Standard disclaimer: This is not mine except for the original bits that are, and written purely for the enjoyment of myself and others. The thought that I'd make money of it is just laughable.

Those who are easily offended should refrain from reading. These characters talk, think and behave like adults. I'll put up additional warnings if anything particularly shocking happens.

RangeDay

chapter 6

Her coat was on the back of her office chair, but Ranger wasn't in the office the next day. Not that that didn't happen frequently, so she tried not to wonder and set about her business with searches and some more RangeDay ideas. More brochures to the dojo address. She'd have to find a way to pick up the first ones on Wednesday without Tank noticing.

That made her wonder how Tank would be in the dojo. She wasn't sure if he'd ever been in a place like that. Perhaps she'd better warn him that skintight T-shirts would be frowned upon. Or rather, not frowned upon but quietly disapproved of.

The first time she had turned up in sweats and a T-shirt. Talking after the lesson Tsuy had very gently and in a roundabout way mentioned that to her culture dressing appropriately was a sign of respect. That was all, but Steph knew a hint when she heard one, and Tsuy had seemed pleased when the next time she'd worn nice slacks and a blouse when she came to the dojo.

From: yatsumi.tsuyiko at dojomail
To: bombshell at rangeman
Subject: Post

I have a stack of brochures for you. Is there a way I can pass these to you tomorrow evening or should I not try with your colleague (tell me he's not really called Tank) present?
On a different subject, do you know of a good hairdresser? I haven't been brave enough to just try out a place (yet).

Tsuy

From: bombshell at rangeman
to: yatsumi.tsuyiko at dojomail
subject:re:Post

Best not to pass over anything tomorrow. Tank (his street name… you'll have to wait and see how he introduces himself) is in with the spy-crowd and you can't put much past him.
I go to Mr Alexander for my hair. Actually, if it suits you I could go with you and we could pass over things there.
I could arrange Thursday afternoon off, or we could do saturday.

Steph

From: yatsumi.tsuyiko at dojomail
To: bombshell at rangeman
Subject: re: Post

Thursday afternoon works for me. Let me know time and where you want to meet.

Tsuy

That evening she went for dinner with her parents. Valerie was present with Lisa, but not the older girls. Albert had taken them to dinner with his parents. Looking at Val it was not hard to see why she hadn't gone with them – she looked like she was at the end of her rope.

The dinner was quiet, for certain values of quiet. Val sobbed into her mashed potatoes.

"No need to add salt to that," Grandma Mazur said helpfully. Val just groaned.

"I don't sleep because Lisa keeps me up and the girls are all excited because their birthdays are coming up and I need to organise their birthday party but it's all so expensive and all their friends have really nice parties and…" she let out a high-pitched wailing sound. Lisa picked up on it and added her voice. Stephanie felt a headache begin to throb behind her eyeballs.

"Val.."

"I mean we can afford to give a nice party, Albert's practise has been picking up of late, but their birthdays are only three weeks apart so I'd have to organise TWO parties—"

"Val—"

"—so close together, and it has to be original or their friends will think it's stupid, and what am I going to DO—"

"VAL!" she finally managed to interrupt the lament.

"What?"

"Would the girls mind sharing their birthday party if it was something really nice?"

Valerie sniffled, rocking Lisa who was still in full screeching mode. Stephanie was beginning to rethink the idea that maybe someday she wanted children. If her niece could make her feel like her brain was melting within 5 minutes, how on earth would she handle a child of her own? Better not contemplate this, anyway.

"Maybe, I don't know… they do have some of the same friends…"

Truth was, Stephanie was having an honest-to-god brainwave. A flash of inspiration. She could almost go so far as to call it a stray particle of sheer brilliance. If she organised a birthday party for the girls from the RangeMan office, that would be the perfect cover to hide the fact that she was organising the REAL RangeDay from somewhere else.

Plus, if the Men in Black uncovered this plan, they'd have conniptions.

"If you let me know details, like budget and how many kids to invite, I don't mind organising it for you." In fact, I already have an idea.

Valerie stared at her.
"You'd do that?"

"Sure. No problem."

Val gave her a one-sided hug as she was still holding on to Lisa. The baby calmed down from siren-strength screaming to normal loud crying, and the dinner ended on a reasonably calm note.

Wednesday morning dawned bright and early, and to her surprise she found herself eager to get to work. Nothing like a bit of devious planning to make a girl look forward to her work day.

Ranger still wasn't in, and from what the control room guys said he wasn't on the 7th floor. That worried her a little, but nobody else seemed concerned. Maybe he was in the Batcave. He'd sounded okay last time she spoke to him, so she decided to take her cue from the team and stop worrying. Now he wasn't here, she could use his office.

Then she ordered brochures. After the initial rush of her plan, which was to get loads of party brochures, she had realised that that would make things too obvious. Maybe it'd fool Lester and Hawk and Cal, but Tank and certainly Ranger knew her too well. So she restrained herself to three requests, one of them from Build a Bear. She'd bumped into that one on an earlier search – they did do company parties. Apparently several large organisations had gone there and built bears.

The idea of an office filled with Bears in Black just made her crack up. No way could she get the merry men to go with her to build bears.

It would be a perfect birthday party for Angie and Mary Alice.

The other brochures were from a theatre and a place that gave cooking classes. She felt especially pleased with the last one. Having heard some of the comments when they were told she would organise RangeDay, this would fit right into their fears without being to obviously phoney.

She knew they took note of all post she received. Probably they googled all the names and addresses that could have to do with RangeDay. The groans would let her know when the mail had arrived.
Then she could organise the birthday party for her nieces with Build a Bear, and watch the office implode as she received repeat correspondence from that company. As long as she was careful and acted suitably downcast when the guys didn't seem to like the idea, this plan could cover her real movements for weeks.

This done, she hid everything, erased the browser history and cookies, and returned to her own cubicle to do her normal work.

"Hey Tank."

She didn't look up from her monitor and wondered if he knew that she could tell his presence by the way the light suddenly no longer fell through the entrance of her cubicle.

"Bombshell. 'Sup?"

"Nothing much. You still looking forward to class tonight?"

"Sure. Padded room, no guns, no cars – what can go wrong?"

She shot him a glare, and he grinned back at her, unrepentant.

"Jus' wanted to know what the dress-code's like. Do I need gi?"

"For the lesson we just wear sweats and a T-shirt. The dojo itself is fairly formal though. This—" she gestured to his cammies and skin-tight T-shirt "—probably wouldn't go over too well."

He nodded and turned to leave.

"Hey… just a question."

He turned back to her, waiting.

"Where's Ranger? Nobody will tell me."

"At home. Said he was taking a few days off."

Ranger taking days off? And he wasn't in the office, so that must mean he was in the batcave.

"Is he okay? I've never known him to take time off."

Tank gave her a look she couldn't place.

"Maybe he just got a lot to think about."

He was already there when she parked at the dojo, and got out to greet her. Black chinos and a button-down shirt. Nice. Hot.

"You clean up well," she smiled. He gave her a look and a nod that probably meant 'you as well', and they went inside. One of Tsuy's many relatives was behind the reception desk and greeted them politely.

Stephanie signed behind her name in the dojo book, and noticed today's lesson said 'and visitor' in Tsuy's spiky script. It made her smile, because apparently her teacher hadn't wanted to write down 'Tank'.

She passed the pen over to him and grinned as he wrote his name on the line. Thomas Foster. Not many people knew him as Thomas. He'd said it was okay to call him that, but she was so used to Tank that he'd probably stay Tank forever in her mind.

"Tsuyiko is on her way down," the receptionist lady told them. They thanked her and walked further into the lobby.

"I've been past here before, but I had no idea it was this large," Tank remarked. "Looks like just a house from the outside."

"Our humble dojo, nothing special," a light voice remarked from behind them. They turned and found Tsuy in a sleek black trouser suit. Nice. Very formal. Stephanie was glad she'd mentioned dresscode to Tank.

They clasped hands in greeting and Tsuy made that slight bow that Stephanie suspected was almost automatic.

"Good to see you."

"And you. This is Tank, a colleague at RangeMan."

To her amusement Tank wasn't fazed by the unusual greeting. He took Tsuy's extended hands in his own and bowed over them just as she did.

"Thomas Foster."

"Tsuyiko Yatsumi. Welcome."

Stephanie noted that Tank did in fact have T-shirts that weren't skin tight, and wondered where he got them. Probably he had to order them specially. He was in slate grey sweats, doing warm-up stretches when she entered the room.

Tsuy was working her way through an advanced kata with a fluid grace that made her feel down. Would she ever be that good? Just the prospect of having to practise with Tank made her nervous.

She started on her own warm up routine, a mix between some simple kata and the stretches she did with the guys before the lunchtime workout. For a long moment there was no other sound than breathing.

Then a little hiss. Tsuy had stopped mid-movement, a grimace on her face. The other two both looked up.

"I am afraid it's going to take me a while to warm up today. I had a disagreement with a horse monday." She seemed to find this an embarrassing confession. Stephanie thought it was a bit of a relief. Maybe her own incompetence wouldn't contrast so sharply if Tsuy wasn't completely in form today.

"Disagreement?" Tank asked.

"We... we discussed matters and agreed it wasn't working out," she said gravely. "Irreconcilable differences."

Stephanie grinned. "Like what?"

"Well, he stopped and I continued."

"Ah, you used the ejection seat," deadpanned Tank.

She broke into a sudden smile.
"I like that one."

Stephanie watched and listened as Tsuy explained about momentum in a throw, and about how you couldn't stop a Tank-sized man charging at you, but if you know the techniques, you could change his direction.

Then it was time to do it. She stood in the middle of the room and watched Tank size her up. Her knees were shaking and the whole idea suddenly seemed ridiculous. Tank could hurt her without even trying. Where did she get the idea that she could hold her own to someone of his size who WAS trying?
It was probably best that she never went back to fieldwork anyway. What could she do that the RangeMen couldn't? It wasn't like they needed her talent in the rolling-in-garbage department or couldn't work without cars blowing up on regular basis.

She startled back to reality when she felt a touch on her upper arm. Tsuy was standing next to her, looking a little sad for some reason. Her voice was pitched soft and low when she spoke.

"Can you explain to me why this give you trouble?"

She stared at her teacher, unable to find the words.

"You were looking so… what is the word…" Tsuy made a small gesture with her hand. "Despondent? I want to help you, but I need to understand what part of this troubles you."

"I worry that even when he's—" she glanced over to Tank, who was leaning against the wall with the calm patience she had seen in him before. "even when he's being really careful, I won't be able to handle it and get hurt."

Tsuy nodded.
"Would it help if you practised this throw with me again first?"

God yes. It had been easy with Tsuy.

"Maybe… Could you demonstrate it for me with Tank? From where I'm standing it looks just impossible."

The smaller woman nodded, and Stephanie moved to the side of the room to stand against the wall. Tank came to attention, watching Tsuy. She had dropped into a loose-kneed defensive stance and was making a slow come-here gesture with the fingers of both hands.

Stephanie watched as Tank looked her over. Probably wondering if Ranger would kill him if he squashed her teacher.

They bowed to one another, and the staring contest resumed. It reminded her of two cats trying out each possible move before they were made. Looked a little strange, the differences in size so great that Stephanie wondered how this would turn out. From the look of his face, Tank was thinking the same.

"I've seen this look before, Thomas" Tsuy grinned. "It says 'I had better make sure I don't break her"

"Oh yeah? On who?" said Tank, sounding like he was enjoying himself.

"On your boss, about two seconds before he hit the mat."

Stephanie was surprised at the taunting tone. Not something she'd expected to hear from her teacher. Tank was glowering. Tsuy seemed unaffected. He shifted his weight and she followed, shadowing his motions seamlessly. The air between them seemed to shiver. Breathing sounded loudly. Knuckles crackled. Tails twitched.

Tank suddenly grinned huge and pounced. About half a second later he hit the mat with a resounding thud. It happened so fast Stephanie had trouble following what happened. Seemed like Tsuy rolled back, put her feet in his stomach and let his momentum carry him over her and into the mat. He rolled away and sat up.

Tsuy sat up too and straightened her ponytail.

"You okay?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Didn't think you'd go for a circle throw," he said, getting to his feet, offering her a hand up. She didn't say anything, just smiled as he pulled her to her feet.

"Looked like you were expecting a hip throw," she answered. "Thought it'd be a nice surprise."

Stephanie practised the different throws with Tsuy a few times, until she felt quite comfortable with the techniques and with seeing the smaller woman run at her. Tank was leaning again the wall, standing in his habitual parade rest. Following the lesson with interest. Finally Tsuy got to her feet after another short flight to the mat, and walked to the place where they kept bottles of water.

"I've had enough flight lessons for the moment." She made a nod toward Tank. "Your turn."

Stephanie felt herself freeze up.

"An opponent in a real fight would never repeat himself, because part of fighting someone is learning them, their motions, how they tend to react – and then adapt your own strategy to that. We will come to that later. For now, Thomas will act like each approach is a first, so that you can practise your technique and grow comfortable with this."

Tank stepped into position and they each bowed to open the encounter. It was one of the few dojo-etiquette things Tsuy insisted on.

She had no more time to consider it because Tank charged at her, evidently having decided that giving her time to worry didn't improve things. Panic flashed but somehow training took over, and she let herself roll back, put her feet to his stomach, and he went flying. He turned it into a shoulder roll behind her, and she let herself flop against the mat.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Jeez. Wow." Gosh, she was having an articulate moment alright.

Tank grinned and pulled her to her feet.
"Easier than you expected, huh?"

"Yeah! Guess it was just scary to see you come at me like that."

"Use the words 'freight train' or 'bull' at this point and I will put you on night shifts until further notice," he warned her dryly.

They continued to practise for a while, adding the requirement that she had to get up straight away, as she would in a real situation. Now and then Tsuy would touch Tank on the arm to get him to lean down, so she could whisper something in his ear. Stephanie soon learned to fear this, because it usually meant Tank changed something, and she'd have to make a split-second decision about how she would deflect him.

"Last time, then we have a break," Tsuy said. Tank turned to face her and his lips twitched. Uh-oh. She had the feeling this last time wouldn't be easy.

He charged like before, but when he was two paces away he gave a loud roar. She backed away in reflex, stumbled, and for a moment his body blocked out the light. In a panic she pulled in her knees and felt his full weight land on them, squashing her knees up against her chest. Then he rolled over her shoulder and to the side, hitting the mat chest-first and with a thud that reverberated around the room.

"Christ. You okay?"

She pulled herself together and sat up.

"Yeah. Let me tell you, you're a lot heavier like that. How are you?"

He rolled over onto his back and climbed to his feet.

"That was a serious beached-whale landing. If you do that to a skip on asphalt…"

"I'd hurt my back so bad I couldn't stand up."

"The point is," interjected Tsuy, "that you recovered and managed something like a throw. You got him off you."

"Only because he let me."

Tsuy shrugged.
"We'll do it again some time. There'll be a moment where he doesn't have to, anymore."

She had half expected soothing comments on the line that it was just fine, and felt strangely relieved by what Tsuy said. She knew it hadn't been good and didn't want to be told it was, in that belittling tone that always seemed to imply that it didn't really matter anyway. It did matter, and it needed work, but Tsuy would make her do it over and over until it did go perfect.

With a flash of insight she realised that she was being taken seriously. Even Ranger, who she knew cared about her, occasionally looked at her with that look that said 'I'm indulging you'.

She'd asked Tsuy to help her become really good, and now Tsuy would take pride in doing just that. It would be hard work, but it'd be all real, all hers. Nobody would be able to take it away again.

They sat for a while talking and regaining breath, and then they got to the strategic part of the lesson. She had been practising kicks, punches and blocks on cushions, on Tsuy and in sequences, but now Tank would take hold of her, and she's have to work through the process of getting free. All in slow motion, with plenty of time to think.

It seemed silly at first, but she soon realised that figuring out how to combine kick, stab and knee to free herself was a lot harder when there was a 230-pound man holding on to her. Even if he was just breathing quietly, waiting for her to work through it. He acted his reaction when she demonstrated the techniques properly, but otherwise was impassive.

She'd been standing in his grip for what had to be five minutes by now, growing increasingly desperate. No way could she get out of this. It was getting late and it felt like he had kept the hardest thing for last.

"Okay, I don't know how to do this. I'm stuck."

Tsuy walked around them, taking everything in critically.
"There will be moments like this. Moments when you can't move, or not hard enough, and there don't seem to be any options. This is something we must come to terms with. However, the upside is that there are very few occasions where an attacker is going to keep hold of you like Thomas is holding you now. Usually they'll move, and then you'll have new chances – especially if he's going to shift his balance."

She tilted her head.

"For now though, I see an option."

"Okay, why don't you get in here and show me."

To her surprise her teacher nodded, and Tank let go of her to take hold of Tsuy in the same manner. It took a moment for them to agree how exactly the feet had been positioned, and then Stephanie could view the tableau from the outside. It was strange, but very interesting. She ran through the same list as before. Both feet on the outside of his right leg, both hands trapped in his left, pulled against his chest by his left arm around the waist and entire body off balance. No way to kick, no leverage to use her arms, no space to twist or move.

"I still don't see it."

"Watch."

Tsuy glanced up into Tank's face, and Stephanie wondered if he knew what she'd do. Her head bent, and she brought her mouth to the side of the hand that was holding her wrists to demonstrate biting him on the last knuckle. Tank let go of the wrists, she feinted for his eyes, and seconds later she was out of his grip.

They bowed to one another to close their session.

"Did you forget about biting?"

Stephanie nodded. She hadn't been far enough into the 'anything goes' mindset, it seemed.

Tsuy asked Tank to show them his hand, and traced her fingertip over it to show where the most sensitive places were.

"Between the knuckles is always good. It hurts a lot and makes the fingers open in a reflex. Between the thumb and forefinger is also a good place."

Stephanie faced Tank for the last time to free herself. Once her hands were free she had several options and she settled on a punch to the throat. Her half-released her and she stumbled, off balance. Then instead of letting her go, Tank let himself drop with her, twisting to avoid landing on her. Before she'd time to realise what happened he dug his fingers into her ribs and tickled. She rolled with a startled squeak and tried to struggle free. Tank was doing an his impression of Evil Laughter, though the grin on his face detracted from the effect a little.

"Help! Tsuy!" she yelped when tears where running down her face and she was gasping for breath. "He's using a secret weapon!"

She was vaguely aware of Tsuy circling them, and then suddenly Tank rolled over onto his stomach. His heavy arm trapped her beside him, but Tsuy grabbed the thumb of that hand and twisted it behind his back, freeing her.

"His other," were the cryptic instructions, but now he wasn't tickling her any longer she could think. She moved to his other side and put her knee on his forearm. Tsuy had his other hand and her knee at the top of his back.

"Man, tackled into the mat by two hot women. The other guys will be so jealous," he muttered into the mat. Then his eyes widened with something of shock and horror. Guess sometimes Tank had a gut-mouth connection too. He clearly hadn't meant to say that out loud.

She released his arm and let herself roll onto her back, laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. Tsuy pushed herself away and came to a sit with her back against the wall, legs out in front of her. Her eyes were wide, as if she couldn't think of a way to react to that. Tank rolled over to look at her.

"Sorry. That offend you?"

She stared at him, and then waggled her hand in a yes/no/maybe gesture.
"I can't believe you just said that," she said finally, her head shaking in disbelief. Then, apparently ready to dismiss it, she got up and invited them for dinner.

Food was a large bowl of what she knew as Miso soup, filled with noodles, spicy grilled chicken, and a lot of unidentifiable vegetables. It was glorious. Apparently Tank thought so too, and Tsuy quietly arranged for some extra dishes to appear. He looked uneasy when they were brought, maybe a bit embarrassed with his appetite. The elderly man in cook's clothes unloaded the tray of dishes onto the table, bowed, and said something to Tank in Japanese.

When he left they both looked at her for translation. She smiled a little.
"He said to not feel…" she paused to think of the word. "self conscious? The saying does not translate well, but he means that it pleases the cook to see a guest eat so well."

That established, neither of them hesitated to polish off the dishes.

To be continued…