Doan Oan Ranma, Chalker or Tenchi

Ranma of the Dancing Gods

Chapter 3: Martial Arts Espionage

(A/N: Hopefully, the story will remain rateable between T and M per the guide.)

Nabiki woke to a massive ringing in her ears as the drug began the process of wearing off. Then the nausea hit and she threw up over the side of the cot that she found herself laying on. When she finished retching, her reddened eyes saw that she must have done this several times before her awareness had actually surfaced. If she could have done so without inciting another bout of puking, she would have chuckled. The movies certainly weren't like this. In them, people woke up instantly aware and were able to take charge of their situation.

She blearily took in her surroundings and realized that the mattress and cot she was laying on were the only furnishings in the room and the only access was through the rather solid iron door. The door had a two inch gap at the bottom and a small barred window at the top. There was no toilet or water tap. After what seemed to be an hour, she felt up to more active exploration. One corner had a pile of what seemed to be well composted feces and she emptied her bladder and bowels in the same spot with a feeling of resignation. Her fingers verified that her flashes hadn't been taken from her and she pulled her shorts back up in relief.

Further exploration showed the remains of a desiccated slice of bread at one end of the bed and was surprised as she realized that there was a fair amount of light coming through a well barred fixture recessed into the ceiling. The reason was obvious when she saw the old fashioned camera beside the light bulb. That brought another realization, the whole facility had the ambiance of having been built more than a few decades before. The dryness of the air suggested a desert climate. Looking under the door revealed table legs and some chair legs as well as the presence of some other doors, similar to hers, in the wall opposite of her position. One of the doors had been smashed and bent into scrap metal. Probably had been done by Genma, her father or baby sister. She also spotted two rat traps along that wall, which started her thinking. After a couple of minutes, she began to grin, without looking at the camera.

Back at the cot she picked up the dried crust of bread and smeared it in the vomit that hadn't finished drying yet and set it between the cot and the wall. She took a chunk of the bread that she had torn off and placed it close to her head on the cot and proceeded to nap, listen and watch.

The rat knew when night fell, though it was always the same in this place. She was hunting for nourishment to provide the same for her brood. Lately there had been better luck in this area, even though…or because the humans were more active. There had been more crumbs and things to chew on. She had come close to panicking when she smelled an animal that was utterly alien to her, but it was gone elsewhere. The rat ran across the room and smelled something interesting. She ran under the door and made a partial circuit of the room when she smelled the grain smell.

Nabiki was roused to full alert when she heard a snall scrabbling noise by the wall. She quietly prepared to spring her trap. The rat came down along the wall and was sniffing the air and looking at the moistened bit of bread decided to go for it, when it found itself immobilized.

Nabiki had the feeling that someone would come if she disappeared so she pretended to consider eating the rodent and moved to one of the camera's blind spots that she had figured out from her own experience at spying. She pulled her shorts down a bit and reached one handed into her hiding spot and dragged the flash 'buttons' out with a gasp. 'I hope they're as moisture tight as I spec'd out.' She thought to herself with a grin. Each flash had two pressure switches, one strobed once, the other was on continuously. These features would be important later on.

She separated the two flash buttons and carefully laid the dayflash down on the floor, adhesive ring up. The were flash was stuck to her belly, just below the ribcage. Her clothes settled and preparations made, Nabiki looked at the rat that she still held gently by the scruff. "Well little guy, this is it." She pressed the strobe on the wereflash and dropped the rat as she quickly shrank. The room took on gargantuan proportions and she saw the other rat scurrying out the door in fright. 'Thanks for the pattern guy…err, girl. Great, I'm a lactating mother rat.' She thought as she assessed her current body.

She then went to the dayflash and lay down on it so that it would be located where the were flash would be. 'Thank the kami that this were condition handles clothes." She thought as the molecular adhesive worked its way to the skin. Once the flash was ready, she headed for the door to find her family.

--- --- 000 --- ---

Ukyo was running to the Tendo dojo. Now that she didn't need Ranma or Kasumi for a bite, she did want something like an owner's manual from Nabiki since she had done more research.

Ukyo slammed to a stop at the open gate. Something smelled wrong. She smelled blood and the presence, at least recently, of several male humans. Running about, she determined that no one was there except…Gosunkugi? She sensed that he was still alive, but not for long with an obviously broken neck. He was apparently the only witness and she looked suspiciously at the sidearm in his hand. Ukyo thought about what she knew of the strange young man. He wasn't a killer. She put her nose to work and could smell the hand of the gun's owner. The gun had been fired recently and the smell of burned powder could not be found on the boy's person. 'It's a frame up.' She thought. She had an idea, not necessarily smart, but thought it was his only chance to live.

The female version of Yoshi approached Hikaru and bit his hand enough to draw blood. Within seconds his initial change commenced and Yoshi's twin lay there, maybe a little more gaunt than Yoshi would be. Ukyo started panting in relief when she saw that it had worked, that he was healthy and slowly reviving. She then ran inside to where one of the lights were that Nabiki told her about and actually found that the light over the porch was one when she found herself in her normal form, albeit on all fours.

"Gosunkugi…Gos, wake up!" The dog in the middle of the yard woke up with a whimper. He looked around and looked at himself and when he got to his tail, he passed out again. Ukyo stared at the night sky and growled. She realized that she had stepped just a little far from the light and had changed again. She then let out a howl of frustration.

Hikaru woke up again at the howl and spotted the dog that made the noise. She turned and walked up to the porch, changing into the okonomiyaki chef that hung around with Akane and Ranma. 'She's one of them!' he thought excitedly. 'Wait! Maybe I'm one now too,' as he sniffed himself and realized that his color vision had been reduced somewhat. He got up and moved toward Ukyo on four unsteady feet and felt the change and the pain in his neck returned, though not as bad as it was. "What just happened?"

Ukyo unholstered her big spatula, "I saved your life is what happened! And if I don't like what I hear, I'll take it back, so don't be a jackass and tell me what happened."

The memory of the evenings events returned and he covered his face with his hands. "Oh no! I thought that they were going to take Saotome and his father so I could court Akane OWW!" Clang!

"That's one, Jackass! two more and your new lease on life is over! Besides, don't you know they split up!"

"Kami save me! I didn't know." He sobbed. "They…they wanted to know about shape changers. I told them about the curses and they came and made me point out the dojo. They are a bunch of American government gaijins that put up surveillance on the Tendos. They didn't know I understood english, but it seems that they saw Akane and their dog change shapes as well. They said that they had to move quickly. The one in charge was called Murdock, his nickname was Chiropractor. He wore an airforce colonel's uniform. He's the one that broke my neck…he did break my neck?"

"Sure did sugar, don't know how ya lived, but go on."

"Well, they said something about area 51 and getting back to Groom Lake and containments on a jet. And they took everyone and said that the innocents would get cooperation until they got what they needed, then they'd turn them over to vivisection."

Hikaru sobbed a bit and continued, "They dragged me here and I watched them take the Tendos and Saotomes with drugged darts and that dog that looks like we do when…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Go on."

"M-Murdock put a gun in my hand and said that he had to kill me for pulling a gun on him and that's the last I remember."

Ukyo holstered her battle spatula and sat down hard on the floor. "Ranchan, where are you when we need ya? Gos, you are going to help get them ALL back, you know." It was not a question.

"S-Sure."

"Good. Now that you are a were like several of us, you are a part of whatever organization that Nabiki comes up with after we save them and she will give you marching orders. Until then and until I decide I can trust you, You. Will. Do. As. I. Say. I figure that you are dead and living on sufferance till then." At that moment, two winged figures settled into the yard. Ukyo's relief was palpable. She ran and glomped Ranma, changed to Ranma's double and dragged her over to Kasumi and performed a double glomp.

"Guys. Your families have been kidnapped, maybe two hours ago by some Americans. I think they plan to put them into some lab and then kill them when they find out what they want."

"Whoa Ucchan. How did you change?"

"I figure that you bit Yoshi, and he bit me and Akane and Maybe Nabiki. They took them all."

Ranma's eyes hardened to the color of blue steel and Kasumi simply looked shocked and began to collapse. Ranma caught her and carried her into the living room. Ukyo, Ranma and Kasumi changed to their normal form as she followed. Hikaru trailed in with a hangdog look. Ukyo filled Ranma and Kasumi in on all of the happenings.

Ranma gave a bare description of their adventure and said, "Yoshi had a really good nose for tracking, I know. Can you and Gos follow these guys while Kas-chan and I follow in the air. I figure we don't have much time left."

"Sure Ranchan…Ranma. Come on Gosunkugi, let's get tracking." With that, they went out into the moonlight and changed. The two dogs sniffed carefully about the yard and went through the gate to the street. Ukyo cast about and found what she wanted and barked. She ran down the street, followed by Hikaru on the ground and two kauri in the air just above street light level.

The two dogs ran swiftly down the streets, dodging pedestrians and once outrunning a police officer, who promptly thought of other things to do when Ranma worked on his libido. He went to a phone and called his wife to express his feelings and asked her out for a candlelight dinner.

They turned and ran back a block when they came to the entrance of the American airbase. Ukyo and Hikaru ran into an alley as the two kauri landed in front of them. Kasumi pulled out a flashlight and shone it on the dogs, who became human immediately. "Ranchan, they went through that gate. Several of them had to have peed their pants. It was easy to follow. Can you get us inside?"

"Yeah, Ucchan. Kasumi, turn off the light and we can carry them inside." Kasumi suited actions to words and released the switch. The two kauri carried a dog each up into the night sky.

There was a flapping of wings in the shadow of a concrete building and two mongrel dogs ran out to the road and then darted back to the side to avoid a police humvee cruising past. They took off, following the trail which turned down a road to a medium sized building and a hangar, isolated at the end of an airstrip. The lack of cover made Ukyo nervous, but her and Hikaru's confidence was bolstered by a soft, "We got ya covered" and "Don't worry Ukyo, Hikaru." From above. Kasumi hovered a couple hundred feet up while Ranma went to land on the smaller building.

Inside a small room in the building, an alarm began flashing. "Hey, Lieutenant come look at this! We got wild life approaching the building."

"Jeez, those dogs are exactly like that one those spooks from group 51 took on that plane with the containment pods. They aren't even acting like dogs ought to."

Ukyo and Hikaru were crawling along, trying to be inconspicuous when a door opened in their target building. Two uniformed men came out and approached the dogs with riot control netting. When they were almost upon them, they each stared at something that only they could see. One said "Mom?" The other said, "Naw, Willy, its that Hong Kong whore I had last month, best ride of my life!" "Talk like that about Mom? I'll kill you!" The two got into a scuffle and then jerked apart and collapsed to the ground, spasming with smiles on their faces.

Ukyo's sensitive nose told her why they were smiling. 'Perverts', she thought. From above came, "Oh my. I think I need a lot more practice clouding men's minds." Ukyo could hear the blush in Kasumi's words.

Ranma, meanwhile, invoked the Umisenken and entered the door of the building. Ten minutes later, the Nerimeans were in the building looking at eleven tied up Americans. Ranma followed her instinct and walked to the one in the nondescript business suit.

Agent Spinelli looked in amazement at his beloved wife who he would sacrifice anything for. "B-But you died four years ago?" Tears were running down his cheeks and his body was wracked with sobs. "Yes my dear, dear husband. I have passed over and it is beautiful and I'm waiting for you. But evil is threatening to keep you from me and you must know that even in heaven a heart can break."

"What can I do to be by your side, don't let me go to hell." He began to sob more violently.

"Murdock has committed a grievous error and taken two families to perform atrocities against them. You must help the angels that have been sent to find them. Do well and find forgiveness. Love. I will be waiting." He felt a touch that spread joy through his being. Ethereal lips brushed his in a sweet heartbreakingly sad farewell, yet there was hope left behind. No, he would not disappoint Nell, not now, not ever.

His eyes opened to see two short red haired angels before him. A white glow surrounded them and their feathered wings were draped over their white robes. One appeared serene, but showed concern, concern for him and others, he was sure. The shorter one had an expression of concern but also hid a fire that was martial in nature. Here was an archangel fit to smite demons wherever they hid. She took a feather from her robe and gave it to him. It was pure white and felt more real than anything he had ever felt before. "This is in token as a promise of hope, it will never leave your hand and will always be there to remind you. Now help our friends."

The ki construct had been very difficult, but Ranma succeeded in using Boseiai's technique. The feather would be a part of the man's soul and he suspected that he would be very happy for the rest of his life, a better man. This was much better than torture for information and would merely make him conscious of the burdens of malicious decisions. Kasumi used the dayflash on Ukyo and Hikaru, then she and Ranma removed themselves from the awareness of the agent, but still visible to their friends.

Spinelli was looking at his hand in wonder and finally noticed the two teens in front of him. "I guess you are here to save your friends. Come with me. I can send you to where they were going, but it will take longer because they took the faster transport. I assume that you can change into dogs? They nodded. I'll put you into cages that don't have functional locks and send you in the turboprop in the hangar. They will be expecting you, but with angelic help, I pray that you will be successful." The agent used a phone for a few minutes and said, "Two pilots are coming and the plane is in constant readiness to go anywhere in the world. I'll have you situated in short order."

When he had them situated in the spacious passenger area, he told Ukyo and Hikaru in dog form, "Area 51 and Groom Lake is where my country hides its most unusual and technologically advanced secrets. Security will be very tight there. I'll pray for your success. With divine help, you will succeed." A few minutes later the pilots came on board and with a cursory look at the cabin, went forward to the cockpit. Ten minutes later the turboprop plane took to the skies toward the east.

07-04-05

Ranko :Thanks for the positive review

Dragon Man 180:Even though Ranma will be pissed, she/he will have new 'soft kill' techniques that will allow justice to be dispensed according to the crime.

Trugeta : Its time that Ranma had an unassailable 'fortress of solitude', and yes, they did get blindsided because it took a while to finish business at Boseiai's shrine.

Conspiracies and evil black budget government agencies, while common in fiction, make for an occasional interesting conflict that doesn't necessarily have clear cut boundaries. Look at the so called 'war' on terrorism.

To me, Taro is an arrogant bastard who is as big a mysogynist as Genma…without the fear of a wife's retribution to act as a governor on his actions. He could very well be a rapist unless sufficiently deterred.

Wonderbee31 The men in black are from a sub organization, based at Area 51 that is interested in studying human potential to maintain US superiority in all things and their attitude suggests that foreigners are cattle to be harvested and destroyed when their usefulness is at end.

Boseiai is being allowed to bring a new species into existence, once the setup is done she must take a hands off attitude to allow self determination.