I keep forgetting the Disclaimer. If I've told ya once I've told ya a million times I
don't own Ranma.
Chapter 21
I have thankfully recovered my files thanks to Dale so here's another chapter. Sorry it
took me so long. New computer up. Old one trashed and nerves shot.
I'm not real familiar with Strike Team organization so if I have anything wrong please
tell me and I'll fix it in the next rewrite.
Also the spacing is screwed up but I can't figure out what's wrong sorry about that too.
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The next week was interesting for Ranma and the strike team he joined. The
first day started out with...
"Damnit, he's just a little kid. How the hell are we gonna fight and protect him
too? What's the matter with those idiot's upstairs. Well.. hell.. let's introduce
ourselves an' see what's up."
"Ok.. Uh.. you speak English kid?" At Ranmas nod he continued, "I'm
Sergeant Jake Conroy; I'm commanding officer; this is Spc. Dave Peck; Spc. Ron
Rio; Communications Specialist Pete Franklin; Private Douglas Sam; and Private
Skeeter Jones; Medic. We're all Marines detached from SpecOps. last week; and
you are?"
Ranma shook hands all round. "Saotome Ranma, You can call me Ranma."
Ranma wasn't expecting the Americans to understand Japanese naming
conventions and settled for getting them to call him Ranma instead of letting them find
out that they'd been calling him by his last name. Americans were funny about using
given names.
"Ok, Ranma; we need to get you suited up. We want ya t' feel you're part of
the team and the first thing is t' get ya a proper uniform."
"Nice knife. SP-24 isn't it? Know how to use it? I'm a qualified instructor if
ya want a training session."
Ranma took the offer in the spirit it was offered. "Naw, I'd probably hurt ya.
I'm pretty good. I'm a George so I'm competent in all forms of unarmed and bruit
force weapons; sharps, soft and hard."
All six men looked at him funny.
"Nani? Nani yo? Don't tell me I'm gonna have trouble already. I'm good I
tell ya! Want me t' prove it? I'll be glad t' but if someone gets hurt it won't be me."
Ranma wasn't taking separation from his group as well as he'd hoped he could. He
was going to have to rely on these men for at least a month and he was starting out
wrong.
"Matte... matte. Shimaimasen. I... damnit, I'm sorry. I just ..I hate it when
people treat me like a kid! I'm older than I look; and I'm good at what I do. So...
can we go back?" Ranma was hoping that his apology would get him some
recognition; it did.
"Shit! We're sorry too. The Boss said we had to give you a chance but;
damnit, you look younger than my kid brother. He's fourteen. How old are you?"
Sergeant Conroy was doing all the talking so as not to confuse the kid by too many
people chattering at him at one time.
Ranma winced; fourteen? "I'm sixteen plus." Ranma pulled his pigtail.
"Damnit we've got t' work this out. We have t' learn t' work together. It's not gonna
work if we keep gettin' into pissin' contests at the drop of a hat. I'll tell ya what; just
treat me like I'm your age. If I can't keep up I'll tell ya and if ya can't keep up with
me, holler; how's that?"
Everybody nodded and Conroy said "Ok, sounds good t' me. Come on; we
need t' get ya GI. That's Government Issue. We'll get ya all the same equipment and
stuff we've got."
After over an hour Ranma was equipped with a full foot locker of G.I.; just
like the other members of 'his' team. He didn't think he would use half of it but the
Supply Sergeant had insisted. And if Samuels said he needed it he'd take it.
"Here let me help you with that; it's got to be heavy." The bigger man
reached out to take one handle of the locker. "Naw, I got it. Thanks... Uh...Rio is it?"
Ranma hoisted the locker onto his shoulder and looked up at the man. "Where do we
go from here?"
"Barracks are this way; we'll get you a bunk and settled in. Are you hungry?
You sure you don't need help? Sarg will skin me if he see's you hauling that and I'm
not helping."
Ranma grinned at Rio. "Here... I carried it half way.... now you carry it. I
don't think it would be easy for us to carry it together; you're too tall."
"Oh yeah? Maybe you're too short. Damn that's heavy!" Rio staggered
slightly at the weight of the locker. {This kid's carrying the damn thing by himself and
I can barley manage. I'm twice his size. Holy shit!}
After settling Ranma in, the whole team headed for the mess hall. Ranma
settled in with a tray and begin to eat.
As he shoveled food into his mouth Ranma decided he'd better get what he
privately call the Rules of Living with Ran-chan out in the open. It was almost too
late. Skeeter reached out towards Ranma's tray; to offer him a piece of bread; but
Ranma reacted like he always did. He covered his tray and snarled at Skeeter like a
junk yard dog.
"Hey! Geeze, I only wanted to give you this bread! What the hell's wrong
with you? You act like you've been starved." All the men were giving Ranma funny
looks. "I heard about you getting in a fight with some guy over grub but I thought it
was just a Latrine-o-gram."
"Well... I am a little...lot touchy about food. I've always had to fight my Pop
off my food and then ... well you don't need the gory details just .... Uh. I'm not sure
how to put this..." Ranma stammered to a halt; these guys were going to think he was
crazy no matter what he said.
"Hell Ranma-san just spit it out, we're all old war horses here; if you got a
twitch ;we need to know about it." The entire team was looking at him; just waiting
for him to work up the nerve to get on with his story.
"Ok... I'm pretty fucked up in the head. You can't touch my food, period.... I
shouldn't even eat in the mess. And you can't slap me on the back or touch me
unexpectedly."
Just then a man who mistook Ranma for someone else slapped him on the
back. Ranma's reaction was to turn around and grab him by the throat. He let go just
as suddenly as he grabbed him and sat down panting.
"Sorry...Sorry... I.."
The offender just apologized too; "Hey! Wrong guy.... thought you was
someone else... didn't know you were in heavy combat. No, I'm ok; he let go before
any damage was done." The man hurried off rubbing his throat.
"See... maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I need t' go back and talk t' ..."
Ranma started to get back up and find Steven.
"No ya don't! We see what ya mean. Damnit, I've seen vets who spent years
in Viet Nam who acted just like that and some a' us aren't much better. Or any
worse... whatever. We'll just have t' deal with it. Where did ya see combat? And
how long were ya there?"
Ranma sighed he didn't want to tell these men his sorry tale; he didn't want
them to pity him or think he was a freak.
Specialist Peck interrupted "Hey Sarg; give the kid a break. He's just had a
real scare and he doesn't need a bunch a' strangers pressurin' him t' tell things he
obviously doesn't want t'. Let him finish eatin' in peace; why don't cha?"
Everyone went back to eating; thinking their own thoughts.
Ranma followed the others back to the barracks. He looked at the bunk he'd
been given, it was too close to the other men so he decided to move to a different
bunk.
"Can I take this bunk instead a' that one. I have nightmares and I don't want
t' wake everyone up. I tend t' scream."
"Hell... take any bunk ya want; but if you're a screamer just stay where ya
are, you'll wake us all up no matter what. Ya scream around a bunch a' guys like us
and we're all awake and ready t' fight off the baddies. Ya know?"
Ranma did, so he decided to stay where he was; he was beginning to think
that this was going to work out.
"Here, you remember me? I'm Doug Sam. We need t' get you fitted with this
vest. If it isn't fitted just right you'll be sorry. Ya wear it in all trainin' exercises and
especially in combat. After that we'll fit your equipment harness. After this you'll be
expected t' fit and care for it yourself. Ok? Any questions you have; ask as we go
along."
Ranma allowed himself to be fitted with a vest and something called an Alice
harness. It was fairly comfortable and he saw that everyone else had the same gear
within easy reach. {They're paranoid as I am} Then came the hard part; Doug
started fitting Ranma with a holster but he knew he had no business with any kind of
gun.
"I don't need that. I don't know anything about guns. That's your
department. I'm more the hack and slash guy." Ranma watched as all the men
looked at him like he'd lost his mind.
"If ya can't use a gun what the hell are ya doin' on a strike team? How are
ya... No matter... maybe that's one a' the reasons you're here. We'll take ya over t'
the range and teach ya right now. Come on. Here; I'll carry your issue until we get
there."
"By the way; I really respect that ya admitted ya don't know about guns; that
was really good work."
On the way Ranma was filled in on the Glock 10mm he would be carrying; as
well as the AK-47 T5. Ranma was doubtful of his need for any kind of fire arm but
the guys seemed so happy to have the opportunity to show off their equipment he just
went along with it.
At the outdoor firing range the first thing they did was go over gun safety;
twice. Both weapons were explained fully and carefully; safeties were shown and
Ranma was drilled for over an hour. Take it apart; put it together; show safeties and
do it again. He found that he was more interested in guns than he realized.
"Ready t' shoot?" Sarge asked handing Ranma a clip. "Ya got fifteen rounds
here. With one in the chamber that's sixteen chances t' do damage. What d' ya
think?"
"I think anyone who carries a gun around with one in the chamber had better
be going into combat in very short order." Ranma knew that there were three safeties
on the Glock and two on the AK-47 T5 but he was now aware that the best safety
was using his head.
Damn; Ki..."
Ranma interrupted, "Look... I know you're just tryin' t' be friendly... but that
just sets my teeth on edge. I'm too old t' be called kid and too young t' be called
much else. Could ya just stick t' Ranma?"
"Yeah... Ranma' I'm sorry; you're right. Anyway... I've met grown men with
less sense than you. Come up t' the firing line; put on your gear. Remember.... that
thing is gonna kick so be ready t' get it back down for your second shot. It's not
unusual for your second shot; and third t' go over the target completely so don't be
disappointed if there's only one hole in the target. Only fire three shots!"
"Ok... I got it... only three... space them... be ready for recoil." Ranma
summarized his instructions and then he took his first shot.
It was loud but the head gear filtered out the explosion without making it
necessary to take it off to talk. The second shot was easy and the third even easier.
He was using a two handed grip with his left hand under the butt of the pistol. It was
easy to control the bucking hand gun; he wondered why they seemed to think he
would miss two out of three shots.
"Not bad... I think you at least hit the paper... lets take a look." Jake
activated the target track and brought the target up to the bench. "Frag me! Would ya
look at that? He hit all three times right on the X. I thought ya said ya never shot a
weapon before. How'd ya do that."
All the men just examined the paper with astonishment. Ranma had hit the
bull's eye right in the center; the only reason you could tell that he'd hit three times
was because even Ranma couldn't hit exactly the same spot. The edges of the bullet
hole were clipped, showing where all three bullets had entered the target at slightly
different places.
"Uuummm! Martial artist here? Hand eye coordination a big must? It's just a
different use of skills I've already learned. I can throw stuff and hit the target. It's not
much different."
Ranma grinned as the men all made a big deal of him. It was nice; for once
some one gave him a 'well done' instead of getting on his case about some little thing.
"Thanks guys. Can I shoot some more? This is fun. What else can I shoot?
Can I try the AK-47 5 please?" Ranma was going for it. If these guys were interested
in teaching; he was going to learn, you never knew when something might come in
handy.
After firing the AK-47 T5 and proving that he was just as good with it;
Ranma realized that it was getting late and he was hungry; so they packed up their
range bags and headed for the mess.
In the mess Ranma noticed that the team seated him between Rio and Pete
with his back to a wall.
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The next day was uneventful in a busy sort of way. Ranma worked out early;
just telling his new teammates that he was going and would be back in time for
breakfast. After eating breakfast they all went to the Training area.
Ranma was taught how to put on and take off free rappel harness. His first
few questions had pissed off the Jump Master. His lecture had included a list of what
could happen if you just jumped out of a helicopter at 150 feet and an opinion of
Ranma's intelligence which offended him.
"Look... I don't know how you do this insertion thing. I just know what I can
do and I can jump out of a fifth story window and land without rolling! Ya want me t'
prove it I will; but you're right about one thing my Pop is a Konoyarou no baka.
Let's get back t' business."
The Jump Master gave up and just ran Ranma through procedures again and
had him do some free rappels from a tower. After Ranma did several he decided to
prove his point by jumping from the top of the tower; which proved the point that he
could jump free and stick a landing; but the Jump Master yelled at him anyway.
"Stupid little shit. Ya sprain an ankle and we'll be behind schedule waiting for ya t'
heal. And don't scare me like that; Danmit!"
As they were heading back to the Barracks after rappel practice Pete asked
Ranma what he'd meant the day before when he'd said he was good with soft
weapons. So Ranma explained about rope darts, flails with balls, fans, manriki and
chain whips
"I'm good with all a' them. I practiced with manriki as soon as I could hold
one and as I got bigger Pop trained me with bigger weapons. Would you like me t'
demonstrate? I gotta rope dart and a chain whip in my stuff back at the barracks."
Ranma decided to show them that he wasn't untrained in weapons just
trained in different ones than they were familiar with.
When they got back to the barracks Ranma got out a rope dart made from a
small piece of machined steel and fastened to a cord made of silk. He took it outside
and began a kata with it; starting with some simple swinging attacks he moved on to
thrown attacks and then to attacks which used the force of a swing to snap the dart
out from the angle of the arc using centripetal force to multiply the attack by several
degrees.
"Wow ,did ya see that? Ya could kill someone with that thing and stay outa
reach. Can ya teach us that?"
Ranma shrugged; "Yeah, I suppose so. If ya want t' spend four or five hours
a day for about three years just working with soft weapons I suppose I could get ya
up t' my level. Ya gotta be careful with this kinda' weapon. They're the hardest t'
master. Pole arms an' swords an' throwin' pins an' stars; they're easy because ya
aim them but soft weapons ya gotta have a knack for. Pop beat it into me early so
I'm good. Didn't have a choice."
Rio looked at Ranma and replied for everyone. "Takes that long t' get good?
Forget it. I'll stick t' my gun....But don't joke about your Pop."
Ranma decided not to make an issue of it.
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The third day it happened; Ranma the Shit Magnet was right where he should
be when the old jump tower collapsed on several men who were sitting under it;
against direct orders.
Everyone within ear shot converged on the spot. You could hear men
groaning and screaming as the weight of the tower's rubble settled and began to crush
them.
Men started to climb on to the pile to try removing the mass of timbers and
angle iron.
"NO! No! Get off. You'll make it settle and crush them."
Ranma knew what he was talking about; Japan is subject to earthquakes on
an alarmingly regular basis so he and some of the other men were aware of the
problems of collapsing structures.
"We have to figure out where the victims are and brace the rubble so it
doesn't settle before we try to remove it. Everyone start out around the edges and try
to locate them."
"Hey... Ryouga... start a hand to hand. There're some sand bags over there.
We can use them to brace up this mess when we find someone. I'll crawl in and ...I
hear someone now... get busy."
Ranma crawled into the mess on his belly. The chances that he would be
crushed too were high enough that he didn't want to think about them; but what could
he do, these men needed help and he was one of the few small enough to get in and
find them.
What if they needed immediate medical attention? He wasn't the best; but he
could keep them from bleeding out before they could get them to a real medic.
He reached the man he had heard groaning. "Hey.... what's your problem?
Where does it hurt you?"
Ranma felt along the man's body; as much of it as he could reach. He wasn't
cut anywhere but the rubble was crushing him to death.
"Can't breath." The man was struggling for air; desperately trying to get his
compressed lungs to expand.
"Ok, buddy. I'll take care a' that. Don't worry about a thing! We got cha."
Ranma crawled out and piled up several sand bags; he crawled back in
pushing them ahead of himself. Several trips gave him enough bags to pile under the
beam crushing the man. He knew that this wasn't the wisest thing to do but he
couldn't let the man die.
First, he piled the bags under the beam as high as he could go with out
touching the beam directly. Then, making sure the rest of the bags were within reach;
he braced his back under the beam and lifted it by straightening his legs. Piling more
bags under the lifted beam; he watched the now semi-conscious man to see if he was
breathing better. He was; so Ranma crawled out and looked around.
One of the older NCO's had organized the group of men. They were now
working around the edges of the mess; removing the rubble, taking care not to make
the pile shift or settle.
Ranma approached the man, "How we doin'? Gettn' anywhere? I got that
guy over there set so he won't get crushed." Ranma showed the NCO where the
man was. "What cha need me t' do now?"
The NCO looked at Ranma; he knew who he was and so he shook his head.
"Don't know. We're in deep shit. We need a crane but it can't get here for another
hour, by then this mess will have settled enough to crush at least two men. I see what
ya did for Charlie but we got three others trapped in the middle a' that mess. It's like
Pickup Stix. Move one and half dozen others shift. I wish we could get an overview
but all the choppers are away. Damnit! We're gonna loose men."
Ranma hollered at Ryouga to come over. "Look... I know you won't believe
this but we can get an over view. Ya just have t' trust what we tell ya. We'll save
these guys."
"Ryouga you take first jump and I'll follow ya. Then we'll compare notes
and figure this out."
The NCO watched in amazement as Ryouga then Ranma jumped over the
whole mess then put their heads together. After some argument they both jumped
back over and Ranma told the NCO, "There's no way you can do this anyway but
from the top. I'm not sure what those stick things you were talkin' about are but that
pile is jumbled to hell and back; if ya move the wrong thing it's all gonna collapse on
those guys and kill 'em all."
"Ryouga and I are gonna climb t' the top and start pulling it apart. We're light
enough we shouldn't make it settle too much."
At the NCO's disbelieveing face he snarled, "What are we gonna do? Just
wait around for it to mash 'em with out at least trying? Get someone t' crawl in and
check that the pile isn't settlin'. If we start t' make it shift give a yell. Otherwise we're
doin' it wether ya like it or not."
Ranma and Ryouga climbed to the top of the mess and started to remove the
heavy wooden beams and iron work. Motioning for everyone in one area to move
they just started throwing the wreckage into the field beside them.
It took them almost an hour of hard work to get the pile reduced to its
component parts. As they reached someone they stopped long enough for the medics
to stabilize the man and get him out then they went on.
The other men helped by removing everything small enough for them to lift.
Passing pieces of rubble hand-to-hand and piling it out of the way. Some was used to
shore up the larger pieces to keep the pile stabilized enough to prevent it collapsing
on the trapped men.
"OK! hey! Stop! That's the last man. Ranma give it up. Come on." Franklin
pulled on Ranma's arm to get him to let go of the beam he was trying to lift alone.
Ranma focused on Franklin, "Huh? Oh, good I don't think I could lift this
alone; I need Ryouga to help, but if they're all out the fucker can just sit." Ranma
staggered out of the remains of the tower behind his comrade. "Damn I'm tired. I
could use a drink, too"
Ranma started to sit down but made it only as far as bending his knees a little.
"Shit! Where's Ryu? I need to see if he's ok. " Ranma looked around; seeing Ryouga
sitting a little way away he walked over and sat down beside him.
"Good team work, Ryu. I couldn't have lifted some of that stuff by myself
and kept the whole mess from collapsing at the same time. Thanks. ... Hey! what the
hell happened t' your hands they're all bloody."
Ryouga held his hands out. They were raw meat; cut, blistered and bloody.
He'd torn them up handling splintered beams and sharp metal.
"Samething that happened t' yours. You're no better off than I am."
Just then one of the men from Ryouga's temporary team saw them.
"MEDIC!! Over here! Now! Men down! Damnit, you two! Don't you idiots
have gloves?"
The man took Ryouga's hands in his and swore some more; Ranma was glad
to see that Ryouga's teammates took care of him.
He was to find out that his teammates were just as concerned. "Frag me!
Damnit, I knew I forgot something. I forgot t' get ya any gloves... shit! This is all my
fault... Ranma why didn't ya say something?" Sam was on a complete blame me
party "Here; let's wash off some of the blood and dirt."
Ranma sat down on the ground and tried to clench his fists, he didn't want
anyone touching him but Sunny. But when he tried to close his hands he realized he
had splinters everywhere; which made closing his hands painful, so he just let them
hang between his knees.
"Don't touch me. I'll wait for Sunny."
Two Medics arrived just then, "What we got? Damn! Raw meat. You kids
didn't have gloves? What the hell? I can't do anything with this. His hands are full of
splinters, cut t' hell and blistered on top a' that. We got t' get him t' the ER."
"No!" Ranma jerked away from the Medic. "I want Sunny. No one else
touches me. Ever. Get Sunny."
Ranma was starting to really hurt now and didn't want anyone touching him.
Ryouga was in much the same fix and he didn't want anyone else touching him either
"Ok, I know you guys are special. We'll get Sunny for ya. Just hang in there."
The Medic spoke into the repeater mic. attached to his vest. "She'll be here... five
minutes. She told me t' tell you t' let me run some saline over your hands Try t' wash
off some a' the debris. Hold still will ya?"
Ranma had herd Sunny over the man's earpiece "Ok, just don't mess with
it."
The Medic opened a saline bag with his knife and started to pour the contents
over Ranma's hands; it stung.
"Iiiittaaii! Shimatta! K'so!!" Ranma swore at the pain. "Damnit, just stop. It
hurts." The Medic just got hold of Ranma by his right wrist.
"I know soldier. It's got t' hurt but if she shows up and I ain't done what she
said it's my ass in a sling not yours so hold still and let me do my job." The Medic let
go of Ranma's right wrist and took the left. Treating his left hand to a dose of the
saline brought about a spate of swearing; in English this time
"Well mister; I don't know about you but if I talked like that at your age my
Mother would'a washed my mouth out with soap." The Medic was hoping to distract
Ranma from the pain and just said what popped into his head first.
Ranma's reply stunned his team mates. "Na! I haven't seen my Mom since I
was six. She probably wouldn't care. All she cares about is if I'm manly enough to
avoid her making me commit Sepuku. Where's Sunny?"
No one could think of a thing to say.
Sunny showed up in time to break up any more discussion.
"Ran-chan, what the hell have you been doing. Your hands are full of ..."
Ranma interrupted Sunny before she could get any farther, "Ryu first, he's
worse off than me. I think he broke a finger... fix him up. No, don't argue with me
just do it.! You're not touching me until he's done."
Sunny didn't argue with Ranma; she just took care of Ryouga first, even
though Ranma was worse off by far. She knew he wouldn't go first he was a good
officer; my men, then me. Period.
When she got to Ranma he was laying on his back gritting his teeth and
holding his hands across his chest; trying not to touch anything. Sunny took his hands
in hers, "Here... one of you help him sit up. I need him vertical for this; I can't see
from this angle... Ok, that's good."
Conroy had lifted Ranma to sit braced against the bigger man's chest. As
Ranma leaned back he got a really good look at his hands; they were cut, scraped
and bloody; the cuts were also full of dirt and ground in rust and who knew what else;
they were also peppered with splinters.
"Son-of-a-bitch, Ranma." He sputtered to a stop; Sunny was healing Ranma.
The dirt and rust was oozing out of the cuts like pus; then the splinters popped out of
Ranma's flesh dropping to the ground. The cuts and blisters healed over as if they had
never been.
"I better go to the ER. Mom probably needs my help with the rest of the
men. That's where I was headed when they called me. Ran-chan? Get some gloves,
Koi no baka."
Sunny hurried away never realizing what she had said.
Ranma stared after her with a stunned expression on his face.