Avenging

by DB Sommer

It's a fusion of Ranma 12 and Marvel's Avengers. Chapter 1 lays the groundwork for what's to come and deals with several of the heroes origins. It is a bit dry and serious compared to the rest of the story. Chapter 2 is more like the rest of the story if you want to skip to it. Book 1 is complete and Book 2 is the sequel.

64. Act V Chapter 11 Bitterfrost Aftermath

Avenging

Act 5

Chapter 11

Welcome to Bitterfrost

Aftermath

Any and all C+C appreciated. You can contact me at:

tsommer

All the previous chapters and my other works are stored at:

At :

www. fanfiction

Standard disclaimer: I don't own any of the Marvel characters or other characters from the numerous animes which are within.

Here's a great reference guide for many characters and objects in the Marvel Universe.

Marvunapp dot com

Previously: The Avengers went to Siberia to capture the Silver Samurai and ended up in a pitched battle with Black Lagoon, the Russian mob, and a former Soviet super hero. While they were barely able to escape with their lives, the Hulk sort of go left behind.

Oh yes, I made an error in the bad guys at the end. There should have been one more brought back. Only Firefox died.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The last of the flesh was dead.

The Earth was a desolate wasteland. All human created structures lay in ruin. The hunt for all of them had extended everywhere they might hide. On the Earth. Below it. Above it. No stone left unturned. No cloud left unchecked. And it had been successful.

Total genocide.

The perpetrators stood everywhere. Robots, all motionless since their duty was done. Different sizes, but the same shape. Armored with lanky arms and legs. Tall projections from the shoulders that stood above the inhuman armored head that had a small metal horn and white eyes that lacked a pupil. Fearsome creations by any standard, made more so in their successful quest.

The largest of them stood in the middle of what was once Tokyo. It was different than the others. They were just extensions of this one's will. This was the orchestrator of the holocaust. It stood over the fruits of its labors and felt satisfaction at its success.

And so it was at the end.

Irene Adler, the woman once known as Destiny, screamed as she snapped upright in her bed.

Charles Xavier heard her cry in his mind even as others heard it aloud. He got into his wheelchair as quickly as he could, and raced to her room, which was only two away from his. They had become friends as well as co-workers. Good friends. Only Moira MacTaggart had probably been better, though they had been lovers as well.

The Alice Academy wouldn't exist if Irene hadn't approached him and convinced him of the necessity of it, turning her back on Magneto and the Brotherhood in the process. Of how their best course of action to protect everyone from the upcoming crisis was to try and integrate themselves into society, and that Japan would be a more fertile ground for their tenuous plans to work. They needed her to help guide them. She was one of the most powerful precogs alive, and their work was far from done.

By the time he arrived Alison and Narumi were already present, calming her down and handing her a glass of water.

The blind woman turned at the sound of his chair. "Charles, there is a great danger drawing near. The future has abruptly changed. It must be someone trying to change the flow of the timestream. It's the only explanation for something this sudden and drastic."

"Could it have been a normal dream?" He hoped, yet knew better.

"I know the difference. It was a potential future, one far worse than the other one I've been seeing. The most horrifying things of all is, I think he might succeed. If so, we're all dead. There will be nothing we can do about it. I'm sorry."

Charles Xavier felt his heart sink deeply into his chest.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The continuous sounds of jets taking off and landing. The smell of crushed rock and tar mixing with spent aviation fuel. The sight of so many people coming and going. Tokyo airport was bustling, but not because it had celebrities visiting it on this day. Few would know of it since the pair were in an area with limited public access thanks to the situation.

Two Avengers, Thor and Iron Rose, stood waiting next to the Kunou Enterprises limousine on the tarmac, watching the small private jet with Russian markings taxi toward them. Both were eager as it drew near, wanting to put to rest the last lingering detail of their sojourn to Siberia and the destruction of Bitterfrost.

They had not expected events to work out so well. When the group realized the Hulk had been left behind, there had been panic. True, given the circumstances there had been no chance to rescue their comrade from the collapse of the cavern -they had barely escaped with their own lives and those of their foes- but that had done nothing to assuage guilt and concern for their teammate's health. Once the Silver Samurai's ring had recharged, Iron Rose and Thor had teleported back to the icy tundra to if they could dig their comrade out from what they feared had become his tomb.

It didn't take them long to spot the Hulk-sized hole in the ground and concluded that he had dug himself out of the earth's stony grasp. Relieved at their companion's survival, they had searched high and far, but with the head start the Hulk's leaps had given, they were unable to locate him. The both good and bad thing about the Hulk was that he rarely went unnoticed for very long. So all of the Avengers had kept their ears open for what calamity might befall, or be caused, by him. They all hoped it wouldn't be an international incident. Those could get messy, historically so.

It turned out the opposite happened. After a couple of weeks Ryouga had contacted them through the Russian consulate and filled them in on what had happened after he had departed the ruins of Bitterfrost. He had travelled west until he landed in some irradiated region of Siberia referred to as 'The Forbidden Zone.'. There he had encountered the Russian equivalent of the Avengers: the Winter Guard, and aided them in defeating a Russian scientist who had given himself incredible powers and called himself 'The Presence'. Apparently, the Hulk had been instrumental in defeating the rogue scientist and had traveled back with the Winter Guard to Moscow to talk with the authorities. While there some bizarre amoeba-like creature, which became known as 'The Crawling Unknown', began devouring government officials in the capital. The Hulk had been instrumental in holding it off until the Winter Guard managed to exile it to some other dimension.

Having made it into the good graces of the Russian government on two occasions, (especially because politicians don't like being devoured by Crawling Unknowns) Ryouga had become a guest of honor. After treating him as such with banquets and awards, they had agreed to send him home on a private jet, which had landed just minutes before.

As the pair reminisced, a stairway extended from the jet and Ryouga emerged from the plane in a Russian military uniform that had several decorations on the lapel. He had the gait of someone in high spirits from his travels, but ultimately delighted at making his way back home.

Upon sighting the pair, Ryouga waved enthusiastically at them. "Hey guys! Check out all the medals they gave me." He pointed at his lapel. "This one says I'm a Hero of the People. This one's for going above and beyond the duty for helping the country, and I don't know what this one's for, but it's for something good. I'm even an honorary member of the Winter Guard, but they didn't give me a cool communicator like they have. Did you know they have a knock off version of Captain Japan called Red Guardian? He's got a shield and everything. Well, a new one since I sort of crushed the old one as the Hulk when we first met. It wasn't indestructible like the real thing. It's okay though since the government replaced it for him."

Thor smiled. "So thou had an enjoyable time abroad?"

"I sure did. Oh, that reminds me. Perun said, 'Greetings,' and if you visit make sure you ask him first, or he'll do the same thing he did during the Lada incident."

"Bleed excessively. Aye." Thor's demeanor was less than pleased suddenly.

Ryouga looked around. "It was fun visiting Russia, but it's nice to be home. Stop any notable super villains lately?"

Iron Rose said, "Kangaroo decided he needed a gang to make people take him seriously: The Marsupials of Menace. They were even worse than the name sounds. Be thankful you were not there. The others send their regards and apologies that they were unable to attend your return."

"Aw, that's okay. It wasn't a big deal since I end up all over the place all the time. Where's the quinjet?"

Thor and Iron Rose exchanged a glance. The armored Avenger said, "I thought a limousine might be more appropriate." She indicated the chauffer should open the door.

In the backseat was a green-skinned, blonde woman whose smile was even more beauteous than her appearance. Upon sighting Ryouga, she shouted, "Beloved!"

Ryouga's eyes widened and his smile nearly went from ear to ear. "Oh wow! I've got so much to tell you. Russian cuisine is really good. We need to find a place that serves it here so I can recommend stuff for you to try." By the time he had finished the sentence he had already slid next to her.

Iron Rose said, "It appears full in there. We shall take our own way home." And indicated the chauffer should drive the pair wherever they wanted.

As the car pulled away, Thor made her farewells and flew off, Mjolnir propelling her through the air. Iron Rose remained behind and grew pensive. She felt a touch of envy at Ryouga having someone in his life who desired his presence so. It was only when Jarella had contacted them that they realized someone should have informed her Ryouga would be gone longer than usual since he had been left behind in another country. To rectify the oversight they set up a way to contact her, or she them, should the need arise. Likewise when they learned he would be arriving, Kodachi had set up the meeting in the limousine to give the lovebirds some private time for themselves.

It was times like this she was saddened no one waited for her return.

There was other good news in her life. Nearly everything else, actually. Things with Tatewaki had gone beyond splendidly. He had been a wanted man as Silver Samurai and had a number of charges brought against him, which he had been found guilty of. One of the few things Ariyoshi was good for was the anger she had generated against villains as well as heroes, and there was little sympathy for their ilk. He was already in prison, and Kodachi's lawyers had seen to it the company remained beyond his grasp forever. All's well that ended well on that front.

Curiously, he'd refused to try and reduce his sentence by cutting a plea deal using his knowledge of the inner workings of the criminals he had been employed by in his time as a super villain. She knew someone had been pulling his strings; he wasn't smart enough to do half the things he had been involved in, but he was proving unnaturally loyal to them. Frankly she hadn't thought he had it in him. When he had gotten himself into trouble in the past either their father bailed him out or he used a scapegoat to escape responsibility. Now she was witnessing the inverse. It was passing peculiar that his transformation into a super villain had instilled in him some moral fiber and character.

With her brother no longer a factor, Kodachi's mind turned to more scientific concerns. The research into the teleportation ring had reached an impasse. She had determined the ring had been created in such a fashion that once it had been assembled, taking it apart would ruin it, which would explain why no one had reversed engineered it yet. Since she didn't want to risk having the unique, powerful item destroyed on some venture, she decided to not try and incorporate it into the Iron Rose armor, where it could end up damaged, as had happened to the armor on several occasions. Instead she would store it in a special vault in Avengers Mansion to be used when necessary.

The Credit Card Armor was proving itself a touch easier to decipher. She understood most of the science involved at the cost of only two sets of the armor. The only problem she had was in recreating it precisely. She had made her own set of armor which could grow and shrink with no performance issues. It was when organic matter was stored in it that problems arose. After extensive testing, she discovered there was a small percentage chance of a small percentage of the organic matter being lost in conversion. That was unacceptable since every percent of her was essential and she wasn't going to take a chance on losing even a small amount of it. She'd made an Iron Rose set of the armor, but she wasn't going to be in it when it grew or shrank. She was looking forward to using it. Gods above knew it was easier than walking around with an attaché case at all times. And the original Credit Card Armor still worked to perfection if they absolutely needed to use them, like they had another mission taking place underground and were worried about being buried alive again.

All things considered, it was a good time to be an Avenger. Now if only she could think of how to get Captain Japan to acknowledge they were perfect for one another. As perceptive as the man was, he could be very dense at times. But with no Tatewaki to worry about, she could focus most of her attention on him now. It was time for her love life to blossom like a Black Rose in the springtime.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

At the same moment in another part of the airport, a commercial flight had just finished disembarking its passengers. Among the people walking from the plane and into the terminal was a nondescript Japanese man: one Rokuro Okajima, better known in more illicit circles as the Arranger. He had been chief negotiator with Black Lagoon and had been loaned out, usually with Enforcer, to negotiate on behalf of others for a fee. Unlike Iron Rose, it was not a good time to be him.

With the rest of Black Lagoon arrested, he found himself totally independent and wasn't happy about his status. Especially now. With the death of Balalaika, Hotel Moscow was in disarray since there had been no proper successor to her. Few crime lords groomed an heir apparent since said heir might decide to retire the head prematurely to assume the position. Criminals weren't exactly the most trustworthy sort. This was especially true in Balalaika's case since she was a cyborg. She could have lived a very long life and was highly difficult to kill. Why train someone to replace you when you planned on leading a longer life than said successor?

Now with Hotel Moscow having an in-house fight, it left the organization vulnerable to outside forces. The other crime syndicates were like a pack of sharks smelling blood in the water, each trying to get a bite out of the Russians' territory for themselves. It was all but open warfare in Madripoor, and Rokuro had no guns to protect him nor shields to hide behind.

Basically it was get out of Dodge time.

Fortunately for him he had options. The Japanese government had purchased the five Super Trooper units that had been shipped over for testing, and since he was the only one involved in the deal not currently dead or incarcerated, he had pocketed all the money. That had allowed him to leave Madripoor in comfort rather than fleeing in the dead of night, but a stake like that would only last so long. He needed a steady source of income, and since he had no desire to reenter the 'legitimate' business world (which in his opinion was just as bad as Madripoor, only with less bullets and more backstabbing), that meant finding someone to work for. Lady Luck smiled upon him for a change as he had just worked with a potential employer; one operating out of his homeland of Japan, conveniently enough. Which was why he was at the airport now waiting for his new employer to pick him up.

A large gentleman in a worn business suit, as though it were attire chosen as an expectation rather than for conducting actual business, approached. "Rokuro Okajima?"

"I am." His grip tightened on his two carry-on bags. One thing about traveling with Black Lagoon, he'd learned to keep most of his worldly possessions easily transportable.

"Mantis sends her regards." He offered to carry Rokuro's bags. "She'd like to put you to work immediately. She's hoping you can arrange for the release of Silver Samurai."

"Let me get settled in, and I'll get right on it."

An arranger's work was never done, and unlike many people, he enjoyed his job.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Abe Kosaka sat at a booth in a bar that was his kind of place. Not upper crust with a bunch of snobs pretending they were experts in wine, as though that was some sort of accomplishment. Not bottom feeders where the beer had detritus floating in it and some type of illegal transaction going on at half the tables. It was a real watering hole, a dying species in the world. Too many people wanted franchises and food chains. Give him the small family run businesses any time. They were run by real people with some pride in their work. They instilled a sense of character in their establishment, as opposed to the carbon copy soulless corporate focus group created set ups, which too many people settled for.

Not only was he enjoying the atmosphere, he was also listening to an old source of his. A policeman who had proven his reliability time and time again. It wasn't because they were best friends: their relationship was quid pro quo. Abe had tipped him off to some illegal happenings from time to time that he came across. In exchange for exclusives once the bust was made, but still he was doing his civic duty in his own way. Occasionally his source would volunteer information he wasn't supposed to.

When Abe heard about the massive gas explosion in Tokyo, he had probed a little and discovered there were more than then usual disaster teams in the area. Yet nothing official had been said, and no one had broken a story. Then again, most reporters… no wait it was 'journalists' now, sat at computer, waited for someone to say something on the internet, then wrote a story about that. Most of them never saw a story with their naked eyes any longer. They didn't go out there, walking around in the real world, meeting human beings face-to-face and making connections to events. They only acknowledged the computer screen as a disseminator of information now.

Well, maybe that was the difference between a reporter and a journalist. And he was going to be doing his reporting at this table with the man right next to him who had been at the scene, and trusted Abe enough to tell him the real story.

The policeman continued regaling him with what he knew. "Trust me, these were government types. Spooky as hell too with these giant overcoats and helmets and facemasks with red lenses that glowed. Looked like they were out of some European world war. They had injured and were on the scene first. They said they got there later, but I've been at enough scenes to tell the difference. I can't say conclusively they were responsible for it, but we were specifically told to omit them from any report and tell no one about them. But I'm telling you because if they are responsible for the crap that went down there, the public deserves to know. Besides, there were a lot of homeless folks there that died. I heard from some of the emergency crews there were more than what was officially admitted. Had a friend from school who lived on the streets for a while. Cleaned up his act and has an apartment now, but you get sympathetic when someone you know ends up in a situation like that. I don't want to see these folks' deaths ignored because they're unsightly and no one wants to acknowledge them."

Abe nodded his head in agreement. "Were there any names thrown around? Any chance super humans were involved?"

The policeman considered that. "You know, now that you mention it, they didn't say anything like that at the scene, but I'd been hearing word on the street about some super powered folk that were tied up with the homeless there. Maybe they operated underground? I think it was something like that. From what I heard they might have been like Avengers for the homeless or something. They weren't super villains or I'm sure I'd have heard about that. We're supposed to report everything about them nowadays, even rumors."

Now that was interesting. "The police are paying special attention toward super villains?"

"We always did, but now the higher ups are hungry for any information, even the petty stuff they used to get annoyed at for you bringing it up. They didn't say why, but bosses don't want questions, they want 'yessirs', and you give them if you know what's good for you. Maybe they're building a database."

"Or maybe the government wants them for something else." Genoshan-like plans, Ayako had said. The police would be a very useful tool for gathering information on super powered beings. Mysterious government agents dressed up like European soldiers that aren't officially supposed to exist. Bodies starting to pile up. Cover ups. There was a big story in this. Maybe the biggest yet, and he'd had his share of big ones, though most of them were from back in the day.

The only problem he had was if Ariyoshi *was* tied up in this, she had friends in high places in the media industry, as well as everywhere else. And the more powerful she became, the more she made. Enemies of the media, you could print whatever you wanted to make them sound bad. Printing retractions wasn't like pulling teeth the way it used to be when he got his start in the business. But friends of the people in charge? You'd better have DNA evidence and pictures to go with it, and are you sure there isn't something more important you should be covering? Like the weather? People love being told its going to be rainy and cold.

Still, you could only bury a body of a certain size. If this was as big as he thought it was, well no one could bury an entire elephant. Or herd of elephants.

It was time to visit another one of those bases on the list Sato had given him. The first two were empty but showed signs of having been used until recently. The next one might have something in it.

Now the game was truly afoot.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Captain Japan was on monitor duty at Avenger's Mansion, mildly annoyed, but accepting of his fate. The truth was being a paragon of virtue had long bouts of sheer boredom, but the action was stimulating, and honestly, was pretty fun. It sure as heck was better than boredom. Making a difference was fulfilling in a weird emotional way. Maybe he'd been lucky in chugging down the super soldier serum and his mother forcing him down this path. Sure, he was resentful at first, but the truth was his father had instilled in him the discipline to become a world class martial artist which he found his true nature naturally gravitating to. The foes they fought constantly forced him to up his game. At least the challenging ones. He was on a life course which, once he got over his initial resentment, was fun. And thanks to Kodachi Kunou, he even got paid for it. It now occurred to him that while his mother wanted him to be a paragon of virtue, she hadn't considered the fact there were no actual job positions by that name. He was going to have to do something for a living, and their stipend was more than enough to get by.

Once school was out of the way, he could commit to the Avengers full time. He had felt kind of bad about skipping out on Ryouga when he came back the other day, but he couldn't afford to miss too much school. He had missed out on some fun stuff with the Avengers because of that. His grades were decent, though uninspiring. He couldn't take a desk job anyway; he'd go insane within week. He'd have to rename himself Madcap if that happened. Even teaching martial arts, which was his only other strong skill set, would be something of a chore. Sure teaching the art would be fun, but at the same time boring as hell. Punching out Man Bull or the latest guy to call himself Smasher, now that got him looking forward to waking up in the morning. Maybe he'd end up battered and bruised, but victorious in the end. Overcoming obstacles, being challenged by others and oneself, that was what made life good.

Maybe in some ways he wasn't all that different from Wasp. He just had more restraint was all.

He was still pondering such weighty matters when the door to the monitor room opened and both Daredevil and Hawkeye entered. One guest was odd enough, but two? "Hey guys. Something happening?"

For some reason Hawkeye appeared nervous, and Daredevil kept prodding the archer. "Go ahead and tell him."

"I can wait," he turned to leave but Daredevil caught his arm and turned him around.

"Go." And this time there was no option to leave since the man in red had blocked the entrance to the room.

Hawkeye began bouncing back and forth on his heels, which reminded Captain Japan of something. "What is it you want to tell me?"

Finally Hawkeye gave a gulp so loud it was like he had drank a gallon of water in one swig. "So anyway. I sort of have a confession to make. I didn't want anyone to know because it was all part of my secret identity, but if everyone finds out it might cause some problems when it happens so it's probably best if I tell you though if you don't want to know I can go." And when he tried to leave. Daredevil grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around to face Captain Japan again.

"I can one hundred percent guarantee you he will be cool with it," he assured he archer.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go ahead and tell me," Captain Japan insisted.

"Soimsortofagirl."And the archer smiled as broadly as he… she could.

While Captain Japan was processing that Daredevil said, "Take off the mask and show him."

"I don't have to do that!" she insisted.

"Trust me. You know I wouldn't steer you wrong."

Slowly she said, "I guess not. But we are so going to talk when this is over." From her tone of voice it was clear she would do the talking, which would be indistinguishable from yelling, and he'd be listening until he was officially placed in the dog house, where he would remain for some time.

So she pulled off her mask. "So I'm—"

"Ucchan!" Captain Japan pointed an accusatory finger at her.

It took her all of 2.6 seconds to figure out why he was using the name her best friend used. "Ranma! You're Captain Japan!"

"You told me you quit archery! I can't believe you lied to me like that!" Had his mask not been disguising his frown, she'd see he was frowning. He did manage the verbal equivalent though.

"Well… well you didn't tell me you were Captain Japan!"

"You didn't ask me if I was Captain Japan, Hawkeye! Ooh, I should have known from your nickname it was you all this time!"

"Well I should have known from how big you are you were Captain Japan!"

Mousse, on his part, was a bit surprised they were so miffed at one another over this. He'd thought they would be having a good chuckle by this time. Maybe he could play peacemaker a bit. "Guys, you were both hiding your secret identities. You were doing it to protect each other as well as yourselves. It's the same reason I never went around telling everyone who I was. Or Iron Rose. We don't know who she is… probably. Because of Ukyou's nickname, which you knew, it would have been easy to put two and two together and figure out she was Hawkeye if she hadn't gone with the cross-dressing thing. And need I remind you, Ranma, when you first met again there were still hard feelings over a misunderstanding."

"That wasn't my fault!" he insisted.

"Which was sorted out over time," Daredevil conceded. "But since she didn't know you were Captain Japan she couldn't tell any 'normal person' she was a super hero the same way you didn't tell any normal person you were Captain Japan."

"Well… okay that makes sense."

Daredevil turned to Ukyou. "And he couldn't tell you he was Captain Japan for similar reasons. But now you two know and you don't have to hide things anymore. In fact, if either of you had figured it out sooner your friend was a super hero, you'd have probably revealed your identity to them since you trusted each other enough. Right?"

Both gave reluctant admissions they would have.

Captain Japan was the first to give ground. Paragon of virtue and everything. "So, I guess you had your reasons, and I get that."

"And I don't want further misunderstandings to ruin our friendship like it did once before," Ukyou agreed. "I don't need to make another blast arrow to put in your butt."

Ranma nodded his head, then stopped in mid-motion. "What do you mean 'another'?"

"Tried making one right after I thought you jilted me. Dad didn't have any nitroglycerin, which was probably for the best. Children and explosives aren't a good mix."

"Yeah, I don't want you to put anything in my butt, nitroglycerin or otherwise," he said.

"Especially with her boyfriend standing right here," Daredevil added, not wanting his girlfriend to talk about doing things to guy's butts. Other than his. And no nitroglycerin there either. He was master of hidden weapons technique, but none of them were located there.

The girlfriend statement made the light go on in Ranma's head. "So that's why you two have been so friendly lately. I mean in costume since I knew you were dating out of costume. I thought you were just getting along really well. I mean you are getting along well, but in a much different way than normal getting along well. Like me and Ryouga get along well, but not the way you two do. Because that would be beyond weird and awkward."

"And his girlfriend's a model so you wouldn't stand a chance anyway," Daredevil said jokingly.

For a moment Ranma considered telling them the Bucky thing and mentioning he was as hot as any model when he looked like that, but decided against it. Finding out his oldest friend was a super hero teammate of his and vice versa were enough revelations for one day. He considered who else in his life might be a super hero. Ryouga was another. That made two. So who else? Maybe Nabiki. She had enough martial arts skill she could be one. And she had gone out of her way to say she had an aversion to heroics and would never be one. Maybe she was hiding a secret identity and was just saying that to throw him off the track, the way Ukyou had pretended to be a guy.

He'd have to keep a closer eye on her from now on.

Ukyou suddenly whirled on Mousse. "And exactly when did you and Ranchan tell each other your identities? And why didn't you tell me when you found out?"

Mousse held his hands up defensively. "He didn't tell me. I could tell from his heartbeat when you introduced us who he really was. I was surprised as heck. I didn't tell you who he was because he had to be the one to do it, same reason I didn't tell him who you really were."

"Oh." That assuaged Ukyou's irritation a bit. She didn't like the idea of her boyfriend keeping anything from her, but it wasn't exactly his secret to tell, and he had remained closed mouthed about hers. Still he technically could have trusted her but chose not to. But he had engineered a situation to have her find out at the same time Ranma did. So he had tried to get rid of the secret when the opportunity presented itself, or he wouldn't have insisted she tell 'Cap' her real name.

It all worked out in the end. She'd have to thank him in her new, more intimate way later. He was a good boyfriend. A few rough edges, but a keeper. She'd figure out how to sand the edges down so things were smoother.

"This is so weird," Ranma finally said.

"Yeah, not exactly how I envisioned things going down when I decided to tell you my gender," Ukyou agreed.

"You telling the others?" Ranma asked.

"Um, eventually. I wanted to do it slowly. Ease people into it." She turned to Mousse. "Is anyone else I know in my regular life a super hero? And you have to answer since I'm asking it a direct question."

"Not yet. You haven't introduced me to everyone, though. Besides, what are the odds of you knowing two people in your personal life who are actually super heroes?"

"I'm up to two," Ranma pointed out.

"Oh. What are the odds it's three?"

Ranma considered that. "Either abysmal or pretty good. I don't think there's anything in between."

"So it's probably everyone or no one else. In either case, you have nothing to worry about," Mousse explained.

"I… guess." Ranma wasn't sure he followed the logic in that, since he wasn't sure there was any in there to begin with. Could Hiroshi or Daisuke be on the list? Maybe he'd spar with them a bit and see if they tipped their hand, or just ended up with a couple black eyes.

Before the trio could discuss the matter further, an alert went off on the monitors. The automated system focused on a disturbance being reported by the police of a suspected super villain called Barnacle. A quick name check revealed he had popped up before, and it listed his ability was to turn any type of moisture into a hardened shell. That included his bodily fluids which he covered himself in, and subsequently made him difficult to injure.

"Bodily fluids," Hawkeye moaned.

"It does make him bulletproof," Captain Japan mentioned.

"Which means we're obligated to stop him," Daredevil said. "Don't let him touch you, though. I mean he's covered in his own bodily fluids."

"Why do so many super villains have powers that are so wrong?" Captain Japan ordered Sasuke to prime the quinjet's engines as the heroes prepared to stop yet another menace to society.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[OMAKE]

Genma Saotome was a bummed-out man as he walked the streets of Tokyo. He had attended a public rally held by his wife, who sadly was still the head of an organization against 'immoral' super heroes, Ranma and his alter ego still being near the top of the list. (Apparently the Bloodstones' trail of wanton risqué behavior made them share the number one and two spots, so there was that.) But still this was in direct contradiction to the promise Genma had been forced to make about turning their son into a paragon of virtue and symbol of heroism for the country. One would think after a decade and a half she might have lightened up on the whole concept, but once Nodoka got an idea in her head… well it was safe to say she tended to be a bit obsessive.

So that meant no going back home to be a husband. Where most men were ruled by their loins, at least some of the time, Genma was the type to be ruled by his passion of martial arts. But even so this was a bit of a drought and he really wanted to pick up on his lax husbandly duties at least several times. Too bad there wasn't some way only he could go back and assure her their son was training hard to be the super hero she wanted him to be, but there was no way she'd let Genma off the hook if he popped up into her life again. She'd want to see Ranma, and then it would end not well. He wondered how many times his poor son was going to have to save the world before he'd be in her good graces again. Maybe Ranma could change his identity to something else. Major Hokkaido perhaps? That had a nice ring to it. Now if only he could find an indestructible boomerang instead of a shield….

His thoughts were interrupted as it began to drizzle. God's way of whizzing on him just enough to change him into a panda. It stopped almost as soon as it began, so his fur wasn't too wet. Wet fur could stink to high heaven in no time at all, even when he shook it free of the water.

Still lost in thought, Genma was about halfway to the Tendou residence when a net suddenly fell on top of him. He stood there, staring through the squares of vines of all things. Who made nets out of vines? And in Japan of all places?

He found out a moment later when a man, Eastern European if Genma was any judge, landed next to the net. Everything he wore was made out of animal skins. An open vest had a lion face and a mane out the top. The skin-tight leggings were leopard skin. The belt was made from zebra of all things. Leather for the rather low-cut footgear he wore. His dark black hair was finely groomed and judging by his skin tone he spent most of his life outdoors.

The man looked in satisfaction at his catch. In English he said, "At last, I've tracked you down, animal. I admit, it took me a while, since your tracks would periodically disappear, but I knew if I kept at it I'd be rewarded. Now I, Kraven the Hunter, have captured you, animal side kick of the super hero known as Bucky. A rather rare form of Ailuropoda by my reckoning. I can't imagine how long it took to train you. Perhaps I will make a fine carpet out of you after I have dealt with your owner."

That made Genma's eyebrows shoot up.

But now Kraven was in full rant mode. "Yes, my fine Chinese beast, you will be the key to my hunting the most challenging game of all. And I need a challenge. Without one, I fear I would grow so bored I would blow my brains out. I have hunted everything, from the most dangerous of animals to man itself. And now I will hunt the most dangerous game of all: a super hero. With you as bait, she will not be able to resist my challenge to a hunt. I even went all out and paid the Hand to convert part of one of their Ninja World Parks into a hunting preserve. I even had some of my elephants sent over. I can't decide if I should try and run her down in a stampede, or just ride one myself as my battle steed. Maybe I should do both?"

Genma released a sigh, then crooked a clawed finger at Kraven and motioned him to come over.

That raised Kraven's brow. "She has trained you well. You imitate human gestures to the point you can communicate with them. Heh. I shall come over, panda, for the entertainment value alone to see what happens next."

Once Kraven was next to him, Genma popped all his claws. Kraven still looked at him curiously as Genma's paws were a blur, and a moment later the tattered remains of vines surrounded him.

The hunter stared in shock at the animal freeing itself, which is why he fell victim to a powerfully delivered Anything Goes Dragon Stamp Flying Kick. The flying was twofold. Genma flew by leaping and kicking his foe, and his opponent flew backward from the impact.

While Kraven was superhumanly strong, thanks to the rare potions he consumed, Genma was too, due to him being a large panda and not human. Moreover Kraven had never dealt with an animal that was incredibly proficient in martial arts. Between that and getting a blow in that would have buckled a normal man's ribcage inward, the cursed panda made short work of would be hunter of the super hero variety.

Genma observed his handiwork and sighed. Being a super hero's cute animal sidekick was not all it was cracked up to be. True, a super villain hunter whackjob was part and parcel for the business, to the point of almost being obligatory, but why couldn't he have tried something more original, like abducting a cat girl instead? He could have even tried having Tigra and Bucky fight each other. He hadn't used his imagination at all.

He threw the unconscious Kraven over his shoulder. He was kicking this one to the Avengers so they could send him to the proper authorities. The police never took a panda dropping a super villain in their lap seriously.

Cute Animal Sidekicks got no respect.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[End Chapter]

Yes, this one was brief. I needed to wrap a few things up before the next two chapters, which should be more linear than most have been lately. I'm thinking both will focus on one thing without anything else in them. And hey, now two more people know each other's identities.

And rather than a standalone Omake, I thought Genma-Panda vs. Kraven the Hunter was just right for a smaller chapter like this. And yes, this was absolutely Kraven's motif. He did have Tigra and Spider Man fight one another in a decent story with Claremont and Byrne. A pity they didn't let him rest in peace after his send off in Kraven's Last Hunt. It was a rare case of a classic villain meeting his end, but in a way which I approved of.

Yes, this Crawling Unknown was like the canon one, except it was a Russian official and the gamma irradiated blood came from something else.