange. "I've got some needles and a little I.V. tubing in my first aid kit, and I can rig a tourniquet, but what do I put it in?" Jeff responded.
"Don't sweat it. I've got everything you'll need. This isn't the first time I've used blood to help with a spell that I normally couldn't cast, and I flat guarantee you it won't be the last. At least this time, it won't be my blood."
Jeff did his own prep work and inserted the needle into the vein on his inner left arm. The blood started to flow and he gave the blood pressure cuff on his arm a squeeze. Every so often, Jeff squeezed his fist to keep the blood flowing. In under twenty minutes the bag was full. As Cobalt didn't want to make physical contact, Jeff pulled out the needle himself. A little gauze and some direct pressure took care of the bleeding. Jeff drank two glasses of apple juice and ate a ham sandwich while Cobalt took the blood and prepared it for the transport spell.
"O.K. I've got a ritual that should work. I need you to go to the center of the pentagram and stay there. I'm going paint over the silver with this." Cobalt indicated the blood filled chalice he was holding. "Once I start chanting, I want you to concentrate on where it is you want to go. Try to be as specific as possible. It'll take ten, fifteen minutes for the spell to activate. The pentagram should start to burn with a blue-white flame just before the spell kicks in. When it does, you'd better be focused."
"What if it does something else?" Jeff asked, walking into the central pentagon of the arcane construct.
"Well, if it starts to burn with a green or black flame, try to jump clear. Anything else should safe. But no promises. Also, this more than makes up for the favor I owe you."
"There's a young man by the name of Ranma Saotome who will greatly appreciate it." Jeff put the image of the Tendo Dojo in his mind and focused on it to the exclusion of everything else.
The ceremony went better than expected. Instead of the ten minutes Cobalt thought minimal, arcane energies began to ripple across the pentagram after six minutes of chanting. Soon it was burning a variety of colors. Blue-white was dominant, but there were silver, gold, red, orange, brown and gray flashes mixed in.
Suddenly, the entire pentagram flared blue-white and Jeff was gone. The pentagram was its normal immaculate silver once again. Cobalt didn't feel anywhere near as drained as he should have from casting such a spell. "Must have been aiming for a nexus point and not known it."
Curious, Cobalt cast an augury on one of his magical tomes to do a metaphysical status check on the name Ranma Saotome. What he read there shocked him. "Jusenkyo? Damn Tach, you're in over your head again," the man muttered under his breath before deciding to leave Fate to itself.
-----
Three men were carrying an unconscious fourth. The fourth was Genma Saotome. Because it was relatively late on a Sunday night, they didn't attract too much attention. The smell of alcohol was enough to deter the mildly curious.
"Come on, just a little bit farther," the first said, encouraging his two companions.
"Geez, this geezer weighs a ton," the second complained.
There was a brief pause while the third man fumbled a set of keys from his pocket. "What now?" he asked.
The first man said, "Just dump him in the back. It's not like he's going to feel anything for a while." It took all three men to dump Genma's sake soaked form into the delivery van.
"What did that lady want him for anyway?" the second man asked.
"Don't know, don't care. But for what she's paying, she can kill him if she wants," the leader answered prophetically. Turning to the third man, he continued, "You can find the address, right?"
The third man snorted, answering, "I deliver flowers for a living. I can find any address in Japan."
"Well, let's get this crate moving then. It's payday."
-----
Jeff flashed blue-white into existence with a 'pop' of displaced air. It was dark and he couldn't see a damn thing. Then he remembered there was a thirteen hour time difference between Tokyo Time and Eastern Daylight Savings Time. Jeff pulled out the PDA, locating the light option by touch and then tapping up the clock feature. Allowing for the time change, it was just past 10:30 PM local time.
Guiding himself by the weak light, Jeff made his way out of the dojo proper. Slipping the PDA back in it's holder, Jeff walked up to the house. He was about to knock, when the door in front of him slammed open. The next thing Jeff was aware of was a kick aimed at his face. Jeff crouched to avoid the blow and rolled right to evade the follow up.
Reflexively, Jeff pulled his staff from it's boot sheath and pressed a button to extend it. He then used the staff to block two swings from a bamboo practice sword. There were at least two people attacking him he realized.
"Wait! Wait!" Jeff cried to no avail. The larger of the two foes leapt at him in a flying kick. Jeff lashed out with his staff and connected with enough force to knock the attacker off line. Unfortunately, doing so left him open to a strike from the other antagonist. The bamboo sword snapped in two as it impacted against the right shoulder of Jeff's armored trench coat. The strike stung a bit, but there was no serious injury.
Jeff twisted around and, after taking a fast swing at the person holding half a sword that missed, leapt back to get both of his opponents in view. Belatedly, he threw up a repeller field for additional protection. "Kasumi!" Jeff shouted.
"Leave my sister alone you pervert!" the smaller of Jeff's two foes yelled.
"Akane?" Jeff grunted in surprise before evading a flurry of punches and kicks.
Jeff then saw a thing out of nightmare. A giant demonic head complete with a long forked tongue, fiery red eyes and sharply pointed horns filled his field of view. "Leave My Daughters Be!" the apparition shouted in a voice that reverberated in Jeff's bones.
Jeff was momentarily paralyzed until he noticed the moustache. The features of the demon were actually the heavily distorted features of Tendo Soun. That realization was enough to snap Jeff out of whatever the older man was doing to him.
"Tendo-san?"
Suddenly, an exterior light flicked on and everyone froze. Then a calm voice cut the silence. "Oh my. Anderson-san, I thought you were going to call first," Kasumi stated.
-----
Akane apologized for the attack, she had thought Jeff was a burglar. Soun wanted to know why Jeff would come at such a late hour. Nabiki thought about ways to make a little spending money out of the situation. Kasumi put on the tea kettle. But then, Kasumi knew why Jeff was there.
Jeff explained to Soun that he'd come to find Ranma. He didn't say that he might be looking for a corpse by this point. Soun had asked if there was anything he or his family could do to help. Jeff asked Soun for permission to bring Kasumi with him as 'native guide'.
There were reasons why Jeff wanted to bring Kasumi with him. One, he really did need a native guide. While he spoke the language well enough, his ability to read Japanese was minimal at best. Two, it was Kasumi, not anyone else, that Ranma had relied on to call Jeff. The level of trust implied spoke volumes. Finally, she was the best person for the job. Ranma would need the best possible advocate to intercede with his mother. Jeff didn't trust Nabiki, thought Soun too emotional and had mixed feelings about Akane.
Jeff knew Ranma was fond of Akane. As of his last visit anyway. But Akane had demonstrated more than once that she had a nasty temper when riled. Hotheadedness was a liability during a rescue. Ranma also brought out the worst in Akane. One careless comment could change her from a rescuer to a danger equal to Nodoka. Best to leave Akane at the dojo.
Soun granted permission for Jeff to ask Kasumi for assistance. Kasumi agreed to help and went upstairs to get dressed. Soun, having jumped to some strange conclusion of his own, went back to bed. Jeff walked around to the porch by the koi pond, sat down and waited. Almost immediately, the youngest Tendo daughter walked up and spoke.
"Can I come with you?" Akane asked. "I want to help."
Jeff thought carefully about how to get her to stay home without hurting her feelings. He tried the easiest first. "You and Nabiki have school tomorrow."
"Isn't this more important than school?" Akane asked heatedly. Visibly calming herself, she continued, "I mean, you're here and all. Shouldn't you be in school too?" Akane was unaware of Jeff's former profession. She thought him a college student who just happened to be a pretty good fighter.
"Akane, if this was a martial arts problem, I'd bring you or your father. If it was a money problem, I'd pay Nabiki for help," Jeff answered.
"So it's a cooking and cleaning problem?" Akane interrupted, wondering what the connection to Ranma could be.
"Let's just say it's a domestic harmony problem, which means Kasumi is the best person to handle it."
Akane thought about it. While her pride demanded that she get involved, her common sense told her that Jeff had a point about Kasumi being best suited to handle a domestic harmony problem. Whatever that actually was. She quietly said 'good night' and went up to her room. But once there, she didn't go to sleep for a long time.
Nabiki waited until she heard the door to Akane's room open and close before she went to talk with their visitor. "You somehow got here, from New York City, in four hours," she began. "How'd you do it?" There was some _serious_ money to be made here if she managed to find the right handle to grab. Besides, she owed Jeff a little payback from the last time he'd been in Japan.
"I never said I came from New York."
"But this does," Nabiki riposted, flashing the card he'd given Ranma a few months back. "I looked up the area code. It's a New York City code."
"You ever hear of call forwarding?"
"You could have been in Japan and needed more than four hours to get here. You expect me to believe that?"
"'It doesn't matter if you believe me or not' is what you told me when I asked that of you," Jeff replied calmly. He then snatched the card out of her hand before she could flinch. When she didn't react, Jeff realized she must have memorized the number already. No biggie, he'd just stop using that number and leech a new one from the phone company's computers when he got home.
Nabiki gave Jeff a thoughtful look, as if debating with herself before speaking again. "You know, you just don't add up. Everything I could find says you are just an American college student. But you beat Kuno, held your own against Shampoo, and when Mishima Heavy Industries showed up, they came looking for you and were armed for bear. Hardly what I'd call normal, even for this madhouse."
Jeff imagined Nabiki hanging from the rafters of the dojo, but said nothing.
Nabiki continued after she was sure Jeff wasn't answering. "What's so important about Ranma anyway? One phone call and you drop everything in your life and rush halfway around the planet. Makes me wonder about your motives."
Nabiki was once again using her ability to piss Jeff off. He didn't know if she was aware of this ability, but Nabiki had been using it regularly starting three days after they had first met. "I consider Ranma a friend, and I look out for my friends. I doubt you believe that because I think you don't have any friends of your own for comparison," Jeff retorted. Wanting to direct his anger at a non-human target, he fished a quarter out of his pocket and folded it in half.
Nabiki's features lost their curious look and hardened into full 'Ice Queen of Nerima' mode.
"As for my motives," Jeff continued, unfolding the coin and folding it back the other way, "they don't include blackmail or getting a cheap laugh and/or money out of someone else's misfortune or even setting up fights between people for my own benefit. But since you're so damn curious, I'm here to save Ranma's life if I can. I just hope it's not too late already." A few more folds sufficed to tear the coin in two.
Nabiki wasn't stupid. Ever since Nodoka's visit, Ranma had been a little 'off'. Despite what Jeff or many others believed, she did have limits. A little humiliation or some pictures were one thing, but the seppuku pledge that Ranma's mother held was nothing to mess with. Ranma confronting his mother could easily explain his weekend long absence. The more she thought about it, the more likely the scenario seemed. The ice cracked. "I'm sorry Anderson-san. I had no reason to believe that it was this serious. I don't want Ranma dead."
Jeff was strongly tempted to ask, 'Why, because you'd lose your favorite target/income source/toy/protector?' Instead, he managed "Thank you" in a reasonably civil tone and tucked the torn coin back into his pocket.
Kasumi came down from her room at this point. Her appearance surprised both Jeff and Nabiki. Kasumi wore a simple cream colored blouse under a dark blue blazer and matching pants. A small blue purse was slung crosswise from her shoulder. Her hair was braided instead of pony-tailed and hung straight down her back. She carried a pair of running shoes in her left hand and a large flashlight in her right. Jeff had never seen Kasumi in anything other than a dress and thought she looked nice. Nabiki wasn't even aware that her older sister owned clothes other than dresses and was almost speechless.
"Ready to go Kasumi-san?" Jeff asked.
Kasumi raised the hand with the shoes and answered, "As soon as I get these on." Noticing Nabiki's stare, she simply stated, "I thought I might need something more practical than a dress and sandals for this." She then sat down and pulled on the foot gear in silence.
Soon, she stood and reached into her purse and handed Nabiki a few 500 yen coins. "I don't know when we'll be back, but I doubt it will be in time for breakfast. This is so you, Akane and father can go out and eat. Under no circumstances are you to allow Akane to cook in my absence."
Nabiki nodded numbly. This was so unlike her sister. Kasumi was being... forceful? Her older sister obviously knew more about what was going on than she did. She was out of the loop. It was a feeling she didn't like at all. She sat there, absentmindedly fingering the coins in her hands as Kasumi and Jeff left the compound. After a moment, she went up to her room. She needed take what she had learned tonight and find how it fit in with the rest of her existence.
-----
A van labeled 'Sumire's Floral Service' slowly made it's way through a residential neighborhood in the Tokyo suburbs. Inside were three men delivering an unconscious fourth.
Turning toward the back of the van, the first man asked, "How's he doing back there?"
"Still out like a light," the second replied from his position next to the unconscious Saotome Genma. "God, I can't believe how much sake it took to drop him. Damn near tapped me out."
"We'll each make that back twenty times over," the first man said.
"Hell, if it wasn't for the money, you think I'd be doing this?" asked the third from behind the wheel.
"You'll just spend it on Michi anyway," the second retorted.
"At least I'll enjoy it. I'm not the one who owes money to the wrong people. I mean, how could you bet on the Swallows?" the third shot back.
"Shut up, both of you," the first man said loudly. "Let's just get this done and then we can do what we want to with the money. Isn't that place around here somewhere?
The van turned to the left and cruised down the street a short distance before pulling to the curb and stopping suddenly. The third man killed the ignition and said, "We're here."
Unloading their unconscious passenger took only a few minutes and getting paid only a few more. But it was a subdued trio that got back into the delivery van.
Heading back to the highway, the third man finally broke the silence. "That Saotome woman is one spooky dame. Dressed up in those formal robes like that and carrying that big sword."
"Yeah," the first said.
"Yeah," the second agreed.
"And that kid. If looks could kill, that geezer would have exploded," the third man continued.
"Yeah," the first acknowledged nodding.
"Yeah," the second agreed again.
After a moment of silence, the first man, the one who had accepted Nodoka's offer of a substantial amount of cash in return for tracking down her husband, spoke, "You know... If anyone asks, we ain't never heard of anybody named Saotome. Got it?"
"Yeah," the second responded.
"Oh yeah," the third man answered from behind the wheel as he turned toward the expressway.
END CHAPTER 2
-----
Chapter 2: Road Trip to Avalon and Points West
What has gone before: Jeff Anderson, formerly the superhero known as Tach, receives a frantic phone call from Kasumi Tendo. She believes Ranma has gone to reveal his curse to his mother despite knowing about the 'man among men' suicide pledge he signed when he was young. Kasumi was correct in her assumption, but Nodoka's reaction was far worse than anything Ranma had anticipated. The only reason Ranma isn't dead yet is Nodoka wants to make sure Genma dies too.
While Jeff makes arrangements to get to Tokyo, Genma has been located by Nodoka's agents. It's now a race against time to see if Jeff can reach Ranma before he and his father are slain by an enraged Nodoka.
-----
Two hours after leaving Teterboro, Jeff landed on a small airstrip a few miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Pulling his plane into a rental hanger, he did his post flight inspection and paid the landing and rental fees. The cab he'd called ahead for was waiting and told the driver to take him to Avalon.
When it comes to powers beyond those of science, like seeks like. Meta-humans tend to congregate near New York City, Los Angeles and London. Ki using martial artists gather in and around Tokyo and Hong Kong. Magic has a few power centers as well. Stonehenge is one, the Nazca Plain in Peru another.
There are other places where magic can be found. Jusenkyo comes to mind. Avalon, Pennsylvania, is home to a small but reliable source of magic. The one true mage that Jeff had ever knowingly met lived in Avalon. Along with several dozen he didn't have a clue about.
After paying the cab driver, Jeff walked up to the porch of a nondescript house. The mailbox was metallic blue, and the name on it was C. O'Balt. 'Real subtle,' thought Jeff.
Jeff rang the doorbell and after a moment, the door opened of it's own accord. A man's voice called, "I'm downstairs."
Jeff knew what to expect. He'd been here before. Walking through a living room that existed strictly for show, Jeff reached the hall and walked to the first door on the left. As expected, once he opened the door, blue light spilled out into the hallway. Sighing, Jeff started down the stairs knowing the door would close behind him.
The stairs extended far deeper than any basement would have required. It seemed to take a different amount of time to reach the bottom each time he'd made the trip. When he'd installed the computer set up in Cobalt's sanctuary, he'd made a lot of trips.
Finally reaching the bottom, Jeff saw pretty much what he expected to see. With few exceptions, every thing he saw was a shade of blue. No visible ceiling, just a blue haze that lit the chamber. A large silver pentagram on the floor, two desks, one an ancient rolltop and the other a modern computer station. Several bookcases with tomes and scrolls of various sizes. An old Xerox machine looking somewhat out of place in a corner. Finally, a man of medium height and build wearing blue from head to toe, topped by a metallic blue mask.
"Hello Tach."
"Hello Cobalt," Jeff replied. Neither man went to shake hands. The first and only time they'd done it, Cobalt had to recast two spells afterwards. Magic had been known to do some strange things around Jeff.
"How can I repay that favor I owe you?" Cobalt asked, getting straight to the point.
"I need to get to Tokyo as fast as possible."
"Have you considered calling a travel agent?" Cobalt asked in a conversational tone.
"Time is of the essence."
A bit of an edge creeped in to Cobalt's voice. "You don't ask for much do you? That's half way around the world. Do you have any idea how much magic it takes to teleport that far?"
"It doesn't have to be a teleport. I just need to get there really fast."
"The way magic works around you? Not bloody likely. With you, it's got to be all or nothing. You're the only person to ever destroy a gold Emalian kastbrek ward by punching it."
Jeff wasn't sure if that was good or bad, mostly because he couldn't remember doing it. So he got back to the matter at hand. "Can you do it or not?"
"I'll give you a definite maybe. Give me a few minutes to do some research," the mage replied.
After spending ten minutes going back and forth between his computer and his bookshelves, Cobalt turned to Jeff and asked, "You give blood recently?"
"No. The Red Cross permanently deferred me the first time I tried. Something about enzyme levels."
"I'm going to need a pint."
The oddness of the request didn't surprise Jeff at all. The thought that powerful magic might call for a blood sacrifice wasn't that strange. "I've got some needles and a little I.V. tubing in my first aid kit, and I can rig a tourniquet, but what do I put it in?" Jeff responded.
"Don't sweat it. I've got everything you'll need. This isn't the first time I've used blood to help with a spell that I normally couldn't cast, and I flat guarantee you it won't be the last. At least this time, it won't be my blood."
Jeff did his own prep work and inserted the needle into the vein on his inner left arm. The blood started to flow and he gave the blood pressure cuff on his arm a squeeze. Every so often, Jeff squeezed his fist to keep the blood flowing. In under twenty minutes the bag was full. As Cobalt didn't want to make physical contact, Jeff pulled out the needle himself. A little gauze and some direct pressure took care of the bleeding. Jeff drank two glasses of apple juice and ate a ham sandwich while Cobalt took the blood and prepared it for the transport spell.
"O.K. I've got a ritual that should work. I need you to go to the center of the pentagram and stay there. I'm going paint over the silver with this." Cobalt indicated the blood filled chalice he was holding. "Once I start chanting, I want you to concentrate on where it is you want to go. Try to be as specific as possible. It'll take ten, fifteen minutes for the spell to activate. The pentagram should start to burn with a blue-white flame just before the spell kicks in. When it does, you'd better be focused."
"What if it does something else?" Jeff asked, walking into the central pentagon of the arcane construct.
"Well, if it starts to burn with a green or black flame, try to jump clear. Anything else should safe. But no promises. Also, this more than makes up for the favor I owe you."
"There's a young man by the name of Ranma Saotome who will greatly appreciate it." Jeff put the image of the Tendo Dojo in his mind and focused on it to the exclusion of everything else.
The ceremony went better than expected. Instead of the ten minutes Cobalt thought minimal, arcane energies began to ripple across the pentagram after six minutes of chanting. Soon it was burning a variety of colors. Blue-white was dominant, but there were silver, gold, red, orange, brown and gray flashes mixed in.
Suddenly, the entire pentagram flared blue-white and Jeff was gone. The pentagram was its normal immaculate silver once again. Cobalt didn't feel anywhere near as drained as he should have from casting such a spell. "Must have been aiming for a nexus point and not known it."
Curious, Cobalt cast an augury on one of his magical tomes to do a metaphysical status check on the name Ranma Saotome. What he read there shocked him. "Jusenkyo? Damn Tach, you're in over your head again," the man muttered under his breath before deciding to leave Fate to itself.
-----
Three men were carrying an unconscious fourth. The fourth was Genma Saotome. Because it was relatively late on a Sunday night, they didn't attract too much attention. The smell of alcohol was enough to deter the mildly curious.
"Come on, just a little bit farther," the first said, encouraging his two companions.
"Geez, this geezer weighs a ton," the second complained.
There was a brief pause while the third man fumbled a set of keys from his pocket. "What now?" he asked.
The first man said, "Just dump him in the back. It's not like he's going to feel anything for a while." It took all three men to dump Genma's sake soaked form into the delivery van.
"What did that lady want him for anyway?" the second man asked.
"Don't know, don't care. But for what she's paying, she can kill him if she wants," the leader answered prophetically. Turning to the third man, he continued, "You can find the address, right?"
The third man snorted, answering, "I deliver flowers for a living. I can find any address in Japan."
"Well, let's get this crate moving then. It's payday."
-----
Jeff flashed blue-white into existence with a 'pop' of displaced air. It was dark and he couldn't see a damn thing. Then he remembered there was a thirteen hour time difference between Tokyo Time and Eastern Daylight Savings Time. Jeff pulled out the PDA, locating the light option by touch and then tapping up the clock feature. Allowing for the time change, it was just past 10:30 PM local time.
Guiding himself by the weak light, Jeff made his way out of the dojo proper. Slipping the PDA back in it's holder, Jeff walked up to the house. He was about to knock, when the door in front of him slammed open. The next thing Jeff was aware of was a kick aimed at his face. Jeff crouched to avoid the blow and rolled right to evade the follow up.
Reflexively, Jeff pulled his staff from it's boot sheath and pressed a button to extend it. He then used the staff to block two swings from a bamboo practice sword. There were at least two people attacking him he realized.
"Wait! Wait!" Jeff cried to no avail. The larger of the two foes leapt at him in a flying kick. Jeff lashed out with his staff and connected with enough force to knock the attacker off line. Unfortunately, doing so left him open to a strike from the other antagonist. The bamboo sword snapped in two as it impacted against the right shoulder of Jeff's armored trench coat. The strike stung a bit, but there was no serious injury.
Jeff twisted around and, after taking a fast swing at the person holding half a sword that missed, leapt back to get both of his opponents in view. Belatedly, he threw up a repeller field for additional protection. "Kasumi!" Jeff shouted.
"Leave my sister alone you pervert!" the smaller of Jeff's two foes yelled.
"Akane?" Jeff grunted in surprise before evading a flurry of punches and kicks.
Jeff then saw a thing out of nightmare. A giant demonic head complete with a long forked tongue, fiery red eyes and sharply pointed horns filled his field of view. "Leave My Daughters Be!" the apparition shouted in a voice that reverberated in Jeff's bones.
Jeff was momentarily paralyzed until he noticed the moustache. The features of the demon were actually the heavily distorted features of Tendo Soun. That realization was enough to snap Jeff out of whatever the older man was doing to him.
"Tendo-san?"
Suddenly, an exterior light flicked on and everyone froze. Then a calm voice cut the silence. "Oh my. Anderson-san, I thought you were going to call first," Kasumi stated.
-----
Akane apologized for the attack, she had thought Jeff was a burglar. Soun wanted to know why Jeff would come at such a late hour. Nabiki thought about ways to make a little spending money out of the situation. Kasumi put on the tea kettle. But then, Kasumi knew why Jeff was there.
Jeff explained to Soun that he'd come to find Ranma. He didn't say that he might be looking for a corpse by this point. Soun had asked if there was anything he or his family could do to help. Jeff asked Soun for permission to bring Kasumi with him as 'native guide'.
There were reasons why Jeff wanted to bring Kasumi with him. One, he really did need a native guide. While he spoke the language well enough, his ability to read Japanese was minimal at best. Two, it was Kasumi, not anyone else, that Ranma had relied on to call Jeff. The level of trust implied spoke volumes. Finally, she was the best person for the job. Ranma would need the best possible advocate to intercede with his mother. Jeff didn't trust Nabiki, thought Soun too emotional and had mixed feelings about Akane.
Jeff knew Ranma was fond of Akane. As of his last visit anyway. But Akane had demonstrated more than once that she had a nasty temper when riled. Hotheadedness was a liability during a rescue. Ranma also brought out the worst in Akane. One careless comment could change her from a rescuer to a danger equal to Nodoka. Best to leave Akane at the dojo.
Soun granted permission for Jeff to ask Kasumi for assistance. Kasumi agreed to help and went upstairs to get dressed. Soun, having jumped to some strange conclusion of his own, went back to bed. Jeff walked around to the porch by the koi pond, sat down and waited. Almost immediately, the youngest Tendo daughter walked up and spoke.
"Can I come with you?" Akane asked. "I want to help."
Jeff thought carefully about how to get her to stay home without hurting her feelings. He tried the easiest first. "You and Nabiki have school tomorrow."
"Isn't this more important than school?" Akane asked heatedly. Visibly calming herself, she continued, "I mean, you're here and all. Shouldn't you be in school too?" Akane was unaware of Jeff's former profession. She thought him a college student who just happened to be a pretty good fighter.
"Akane, if this was a martial arts problem, I'd bring you or your father. If it was a money problem, I'd pay Nabiki for help," Jeff answered.
"So it's a cooking and cleaning problem?" Akane interrupted, wondering what the connection to Ranma could be.
"Let's just say it's a domestic harmony problem, which means Kasumi is the best person to handle it."
Akane thought about it. While her pride demanded that she get involved, her common sense told her that Jeff had a point about Kasumi being best suited to handle a domestic harmony problem. Whatever that actually was. She quietly said 'good night' and went up to her room. But once there, she didn't go to sleep for a long time.
Nabiki waited until she heard the door to Akane's room open and close before she went to talk with their visitor. "You somehow got here, from New York City, in four hours," she began. "How'd you do it?" There was some _serious_ money to be made here if she managed to find the right handle to grab. Besides, she owed Jeff a little payback from the last time he'd been in Japan.
"I never said I came from New York."
"But this does," Nabiki riposted, flashing the card he'd given Ranma a few months back. "I looked up the area code. It's a New York City code."
"You ever hear of call forwarding?"
"You could have been in Japan and needed more than four hours to get here. You expect me to believe that?"
"'It doesn't matter if you believe me or not' is what you told me when I asked that of you," Jeff replied calmly. He then snatched the card out of her hand before she could flinch. When she didn't react, Jeff realized she must have memorized the number already. No biggie, he'd just stop using that number and leech a new one from the phone company's computers when he got home.
Nabiki gave Jeff a thoughtful look, as if debating with herself before speaking again. "You know, you just don't add up. Everything I could find says you are just an American college student. But you beat Kuno, held your own against Shampoo, and when Mishima Heavy Industries showed up, they came looking for you and were armed for bear. Hardly what I'd call normal, even for this madhouse."
Jeff imagined Nabiki hanging from the rafters of the dojo, but said nothing.
Nabiki continued after she was sure Jeff wasn't answering. "What's so important about Ranma anyway? One phone call and you drop everything in your life and rush halfway around the planet. Makes me wonder about your motives."
Nabiki was once again using her ability to piss Jeff off. He didn't know if she was aware of this ability, but Nabiki had been using it regularly starting three days after they had first met. "I consider Ranma a friend, and I look out for my friends. I doubt you believe that because I think you don't have any friends of your own for comparison," Jeff retorted. Wanting to direct his anger at a non-human target, he fished a quarter out of his pocket and folded it in half.
Nabiki's features lost their curious look and hardened into full 'Ice Queen of Nerima' mode.
"As for my motives," Jeff continued, unfolding the coin and folding it back the other way, "they don't include blackmail or getting a cheap laugh and/or money out of someone else's misfortune or even setting up fights between people for my own benefit. But since you're so damn curious, I'm here to save Ranma's life if I can. I just hope it's not too late already." A few more folds sufficed to tear the coin in two.
Nabiki wasn't stupid. Ever since Nodoka's visit, Ranma had been a little 'off'. Despite what Jeff or many others believed, she did have limits. A little humiliation or some pictures were one thing, but the seppuku pledge that Ranma's mother held was nothing to mess with. Ranma confronting his mother could easily explain his weekend long absence. The more she thought about it, the more likely the scenario seemed. The ice cracked. "I'm sorry Anderson-san. I had no reason to believe that it was this serious. I don't want Ranma dead."
Jeff was strongly tempted to ask, 'Why, because you'd lose your favorite target/income source/toy/protector?' Instead, he managed "Thank you" in a reasonably civil tone and tucked the torn coin back into his pocket.
Kasumi came down from her room at this point. Her appearance surprised both Jeff and Nabiki. Kasumi wore a simple cream colored blouse under a dark blue blazer and matching pants. A small blue purse was slung crosswise from her shoulder. Her hair was braided instead of pony-tailed and hung straight down her back. She carried a pair of running shoes in her left hand and a large flashlight in her right. Jeff had never seen Kasumi in anything other than a dress and thought she looked nice. Nabiki wasn't even aware that her older sister owned clothes other than dresses and was almost speechless.
"Ready to go Kasumi-san?" Jeff asked.
Kasumi raised the hand with the shoes and answered, "As soon as I get these on." Noticing Nabiki's stare, she simply stated, "I thought I might need something more practical than a dress and sandals for this." She then sat down and pulled on the foot gear in silence.
Soon, she stood and reached into her purse and handed Nabiki a few 500 yen coins. "I don't know when we'll be back, but I doubt it will be in time for breakfast. This is so you, Akane and father can go out and eat. Under no circumstances are you to allow Akane to cook in my absence."
Nabiki nodded numbly. This was so unlike her sister. Kasumi was being... forceful? Her older sister obviously knew more about what was going on than she did. She was out of the loop. It was a feeling she didn't like at all. She sat there, absentmindedly fingering the coins in her hands as Kasumi and Jeff left the compound. After a moment, she went up to her room. She needed take what she had learned tonight and find how it fit in with the rest of her existence.
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A van labeled 'Sumire's Floral Service' slowly made it's way through a residential neighborhood in the Tokyo suburbs. Inside were three men delivering an unconscious fourth.
Turning toward the back of the van, the first man asked, "How's he doing back there?"
"Still out like a light," the second replied from his position next to the unconscious Saotome Genma. "God, I can't believe how much sake it took to drop him. Damn near tapped me out."
"We'll each make that back twenty times over," the first man said.
"Hell, if it wasn't for the money, you think I'd be doing this?" asked the third from behind the wheel.
"You'll just spend it on Michi anyway," the second retorted.
"At least I'll enjoy it. I'm not the one who owes money to the wrong people. I mean, how could you bet on the Swallows?" the third shot back.
"Shut up, both of you," the first man said loudly. "Let's just get this done and then we can do what we want to with the money. Isn't that place around here somewhere?
The van turned to the left and cruised down the street a short distance before pulling to the curb and stopping suddenly. The third man killed the ignition and said, "We're here."
Unloading their unconscious passenger took only a few minutes and getting paid only a few more. But it was a subdued trio that got back into the delivery van.
Heading back to the highway, the third man finally broke the silence. "That Saotome woman is one spooky dame. Dressed up in those formal robes like that and carrying that big sword."
"Yeah," the first said.
"Yeah," the second agreed.
"And that kid. If looks could kill, that geezer would have exploded," the third man continued.
"Yeah," the first acknowledged nodding.
"Yeah," the second agreed again.
After a moment of silence, the first man, the one who had accepted Nodoka's offer of a substantial amount of cash in return for tracking down her husband, spoke, "You know... If anyone asks, we ain't never heard of anybody named Saotome. Got it?"
"Yeah," the second responded.
"Oh yeah," the third man answered from behind the wheel as he turned toward the expressway.
END CHAPTER 2
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