Choices Made, Roads Taken
Chapter 13: The Storm Before the Other Storm.
What has happened before: Ranma went to New York City with retired super hero Jeff Anderson to get his life together. The Kuno siblings and Shampoo have followed for their own reasons. Ranma doesn't want to deal with them, but that choice may not remain his for long.
-----
The phone rang in the pattern reserved for MATRIX business. Jeff set down his gouge and turned off the lathe before crossing the workroom to answer. Lifting the receiver, he heard a high pitched squawk as the automatic encryption hardware kicked in.
"Hello."
"Mister Anderson, this is Sunray. Could you come down here before Big Tex and Wild Dragon wreck the gym?
-----
Jeff surveyed the damage. The basketball backboard was mangled beyond repair. The even and uneven parallel bars were no longer parallel or bars. Kindling and scrap metal was more like it. The heavy duty walls along three sides of the gym bore faint impressions, but the thinner wall between the gym and the locker rooms had three large dents. Judging by size, depth and location, Big Tex had got lucky at least once.
"Did it ever occur, to either of you, that this is a gymnasium, not a battle dome," Jeff said coldly. The quiet anger evident in his voice was far more effective than shouting would have been. Both Ranma and Big Tex stood in hang dog fashion in the middle of the gym. Sunray, in 'civilian' form, wearing a white gi with white belt, stood near Jeff to see how he maintained control over two people who could easily kick his ass. It would be a fascinating lesson in interpersonal dynamics.
"Eewahifaww," Big Tex squeaked.
"I don't care whose fault it was," Jeff shot back pointedly.
"Eaeooaee."
Jeff stared at Big Tex until Ranma asked, "What did he say?"
"You got me," Jeff replied. There followed a brief scribble, the sound of paper being torn from a spiral notebook and a small sheet that almost illegibly proclaimed 'HE SAID HE COULD TAKE IT.' Sunray peered around Jeff's shoulder so she could read the note. She tried hard not to giggle and almost succeeded. Jeff tossed a narrowed glance at her before asking Big Tex, "And exactly how does that change anything?"
Big Tex merely shook his round yellow head 'no' as a response.
"I didn't think so." Turning to Ranma, he continued, "As for you, I don't care about what you got away with back home. It won't wash here. Technically speaking, I own this building. It's mine. Break it and you'll have me to answer to."
"I will pay fo-" Ranma began.
Jeff interrupted with, "Don't. I appreciate the offer, but I know damn well neither one of you has that much money." Jeff was pleased that Ranma had made the offer. It was a big plus that Ranma showed signs of taking responsibility for his actions. But at that moment, being a hard nosed bastard was called for.
"First thing, the two of you are going take all this crap and put it through the recycler," Jeff said with a wave at the broken gymnastics gear. At least the metal would be reclaimed for future use. "I'll tell you what else I want done later." He turned and asked "Sunray, would you please come with me to the conference room?"
After Jeff and Sunray left the room, Big Tex picked up the mangled basketball rim. Making sure that Wild Dragon was watching, he bit off a chunk, chewed and swallowed. Under his mask, Ranma smiled and thought 'Wonder if he could do that with Akane's cooking?'
-----
Jeff turned the conference room's security field on and asked Sunray, "All right, what happened?"
"I was taking a martial arts lesson from Wild Dragon when Big Tex entered the gym and headed towards the weight room. Dragon said he was pleased with my progress, so I asked if we could spar."
Jeff knew that sparring wasn't normal for a newly minted white belt, but that Ranma wasn't a typical sensei either. He also knew how Ranma normally sparred with Akane.
Sunray continued, "I tried my best to hit him, but he dodged everything. I shifted to hero form and he still dodged me. When I realized that he wasn't attacking me, I stopped and told him that he wasn't sparring. I thought he was going to say something, but he didn't. Then Big Tex came up and offered to take my place. Apparently, he'd seen the whole thing.
"Wild Dragon agreed. Seemed glad even. For a while he did the same thing to Big Tex that he did to me. I think it made Tex mad because he picked up the backboard and knocked Dragon clear across the gym with it. Dragon shook it off and said something I didn't understand before he jumped across the room and kicked Tex in the head. That's when I called you. Eventually, my brain kicked in and I sunbeamed both of them."
Jeff sighed and rubbed his forehead. He knew that Sunray was telling the truth, that she found it very difficult to lie or even shade the facts. He knew Ranma had a way of getting under people's skins. He also knew Big Tex had a fairly low frustration tolerance. 'Limelight should be handling this, not me,' he thought.
However, being Wild Dragon's sponsor, when added to the fact that he worked less than three kilometers from MATRIX HQ, meant that Sunray had made the right call. Various thoughts flashed through his mind at high speed before Jeff finally said, "Next time you see him, have FreeFall check the gym for structural damage. We'll see what's fixable and what needs replaced. Good thing we're under budget for repairs this year. In the meantime, seal off the gym after Big Tex and Wild Dragon get the debris cleaned up."
"Yes Mister Anderson," Sunray replied.
"And when Limelight bitches about this, and believe me, he will, tell him that if he wants to complain, he can buy the building and play landlord himself."
-----
As he was cleaning up the mess, Sunray asked Ranma to stop by her bedroom after he was finished. It wasn't very long before he stood at Sunray's door. His knock was greeted with an opened door and a cheery "C'mon in!"
Feeling rather nervous, Ranma entered Sunray's room. He'd been in Akane's bedroom often enough, even if not for the reasons that most people thought. Nabiki's bedroom was a place he avoided because it always cost him money when he went there. He'd never been in Kasumi's bedroom, in fact he couldn't recall even seeing the inside of Kasumi's room.
Sunray flopped onto the queen sized four poster bed and said, "Grab a chair Dragon."
Finding only one to grab, he pulled the roller chair away from Sunray's desk, spun it around and sat down in it. The springs squeaked as Ranma shifted position, trying to get comfortable. He fiddled with the seat height adjustment to cover a surreptitious examination of the room.
Most of the walls were covered with posters of celestial scenes. Pictures of stars, planets, moons, nebulas and other astronomical phenomenon competed with charts of the solar system, protostar formation, black holes, the electromagnetic spectrum and a large periodic table. There were three bookshelves, mostly full, and judging from the titles, mostly about science, particularly astronomy.
"Wow, you must be smart to know all this stuff," Ranma said.
"I wish," Sunray replied as she rolled onto her side. "Most of it is way over my head, but at least the pictures are nice to look at."
"Then why..." Ranma trailed off with a wave at the room and its contents.
"Because it's where I came from, and someday, it's where I'll go. Especially here," Sunray finished by pointing at a picture of Beta Lyrae.
"Huh?"
"Dragon, you do know that I'm not human right?"
"What? You are mutant?" According to Jeff, some people got pretty touchy about what category they were put into.
Sunray laughed before answering, "Actually, we, meaning MATRIX, haven't figured out what I am. Limelight thinks my host body was a mutant, but that I'm an alien. Flex thinks I'm a mutant evolving into an energy based life form. Mister Anderson refuses to speculate and Sparx thinks I'm nuts. According to her, I'm a mutant that created the Sunray persona because Emily Augusta Roberts couldn't deal with the death of her parents."
"What do you think you are?" Ranma asked.
"I think I'm me, but that doesn't mean much to some people."
"Awful grown up thought coming from kid."
Sunray cocked her head toward Ranma and shifted into her heroic form. "Would it help if I looked like this instead?"
Ranma opened his mouth in denial before saying, "Yeah, it does. It should not make difference, but it does."
"That's almost exactly what Limelight told me when we first met. Someone who looks like a 12 year old girl just isn't taken seriously by most people."
"How old are you?" Ranma asked, unaware that you never ask a woman that particular question.
"Almost five months." Sunray smiled as Ranma flinched. She added, "But you have to remember, I started out with my host's memories, plus some things my mother gave me. It's like I was born old. I didn't have to learn how to walk, run, talk, read or any of that stuff."
"Sounds... different."
"Not so different than changing bodies when hit with water."
Ranma snorted back a laugh before he answered, "Well at least you get to choose when you change." Inspired, he asked, "Since you can change when you want, why don't you just stay big?"
"Dragon, this body is just a construct, an extrapolation of what my host might have looked like at 16. The only reason I use it is because I can channel a lot more energy this way," Sunray said before reverting to normal. "Besides, there are things this body is better at."
"Really?" Ranma's observations indicated otherwise. Sunray's heroic form was noticeably faster and about four times stronger. It had a much higher combat potential in his judgment. Maybe he could find out why Sunray insisted on taking martial arts lessons in civilian form.
"Well, it just 'feels' right. Food tastes better and it's a lot easier to sleep like this." There were other reasons too, but they weren't ones she was willing to share just yet.
Ranma silently chastised himself for thinking only about the martial arts possibilities. He was about to explain when the intercom chimed for attention.
After Sunray opened the channel, Limelight's voice stated, "There will be a full team combat practice session Saturday at the junkyard starting at noon. All MATRIX members are expected to attend. Limelight out."
"Dang," Sunray said heatedly.
Ranma didn't need to see her frown to know that she wasn't happy. "What is wrong?"
"I had plans for this weekend. I may not have much of a life outside of MATRIX, but what little I do have is important to me."
As the conversation continued, Ranma briefly considered his own life outside of martial arts. Briefly because there wasn't that much to consider. He suddenly realized that prior to coming to America, it wouldn't even have been brief.
-----
Shampoo looked around her cell once more. Had the walls been stone, she would have simply focused her chi and walked straight through them. Her personal variant of the Bakusai Tenketsu didn't require anything as obvious as poking boulders with a finger.
But it didn't work on metal bars. Especially bars that could have significant amounts of electricity run through them by her jailers. Although had escape been her goal, they wouldn't have stopped her. A quick splash of water from the sink, and her cat form would have room to spare. Her captors obviously didn't know about her Jusenkyo curse and she wasn't about to give up that advantage.
There were things that prevented Shampoo from leaving. Kuno was one. Even though he had merely been the means to an end, Shampoo couldn't abandon him. He'd fought well. She respected that. Kuno was an ally, of sorts. She might not be bound by Amazon laws on this trip, but that didn't mean she wasn't bound by her own conscience. Whenever she chose to escape, Shampoo would take Kuno with her unless there was a pressing reason not to. Hopefully, his injuries wouldn't be such a reason.
There was also the man called Benny. When Ranma had earned the Kiss of Marriage, it had been a fluke that Shampoo was more than happy to accept for her own reasons. The kick with which Ranma broke her bonbori had been made to defend Tendo Akane. The fact the mace's head had landed on her own, momentarily knocking her out, was a coincidence. Shampoo knew this even if she preferred not to admit it.
Benny's victory was no fluke. Had it been in a one on one fight instead of as part of a general melee, it would have been troubling. That was if she wasn't temporarily exempt from Amazon laws at Cologne's order. Had her great-grandmother foreseen something like this occurring? Shampoo thought it likely.
She knew there was nothing preventing Benny from issuing a formal marriage challenge. He simply didn't know that he could. Despite justifiable pride in her own skills, Benny's raw strength was enough that losing to him was possible. Unlike Ranma's American friend, or even Ranma himself she reluctantly admitted, Benny showed some signs of interest in her as a woman. Distinctly different from Mousse's blind worship, Benny's attention felt more like... respect. He alone brought her meals and he had even begun trying out a few phrases in very badly accented Mandarin on her. If Benny knew of the Amazon laws, would he try to use them?
Shampoo didn't know all of the precedents involved when an Amazon was defeated by two different males. After all, that particular problem hadn't cropped up since the nineteenth century. The fact that she was the village champion and it was happening to her was very... annoying. Amazons were supposed to be the strongest warriors in the world, but the world was turning out far stronger than Shampoo had been taught.
As for Benny and Ranma, a duel between the contenders was called for, but wasn't mandatory. Shampoo considered Ranma's ego for a moment and realized that she could easily goad him into such a fight. She figured despite Benny's superior strength, it was a battle Ranma should win.
Shampoo shook her head to clear it of all hypothetical thoughts. There was no time to ponder what might have been when her reality was so different.
-----
Anne had left Jeff and Ranma a breakfast of waffles and Huevos Rancheros before leaving for her Saturday morning jog. After finishing off his grape juice, Ranma asked, "So why are you coming?"
"I'm Director Emeritus, I can do whatever I want," Jeff replied with mock arrogance. "More seriously though, I have to keep up with everyone on the roster and what they can do. Just in case."
"In case of what?"
"Oh for example, say Limelight quits, goes missing or is killed. Who runs the team then?"
"FreeFall," Ranma answered immediately.
"Ah... but there's the problem. FreeFall doesn't want the job after what happened the last time he was in charge. He's told me he makes a great lieutenant but a lousy general and I have to agree. So who comes next?"
Ranma's thoughts flashed through the rest of the roster. Big Tex couldn't communicate well enough to lead effectively. Sparx just wasn't leader material. Sunray was way too young. Finally, he didn't have enough teamwork experience or the desire to be in charge. That left... "Robert the C-c-cat?"
Jeff laughed and admitted, "Actually, I hadn't thought about him." After shaking his head slowly, he continued, "But really, it would wind up being me or Flex, whichever one of us could clear his schedule the fastest. That'd probably mean me, even though I'd much rather stay retired."
"What about other former members? I've read some of their files."
"There are a lot of things that don't get put in those files Ranma. Trust me when I say I'm next up, whether I want to be or not. It's bad enough there are things I have to do as MATRIX's landlord that I don't like."
Ranma was beginning to understand why Anne didn't like being her husband's rhetorical sounding board. But since Jeff was obviously begging the question, Ranma obliged him and asked, "Such as?"
"Chewing out people who break stuff is one of them. It doesn't mean I like you any less or that you're not my friend. I was proud as hell when you offered to pay for the damages."
"You were?"
"Yep," Jeff replied as he donned his bullet proof trench coat.
Ranma basked in the glow of approval all the way to Long Island.
-----
Flattened cars were piled in stacks up to ten meters tall. Narrow, twisty passages barely separated one wall of cars from the next. Irregularly spaced clearings were scattered throughout. Two cranes with powerful electromagnets carried the scrap metal into a crusher to reduce its volume even more. An open topped railroad car sat alone on a spur of track at the end of a conveyor belt waiting to be filled with compressed scrap.
It was a dirty and dangerous place. Which made it a nice combat practice ground for a superhero team on a budget. The owner was meta friendly, so long as they didn't damage the cranes or the crusher, MATRIX was allowed to mess up the place as much as they liked on the weekends. For a nominal fee of course.
The first part of the session was spent playing a super powered version of 'Tag'. Ranma's superior agility allowed him to tag the rest of MATRIX in under two minutes. Only Sparx managed to lay a hand on him in return, although Sunray and Limelight both managed 'power tags'. The funniest thing was Big Tex 'tagging' Limelight with a Thunderbird's hubcap from 20 meters away. That he could have used the entire car instead was not in question.
Next, Jeff refereed a game of 'Capture the Flag' that Ranma, Sunray and FreeFall won. After placing their red 'flag' so that it wasn't visible to an aerial search, they quickly infiltrated 'enemy' territory. Despite Sparx's liberal use of smoke to obscure things, FreeFall spotted the green towel through his rifle's scope. He and Ranma then created a diversion to draw attention while Sunray snuck up, snatched the towel and flat outran Big Tex back to safety and victory.
After a soda and munchies break, Jeff brought out his wife's Splat Gun for a game of 'Lone Assassin'. He used black, red and green wax popper loads to represent explosive, incendiary and acid attacks. He used real smoke, flare and tear gas loads to keep everyone on their toes.
The scenario rules called for comm silence and the team members to enter the junkyard one at a time at least three minutes apart. Jeff could not use his TK directly on anyone or fly. After drawing straws, the order, unknown to Jeff, was Sunray, Sparx, Big Tex, FreeFall, Wild Dragon and Limelight.
Right after Sunray went in, he heard a pop that indicated Jeff had used one of his wax rounds. A minute later, one of the cranes fired up. Ranma saw it swing around and heard the magnet drop down. After Sparx flew in, Ranma could see grey and yellow smoke drift above the junkyard before being forced away by Sparx's power. The regulation rounds didn't make much noise at all. A flare, bright in the cold December overcast, came next. There were a few pops before it quieted again. Sparx didn't return, so Ranma figured Jeff got her.
Big Tex went in next. It was quiet until FreeFall's turn came. Ranma heard shots from FreeFall's rifle a minute after he went in. With thirty seconds remaining before he could enter, there was a creaking sound and a horrible crash followed by the shriek of metal being torn apart by brute force and several more pops.
When Ranma finally entered the exercise area, the first thing he saw was Sunray laying on the ground barely three meters from the entrance. The yellow starburst on her uniform was defaced by a blob of red wax slightly off center. She drummed her fingers impatiently.
"Are you all right?" Ranma asked softly.
"Yeah, but I'm charred corpse right now, so don't talk to me," Sunray replied in a similar voice.
Ranma nodded, looked around cautiously and slowed moved further into the junkyard. It was then he spotted where the flare had gone off. There were small black wax blobs scattered around. Seeing only one place that would provide decent cover, Ranma lightly leaped to the top of the nearest wall of cars to make his way there without walking through the obvious kill zone.
From his perch, he could see that someone had toppled half a dozen car stacks. Big Tex was pinned under one car with large chunks of car in each hand. His head was covered with green wax splotches and therefore was officially 'dead'. Ranma glanced around without seeing anyone else and continued toward the place where he figured Jeff had tried to ambush Sparx.
As he came closer, Ranma noticed two shuriken on the ground. After checking out where he would have set up an ambush, he bent to examine them. There were tiny lightning bolts engraved on both. Which meant they belonged to Sparx and not Jeff. There were also unmistakable traces of blood.
The blood was rather disquieting. The object of the exercises weren't to injure each other, but to show that injury could have occurred. The difference between 'practice' and 'field' use of powers still surprised Ranma. He was used to his rivals, his fiancees and even his father going all out, all the time. It wasn't like that with MATRIX. There wasn't the level of obsession that permeated Nerima. No drive to be biggest, fastest, strongest or best, just the need to be effective. It seemed to work.
But those few drops of blood reminded Ranma that things could get serious rather quickly.
Ranma heard several pops from the other side of the junkyard. He made his way toward the disturbance as fast as he could without making any noticeable noise. The three minutes before Limelight could make his entrance were more than up as Ranma spotted what had drawn him there. Although hog tied and gagged with a black rope, Sparx lived up to her name. Snaps and crackles of blue electricity were leaping off her body, mostly from her hands. FreeFall laid on his stomach nearby, propped up on one elbow, the back of his costume covered in red and green wax splotches. His rifle pointed toward a gap between two walls of cars.
Ranma could guess what happened. Although FreeFall's power protected against impact, fire and acid didn't cause damage that way. Jeff must have ambushed him when he went to 'rescue' Sparx. Ranma didn't plan on falling for the same trick. All senses on alert, he entered the small clearing and tried to figure out where Jeff would attack from. The gap indicated by FreeFall's rifle was a likely choice, but so far Jeff had been playing 'stick and move'.
A sudden sound drew Ranma's attention, but it was only Limelight arriving on the scene. The momentary distraction proved costly as a black wax popper came from a small crack between two adjacent stacks of crushed cars. Ranma leapt away as the popper arrived. Limelight's response to the attack was to fire a force bolt in the direction the popper came from.
Part of a car wall toppled over and Ranma hoped Jeff hadn't been hurt. Limelight used hand signals to tell Ranma to search the area for Jeff while he went to free Sparx, just in case they hadn't got him. As Ranma walked over to the fallen stack of cars, he noticed Limelight having trouble with the rope Sparx was tied with.
There came the sound of metal on metal. Limelight stood in time for the remains of a red 1984 Chevette to catch him in the chest and knock him across the clearing into a wall of cars that promptly collapsed. All without touching a single green hair on Sparx's head.
Ranma asked himself, 'Did Jeff boost for a practice session?' He was moving toward Limelight in order to help free him when handfuls of mixed poppers arced down to 'kill' Limelight and Sparx both. It was proof that Splat Gun ammo could be thrown by hand and be just as effective. Although Jeff couldn't have much left in the way of ammo after that attack.
Further contemplation was interrupted by the need to dodge another black popper. This time he actually saw Jeff retreating from where he'd fired from. "Time to end this," Ranma muttered under his breath.
The chase was surprisingly short. Jeff hesitated at a place where the path split before heading left. That passage dead ended after two turns. Unless he flew out against the rules, he was trapped.
Backed against the fence marking the edge of the property, Jeff turned and emptied the Splat Gun at his pursuer. Ranma dodged the rounds with little effort. Jeff dropped the gun knowing that Ranma could attack him if he tried to reload. Ranma was aware of that and closed in for a little friendly sparring match. It wouldn't take long.
That's when he was hit square in the back with a black popper.
Ranma whirled around to see Anne, dressed in a purple and red costume with pink tinted goggles, holding a Splat Gun identical to the one at Jeff's feet. As he stood staring, Flex rounded the corner wearing his distinctive black armor and moving more quietly than anyone his size had a right to. Although they had met before, it was the first time Ranma had seen him in costume.
"You cheated!" Ranma cried in a mixture of anger and surprise.
"Deliberately and with malice aforethought," Jeff admitted. "You of all people should know that life isn't fair."
"But how?" Ranma asked, with a vague wave at Flex and... Sidearm since she was in costume.
"We snuck in while you guys were stuffing your faces," Flex answered from behind his domed helmet.
Anne smiled and added, "After all, this _was_ a full team combat session."
Jeff and Flex laughed at the joke, but Ranma didn't feel the need.
-----
While the others made post-exercise small talk, Ranma tried to figure out what point, if any, Jeff had behind cooking the 'Lone Assassin' scenario. Keep up with the team? Sure. Get Anne back in costume? Maybe. It would make a... precedent, that was the word, for getting back into costume himself. Hang out with friends? No doubt. Teach a lesson? No, with Jeff it would be 'teach several lessons'. 'Beware of assumptions' was obvious. Ranma busily pondered other options even after the training session ended. The fact that pondering non martial arts things at all was still new to him escaped his notice entirely.
END CHAPTER 13
Chapter 13: The Storm Before the Other Storm.
What has happened before: Ranma went to New York City with retired super hero Jeff Anderson to get his life together. The Kuno siblings and Shampoo have followed for their own reasons. Ranma doesn't want to deal with them, but that choice may not remain his for long.
-----
The phone rang in the pattern reserved for MATRIX business. Jeff set down his gouge and turned off the lathe before crossing the workroom to answer. Lifting the receiver, he heard a high pitched squawk as the automatic encryption hardware kicked in.
"Hello."
"Mister Anderson, this is Sunray. Could you come down here before Big Tex and Wild Dragon wreck the gym?
-----
Jeff surveyed the damage. The basketball backboard was mangled beyond repair. The even and uneven parallel bars were no longer parallel or bars. Kindling and scrap metal was more like it. The heavy duty walls along three sides of the gym bore faint impressions, but the thinner wall between the gym and the locker rooms had three large dents. Judging by size, depth and location, Big Tex had got lucky at least once.
"Did it ever occur, to either of you, that this is a gymnasium, not a battle dome," Jeff said coldly. The quiet anger evident in his voice was far more effective than shouting would have been. Both Ranma and Big Tex stood in hang dog fashion in the middle of the gym. Sunray, in 'civilian' form, wearing a white gi with white belt, stood near Jeff to see how he maintained control over two people who could easily kick his ass. It would be a fascinating lesson in interpersonal dynamics.
"Eewahifaww," Big Tex squeaked.
"I don't care whose fault it was," Jeff shot back pointedly.
"Eaeooaee."
Jeff stared at Big Tex until Ranma asked, "What did he say?"
"You got me," Jeff replied. There followed a brief scribble, the sound of paper being torn from a spiral notebook and a small sheet that almost illegibly proclaimed 'HE SAID HE COULD TAKE IT.' Sunray peered around Jeff's shoulder so she could read the note. She tried hard not to giggle and almost succeeded. Jeff tossed a narrowed glance at her before asking Big Tex, "And exactly how does that change anything?"
Big Tex merely shook his round yellow head 'no' as a response.
"I didn't think so." Turning to Ranma, he continued, "As for you, I don't care about what you got away with back home. It won't wash here. Technically speaking, I own this building. It's mine. Break it and you'll have me to answer to."
"I will pay fo-" Ranma began.
Jeff interrupted with, "Don't. I appreciate the offer, but I know damn well neither one of you has that much money." Jeff was pleased that Ranma had made the offer. It was a big plus that Ranma showed signs of taking responsibility for his actions. But at that moment, being a hard nosed bastard was called for.
"First thing, the two of you are going take all this crap and put it through the recycler," Jeff said with a wave at the broken gymnastics gear. At least the metal would be reclaimed for future use. "I'll tell you what else I want done later." He turned and asked "Sunray, would you please come with me to the conference room?"
After Jeff and Sunray left the room, Big Tex picked up the mangled basketball rim. Making sure that Wild Dragon was watching, he bit off a chunk, chewed and swallowed. Under his mask, Ranma smiled and thought 'Wonder if he could do that with Akane's cooking?'
-----
Jeff turned the conference room's security field on and asked Sunray, "All right, what happened?"
"I was taking a martial arts lesson from Wild Dragon when Big Tex entered the gym and headed towards the weight room. Dragon said he was pleased with my progress, so I asked if we could spar."
Jeff knew that sparring wasn't normal for a newly minted white belt, but that Ranma wasn't a typical sensei either. He also knew how Ranma normally sparred with Akane.
Sunray continued, "I tried my best to hit him, but he dodged everything. I shifted to hero form and he still dodged me. When I realized that he wasn't attacking me, I stopped and told him that he wasn't sparring. I thought he was going to say something, but he didn't. Then Big Tex came up and offered to take my place. Apparently, he'd seen the whole thing.
"Wild Dragon agreed. Seemed glad even. For a while he did the same thing to Big Tex that he did to me. I think it made Tex mad because he picked up the backboard and knocked Dragon clear across the gym with it. Dragon shook it off and said something I didn't understand before he jumped across the room and kicked Tex in the head. That's when I called you. Eventually, my brain kicked in and I sunbeamed both of them."
Jeff sighed and rubbed his forehead. He knew that Sunray was telling the truth, that she found it very difficult to lie or even shade the facts. He knew Ranma had a way of getting under people's skins. He also knew Big Tex had a fairly low frustration tolerance. 'Limelight should be handling this, not me,' he thought.
However, being Wild Dragon's sponsor, when added to the fact that he worked less than three kilometers from MATRIX HQ, meant that Sunray had made the right call. Various thoughts flashed through his mind at high speed before Jeff finally said, "Next time you see him, have FreeFall check the gym for structural damage. We'll see what's fixable and what needs replaced. Good thing we're under budget for repairs this year. In the meantime, seal off the gym after Big Tex and Wild Dragon get the debris cleaned up."
"Yes Mister Anderson," Sunray replied.
"And when Limelight bitches about this, and believe me, he will, tell him that if he wants to complain, he can buy the building and play landlord himself."
-----
As he was cleaning up the mess, Sunray asked Ranma to stop by her bedroom after he was finished. It wasn't very long before he stood at Sunray's door. His knock was greeted with an opened door and a cheery "C'mon in!"
Feeling rather nervous, Ranma entered Sunray's room. He'd been in Akane's bedroom often enough, even if not for the reasons that most people thought. Nabiki's bedroom was a place he avoided because it always cost him money when he went there. He'd never been in Kasumi's bedroom, in fact he couldn't recall even seeing the inside of Kasumi's room.
Sunray flopped onto the queen sized four poster bed and said, "Grab a chair Dragon."
Finding only one to grab, he pulled the roller chair away from Sunray's desk, spun it around and sat down in it. The springs squeaked as Ranma shifted position, trying to get comfortable. He fiddled with the seat height adjustment to cover a surreptitious examination of the room.
Most of the walls were covered with posters of celestial scenes. Pictures of stars, planets, moons, nebulas and other astronomical phenomenon competed with charts of the solar system, protostar formation, black holes, the electromagnetic spectrum and a large periodic table. There were three bookshelves, mostly full, and judging from the titles, mostly about science, particularly astronomy.
"Wow, you must be smart to know all this stuff," Ranma said.
"I wish," Sunray replied as she rolled onto her side. "Most of it is way over my head, but at least the pictures are nice to look at."
"Then why..." Ranma trailed off with a wave at the room and its contents.
"Because it's where I came from, and someday, it's where I'll go. Especially here," Sunray finished by pointing at a picture of Beta Lyrae.
"Huh?"
"Dragon, you do know that I'm not human right?"
"What? You are mutant?" According to Jeff, some people got pretty touchy about what category they were put into.
Sunray laughed before answering, "Actually, we, meaning MATRIX, haven't figured out what I am. Limelight thinks my host body was a mutant, but that I'm an alien. Flex thinks I'm a mutant evolving into an energy based life form. Mister Anderson refuses to speculate and Sparx thinks I'm nuts. According to her, I'm a mutant that created the Sunray persona because Emily Augusta Roberts couldn't deal with the death of her parents."
"What do you think you are?" Ranma asked.
"I think I'm me, but that doesn't mean much to some people."
"Awful grown up thought coming from kid."
Sunray cocked her head toward Ranma and shifted into her heroic form. "Would it help if I looked like this instead?"
Ranma opened his mouth in denial before saying, "Yeah, it does. It should not make difference, but it does."
"That's almost exactly what Limelight told me when we first met. Someone who looks like a 12 year old girl just isn't taken seriously by most people."
"How old are you?" Ranma asked, unaware that you never ask a woman that particular question.
"Almost five months." Sunray smiled as Ranma flinched. She added, "But you have to remember, I started out with my host's memories, plus some things my mother gave me. It's like I was born old. I didn't have to learn how to walk, run, talk, read or any of that stuff."
"Sounds... different."
"Not so different than changing bodies when hit with water."
Ranma snorted back a laugh before he answered, "Well at least you get to choose when you change." Inspired, he asked, "Since you can change when you want, why don't you just stay big?"
"Dragon, this body is just a construct, an extrapolation of what my host might have looked like at 16. The only reason I use it is because I can channel a lot more energy this way," Sunray said before reverting to normal. "Besides, there are things this body is better at."
"Really?" Ranma's observations indicated otherwise. Sunray's heroic form was noticeably faster and about four times stronger. It had a much higher combat potential in his judgment. Maybe he could find out why Sunray insisted on taking martial arts lessons in civilian form.
"Well, it just 'feels' right. Food tastes better and it's a lot easier to sleep like this." There were other reasons too, but they weren't ones she was willing to share just yet.
Ranma silently chastised himself for thinking only about the martial arts possibilities. He was about to explain when the intercom chimed for attention.
After Sunray opened the channel, Limelight's voice stated, "There will be a full team combat practice session Saturday at the junkyard starting at noon. All MATRIX members are expected to attend. Limelight out."
"Dang," Sunray said heatedly.
Ranma didn't need to see her frown to know that she wasn't happy. "What is wrong?"
"I had plans for this weekend. I may not have much of a life outside of MATRIX, but what little I do have is important to me."
As the conversation continued, Ranma briefly considered his own life outside of martial arts. Briefly because there wasn't that much to consider. He suddenly realized that prior to coming to America, it wouldn't even have been brief.
-----
Shampoo looked around her cell once more. Had the walls been stone, she would have simply focused her chi and walked straight through them. Her personal variant of the Bakusai Tenketsu didn't require anything as obvious as poking boulders with a finger.
But it didn't work on metal bars. Especially bars that could have significant amounts of electricity run through them by her jailers. Although had escape been her goal, they wouldn't have stopped her. A quick splash of water from the sink, and her cat form would have room to spare. Her captors obviously didn't know about her Jusenkyo curse and she wasn't about to give up that advantage.
There were things that prevented Shampoo from leaving. Kuno was one. Even though he had merely been the means to an end, Shampoo couldn't abandon him. He'd fought well. She respected that. Kuno was an ally, of sorts. She might not be bound by Amazon laws on this trip, but that didn't mean she wasn't bound by her own conscience. Whenever she chose to escape, Shampoo would take Kuno with her unless there was a pressing reason not to. Hopefully, his injuries wouldn't be such a reason.
There was also the man called Benny. When Ranma had earned the Kiss of Marriage, it had been a fluke that Shampoo was more than happy to accept for her own reasons. The kick with which Ranma broke her bonbori had been made to defend Tendo Akane. The fact the mace's head had landed on her own, momentarily knocking her out, was a coincidence. Shampoo knew this even if she preferred not to admit it.
Benny's victory was no fluke. Had it been in a one on one fight instead of as part of a general melee, it would have been troubling. That was if she wasn't temporarily exempt from Amazon laws at Cologne's order. Had her great-grandmother foreseen something like this occurring? Shampoo thought it likely.
She knew there was nothing preventing Benny from issuing a formal marriage challenge. He simply didn't know that he could. Despite justifiable pride in her own skills, Benny's raw strength was enough that losing to him was possible. Unlike Ranma's American friend, or even Ranma himself she reluctantly admitted, Benny showed some signs of interest in her as a woman. Distinctly different from Mousse's blind worship, Benny's attention felt more like... respect. He alone brought her meals and he had even begun trying out a few phrases in very badly accented Mandarin on her. If Benny knew of the Amazon laws, would he try to use them?
Shampoo didn't know all of the precedents involved when an Amazon was defeated by two different males. After all, that particular problem hadn't cropped up since the nineteenth century. The fact that she was the village champion and it was happening to her was very... annoying. Amazons were supposed to be the strongest warriors in the world, but the world was turning out far stronger than Shampoo had been taught.
As for Benny and Ranma, a duel between the contenders was called for, but wasn't mandatory. Shampoo considered Ranma's ego for a moment and realized that she could easily goad him into such a fight. She figured despite Benny's superior strength, it was a battle Ranma should win.
Shampoo shook her head to clear it of all hypothetical thoughts. There was no time to ponder what might have been when her reality was so different.
-----
Anne had left Jeff and Ranma a breakfast of waffles and Huevos Rancheros before leaving for her Saturday morning jog. After finishing off his grape juice, Ranma asked, "So why are you coming?"
"I'm Director Emeritus, I can do whatever I want," Jeff replied with mock arrogance. "More seriously though, I have to keep up with everyone on the roster and what they can do. Just in case."
"In case of what?"
"Oh for example, say Limelight quits, goes missing or is killed. Who runs the team then?"
"FreeFall," Ranma answered immediately.
"Ah... but there's the problem. FreeFall doesn't want the job after what happened the last time he was in charge. He's told me he makes a great lieutenant but a lousy general and I have to agree. So who comes next?"
Ranma's thoughts flashed through the rest of the roster. Big Tex couldn't communicate well enough to lead effectively. Sparx just wasn't leader material. Sunray was way too young. Finally, he didn't have enough teamwork experience or the desire to be in charge. That left... "Robert the C-c-cat?"
Jeff laughed and admitted, "Actually, I hadn't thought about him." After shaking his head slowly, he continued, "But really, it would wind up being me or Flex, whichever one of us could clear his schedule the fastest. That'd probably mean me, even though I'd much rather stay retired."
"What about other former members? I've read some of their files."
"There are a lot of things that don't get put in those files Ranma. Trust me when I say I'm next up, whether I want to be or not. It's bad enough there are things I have to do as MATRIX's landlord that I don't like."
Ranma was beginning to understand why Anne didn't like being her husband's rhetorical sounding board. But since Jeff was obviously begging the question, Ranma obliged him and asked, "Such as?"
"Chewing out people who break stuff is one of them. It doesn't mean I like you any less or that you're not my friend. I was proud as hell when you offered to pay for the damages."
"You were?"
"Yep," Jeff replied as he donned his bullet proof trench coat.
Ranma basked in the glow of approval all the way to Long Island.
-----
Flattened cars were piled in stacks up to ten meters tall. Narrow, twisty passages barely separated one wall of cars from the next. Irregularly spaced clearings were scattered throughout. Two cranes with powerful electromagnets carried the scrap metal into a crusher to reduce its volume even more. An open topped railroad car sat alone on a spur of track at the end of a conveyor belt waiting to be filled with compressed scrap.
It was a dirty and dangerous place. Which made it a nice combat practice ground for a superhero team on a budget. The owner was meta friendly, so long as they didn't damage the cranes or the crusher, MATRIX was allowed to mess up the place as much as they liked on the weekends. For a nominal fee of course.
The first part of the session was spent playing a super powered version of 'Tag'. Ranma's superior agility allowed him to tag the rest of MATRIX in under two minutes. Only Sparx managed to lay a hand on him in return, although Sunray and Limelight both managed 'power tags'. The funniest thing was Big Tex 'tagging' Limelight with a Thunderbird's hubcap from 20 meters away. That he could have used the entire car instead was not in question.
Next, Jeff refereed a game of 'Capture the Flag' that Ranma, Sunray and FreeFall won. After placing their red 'flag' so that it wasn't visible to an aerial search, they quickly infiltrated 'enemy' territory. Despite Sparx's liberal use of smoke to obscure things, FreeFall spotted the green towel through his rifle's scope. He and Ranma then created a diversion to draw attention while Sunray snuck up, snatched the towel and flat outran Big Tex back to safety and victory.
After a soda and munchies break, Jeff brought out his wife's Splat Gun for a game of 'Lone Assassin'. He used black, red and green wax popper loads to represent explosive, incendiary and acid attacks. He used real smoke, flare and tear gas loads to keep everyone on their toes.
The scenario rules called for comm silence and the team members to enter the junkyard one at a time at least three minutes apart. Jeff could not use his TK directly on anyone or fly. After drawing straws, the order, unknown to Jeff, was Sunray, Sparx, Big Tex, FreeFall, Wild Dragon and Limelight.
Right after Sunray went in, he heard a pop that indicated Jeff had used one of his wax rounds. A minute later, one of the cranes fired up. Ranma saw it swing around and heard the magnet drop down. After Sparx flew in, Ranma could see grey and yellow smoke drift above the junkyard before being forced away by Sparx's power. The regulation rounds didn't make much noise at all. A flare, bright in the cold December overcast, came next. There were a few pops before it quieted again. Sparx didn't return, so Ranma figured Jeff got her.
Big Tex went in next. It was quiet until FreeFall's turn came. Ranma heard shots from FreeFall's rifle a minute after he went in. With thirty seconds remaining before he could enter, there was a creaking sound and a horrible crash followed by the shriek of metal being torn apart by brute force and several more pops.
When Ranma finally entered the exercise area, the first thing he saw was Sunray laying on the ground barely three meters from the entrance. The yellow starburst on her uniform was defaced by a blob of red wax slightly off center. She drummed her fingers impatiently.
"Are you all right?" Ranma asked softly.
"Yeah, but I'm charred corpse right now, so don't talk to me," Sunray replied in a similar voice.
Ranma nodded, looked around cautiously and slowed moved further into the junkyard. It was then he spotted where the flare had gone off. There were small black wax blobs scattered around. Seeing only one place that would provide decent cover, Ranma lightly leaped to the top of the nearest wall of cars to make his way there without walking through the obvious kill zone.
From his perch, he could see that someone had toppled half a dozen car stacks. Big Tex was pinned under one car with large chunks of car in each hand. His head was covered with green wax splotches and therefore was officially 'dead'. Ranma glanced around without seeing anyone else and continued toward the place where he figured Jeff had tried to ambush Sparx.
As he came closer, Ranma noticed two shuriken on the ground. After checking out where he would have set up an ambush, he bent to examine them. There were tiny lightning bolts engraved on both. Which meant they belonged to Sparx and not Jeff. There were also unmistakable traces of blood.
The blood was rather disquieting. The object of the exercises weren't to injure each other, but to show that injury could have occurred. The difference between 'practice' and 'field' use of powers still surprised Ranma. He was used to his rivals, his fiancees and even his father going all out, all the time. It wasn't like that with MATRIX. There wasn't the level of obsession that permeated Nerima. No drive to be biggest, fastest, strongest or best, just the need to be effective. It seemed to work.
But those few drops of blood reminded Ranma that things could get serious rather quickly.
Ranma heard several pops from the other side of the junkyard. He made his way toward the disturbance as fast as he could without making any noticeable noise. The three minutes before Limelight could make his entrance were more than up as Ranma spotted what had drawn him there. Although hog tied and gagged with a black rope, Sparx lived up to her name. Snaps and crackles of blue electricity were leaping off her body, mostly from her hands. FreeFall laid on his stomach nearby, propped up on one elbow, the back of his costume covered in red and green wax splotches. His rifle pointed toward a gap between two walls of cars.
Ranma could guess what happened. Although FreeFall's power protected against impact, fire and acid didn't cause damage that way. Jeff must have ambushed him when he went to 'rescue' Sparx. Ranma didn't plan on falling for the same trick. All senses on alert, he entered the small clearing and tried to figure out where Jeff would attack from. The gap indicated by FreeFall's rifle was a likely choice, but so far Jeff had been playing 'stick and move'.
A sudden sound drew Ranma's attention, but it was only Limelight arriving on the scene. The momentary distraction proved costly as a black wax popper came from a small crack between two adjacent stacks of crushed cars. Ranma leapt away as the popper arrived. Limelight's response to the attack was to fire a force bolt in the direction the popper came from.
Part of a car wall toppled over and Ranma hoped Jeff hadn't been hurt. Limelight used hand signals to tell Ranma to search the area for Jeff while he went to free Sparx, just in case they hadn't got him. As Ranma walked over to the fallen stack of cars, he noticed Limelight having trouble with the rope Sparx was tied with.
There came the sound of metal on metal. Limelight stood in time for the remains of a red 1984 Chevette to catch him in the chest and knock him across the clearing into a wall of cars that promptly collapsed. All without touching a single green hair on Sparx's head.
Ranma asked himself, 'Did Jeff boost for a practice session?' He was moving toward Limelight in order to help free him when handfuls of mixed poppers arced down to 'kill' Limelight and Sparx both. It was proof that Splat Gun ammo could be thrown by hand and be just as effective. Although Jeff couldn't have much left in the way of ammo after that attack.
Further contemplation was interrupted by the need to dodge another black popper. This time he actually saw Jeff retreating from where he'd fired from. "Time to end this," Ranma muttered under his breath.
The chase was surprisingly short. Jeff hesitated at a place where the path split before heading left. That passage dead ended after two turns. Unless he flew out against the rules, he was trapped.
Backed against the fence marking the edge of the property, Jeff turned and emptied the Splat Gun at his pursuer. Ranma dodged the rounds with little effort. Jeff dropped the gun knowing that Ranma could attack him if he tried to reload. Ranma was aware of that and closed in for a little friendly sparring match. It wouldn't take long.
That's when he was hit square in the back with a black popper.
Ranma whirled around to see Anne, dressed in a purple and red costume with pink tinted goggles, holding a Splat Gun identical to the one at Jeff's feet. As he stood staring, Flex rounded the corner wearing his distinctive black armor and moving more quietly than anyone his size had a right to. Although they had met before, it was the first time Ranma had seen him in costume.
"You cheated!" Ranma cried in a mixture of anger and surprise.
"Deliberately and with malice aforethought," Jeff admitted. "You of all people should know that life isn't fair."
"But how?" Ranma asked, with a vague wave at Flex and... Sidearm since she was in costume.
"We snuck in while you guys were stuffing your faces," Flex answered from behind his domed helmet.
Anne smiled and added, "After all, this _was_ a full team combat session."
Jeff and Flex laughed at the joke, but Ranma didn't feel the need.
-----
While the others made post-exercise small talk, Ranma tried to figure out what point, if any, Jeff had behind cooking the 'Lone Assassin' scenario. Keep up with the team? Sure. Get Anne back in costume? Maybe. It would make a... precedent, that was the word, for getting back into costume himself. Hang out with friends? No doubt. Teach a lesson? No, with Jeff it would be 'teach several lessons'. 'Beware of assumptions' was obvious. Ranma busily pondered other options even after the training session ended. The fact that pondering non martial arts things at all was still new to him escaped his notice entirely.
END CHAPTER 13