Choices Made, Roads Taken.
Chapter 7: The Tour.
What has gone before: After being rescued from the 'man among men' suicide pledge, Ranma has gone to NYC with Jeff Anderson, retired superhero. The much less hectic environment has been good for Ranma. By applying his martial arts skills to academic achievement, he's made great strides in the six weeks he's been living in America. But he still hasn't made any of the 'tough choices' he came to make.
Jeff has shown Ranma some of the things he working on and a curious Ranma has asked to see MATRIX's secret headquarters. Jeff, hoping that Ranma might join MATRIX, agrees to take him there.
----
After leaving the airport grounds, Jeff and Ranma walked three kilometers before coming to a relatively large building with a concrete facade. A new Harley Davidson was the only vehicle in the building's private parking lot. As they had walked toward the building, Ranma had noticed it had no exterior windows and a small set of double doors near the southwest corner of the building.
"Doesn't look like much," Ranma stated indifferently.
"That's part of the secret. Besides, it's not like we've got the budget the major teams have."
Jeff fished a pass card out of his wallet and swiped it through a reader before punching in a long access code. The outer doors opened by themselves and Jeff ushered Ranma inside. Once the outer doors closed, Jeff repeated the performance with the inner doors. "I'll have to get you a visitor's pass, or else you won't be able to enter the rest of the building. Wait here."
Ranma looked around curiously while Jeff walked down the center of a double row of cubicles. The cubicles weren't empty, but they didn't seem like they were actually used. There weren't enough of the personal touches or decorations that could give a cubicle what little personality they were capable of. After a couple minutes, Jeff returned and handed Ranma a bright yellow passcard marked VISITOR in large red letters.
"The doorway to the rest of the building will only pass one person at a time. Your code is 1122334467. Don't forget it. After the inner door closes, swipe your card through the reader, punch in the code and wait for the outer door to open. Then step through. I'll be right behind you," Jeff explained.
Ranma did as he was told and looked around once he got through the entryway. He saw a couple of hallways, a set of stairs leading up, a few doors here and there. The whole place was spotless, but none of the surfaces gave a decent reflection. He heard a small scratching noise at the same time Jeff came through the entryway door. Looking around he spotted the source of the noise.
"What the hell is that?" Ranma asked, pointing at a small machine scurrying across the floor in a sine wave pattern. A few seconds later, it rounded a corner and was gone from sight.
"Mouse bot. They keep the place clean. We've got some other household bots for things like laundry and keeping the library shelves in order. They tend to avoid people."
"You build them?"
"I helped assemble them. They were designed by Fastball before he died."
"He is man you came to Nerima about?"
"Yeah." Jeff paused for a moment, lost in remembrance, before turning to the right and walking down the hall. "Reference Library. Conference Room. Rest Rooms across the hall. Computer Room. Which reminds me, I need to come back here before we leave. Lab." Reaching a corner, Jeff pointed to the end of the hall. "Elevator." Jeff swiped a passcard through a reader next to a door.
The door whisked open and Jeff led Ranma down a short and slightly narrower hallway. Jeff pointed to a door on the right. "Men's locker room." He swiped his passcard through another reader and as the door slid away said, "This is the Gym."
Ranma was impressed. Except for the lack of seats, it was as big as the Furinkan High Gymnasium. The walls were covered with some sort of black material from floor to ceiling with only a few doors exempted. Half the gym was empty except for a basketball backboard, the other half had a pommel horse, uneven and parallel bars and a high bar. Ranma also saw some workout mats and step aerobics gear piled up along the far wall.
Walking over to the high bar, Ranma turned to Jeff and asked, "You mind?"
"Knock yourself out."
Ranma had done some high bar at Furinkan. It'd been fun. A light jump up and a couple swings to build momentum led into a giant swing. Followed by a couple one armed giants with each arm. Another giant swing, a straddle vault over the bar, a layout flip with a half twist, two inverted giant swings to build momentum and a half in, half out Sukahara for a dismount. Ranma took a small hop on the landing. Jeff gave three polite claps in recognition of the performance.
Just then, the door next to the one they had entered the gym from opened and a tall, muscular, dark haired man in his early to mid twenties walked out. He was wearing a pair of red gym shorts and a gray T-shirt stating "Property of: someone you don't want to mess with". He took a quick glance at Jeff and a longer look at Ranma. "Hey Jeff, haven't seen you in a while," the newcomer stated.
"Yeah, haven't been in in a while. What are you doing here? I thought Big Tex took your roster spot," Jeff replied.
"Just here to use the weight room. Who's he?"
Jeff made the introductions. "Ranma meet Flex. Flex meet Ranma."
The two shook hands in the Western style and Ranma stated, "I'm surprised you're letting me see your real face."
"Well, if Jeff didn't trust you, you wouldn't be here and I trust Jeff, so it's not a problem."
The three men talked for a bit before heading off to the weight room. Ranma took a look into the room and started to wonder if coming here was as good as an idea as he had thought.
The room was dominated by a contraption that Ranma had never seen before. It looked like a 'Universal' weight machine. But this monster had braided cables over an inch thick, was bolted to the floor and ceiling and looked as solid as a mountain. Ranma couldn't see any weights in the various stacks. Just shining metal pistons and thick metal gears and pulleys. That wasn't all. In the back left corner of the room, there was a rack built to the same scale holding what appeared to be just hand weights. An oversized bench press and squat rack were next to a stack of barbell plates in the back right corner. Much of the remaining space was filled with normal looking versions of all three.
"Doesn't look like much, but this room cost more than the rest of the building combined," Jeff stated offhandedly.
Ranma gestured at the device in front of him. "Looks like big weight machine. What is it?"
Flex answered, "A big weight machine. The hydraulics can be set from anywhere from 400 kilos to 50 tons resistance."
Ranma was past being impressed. He was getting close to boggled. Not even RYOGA was that strong. Pantyhose Taro in monster form might be able to lift 50 tons, but he wouldn't have fit into the room. "You bench 50 tons?" he asked of the dark haired man.
"Not unless I use my powers."
Ranma was slightly relieved.
"I only bench 35 tons without my powers."
The relief was extremely short lived.
The three men talked while Flex did his workout. Flex asked how Jeff and Ranma met. Ranma asked how Jeff and Flex met. Ranma demonstrated his curse. Flex demonstrated his ability to change size, going from his normal height to one meter tall then to three meters tall before returning to normal. Somehow, Ranma wandered onto the topic of his many fiancees and suitors.
"...then there's Shampoo, she Chinese Amazon."
"From the Joketzu village?" Flex asked.
"You've heard of them?" Ranma asked incredulously.
"Yeah, our guides warned us to stay away from their village when I was in China once. Because of the way they treat outsiders," Flex replied.
"You mean that stupid law they have that Ranma told me about?" Jeff asked. "If an outsider defeats an Amazon, they're considered married."
"That's not quite it," Flex stated calmly.
"Really?" Jeff asked, intrigued.
Flex clarified, "An outsider _man_ who defeats an Amazon is given 'The Kiss of Marriage' and brought into the tribe. But an outsider _woman_ who defeats an Amazon is given 'The Kiss of Death', hunted down and killed. From what I heard, they're a lot more insistent about killing the women than they are about marrying the men."
"What?!" Jeff wheeled to Ranma and asked, "Is that true?"
Ranma stared at the floor. "Not always. There are supposed to be cases where woman can be adopted into tribe. Makes it Amazon to Amazon fight after fact."
"But it's not what happened to you," Jeff said.
"I was guy with girl's body. As soon as they found out I really was guy, 'Kiss of Death' canceled."
"Well effing hooray for you. What about any other girl who manages to defeat an Amazon? Especially since you're so damn sure Shampoo is going to eventually show up looking for you," Jeff bit out. This was beginning to look like it might turn into a real problem. Given Shampoo's strength plus her complete lack of subtlety and the greater New York area having the world's highest concentration of meta-humans, many bad things could result.
Shampoo acting like Shampoo could equal Shampoo dead or lots of other people dead. Jeff may not have been overly fond of the girl in the first place, but this revelation crystallized a sharp dislike for all things Amazon.
"So far, that hasn't been problem," Ranma replied.
"So you are saying that Akane or Ukyo or any other woman you know couldn't possibly beat an Amazon. Not Shampoo, but an average Amazon?" Jeff asked.
"Well..." Ranma knew that if Shampoo was their best, their less than best could be beat by someone who wasn't as good as he was.
"Which earns them a death sentence with no appeal," Flex added.
"Well... Dammit, what am I supposed to do? Change entire Amazon system?" Ranma snapped.
Jeff answered, "Yes. Good thing you're already doing it."
Ranma glanced at Jeff and grunted, "Huh?"
"By refusing to marry Shampoo. Three thousand years of tradition says Ranma marries Shampoo. If you can stand against that, it's the first step to changing the Joketzu way of life. Three thousand years of tradition against Ranma Saotome. My money is on you."
"Well gee, that makes me feel much better."
"Can the sarcasm Ranma," Jeff began. "The Joketzu way of life is wrong. It's a religion that doesn't respect the rights of non-believers and either imprisons or kills those who can demonstrate that Amazons are not the unbeatable warriors they claim to be."
While Ranma was pondering what Jeff had said, Flex got up from the weight bench he'd been sitting at and said, "As fascinating as this conversation is, I've got to go home and get some work done. Later Jeff. Nice meeting you Ranma." Ranma shook the man's hand again and watched him leave.
The two remaining men sat in silence for a while. Ranma thinking about what Jeff said, and Jeff letting him think. Ranma was engrossed in thought at a level he normally reserved for learning martial arts techniques or food.
"You're right," Ranma suddenly said.
"Go on."
"Heck, back when Shampoo first showed up in Japan, I told her those laws were no good. That never changed. But she don't care. Hell, I think Cologne has given up on me, but not Shampoo."
"Have you told her that you don't want to marry her?"
"Yeah. She is pretty and all, but I don't want to marry her. Problem is she thinks we're already married."
"Looks like you've come to a decision about Shampoo," Jeff pointed out. "Just a matter of getting her to accept it. So, how do you divorce an Amazon?"
Ranma looked shocked. Could it be that easy? "I... don't know. I ask Mousse next time I see. I bet Shampoo can divorce me, but not other way around. That would fit in with Amazon way. But I don't want Shampoo to get hurt."
"I think she'll get over you eventually."
"Not mean that. First time Shampoo give up, Cologne give her curse. Who knows what Cologne does if Shampoo give up again."
Jeff shook his head. "All Amazons must be insane. You think Cologne has given up on the idea of you marrying Shampoo, but she'd still punish Shampoo for failing to marry you?"
"Not say it make sense."
The conversation ended there, with Jeff eventually continuing the tour. Shampoo was not forgotten, just put on the back burner for a while. Jeff led Ranma back the way the had come in and down the other hall.
Jeff stopped at the first door they came to and swiped his card. He showed Ranma inside. "This is our medical room. For obvious reasons, we avoid going to public hospitals whenever possible. Anything that isn't critical gets done here. If it's O.K. with you, I'd like for our staff physician, Doc Murchison, to give you a physical tomorrow."
"Never feel better in my life, but sure."
Jeff led Ranma out of the room. The next door was clearly marked 'Kitchen'. None of the other doors had been labeled except the restrooms. Both men were hungry, so a lunch break was called. They went through another door and ate in the formal dining room. There were sixteen chairs of some heavy wood Ranma didn't recognize arranged around a six meter long oak table. Half of one wall was a bar with padded leather stools and it looked well stocked. Stained wood paneling covered the walls.
"Nice," Ranma said. Whether he meant the room or large sandwich he was demolishing, Jeff wasn't sure. After eating, the two took their dirty dishes back to the kitchen for the household systems to automatically clean, sterilize and put away. Kasumi would have approved.
Once Jeff carded open the door, they both heard a guitar playing an unfamiliar but complex tune. Ranma hadn't heard a thing before that, indicating the place must be heavily sound proofed.
"Big Tex must of come in while we were eating. If you want I can introduce you," Jeff said.
"But if I become hero, wouldn't he know my secret identity then?" Ranma asked. The question hadn't occurred to him until after he'd met Flex.
"Yes." Jeff didn't mention the security system that covered better than 90% of the building. Nor the devices that scanned both of them when they entered the building and again when they entered the medical room. If Ranma didn't suspect some sort of surveillance after living with Jeff for six weeks, he wasn't as smart as Jeff thought.
"I will 'pass'."
"I'll go ask him to stay put for a bit," Jeff passed through an archway that Ranma had spotted before entering the kitchen. The guitar playing stopped, and Ranma listened.
"Hi Big Tex... Could you do me a favor... I've got a guest and he's unmasked and he doesn't want to blow his ID. Could you stay in here for a while?"
Ranma expected to hear an answer, but none came.
"Thanks, we shouldn't be much longer... 'Bout half an hour I think..."
The guitar playing started up once more. The tune was different, but still not one Ranma recognized. "I never hear him say anything," Ranma observed once Jeff returned.
"Big Tex can't talk."
"Oh."
-----
Jeff showed Ranma the Rec Room, the Utility Room, and the storage rooms. Guitar music could be heard in the hallways, but not in the rooms. Then he carded open the door to one of the unoccupied bedrooms. There was a bed, nightstand, two dressers, one of which had a television on top. Jeff opened the doors to the closets and to a small bathroom. It felt like a fairly nice hotel room except for the lack of windows.
"People live here?"
"Sure. Nightblade lived here before she quit and got married to Mirage. Sparx stayed here for a while after she posed nude for Playboy. Big Tex lives here full time and Sunray lives here during the week. Me and Anne almost wound up living here once."
Ranma stopped listening halfway through. He was stuck at 'nude'. "You mean with no clothes on?" he asked, eyes wide.
"That's what nude means," Jeff agreed.
"Why?"
"A million dollars after taxes", Jeff revealed. Seeing Ranma was still boggled, he continued, "Superheroes have to eat too you know. I don't approve of what she did, but she made enough money in one afternoon to live comfortably for the rest of her life. I can't fault her for that."
"Strange world superheroes live in," Ranma said quietly.
Jeff laughed. "Don't tell me you call Nerima normal."
"No," Ranma admitted, "but is what I am used to."
-----
The two headed back down stairs to the guitar score of Vivaldi's Concerto in D Major. Jeff recognized it, but Ranma did not. Both men stopped to listen. After the music switched to something else, Jeff proceeded to the Computer Room that he'd mentioned earlier.
Despite recently becoming familiar with computers during his stay, Ranma could not be called computer literate. Therefore he had no idea what Jeff was doing. He was doing it pretty quick though. Moving faster than he ever seen him, Jeff checked various files, data traps, e-mail addresses, back doors and firewalls. It wasn't as fast as an amiguriken, but it was still fast. Ranma had never watched Jeff work before, so it came as a surprise to him.
"How come I never see you do this before?"
"Do what?"
"Type so fast. If you punch as fast as you type, you would be good fighter. Better fighter."
Jeff didn't know if he'd been slammed or not so he kept his response neutral. "I try not to freak out the danes," he said as his fingers flew across the keyboard.
"Danes?"
Without slowing his typing, Jeff explained, "Short for mundanes. In the hero biz, a dane is someone who can't deal with anything out of the ordinary. Like superheroes, aliens, magic or chi using martial artists. The part that ticks me off is that when danes see weird stuff first hand, they do their best to rationalize it away. Hallucination, hoax, whatever it takes so they don't actually have to accept the truth." There was a trace of anger in his voice that Ranma picked up on.
"It bother you that much?"
There was a brief respite from the sounds of keys being pressed. "Not really. I just realized that I was describing my parents."
"Oh."
Jeff finished with a flourish and stood up. "Ranma, if you want to delivery the hoversled with me tomorrow, you're going to need a costume, or at least a mask and gloves. Either that or let everyone know who you are."
"Hadn't thought about that." In fact Ranma couldn't remember anyone saying much about his possibly becoming a superhero since... Had it been six weeks already? The letters he'd finally written home should be arriving in Japan soon if they weren't there already.
"It's your call. I'll back you either way."
Ranma thought for a moment. "I wear mask with gi. Get real costume later if I need one."
Jeff was pleased with the answer. It showed that Ranma was thinking creatively, and not just settling for the first options he got. He'd have to see what he could find costume wise.
Jeff led Ranma out of the secured section of the building. Once outside, they took a short walk to Giants Stadium and rode with a bus full of football fans back into the city.
-----
It was Anne who took care of the costume problem by presenting Ranma with a blue two piece bodysuit emblazoned with a gold and red dragon. It reminded Ranma of what he had worn during the Charlotte Cup. There were matching gloves, footwear and a blue mask. There were opaque white rectangles where the eye holes should have been.
"Real shame to cover up those eyes, but they are just too memorable," Anne stated as Ranma went to his room to get changed. The curtains and blinds were already shut, so it was safe for him to do so.
"How long have you been hiding this?" Jeff asked of his wife.
"Oh, about a week now. I thought of going with a horse motif at first, but since Ranma's name means 'wild horse', I realized it would be a giveaway. So I did some net surfing and found the dragon about a month ago. A little tweaking after I downloaded the image and some time with the screen press and ta-da!" Anne explained.
Ranma returned at this point. The stretch fabric top molded to his chest and looked painted on. The pants were not quite as tight. Ranma's braid poked through the hole in the back of the mask that had been left for it.
"How do I look?" the martial artist asked of his hosts.
"Pretty sharp," Jeff admitted. 'Might have to lose the braid,' he thought.
"The girls will love you," Anne stated enthusiastically.
"Too many girls love me already," Ranma replied sullenly.
"Well, you'll just have to learn to say 'no'," Jeff said while smiling. If Ranma learned that trick, half his problems would be solved.
Anne went into details on what she'd done. "Everything stretches a little, so it should still fit if you get wet. Not that that should be a problem. The fabric is water repellent. It'll take more than just a few stray drops to change you. How does it feel?" Anne asked. Lil Bill started crying and Anne went to check on him.
Ranma was quite happy with the water repellent part. But then his natural pessimism kicked in. 'I'll just get hit with more water then,' he thought. Testing his costume, he stretched, bent, twisted and turned. He threw half a dozen kicks of different types, and a few dozen fast punches. Anne returned as Ranma executed a scissors jump where he touched extended fingers to extended toes and nearly brushed the ceiling. "Pretty good."
Anne nodded, proud of her work and stated, "It's thermally adaptive fabric, so it should feel pretty much the same anywhere from -20 Celsius to +40. If you have trouble breathing through the mask, let me know. I can always redesign it." She checked her son's diaper. Not yet time for a new one. Maybe he just wanted some attention.
The blue clad young man nodded back and ran through one of his 'English' katas.
Jeff set down on the couch and motioned Ranma to take a seat as well. Once both men were seated, Jeff began his first lesson on secret identities. "You might want to lose the braid. Or at least keep it out of sight. It's too easily remembered."
Thinking of the dragon's whisker, Ranma answered, "There was reason I kept my hair braided, but it doesn't matter anymore. But since I don't want haircut, I will keep it out of sight."
"Good. Next, your English is coming along fine, but if you do the hero thing, keep it to a minimum. Be the strong, silent type as far as the public is concerned. Your accent and speech patterns are dead giveaways that you're not from around here."
"You have American accent when you speak Japanese."
"And I'm willing to bet it's how Mishima tracked me down after my first run in with them. They knew I was an American because of my speech pattern. I read that in one of the files I hacked out of their computer system. With just that, a rough physical description and a few drops of blood, they tracked me down."
"If it's so easy, how does anyone keep identity secret?"
"I don't know how much effort it took for Mishima to track me down. But I made it easy by standing out from the crowd. I let them know I was a foreigner that spoke American English. If I'd have been thinking straight, I'd have never said a word in English. In Japan, change costumes and you could talk as much as you want. Here, I'd advise strongly against it."
"Hmm. Any other advice?" Ranma asked.
"You asked for it," Anne muttered in the background.
Jeff ignored his wife's comment and got down to business.
END CHAPTER 7
Chapter 7: The Tour.
What has gone before: After being rescued from the 'man among men' suicide pledge, Ranma has gone to NYC with Jeff Anderson, retired superhero. The much less hectic environment has been good for Ranma. By applying his martial arts skills to academic achievement, he's made great strides in the six weeks he's been living in America. But he still hasn't made any of the 'tough choices' he came to make.
Jeff has shown Ranma some of the things he working on and a curious Ranma has asked to see MATRIX's secret headquarters. Jeff, hoping that Ranma might join MATRIX, agrees to take him there.
----
After leaving the airport grounds, Jeff and Ranma walked three kilometers before coming to a relatively large building with a concrete facade. A new Harley Davidson was the only vehicle in the building's private parking lot. As they had walked toward the building, Ranma had noticed it had no exterior windows and a small set of double doors near the southwest corner of the building.
"Doesn't look like much," Ranma stated indifferently.
"That's part of the secret. Besides, it's not like we've got the budget the major teams have."
Jeff fished a pass card out of his wallet and swiped it through a reader before punching in a long access code. The outer doors opened by themselves and Jeff ushered Ranma inside. Once the outer doors closed, Jeff repeated the performance with the inner doors. "I'll have to get you a visitor's pass, or else you won't be able to enter the rest of the building. Wait here."
Ranma looked around curiously while Jeff walked down the center of a double row of cubicles. The cubicles weren't empty, but they didn't seem like they were actually used. There weren't enough of the personal touches or decorations that could give a cubicle what little personality they were capable of. After a couple minutes, Jeff returned and handed Ranma a bright yellow passcard marked VISITOR in large red letters.
"The doorway to the rest of the building will only pass one person at a time. Your code is 1122334467. Don't forget it. After the inner door closes, swipe your card through the reader, punch in the code and wait for the outer door to open. Then step through. I'll be right behind you," Jeff explained.
Ranma did as he was told and looked around once he got through the entryway. He saw a couple of hallways, a set of stairs leading up, a few doors here and there. The whole place was spotless, but none of the surfaces gave a decent reflection. He heard a small scratching noise at the same time Jeff came through the entryway door. Looking around he spotted the source of the noise.
"What the hell is that?" Ranma asked, pointing at a small machine scurrying across the floor in a sine wave pattern. A few seconds later, it rounded a corner and was gone from sight.
"Mouse bot. They keep the place clean. We've got some other household bots for things like laundry and keeping the library shelves in order. They tend to avoid people."
"You build them?"
"I helped assemble them. They were designed by Fastball before he died."
"He is man you came to Nerima about?"
"Yeah." Jeff paused for a moment, lost in remembrance, before turning to the right and walking down the hall. "Reference Library. Conference Room. Rest Rooms across the hall. Computer Room. Which reminds me, I need to come back here before we leave. Lab." Reaching a corner, Jeff pointed to the end of the hall. "Elevator." Jeff swiped a passcard through a reader next to a door.
The door whisked open and Jeff led Ranma down a short and slightly narrower hallway. Jeff pointed to a door on the right. "Men's locker room." He swiped his passcard through another reader and as the door slid away said, "This is the Gym."
Ranma was impressed. Except for the lack of seats, it was as big as the Furinkan High Gymnasium. The walls were covered with some sort of black material from floor to ceiling with only a few doors exempted. Half the gym was empty except for a basketball backboard, the other half had a pommel horse, uneven and parallel bars and a high bar. Ranma also saw some workout mats and step aerobics gear piled up along the far wall.
Walking over to the high bar, Ranma turned to Jeff and asked, "You mind?"
"Knock yourself out."
Ranma had done some high bar at Furinkan. It'd been fun. A light jump up and a couple swings to build momentum led into a giant swing. Followed by a couple one armed giants with each arm. Another giant swing, a straddle vault over the bar, a layout flip with a half twist, two inverted giant swings to build momentum and a half in, half out Sukahara for a dismount. Ranma took a small hop on the landing. Jeff gave three polite claps in recognition of the performance.
Just then, the door next to the one they had entered the gym from opened and a tall, muscular, dark haired man in his early to mid twenties walked out. He was wearing a pair of red gym shorts and a gray T-shirt stating "Property of: someone you don't want to mess with". He took a quick glance at Jeff and a longer look at Ranma. "Hey Jeff, haven't seen you in a while," the newcomer stated.
"Yeah, haven't been in in a while. What are you doing here? I thought Big Tex took your roster spot," Jeff replied.
"Just here to use the weight room. Who's he?"
Jeff made the introductions. "Ranma meet Flex. Flex meet Ranma."
The two shook hands in the Western style and Ranma stated, "I'm surprised you're letting me see your real face."
"Well, if Jeff didn't trust you, you wouldn't be here and I trust Jeff, so it's not a problem."
The three men talked for a bit before heading off to the weight room. Ranma took a look into the room and started to wonder if coming here was as good as an idea as he had thought.
The room was dominated by a contraption that Ranma had never seen before. It looked like a 'Universal' weight machine. But this monster had braided cables over an inch thick, was bolted to the floor and ceiling and looked as solid as a mountain. Ranma couldn't see any weights in the various stacks. Just shining metal pistons and thick metal gears and pulleys. That wasn't all. In the back left corner of the room, there was a rack built to the same scale holding what appeared to be just hand weights. An oversized bench press and squat rack were next to a stack of barbell plates in the back right corner. Much of the remaining space was filled with normal looking versions of all three.
"Doesn't look like much, but this room cost more than the rest of the building combined," Jeff stated offhandedly.
Ranma gestured at the device in front of him. "Looks like big weight machine. What is it?"
Flex answered, "A big weight machine. The hydraulics can be set from anywhere from 400 kilos to 50 tons resistance."
Ranma was past being impressed. He was getting close to boggled. Not even RYOGA was that strong. Pantyhose Taro in monster form might be able to lift 50 tons, but he wouldn't have fit into the room. "You bench 50 tons?" he asked of the dark haired man.
"Not unless I use my powers."
Ranma was slightly relieved.
"I only bench 35 tons without my powers."
The relief was extremely short lived.
The three men talked while Flex did his workout. Flex asked how Jeff and Ranma met. Ranma asked how Jeff and Flex met. Ranma demonstrated his curse. Flex demonstrated his ability to change size, going from his normal height to one meter tall then to three meters tall before returning to normal. Somehow, Ranma wandered onto the topic of his many fiancees and suitors.
"...then there's Shampoo, she Chinese Amazon."
"From the Joketzu village?" Flex asked.
"You've heard of them?" Ranma asked incredulously.
"Yeah, our guides warned us to stay away from their village when I was in China once. Because of the way they treat outsiders," Flex replied.
"You mean that stupid law they have that Ranma told me about?" Jeff asked. "If an outsider defeats an Amazon, they're considered married."
"That's not quite it," Flex stated calmly.
"Really?" Jeff asked, intrigued.
Flex clarified, "An outsider _man_ who defeats an Amazon is given 'The Kiss of Marriage' and brought into the tribe. But an outsider _woman_ who defeats an Amazon is given 'The Kiss of Death', hunted down and killed. From what I heard, they're a lot more insistent about killing the women than they are about marrying the men."
"What?!" Jeff wheeled to Ranma and asked, "Is that true?"
Ranma stared at the floor. "Not always. There are supposed to be cases where woman can be adopted into tribe. Makes it Amazon to Amazon fight after fact."
"But it's not what happened to you," Jeff said.
"I was guy with girl's body. As soon as they found out I really was guy, 'Kiss of Death' canceled."
"Well effing hooray for you. What about any other girl who manages to defeat an Amazon? Especially since you're so damn sure Shampoo is going to eventually show up looking for you," Jeff bit out. This was beginning to look like it might turn into a real problem. Given Shampoo's strength plus her complete lack of subtlety and the greater New York area having the world's highest concentration of meta-humans, many bad things could result.
Shampoo acting like Shampoo could equal Shampoo dead or lots of other people dead. Jeff may not have been overly fond of the girl in the first place, but this revelation crystallized a sharp dislike for all things Amazon.
"So far, that hasn't been problem," Ranma replied.
"So you are saying that Akane or Ukyo or any other woman you know couldn't possibly beat an Amazon. Not Shampoo, but an average Amazon?" Jeff asked.
"Well..." Ranma knew that if Shampoo was their best, their less than best could be beat by someone who wasn't as good as he was.
"Which earns them a death sentence with no appeal," Flex added.
"Well... Dammit, what am I supposed to do? Change entire Amazon system?" Ranma snapped.
Jeff answered, "Yes. Good thing you're already doing it."
Ranma glanced at Jeff and grunted, "Huh?"
"By refusing to marry Shampoo. Three thousand years of tradition says Ranma marries Shampoo. If you can stand against that, it's the first step to changing the Joketzu way of life. Three thousand years of tradition against Ranma Saotome. My money is on you."
"Well gee, that makes me feel much better."
"Can the sarcasm Ranma," Jeff began. "The Joketzu way of life is wrong. It's a religion that doesn't respect the rights of non-believers and either imprisons or kills those who can demonstrate that Amazons are not the unbeatable warriors they claim to be."
While Ranma was pondering what Jeff had said, Flex got up from the weight bench he'd been sitting at and said, "As fascinating as this conversation is, I've got to go home and get some work done. Later Jeff. Nice meeting you Ranma." Ranma shook the man's hand again and watched him leave.
The two remaining men sat in silence for a while. Ranma thinking about what Jeff said, and Jeff letting him think. Ranma was engrossed in thought at a level he normally reserved for learning martial arts techniques or food.
"You're right," Ranma suddenly said.
"Go on."
"Heck, back when Shampoo first showed up in Japan, I told her those laws were no good. That never changed. But she don't care. Hell, I think Cologne has given up on me, but not Shampoo."
"Have you told her that you don't want to marry her?"
"Yeah. She is pretty and all, but I don't want to marry her. Problem is she thinks we're already married."
"Looks like you've come to a decision about Shampoo," Jeff pointed out. "Just a matter of getting her to accept it. So, how do you divorce an Amazon?"
Ranma looked shocked. Could it be that easy? "I... don't know. I ask Mousse next time I see. I bet Shampoo can divorce me, but not other way around. That would fit in with Amazon way. But I don't want Shampoo to get hurt."
"I think she'll get over you eventually."
"Not mean that. First time Shampoo give up, Cologne give her curse. Who knows what Cologne does if Shampoo give up again."
Jeff shook his head. "All Amazons must be insane. You think Cologne has given up on the idea of you marrying Shampoo, but she'd still punish Shampoo for failing to marry you?"
"Not say it make sense."
The conversation ended there, with Jeff eventually continuing the tour. Shampoo was not forgotten, just put on the back burner for a while. Jeff led Ranma back the way the had come in and down the other hall.
Jeff stopped at the first door they came to and swiped his card. He showed Ranma inside. "This is our medical room. For obvious reasons, we avoid going to public hospitals whenever possible. Anything that isn't critical gets done here. If it's O.K. with you, I'd like for our staff physician, Doc Murchison, to give you a physical tomorrow."
"Never feel better in my life, but sure."
Jeff led Ranma out of the room. The next door was clearly marked 'Kitchen'. None of the other doors had been labeled except the restrooms. Both men were hungry, so a lunch break was called. They went through another door and ate in the formal dining room. There were sixteen chairs of some heavy wood Ranma didn't recognize arranged around a six meter long oak table. Half of one wall was a bar with padded leather stools and it looked well stocked. Stained wood paneling covered the walls.
"Nice," Ranma said. Whether he meant the room or large sandwich he was demolishing, Jeff wasn't sure. After eating, the two took their dirty dishes back to the kitchen for the household systems to automatically clean, sterilize and put away. Kasumi would have approved.
Once Jeff carded open the door, they both heard a guitar playing an unfamiliar but complex tune. Ranma hadn't heard a thing before that, indicating the place must be heavily sound proofed.
"Big Tex must of come in while we were eating. If you want I can introduce you," Jeff said.
"But if I become hero, wouldn't he know my secret identity then?" Ranma asked. The question hadn't occurred to him until after he'd met Flex.
"Yes." Jeff didn't mention the security system that covered better than 90% of the building. Nor the devices that scanned both of them when they entered the building and again when they entered the medical room. If Ranma didn't suspect some sort of surveillance after living with Jeff for six weeks, he wasn't as smart as Jeff thought.
"I will 'pass'."
"I'll go ask him to stay put for a bit," Jeff passed through an archway that Ranma had spotted before entering the kitchen. The guitar playing stopped, and Ranma listened.
"Hi Big Tex... Could you do me a favor... I've got a guest and he's unmasked and he doesn't want to blow his ID. Could you stay in here for a while?"
Ranma expected to hear an answer, but none came.
"Thanks, we shouldn't be much longer... 'Bout half an hour I think..."
The guitar playing started up once more. The tune was different, but still not one Ranma recognized. "I never hear him say anything," Ranma observed once Jeff returned.
"Big Tex can't talk."
"Oh."
-----
Jeff showed Ranma the Rec Room, the Utility Room, and the storage rooms. Guitar music could be heard in the hallways, but not in the rooms. Then he carded open the door to one of the unoccupied bedrooms. There was a bed, nightstand, two dressers, one of which had a television on top. Jeff opened the doors to the closets and to a small bathroom. It felt like a fairly nice hotel room except for the lack of windows.
"People live here?"
"Sure. Nightblade lived here before she quit and got married to Mirage. Sparx stayed here for a while after she posed nude for Playboy. Big Tex lives here full time and Sunray lives here during the week. Me and Anne almost wound up living here once."
Ranma stopped listening halfway through. He was stuck at 'nude'. "You mean with no clothes on?" he asked, eyes wide.
"That's what nude means," Jeff agreed.
"Why?"
"A million dollars after taxes", Jeff revealed. Seeing Ranma was still boggled, he continued, "Superheroes have to eat too you know. I don't approve of what she did, but she made enough money in one afternoon to live comfortably for the rest of her life. I can't fault her for that."
"Strange world superheroes live in," Ranma said quietly.
Jeff laughed. "Don't tell me you call Nerima normal."
"No," Ranma admitted, "but is what I am used to."
-----
The two headed back down stairs to the guitar score of Vivaldi's Concerto in D Major. Jeff recognized it, but Ranma did not. Both men stopped to listen. After the music switched to something else, Jeff proceeded to the Computer Room that he'd mentioned earlier.
Despite recently becoming familiar with computers during his stay, Ranma could not be called computer literate. Therefore he had no idea what Jeff was doing. He was doing it pretty quick though. Moving faster than he ever seen him, Jeff checked various files, data traps, e-mail addresses, back doors and firewalls. It wasn't as fast as an amiguriken, but it was still fast. Ranma had never watched Jeff work before, so it came as a surprise to him.
"How come I never see you do this before?"
"Do what?"
"Type so fast. If you punch as fast as you type, you would be good fighter. Better fighter."
Jeff didn't know if he'd been slammed or not so he kept his response neutral. "I try not to freak out the danes," he said as his fingers flew across the keyboard.
"Danes?"
Without slowing his typing, Jeff explained, "Short for mundanes. In the hero biz, a dane is someone who can't deal with anything out of the ordinary. Like superheroes, aliens, magic or chi using martial artists. The part that ticks me off is that when danes see weird stuff first hand, they do their best to rationalize it away. Hallucination, hoax, whatever it takes so they don't actually have to accept the truth." There was a trace of anger in his voice that Ranma picked up on.
"It bother you that much?"
There was a brief respite from the sounds of keys being pressed. "Not really. I just realized that I was describing my parents."
"Oh."
Jeff finished with a flourish and stood up. "Ranma, if you want to delivery the hoversled with me tomorrow, you're going to need a costume, or at least a mask and gloves. Either that or let everyone know who you are."
"Hadn't thought about that." In fact Ranma couldn't remember anyone saying much about his possibly becoming a superhero since... Had it been six weeks already? The letters he'd finally written home should be arriving in Japan soon if they weren't there already.
"It's your call. I'll back you either way."
Ranma thought for a moment. "I wear mask with gi. Get real costume later if I need one."
Jeff was pleased with the answer. It showed that Ranma was thinking creatively, and not just settling for the first options he got. He'd have to see what he could find costume wise.
Jeff led Ranma out of the secured section of the building. Once outside, they took a short walk to Giants Stadium and rode with a bus full of football fans back into the city.
-----
It was Anne who took care of the costume problem by presenting Ranma with a blue two piece bodysuit emblazoned with a gold and red dragon. It reminded Ranma of what he had worn during the Charlotte Cup. There were matching gloves, footwear and a blue mask. There were opaque white rectangles where the eye holes should have been.
"Real shame to cover up those eyes, but they are just too memorable," Anne stated as Ranma went to his room to get changed. The curtains and blinds were already shut, so it was safe for him to do so.
"How long have you been hiding this?" Jeff asked of his wife.
"Oh, about a week now. I thought of going with a horse motif at first, but since Ranma's name means 'wild horse', I realized it would be a giveaway. So I did some net surfing and found the dragon about a month ago. A little tweaking after I downloaded the image and some time with the screen press and ta-da!" Anne explained.
Ranma returned at this point. The stretch fabric top molded to his chest and looked painted on. The pants were not quite as tight. Ranma's braid poked through the hole in the back of the mask that had been left for it.
"How do I look?" the martial artist asked of his hosts.
"Pretty sharp," Jeff admitted. 'Might have to lose the braid,' he thought.
"The girls will love you," Anne stated enthusiastically.
"Too many girls love me already," Ranma replied sullenly.
"Well, you'll just have to learn to say 'no'," Jeff said while smiling. If Ranma learned that trick, half his problems would be solved.
Anne went into details on what she'd done. "Everything stretches a little, so it should still fit if you get wet. Not that that should be a problem. The fabric is water repellent. It'll take more than just a few stray drops to change you. How does it feel?" Anne asked. Lil Bill started crying and Anne went to check on him.
Ranma was quite happy with the water repellent part. But then his natural pessimism kicked in. 'I'll just get hit with more water then,' he thought. Testing his costume, he stretched, bent, twisted and turned. He threw half a dozen kicks of different types, and a few dozen fast punches. Anne returned as Ranma executed a scissors jump where he touched extended fingers to extended toes and nearly brushed the ceiling. "Pretty good."
Anne nodded, proud of her work and stated, "It's thermally adaptive fabric, so it should feel pretty much the same anywhere from -20 Celsius to +40. If you have trouble breathing through the mask, let me know. I can always redesign it." She checked her son's diaper. Not yet time for a new one. Maybe he just wanted some attention.
The blue clad young man nodded back and ran through one of his 'English' katas.
Jeff set down on the couch and motioned Ranma to take a seat as well. Once both men were seated, Jeff began his first lesson on secret identities. "You might want to lose the braid. Or at least keep it out of sight. It's too easily remembered."
Thinking of the dragon's whisker, Ranma answered, "There was reason I kept my hair braided, but it doesn't matter anymore. But since I don't want haircut, I will keep it out of sight."
"Good. Next, your English is coming along fine, but if you do the hero thing, keep it to a minimum. Be the strong, silent type as far as the public is concerned. Your accent and speech patterns are dead giveaways that you're not from around here."
"You have American accent when you speak Japanese."
"And I'm willing to bet it's how Mishima tracked me down after my first run in with them. They knew I was an American because of my speech pattern. I read that in one of the files I hacked out of their computer system. With just that, a rough physical description and a few drops of blood, they tracked me down."
"If it's so easy, how does anyone keep identity secret?"
"I don't know how much effort it took for Mishima to track me down. But I made it easy by standing out from the crowd. I let them know I was a foreigner that spoke American English. If I'd have been thinking straight, I'd have never said a word in English. In Japan, change costumes and you could talk as much as you want. Here, I'd advise strongly against it."
"Hmm. Any other advice?" Ranma asked.
"You asked for it," Anne muttered in the background.
Jeff ignored his wife's comment and got down to business.
END CHAPTER 7