Chaos and Carnage

by Gundraw

What if the symbiote spawned from Venom had another trait acquired from one Peter Parker... the one to protect the masses, and that there is a responsibility with the power it has. And what if it somehow stumbled upon our young Pigtailed Protagonist?

11. Chapter of the Eleventh

--- Some hours earlier, on the rooftops outside of the Tendo Dojo --

A man crouched low behind the peak of a roof that overlooked the Tendo compound. One could easily see into the living room where a heavy discussion was being held between several different people. Most of the people present looked to be Japanese in origin aside from one who looked Chinese, but several were easily identifiable as of American origin. For two others however, one could not discern where these two had come from, and in fact, they were not of human origin. For the cyan haired one, it was more identifiable than the other, for her eyes, ears and tail were quite obviously not something that were natural for a human to have.

The male's eyes narrowed as he twiddled with a device in his hands, looking like a miniature satellite dish, to which a pair of headphones were connected that trailed up to his ears. The conversation going on within the building was being projected directly into his ears, pretty clearly considering the distance between himself and those having the conversation.

Through a small amount of static he heard the conversation wrapping up after two of the young women had left.

"Well daddy… you knew this day would come."

"Nabiki take care of your little sister ok…? Oh how I will miss you both!" The apparent father of the family stated, giving the girl a big hug before they all headed out the door.

The only male of the group, and his target was given every piece of luggage gathered, and he watched with a raised eyebrow as he balanced seven or so full suitcases with apparent ease. It was a feat in itself to balance it, but to also carry all that weight made him even surer that he was the target.

They headed off in the direction of the nearest train station, walking off into the distance.

The man shut off the listening device and hopped down from the roof, careful to avoid being seen and smiled as his whole body suddenly rippled and seemed to bubble a bit, before the skin folded in on itself and a new layer of skin emerged, though this time it was blue in color. The clothes shifted as well, the casual attire turning white before morphing into a racier variant. The chest swelled as two breasts formed most Japanese women would envy. The white shirt split down the center and shifted to only barely cover the swell of her breasts. His, or her at the moment, hair grew out to a new length, brushing just pass her shoulders. The black suddenly seeped away and a vibrant red emerged, almost over saturated to the point of looking inhuman. Her once dark brown eyes faded into the sclera, and the whole eye was white for a moment before coming to a vibrant yellow that made her already unnatural looks only more uncommon. The frame of her body, once fitting of a man shifted and shrank into a much more feminine figure, slender and toned, but not overly so. The pants of the man all gathered up into a long white loin cloth that hung past her knees, but left her long, muscled legs open to the air and to anyone to view rather openly.

The transformation finally complete, Mystique smiled as she shifted back to her natural form, feeling much more comfortable than she had posing as that Japanese man she had seen some time earlier in the day. It was necessary to do this so that the Wolverine would not pick up on her scent; he had no doubt memorized it by now.

She was tasked by Magneto to visit this place, which he had found as the last known residence of the mutant they were hunting, 'Ranma' he was called. The boy intrigued her most certainly, everyone seemed certain he wasn't a mutant, but his abilities were obviously not normal, even in New York there were only a handful of plain humans that could do what he did unassisted.

Her thoughts soured a bit as she thought of Magneto and rolled her eyes (though it was impossible to tell) at the arrogant pigs orders. She disliked him greatly, but would rather have him as an ally than an enemy at the moment, but the moment she could forge her own alliance, she would show the fool the folly of his ways. She knew that his path would eventually lead to the destruction of both mutant and human kind, but as it was she couldn't risk betraying him. She had thought several times to join the X-men, but their ways of dealing with things never settled well with her. So she waited for the proper moment, and then she would have her victory.

Pulling a small walkie-talkie from a pouch hanging from a black belt that was loosely sitting around her waist; she contacted the person that caused her so much grief to give him the news.

"Magneto… our target just left… he's heading for the train station to head into Tokyo." Mystique stated.

A moment passed before Magneto's voice responded. "Ah, thank you Mystique… meet us at the edge of the track, there are a few stops that have to be made so you should have time… and do make it quick."

His voice crackled and cut out and Mystique sneered at the walkie-talkie before putting it back in pouch and shaking her head. "Arrogant bastard…" she muttered darkly, before quickly gathering her bearings and heading out to join her brothers to confront this Ranma.

-- A short ways away --

Logan suddenly paused as he and Peter were walking, his nose twitching before his eyes narrowed.

"Hey Pete… I think this whole thing just got a bit more complicated." He grunted, looking in the direction the scent.

Peter glanced curiously at the rugged looking man next to him. The people around them shot glances at them, unused to seeing the foreign men. "What do you mean?"

"You better change into that costume of yours…" Wolverine's eyes narrowed. "Looks like some other people got their eyes on Ranma…"

Peter looked confused for a moment. "What? Who?"

"The Brotherhood…" Logan growled, motioning for him to follow as they ran off, the mutant guiding the super powered hero.

-- A little later, at the train crash --

"I am Magneto… and I have a proposition for you…" The figure drifting easily in the air stated.

Ranma eyed him warily, but kept the others of this assorted band in his vision, unsure of how to proceed with this meeting.

Host Ranma, be wary of that one… Kao's disembodied and layered voice stated.

"What do you want?" Ranma asked, disregarding rather blatantly any attempt to have a modicum of respect for the figure. 'Why, what's so special about the guy?' Ranma thought, struggling for a moment to have two conversations at once.

This man is known as Magneto, as he had said. I only have what Peter Parker knew of the man as a source of information, but what I can tell is that he has some sort of mastery over magnetic fields.

'What's so special about that?'

Magneto nearly sneered at this whelp's lack of respect for he, the master of magnetism, but let it slide, knowing that this was a possible ally after all, and it would not do if he lost the chance to befriend him this early in the game. "Well, I witnessed your battle at the bank a couple days ago on the television, quite an impressive display indeed. Not only taking Venom out, but so quickly and efficiently at that. It intrigued me." Venom was a well known character in New York; it was hard not to notice the nearly seven foot tall hulking beast of muscle, with a grin that would scare most. He was not a villain, nor a hero either, somewhere lost in between. His twisted sense of justice made him more of a rogue vigilante, and the way he consumed those who wronged others was more than enough to make most of the villains know that Venom was not to be trifled with. After all, one who could stand against Spider-man and rather easily be more than a match was enough to make them wary.

And then this boy came along, and dispatched of Venom as if he was nothing. Most intriguing indeed. "Clearly you are not of the human race, no mere homo sapien could take on such a beast… surely you must realize that…"

And indeed it was true. More and more, after Kao's startling revelations that had been revealed to him, he knew that he was no mere human, but still, he was pretty sure he wasn't anything else either.

Kao wanted to roll his eyes at his host's ignorance, but as he had no eyes he had to make do with what he had. Host Ranma, magnetic fields are quite possibly one of the most powerful fields there are. They affect so much in the world that the extent of his powers is hard to fathom, I can only assume at this point, as his powers will start to extend into the theoretical spectrum, and even then I am unsure if even I could comprehend what was going on.

'Eh?' Ranma intelligently responded, only really catching the fact that Kao had said that this guy had power, and a lot of it.

"Well yeah, so?" Ranma responded. "I mean, so what if I ain't human…?"

Host Ranma... Kao's voice once again filtered in, this time truly sounding exasperated. This man has powers that are so great that I have no doubt he could defeat you, and with ease at that. He is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous people on earth, and rightfully so. I would suggest taking extreme caution when confronting this man, and considering that he is surrounded by more of what I can only guess are mutants, the danger that this encounter might put you in has me worried for your safety, and life.

Ranma was about to give Kao a piece of his mind about his abilities being so easily disregarded when Magneto spoke again, cutting Ranma's thoughts off for the moment.

Magneto smirked. Now it was time to reveal to this boy the truth of the world. "How sheltered you must be. You must know of how mutants are treated…? You must realize that anything these… mortals consider 'unnatural' or 'inhuman' are prejudiced against. They hunt people like you and I and my brethren here Ranma, chastise us and hate us. Surely you have received stares from people the fear in their eyes? The look of near disgust at what you are?"

That struck a sore spot. Recently at the Masaki household after Kao revealed the extent of his strength, he had felt more than one stare of disbelief and possibly… fear. And they were aliens for god's sake. It made the statement only ring truer when he remembered the times after Herb and Saffron even when his rivals and even fiancées would give him a look of fear when they thought he wasn't looking. Especially after his fight with the Phoenix King, Saffron, he noticed that both Ryoga and Mousse seemed more wary to attack him, and when they were not fighting the looks he received were really disconcerting.

It only became worse after his move to Tokyo, occasionally on the streets hearing hushed whispers, usually involving the words 'Nerima' and 'Martial Artists.' Ranma was not a celebrity by any means, but that does not mean his feats have gone unnoticed by the populace of Japan.

Noticing the advantage, Magneto pressed on. "These people will come to hate you Ranma, as they hate us! They will undoubtedly start to loathe and fear you; hate you for being something more than they are! They cannot understand, and because of that jealousy and hatred spawn! These people… even those close to you; will eventually deteriorate into nothing more than people who fear you and will distant themselves from you…. And you will end up alone." Magneto gestured grandly to those around him, nearly the entirety of the brotherhood. "But there is another way… we are the Brotherhood Ranma, we embrace our gifts, recognize our true place in this world as not mere homo-sapiens, no… but instead as homo-superior! The next stage in human evolution… the beginning of a grander scheme… we dedicate ourselves to showing these… humans the follies of their ways, and showing them the truth… that they are merely a species that is going to be nothing more than a reference in the textbooks of tomorrow."

Ranma stared at the man long and hard, having conflicting thoughts about this whole ordeal. He agreed that the people who didn't understand his training and experiences would fear him, it has been quite evident that if those around him feared them as he suspected they did, how would a normal person not? But he wasn't so sure that 'showing the humans the folly of their ways' as this Magneto fellow had put it was the right thing to do. Ranma did enjoy flaunting however, and simply loved the attention of others, and so the idea of people hating him struck a chord within the martial artist. 'Hey Kao… is he tellin' the truth?' Ranma asked, wanting to confirm with his more intellectual half the truths of this statement.

Kao seemed silent for a bit but eventually spoke through their mind, quite clearly despite no sound being produced. It is… true Host Ranma that a majority of the populace, here or otherwise is not ready to be exposed to someone as… 'unique' as you. The emphasis on the word unique made Ranma wince as Kao continued his monologue. A minority however will see you in a different light, depending on how you use your skills. You are not normal Host Ranma, not by any means, and you are lucky to have people around you that accept you as readily as they do, so do not take them for granted. However you should remember that no matter what your intentions, people will see you as they wish to, regardless of what you may try to do. Spider-man, for example, is generally regarded as a hero among the populace of New York, but only because he has been doing so for so long. When he began he was thought to be another vigilante and most people just wanted him to disappear. With time, more people will accept you, but most of the people have never witnessed thing like you can do.

Ranma grunted softly so the people ahead of him couldn't hear. 'And what's this homo-superior crap?'

It is what Magneto and the Brotherhood refer to themselves as. They are mutants, but think the term is rather harsh and prefer homo-superior instead. They believe that 'mutants' are actually nature taking it's course and are the next step in evolution for mankind, and plan on showing the world their views on such. I have my doubts as to whether or not they are truly the next stage of evolution or merely what their name suggests, just 'mutants.'

'What makes you think that?' Ranma asked his mind, wondering not for this first time how exactly they communicated. It was… kind of like talking, but not. It was as if he could feel Kao's thoughts more than hear them, and it made them so much more expressive that it was truly hard to describe in words. No response from the symbiote came for some moments, and Ranma was curious as to that but before he could ask Magneto spoke again.

After watching the various emotions play through the young man's face, Magneto's arrogant smirk blew into a full blown grin. No doubt the boy was realizing the truths of what he said, and while he had the advantage, Magneto pressed on. "What say you, Ranma? Will you join me and my fellow homo superior in our attempt to show the people of the world who truly are the superior species?"

Ranma remained silent a moment longer, a contemplative look on his face. "So, you want to 'convince' the people that we are superior eh?" At Magneto's nod Ranma continued. "And just how would we do that, get on the news and tell everyone we're so amazing?"

Magneto chuckled at the foolish ignorance displayed and shook his head. "I'm afraid the time for words is over. We have to show our power to these people and bend them, prove to them through force just what it is that we can do!"

Ranma's lips tugged into a frown. "So what? We're gonna beat up some weaker guys so that we can prove we're better?"

The lips of the floating figure clad in the reds and violets also turned into a frown at the crude description of their work. "It is hardly beating them up… we will merely exterminate the fools from this planet and then there will be only us left, we the superior race."

A frown instantly adorned Ranma's face. For a moment, he had been considering the proposition. Ranma was not one who liked to be outcast; he liked to be in the center of the scheme of things, not left behind. But killing was something he reserved for people like Saffron, who had a general disregard for people he dubbed "inferior." Now that Magneto was acting quite similar, Ranma's mind quickly decided on the path he would take. "What the hell? You think just because you got some powers other guys don't you can go 'round murderin' innocent people? Fuck that man, Beatin' the snot outta em is one thing, but killin' people like that? I mean only kill if you have to man, I mean, even Herb wouldn't do something like that…" Ranma stated, but quickly followed up with a mental note. 'Wouldn't put it past Saffron though.'

I applaud your desire to not kill random civilians Host Ranma however- Kao's voice was cut off by Magneto, who snarled in rage at the impudent whelp before him.

Magneto wasn't sure who this 'Herb' fellow was that Ranma had mentioned, nor did he care. As far as he was concerned, he had received his answer and that was that. The fool didn't seem to realize just what it was that he was going up against, did he? For he was the master of all thing metal, and there was truly no equal to his power. To ensure that he would not be a future nuisance however, lest Xavier and his silly band of idiots retrieve the boy, he would have to be destroyed.

"Very well then… if you insist to remain ignorant to what is clear…" Magneto raised a hand, and with it, the train car Ranma was on top of lifted above the ground like a feather on the wind, drifting weightlessly above the earth with hardly any sign of struggle on Magneto's part. "You must die." The train suddenly snapped upward like a mousetrap, and it was only the brief buzzing and honed reflexes that allowed Ranma to dive out of the way as the train car he was standing on was quite literally bent in half and crushed by itself, the windows shattering loudly and the grass sent tinkling to the ground below and sounding like a wind chime on a gentle breeze. Of course, this was anything but such.

His trained body easily flipped while he dropped, landing on the ground with naught a noise into a crouched position, his legs wide and one hand going down as well to cushion the fall, the other raising up behind him. He quickly looked up to survey his new opponents, and his eyes widened.

The large man with the maroon armor was smiling rather maniacally, cracking one melon sized fist in the other as be lumbered forward, each step resounding loudly beneath him, and at a glance Ranma noticed that the tracks flattened like cardboard beneath his feet, making him revise his previous thoughts about the man just being large for show.

The animalistic one seemed to crouch low, growling deep in his throat and raising his hands before him, showing off his lengthened claw like fingernails, his yellow eyes gleaming in the sun and his teeth gnashing away in his mouth. Ranma was reminded of Logan for a moment, but discarded the thought as soon as it occurred.

The blue woman, whom Ranma thought looked the most inhuman did nothing more than put herself into a rather advanced martial arts stance, Ranma quickly categorized as a Ninjutsu stance, and a rather good one at that. He noted that her form was nigh perfect and made a note to watch her to see if she could back it up.

The one with the silver armor just giggled with glee, rubbing his hands together quickly before crouching low and setting his hands upon the earth. Ranma was confused at the posture, but quickly turned his attention back to Magneto.

Magneto had performed another simple gesture with his hand (despite the fact that it was not needed) and the track itself began to disassemble itself around them, each piece separating cleanly and rising around them, before slowly each one molded quickly and fluidly into wicked looking objects, long spikes with barbs, blades and other nasty tools for pain that made Ranma sweat.

-Perhaps angering Magneto at this point was not the best choice you could have made in this case… Kao finished, immediately sending every piece of information about their surroundings through Ranma's head to assist him.

And then the tremors started.

-- A couple minutes before, inside the train --

Akane had been worried before, however now it became much worse as people ran by screaming in terror, pushing and shoving violently passed each other.

Washu frowned deeply as she typed at the holo-console. "What the hell…? The magnetic fields in the area are fluctuating wildly…" Her eyes widened suddenly as she pinpointed the source of the power. "My god…"

Ryoko floated around the car and phased through the wall to get a better look at what Washu is doing.

"What's up?" She asked, wondering what would make Washu so worried.

"The source of the magnetic fluctuations. The power of the fields is so powerful that…" She shook her head. "I don't think even I could make such fields, I've never seen this sort of power… its astounding!"

The mob had mostly passed, only several stragglers left behind.

Everyone had been surprised when Washu had suddenly began typing at a console that appeared out of nowhere, but her comments only made the even more concerned about their love interest's health.

"W-what do you mean, Washu?" Ukyo asked.

Washu shook her head. "I'm not sure… but something's going on up front… something big."

-- Back outside --

The buzzing in his head had yet to cease from within the train, bothering Ranma greatly. He wasn't used to such a distraction while fighting, and so when it suddenly flared up, it took a moment for him to react. Of course, a moment was all it took.

A loud rumbling suddenly surrounded him and he stumbled a bit as his footing was compromised by the severe rattling that was shaking beneath and around him.

'A- an earthquake?!?' Ranma thought. It wasn't unheard of, Japan was the location of many earthquakes after all, but it occurred so suddenly and at such an inopportune moment that Ranma was sure something else was causing this…

The one with the "A" on his chest Ranma, the tremors seem to be coming from him. Kao stated quickly to answer his unspoken question.

Ranma quickly regained his footing and concentration, quickly noting the location of his opponents before nodding and leaping into the air weightlessly, easily soaring over the heads of the brotherhood, his ascent quickly reaching its peak before he started to descend, the silver-armored individual the target.

Before he could reach him however, a buzzing in the back of his head started anew and Ranma had to shake his head a moment to clear it before he realized the danger.

The metal objects that had seemed to take a life of their own suddenly flew through the air at dizzying speeds, disproving Ranma's previous theory that they would be slow.

His path through the air quickly changed as he appeared to bounce off some unseen substance and fly through the air in another direction as the multitude of lethal looking metal objects flung themselves at him with dangerous intent. Sure that he was out of danger, or at least for the moment, Ranma cursed as the direction of the various blades and spikes redirected themselves to his new location.

'Damn that ain't fair!' Ranma thought as he contorted his body to best dodge the blades, his mind suddenly drifting back to thoughts of Mousse and his hidden weapons. The problem was that these projectiles seemed much, much more accurate and deadly, and faster as well. He winced as he felt one graze his forearm, drawing forth a spurt of his blood.

He felt a sudden squirming inside his body and noted the bleeding slowed, and came to the realization that Kao was artificially clotting the wound, and gave a mental thanks to the symbiotic partner.

Before he had time to recover however the attack was pressed further, and he turned to face the feral looking man leaping through the air at him, his hand reared back and the long, claw-like fingernails rose in preparation to rend him. He quickly turned to face this new opponent, getting ready to block, smirking as he noted the folly of the attack. Mid-air combat was his specialty after all.

His mind flared again and this time he cursed loudly, glancing back to see the blue-skinned woman also leaping at him from behind. 'Kao turn that damned thing off, I can't fight like this!' Ranma thought, narrowly avoiding the swipe from the man and spinning in a quick kick to send the man flying through the air at the woman, noting that she used him as a springboard to launch herself faster at him, unconcerned at the man's state of health.

Host Ranma, I suggest that I leave this ability activated as its benefits are far better than the alternative…

Ranma grunted as his mind buzzed each moment before the woman attacked, confusing him slightly. Now, normally it would not be too much of a problem to fight with this newfound ability, but being surrounded by danger as it were, Ranma found the constant buzzing to be more debilitating that helpful. He could adapt, he was sure of that, but at the moment it was not helping him a bit. A somewhat clumsy block of the strike at his throat allowed a moment for the female mutant to quickly launch a kick at his abdomen, sending him flying downwards towards the ground. The pain was rather insignificant, she was weaker than Akane was, but the strike he noted after he flipped to land on the ground and sliding a few feet back from the momentum, was not intended to hurt him, but rather set him up. Tremors started anew beneath his feet, much more violent this time and he was hard pressed to find decent footing. The only warning he received from the attack was the sudden displacement of air behind him and the whoosh that followed, as well as that really annoying buzz in his head. He quickly tumbled forward, avoiding the enormous fist as it crushed through the ground he had been occupying only moments earlier. In mid tumble he witnessed the fist from the enormous man crush through the railroad tracks and ground alike like it wasn't even there, and the ground instantly buckled under the force of the attack, forming an enormous crater. Ranma's eyes crossed at the power from that fist and silently noted that staying away from him was a good idea. He seemed to be strong enough to rival Lime, but Ranma decided that he'd rather not prove that guess at the moment.

As he rose to a stand Ranma cursed as he noted that he had been led into the middle of a circle, surrounded on all sides by these mutants. He cursed again as he watched more metal rise around him, surrounding him as his opponents had, and his eyes narrowed as several sections of the train did so as well, separating effortlessly and lifting into the air and joining the other pieces of metal.

"As you can see Ranma… you have no chance against us… give up now and join us! You're efforts are admiral, but foolish." Magneto stated proudly.

'Kao… turn that damn thing off!' Ranma shouted in his mind as the buzzing continued.

A slight pause indicated Kao mulling the request over, before he felt the almost painful sensation in his head ebb away and disappear altogether. It is against my better judgment, but very well.

Ranma grinned as the sensations subsided and looked up at Magneto. "Che, you kiddin' me? I'm just getting started!" He shouted before finally deciding to step up his skills a bit, still wary of going all out despite the obvious danger he was in.

Magneto would have commented further, but was cut off as Ranma shot off towards him in a speed much faster than he had moved at before, leaping into the air with his fist reared back, preparing a rather devastating looking punch. He barely had time to raise a stray piece of metal in front of him, allowing it to stretch and fold into a hyper dense shield of sorts in front of him, the fist stopping mere centimeters away from his face as the fist, calloused and rough, slammed into the metal disk and leaving an impression several centimeters deep. The force with which the fist impacted surprised Magneto greatly, from what he had seen thus far, the only real display of strength this 'Ranma' had shown was when he had fought Venom. Eyes narrowing, Magneto pushed the metal in front of him away, sending Ranma, who was rather surprised at the metal disk, flying backwards back to the middle of the group, followed closely by more of the metal projectiles that Magneto so easily controlled.

To say he had been shocked when his punch had suddenly struck some metal barrier was an understatement. He had expected to take the guy out with that one punch, and thus put a lot of force behind it. Taking Magneto out had become a priority after witnessing the extent of his power and after Kao's comment, and so when he had found his plan suddenly being turned on him, he had to quickly revise it. It of course was hard to do while avoiding a multitude of metal objects flying at you, and while his style specialized at mid air combat, dodging each projectile was near impossible. Anything Goes was designed to be used against an opponent, not to dodge a number of metal flechettes being flung at you.

Even as talented as Ranma was, it wasn't possible to come out of that attack unscathed, and so as he flipped and twisted around as many as he could, he found a number of them still able to slash across his skin, some passing deeply into his muscle and causing him to shout out in pain as they drew more blood than the first cut had. More of the odd sensations of his flesh moving assaulted him, but he ignored it for the moment to regain his composure.

But his opponents were not so lenient. The rumbling started anew, this time with much, much more force, and Ranma noticed little cracks forming beneath his feet as he lowered himself to keep steady, looking to the silver-clad man. 'Gotta get ridda that… really buggin' me…' Seeing that the blue-skinned woman was positioned next to him, Ranma quickly decided on his plan and shot off towards her, for all intents and purposes looking to engage her.

Host Ranma, I suggest you take this fight more seriously. Kao's voice suddenly interrupted as Ranma ducked under a counter-kick aimed for his head and darted past her, leaping into a flying kick aimed at the oddly garbed man. 'What're you talkin' about? I am takin this seriously!' Ranma thought as his foot struck home with a satisfying impact, the first real hit he had got in the whole battle.

Avalanche had been caught off guard when he looked up to see the foot about to impact in his face, and thus had no time to raise any sort of defense, taking the full force of the blow and flying backwards through the air some dozen feet before tumbling to the ground and rolling to a halt, his body impacting against the yet unassembled rails of the train track and no doubt injuring further. His body remained still, much to Ranma's relief, and with the brief moment he had, Kao spoke once more.

Host Ranma, this is not another one of your martial arts matches. This is a fight for your life, whether you like it or not these people are trying to kill you, and will not stop until they see you dead. The thought was passed directly into Ranma's own mind.

A surprised look crossed more than one if the brotherhood's mutant's faces as the watched Avalanche so easily dispatched of. They had all watched the boy take out Venom at Magneto's request, but still, they had been sure he was going to fight Mystique, when before their eyes he had seemingly flowed before their fellow member with lightning efficiency and speed, dispatching him with a practiced ease that unsettled Mystique especially.

'I am takin this seriously Kao! This ain't no different from when me and Ryoga fight, he's out ta kill me too, remember?' Ranma thought as he kept most of his mind in the battle. He had gotten out of the circle he had been trapped in at least, but that still left four, and also the most powerful of the bunch from what he could tell as of yet. At least he wouldn't have to worry about those tremors, but he still had the metal guy to worry about, and taking him down was still number one on his priority list.

The blonde one rushed forward toward the Chinese clad martial artist and took a wild swipe, intent to disembowel the shifty teen and end this fight quickly, though Ranma quickly turned and leaned backward, letting the arm swing above him. With his opponent of balance, Ranma planted his arms on the ground beside him and lifted himself up, swing a leg up and around and with a distinct "crack" slammed his foot into the back of Sabertooth's head. The blonde mutant's eyes seemed to widen, though it was hard to tell through those pupil-less orbs, and he flew forward several feet before landing face first into the ground, still.

Pushing off with his hands, Ranma flipped to his feet and immediately took up a combat stance, smirking at the three remaining brotherhood.

Mystique looked the most surprised, she had after all just watched two powerful mutants in their own fields taken down with a single blow each, and noted that the style her opponent used, which she had yet to identify, was brutally efficient, designed for optimized incapacitation in the shortest time possible.

Of course, being made by Happosai and only further altered by Genma as well as Ranma, both of whom are not the most honorable of characters, it wasn't a real surprise that the style was such.

Ranma however, would have been much better off if he had known that Sabertooth was much like Logan in the sense that both had a healing factor that easily outclassed the rest of the human race and for that matter most other sentient beings. Thus, while the blow was enough to knock out the average human, Ranma was still hardly using his strength to its full potential, and was also still unassisted by Kao. So when Sabertooth rose up behind him, his head still aching, but otherwise unharmed, Ranma was not surprisingly caught off guard as the claws of the animalistic mutant tore into his back, digging deep into his flesh and rending through skin and muscle alike.

A scream was let loose by Ranma as he felt the nails dig deep and scrape against the tender organs contained within his body, and nearly fell to a knee. He stumbled forward clumsily, wincing as the hand was pulled out of his back and again felt Kao trying to clot it, but he knew that it was not enough.

Host Ranma, there is only so much I can do… I can stop most of the blood from escaping but I cannot mend the damaged tissue, or replicate it. You will be at a significant disadvantage if you continue fighting in this state.

Sabertooth grimaced, that had felt a lot slimier than he thought it would. He took a glance down at his nails to check what was going on, and rose an eyebrow as the shreds of the shirt that were still attached to his nails seemed to melt away and dissolve into nothing. At another glance, he saw that the shirt was mending itself, strands connecting at the middle of the tears and pulling itself together, like something being torn apart in reverse.

"Stuff it Kao!" Ranma shouted aloud, now uncaring of who heard him as he tried to get back into his stance.

"Looks like we got ourselves a glimpse of him mutant power…" Sabertooth spat out, whipping his hand down to dislodge the goop that was most certainly not blood from his fingers.

The others had not had the best angle to view the attack from, but had witnessed his clothes seemingly ripple and shift on their own, but still the mutant power was an unknown, and it left Mystique weary.

Juggernaut however, was not so impressed. Though not a mutant himself, he had begrudgingly learned to respect their powers for no other reason than for the challenges they presented. Still though, with the powers he had inherited from the energies that Cyttorak had gifted him with, he was more than a match for most mutants, and even Magneto would find himself hard pressed to defeat the monstrosity of a man in combat, if he was alone that was.

Magneto had promised Cain that the boy would most certainly help them in defeating the X-men, and ultimately, Charles Xavier, the bane of his life. 'And if he does not join us…' Magneto had said, 'Then he will most certainly draw the interest of Charles.'

Now it seemed less likely, and Cain Marko was none too pleased that so far, this little adventure did not look like it would lead to Charles in the slightest.

Regardless, he was here, and had been itching for a fight for some time, in recent periods having kept a low profile to try and find another means to get to his stepbrother. He took a step forward, the earth seemingly vibrating in harmony with each of his steps and resonating throughout the area like a small quake, and looked down at the kid who stood nearly a foot shorter than he did. Rearing a meaty fist back, he swung it forward with every intent to crush the boy so he could move on and get to bigger and better things.

Ranma, who was still slightly recovering from the wound that had been forcefully carved into his back, looked up in time to see the windup, and his mind was sent into action. 'Kao, quick, boost me.' Ranma nearly shouted in his mind, planting his feet into the ground and trying to get prepared for the strike. As you wish it, Host Ranma. Kao stated, and the familiar tingle of his body becoming stronger and faster than before beset him, not unlike what he felt during his transformation.

The punch was sloppy, almost laughably so, and Ranma prepared to swat it aside with ease as he usually did and then lay into the behemoth before him.

Unfortunately for Ranma, he did not know that Cyttorak had gifted Cain Marko with a number of abilities other than his many times augmented physique. One power, that proved useful time and time again was the Juggernaut's ability to simply ignore impeding or altering forces in movement, such that when any part of him moved by his own will, nothing could stop or alter it's course. Slowing him down was possible, but hardly an easy task, but as Ranma brought his arm into the forearm of Cain's, using every ounce of strength he could muster (just in case, Ranma still didn't know what sort of abilities this fellow had) he was more than surprised when his palm hit the arm and instead of still moving, simply stopped in place, and even more worrying was the fact that the fist headed towards his abdomen was not only still traveling as fast as it had, but it's course had not changed in the slightest. Ranma's eyes widened for a moment as he tried to move quickly, but avoiding a fist that was nearly half the size of your chest in mere instants is no easy feat, especially so when wounded as he was.

Thus, even the rest of the brotherhood winced as Juggernaut's fist connected square on into the boys chest, and kept traveling forward, lifting Ranma off his feet with ease and propelling him at an alarming rate over the edge of the small raised platform where the train ran and sailing down into the suburbs below, noticeably broken. Now, normally taking a punch from someone stronger than him was not that impressive, Ranma had been taking punches from people stronger than him most his life, but none were even close to the strength that the Juggernaut possessed.

Ranma felt, at the instant the fist collided with his chest, ribs only briefly groaning underneath the stress of the attack before snapping like twigs from the man… no monster's punch. Some, he felt, stay together, only snapping in twine before the broken piece was pushed inwards and piercing his organs, while others simply seemed to crumble, unable to take the force of the Juggernaut's mighty punch. As Ranma sailed through the air, he reflected on how much of a mistake it was, to underestimate his opponent like that. He had thought him to be nothing more than a Lime-wannabe, strong for show and slow as hell. Unfortunately, this guy was easily many times stronger than Lime, and Ranma had no doubt that he could crush both Lime and Ryoga at the same time if need be.

Ho.. R…nma? Kao's feelings seemed to sift into his head, but not as clearly as they had before, which made him worry slightly.

Before he could respond, he felt his back hit something briefly, and could only think 'Stone…' before his body crashed forcibly through the stone wall surrounding a rather large home, impacting into the ground, which felt a lot harder than it probably was he noted idly, and then bouncing up and into the wall of the home, easily crashing through the foundations and bringing it tumbling down on top of him, debris and dust scattering through the area as more and more fell atop of him, though the pain was hardly noted, compared to that in his chest. He heard more creaking and several more crashes, 'Must be some more walls…' he thought, as his eyes started to close. 'So… tired…'

-- Inside the train --

"I can't take this anymore! I'm going to go see what's going on with Ran-chan!" Ukyo decided, her resolve firmly set in place as she pulled the enormous spatula strapped to her back with practiced ease and set out the door, all but sprinting towards the front where there was still some distant noise.

"I going to help Airen too!" Shampoo declared, not to be left out. She pulled out her own weapons from beneath the seats (never let yourself be caught defenseless Cologne had always said) and rushed out as well.

"No! Stop!" Washu shouted just moments too late as she looked up from her holo-console, where information flashed by, nearly too fast to read. She cursed loudly and turned to look at Ryoko, who was still partially submerged in the wall and looking over her shoulder. "Get out there and stop them!"

"Psh. Why? They can take care of themselves." Ryoko snorted, lifting her nose.

Washu reached up and grabbed her ear, pulling her down so they could see eye to eye. "No, they can't. Not if what I'm seeing is right… Damnit!" Washu yelled as her console beeped, beckoning her attention once more.

Ryoko wondered for a moment what had her mother all in a tiff, before she looked to the front of the train. She may not like the guy, but if he was in danger… "Fine fine…" Ryoko stated, trying to sound exasperated. "I'll go check it out."

Washu failed to respond as she typed furiously against the keyboard, pausing to thank herself to make the keyboard holographic as well, or by now her fingers would be raw and numb.

Akane bit her lip and glanced toward Nabiki, whose usually calm and casual demeanor had changed, a slight hint of worry shining in her eye. Akane wanted to go help, but she knew that both Ukyo and Shampoo were better than her and Ranma even more so… and that Alien girl probably was too. She sighed and hugged herself. 'Please Ranma… Be safe…'

Ryoko passed through the walls of the train, slipping in-between the empty space in the matter with an almost bored expression in her face. 'Figures that kid can't handle this…' Her lips grew into a smirk as she thought of how much she could tease him after she clobbered whatever it was that was attacking. Seeing that the front of the train was near, Ryoko changed course and floated up through the ceiling, and gasped.

Ukyo and Shampoo stood by the train, apparently having slipped through a window of some sort because… well, there was no front of the train. The car ended and several hundred feet ahead, the forward car lay, bent in half and crushed like a pancake. Glass from the windows was scattered all about, and the train tracks themselves had seemingly missing sections, where it looked like the construction had never finished. But no, that was not the spectacle, what was the thing of interest was Ranma, shouting in pain as his back was sliced by a set of claws on some odd looking human, who leapt back and frowned at his claws.

"Looks like we got ourselves a glimpse of him mutant power…" She heard him say in a deep baritone, and all but Ranma focused as his shirt mended together.

She then watched, almost in horror as a monstrosity of a man stepped forward, preparing to punch. Relief, however, washed over her as she saw Ranma get into a ready stance, and slam his palm into the forearm of the monolithic attacker…

… Only to be crushed by the fist, his move to deflect the attacking fist failing utterly. Ryoko saw his body lifted easily from the ground and propelled off the tracks and down below, where his broken body smashed into a walled home, bouncing into the home and being buried beneath a multitude of debris.

"Ran-chan!"

"Airen!"

Cries from the fiancées rang out at the same time as the ran over to look down to see what had happened of their potential husband, waiting impatiently for some sign of life, some movement from the rubble.

Only none came.

-- Partway across town --

Spider-man leapt from rooftop to rooftop, Wolverine sprinting down on the streets below and rushing towards the tracks where some sort of commotion was obviously taking place.

'Wish there were some taller buildings around here…' Peter bitterly thought as he continued hopping, the method of travel much more tiring than he would have liked. 'Could have been there in half the time and not nearly as tired…'

Logan seemed to sense Peter's thoughts and shouted some words of encouragement. "Don't worry about it kid…" He stated, refusing to use the name "Spider-man." "We'll be there in no time, I ain't sure that Ranma can hold them off for too much longer."

As if on cue, they watched as a figure went flying off the tracks at speeds that were dizzying and went crashing into a home several blocks away, the loud smashing of rocks and splintering of wood easily resonating through the area, and sending already panicked civilians running in terror. Spider-man avoided the crowds easily enough, still jumping from roof to roof, though now with a stronger sense of purpose. His fatigue seemed to disappear and his heart pounded. 'Come on… be alive, be alive…' Spider-man thought as he picked up the pace, not concerned with Wolverine for the moment.

Logan on the other hand, was struck by a wave of pedestrians who had been foolish enough to gather at the scene, looking at the fight in awe. He cursed loudly and let his claws slide out of his skin in one quick motion and shouting in Japanese. "All of you get outta' my WAY!"

It had the desired affect, whether it was the claws or the words, and a small path was opened, enough for him to get through at least, and he quickly ran to catch up with the web-slinger to check on the figure that had flown only moments earlier. He arrived some minutes later, looking only mildly winded and noted that Spider-man was already at the pile of rubble, hurriedly removing each piece to free the figure within.

"Come on!" Peter shouted as he continued to repeat his mantra in his mind. 'Be alive, be alive, be alive…'

Logan moved to help, but paused when he saw something shake from within the pile. "Kid watch out!"

-----------------

Host Ranma, sleeping is not advisable at this point in time. Kao's thoughts suddenly filtered in, stronger and clearer than they had ever felt before.

Ranma tried to shake his head, but found himself pinned by cement, wood, and rock alike, wincing as the shifting caused more of the debris to rain down upon him, battering and slicing him with no remorse. 'But… how..? So…'

Host Ranma, do you now see what I was telling you? These men are not the same as your rivals. The thoughts were again, louder and clearer than they had been. Kao pressed on before Ranma spoke. These people will kill you, without a thought, and they will do the same to your fiancées, and do so in moments. You can't just treat this like a match, Host Ranma. This is a fight to the death, whether you like it or not.

Ranma's eyes, if one could see them, seemed to portray confusion for a moment, before he spoke aloud, completely ignorant of any listening ears that may have been nearby. 'Yo- You want me to kill them?'

It is them or us, Host Ranma. I am not a creature who is made to save lives; I was created to take them. However, in taking their lives, you will not only have saved your own and your friends, but also those in the future who may be subjected to their power. Think about it Host Ranma, if you simply defeat them, what stops them from coming back?

Ranma had no response.

I can only dull the pain, Host Ranma. The damage is still done, and there are still those that need your help. At Kao's words Ranma noticed that indeed, he should have been hurting a lot more than he did. That's not to say he felt alright; in fact it was still some of the worst pain he had ever been in. Each breath was like liquid fire down his throat, his abdomen exploding like small fire bursts behind his eyes, and his body felt so weak and tired, like it was naught but a massive bruise. Think, Host Ranma. Think what could that person do to Shampoo, to Ukyo, and to Akane?

This time, Ranma's eyes truly did widen, and the emotion was horror, as he imagined Akane being struck by that beast. He let loose a low growl, and decided.

Kao immediately went to work on his system, releasing alarming amounts of adrenaline and pumping out almost dangerous amounts of certain hormones and chemicals, his mind slowly changing from what it had been into something much more… primal. The symbiote nearly wanted to shout with glee as it's host began moving again, trying to sit up and get back to the fight, thoughts of violence and pain to be inflicted on his mind were easily read by the symbiotic partner from another world, and the pump of chemicals was increased…

Allow me to assist you, Host Ranma… The symbiote whispered in an all too seductive manner as Ranma felt the liquid like substance seep from his skin, then all but explode upward in a violent blast, scattering the debris from the home for meters around before cascading down like a fountain around him, and binding close against his skin forming the now familiar suit Kao had created for just such an occasion.

------

Magneto watched with pursed lips as the boy went flying off of the tracks and crashing into the building. While certainly not discreet, it was effective, he'd give Juggernaut that.

A glance at the giant man indicated he, too, seemed pleased with his handiwork by the expression by his face.

However, the shouts of some females attracted his attention, and he turned to focus on two young looking women, both holding rather large weapons (if they could be called such) looking over the edge and down upon the rubble, a worried expression gracing their normally pleasant faces. Another exotic looking woman stood atop the train, her eyes wide and jaw agape at the force of the punch. The two younger ones turned then, facing the Brotherhood with misty eyes and bitter determination in their eyes. They shouted several times in Japanese, obviously quite angry with the group.

"More human filth…" Magneto sighed out, shaking his head in amusement. He raised his hand and let the pieces of the track that were unassembled turn to the newcomers, and watched in amusement as their protests drew silent, and a frightened look glinted in their tear-filled eyes.

But before he could send the instruments of pain forward, a geyser of black and red erupted from the downed building, shooting high into the air and making a rather dramatic display of itself before it succumbed to gravity and began to drop back down, into the newly formed pile of debris.

-----

Wolverine and Spider-man were forced to shield their eyes as the pile quivered several times before exploding outwards, the debris scattering about and impacting against their bodies. No real damage was received, but it was still a bit painful.

From deep within the pile a shower of some substance seemed to fly into the air and swirl in and around itself, its color an ever-chaotic shift between black and red. Tendrils and coronas reached around the pillar, prodding and caressing the air around it like it was grasping for something before returning into the core of the substance. It was only there for a moment however, as soon the substance turned downward and splashed down and upon the pile of debris, covering it completely and totally.

Logan shot Peter a concerned look, who, despite the mask, conveyed the same emotion.

Then, they turned and watched as a bulge started to appear in the center of the ooze, rising slowly and slowly forming the shape of a man. It looked like someone rising out of some sort of molten plastic, the liquid draped across his skin with no sort of padding at all, letting each muscle be outlined with perfection. The stuff that was covering the debris slowly slid towards the center as it rose, like a draping being pulled up and around this figure, and it finally all was soaked into the center, where the only evidence of the stuff was left, was the figure standing in the middle.

Peter gazed with wide eyes at the inhuman thing before him. While humanoid in shape, the figure was altogether unnatural, and disconcertingly so. About as tall as Logan, but much more lithe and wiry, the figure was that of a man, and instead of skin he seemed to have this odd goop covering him, chaotic and random swirls of black and red spilling into and around each other all throughout the body, distracting one from the finer details. The muscles were evident, but not particularly large. Its legs were long, good for running, and probably indicated a faster being than it would be if it had been stockier. But the face… that was what threw Peter off. The jaw was thin and elongated, easily not human in the slightest, and it hung open with its black and red needle-like teeth covering an expanse of deeper crimson that seemed to extend forever within it. The eyes were large and ovular, however the top edges were frayed and torn, almost looking like a flame rising.

"Venom…" Was the only thing Peter could think to say, before the thing let off a growl just as inhuman as it looked, a deep guttural thing that resonated with your stomach and made you queasy. It rose it's arm, apparently unaware of Wolverine and the wall-crawler, and both watched as it seemed to extend, the forearm simply stretching longer and longer at immense speeds, but not getting any smaller either. Small blobs of the stuff seemed to drip off before disappearing altogether, and the tendrils they had seen on the pillar were present here as well, but much more active, whipping about in some sort of frenzy. The arm collided against the edge of the platform where the train resided, and flattened with a wet splat, before thinning itself down into a smaller, centimeters thick rope. The rope thinned up all along the entire line until it reached the figure, where a hand reshaped itself around the newly formed line, and shot off as it seemed to suck the line into itself, pulling itself up and away like some sort of grappling hook.

A brief glance was exchanged before Logan and Peter were both rushing off, now ignoring the small stings of the impacts they had felt only moments earlier when they had been pelted with the debris. The situation had just grown much, much worse.

------

Ranma's mind was nothing more than a haze of rage as he was slung forward and upwards, towards the train that he had been riding on only recently. Thoughts of what he'd do to those people if they even laid a hand upon on his fiancées swirled through his hormone induced mind, and he knew nothing but the pain he wanted to cause those people.

As he neared the lip of the platform, he jerked his arm down and propelled himself upward, the thick rope retreating from where it had stuck to the edge and retracting back into the living costume he now wore.

The pain of the wounds he had received were naught but a memory now, the adrenaline and rage filling his mind and focusing him completely on other, more urgent matters, and he could simply ignore the molten pain that ebbed from his chest and the various lacerations that were plaguing his body.

He caught a glimpse of Shampoo and Ukyo as he passed, and briefly considered them, watching their horrified expressions mar their normally unequalled beauty, and wanted to calm down, but could not. He had to protect them, and destroy these things that wanted so badly to ruin his life. As he flew upward onto the platform, he twisted about in mid-air, still ignoring the tearing he felt in his chest as he shifted, before spiraling down to the tracks and landing low, his body nearly one with the ground, with one arm raised up and behind him, his fingers tensed and extended with the lethal claws looking all the more deadly, and both feet and the other arm set down upon the ground in a large triangle beneath him. He gave one look to the astonished brotherhood, and let loose a low hiss he didn't know he could produce. "You….." He seemed to whisper out, the jaw remaining open for all to see, and not moving as more words were produced. "Are mine!"

Ryoko too watched as the symbiote clad martial artist arrived in a dramatic display of acrobatics before landing before the train. Judging by the two girls' reactions, Ranma had yet to tell them or show them of his alien partner, and she cursed at the complications that provided. She couldn't just let them attack him… She quickly floated down behind the two. "Don't worry, he's alright…"

Ukyo seemed to glance back, tearing her eyes away from the beast for a moment to look at Ryoko, before hastily replacing them on the creature, as if not trusting it, and therefore needing to keep an eye on it at all times. "Is... is that…? Ran-chan?"

Ryoko frowned. "We'll find out." She too, was unsure if this was Ranma, or rather a possession. Better to stay cautious than to find out the hard way.

Another "splat" sounded nearby and the group of girls watched as another figure swung up and around the edge, carrying in his arms a foreign man who was very gruff and unkempt. He was quickly recognized by the trio as Logan, but it left them to guess who the other was.

Logan seemed to spot Ryoko and the others as soon as he landed and rushed over, as if used to being swung around like that. "What's going on?"

Ryoko considered him for a moment, wondering if she should tell him the truth. She didn't trust the man, he had attacked Ranma for seemingly no reason after all, but the more help the better…

"Wolverine!" The other shouted in English, leaving the girls to try and figure out what was said. "Look…"

The group collectively turned their gaze back to Ranma, (whether they knew if it was him or not) and watched as he rose, the hand that was planted on the ground seeming to stick and stretch, leaving a trail of the substance covering him on the ground before it slid hurriedly back into the feet, combining once more with the majority, and his feet shifted closer together so he could stand further upright.

"Lay a hand on them… and die…" It said, its voice once again sounding all but human, and Ryoko noted that no trace of Ranma's voice was even present in this one. "Stay… and the same fate awaits you…" It continued, though this time it's mouth, if possible, seemed to grin wider, almost happy with the prospect of being able to kill. He raised his hands in front of him and let his fingers elongate further, the claws now looking more like enlarged pins than the talons they had been before.

Magneto's brow furrowed for but a moment in distress. This newcomer, who had arrived moments before Wolverine and Spider-man had, was most unsettling. He was no fool, and would not underestimate this one. The look of apprehension from the other group was also somewhat unsettling, but he discarded the thoughts soon after they came. "Unfortunately, that is impossible… we have some things to take care of so if you'll pardon me…" A quick wave of his hand, and every piece of metal that had been gathered in the air swung around to point at the symbiote clad martial artist, and rocketed off at intense speeds toward his person.

But for as fast they were, Ranma was faster. His arms rose in front of him and again the suit flowed forward, spilling across his arms in an endless torrent before apparently splashing against some sort of invisible barrier and spreading before him, sliding noiselessly through the air and forming a wall of the stuff between him and the Brotherhood.

Several loud, wet impacts followed, like someone being shot with a piece of rebar, and the tips of the projectiles Magneto had sent at him erupted through the wall, straining to press further, but they were quickly engulfed by more of the red and black goop, and disappeared altogether.

To the Brotherhood, it appeared as if some sort of liquid wall, similar to Iceman's own creations, flowed from this newcomers arms and protected it and those behind itself, but more surprising was the fact that the various implements of pain Magneto had commandeered were unable to pierce through this wall. However, the biggest surprise came when the wall began to shift, and the blacks and red flowed to create a larger version of the hellish face they had seen before, like some sort of wall monitor.

"Wrong move!" The wall bellowed, and a disturbing laughter filled the area soon after, and before anyone had a chance to react, the body of the creature emerged from this wet, flesh-like barrier, passing through with an uncanny ease, and it was upon them.

It soon became apparent that fighting the thing was an exercise in futility. It was deceptively strong for its rather lean frame, easily overpowering all but Juggernaut, and even the speed the thing possessed easily outmatched even him. It was like some sort of ghost, in an instant it'd be upon them, using its claws to great affect to nick, slice and render its opponents, striking through the flesh and precisely marking both vein and artery, letting their lifeblood flow from their bodies in innumerable small cuts. However, before they could retaliate it had moved on, in its wake though it left tendrils of itself, which still whipped about in a furious rage. While one or two of these wounds would not be too much to worry about, the brotherhood became worried when Mystique passed out onto the ground. Sabertooth was more confident until the thing came upon him, and instead of the small cuts and slices, he was presented with large gouges, the thing tore into him and ripped through muscle and skin alike, as if uncaring for his health. He soon followed; his body tore to such pieces that it was assured anyone without his healing factor would pass within minutes, if that. Even with his healing, it would take some time.

Juggernaut was harder to deal with, but the solution came rather quickly. The monster leapt atop him and was tearing into him from his very person, and he was hard pressed to grab the thing, it was like some sort of enormous insect out to kill him. He suddenly found it clinging to his helmet, trying to remove the thing, and his vision was blocked, but he grinned, knowing he had his opponent. His large, meaty fist clenched into a fist and reared back, preparing to punch atop his head. Unfortunately, what he did not realize was that the creature was already gone, instead using more of it to cover and weigh his head down, and when the moment was right he lifted the behemoth up, and the fist he had swung crashed squarely into his own helmet, and by proxy, face, and consciousness left him.

Ranma hopped away from the large body and surveyed the carnage. Something within him seemed to squeal in delight at the chaos, at the pure havoc of the scene, but he brushed it aside as he looked up towards the remaining member, and cursed under his breath.

Magneto had quickly surmised that this thing had no way of flying, and he rose into the air to avoid the chaos below. He watched silently as he waved his hand, and while everything was simply mass confusion below, the track disassembled itself on a much larger scale, this time everything with quite a distance rising and forming itself into more instruments of pain, this time much sharper and thinner, looking like they could pierce things much easier.

"I care not who are what you are whelp… but know that the master of magnetism will not stand for THIS!" With a sharp gaze, every piece of metal that ha been summoned flew with unbelievable accuracy and speed.

(I was listening to this as I wrote this, kind of a BGM… Let the Battles Begin! Piano Collections Final Fantasy VII)

Ranma only had moments to spring into action as the metal flew at him, his body twisted and contorted in ways that would most certainly be painful if anyone else had attempted them. He also used Kao to the best of his ability, forming a shield like protrusion on his forearm when he was unable to dodge. It was difficult for the symbiote however, as the wall that had been formed before to protect the train and Ranma's fiancée's and friends was still being maintained and blocking both Magneto and the girls from doing something to other.

Ranma winced beneath the liquid mask as several spikes embedded themselves into his chest, and one into his lower back. The punch from Juggernaut had left Ranma's frame extremely fragile, and these spikes were not helping his already painful wounds.

'D-Damnit…' Ranma thought as he made a display of reaching up and grabbing the spikes that had sunk a good amount into his chest, before pulling them out quickly and apparently quite painfully if his inhuman howl of rage was any indication.

"You'll pay for that…" Ranma/Kao hissed, the ever present grin growing even more frightful as it twisted into a visage of anger.

Magneto snorted, and the metal that had flew only moments before rose again. "You stand no chance against me… give it up!"

"Never!" Ranma yelled as he ran forward and jumped into the air before Magneto had a chance to use his powers once more to assault the currently symbiote clad martial artist. Its fist reared back in a powerful punch, not unlike he had only earlier. Magneto only had moments to create a metal barrier in front of him, and again Ranma's fist failed to pierce through the hyper-dense shield of steel in front of Magneto, however the force of this punch was much more powerful, and a large dent in the metal was now stationed where Ranma's fist had struck. Magneto frowned slightly, but with a slight application of his power, the metal was once again in its previous form, looking completely unscathed.

"Please!" Magneto laughed, though that last punch had come awfully close to nailing him in the face. "Your puny attacks are as nothing to me! Give it up, that will never work!"

Ranma grinned, causing the symbiote to do so as well as he stuck to the metal shield, using his new found spider-like powers. "Who said I was trying to hit you in the first place?" The unearthly voice sang out, in a deceptively gleeful tone.

Before Magneto could even consider the words he felt a tug on his leg and looked down to find a strand of the goop that had created the wall only earlier slithering around his leg and securing itself tightly. His opponent leapt from the metal disk and grinned widely as it gripped upon a rope of the slime… which Magneto quickly determined was the same one attached to his person. "No!" He shouted.

"Oh yess…" Ranma hissed out and tugged on the cord, causing Magneto, who hadn't the time to prepare a stronger defense. He soon found himself being swung around in a great circle, and he closed his eyes as the centrifugal forces started to press against him, forcing him taught to the strand holding him. He raised his hand as best he could, and concentrated, and soon the disk that had protected him before swung around through the air and grew thinner and sharper, before cleaving the stuff attached to him in twine, preventing him from being swung around like a rag doll. The result however, was a mutant flying bodily through the air and impacting heavily against the wall that this thing had created only earlier.

Magneto groaned and stood shakily as a coppery taste filled his mouth, as long with a thick, warm liquid. He spit, and his brow furrowed in anger when he saw his blood. "You shall pay for this!" He roared and rose into the air, above the wall and looked down below at the others. A quick raise of his hand and the entire train started to rise with it, separating by care and all turning towards the martial artist standing not several hundred feet away. "Now DIE!"

The train cars hurtled forward, and the sound of screaming rang through the air and Ranma's stomach sank. Akane, Nabiki and Washu hadn't been in the group outside had they!? That meant…

"Fuck." Ranma eloquently put it.

He leapt into the air and, surprising Magneto, straight into the first car through a window. The sounds of crashing came from within before the black and red figure leapt out and into another car, doing so with such quickness that was simply uncanny.

While Magneto watched, he failed to see the small puddle on the ground that connected to the wall slowly grow wider as the wall dissipated, flowing along the ground underneath where the creature had just jumped.

---Inside the second train car---

Ranma cursed loudly as he realized that they once again weren't in this car, he hadn't much time before Magneto decided what to do next with the train… and he didn't want to see. He winced as he prepared to jump out of another window and into the next train car when a burning sensation rose in his chest and he coughed loudly. Some red fluid splattered from his mouth and across the floor, in front of his very eyes. "Shit… Kao…?"

The adrenaline is wearing off… too much and you would be in danger, I'm sorry, there is nothing I can do Host Ranma.

"Damnit…" Ranma muttered, before shaking his head and vaulting through the window as had been the plan originally. He clung to the outside of the next car, which was also sailing through the air, and had a direct course with the ground below. Quickly realizing the speed and force with which he was traveling, he determined he had no more than a few seconds to find the girls. He was lucky that their screaming began anew, and this time he could pinpoint their car, several away from his own, also flying through the air.

Magneto frowned as the screams reached his ears, but paid it no matter. He smiled a cruel, cold-hearted smile as the creature hurriedly shot off in the direction of the screams, in an attempt to save them. "Predictable… you heroes…" Another gesture and the train car that Ranma was after squealed and buckled under an unseen pressure.

The screaming intensified.

Ranma turned to glare at Magneto before leaping to the car and clinging to the side. He looked inside the first window he found, and thanked the gods that he found their cabin. Nabiki was absolutely petrified, and Akane, while not as scared, still looked quite frightened. Washu had a panicked look about her, but still was typing away at her console with fierce determination. Nabiki suddenly looked out the window and screamed louder when she saw Ranma, something that made him wince and shrug it off. He glanced down and realized they were nearing their lethal course with the ground and shook his head in frustration. "They always gotta make this shit difficult…." He muttered as he planted his arms on either side of the window and lowered his feet, grimacing when they came into contact with the ground and painfully skidded across the tracks, breaking through wood and metal alike as the force pushed him back. He struggled to find a good foothold, his feet sliding around crazily as he held the car up with all his might, doing everything he could to slow it down.

Nabiki had calmed once she realized that… creature outside the window was doing it's best to help them. "God… I hope Ranma's alright she sobbed, the stress of the situation finally cracking the cold shell. Akane agreed and embraced her sister, shutting her eyes tightly.

Washu raised a brow and looked out to Ranma. "He's certainly looked better, that's for sure…" She muttered, noting some freshly regenerated parts of his costume that looked similar to bullet wounds, and the red on the costume that was not the symbiote.

"Y-you mean…" Nabiki trailed off and stared at the thing in the window in horror.

"He never told you?" Washu asked, confused.

Nabiki and Akane shared a glance, before looking back and shaking their head.

Washu sighed and prepared to explain when the train buckled again, and this time their cabin shrunk to half its previous size, and the wall from the other side of the train was now pressed against the door of their small room, leaving them trapped within.

"My god…" Washu muttered.

Back outside, Ranma gritted his teeth as he kept sliding backwards. Magneto seemed to have no plans of letting up. 'Little help Kao?' Ranma thought, as he winced as his feet broke through another rail.

Of course The ethereal voice resounded, though it sounded a bit more eager than usual. Ranma filed that away to talk about later. He felt the symbiote within him slither down to his feet, and suddenly shoot out from his feet, and he came to a sudden halt and along with him the train. The car groaned and bent inwards around his hands, as if trying to catch him with a large pincer. Still struggling to hold the thing from the immense force pushing it, Ranma frowned as a recognizable voice sounded from the other side. "Give it up! Maybe if you do I'll decide not to crush your little friends… yet."

'Get real!' Ranma thought as he quickly decided on what to do. 'Shit this is gonna hurt…' He slowly braced his right side, putting more weight into it, and ever so slowly, retracted his left hand from the train. His hand print was easily identifiable in the metal shell of the train, and in response to the lack of support, it squealed in protest once more and bent further, this time the ends coming close to touching him.

More yells of fright came within the cabin, and Ranma realized that the cabin must have been shrinking by the second. He braced himself and concentrated, feeling the symbiote crawl up around his left arm at his command, and melding the fingers together, extending them in a long, wicked looking blade. He had not time to warn them before he stabbed the sword-arm into the hull, quickly making several cuts and loosening up a hunk of the metal, enough so that he could pry it loose. What he was not expecting was the metal door he had created to fly off and slam into his chest, wounding him even further before flying back out of sight. 'Forgot about that magnetic field…' He grumbled to himself.

The lack of the piece of hull caused another shift in the train car as it moaned and squeezed together further.

"Get out!" The voice that was not fully his own called, before planting the other hand back onto the hull to hold it as long as possible. They didn't need more convincing. The girls within quickly scrambled out of the car as fast as they could, those who had not seen Ranma in this form giving him a horrified, scared look before gathering behind him. "You may want to duck…" The creature growled, and they did so obediently, and watched as with a might growl it shifted the train up and over it's head, letting the magnetic field fling it behind him and off into the distance.

Magneto frowned, but with another flick, the other train cars turned towards him once more. "Insolent little worm!" He called.

"Hey, bucket head! I think you're forgetting someone!"

Magneto turned to look at the person who dared call him such, only to receive a splash of some sort of tacky substance in his face.

"Can't control what you can't see can you Maggie!" Spider-man taunted as he aimed his wrists up at the floating figure of Magneto, releasing more of his web fluid.

"Fool! I may not be able to see… but I can still feel the metal!" He called, and Spider-man suddenly screamed in pain as his wrists were constricted very tightly, likely only being held by the enhanced muscle his spider-powers gave him. He quickly used his hands to rip off the web shooters from his wrist, watching in dismay as they shattered and collapsed onto the ground.

"Those cost a lot…" Spider-man said bitterly, only to be interrupted by the gruff voice of Logan.

"Get over it kid… we still got Magneto to deal with." He growled, letting his claws slide out from between his knuckles with a crisp "shlack" of metal sliding against metal.

Magneto pulled at the webbing and managed to get enough of it away so he could see Spider-man and Wolverine. "You will pay huma-" He was cut off by something suddenly pulling him downward at an enormous rate and slamming him into the ground. He screamed as his leg most likely shattered from the force, and rolled over to see what it was. The thing holding his leg appeared to be some sort of toothy maw attached to a red and black tentacle, it's large, gaping mouth was surrounded by more of those needle-like teeth, and it had his angle in it's mouth, where it writhed and shook back and forth, like some sort of dog with a piece of meat. A shadow drew his gaze upward as he watched in fascination as the thing he had been fighting leapt from where he had been standing, all the way over to him, easily clearing fifty feet in the mighty leap. Its feet crashed next to his head dangerously, and for the first time he saw the spikes that had grown off of its feet to give it the stability it needed to hold the train. A clawed hand reached down and grabbed his chest, pulling him up by the nape of his collar. The other hand rose up beside its own head, the claws extending dangerously as they had when the first encountered one another.

Magnus Lensher was not normally one to be afraid, if this had been anyone else, he'd have likely riddled them with metal or the like, but this… It was like some sort of nightmare come to life, come to take his soul for its own. "W-What are you…?"

The thing seemed to grin wider, before the mask quivered and seemed to slide down off of the head of the person. Pure black hair erupted, that was long and tied back in a pigtail, and striking blew eyes met his own. He had a mouth full of blood from the look of it, he was growling dangerously and his eyes glinted with the promise of pain. His teeth were stained a dark red and they ground together in an unhealthy manner. "I'm the same damn person I've always been… just got a new friend to help me take out trash like you!" He roared, before raising his hand and preparing to tear into the face of the mutant below, but a voice called to him before he could stop.

"R-Ranchan! Don't!" Ukyo called. It was the first time she had seen her love and fiancé act as such… and it was truly frightening.

Ranma looked up at Ukyo with rage still burning in his eyes. He wanted to rip this man limb from limb, destroy him utterly. But Ukyo's scared gaze, as well as Shampoo's made him regain some portion of his sanity. "He's just gonna come back if we don't kill him Ucchan…" Ranma muttered, returning his gaze to the mutant.

"You aren't a killer Ranma!" Akane called, running up behind them, tears brimming in her eyes.

"How the hell would you know!?" Ranma shouted, turning to look at his Tendo fiancée. "I killed Saffron… I can kill this guy…"

Spider-man leapt forward and grabbed Ranma's upraised wrist. "Don't! You can't! You're no better than he is if you do that!"

Ranma laughed bitterly and shook his head. "Who's been spoon feeding you that shit? Some movie?" Ranma shook his head. "I kill to save a life… that's what separates me from him…" He muttered.

Wolverine honestly had nothing against offing Magneto; in fact it was probably the right thing to do. But in Ranma's current state, it wasn't healthy. "Kid… you're right, he does deserve to die… but you can't do it… not like this."

The pig-tailed martial artist glared at Logan a moment before sighing. He knew they were right… He couldn't just kill this man in cold blood. He could have sworn he heard someone else talking though… telling him to kill him, gut him, and make an example out of him. 'Musta been my imagination…' Ranma thought.

Kao stayed silent.

"Pathetic!" Magneto spat. "You're all the same... You sh-" He was cut off as Ranma's hand came down upon him. The people around him screamed as he seemed to do as he first intended, before he raised his hand, and everyone realized it was in a fist.

"That guy really pisses me off…" Ranma muttered and rose, ignoring the stares he received.

He turned to Logan and Spider-man and gave them a skeptical glance, before turning to the gathered girls. He smiled softly, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed, the suit dissolving around him and leaving him naked on the ground.

"Ranma!" They all seemed to shout at once and rushed forward. Logan and Spidey too ran forward to see what it was, and gasped at the horrible sight. Without the suit covering him, they saw the wounds easily. His chest was compressed, easily made out from the normal somewhat muscled chest, and shards of bone were jutting out from certain places. Ribs could not really be discerned, it was just like a mass of rods underneath flesh that had no shape or structure. The next noticeable thing was the large holes in his flesh that the metal spikes had caused. Several lay in his front and one was in his lower back; both appeared quite deep and were bleeding heavily. The one in his lower back had a deep brownish-red blood, unlike the brighter blood that flowed from his front. And of course, there were numerable cuts and lacerations all across his skin, joining so many other scars and misshapen pieces of flesh Ranma already had.

"Christ…" Logan muttered. He would recover from that… but the kid's outlook wasn't good.

Washu quickly got on her knees and checked for a pulse, frowning and pulling a metal rod out of her pocket and letting the beam of light it produced pass over his body. Her virtual console appeared next to her with its results. She cursed loudly in an alien language that made Ryoko raise a brow.

"What's up?" Ryoko asked, seemingly less concerned than she truly was.

"He's going to die if we can't get him to my lab, quick…" She muttered.

"But… there's a hospital a little ways away, wouldn't it be better if they-"Akane was cut off by Washu's deliberate shaking of the head. "But… why?"

"They don't have his blood type…" Washu responded enigmatically.

"Whaddya mean they don't have his blood type?" Logan asked, gruff and uncouth as ever.

Washu shook her head, but failed to respond further. "Ryoko, get Ryo-ohki, and quick. We need her to take Ranma back to the lab…"

"Wait, whatta bout these jerks?" Logan asked. He gestured his hand to the fallen Brotherhood, and the group collectively turned to look upon their fallen bodies. But one was now reviving, all be it slowly. The behemoth, Juggernaut.

"Lousy little…" He muttered, one hand going to his head, which was still ringing loudly. He slowly rose to his feet, and visibly grimaced when he saw Magneto had fallen. It soon disappeared however, when he saw that the thing that had taken him out was gone, leaving only Wolverine, Spider-man, and those other people who had seemed to stick around, though two new members had arrived that he had not seen before.

The Juggernaut rotated his neck, which crunched with an unhealthy ring to it, and then popped his knuckles in the same manner. "Right… pay back time…" He muttered, however it was loud enough for the group to hear, and even those who didn't understand English understood what it was he said.

Logan quickly crouched and raised his fists, with his still extended claws in plain sight. Spider-man grimaced beneath his mask, and got into a low stance as well. He didn't have his web shooters, and while in this situation he doubted any of his fluid would slow this giant down, it was still unsettling.

"Stop." Washu commanded behind them, and Logan and the disguised Peter turned around and both watched as something similar to Iron Man's summoning of a weapon. At first, white squares rippled through the air in a rough shape, before a glowing silhouette of the weapon materialized and finally appeared in its entirety. It was gigantic, to say the least. It appeared to be some sort of shoulder mounted energy cannon, appearing larger than it was mostly because of the fact that currently, a 12 year old (in appearance) girl was wielding it. "I suggest you stand down before you do something you regret." She said in a serious tone, still speaking in Japanese, but hoping the message got across.

It apparently did as Juggernaut sneered and took several steps forward. "Think that'll stop me? No gun can stop the Juggernaut little girl…"

Washu didn't understand a word of it (she'd remedy that soon) but saw his intent and raised the weapon to the sky, letting off a shot. The beam was a magnificent white, shining as brightly as the sun as it pierced through the air at rapid speed. Its glow seemed to diffuse into the air, lighting the mid-morning sky even brighter than it had been on that day. It finally reached its peak and at some unknown signal, exploded in a marvelous display of pyrotechnics and destruction. If the collected super powered beings had thought it was bright before, they realized it was nothing compared to this. All were forced to look away as everything seemed to go white, their shadows becoming seemingly painted on the ground in bright contrast to the brightness around it, but as soon as it had happened, it was gone.

The Juggernaut took a step back as Washu lowered the gun to point at him. She said nothing, but didn't have to.

'Better leave but… what about the others?' Ran through his mind. He was nearly invulnerable, but that blast was as unsettling as a gun had ever been to him, and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of it. He looked to the other incapacitated mutants and quickly realized he didn't really care about the safety or health of any of them, until he paused at Magneto. Knowing him, he wouldn't take too kindly to the Juggernaut abandoning him, and he certainly didn't want to make him an enemy as well. "This ain't over…" He growled out, before running to the side, snatching Magneto's body up as if it was nothing at all, and leapt off of the platform on which the track was raised, his body rapidly falling and landing with a resounding crash, before his loud footsteps faded.

"Some gun ya got…" Logan muttered in Japanese, now eyeing the little girl warily.

"Actually we're kinda lucky, this thing is only good for one shot!" Washu said happily, before letting go of the weapon and letting it dematerlize as in a similar fashion as it had appeared.

"Y-you mean…" Ukyo stuttered out, eyes widening.

Washu nodded happily. "He didn't call my bluff!"

A slight shimmering in the air caught all of their attention as a slightly weary looking Ryoko reappeared, clutching something tightly to her chest. Most of the group hadn't realized that just before the Juggernaut had been rising, she had finally mustered up the energy to teleport back to get her cabbit. Short distance teleports were as nothing to her, but the long range ones quickly became far more weakening, and she doubted she could go much further without seriously exhausting herself.

"Where's this Ryo-ohki!?" Nabiki demanded. She was growing worried about Ranma's condition, which had been momentarily forgotten.

"Right here!" Ryoko said happily, holding out what had been previously hidden in her arms. Before her face was shown to be a small, furry creature, resembling some sort of rabbit with cat-like eyes and whiskers.

"Miyah!" Ryo-ohki said happily in greeting.

"And how is THAT supposed to help get Ranma to the lab?" Nabiki asked, her brow twitching uncontrollably, and much to her relief she was backed up by the other girls, who agreed with her previous statement rather vocally.

"Miyah miyah!" Ryo-ohki meowed in a rather put off fashion, much perturbed by their casual disregard.

"Oh hush." Ryoko said, smiling down at her spaceship. "Show em what you can do Ryo-ohki!" Ryoko shouted, and happily threw the small rodent up into the air.

"What, you toss it around and it teleports us to her lab?" Nabiki dryly commented, but was only given a smirk from Ryoko in response. Ryoko turned her head up to the sky, as did the rest whom had been paying attention to the comment, and her statement was soon retracted (mentally, Nabiki wasn't about to forgive for something she did). The small creature seemed to explode in a series of crystalline spikes, colored dark grays and blacks. The core of the thing seemed to be some sort of perfect, red sphere, crystalline in appearance as well. The whole thing was perfectly symmetrical, with spikes going out in four directions before rising at an angle above the ship, while the rest jutted out to the side or down below. The thing was most definitely larger that the small creature should have been able to turn into, defying laws of science.

"Well… that's certainly… unique." Spider-man stated, unsure of what to think of a small rat that turned into some sort of ship.

Logan grunted in reply.

A beam shot down from the bottom of the ship, reminding most of a typical stereo type from alien movies, of the tractor beam that sucked up the things it shined on. It quickly focused on Ranma, who shimmered and vanished in a manner similar to Ryoko had, before taking Ryoko in as well. It was about to proceed to Washu when it was halted by a shout.

"Hey!? Where are you going, we're coming too!" Ukyo stated loudly, refusing to be separated from her fiancé.

"Shampoo too! She no leave Airen's side!" The mangled Japanese caused all to wince, but the message was clear enough.

Washu sighed in an annoyed manner before nodding. "Fine fine, take them first Ryo-ohki.

The spaceship appeared to hear her as the beam altered its course from its previous destination, and one by one transported each of the four women now competing over one man aboard.

"We ain't goin nowhere either, that kid has questions to answer." Logan stated, refusing to be swayed. Peter would have agreed, but he understood nothing of what's going on, so instead interrupted Logan.

"Er, what about the rest of the Brotherhood?" Peter asked, turning to look at the fallen mutants.

Logan grimaced, and turned back to Washu. "And I don't suppose you got a place to lock them up for a little bit? We can get them outta your hair within a couple hours, gotta real fast plane comin who'll take em."

Washu considered it, before nodding, albeit reluctantly. "Fine fine… Ranma probably won't like it but you do have questions, and those powers these people possess will make for some great experiments! Go ahead and grab em and we'll take you aboard." She said, before the beam engulfed her and took her aboard as well.

"What!? You're letting them go!?" The wall crawler nearly shouted, irate at the long time friend and mutant.

"Yeah right…" Logan responded, walking over to the bodies and pulling Sabertooth across the broken ground, scraping him further but not really caring, and pulling him alongside Avalanche, whom he also grabbed. "She's gonna let us come to talk to the kid, she's gonna secure these three before the Blackbird comes, Gambit and Beast can take care of 'em then. Grab her will ya?"

Peter blinked beneath his mask, and as he walked over to the body, asked a question of his friend, "I thought you came in the Blackbird?"

Logan shook his head and watched as the beam circled about and headed to him. "Nah, I was itching to get outta the mansion so the Professor let me go out on a commercial jet, I took the soonest flight, that place seems like a prison sometimes." Anything else Spider-man wished to ask would have to wait, because Logan and the two he was carrying were suddenly engulfed in a pale yellow light, and disappeared.

He shook his head, realizing that the universe was still a really, really big place. He grabbed the blue skinned mutant as the beam made the short journey to him and absorbing him as well.

Teleporting via that beam was not a fun experience and not something he wanted to repeat in the near future he discovered, as the moment his feet touched the floor again he bent over and retched, the nauseating feeling of returning to physical space twisted his insides and sense of balance.

"Wuss." Logan remarked, sliding the two he had been carrying across the floor of the ship and letting their heads crash rather painfully into the wall. Good thing they were unconscious.

Spiderman retched for a moment, fearing he was going to vomit, and after a few seconds, thanked whatever powers that be that he hadn't. A full mask did not make for a fun barrier when something came back up. Grumbling once again about super-human healing, Peter discarded the unconscious body of Mystique down by the others that Logan had carelessly tossed, and went to join him. "So…" He began, taking his first real look around their position.

They were in a circular room, with exits at three places equidistant from each other. Some sort of boarding room Peter decided. The walls were a deep pinkish-red, and a slightly closer inspection revealed that they seemed to be made of some sort of crystal, much similar to the material they had seen before from when they saw the ship from the outside.

A voice sounded from behind them. "You guys gonna sit around there and admire her?"

The voice was Japanese, so Peter still had no idea what was being said, but a quick glance at Logan told him what he needed to know. Logan inclined his head toward the woman, a rather alien looking woman of teal hair and yellow eyes. Logan of course recognized her from the day before, but Peter still had not been introduced.

"Let's go." He grunted, leaving Peter still lost and confused as ever, but following for lack of other things to do.

They arrived in what they assumed to be the "cockpit" as there was a main viewing screen that showed the surface of Japan as it appeared from several hundred feet up, however it was in a blur of motion, and they realized, quite surprisingly, that they were moving very fast, with little to no of the effects of the motion on them. Peter immediately decided that yes, perhaps this wasn't such a bad thing. The scientist in him was absolutely astounded at the discoveries, even with all the things he had thus far seen.

"Man Reed would go crazy if he saw some of this..." Peter muttered, causing Logan to turn and gave him a knowing smirk.

The main seat at the center of the viewing screen was occupied by the teal haired female they had seen moments earlier, but the majority of the people present were surrounding some sort of raised platform, where the soft muttering of the scientist could be heard, quite frustrated by the sound of it too.

"I'm a scientist not a doctor..." She grumbled, cursing the fool-hardy boy beneath her hands as she tried her best to slow the bleeding, and isolate already problematic areas, mainly his ribs, but several areas on his back and spine were damaged too.

Logan immediately gestured to Peter and they headed over, hoping to at least get some answers from someone.

"We headed to the shrine?" Ryoko called out, causing Washu to pause for a moment and look up for her work

"Yes, I need to take him to the lab, I don't have the tools here, and I can only do some minimal things..."

"But you can save him right?" Ukyo asked with a pleading and desperate look in her eyes.

Washu didn't look up or respond, something that was not lost on any of the man suitors present.

"Juggs hit him pretty hard... few people I know can take that hit and recover, I'm one of the only ones really..." Logan grunted, shoving aside some of the now frustrated girls to get a good look at the kid, and wincing. The large fist of the Juggernaut had apparently made some sort of imprint in Ranma's chest, covering about half of his upper torso with mottled bruises and chunks of bone. "Dunno if the kid can recover, at least not without some help..." He muttered in Japanese, before switching to English to speak to Spiderman. "Think that the Avengers or maybe Reed could patch him up? I dunno if anything the professor or beast's got can fix this..."

Peter too made his way close, giving weak apologies at the angry looks he got as he pushed his way forward. He nearly gagged under his mask, but managed to restrain it. "Er... man. The kids really knocked up... I dunno, Reed doesn't really deal with this sort of thing, and I never really hung out at the Avenger's mansion, but I heard that they have some stuff to help..."

Logan nodded in deep thought, watching curiously as Washu continued her scanning and efforts to try to identify all the damage done with her various scanning and electronics that she seemed to be able to summon at any time.

"We think we may know a place that we can take the kid… it's over in New York though." Logan stated with a firm conviction behind his voice that dared Washu, or anyone for that matter, to interrupt and decline.

Washu however seemed unperturbed by his display. "Look, I know you're trying to help, but you can't. You have no idea what you're dealing with here!" Washu shouted, the pressure the girls and these two foreigners now stacking up and taking its toll.

"Then just what are we dealing with?" Logan asked. His voice bore no room for playing or lies, and he portrayed that with crystal clarity.

Washu sighed and shook her head, growing exasperated. "I don't even know and that's the worst part!" Her hands rose up to her head and the console she had been typing on disappeared to places unknown. "I've only had one scan on him, and even less time to actually analyze everything that was collected, but I know for a fact that if we give him to the hospital or whoever you're thinking of, they won't want to give him back."

"Why's that, sugar?" Ukyo asked of the scientist.

Washu glanced to her direction and paused, a pregnant silence filling the room before she responded. "Because I'd do the same thing."

Silence reigned for several moments before shouts of anger were released from the girls. Logan paused and used the brief moment he had to explain to Peter just what was happening. Ryoko was cursing her luck and wishing she could travel faster through the sky without attracting too much attention from the populous below (Tenchi had made it clear that she wasn't to attract too much attention).

"Whaddya mean you'd do the same!? Are you trying to kidnap my Ranchan?"

"Your Ranchan? Since when did he become your Ranchan?"

"Ranma's always been my Ranchan!"

"Airen no belong to chef! He belong with Shampoo!"

"Fat chance you Chinese bimbo!"

The shouting soon degraded into far worse insults being flung between the small group of women, causing Washu to briefly glance at Ryoko and remember her daughter's squabbles with that Ayeka over Tenchi. It seemed that these people resorted less on violence and more on words…

Ukyo pulled the enormous spatula from her back and growled at Shampoo as the amazon took up a stance.

… or maybe she just spoke too soon. Washu sighed.

Logan immediately sprang on the opportunity. "Whaddya mean? This kid a mutant or something? That isn't anythin' we haven't seen before." He stated, looking down at the scientist with doubt in his eyes.

Washu shook her head and explained. "No… I already know of you mutants… fascinating really… just a few simple genetic alterations and such powers can be released, and on such a broad scale too… the same gene can result in a wide variety of-"

Logan cleared his throat purposefully.

"… Oh all right you spoil sport." She frowned cutely for a moment before continuing. "Ranma has something happening right now… I can't explain it yet, it defies everything I've studied… right now, as we're talking, his genetic structure is changing. I don't know how long it has been happening or how long it will last…"

"So he's becoming a mutant?"

Washu shook her head, she was quite clearly frustrated. "No no no… You see, you only have one or two genes that have mutated, resulting in you being a… well… mutant. No offense-"

"None taken"

"- But Ranma's entire genealogy is changing. His body is seemingly just rebooting itself if you will… and everything old is being flushed out, and it's starting from scratch, trying to improve itself… It goes against anything and everything I've studied about genetics… it shouldn't be possible!"

Peter took that moment to speak up. "What'd she just say?"

"The kids changing." Logan responded, leaving a lot that should have been said floating away.

"Oh."

The fight between the various fiancées and suitors died out at Washu's voice. "S-so what's happening to him?" Nabiki asked.

"I don't know… but I can almost guarantee that he'd become a guinea pig in some lab if he was treated by humans." Of course, he'd be the same under her, just treated somewhat better. Somewhat.

"So that red and black…stuff on him? That was because of this change?"

Washu shook her head again... "No, that's-

"What I am." A voice behind them interrupted. Kao had enough of simply waiting in the background and being unable to defend or confirm any suspicions and accusations made about his host, and decided to make his appearance at this moment. Several gasps of surprise sounded, and Washu looked upset at being cut off. "Forgive me for the rather dramatic introduction…" The chaotic creature said "But I felt it necessary for me to make an appearance now. You may call me Kao, it is what Host Ranma refers to me as and I think it best we continue in that manner." The voice was polite and well spoken, but that did not make it nice. It was like some sort of twisted version of Ranma's own, except cold and monotonous, no emotion being displayed at all, simply cold, calculating logic.

"W-what…" Peter stumbled over his words and took a step back. He was unable to understand the things words, but its appearance was enough.

If Kao could have sighed, he would have. His host seemed to like putting him in these situations. Something to be remedied, for sure. Switching to English so that Peter could understand, he spoke, "I'm sure my appearance reminds you of someone Spider-man… someone who has been troubling you for some time. The stuff of your nightmares correct? I would be lying if I stated that the symbiote you wore is not of my kind, but I assure you I am not him."

"T-then…"

"I am its child, the supposed successor to my parent's false legacy. Unfortunately he had not expected be to inherit more traits from you than he."

"What do you mean…?" Peter was obviously still skeptic, and most likely would be for a long time.

"With great power…" The symbiote left the sentence unfinished. It held enough meaning for wall crawler. "This is why I chose him." A small nod to the unconscious teen. "Why I decided that he would be my host."

Peter said nothing.

The other girls, sans Shampoo, Washu, and Ryoko, were able to understand the just of what was being said, and considered the symbiote's words carefully. Even Nabiki was unable to detect deceit in the things voice, but the way it spoke, the cold and cruel logic being so openly displayed unnerved them all.

Washu, though unable to understand, just gave it a cold hard stare. "You knew didn't you?"

Kao turned to Washu and gave her an unreadable expression before nodding. "Yes, I knew."

"We need to talk."

Kao nodded, only a slight dip of its head, but it was enough. "Regardless, le me answer some questions... I'm sure that some of you are curious as to what I am..."

"That's an understatement..." Nabiki grumbled

Kao ignored her. "I am an alien symbiotic life form, designed to enhance and improve upon my host. In order to live however I need to bond with a suitable host. I found Ranma after a long trek to find such a host, and after bonding he accepted me and I have been with him ever since."

"When did you bond with him...?" Akane asked of the symbiote.

Kao turned to her with his white, ovoid eyes. "Some months ago. Before your "school" was finished."

Akane and Ukyo both took a glance at each other. That was quite some time ago... it had been with him since then?

"W-why Airen no tell Shampoo?"

"He felt in necessary to conceal my existence as he believed you would not understand, and would react in a less than reasonable manner. Coupled with the fact that he did not want to draw more attention to himself than necessary, as he would attract people like them." A nod to the two well renowned super heroes.

"B-but then couldn't-"

"Hate to break up this touching discussion." Ryoko interrupted. "But we're here."

Kao gave a short bow, exaggerated and almost mocking. "I must bid you all farewell, Host Ranma is still of my primary concern and I must assist with his recovery." A nod to Washu and the figure simply collapsed like a flood of water and a shadow-like puddle slid rapidly along the crystal floor and then back up to Ranma's body, melting into his skin and disappearing altogether.

Washu didn't even give them so much as a goodbye, and with a command, she and Ranma both faded in a glow.

"Hey, come back here!"

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Come back with airen!"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch; she just took him to the lab..." Ryoko said, and with a button, they all were captivated with a nauseating feeling and glow, and then appeared beside a rather large home on the edge of a lake, with a floating jungle like bath house floating above part of the lake.

"Well that's different." Peter stated. Logan gave him a rueful grin.

"Trust me; you don't wanna go into the lab when Washu's in there...anyway... I'm off to see Tenchi!" Ryoko floated away, leaving two super-heroes, a group of girls, and a small number of unconscious super villains standing (or laying) on a dock with a crystalline spaceship floating above them.

Logan took a look around and smelled the air, immediately assaulted by the pleasant scent of pure nature, unpolluted and contaminated by society. "I like it."

"How can you be calm!? We were just dumped God knows where and I can't understand a word of what anything is saying! The guy we were supposed to be saving is gone, and now we got left on a dock in the middle of a lake with no way to travel, except this weird rodent spaceship. How can you be calm!?" Needless to say, Peter was nearly livid. God if Mary Jane ever found out... she'd be livid. Logan just grunted in response.

"What would worrying do for us now?'Sides, it's not like it's a bad place." His pocket erupted in vibrations and a rather loud and obnoxious tone. He seemed to not notice before realizing everyone was staring and he quickly retrieved the cell phone and answered. "Yeh?" A moment of silence as he listened to the other line. "Really? Huh... Guess I'd better go ask..." He took a quick glance around, and spotted a young boy, perhaps a year or so younger than Ranma and jogged to catch up to him. He switched to Japanese to talk to the boy, who was carrying a large knapsack of carrots on his back and wearing rather simple clothes. "Oi, you know a place where a big jet can land around here?"

Now Tenchi, who had no idea who this American was, immediately became rather dumbfounded. "Er... over in the carrot fields I guess but..."

"Thanks" Logan said and brushed the pony-tailed youth off, turning around to talk on the phone again. "Yeh they got a place. Some carrot farm or something. Couple hours? Got it, see ya then Hank." And he collapsed the phone and put it back in his pocket.

As Logan ran off, Nabiki turned to Spider-man and gave him a once over. "So what's with the spandex?"

Peter turned back to the group of Japanese (and one Chinese) girls and immediately grew rather flustered. He rarely stuck around in costume this long, and he knew the question was bound to pop up sooner or later. "Uhm... well it's to protect my identity..."

"That explains the mask, not the outfit sugar."

Peter's mouth opened and closed several times in a fish like manner, and it was only Logan's voice that saved Peter from embarrassment. "Hey, Spider." He called to grab his attention. "Looks like Beast and Gambit are a couple of hours off, they'll be landing here to take a look at the kid."

The wall crawler nodded, glad to not be the center of attention.

"Who's coming?" Nabiki interrupted the response, eager to get some sort of idea as to what was going on.

Logan gave the nosey girl an irritated glance. "Some friends."

"More mutants?"

"Why you got something against us?" Logan growled out.

Nabiki quickly shook her head and backed off, her hands in a placating gesture. "No no! Just wondering what else to expect is all…"

Logan gave her an unreadable glance, before turning back to Peter. "We got nothing else to do but wait til then…"

"Would anyone like some snacks?" Everyone turned, somewhat startled, to find a young, early teenaged girl smiling at them, holding a tray of various cookies and some glasses of an unknown liquid. The girl had a very innocent look about her, with her bright blue hair, and the most stunningly pink eyes anyone had ever seen. Her smile made them all do so in return, and any sort of harsh thoughts seemed to be discarded. Peter was, of course, in the dark about what was going on.

'Okay, next thing on my list, learning Japanese.' The wall crawler thought bitterly, sighing in frustration.

"Ryoko told me we had guests… I thought I would bring some food out… but if you don't want it…" Sasami started turning, thinking the lack of reaction was because they did not appreciate her hospitality, but several loud shouts stopped her.

"No no!" Akane said, rushing up to her. "We just... weren't expecting anyone. I'd love to have some, thank you very much."

Sasami turned and smiled, immediately liking her. "Okay!"

Washu entered her lab with the floating body in tow, immediately heading towards a less used section of her lab where she kept her tools for surgery and the like. Mostly dissection, but still, never knew when she might need to operate, like now…

"Get out here now." She demanded, not even taking a glance to see if Kao had actually extracted itself.

"What?"

She had not expected such a quick response, but restrained her jump of surprise and kept moving. "You knew all along!? You knew that this was happening didn't you!?"

"As I stated earlier, yes, I knew everything." Kao's cold voice responded from behind her. She cared not to look.

"Did you do this?"

Kao kept staring at the mane of red hair, his unflinching gaze holding no compassion. "No, it was already in progress when I bonded with host Ranma."

Washu now turned, with her expression furious. "Then why didn't you tell anybody?! Have you even told Ranma!? Tried to stop it?"

Kao was not intimated. "No one needed to know, and as far as I have observed, the changes have not been negative in any way. Seeing this, I found no reason to tell Host Ranma and cause him more grief. I have tried to aid the changes as much as possible, but it is difficult with my limited knowledge of the human genome."

"You ACCELERATED it!? Do you have any idea what sort of havoc could be caused by accelerating such drastic mutations!? You could have already signed his death warrant! You're lucky he's not dead!"

"As I stated earlier, all changes recorded were in no way negative, and all beneficial. Accelerated nerve impulses, increase in muscle mass and bone density, toughening of skin, all positive traits."

"For someone breeding a monster!"

"Host Ranma would agree with me I believe when I say that every one of these traits would make him a better fighter."

"To fight what?" Washu hissed, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"To fight for the greater good, destroy all that is wrong with society." Kao's already emotionless voice seemed to grow colder and he returned her frosty gaze.

"What do you mean greater good?"

Kao almost grew an amused expression. "Tell me Washu, if you had to kill one child, your own child in fact… to save the lives of countless other beings… would you? Could you kill that child in cold blood to help so many more others? Other children, other people, all with their very own hopes, dreams and goals?"

Washu's eyes widened in sheer terror. Her history with her own children already so fragile, what Kao was asking was simply akin to murder. "No! Of course not! That's… That's-"

"The right thing to do." Kao cut her off. "One life in return for others? There should be no question. Instead there is something you, and most other species, hold in common. The emotion, it clouds your judgment, makes you blind to what the right thing to do is."

"NO!" Washu screamed, throwing away any pretense to be diplomatic. "That's wrong… almost evil! You should find another way… another possibility of-"

"Then more would die, and the trade is not so even." Kao responded. "Dozens for Dozens makes no sense, can you not see that?"

"But to take a life…"

"Unfortunate but necessary."

Washu glowered at the sym- no the monster before her and grit her teeth. "You… you're a monster… how would Ranma ever accept something like you? Is he this twisted as well!? Did he really intend to kill whoever that was?"

"Magneto? Yes. Of course some adrenaline and extra hormones were added but-"

"WHAT!?" Washu became incredulous. "You… you don't deserve to exist… as soon as he wakes up, I'm telling him-"

"Nothing." Kao's eyes narrowed now. "The well being of my host is my number one concern."

"What about what he thinks?"

"If it is for the best for him than he does not need to know."

"I can get you out myself then." Washu retorted.

"You can't, and won't. If you attempt to I'll be forced to do things to Ranma… unpleasant things."

"You wouldn't" Washu tried to call Kao's bluff…

"I would, and then Ryoko would be my next host. I suggest you forget everything that happened here Washu. I dislike threats directed towards me and my host; if necessary I will take measures to make sure you do not interfere again." Kao spit out, his voice growing more menacing. "Ever."

Washu's teeth ground in her mouth. She didn't have enough data to be able to capture the symbiote yet, and most certainly did not want to risk harming Ranma. "This isn't over." She growled.

Kao said nothing and retreated back within Ranma's form, slithering into his body and disappearing for the moment.

Staring for several seconds more, Washu cursed loudly before continuing to escort the figure within the stasis shield, swearing that she would find a way to solve this.

An indeterminate amount of time later

Ranma's eyes twitched, and then squeezed tighter shut as consciousness, as well as the pain, returned to him. He raised his hand to his head and swore loudly, feeling his chest wrapped tight in something and feeling like it was half the size it should be. Opening his eyes slowly, he winced when he saw that his chest had been bound in some sort of cloth, and was splotched heavily with reds and browns, fresh and dried blood.

"Anyone get the number of that truck…?" Ranma muttered, grumbling as he tried to sit up, and had to bite his lip to stop the scream of pain that rose from his chest. He tasted a warm, metallic liquid and realized he had caused himself to bleed he had bit so hard. "Damnit…"

"Stay still… you aren't even supposed to be awake you know." A weary, slightly taunting voice sounded out from somewhere beside him.

He grunted and turned to see a young Washu busily working with some bottles and a console, typing away before examining something. "What…did I?"

"You passed out… and for good reason too! You should be dead!" She turned and shook her head. Ranma immediately saw the changes in her face. She had bags under her eyes, and her hair was slightly frazzled, indicating she had been up for quite some time.

"You did this?" He asked, nodding down to his chest. A nod confirmed his suspicion. He gave her one of the deepest, heartfelt smiles he could. "Thanks…"

It was a simple act, but Washu smiled demurely in response. She never really did get thanked for her work.

"So what's the diagnosis doc? Er, Washu-chan?"

She giggled, snapped from her reverie. "You got busted up pretty good." She waggled her finger at him condescendingly. "Don't go do that sort of thing again! You've lost a lot of blood, broke most of your rips, and almost completely tore your lung open… not to mention all the cuts, lacerations and other bruising…"

"Am I gonna make it?" The question was more serious.

Washu turned to him, giving him a hard look. "Of course, after all, I am the greatest scientist in the universe." She broke out into laughter and caused Ranma to lay his head back and exhale rather loudly, not in exasperation, but relief. That fight… he knew that they wouldn't fall for the same things again. He also knew that they weren't going all out, if they had. He brushed the thought away before it took a less favorable path.

"Ranma… we need to talk though."

"What's up?"

Washu frowned at something he couldn't tell, before nodding and looking at him in the eye. "Ranma… you're evolving."

Well there it is, after too long a hiatus. Sorry all, this should have been done a month or so ago, but I moved into college and now it's midterms yadda yadda excuses excuses. Anyway, some of you were saying that you thought my fics are dead… I just want to let everyone know that I plan on either finishing, or getting to a point where I can stop and not leave anything hanging before stopping, too many fics have gone unfinished, so when I'm not updating, bug me. I will work on it, I'm not gonna leave you all hanging.

In other news, I've decided I didn't like the way this fic was going. More to the point, I didn't like the way Ranma and Ryoko interacted and met, and the whole 'Kao' persona. This is why I plan on starting a major rewrite for this fic, already started on the first chapter, in which I plan on trying on squeezing all the fanon out of me and making it as close to canon as possible, establishing DISTINCT points in time for the Tenchi and Marvel universe, have some meetings and relationships go different ways, and remove the symbiote's personality, keep Brock alive, and make them more like the comics. (You can sense them if you try, but if you don't really think about it you can't tell it's alive, Peter didn't know until Reed told him.)

It should be done a bit quicker; I plan on having Ranma's first few weeks with the symbiote done too so he can figure it out and such. Otherwise, the same basic plot will continue up until this point, so don't be worried about anything too drastic. Suggestions and comments are, as always, accepted and appreciated.

Ja -Chris "Gundraw" Norris

Omake by Gundraw

Ranma… You're evolving."

"W-What!?"

"Press B to stop this process!" A voice suddenly resounded, and Ranma found himself surrounded by bright light, and some weird, 8-bit music playing in the background. He then felt his muscles and bones shifting, not painfully, but it was rather disconcerting as he felt his balance, power, and very sense of being shift. The light faded and Ranma was once again able to see himself…

"Congratulations! Your boy type Ranma evolved into Girl type Ranma!"

"AW HELL NO."