Broken Hearts, Mended Souls
By
Nuclear Twinkie

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Disclaimer: In all seriousness, all rights to Ranma1/2 and its characters go to Rumiko Takahashi. In all silliness... I can't believe what I go through for a laugh. Hey, Happosai! Come help with the disclaimer. "You have a lot of nerve interrupting me during the televised All Japan Swimsuit Competition. What do ya want?" I need help with disclaimer, Happosai. "Yeah, yeah. Rumiko Takahashi, blah, blah. Now where's my reward?" What kind of help is that? No panties for you! "No panties for me? Happo Fire Burst for you!" ---BOOOM!--- Ouch. Help. Pain.

{} = Character Thoughts
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"These guys suck!" Ranma is standing inside a large, supposedly abandoned warehouse with Mousse, Soun, and Genma. The interior is filled with piles of useless junk, which has been obviously moved around to form a maze. The only visible light source is the lantern being carried by Mousse. Around them are piled the bodies of dozens of would-be assailants. "C'mon pops, why can't we just split up and find this guy? Any one of us could have taken all these guys alone."

"Ranma, do not base your opinion of our enemy on these common street thugs. He is much more cunning, and much more skilled than these men. We have to..."

Genma is interrupted as Mousse dodges to side. A split second later, a loud crack reverberates through the warehouse as the lantern shatters. Mousse shouts, "Gunfire!" and jumps up and away from his current position. The others quickly follow suit as bullets litter the area the four martial artists were in.

A voice is heard through the intercom system of the warehouse. "You think I'm going to be stupid enough to face you! The fat martial artist is right to say not to underestimate me! You're all going to die a slow, painful death!"

More bullets are randomly shot into the area. All the martial artists are now separated. Ranma is crouched down next to one of the junk piles, hoping for cover from the constant barrage of bullets. {Man, I have got to find this guy. There must be a dozen guys on each side of this place shooting down here. I'm going to have to take them out one at a time. I'll need to get to one side to get more cover from their attacks.} Ranma tenses up and starts sprinting through the maze, trying to reach one side of the building. {I can't go over these piles of junk without making myself totally visible.}

Ranma finally reaches a dead end near the edge of the large room. Looking up, he notices the catwalk and sees the flashes of gunfire almost directly above him on a catwalk. {I have got to time this right.} Watching to see the pattern of gunfire, he waits till a pause between shots and jumps up directly into the shooter's face. His fist connects with the side of head of the man's head, sending him instantly into unconsciousness. Ranma then springs off the catwalk and clings to the ceiling. {Man, I have a great view up here. It's so dark though. Hey, another guy with a gun.} Ranma, clinging to the ceiling, makes his way directly over another gunman. He releases the ceiling with his feet, bring them swinging down into the man's head and back up onto the ceiling. {This is going to be easy.}

"They're everywhere!" "Save yourselves!" Ranma hears the men starting to panic throughout the warehouse. {I must not be the only one taking them out.} As lights suddenly turn on throughout the place, the voice through the intercom shouts, "The lights are on! Shoot them! Kill them!"

Ranma quickly makes his way across the ceiling, hoping to hide. "He's on the ceiling!" Ranma lets go of the ceiling and pushes off with his feet. His fist connects with the midsection of the man who shouted the warning. The man falls back on to the catwalk as Ranma springs off him to connect a kick with another man. Gunfire starts filling the area, so Ranma jumps off the catwalk and lands about halfway across the warehouse. Unfortunately, the floor underneath him gives way and Ranma finds himself falling. He almost dodges the crude spikes at the bottom. One creates a small cut on his let forearm while a deep gash is ripped in the thigh of his right leg.

The intercom voice shouts, "He fell in one of the pits! Get down there and shoot him! Make sure he's dead, and watch out for the rest of them!" Ranma is wincing in pain. {I can't jump out of here. What am I going to do? Think! Think! What's that?} Ranma feels a slight breeze. He stops all movement and feels it coming not from above, but from in between one of the boards on the side of the pit. He smiles and delivers a punch to shatter several of the boards. He makes his way around the spikes and hobbles into the hole. He appears to be in a dimly lit room, filled with cots and a few tables. {Looks like some kind of barracks. Maybe this is where they live.}

Looking around the room, Ranma sees four or five unconscious bodies lying on the floor in the middle of the room. {Looks like one of us was already here.} Ranma winces in pain looks down at his leg. There is blood running down his leg and onto the floor. He makes his way over to one of the beds and rips a strip off one the blankets to tie around the wound, wincing in pain as he does so. {When I get my hands on this guy, I'm going to beat the hell out of him!}

Ranma hears commotion from the top of the pit and realizes he needs to leave. He makes his way to the only door in the room. He notices it is slightly ajar, and quickly darts his head around the door the peek into the hallway. He sees someone right in front of the door. As he pulls his head back and braces himself, a fist enters the spot where his head was. The door is slammed open with incredible force. Unfortunately, the injury on Ranma's leg is worse than he thought, as the door sends him flying backwards. He manages to roll and come up facing a man who has a rather angry look in his eyes.

"Ranma, are you alright?"

"I think so, Mr. Tendo, but those guys up there know I'm down here and we need to get out of here and fast."

"You're right, son. Let's get going, and stay behind me." Ranma follows Soun into the hallway. They walk down the hallway about ten feet to a 90° turn. They hear a couple of men coming down the hallway. Ranma and Soun can hear them talking about the 'insane super fighters' they are supposed to kill. Ranma and Soun smile as they back up against the wall to wait. As the two men come around the corner, Soun grabs one and slams him into unconsciousness on the opposite wall. Ranma darts in and jabs the other man in the solar plexus. When he bends over, Ranma delivers a quick chop to the back of the man's head to incapacitate him. Soun motions Ranma to follow as they turn the corner and continue down the hallway.

Moving quickly yet quietly, they approach a passage going off to the right as the current one continues on. Soun darts his head around the corner and comes back with a slight cut across his cheek. On the opposite wall, two daggers are vibrating from the deep impact. Ranma stares at the weapons momentarily, and then loudly whispers around the corner, "Mousse, you idiot! Stop throwing daggers at us!"

Ranma hears an apologetic quack and looks down to see Mousse in duck form. "Mousse, you idiot! You hurt Mr. Tendo!"

Soun puts a hand on Ranma's shoulder. Ranma looks up to see Mr. Tendo's other hand motioning to keep quiet with a look that demands obedience. Ranma nods and looks down at Mousse. He is motioning with his beak for the other two fighters to follow. Mousse leads them down the side passage and to a door with a window. Kneeling low, they peer into the room to see a man at a large desk. There appears to be several small monitors on the desk and two men on either side of the door inside the room.

Soun motions Ranma to the side of the door and points at Mousse. Mousse nods his head as Soun reaches out from the side of the door to quickly turn the knob and push the door open. The two men on either side of the door turn around and point their guns at nothing. They look down in confusion to see a white duck with thick glasses walk into the room and stop in between them. The duck lifts open its wings and stares at the man at the desk. Suddenly, several daggers protrude form underneath the wing feathers. The duck flaps once sending him flying backwards out into the hallway and the daggers into the room. The man at the desk screams as two of the daggers embed themselves in his back.

The two men react and one of them runs into the hall after the duck. Soun sticks his arms out to clothesline the man and slam him into the ground. As the second man brings his gun to bear on Soun, Ranma sees something flying from Mousse into the room. Ranma grabs the back of Soun's gi and yanks back with all his current might. Soun flies out of the doorway as a Happo Fire Burst bomb enters the room. A second later, a loud explosion sends the second guard flying out of the room. Soun, Ranma, and Mousse dash into the room to take care of anyone else under the cover of the explosion. They don't see anyone else in there.

Soun walks up to the man who got hit with the daggers. He fell to the ground when the daggers hit, protecting him from the blast and keeping him conscious. Soun grabs the man by the throat and lifts him of the ground to face Soun. "Where is he? Where? Tell me!"

Ranma grabs Soun's shoulder, "Mr. Tendo stop! You'll kill him! You're not a murderer!" Soun looks at Ranma and releases the man to the ground.

"But I am a murderer." Ranma starts to turn towards the voice when he hears the gunshot. Ranma, feeling nothing, turns to look at Soun. There is blood dripping to the ground. {Mr. Tendo!! Wait, the blood is coming from mid-air in front of him. That means...} "NOOOOO!!!" Ranma screams, as Genma fades back in from using the umisen-ken. He moves his hand over his chest and then collapses to the floor. Ranma leaps to his father's side.

They look across the room to see a man step from behind a pile of boxes. He is wearing a loose fitting pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt. A scar runs down the left side of his face. He is smiling and pointing a gun at the martial artists. "Tendo, you were always so stupid. Look at what you've got left to fight me: a dying old man, an injured boy, and a duck. I like the duck. Maybe I'll keep it when this is all over."

"For hurting my family, I will kill you."

"Harsh words there, Tendo. I've spent the last ten years waiting for this moment, so I'm going to make sure you suffer as much as possible." The man takes a few steps towards Soun and stops. "Oh yes, one more thing before I kill you. As I said before, you are stupid. Leaving your three daughters at home alone. What a bad father you are. I wonder how many men they can take before they die. I'm sure the men will enjoy it."

Soun starts to glow a dark red battle aura. "Damn you! If you hurt my daughters, I'll..."

"Shut up! There's nothing you can do! They may be able to defeat 4 of my men at a time, but let's see how they do against 10 to 1 odds. Hell, I even sent a couple extra for the cute little pet piglet." The man smiles the same smile he had when he shot Genma. "Now, where were we?" The man levels the gun at Soun and prepares to fire.
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Author's Notes: [UPDATED 08/23/02] 2nd draft. See, I told you I'd have another chapter out before someone killed me. Man, what is it with my sudden urge to end chapters at cliffhangers? Anyway, please e-mail me with opinions, criticisms, and suggestions. Please be constructive with all C&C. I don't mind being told what someone doesn't like, as long as they provide some direction to make it better. (ntwinkie@effectnet.com)